In this week's reprint from Metropolis, author Avinash Rajagopal "takes a broad look at American Design, digging into the practice of architecture, the resurgence of craft, quintessential building forms, and decaying infrastructure". Asking questions such as "what values do we hold dear? What harm have we caused, and who benefits from the work we do?" architects and designers across the United States explore the contextual consequences of the global challenges.
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Other than the contribution of national participations, the 2021 Venice Architecture Biennale invites architects and researchers to exhibit their work between the Central Pavilion at the Giardini, the Arsenale, and Forte Marghera, seeking to answer the general theme of “How will we live together?”, set by curator Hashim Sarkis. With 113 Participants from 46 countries, and an increased representation from Africa, Latin America, and Asia, these architectural contributions underline worldwide and contextual challenges as well as present multidisciplinary and inventive solutions.
The 17th International Architecture Exhibition, running from 22 May to 21 November 2021, divides these projects amongst the following titles: Co-Habitats, Stations, Among Diverse Beings, As New Households, As Emerging Communities, Across Borders, and As One Planet, How Will We Play Together? After having explored the recurring qualities observed in the national pavilions, this feature highlights the rest of the interventions through the lens of Laurian Ghinitoiu.
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As the prefix already indicates, postmodernism is a turning point in history, thereby proving the willingness of scholars to define this new era based on the rejection of the previous movement. Postmodernism first emerged in the 1960s as a departure from modernism. As a reaction against the austerity, formality, and lack of variety of modern architecture, particularly in the international style advocated by Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, postmodernism defends an architecture full of signs and symbols that can communicate cultural values. Postmodernism is a reaction to homogeneity and tediousness by praising difference and striving to produce buildings that are sensitive to the context within which they are built.
This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights commercial projects submitted by established firms. From art museums to offices, this article explores cultural functions and commercial spaces, and presents projects submitted to us from all over the world.
Featuring a reception center that merges the cultures of China and Italy by aoe architects, and a post-pandemic office building by NBBJ, this roundup explores how established architecture firms have designed buildings that optimize the functions of projects and ensure the comfort of their users. This round up also includes a collection of proposals from KPF Architects, Nordic Office of Architecture, AFF Architekten, along with many other firms, each responding to different spatial needs, facilities, and environments.
The study of rocks allows us to understand the formation of our earth. Its types, the formed designs, the layers, all reveal the story. Along with the atmosphere and the hydrosphere, the lithosphere is one of the great pieces of the earth system, supporting the biosphere. This outermost solid layer of the planet is made up of rocks and soils; as for rocks, there are several ways to classify them. The most common is to separate them according to their formation processes, such as igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic. While sedimentary rocks constitute about 5% of the earth's crust, the remaining 95% are igneous or metamorphic rocks.
Because of their durability and strength, along with their varied designs and colors, stones have been used as building and cladding materials for hundreds of years. For floors, stone remains a noble and elegant option, which in addition to having high thermal inertia and structural stability, has a pleasant texture to the touch.
Few places in the world have so many cultural and artistic facilities as the islands of Naoshima, Teshima, and Inujima, in Japan's Seto Inland Sea. Eighteen museums, galleries, and installations make up the Benesse Art Site Naoshima, a project idealized by billionaire businessman Soichiro Fukutake in the 1980s.
At the time, Fukutake invited none other than architect Tadao Ando to design the Benesse House Museum on the island of Naoshima, which went beyond an economic reboot to create a simpler, slower way of life - evidently for those who can afford it - far removed from the Japanese megacities.
Prismática Architects has completed a remodel of an abandoned mechanic shop from 1921 in San Diego, California. Giving the old structure a new life, the firm created an unexpected and vibrant remodel. The designers recognized that the Edie's building may not be a mechanic shop forever, and the project was conceived keeping in mind that the use may change with time.
Vladimir Belogolovsky talks with Mexican-American architect Francisco Gonzalez-Pulido on his exhibition 30 Projects/30 Years/30 Stories now on view at the Museo Metropolitano in Monterrey, Mexico.30 Projects/30 Years/30 Stories, a large retrospective on the work of Mexican-American architect Francisco Gonzalez Pulido, was opened on June 18 at the Museo Metropolitano in Monterrey, Mexico. The exhibition will remain on view until September 21.
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Choice of building materials and the inherent continuous reflection about the reach and capabilities of architecture are an interesting alternative way to approach this issue. The materials used in social housing should address local and economic possibilities and the real needs for access to housing in the contemporary context.
In this article, we analyze different projects published on our site to identify some of the predominant materials used in social housing, both for the formation of structures or enclosures. The intentions of this are two-fold: firstly, to create a worldwide panorama of different case studies with different construction styles from a range of geographical locations, and secondly, to provide inspiration and tools to architects to make better social housing.
Below we present 15 social housing projects and their diverse materials and construction styles.
Efficiency in the construction site by reducing waste and lowering costs, improving safety through better planning, and introducing machines to assist in the construction and design process. These benefits can be achieved through automation in architecture, but for technology to reach this point of empowering and supporting creativity while also improving efficiency, we have come a long way. To understand how automation developed and the prospects it offers for architecture, here is a brief timeline.
Urban planning is often based on the assumption of ongoing demographic and economic growth, but as some environments face urban shrinkage, a new array of strategies comes into play. The shrinking city phenomenon is a process of urban decline with complex causes ranging from deindustrialization, internal migration, population decline, or depletion of natural resources. Referencing the existing research on the topic, the following showcases approaches to this phenomenon in different urban environments, highlighting the need to develop new urban design frameworks to address the growing challenge.
Earlier this month, the city of Miami released a draft version of its comprehensive plan to combat the effects of climate change. The so-called Stormwater Master Plan (SWMP) will be implemented to alleviate the threat of flooding throughout the city, improve the quality of water in Biscayne Bay, and fortify its coastline against stronger and more frequent storm surges over the next 40 years, at an overall cost estimate of $3.8 billion.
Bruce Jilk in his essay ‘Place Making and Change in learning environments” showcases a radical view of contemporary education which, he argues, is outdated and does not meet the needs of the modern world. Instead of providing for a world of individuals operating within a wider urban environment, schools have become internalized ghettos of childhood, cutting off from communities they are supposed to serve, centrally administered in a “one size fits all” ethos. Designers and architects around the world have always been seeking a more flexible architectural model which will allow much more creativity within the learning process and the environments which serve it.
The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.
A variety of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes are interviews, while others are tips for fellow designers, reviews of buildings and other projects, or casual explorations of everyday life and design. The Second Studio is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.
This week David and Marina are joined by Mike Ross, the Architectural Design Studio Executive at Walt Disney Imagineering, to discuss the design and construction of theme parks and theme park buildings, the Disney design process, technology's impact on how they build, creating theme parks in other countries, and much more.
The global landscape of today has been moulded by centuries and centuries of human migration. This movement of people, of individuals and communities travelling far away from their place of origin to eke out better lives for themselves, has seen the evolution of the architectural and urban character of cities – moulded by the diverse influences fuelled by migration. This has meant that around the world, enclaves have popped up in cities, migrants carving out spaces for themselves which have a different character to other areas of a city.
Copying happens all the time in architecture. From students copying the lessons of established examples, repeating model houses, overtly referencing elements from the past, to literally making blueprints, the act of copying is an important tool for architects. Rarely is copying seen as a truly negative or forbidden activity like it might be in other creative disciplines. This video breaks down the how and why architects copy. It covers some postmodern precedents like the Sainsbury Wing, Vanna Venturi House, Villa Dall'Ava by Rem Koolhaas, as well as the more recent examples like the Eyebeam competition and the David Childs lawsuit. All of these examples serve to highlight the wide range of copies in architecture, from the creative and clever to the lazy and malicious.
Shopping malls and retail centers are dead- or so they say. Although much of how we shop was put on pause by the COVID-19 pandemic, and we experienced the surge in e-commerce focused purchases, some of your favorite stores are faced with reimagining themselves in a new way. As the pressure for high-density housing continues to rise, and big-box centers and shopping malls are left empty, is there a way that the place where you once purchased a new outfit could be transformed into your next apartment?
.jpg?1624875658 "Le Consortium – Land \"Grancey-le-Château, A World at the Edge\" . Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu")
.jpg?1624875488 "ICD Institute for Computational Design and Construction and ITKE Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design \"Material Culture: Rethinking The Physical Substrate For Living Together\". Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu")
.jpg?1624875439 "Philip Beesley and the Living Architecture Systems Group / University of Waterloo School of Architecture \"Grove\". Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu")
.jpg?1624875630 "TVK \"The Earth is an Architecture\". Image © Laurian Ghinitoiu")
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