Architect, Urban Designer, and Managing Editor at ArchDaily. Beirut, Lebanon.
The Architectural League of New York has announced the winners of the 41st cycle of the annual Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers. Open to young architects and designers ten years or less out of a bachelor’s or master’s degree program, the award seeks to recognize visionary work by young practitioners and encourage the development of talented young architects and designers.
In 2021, CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati’s proposal to create sustainable alternatives for urban heating networks was selected as one of four winners of the global Helsinki Energy Challenge. The project entitled Hot Heart proposed “island-like, floating seawater reservoirs to heat the city of Helsinki in a green way”. Using Twinmotion, Epic Games’ real-time visualization platform for the architecture industry to design the intervention, the large scale infrastructural project needed a digital representation tool to possibly put scale into perspective, offer a real immersive experience to engage the client, and exhibit instant changes related to natural factors such as daylight. Come SpaceForm, a data-driven virtual presentation and design tool. Created to facilitate remote cooperation, the technology allows clients or stakeholders to be more immersed in the story of the design.
The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies and The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design have announced the winners of the "Europe 40 under 40" program for 2021-2022. The selection gathers emerging architectural and design talents spread across Europe from Albania, Austria, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, The Netherlands, and Turkey.
“During these challenging times, it is crucial to keep insightful visions alive. Presenting Europe’s most hopeful personalities in the fields of architecture and design is what gives us hope for a better tomorrow”, explains the official brief. Providing an insight into the architectural scene in Europe, the program initiated by The European Centre highlights the next generation of young architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and industrial designers currently under the age of 40, who will impact future living and working environments, cities, and rural areas.
The annual QS- Quacquarelli Symonds World University Rankings has announced the 2022 top universities. Covering 51 different subjects, the index rates universities across the globe according to academic reputation, employer reputation, and research impact. With few changes to the top 10 in the 2022 Architecture/ Built Environment category, MIT remained in the first position, for the third consecutive year, also topping the charts for the general QS World University Rankings.
Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands took the second place while UCL, in the United Kingdom, came third. ETH Zurich, Harvard, and the National University of Singapore (NUS) maintained fourth, fifth, and sixth place. The Manchester School of Architecture was upgraded to seventh position this year, moving the University of California, Berkeley (UCB) to eighth place and the Tsinghua University in Beijing, China to the ninth. Politecnico di Milano, in Italy, remains a non-mover at 10.
Global Finance's ranking of the world's best cities to live in, during 2022 has just been released. Centered on 8 different parameters that calculate and compare the quality of life of people living in urban areas such as economy, culture, population, environment, etc., this year’s edition also took into consideration Covid-19 deaths per thousand for each country, to reflect the new reality we live in. With data from the Global City Power index, Johns Hopkins University, Statista, and Macrotrends, the list seeks to have a complete vision, putting together traditional metrics with new factors.
Claiming the first position is London, U.K, a city that although didn’t get high rankings in its Covid-19 metrics, still topped the list, mainly due to its scores in culture, accessibility, and population growth. Tokyo was selected for the second position, showing weakness in one parameter, population, as its numbers have been declining for the past 10 years. Shanghai followed next, in the third position, because of relatively low Covid-19 death figures and strong population growth. Singapore and Melbourne came in 4th and 5th positions.
The 2022 laureate of architecture’s highest honor, the Pritzker Architecture Prize is Diébédo Francis Kéré, known as Francis Kéré, Burkina Faso-born architect, educator, social activist, receiver of the 2004 Aga Khan Award for Architecture and designer of the 2017 Serpentine Pavilion. Recognized for “empowering and transforming communities through the process of architecture”, Kéré, the first black architect to ever obtain this award, works mostly in areas charged with constraints and adversity, using local materials and building contemporary facilities whose value exceeds the structure itself, serving and stabilizing the future of entire communities.
“Through buildings that demonstrate beauty, modesty, boldness, and invention, and by the integrity of his architecture and geste, Kéré gracefully upholds the mission of this Prize,” explains the official statement of the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Announced today by Tom Pritzker, Chairman of The Hyatt Foundation, Francis Kéré is the 51st winner of the award founded in 1979, succeeding Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal. Praised “for the gifts he has created through his work, gifts that go beyond the realm of the architecture discipline”, the acclaimed architect is present equally in Burkina Faso and Germany, professionally and personally.
Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize announced the full list of jurors for its fourth edition, chaired by Sandra Barclay of Barclay and Crousse Architecture, and just released the nominated projects comprising 200 built works in North and South America, for MCHAP 2022 and 50 projects for MCHAP.emerge 2022.
While women make up an equal part of the population, they are not equally represented when imagining, planning, designing, and constructing the built environment around the globe. Thriving to rebalance forces and close the gap of gender inequality, the world is moving slowly but surely into a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive future. Looking back at 2021, this year has seen the selection of Lesley Lokko as curator of the 2023 Venice Biennale, Anne Lacaton winning with her partner Jean-Philippe Vassal the 2021 Pritzker Prize, the 6th woman to ever receive the award, and the MAXXI Museum celebrating the transformative role of female architects in the profession's evolution over the last century.
The 2022 Women's International Day, according to the UN is centered on “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, focusing on females involved in building a sustainable future, while the official platform of the 8th of March is concentrating its efforts on breaking the bias and eliminating discrimination. Recognizing every single day the female force that shapes the built environment, ArchDaily on the other hand, turned to its global audience this year, seeking input to shed light on even more women architects, from the four corners of the world. Always trying to reach new realms, this selection of 25 professionals is looking to adjust the historical narrative by highlighting pioneers of the field, to present established practitioners molding the world we live in, and to share profiles of activists and scholars, implicated in change.
The "2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize Laureate will be announced on March 15th at 10 am EST", states the official website of the Prize. Architecture's most relevant recognition is set to reveal its laureate(s) next week, aligned with the usual March announcement. “Architecture’s Nobel Prize” has been honoring every year, since 1979, a living architect or architects with significant achievements to humanity and the built environment.
On the 24th of February 2022, Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Set to become Europe’s largest refugee crisis and armed conflict in this century, so far, this war has mobilized people across the world in order to exert pressure on authorities and put a stop to the armed hostilities. Individuals, as well as institutions in the architectural field, have taken part in these acts of solidarity, issuing statements, condemning actions, and even halting their work in Russia. From the UIA to MVRDV to Russian Institutions such as Strelka, the architecture world is denouncing the acts of violence and supporting an immediate cease of fire.
The built environment destined for everyone is still, to this day, not envisioned by everyone. Last year on Women’s day, we stated that “the battle for equality is far from over”. Highlighting continuously women architects and gender-related topics, this year, ArchDaily is turning the tables and seeking guidance from our audience. We highly value our reader's opinions, and now more than ever, we are seeking your input, to reach more realms and shed light on unfamiliar female figures to the international scene.
In your opinion, who are the female architects missing from our platform? Help us put the spotlight on women implicated in the built environment and nominate major female characters from across the globe, so that we can adjust the narratives, feature their work, and share knowledge and tools for a more inclusive world. These women can belong to any part of history: from young upcoming forces to established individuals or firms to figurines that were part of architecture's history. They can also have diverse professional backgrounds, from architects, planners, designers, to builders and decision-makers, all profiles involved in shaping the environment that surrounds us are eligible.
The 2022 winter stations competition revealed its 3 winning projects, selected from worldwide submissions alongside three student designs from Ryerson University, University of Toronto, and the University of Guelph. Back for its eighth edition, after a one-year hiatus, the competition, launched by RAW Design, Ferris + Associates, and Curio in 2015, will once again “draw people outside to enjoy the Beach in the winter” and the projects will take over the lifeguard stations at Toronto’s Woodbine Beach.
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The Open International Competition for the Development of an Architectural Concept for the Galiasgar Kamal Tatarian State Academic Theatre has announced its results. The consortium including Kengo Kuma & Associates was granted the first place, while the second place went to a proposal led by Asif Kahn Studio and the third place to Coop Himmelb(l)au and his team.
Babyn Yar, a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, witnessed the killing of more than 33,000 Jewish men, women, and children, on September 29 and 30, 1941. The site of one of the largest single massacres perpetrated by occupying German troops against Jews during World War II, Babyn Yar became a symbol of the Holocaust by Bullets.
While the main tragic event took place in 1941, throughout the occupation, the site was used as a killing location by the German forces. In fact, it is reported that 70 to 100 000 people lost their lives in Babyn Yar. With no architecture to the tragedy and only a remaining “broken” landscape, people struggled with achieving memorialization and public recognition.
Founded in late 2017, named one of the "Most Innovative Companies in the World" in 2020, and selected as ArchDaily's Best New Practices of 2021, ICON is a construction company that pushed the boundaries of technology, developing tools to advance humanity including robotics, software, and building materials. Relatively young, the Texas-based start-up has been delivering 3D-printed homes across the US and Mexico, trying to address global housing challenges while also developing construction systems to support future exploration of the Moon, with partners BIG and NASA.
Featured on Times’ Next 100, as one of the 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future, Jason Ballard, CEO and Co-Founder of ICON spoke to ArchDaily about the inception of the company, worldwide housing challenges, his ever-evolving 3D printing technology, and process, his partnership with BIG, and the future of the construction field on earth and in space.
American artist Theaster Gates unveiled his design for the 21st Serpentine Pavilion. Curated for the first time by a non-architect, the 2022 edition named Black Chapel, “will pay homage to British craft and manufacturing traditions”. Realized with the architectural support of Adjaye Associates, the pavilion will open to the public on Friday 10 June 2022, in Kensington Gardens.
Conceived in 1977, and currently, in progress, The Mastaba, Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s largest permanent artwork in the world, is designed for Abu Dhabi, to be built in a proposed location approximately 160 kilometers south of the city in the desert of Liwa, in the United Arab Emirates. Made from 410,000 multi-colored barrels, the installation will create “a colorful mosaic, echoing Islamic architecture”. 150 meters high, 300 meters long at the vertical walls and 225 meters wide at the 60 degrees slanted walls, the duo’s final project will take at least three years to be built, once it receives governmental approval.
Stating that “design and sustainability are indissociable”, the 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, centered its nominations on social inclusion, sustainability and circularity, and aesthetic research. So far, 40 shortlisted projects are moving to the next level. The biennial contest that gives tribute to works completed within the previous two years in general, will announce the 5 finalist works in February 2022, and the winner in April 2022.
Focused on 3 main titles, "the European city: a model for the sustainable smart city", "defining common European culture while reflecting the diversity of expression" and "an architecture that has social impact and transmits a cultural message", we have grouped the selected projects, nominated by a jury formed by Tatiana Bilbao, Francesca Ferguson, Mia Hägg, Triin Ojari, Georg Pendl, Spiros Pengas and Marcel Smets to give a better understanding of the selection criteria and the architectural situation in Europe.
