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

Creating a showcase is more than just displaying products, just as designing a store goes beyond a showcase. Both charges reinforce the concept of a collection, attract customers and improve a brand’s image. It is no coincidence that many architects work in the Visual Merchandising area along with graphic and interior designers, retailers, and stylists, to design a spatial experience that generates a unique narrative and brings greater customer engagement to the store.

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The topic of cannabis can be rather taboo in some instances, as countries around the world have differing views on the legalization of marijuana products based on their cultural and religious beliefs. In the United States specifically, it’s been a long contended issue that each state has, for now, been left to decide on how they want to handle. Each year, more and more states (now totaling 18 and the District of Columbia out of 50), have legalized the recreational sale and use of a limited amount of cannabis, but it remains illegal on a federal level.

Cannabis tax revenue generated more than two billion dollars across legalized states in the last year alone and is expected to grow to nearly 12 billion dollars by 2030, exceeding tax revenues collected from the sale of alcohol, according to bond strategists at Barclays. For the states that do tax the sale of cannabis products, there have already been significant benefits that have helped further develop cities and smaller towns, making the streets safer, and increased funding for new municipal projects, local businesses, subsidies for low-income renters, improvements to public school systems, water and sewer line upgrades, and other significant infrastructure projects.

Videos

Flooring can either make or break a space. With the proper design, it can enhance a room’s design, mark a good first impression and positively impact user experience. However, because floors must withstand damaging conditions such as exposure to moisture and heat, constant foot traffic and heavy furniture movement, it is only natural for them to degrade over time. As a result, renovating floors is crucial to maintain interiors in a good state, especially those with a lot of use.

While selecting a new material to replace the old surface, building owners, architects and designers must consider many key factors, such as comfort, durability and aesthetics. But when it comes to buildings where daily functions are carried out and thus cannot be closed for long periods of time – like supermarkets, offices and restaurants –, speed of installation often becomes the top priority. Ultimately, as the old saying goes, “time is money.”

At the touch of a button, the entire window front magically sinks into the ground, merging the interior with the exterior. This is the effect of the air-lux descending window, which acts not just as a glass front, but a highlight all year round that blends the indoors with the outdoors. So much so, that the descending window was awarded the German Design Award 2020 in the category "Excellent Product Design - Building and Elements".

The concept of aesthetics goes back to the Greek civilization and refers to perception through the senses. Despite being a philosophical concept, in architecture, aesthetics is used to translate architectural ideologies and concepts from the set of constructive elements, forms and materials, being intrinsically linked to the physical shape of a building and, therefore, bound to a social, economic and political context. In addition to a discussion of tastes, architectural aesthetics is a source of historical reading and analysis.

After a prolonged period known as the Middle-Ages, a growing desire to both study and mimic nature itself began to emerge, with an inclination to discover and explore the world. Between 1400-1600 A.D. Europe was to witness a significant revival of the fine arts, painting, sculpture, and Architecture. The ‘Renaissance’, meaning ‘rebirth’ in French typically refers to this period of European history, although most closely associated with Italy, countries including England and France went through many of the same cultural changes at varying timescales.

Prior to the dawn of the Renaissance, Europe was dominated by ornate and asymmetrical Gothic Architecture. Devoured by the plague, the continent lost approximately a third of its population, vastly changing society in terms of economic, social and religious effect. Contributing to Europe’s emergence into the Renaissance, the period ushered in a new era of architecture after a phase of Gothic art, with the rise of notions of ‘Humanism’. The idea of attaching much importance to the essence of individualism. The effect of Humanism included the emergence of the individual figure, greater realism and attention to detail, especially in depictions in art.

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“Good design deserves great recognition”. This statement encapsulates the A'Design Award and Competition, an award for designers, innovators and companies that wish to stand out and attract the attention of the media, editors and buyers. These aspects are especially important in the world of design, where millions of products and projects are launched, and often end up being swallowed up and not receiving due recognition. To address this, every year projects are submitted to the A' Design Award with a focus on innovation, technology, design and creativity. It offers a chance for recognition, with the valuable curatorship of a renowned jury and the possibility of a successful international launch. The A'Design Award contains a series of public relations, advertising and marketing services to celebrate the success of its winners. In addition, and unlike other design awards, it is completely free of charge.

Videos

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 Joe Fletcher, Architectural Photographer to discuss his transition from painting to photography; his experience with a formalized education in photography; how an architectural photographer can influence architects and architecture; his process; the distillation of architecture through photography; why photogenic buildings are not always comfortable to be in; and more.

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Usually, people look for a beauty salon to leave transformed. In addition to the aesthetic changes, the environment itself can trigger different sensations that change the mood of customers. That being said, some establishments hire architects and interior designers to think of ways to innovate their spaces. Relaxing, having fun, surprising, are just some of the actions that can be passed through a project that thinks about different ways to bring comfort to users.

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The hands hold the weight of the entire body, feeling the rough texture of unplastered mortar on its thin membrane. Even with the whole body stretched out against the wall, it still was not possible to see what was behind it. Sweat, in a mixture of adrenaline and heat, ran down his temples, indicating the movement for a final effort, a last impulse before the imminent fall that, for a few seconds, allowed him to overcome the last row. The field of vision was then opened to a fragmented, disconnected and oddly free world. An urban power that allowed itself to be strangled by the breath of tropical vegetation while being consumed by abandonment amidst an active and dynamic city.

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This article was originally published on Common Edge.

The new, online NYC Climate Dashboard confirms that New York City is not doing enough to meet its climate goals. What’s worse, the goals don’t measure up to the challenge citizens face. A growing consensus among scientists says the world has only until the end of this decade to avert catastrophic climate change. Here in New York, the biggest contributions to greenhouse gasses come from our buildings and our driving. As an architect and urban designer, John Massengale shares what he believes the world is missing and some significant changes that the world can make for the sake of future generations.

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Cooking and architecture parallel one another. Combining ingredients to make a whole, both processes are tied to cultural context, creativity and meaning. While we can understand how cultures have changed over time by looking at how their cuisine has changed, the same can be said of architecture. In both cases, the end products are based around human interaction and are brought to life through experience.

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As part of the 14-day design festival that took place in Mexico City, SPACE10 presented the exhibition "Deconstructed Home", with the intention of taking it to different places in Mexico. Five designers were convened and through six intensive weeks of design research and experimentation, they identified and explored new possibilities and uses for the biomaterial of their choice.

Recreating the artist studio in an exhibition has always been a challenge for curators and exhibition designers––bringing in the right amount of “mess,” intricately revealing the workings of artistry, and maintaining the visual coherence are all boxes to be checked while letting the audience behind the curtain. Kazuko Miyamoto: To perform a line, Japan Society’s survey of the artist’s five-decade career in sculpture, drawing, and performance solves this challenge in ways that are both practical and poetic.

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Like a beautiful painting, windows showcase interiors and frame landscapes that connect users to the outside world, directing our eyes to what really matters. But besides framing views and facilitating visual communication, windows serve multiple essential functions that make them vital components in any project. They illuminate homes with sunrays, provide natural ventilation, filter light, insulate from cold and heat, block water and ensure protection. As most design professionals would agree, glazing also plays a crucial aesthetic role; its materials, style and dimensions certainly make a significant difference in the appearance of facades and spaces.

The hammock swaying on the balcony, the sunlight passing through the pierced elements in a dance of light and shadow, the vibrant color marking the spaces and bringing life, these are some of the characteristics present in the daily life of the works of the quartet that form Lins Arquitetos Associados.

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Humans try very hard to make the inexplicable understood. Our spirituality becomes religion. Fairness becomes law. And what delights us becomes aesthetics, and aesthetics are dumbed down to “style” in fine arts and architecture. The description, then definition, of aesthetics enables us to judge, and hopefully, control what thrills us: "Styles may change, details may come and go, but the broad demands of aesthetic judgement are permanent". -- Roger Scruton

But the instant delight we sometimes feel when we hear, taste, think or see parts of our experience is unreasoned in its apprehension. We try to create value in our outcomes by defining them beyond experience – that is aesthetics.