Articles

Everyone likes to win. And if design is your passion, what could be better than winning a design award? Out of the multitude of design competitions in the world, the international A' Design Award is the largest, and now they've announced their winners of the 2019-2020 competition. Winners of this prestigious award must impress a jury panel of experts - 170+ press members, academics, and design professionals - in order to receive the A' Design Prize. In addition to the prestige, recognition, and international publicity, laureates are presented with a trophy, annual yearbook, certificate, invitation to the gala night, inclusion in the winners' exhibit, and more.

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We are heading for a scenario in which BIM technology will greatly help us to maximize the roles and skills of civil construction professionals, making room for us to plan, design, build and manage buildings and infrastructures much more efficiently, integrating all systems, structural, mechanical, electrical and plumbing in a responsible, economical and sustainable way.

Stores in Santiago, Chile, ran out of yeast in mid-March, such as it happened after the beginning of the social crisis in 2019. Given that Chile has the second-highest bread consumption per capita in the world, it would seem that Chileans handle uncertainty stocking up ingredients for bread making. Everybody wants to make bread, including myself.

Our interpretation of the world is mediated through a variety of mechanisms that have been at the center of architectural and urban debate for a long time; the role of hearing in perceiving and recognizing the surrounding environment is fundamental and of growing scientific interest. Studies that investigate the psychological effects of noise produced by large infrastructures, such as airports, highways, railways, are multiplying. Santiago Beckdorf argues that it is possible, through the tools of design, to reverse the paradigm according to which urban development is inevitably connected to a weakening of the natural environment in which it is inserted.

For the 2019 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB), titled "Urban Interactions," (21 December 2019-8 March 2020) ArchDaily is working with the curators of the "Eyes of the City" section to stimulate a discussion on how new technologies might impact architecture and urban life. The contribution below is part of a series of scientific essays selected through the “Eyes of the City” call for papers, launched in preparation of the exhibitions: international scholars were asked to send their reflection in reaction to the statement by the curators Carlo Ratti Associati, Politecnico di Torino and SCUT, which you can read here.

The 2020 coronavirus pandemic is already creating change in every part of society. Harnessing this change should be the impetus for a long-overdue overhaul of the educational system and, in particular, the way we teach architecture.

Each day during the pandemic, we are suddenly finding what was once impossible is now suddenly possible. As Thomas Friedman said of online learning back in 2012, "Big breakthroughs happen when what is suddenly possible meets what is desperately necessary."

We now find ourselves in a position where we have to re-think everything to fight this virus. This pandemic will cause us to re-think learning as entire educational systems are forced to move online. In general, most formal education institutions are not producing the creative thinkers the world urgently needs. Solutions to the coronavirus pandemic require creative thinking, and how we currently teach in institutions today produces groupthink. Our path-dependent education does not get the best from individuals.

As the first ever Spanish architect to receive the Pritzker Prize, Rafael Moneo (born 9 May 1937) is known for his highly contextual buildings which nonetheless remain committed to modernist stylings. His designs are regularly credited as achieving the elusive quality of "timelessness"; as critic Robert Campbell wrote in his essay about Moneo for the Pritzker Prize, "a Moneo building creates an awareness of time by remembering its antecedents. It then layers this memory against its mission in the contemporary world."

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As lead designer of the Lever House and many of America’s most historically prominent buildings, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Gordon Bunshaft (9 May 1909 – 6 August 1990) is credited with ushering in a new era of Modernist skyscraper design and corporate architecture. A stern figure and a loyal advocate of the International Style, Bunshaft spent the majority of his career as partner and lead designer for SOM, who have referred to him as “a titan of industry, a decisive army general, an architectural John Wayne.”

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50 years ago Clarice Lispector already pointed out how difficult it was to unveil Brasilia: "the two architects did not think of building beautiful, it would be easy; they raised their amazement, and left the amazement unexplained". This year the capital turned 60, and still remains intriguing for scholars, students, and anyone who allows themselves to explore it better. In order to understand the daily life that exists there, we invited six professionals- in the field of architecture and urbanism - who live in the city, to share their visions with us and bring a few more layers that help to build an interpretation of utopia and reality that Brasília currently represents.

In the most fundamental sense, it can be said that architecture emerged due to the basic human need for shelter. The construction of the primitive hut was realized long before the conceptual Primitive Hut was described by Marc-Antonie Laugier and drawn by Charles Eisen in 1755. Laugier theorized that man wants nothing but shade from the sun and shelter from storms- the basic requirements of a human for protection from the elements. The pieces of wood that are raised perpendicularly give us the idea of columns, the horizontal pieces laid across them give us the idea of entablatures, and the branches that form a sloping incline are covered with leaves and give us the first roof. Although humans have been inhabiting the earth for millions of years, why was it only 265 years ago that Laugier’s theory was penned and made into an architectural cannon?

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Dissociating architecture from furniture is almost impossible. As Le Corbusier parking contemporary cars in his project photos suggests, the objects that decorate a domestic space demonstrate the wealth and lifestyle of the user who lives in it. From the moment that humanity ceased to be nomadic, there has existed records of rudimentary furniture. In an excavated site dating from 3,100 to 2,500 BCE, a variety of stone furniture was discovered, from cabinets and beds to stone shelves and seats. Since these early examples, furniture has always been used to express ideas: be it the exclusive and luxurious furniture of Ancient Egypt, meant to demonstrate the power and wealth of the empire, to the functional and simplified designs of the Bauhaus, meant to reconstruct rationality in the world, studying the evolution of furniture design is instrumental to understanding architectural styles.

Nowadays, the advancement of technology and the internet has made changes develop faster and faster, making them even more difficult to assimilate and follow. Furniture follows this trend, be it in the way of designing, manufacturing, or even selling products. Below, we outline some ways in which technology has impacted this field:

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With the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping through the world's urban centers, governments worldwide are urging citizens to hunker down at home in a bid to quell the virus' spread. For apartment dwellers under quarantine, balconies have become the new platforms for entertainment and social interaction, making now an opportune moment in rethinking how we design and build these outdoor urban spaces.

Cities used to be hailed for cultural diversity, with thriving and resonating dynamism. But today, scenes of desperation reigns, as stores are closed, streets rendered lifelessly and -from our homes, we no longer enjoy urban economic vibrancy. As numerous businesses are facing bankruptcy, others realise that -with technology, working 100km or 5km away makes no difference. The coronavirus brought our urban economy to a standstill. The functioning of cities is being re-questioned.  How we react to this crisis will shape the city for decades to come.

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Throughout human history, the movement of populations–in search of food, shelter, or better economic opportunities–has been the norm rather than the exception. Today, however, the world is witnessing unprecedented levels of displacement. The United Nations reports that 68.5 million people are currently displaced from their homes; this includes nearly 25.4 million refugees, over half of whom are under the age of eighteen. With conflicts raging on in countries like Syria and Myanmar, and climate change set to lead to increased sea levels and crop failures, the crisis is increasingly being recognised as one of the foundational challenges of the twenty-first century.

While emergency housing has dominated the discourse surrounding displacement in the architecture industry, it is critical for architects and planners to study and respond to the socio-cultural ramifications of population movements. How do we build cities that are adaptive to the holistic needs of fluid populations? How do we ensure that our communities absorb refugees and migrants into their local social fabric?

This World Refugee Day, let’s take a look at 5 shining examples of social infrastructure from around the world–schools, hospitals, and community spaces–that are specifically directed at serving displaced populations.