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Here's How a Utah Company Turns Water into Enchanting Castles of Ice

Coming off of a weekend of brutally cold temperatures in the Northeastern United States, the praising of ice might strike some as disagreeable. But seeing the aqueous creations of the Utah based Ice Castles makes a persuasive case for enduring winter’s wrath. Using a patented system, the company designs ice constructions formed through an additive process in which a substructure of icicle lattices are sprayed with liquid water, resulting in grand formations with the appearance of stalactites or sublimating gases frozen in time.

Seasonally, in four cold-climate locations in North America, the company creates castles of varying sizes that are built over the course of three to four weeks and maintained for approximately six to eight weeks thereafter. What may seem like a simple activity – after all, it’s just ice and water – is actually a complex orchestration, not unlike more traditional architecture, which involves the careful consideration of a number of strategic and site-specific factors.

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James Corner Field Operations Highlights New York's Skyline with Rooftop Garden

James Corner Field Operations has completed a nearly 6,000 square foot rooftop garden located in the heart of the DUMBO neighborhood in Brooklyn. The garden is located on top of a seventeen-story apartment complex designed by Leeser Architecture and developed by Two Trees Management. The Dock Street Rooftop Terrace allows residents to view the panoramic scenery of the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, East River, and Manhattan Skyline.

Jestico + Whiles Wins Approval for Tower Works Redevelopment in Leeds

Jestico + Whiles, in collaboration with developer Carillion, has won planning consent from the Leeds City Council for the Tower Works redevelopment, a competition they won in March of last year. The site is located in the Holbeck Urban Village, which is situated near the Leeds-Liverpool canal. The design incorporates the styles of surrounding buildings, particularly the three Italianate towers, which date back to the industrial revolution.

Kevin Roche Reflects on His Five Decade Career, From Beginnings in Ireland to His US Career

In an exclusive thirty minute-long discussion with Kevin Roche, described in this interview as "arguably the greatest living architect you've never heard of," Monocle's Steve Bloomfield hears about his early years in practice through to the evolution of his design philosophy over a career which has spanned five decades.

Kevin Roche Reflects on His Five Decade Career, From Beginnings in Ireland to His US Career - Image 1 of 4

Southern California Institute of Architecture Announces Launch of SCI-Arc Mexico

The Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) has announced the launch of SCI-Arc Mexico, to begin in mid-March 2016. Located in the Barragán Foundation in Mexico City, SCI-Arc Mexico will feature international studios, exhibitions, conferences and symposia, furthering SCI-Arc’s global presence by complementing SCI-Arc Shanghai as well as bolstering further development into South America and Europe.

MVRDV Designs Shopping Center with Pearlescent Façade in Beijing

Exterior construction has almost wrapped up on MVRDV’s Chongwenmen M-Cube shopping center in Beijing, featuring a shimmering façade that changes color from grey to pearlescent. The approximately 40,000 square meter center sits in the central Chongwenmen district, just moments from the Forbidden City, and will serve as a centralized hub for retail, cuisine and leisure. The project is set to be completed in summer of this year.

AIA Elevates 149 Members to College of Fellows

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) 2016 Jury of Fellows has elevated 149 AIA members and eight international architects to its prestigious College of fellows, an honor awarded to members who have made significant contributions to the profession.

“The Fellowship program was developed to elevate those architects who have made a significant contribution to architecture and society and who have achieved a standard of excellence in the profession. Election to fellowship not only recognizes the achievements of architects as individuals, but also their significant contribution to architecture and society on a national level.”

Some of the elevated members are:

Argentina Unveils Theme of National Pavilion for the 2016 Venice Biennale

Argentina has unveiled the theme of its national pavilion for the 2016 Venice Biennale: “experimentAR, poéticas desde la frontera” (to experience, poetry from the border). The pavilion will be curated by Atilio Pentimalli with Alejandro Vaca Bononato as the head of artistic direction.

Carmody Groarke Selected to Design Cliff-Top Hotel Retreat on UK's South Coast

London-based firm Carmody Groarke has been selected to design a standalone hotel suite on Burgh Island, a tidal island on the South Devon coast. Commissioned by Burgh Island Ltd, the owners of the site's eponymous Grade-II listed art deco hotel, the new standalone "Pool House" suite sits atop the island's cliffs offering customers generous views of the Bantham Estuary and the hotel’s Mermaid Pool, an outdoor seawater pool and private beach for hotel guests.

Series of Bus Stops Along the Curonian Spit Will Connect 6 Previously Isolated Villages

The Curonian Spit in Lithuania contains six main villages: Smiltynė, Alksnynė, Juodkrantė, Pervalka, Preila and Nida, all connected by a single narrow road surrounded by water on both sides. As such, buses are the only public transportation that can connect all six villages. As part of an annual seminar to elevate the architecture of the Curonian Spit, a series of 5 bus stops, within the Neringa region of the spit, have been planned for construction. Specifically chosen to improve the cultural and social function of a typical piece of infrastructure, each bus stop uniquely elevates the qualities of the village it will be built for. See the five planned stops after the break.

4 Architecturally Inspired Jewelry Lines

Fashion and architecture often intersect, with OMA/AMO designing runways for Prada, and architects, such as Zaha Hadid, designing swimwear and shoes. This time, we’ve rounded up four designers who have created jewelry lines inspired by the built world around them. From cityscape and protractor rings to wearable sculptures, check out the collections after the break.

Guto Requena’s “I AM” Installation Lights Up Paulista Avenue with People’s Emotions

Part street furniture, part data visualization, Guto Requena’s “I am” installation in São Paulo invited passers-by to interact with the city and connect with one another. Observers were asked to sit on a bench and take a picture of themselves, while also selecting which of six emotions they were feeling at the time: love, joy, surprise, anger, fear or sadness.

Each emotion was associated with a color through which the photo was filtered before appearing on the main façade of the FIESP Building along Paulista Avenue. The images then faded into a graph to colorfully display the predominant emotions at the moment. 

SelgasCano's Louisiana Hamlet Pavilion to House a School in Nairobi's Kibera Slum

SelgasCano's Louisiana Hamlet Pavilion, designed in collaboration with Helloeverything, has been dismantled from its Copenhagen home and is set to be reconstructed in the sprawling Kibera slum, Nairobi, where it will begin a new life as a school. The structure, which is in transit to one of the largest slums in the country, will replace a dilapidated shelter which currently houses 600 pupils. The pavilion, originally commissioned by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art (Copenhagen), has been relocated following discussions between Iwan Baan, SelgasCano, the museum, and Second Home.

Ismael Levya to Transform NYC Parking Garage into Luxury Residential Tower

An image of Ismael Levya Architects' transformation of a six-story parking garage in New York City's Upper East Side has been revealed. The project, already under construction, will expand the structure into a 19-story residential tower that will house 56 luxury apartments. Described as a "lantern," the 210-foot-tall building was designed as "four distinct townhouse volumes with metal and glass."

5468796 Architecture's Social Housing in Winnipeg: Do We Expect Too Much of Design?

5468796 Architecture's Social Housing in Winnipeg: Do We Expect Too Much of Design? - Featured Image
© James Brittain Photography

Architecture serves many essential functions in the fabric of the built environment, but it is the perpetual deficit of housing that some might argue is the field’s ultimate clarion call. In virtually every global city, growing populations and limited supplies of affordable dwellings are the major issues of twenty-first century life—and therefore are indications of the continued relevance of architecture in solving vexing urban predicaments. The last century offered early promise in addressing such issues with proposals to house the masses in immense slabs and box buildings, structures almost as large as their social ambition. But what became an asset of scale overlooked, or more probably misunderstood, the social degradation that such largeness elicited.

Aware of the fact that a one-size-fits-all approach to social housing rarely brings the desired outcomes of sociability, accountability, and community, Winnipeg’s 5468796 Architecture sought to reinvent the typology on a smaller scale. The outcome, a project in Winnipeg’s Central Park neighborhood known as Centre Village, is a 25-unit housing complex that prioritizes windows for observation and public spaces for socializing. Initially heralded as a beacon for public housing done right, the project was recently the target of vitriol in a Guardian article, claiming its secluded courtyard makes it "a magnet for drinking and drug-taking" and that its architectural vanity is to the detriment of apartment sizes and layouts. Subsequently, the Winnipeg Free Press published a response piece, "Building a better neighbourhood," and more recently on ArchDaily, 5468796 published a “letter-to-the-editor” to share their side of story and to dispel some of the negativity surrounding Centre Village. The myriad of perspectives can make you wonder: who’s right?

The Best Submissions to Our Valentine's Day Card Contest

The Best Submissions to Our Valentine's Day Card Contest - Featured Image
Submitted by Joanna Jossif

From heart-shaped plans to sweet "buttresses," we're really feelin' the love! Out of over 250 submissions to our Valentine contest, these are our favorites. (Beware, puns ahead!)

Happy Valentine's Day from the ArchDaily Team!

Monocle 24's 'The Urbanist' Discusses Heritage in Tunis, Vienna and London

In the latest edition of The Urbanist, Monocle 24's weekly "guide to making better cities," the team revisit the theme of heritage, asking why we should "learn to cherish the history of our cities." They visit one of the world's oldest medinas in Tunis, Tunisia, and explore some of the Austrian capital's less than charming Listed buildings, before asking whether or not the quintessential British terraced (row) house is still a cultural icon.

Collective–LOK’s "Heart of Hearts" Takes Shape in Times Square

Collective–LOK's Heart of Hearts installation has officially opened in New York City's Times Square, just in time for Valentine's Day. Winner of this year's annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design, a competition curated by the Center for Architecture, the "faceted ring of 12 golden, mirrored hearts" will remain on view in Duffy Square through March 6.