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

After being closed for six and a half years for a renovation by David Chipperfield Architects, the Berlin museum reopened Sunday, August 22.

Wood is an extremely versatile material. It allows for the construction of robust and strong structures, while it can also be used as the raw material for delicate objects such as musical instruments. Understanding all its particularities, properties, and behavior is a journey of knowledge that could take a lifetime. Basically, wood is made up of cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, and mineral elements, and each species has its own unique characteristics. The history of Stradivarius violins, for example, is interesting to mention: they are still worth fortunes and experts argue that luthiers have never been able to replicate their timbre on newer instruments. Researchers point out that the differentiated sound is due to the wood in the body and arm, which went through a submersion process with a mineral solution that increased the decomposition of hemicellulose. The treatment made the wood absorb less moisture, making the sound brighter and more pleasant.

This shows how complex it is to work with a living material like wood. It can swell or shrink depending on weather conditions, how the tree grew or was cut down, etc. And, varying between wet and dry states, it can end up rotting. Such factors must be understood when we work with a natural material, but it can also be a nuisance when we look for the aesthetic appearance of wood while lacking technical precision and maintenance capabilities.

As an architectural project comes to its last phases, it is time to put together the smaller details in bathrooms and kitchens, which means choosing finishes for the walls and floors, as well as the countertops, and picking the right fittings and fixtures. These elements are essential for a well-designed space, regardless of the style.

The Graham Foundation has announced the award of 69 new scholarships to individuals around the world who support architectural projects. The funded projects represent diverse lines of research with original ideas that advance our understanding of the designed environment.

Selected from more than 500 proposals, the funded projects include exhibitions, publications, films, and performances that promote rigorous academic study, stimulate experimentation, and foster critical discourse in architecture. Innovative projects are led by established and emerging architects, artists, curators, filmmakers, historians, and photographers, among other professionals.

By some estimates, cities consume over two-thirds of the world’s energy, and account for more than 70% of global CO2 emissions: a figure sure to increase as the global migration from rural to urban areas continues. In the pursuit of exploring new models for how healthy cities could more effectively sustain these demands, Dutch design and research studio FABRICations has investigated how cities of the Netherlands can reduce carbon emissions through new design-led approaches.

Canada’s Queen City has become renowned for its housing boom. As the most populous location in the country, Toronto is also one of the world’s hottest luxury real estate markets. An hub for arts, business, and media, the city is sited on a sloping plateau with a unique ravine system. While it boasts incredible architecture and high-end designs, Toronto risks a housing correction. Rapid increases in home prices, overvaluation, and overbuilding have all attributed to the city’s mounting situation. Amidst these unstable conditions and uncertainty, new residential projects continue to be built.

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In this week's reprint from the Architect's Newspaper, author Karen Kubey, an urbanist specializing in housing and health questions if the invention of Public Space is "Invented Or Agreed Upon?" Basing her ideas on a book by Mariana Mogilevich, The Invention of Public Space, the article asks if public spaces are a product of negotiation in the city.

Videos

Deciding where a building should go is a complex negotiation of visible and invisible, objective and subjective forces. Architects perform site analysis in order to identify and choreograph all these factors, but which factors do they focus on? This video is a survey (pun intended) of what goes into locating where a building should go on the Earth’s surface. From legal requirements like lot lines and setbacks, to infrastructural concerns like service hookup locations and pedestrian ways, to environmental factors like sunlight and topography, the video goes through how architects and contractors position structures. In addition to reviewing general rules of thumb, the video also includes some important architectural examples like the Casa Malaparte and OMA’s Student Center at IIT to inspire unique ways to approach the subject.

Eladio Dieste, the engineer behind "reinforced ceramic" and double-curved arches marked his spot as one of the most important figures in architecture, not only in his native Uruguay, but in Latin America and beyond. Here, we invite you to take a look at just some of the engineer's work, from his widely-recognized churches like the Church of San Pedro and the Christ the Worker Church in Atlántida- to his factories, silos, and gymnasiums, all of which form an important part of the region's architectural repertoire.

To help us in our mission to bring Dieste's work to our readers, the Audiovisual Media Service of the Faculty of Architecture, Design, and Urbanism at the University of the Republic has shared the following images as well as the Eladio Dieste page in order to provide a space to learn about his works and writings.

Flooding is a significant problem for buildings all around the world, including architectural treasures like the Farnsworth House that have been plagued by the issue time and time again. In particular, one-third of the entire continental U.S. are at risk of flooding this spring, especially the Northern Plains, Upper Midwest, and Deep South. In April of 2019, deadly floods decimated parts of Mozambique, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Iran as well, resulting in a low estimate of 1,000 deaths while tens of thousands more were displaced. While architecture cannot solve or even fully protect from the most deadly floods, it is possible – and necessary – to take several protective measures that could mitigate damage and consequently save lives.

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The family of products that encompass mass timber –including Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), Glue-Laminated Timber (Glulam), and Mass Plywood– is increasingly becoming a viable construction alternative for the AEC industry. Timber has been a structural material for thousands of years, but these engineered wood products have broadened the field of options and provided a solid basis for architectural designers to work with, expanding upon their range of materials and finishes.

Have you ever wondered why chess sets can be found in parks and other public spaces and contemplated what their role is within these spaces? Studies have shown that sports and games work to reduce stress and improve the overall mental health of the public. Chess, one of world's most popular games, allows two people from anywhere on the globe to play regardless of language barriers, age, gender, physical ability, or social situation.

Chile is a country used to natural disasters as much as to the reconstruction process. However, the frequency of these cycles has increased over the years. According to the Ministry of Interior (Homeland), 43% of all natural disasters recorded in Chile since 1960 happened between 2014 and 2017. In fact, the government is already involved in several reconstruction processes across the country.

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The climate has changed, and we have been left grappling with the consequences: high temperatures, flooding, drought and much more. As the world shifts (or tries to shift) to ways to mitigate the crisis, the architecture and construction industry finds itself in a particularly important position whose choices can create real impact. Some of these choices can include innovative products that offer real solutions to complex problems, such as the cooling down of temperatures in highly dense cities.

In this week's reprint from Metropolis Magazine, authors Madeline Burke-Vigeland, FAIA, LEED AP, a principal at Gensler, and Benjamin A. Miko, MD, assistant professor of Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center explore how uniform standards applied across the built environment can protect our communities from COVID-19 and future pandemics.