Author: Alyssa Wu | ArchDaily

Winning Proposal for Finland Bay Masterplan Transforms Industry into Innovation

Alyssa Wu — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 12:00:00 +0000

The City of Tampere, Finland has announced the proposal by Schauman & Nordgren Architects and Mandaworks as the winner of an open international competition for Hiedanranta Bay's new master plan. The design, entitled "Hiedanranta Innovation Bay," responds to the rapid growth of Tampere's central region. Over the next 20 years, the Innovation Bay will see the transformation of the former industrial district into an innovation hub for sustainable economic development, creating 10,000 new jobs, and housing over 25,000 new residents.

The Results Are In: 2016 Is a Record-Breaking Year for Tall Buildings

Alyssa Wu — Fri, 13 Jan 2017 08:00:00 +0000

In its annual report, the 2016 Tall Building Year in Review, the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has announced that 2016 saw the completion of a record 128 buildings 200 meters or higher. This number surpasses the previous record of 114 completions set in 2015. Eighteen of these buildings became the tallest in their city, country, or region, and ten earned the designation of supertall, at 300 meters and above.

This German House Sheds Excess to Provide Peace and Clarity

Alyssa Wu — Thu, 12 Jan 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Designed by Düsseldorf-based interior architecture practice Falkenberg Innenarchitektur, House Rheder II is designed as a serene retreat, shedding inessential features and integrating itself within the natural landscape. Framing views of the idyllic greenery of East Westfalia and gentle waters of the river Nethe, the project aims to dissolve the chaos of modern life.

Designing for Clients

Alyssa Wu — Tue, 10 Jan 2017 08:00:00 +0000

As every good design professional knows, the client is at the forefront of every project. Sometimes this can feel like the client plays judge, jury, and executioner to every last revision, and in a field as detailed and complex as architecture, satisfying these demands, as well as the designer’s own creative vision, can be bewildering and aggravating. But in the end, doesn’t adapting to another person’s tastes just push us to be better?

Now You Can Browse the Complete Works of Dutch Modernist Willem Marinus Dudok

Alyssa Wu — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 12:00:00 +0000

Dutch journalist Peter Veenendaal has completed a website that features all 136 built works by modernist Willem Marinus Dudok. Dudok, who was formally trained as an engineer, has been hailed as one of the Netherlands’ most influential architects, boasting a prolific career beginning with military barracks and encompassing numerous municipal buildings throughout Europe. Influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright, Dudok is remembered for his form-driven modernism, leaving his legacy in the work of later architects from the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.

MIT Develops Multi-Material Design System Slated to Become “Photoshop of 3D Printing”

Alyssa Wu — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 14:00:00 +0000

Following last year’s introduction of MultiFab, a multi-material 3D printer, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory has pioneered a system for designing multi-material objects. The new interface, Foundry, is meant to be accessible to non-programmers, whereas multi-material 3D printing technology has historically been prohibitive both with respect to cost and user-friendliness.

Get to Know the Great Zaha Hadid in this Tribute by Her Niece

Alyssa Wu — Fri, 06 Jan 2017 08:00:00 +0000

As we open to a new year, we would like to take a moment and remember one of the most significant lives lost in 2016: Iraqi-born British Pritzker Prize winner Zaha Hadid. While the narrative of Zaha’s trailblazing accomplishments are well-known, architect Rana Hadid celebrates her aunt’s memory from a uniquely poignant perspective in this new piece for the Guardian. Recounting Zaha’s early artistic prowess, fierce ambition, and earnest personality, Rana describes her as “the incredibly warm and generous Zaha who showed us we could do anything we wanted if we worked at it hard enough.”

This Spectacular Aerial Video Shows the Whole LA River Before its Transformation

Alyssa Wu — Wed, 04 Jan 2017 08:30:00 +0000

At its best, architecture has the power to confront the world’s most urgent social and environmental issues. The Los Angeles River sits at the center of many of these issues, thanks to the long-overdue plans to convert it from a concrete canal back into a social space and an ecological corridor; and thanks to its position as a symbol of the drought in California. In this serene video by filmmaker Chang Kim, the full length of the river is put on display, exploring a resource that is the topic of much debate in the Los Angeles area.

Four Practices Reveal Runner-Up Proposals in Lithuania's Science Island Contest

Alyssa Wu — Tue, 03 Jan 2017 04:30:00 +0000

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevičius of Lithuania announced three winners and five runners-up of the Science Island international design contest. The competition drew 144 entries from 44 countries, and among the three winners selected by the international competition jury, Kaunas City Municipality will choose one to realize their proposal, which is scheduled to open in 2018.

30-Hectare–Olive Grove Converted to Eco-Friendly Public Housing Development

Alyssa Wu — Fri, 30 Dec 2016 06:00:00 +0000

Philippe Barrière Collective (PB+Co) has created the urban plan for a new semi-rural/semi-urban development in Manouba, Tunisia. Utilizing an existing olive grove estate, the environmentally driven project includes collective housing pavilions among its ecological design composed of 4,475 salvaged olive trees, newly planted taller trees, and a wild botanical garden that fosters local biodiversity.

The Design Progress Through the Years

Alyssa Wu — Tue, 27 Dec 2016 08:00:00 +0000

At its best, architecture can be a dream come true: the physical manifestation of the creative architect's most exquisite design fantasies. Nowhere is this kind of creative liberty more pervasive than in architecture school—with few practical concerns for cost, policy, or even structural integrity, architecture students are free to execute the purest and most complex proposals their imaginations will allow. And indeed, as their representation and spatial skills progress, students gain the ability to realize more advanced interventions over time. In the real world, though...not so much.

Translucent Wood and Light Installation Brightens Children’s Hospital in Australia

Alyssa Wu — Mon, 26 Dec 2016 08:00:00 +0000

For children especially, hospitals can be anxiety-inducing and overwhelming space. New media studio ENESS aims to change that experience with their installation LUMES, a light-emitting wood piece, the first of which is now on display at Cabrini Hospital in Malvern, Australia.

Conceptual Monument Reveals Truth of Denmark's National Identity

Alyssa Wu — Fri, 23 Dec 2016 06:00:00 +0000

The Pillars is a new monument in the heart of Copenhagen dedicated to informing the public through a combination of national data and artistic beauty. Inspired by other nationally recognized works such as the 10,000 Year Clock in Texas; Mount Rushmore in South Dakota; and the Fühlometer (Feel-o-Meter) in Lindau, Germany, The Pillars encourages both citizens and leaders to understand the facts of their national development.

Thom Mayne Completes Research on Houston’s Urban Future

Alyssa Wu — Sun, 18 Dec 2016 14:00:00 +0000

Pritzker Prize winner Thom Mayne has completed a three-semester–long study of Houston’s future, given its current sprawling urban conditions and rapid growth. The project, conducted alongside 21 University of Houston students and faculty members Matt Johnson, Peter Zweig, and Jason Logan, focused on ways of addressing the problems that arise from Houston’s historical lack of zoning in conjunction with the largely unregulated growth of industry and capitalism. These approaches include reinventing the current energy infrastructure, changing real estate and density, and leveraging the lack of zoning to generate new ideas.

Storytelling Street Furniture Featured in URBE 2016

Alyssa Wu — Sat, 17 Dec 2016 16:00:00 +0000

From the 4-6 of November, the Mediterranean Real Estate Fair, URBE 2016, featured an installation by São Paulo architect and urban planner Guto Requena. The public artwork, entitled “Can you tell me a secret?” is a collection of temporary street furniture: a phone booth that records visitors’ stories and plays them back randomly into five wooden benches.

UC Irvine Announces Plan for Sustainable Active Learning Building in the Heart of Campus

Alyssa Wu — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 14:00:00 +0000

The University of California, Irvine has selected LMN Architects and Hathaway Dinwiddie Construction to design and build a new $46 million classroom and office building project. In the campus’s central greenspace, the new 70,000-square-foot building will promote diversity, group learning, and social interaction.

Dean & Deluca's STAGE by Ole Scheeren Debuts at Design Miami 2016

Alyssa Wu — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 12:00:00 +0000

STAGE, a protoype for a new chef-led fast food concept, has debuted last week at Design Miami. Designed by internationally renowned architect Ole Scheeren for New York-based gourmet market and food supplier Dean & DeLuca, STAGE highlights interactive preparation, presentation, and consumption of food as a dynamic cultural and social experience. The new service format will become part of Dean & DeLuca’s expansion throughout key north American cities in 2017.

New Mixed-Use Complex Expresses Past, Present, and Future of Chinese Culture

Alyssa Wu — Tue, 06 Dec 2016 06:00:00 +0000

Novotown is China’s latest cultural and creative incubator, designed by Aedas as an iconic destination on Hengqin Island in Zhuhai, China. Located just five minutes from Macau, the 120,000-square meter cultural and entertainment complex aims to straddle the roles of tourist destination and local icon.