Le Corbusier's fascination with the automobile is evident in the architect's various photographic records of him posing proudly next to a car in front of his architectural work. According to the Franco-Swiss architect, in addition to enabling more efficient and economical construction, the industrialization of architecture could form the basis of improved aesthetic results in the same way the modern car chassis supports the creative and modern design of the automobile body. Yet, while vehicles have experienced impressive changes since the 1930s, it can be said that architecture has been slower to adopt the advances of other industries.

But that has been changing little by little. Driven by concerns around sustainability, the use of non-renewable fossil resources, and efficiency, coupled with accelerating demand to build new buildings and more accessible infrastructure, the construction industry has been incorporating numerous new technologies, including those adopted from other industries. In addition, renewable materials such as wood have been identified as an ideal construction material—especially when incorporating innovative mass timber products such as CLT and glulam, design methods and processes like BIM and DfMA, tools for visualization such as VDC, and tools for manufacturing such as CNC. We know, these are a lot of acronyms, but we will try to clarify them throughout this article.

Tarot is often described as a mirror of the soul. Much like the spaces we inhabit, we can look at the symbols housed within the 72-card deck and see reflections of ourselves and our belief systems. The object and practice itself contain many architectural associations: It’s not uncommon for words like “structures,” “foundations,” and “home” to come up in a tarot reading. Traditional cards depict towers, castles, and churches. Sometimes the cards are described as keys, sometimes as gateways.  

During this month we will discuss from a critical perspective the meaning of rendering for architecture. What are the models and what are the limits of rendering in the design process of a building?. And from this perspective ask ourselves what is a rendering? It is just an image to win competitions and prospects clients. Or is it an effective tool for the construction process?

Italian architect Vittorio Gregotti, author of The Territory of Architecture (1966), believed that architecture had its origin when mankind placed the first stone on the ground. Recognizing a place is the first step towards an architectural project, whether intentionally or not. Understanding the project's location and its context is the basis for many design choices and is, therefore, a key aspect in the field of architecture.

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More than a year into this worldwide experiment of working from home, we have not yet landed on the perfect formula for the workforce being once again in the workspace. Furthermore, not only has the Working From Home (WFH) situation lasted longer than anticipated, it has embedded itself into the way we will work forevermore. As vaccines are rolled out, leaders of all types of organizations must now seriously consider how to handle the return of their employees to the physical office space.

Solar radiation is one of the most important criteria in architectural projects, as it impacts several decisions ranging from the orientation of the building on the site to the choice of windows and doors. Therefore, to ensure the quality of lighting and visual comfort in building interiors, it is crucial to study the sun path and the quantity of sunlight in each given space.

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LEGOs are universal world-building units and a popular gateway into architecture. Of course, you can build almost anything with them, cars, spaceships, you name it, but buildings of all kinds — from police-stations to castles — are some of the most popular subjects. What makes LEGOs so appealing to young, and not-so-young architects? What, specifically, makes them a good analogy for the design of buildings? In this episode, Stewart purchases a box of LEGOs and uses it as a springboard to talk about what he’s learned from the toy block system. From lessons on modularity and proportion, to grammar and resolution, to compositional categories of additive and subtractive, the video breaks down how these fundamental concepts apply to both LEGOs and to the history and design of architecture.  

On March 9, what would have been Luis Barragán's 119th birthday, we commemorate Mexico's most celebrated architect and discuss his winning of the 1980 Pritzker Prize.

Fred Kent, the founder of the nonprofit organization Project for Public Spaces, once stated that “If you plan cities for cars and traffic, you get cars and traffic. If you plan for people and places, you get people and places." It may sound obvious, nevertheless, our cities today are indeed undergoing a rapid transformation from a car-oriented society to a pedestrian-friendly community.

This article was originally published on Common Edge as "Joan K. Davidson and the Fight for New York."

As income inequality has widened in recent years, the role of philanthropy has been called into question. Is charitable giving by wealthy individuals and powerful corporations always a positive force, or is that connection to wealth and power an inevitable compromise? Whose agenda does philanthropic giving really benefit, the grantees or the granters? These are complicated questions. But truly enlightened giving is a transformative force. It can not only fund worthy causes but if properly timed can sow the seeds of social change.

Videos

The Media Architecture Biennale 20 (MAB20) will take place as an online event from June 28th to July 2nd, 2021. This edition will shift the focus on media architecture from the aesthetic spectacle to societal improvement. How can media architecture contribute to better cities, civic engagement and sustainable ecosystems? The event will close off with the MAB Awards, highlighting outstanding projects in this newly emerging field at the crossroads of architecture, urban planning, interaction design, art, and informatics.

Now recall the last time you meet a client. Preparing a whole bunch of presentation materials including renderings, diagrams, floor plans, elevation plans and section plans is simply not enough. The hard part starts when the client got stuck with one or two renderings and simply wouldn’t let go.

American 19th-century sanitation engineer George E. Waring, Jr. was a miasmaist. He believed in the miasma theory, which holds that toxic vapors traveled through damp soil, rotted vegetation, and pools of standing water. These toxic vapors were understood to emanate from the Earth and interact with the atmosphere and cause disease in American cities.

According to Catherine Seavitt Nordenson, ASLA, a professor of landscape architecture at the Bernard & Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York, Waring was a “marginal figure,” but he had interesting ideas about how to “modify the climate to improve health.” In a virtual lecture hosted by the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Seavitt Nordenson said Waring was incorrect about the mechanisms for spreading disease —he didn’t understand the concept of vectors, like mosquitoes— but his drainage and sanitation solutions were “surprisingly successful.” A year into the coronavirus pandemic, it’s worth revisiting Waring’s ideas about the connections between the Earth, atmosphere, disease — and the maintenance of public spaces.