The French Senate has stipulated that Notre-Dame cathedral must be restored exactly how it was before the major fire that damaged the landmark. As reported by French news site The Local, The French Senate approved the government’s restoration bill but added a clause that it must be restored to the state it was before the fire, seemingly ending the international competition planned by the French government for new ideas for the cathedral’s restoration.
https://www.archdaily.com/918064/notre-dame-must-be-restored-exactly-how-it-was-declares-french-senateNiall Patrick Walsh
UK-based QuickQuid has released a series of commissioned images showing seven of London's iconic landmarks in cross-section. Completed with senior researcher David Cross and architect Laurentiu Stanciu, the project aims to show how the "clockwork that makes them run is just as exciting as their silhouette on the skyline." Dubbed Cutaway London, the project was made to inform and inspire UK residents and tourists alike.
Communication is key. As architects, clear communication is possibly the most vital part of our role. It enables us to share our ideas with clients and is crucial in getting that vision built exactly how we want it. Starting with the parti diagrams through to intricate construction details, we know by now (many, many years post-architecture school) that we’re pretty darn good at communicating our ideas across. But have you ever thought about managing communications?
Wait. Hold on… Managing... Communications? Don’t worry, it’s not as complicated as you might think. This is just about keeping everything organized, such as your correspondence with a builder/general contractor or client. SiteSupervisor can help make this an easy process with its user-friendly interface for project communication. Here are some of the communication benefits I have found with SiteSupervisor.
https://www.archdaily.com/915149/why-managing-communications-is-essentialRachel Hur
Australian architectural firm BVN has created a new proposal for a hotel in Sydney with a green waterfall roof. The 17-story structure is designed with a wedge-shaped roof that will feature a cascading green landscape. The hotel will have over 300 rooms, a restaurant and bar. The hotel is designed to offer views over Belmore Park through the city and towards Central station.
The Swiss-born artist Paul Klee lived between 1879 and 1940, and was a noted Bauhaus lecturer who experimented deeply in color theory. His vibrant, mechanical sketches which formed the basis for his Bauhaus teaching throughout the 1920s, have now been made freely accessible online after the Zentrum Paul Klee published almost all 3900 pages of his personal notebooks.
Arata Isozaki has officially received the 2019 Pritzker Architecture Prize, in a ceremony at the Château de Versailles in France. Isozaki, who has been practicing architecture since the 1960s, has long been considered an architectural visionary for his transnational and fearlessly futurist approach to design. With well over 100 built works to his name, Isozaki is also incredibly prolific and influential among his contemporaries. Isozaki is the 49th architect and eighth Japanese architect to receive the honor.
https://www.archdaily.com/917974/arata-isozaki-accepts-the-2019-pritzker-prizeNiall Patrick Walsh
Air Taxi Volo-port. Image Courtesy of GRAFT/Brandlab/Skyports/Volocopter
Design practice GRAFT has designed the first mobile Volo-Port for air taxis. UK-based global vertiport owner and operator Skyports and air taxi pioneer Volocopter unveiled plans for the Volo-Port – the physical landing pads for so-called eVTOL (electric take-off and landing). As a collaboration between GRAFT Architects and Arup, Berlin agency GRAFT Brandlab won the competition for the Volo-Port design, and construction is scheduled for completion this year in Singapore.
Architectural photographer Marc Goodwin recently visited Brazil to continue on his journey documenting the world's architecture offices. Expanding on his current list, he's already visited Panama City, the Netherlands, Dubai, London, Paris, Beijing, Shanghai, Seoul, the Nordic countries, Barcelona, and Los Angeles. In Brazil, Marc photographed 20 offices across a range of scales and project types. Find out more about the individual offices and the city they are a part of through Marc's feature.
Topotek 1 and Labics have won a competition to design the UCBM Masterplan for the Campus Bio-Medico University of Rome. The 90-hectare project encompasses urban design, landscape, and architecture, founded on the goals of addressing connectivity, openness, and accessibility, while also acknowledging and integrating elements from the surrounding context.
Construction has begun on the Loop of Wisdom in Chengdu, China, designed by Powerhouse Company. The red, walkable, curvy roof follows the landscape and twists through a lush, vivid park, promoting themes of health and beauty. The scheme will house the Exhibition and Reception Centers for the surrounding Unis Chip City masterplan, founded on the principles of people, nature, and technology.
https://www.archdaily.com/917894/powerhouse-companys-loop-of-wisdom-begins-constructionNiall Patrick Walsh
The 45 million CHF (44.7 million USD) transformation project is the first publicly-funded large facility in the Kleinbasel district, and will unite and unlock two previously disconnected and enclosed spaces on the Rhine River. The 9,000 sqm project by the Swiss firm is currently under construction and is expected to be complete in 2021.
East London Baths. Image Courtesy of Studio Octopi + Picture Plane
Studio Octopi has revealed a new site for the Thames Baths project along the Royal Docks in London. Dubbed the East London Baths, the latest addition was unveiled at SAM Swiss Architecture Museum in Basel, Switzerland. The project was designed to reintroduce swimming in the River Thames and re-establish a link between Londoners and the city's historic lifeblood.
More than 120 old maps from the David Rumsey Map Collection were inserted in Google Maps and Google Earth, allowing us to learn how several parts of the globe were in the past. The maps can be seen by activating the 'Rumsey Historical Maps' layer in Google Earth or through a version of Maps developed for the project.
Architecture firm Perkins+Will have broken ground on a new middle and high school sited in the Belmont suburb of Boston. The 445,100 SF project is conceived as a flexible and agile environment for learning that's made to prepare students for jobs in future industries. Emphasizing hands-on learning, the project co-locates students on one campus while encouraging multi-age learning.
Emmi Keskisarja & Janne Teräsvirta Arkkitehtitoimisto & Company Architects have designed a futuristic green vision for an island in Finland. Titled “Emerald Envisioning for Luonnonmaa 2070,” the scheme is set on Luonnonmaa island on the Finnish West archipelago coast, close to the city of Turku. The vision for the island is one where climate change and biodiversity decline are combated through a reimagination of the urban connection with nature.
MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, has released details of their design for Terminal 3 at Harbin Taiping International Airport in Northern China. Referencing the gentle slopes of the surrounding landscape, and the region’s immense snow and ice, MAD’s scheme creates an architectural poetry that settles into its locale in the spirit of a snowflake falling to earth, while simultaneously expressing the surreal, interstellar space of future air travel.
Design practice Ad Hoc Architecture has created a new proposal for a hotel inside Volsovskaya cave in rural Russia. Dubbed the Vels Hotel, the project is located on the banks of the Vishera River and adjacent to the River Wels. The hotel emerges from the cave and terraces down to the water. Intimately linked to the landscape, the design was made to be a synthesis of the Ural mountains, cultural history and modern architecture.
Design practices Snøhetta and Blight Rayner Architecture have been selected to design a new theater for what will become Australia's largest performing arts center in Brisbane. Beating out 23 other teams, the winning proposal for the Queensland Performing Arts Center features a $150 million theater, the fifth for the center. The concept aims to bring a new image to the Gibson precinct while respecting the site's history and context.