Former Head of Content. Prior to assuming her role at ArchDaily, Becky worked as an editor for leading architecture firms OMA/AMO, BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group) and Reiser + Umemoto. She also worked as an editor for Princeton University School of Architecture and Harvard University's Graduate School of Design. She holds degrees from Princeton University, Harvard University and the School of Visual Arts.
JeanNouvelDesign, the studio led by French architect Jean Nouvel, presented their new collection of furniture during Paris Design Week. Among them is the Oxymore chair, designed by JeanNouvelDesign and produced by specialty group-seating manufacturer Figueras International Seating. This fetishistic chair, a result of research conducted at the Figueras Design Centre, has a singular cubic appearance that provides extreme comfort, softness. It is precisely this unapparent relationship between look and feeling that gives the seat its name—since an oxymoron means a union of contradictory elements.
Do you think your project has what it takes to win an INSIDE award? The entry period for this prestigious interior design award is now open! Divided into 12 categories -- which include Residential, Retail, Transport, Office and more -- entries will be judged by distinguished designers (judges confirmed for 2014 include Fabio Novembre, Matteo Thun, Jaya Ibrahim, David Kohn, Joyce Wang, Voon Wong and Chris Lee). In October, architects and interior designers will meet in Singapore for the INSIDE Festival, which is held alongside the World Architecture Festival. During the festival, the category winners will compete for the ultimate prize: World Interior of the Year.
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Glasgow has just unveiled its new multipurpose structure which will end up revitalizing the Clyde Waterfront, which went into decline and neglect for many years following the closure of the town's major shipyards. After 8 years of construction, Foster + Partners' SSE Hydro now reveals its ETFE facade which is lit up every evening. During the day it manages to blend in with the usual changing Glasgow skyline.
The structure of the SSE Hydro Arena is covered by a 1.400 ton steel housing – one of the largest domes in Europe - and the ETFE translucent building enclosure allows one to discern what is happening inside from the outside. A 260 ton ring which supports the lighting is suspended from the dome, which will allow spectacular and customized lighting for each show.
The modern technology applied to this project contrasts with its interior structure that has been based on the Roman amphitheater, allowing each and every spectator at an event -- which can be up to 13.000 -- to have an optimal view of the stage. The viewing angle and comfort of the user is furthermore guaranteed by the special seating system designed by Foster + Partners along with Figueras International Seating.
The Venice Biennale has released a list of 21 Collateral Events that will take place alongside the other official exhibitions during the 14th International Architecture Exhibition (June 7 - 23 November 2014). Selected by Rem Koolhass and supported by non-profit national and international institutions, these collateral events will take place around Venice and, in the words of the Biennale, will "enrich the diversity of voices that characterizes the Architecture Biennale."
President Paolo Baratta explained, “This announcement completes the number of organizations who despite being outside the boundaries of the Exhibition are exhibited in the city of Venice, and which contribute, along with a good number of participating countries that do not have a pavilion in the Giardini or in the Arsenale, to spread the 14th Exhibition by turning it into an urban phenomenon, that would engage every corner of the city."
See the complete list after the break. And make sure to keep up to date with ArchDaily's complete coverage of the Venice Biennale.
BANAMID Architecture Research Institute in collaboration with AN.ONYMOUS will hold the third International conference from the “Contemporary Architecture: Iran and the World Dialogue” series in Tehran, Iran. The conference, titled “From Autonomy to Automation: The Work of Peter Eisenman” will focus on the defining legacy of Peter Eisenman spanning across 50 years of his intellectual and professional body of work. The conference will trace the evolution of Eisenman’s work over time and will examine its imprint on the contemporary discourse of architecture.
From the Publisher. Christoph Gielen’s aerial views offer a look at America’s most aberrant and unusual sprawl forms in ways we usually don’t get to see them: from far above the ground—a vantage point that reveals both the intricate geometry as well as the idiosyncratic allure of these developments. Here, encountering sprawl becomes an aesthetic experience that at the same time leaves us with a sense of foreboding, of seeing the “writing on the wall”. At once fascinating and profoundly unsettling, these photographs detail the potential ramifications of unchecked urbanization. When these settlements were developed, neither distance from work place nor gasoline prices much mattered in determining the locations of new constructions. These places are relics from an era that was entirely defined by a belief in unlimited growth, of bigger is better. The startling extent of those practices, and their inherent wastefulness, come to light in Gielen’s pictures—as if looking at a microcosm of non-sustainability through a giant magnifier.
Contributing essays by Johann Frederik Hartle, Galina Tachieva, Srdjan Jovanic Weiss, Susannah Sayler and Edward Morris contextualize Gielen’s work by focusing on a range of aspects, from aesthetics to climate change and futurology. They also examine why taking a closer look at these places is particularly crucial at this juncture, when we are faced with a new wave of building booms in developing nations such as in China.
In time with the release of the 42nd issue, Human, Thresholds Journal — MIT’s peer-reviewed journal of art, architecture and culture — has launched a new website. The new ThresholdsJournal.com has been redesigned with more content, spanning the past two decades of the journal’s publication. Other features include online purchasing of past issues, enhanced search capabilities for past contributors, and social media interactivity. The new website will feature news on upcoming issues and related events, submission calls, as well as the broad range of voices that Thresholds has featured since 1992.
A jury of seven, consisting of three architects and four Statoil employees, unanimously chose Wingårdhs' design proposal—dubbed "E=mc2"—for the company's campus at Forus West in Norway. Four other firms were shortlisted along with Wingårdhs: Foster + Partners (UK) together with Space Group (Norway), OMA (the Netherlands), Snøhetta (Norway) and Helen & Hard (Norway) together with SAHAA (Norway). OMA, however, pulled out of the competition before the final submission.
The competition consisted of a proposal for an office building for 3500 work places and a masterplan for the entire Statoil property at Forus West. Wingårdhs' design features an elliptical, chamfered building that tapers to 16 stories, set within a masterplan that will give the company a high degree of flexibility for future development. Statoil announced on Thursday that "The jury sees the potential for [E=mc2"] to be a distinct identity carrier for Statoil, which will both strengthen the Forus area and give Statoil employees pride and inspiration. The project has a significant innovative nature through advanced technological solutions, which fits well with Statoil as a leading technology company. Its clear inclined surface towards the sun is suitable for Statoil's energy and environmental ambitions."
More information about Wingårdhs' winning proposal and images of the other teams' proposals can be found after the break.
Gasp! What provokes this reflex that leaves one short of breath? More than just a sudden turn of events, for discourse to move from gossip to scandal there have to be stakes. Reputations, profits, and history-by-the-winners are on the line.
The ‘Chronomanifestes’ exhibition by Bernard Tschumi, first presented at Les Abattoirs in Toulouse, will be re-exhibited again in 2014 at the Turbulences – Frac Centre. The radical period of architecture (Superstudio, Archizoom in Italy, Archigram in the United Kingdom to take just two examples) indeed proves itself extraordinarily rich in concepts and critical manifestos that challenge the discipline of architecture to form hybrids with artistic production and to advocate a political position.
