The Mayor of Boston and SCAPE Landscape Architecture have collaborated on a vision to protect the city’s 47 miles of shoreline against climate change. The scheme lays out strategies which will “increase access and open space along the waterfront while better protecting the city during a major flooding event.”
The vision forms part of the Imagine Boston 2030 initiative while using the city’s Climate Ready Boston 2070 flood maps, targeting infrastructure along Boston’s most vulnerable flood pathways.
https://www.archdaily.com/904610/boston-publishes-radical-scape-plans-to-combat-climate-changeNiall Patrick Walsh
Los Angeles-based KTGY Architecture + Planning’s Research and Development studio has unveiled an idea to reuse millions of square feet of empty retail stores as housing for the homeless. The “Re-Habit” concept calls for the installation of bathrooms, dining, sleeping, gardening, and job training facilities, transforming obsolete big-box stores into agents of social change.
The concept comes at a time when vast big box stores such as Macy’s, JC Penney, and Sears are closing in record numbers, leaving large vacant footprints throughout the urban landscape.
No 1 Poultry, the iconic Grade II* listed landmark in London designed by James Stirling, has opened its doors as WeWork’s 28th London location. The Postmodern masterpiece now serves as a WeWork space for 2300 members, as well as shops, a roof garden, and a restaurant.
Paul Rudolph, despite vaulting to international success in the early 1940s and 50s for his Brutalist structures, saw an abrupt end to the popularity of his signature style as postmodernism gained prominence. As tastes shifted to different fare, so too did Rudolph's approach - leaving a number of his unbuilt proposals to gather dust.
Snøhetta has been announced as the winner of a design competition for the renovation of the avant-gardist Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers in Nanterre, France. The renovation seeks to breathe new life into the 1960s theater, known for its high-quality performances and global collaborations.
The renovations will include the addition of a 200-seat theater, and the reconfiguration of the building’s restaurant, bookshop, and atrium space, with an emphasis on flexibility and natural light.
https://www.archdaily.com/904425/snohetta-to-renovate-avant-garde-theater-in-nanterre-france-with-dynamic-extensionNiall Patrick Walsh
Toronto-based WZMH Architects has been recruited into Microsoft’s global Internet of Things (IoT) Insiders Labs, a program aimed at “transforming how people, devices, and data interact in every sphere of life.” The firm’s Intelligent Structural Panel (ISP) offers a “plug and play infrastructure” allowing a wide range of spaces and devices to be adapted, remotely-controlled, and optimized.
WZMH is the first architecture firm to be accepted into the program, which takes applications from organizations developing IoT and/or AI solutions.
https://www.archdaily.com/904320/microsoft-is-looking-for-architects-to-partner-with-for-the-future-of-smart-citiesNiall Patrick Walsh
Henning Larsen has completed their new campus for the French International School in Hong Kong, offering a “vibrant green oasis in the dense city.” The 1100-capacity school sits behind a kaleidoscopic façade laid across a grid of 727 multicolored tiles, offering a “vibrant sustainable environment supporting a world-class multicultural education.”
Located in the city’s Tseung Kwan O district, the 19,600-square-meter scheme comprises a series of large open plan spaces called Villas, each with 125 pupils in the same age group. The spaces are arranged around a central Agora, facilitating group activities and collaboration.
New York’s iconic Central Park was designed in 1858 by F.L Olmsted and C. Vaux, having been chosen in a competition against 32 other entries. The competition called for the design of a park including a parade ground, fountain, watchtower, skating arena, four cross streets, and room for an exhibition hall.
Of the 32 alternative entries, only one survives to this day. The sole survivor was drawn up park engineer John J. Rink. To give an indication as to how Rink’s plan would have aged in the Big Apple, NeoMam Studios and Budget Direct have published a set of visualizations derived from the design. Find out below what one of the world’s most iconic green spaces could have looked like if a 160-year-old decision had been different.
Opened on October 13th 2018, the scheme is set across a subtropical park in the southern Taiwanese city of Kaohsiung, occupying a former military training base to symbolize the city’s transition from a major international harbor into a rich, diverse, cultural hub, connecting local and international artistic talent.
The design for the tallest residential building in the world has been unveiled, situated in New York City. “Central Park Tower” by Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill architecture will stand at 1,550 feet (472 meters). The firm’s Jeddah tower in Saudi Arabia is also currently under construction, on track to be the world’s tallest tower.
https://www.archdaily.com/904133/the-tallest-residential-building-in-the-world-is-coming-to-new-york-cityNiall Patrick Walsh
The winning team explored the tectonic possibilities of intersecting shapes, investigating what happens with two different planes intersect. The resulting sculpture created two converging planes merging together to create an iconic ‘X’ which, when intersected by a cylindrical volume, creates a heart-shaped space.
https://www.archdaily.com/904130/reddymade-wins-the-times-square-valentine-heart-design-competition-of-2019Niall Patrick Walsh
The Basilica di Siponto by Edoardo Tresoldi has been awarded the “Gold Medal for Italian Architecture – Special Prize to Commission,” considered the most prestigious award in Italian architecture.
The wire mesh sculpture reinterprets the volumes of an Early Christian basilica which formerly sat on the site of the sculpture, adjacent to an existing Romanesque church. The scheme serves as a “bridge towards the memory of the place” allowing the public to contemplate time and history.
Anna Liu and Mike Tonkin of London-based Tonkin Liu have developed an innovative medical device for use in patients’ windpipes. The prototype stent is based on the firm’s signature Shell Lace Structure, a “single-surface structural technology designed and developed through a decade of research for architectural and engineering applications.”
Online shop Toffu has produced a stylish content library aimed at architects seeking to improve their Photoshop, Illustrator, or CAD drawings. Hosting a range of vector and cad format packs, the library's vibrant content is markedly different from standard black and white line figures.
The content is available in elevation, plan, and isometric format, featuring people, furniture, icons, vehicles, and vegetation. Check out the Toffu site here to explore their full content.
https://www.archdaily.com/903938/refine-your-visuals-with-toffus-premium-content-libraryNiall Patrick Walsh
Below, we have rounded up the 30 most influential architects in London, complete with examples of the architectural works which have put them on the city and world map.
Waugh Thistleton Architects’ ten-story Dalston Works project stands proudly as the world’s largest Cross Laminated Timber building in Hackney, London, having been completed in 2017. The 121-unit development made entirely of CLT from external to core walls, the scheme weighs one-fifth of an equivalent concrete building.
In addition to tackling London’s need for dense, high-quality housing, the scheme offers a methodology for implementing timber technology with a significantly reduced carbon footprint, such as an 80% reduction in the number of deliveries during construction.
Seattle-based Olson Kundig has released details of their second-place winner from the 2018 Land Art Generator competition, set in Melbourne, Australia. The “Night & Day” scheme combines solar energy with a hydro battery, generating enough power for 200 Australian homes, 24 hours per day.
The St Kilda-situated infrastructure proposal doubles as an artwork and pedestrian bridge, with a flagship 5,400-square-meter solar sail suspended above the St Kilda Triangle in Port Phillip city. After sunset, further electricity is generated through two turbines capturing the kinetic movement of water released through them.
https://www.archdaily.com/903828/olson-kundigs-hydro-solar-generator-proposal-could-power-200-melbourne-homesNiall Patrick Walsh