Dining room at Maison Louis Carré, contemporary designs by Esa Vesmanen and minä perhonen, photo: Yuji Ono
This exhibition presents an ongoing, cross-cultural design collaboration between Finnish interior architect and designer Esa Vesmanen and the Japanese brand minä perhonen. Within the interior of Maison Louis Carré, Vesmanen and Akira Minagawa—artist, designer, and founder of minä perhonen—integrate the influence of Alvar Aalto into their shared creative dialogue. Minagawa, inspired by Nordic design culture, shares with Esa Vesmanen a deep interest in tactile materials and craft-based techniques. Their design discussions inspired a special edition of Vesmanen's Finom lighting line, which explores the possibilities of paper-thin plywood, continuing Aalto's legacy of experimenting with wood's formal potential.
Can academic projects explore new directions and contribute to public discourse on global and local issues? The 2024 Politecnico di Torino Students Award aimed to address these questions, showcasing how architectural research, training, and experimentation can be integrated into a school curriculum.
Politecnico di Torino is ranked among the top 10 architecture schools in Europe (QS World University Rankings by Subject 2024 - Architecture and Built Environment). With over 3,000 students, the Department of Architecture and Design offers a Bachelor's degree in Architecture and three Master's programs—Architecture for Sustainability, Architecture Construction City, and Architecture for Heritage—all featuring dedicated English tracks. The Department offers also two Bachelor's and one Master's programmes in Design.
As global urbanization accelerates, the demand for forward-thinking urban development and construction strategies is more pressing than ever, with an estimated 80% of the world's population expected to live in cities by 2080—particularly in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia. From 26 to 29 November, Big 5 Global, together with co-located events LiveableCitiesX, GeoWorld and Future FM, will host five strategic summits, bringing together 1,500 leaders from both government and the private sector to shape the future of urban communities.
Highlighted submissions. Image Courtesy of Buildner
Buildner is pleased to announce the results of its second annual Architect's Chair Competition, which received excellent ideas from around the globe. As this competition series gains traction and interest, Buildner is excited to announce the launch of the Architect's Chair Edition 3 competition with a registration deadline of January 15, 2025. Buildner has also published its first book on the topic, highlighting key ideas and outstanding projects past editions.
By now, most people in the construction industry know that addressing the carbon emissions that come from the built environment is key to solving the climate challenge. Yet, knowing where to start can be a challenge for many professionals. That's why education and upskilling across the value chain—from architects to urban planners, and real estate developers to engineers—are essential to fostering sustainable construction practices.
With a longstanding dedication to empowering designers and beautifully bringing their ideas to life, SketchUp software offers an intuitive, comprehensive 3D modeling toolset straight out of the box. Still, users can supercharge its capabilities with a range of powerful extensions.
SketchUp's Extension Warehouse features hundreds of plugins for everything from animation and urban planning to interior design and architecture. These tools eliminate repetitive tasks, improve accuracy, and streamline workflows, allowing designers to customize and enhance their SketchUp experience. But with so many extensions to choose from, diving in can feel daunting. Get started with this list of the top 11 SketchUp extensions to extend and customize your workflows.
Fresh/Salt: Design Thinking for Coastal Adaptation
Jeffrey Huber: Jeffrey Huber, FAIA, ASLA, NCARB, LEED AP, WEDG is a principal and manages the South Florida studio of Brooks + Scarpa. In addition to practice, Huber currently serves as a Professor of the School of Architecture at Florida Atlantic University. He holds master's degrees and licenses in both architecture and landscape architecture. A distinguished architect and landscape architect, Huber's work specializes in public realm projects that combine ecological, landscape, urban, and architectural design. He has advanced sustainability initiatives in soft cities, agricultural urbanism, green school design, missing-middle housing, transit-oriented development, low-impact development/green infrastructure, and adaptation/transformation design methodologies to address emerging and future climate disruptions.
Buildner has announced the results of the Kharkiv Housing Challenge, the first competition in a two-part series focused on rebuilding Ukraine. Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, has been deeply affected by the ongoing conflict, and this competition is part of a broader effort to rebuild its housing and public spaces.
Over the past two decades, the Holcim Foundation Awards has committed USD 20M to spotlight transformative projects by architects, designers, and engineers who pioneer sustainable design and construction practices. To capture these stories, the Foundation launched a short film series titledWords withWinners.
This series provides an in-depth look at award-winning sustainable design projects through exclusive interviews with their creators. It includes one of the first films to showcase the BIG U, also known as the DryLine, in its built form, featuring an exclusive one-on-one with Bjarke Ingels, Creative Director and Founder of Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
Serapool, a leading brand in porcelain pool tiles and complementary porcelain products, has been innovating and producing sustainable design solutions for residential, spa and wellness centers, hotels, water parks, and Olympic-size pools globally for 40 years. The brand's holistic approach to pool design has led to a comprehensive porcelain collection that includes pool tiles, stair nosings, pool copings, porcelain pool grates, infinity tiles, concealed overflow handles, terrace nosings, and rain channels. With years of expertise in the industry, the company stands as a leading example of innovation, consistently delivering safe and long-lasting products.
The Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp is planning a comprehensive redevelopment of its site to create a future-oriented campus that integrates and enhances scientific, medical, and educational activities. For this, it is collaborating with the Vlaams Bouwmeester through an Open Call procedure (OO48), in which designers can apply until November 11, 2024.
KONG KONG ARCHITECTURE - Hong Kong City Architecture User Guide
The book [KONG KONG ARCHITECTURE - Hong Kong City Architecture User Guide] has won the 2024 Good Design Award in the Media & Content category, announced on October 16, 2024. As the first architectural book to win this award, it offers a fresh approach to understanding architecture, specifically focusing on offering an accessible guide to appreciating the structures that surround us in everyday life.
The history of modern architecture has been well covered in classical surveys that traced the developments of this major movement that dominated the architectural landscape of the 20th century until the beginning of the 1970s, when a major contesting movement appeared on the scene, labelled as Post-Modernism. This book explores the different tendencies that affected the developments of the past six decades, beginning around the 1960s, when a new wind started to blow from within Modernism, leading to different reactions and counter-reactions. This book provides a survey of contemporary developments, starting with an introductory chapter on the transitional period of the 1960s and then examining the different movements that followed, charting a middle course between the 'aesthetic' histories that examine architecture solely in terms of its formal aspects, and the 'ideological' histories that subject it to a critique that often skirts the discussion of its formal aspects.
Aerial photograph of RICA's Firsy Year Farm and Upper Student Housing. Photo: Iwan Baan
Continuing Professional Development Lecture Series for Professionals
Following the success of its previous three seasons, the CAA is pleased to announce the launch of Season 4 of its Continuing Professional Development Lecture series for professionals.
