Produce personalized presentation boards that distill complex concepts into simple visual representations with a few helpful tools and effects.

Combining high style with low maintenance, Corian® Design’s Solid Surface aids designers and architects to create healthy spaces for complete peace of mind. designboom and ArchDaily continues its three-part webinar series with the material producer, this time to explore the future of healthcare facilities. Including Studio Fluid, Operamed and NOAS Sweden, leading architectural and design experts join the conversation which can be watched live – register here.

Design for assembly (DFA) is hardly new. Thonet’s 1859 No. 14 chair, when disassembled, could be shipped in batches of 36 per 40-square-inch box.

Those cost savings tied to DFA are still valuable. And as it helped revolutionize shipping in the industrial era, it now carries prestige as a powerful carbon-reduction tool. In fact, DFA is currently the distinguishing feature of at least six highly visible product launches among commercial furniture manufacturers in just the past year.

+ 1

Windows and doors dictate the relationship between interiors and exteriors in buildings, helping to either integrate or separate them. They are also important components in architecture that can add to a façade's composition, balance and rhythm, while fulfilling its main function: to protect the interiors and serve as a barrier to the weather. While the first windows were composed of reduced spans and small glass panes with heavy frames, today there are almost invisible options that easily adapt to any type of project. It is up to the designers to choose among the various possibilities of materials, operations, colors and finishes.

Low Hammond Rowe is an architecture firm from Victoria, Canada who are discovering that switching to a new design software can provide them with amazing results. You’ll read about how the firm continues business operation during the switch as well as how they’re realizing undeniable efficiencies that save them time and money.

In the complex trade of architecture and construction, you are never alone. And behind every great building there is a strong team of professionals combining their expertise. 

Hanif Kara OBE is a structural engineer and one of the founders of AKT II, one of the top engineering firms in the world. Based in London, he has been closely collaborating with some of the world’s most innovative architects, including Grafton Architects, David Chipperfield, Norman Foster, BIG, Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick, and many more.

Notable projects include the Kingston University Town House by Grafton Architects, the Bloomberg HQ by Foster + Partners and the Peckham Library by Will Alsop, all recognized with the RIBA Stirling Prize, and the recently completed Twist Museum by BIG, LSE Marshall Building by Grafton Architects, and 404 One Park Drive by Herzog & de Meuron.

With different shapes, sizes, and styles suiting different locations, functions, and personalities, mirrors can be used as points of self-reflection for dressing and beautifying, but also for multiplying light and space in naturally dark or narrow environments, or simply as strikingly decorative objects. Here are the right questions to ask when lost.

Many associate bathrooms with small, simple and practical rooms with no defining design characteristics. Historically, they have been conceived as merely functional environments strictly programmed for hygiene, privacy and ease of maintenance –often with no room for creativity. But as lifestyle changes have placed health and wellness as a top priority, contemporary bathroom design has been reimagined accordingly, shifting towards spacious personal retreats intended for comfort, relaxation and recuperation; an escape from a chaotic outside world. Because we tend to spend most of our time inside the home, many recent discussions naturally revolve around residential bathrooms, overlooking another setting where we also spend a significant number of hours in (around one third of our lives to be exact): the workplace.

Few materials offer the design flexibility of high-performance glass to help achieve energy efficiency, and often without compromising aesthetics. It can be beautiful yet versatile, innovative yet timeless, able to inspire but also help save energy and promote well-being. Guardian Glass's new eBook introduces some important topics that begin to demonstrate how glass can do this.

Historical buildings are both a connection between the past and the present, and a way to preserve local memory and culture. They are witnesses of a past era and living examples of specific constructive techniques, styles and materials from another time. Maintaining them is therefore essential in making local communities feel a sense of belonging and shared history, especially if the building is a meeting place in itself, like a church. This is the case of Calvary Episcopal Church – located in the city of Burnt Hills, New York –, a wooden frame construction completed in 1849 that survived a large fire in 1967. In the prominent bell tower, severe leaks became so common that it was feared the structure and 1,000-pound bell were on the brink of collapse. To remedy the situation while maintaining its familiar, signature look, the decision was to use PVC materials, known for their durability. 

Imagine the daily life of an architect today. There is a demand for a new project, a blank canvas full of countless possibilities. The creative delight is about to be started. The main constraints are established: brief, analysis of the terrain and surroundings, solar orientation and prevailing winds. The first sketches are created, always combined with structural knowledge, even if basic, fundamentally determining for those who live in the gravitational acceleration of 9.807 m/s².

But what if only the brief remains among these basic premises?

+ 4

Thinking about woodworking in wet areas is one of the key parts of interior design. In the case of bathrooms, besides creating spaces for storing toiletries or towels, woodworking can serve as an element that composes the space by bringing different possibilities of decoration or even hiding pipes.

+ 13

This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights projects submitted by established firms. From a museum dedicated to Jewish history to a high-speed railway hub and a university student center, the following selection showcases a variety of concepts, design approaches, and programs developed by global architecture offices.

Featuring firms like KPF, Aedas, Fala Atelier, ADP Architecten, and Peter Pichler Architects, this week's selection of unbuilt projects explore architectural and urban interventions at different scales and at varying stages of their development. Whether conceptual works or ongoing, planned for execution, and even under construction, each project aims to offer an appropriate response to the spatial, functional, social, and environmental needs of its context.

+ 58

It’s an essential component of the design process, where spatial ideations are translated into built form – the design of the prototype. Architectural projects, throughout history and in contemporary practice, have been prototyped to carry out both technical and aesthetic tests, where further insight is gained into the integrity of the design. It’s the blurred line between the experimental and the practical.

+ 6

The Great Wars of the early 20th century brought several social transformations, including the introduction of women into the labor market. Decades later, work dynamics are different, but the market continues to reinforce the division of labor by gender and to explore the triple shift. However, there are gaps for possible transformations.

In March 2021, ACO and AIT-Dialog successfully launched a virtual tour through the seven continents of the world, inviting architects, urban planners, engineers and landscape architects to become part of "beyond.aco | architecture across continents". Now the journey continues: Join them at their next live event on 8 November 2022 and look forward to inspiring lectures from international speakers. 

Versatility is the main characteristic of wire mesh. They can be used indoors, as ceilings and walls, but also outdoors, covering railings or wrapping entire buildings. In addition to its many possible uses, versatility is intrinsic to the material: Depending on the choice of warp and weft wires and the type of weave, the result is an individual mesh with a specific look and light effect, that can be further expanded with different materials or colored mesh surfaces. Another notable quality of the material is the safety it provides, either in guard rails on walkways, vehicle bridges with sidewalks, central atriums, elevated playgrounds, multi-storey parking lots, or internal or external stairways.

PIXCITY is a prototype proposed by PIXCITY DAO to encourage the exploration, design, and construction of the future city. It is an experimental project that merges new technologies and artistic design, which will be completed both online and offline.

We have written a lot about the adaptive reuse of buildings and how this should become an even more important activity for architects in the future. Focusing on interiors, it consists of adapting spaces to new demands, promoting quality and comfort, and often incorporating new technologies into a space. Whether adding a new bedroom, organizing a home office, or transforming a historical building into an office, the architects' creativity allows them to create interesting environments without the need for demolishing. But one thing that tends to make designers scratch their heads in concern is how to include bathrooms and all the complication that it entails. This is because adding a simple toilet usually requires breaking slabs, walls, and floors, working with thick plumbing, and, above all, spending a lot of money and time. There is, however, the possibility of using a macerating pump system - a straightforward, affordable solution for creating a complete or half bathroom practically anywhere.