Known worldwide for pushing the limits of formal experimentation with reinforced concrete, Oscar Niemeyer relied in many of his works on the indispensable collaboration of a civil engineer as inventive and daring as the architect himself: Recife-born Joaquim Moreira Cardozo, who graduated in civil engineering in 1930 from the School of Engineering of Pernambuco, today part of the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE).

Responsible for the design of the Alberto Torres Rural School in 1936 – a project that already showed synergy with modern architecture at the time – Cardozo met Niemeyer while working at the National Historical and Artistic Heritage Service (SPHAN) in Rio de Janeiro. During this time, he developed the structural design for the Pampulha Ensemble in Belo Horizonte, inaugurated in 1943. This was the initial collaboration of a partnership that would last 30 years and find its most prolific period in the construction of Brasília.

Videos

The Media Architecture Awards are handed out to outstanding projects at the intersection of architecture, urban design and planning, media, art and interaction design. The winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on July 2 (15:00-16:15 (CEST). The award ceremony will be live-streamed. In the coming weeks, the three nominations for each of the five categories will be revealed here on ArchDaily.

+ 26

To create a cozier scale in large open-plan spaces or accommodate diverse uses under a single roof, defining areas through custom furniture design has become a highly effective solution. Serving as functional storage or even display units, shelving systems that double as room dividers can generate new perspectives, guide circulation, and foster greater permeability between different spaces.

The impact of the pandemic on urban centers has laid bare the issues we seemed to have been avoiding in recent years. Today, the historic downtown of Buenos Aires is one of the city's most affected areas. Desolate streets, absolute silence, and endless shuttered storefronts reflect the crisis currently facing the city's downtown.

+ 20

The CANactions youth competition was launched in 2009 by the Dessau Institute of Architecture (DIA / Germany) and CANactions School. The competition has become a professional "path to Europe" for Ukrainian students and young professionals. Since its launch, more than 1,200 projects have been received, among which 129 finalist projects have been selected by members of the international jury. This year's winner was Dmytro Yahodin with a reconstruction proposal for the Rikhert brewery in Kyiv.

Videos

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and TranSystems are redesigning one of Chicago busiest and oldest elevated rail networks. The Chicago State/Lake Station's new design offers improved accessibility, safety, and comfort to all passengers, and respects the surrounding historic fabric of the downtown area. The proposed design includes wider platforms, a hovering glass canopy, a new fly-over connection bridge, elevators, and street level enhancements.

+ 2

With its Shenzen project, design firm Morphosis reimagines the skyscraper typology, maximizing the flexibility of the floor plan through a detached-core scheme that shifts circulation, services and amenities to the building's exterior. Using a pioneering structural system, the project's spatial configuration diversifies the interiors' functional possibilities while reshaping the circulation routes within the building, with glass sky-bridges and large-scale steel braces knitting the core to the tower's main body. Completed in 2018 with a gradual opening that continues into 2021, the 359.8-metre tower is currently the tallest detached-core building in the world.

+ 12

The 20th Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Johannesburg-based practice Counterspace, directed by Sumayya Vally, opens today, on June 11, 2021, after 1-year postponement. On display until the 17th of October 2021, on the Serpentine Gallery’s lawn in Kensington Gardens, the project was captured by Mark Hazeldine. Check the exclusive photo series that highlights the story of the space.

+ 13

Gottfried Böhm, the first German architect to be awarded the Pritzker Prize, has passed away at 101, as reported by Deutsche Welle and WDR.

Marlon Blackwell Architects has designed a series of eight live-work Quonset huts as part of a larger development project in Fort Worth, Texas. Working with landscape architect Julie Bargmann of D.I.R.T studio and Studio Outside, the team created the proposal for Prince Concepts. The project has broken ground, and will include 5,500 square feet of office space and three retail locations, as well as a public park.

+ 2

Videos

Auckland in New Zealand has topped the ranking in the 2021 EIU's annual world's most liveable city survey. Classifying 140 cities across five categories including stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure, this year’s edition of the review has been highly affected by the global pandemic. Australia, Japan, and New Zealand took leading positions, while European and Canadian cities fell down the ranking.

+ 7

As part of the Dogpatch mixed-use waterfront development, Foster + Partner's Power Station extension has finally broken ground. The master plan will create multiple new residential, commercial, and recreational spaces, honoring its industrial past and reconnecting the community with the San Francisco Bay waterfront. The architecture firm's 2-building proposal provides the neighborhood with an ideal urban framework to help create a vibrant, healthy, and inclusive community.

With 38% of projects over budget and 35% behind schedule, according to the 42nd Annual Deltek Clarity Report, architecture firms are focusing on the fundamentals. This includes tracking metrics and adopting new technology to keep a closer pulse on performance and profitability. Many architecture firms have a ways to go as only 25% currently see their business as digitally mature, but 76% of firms envision firm digital sophistication in five years, according to the report.

Barcelona-based studio Barozzi Veiga has completed its first UK project, which will house Ravensbourne University’s Institute for Creativity and Technology. The building, whose interiors are designed by Brinkworth, is also the first to be completed within the Design District, London’s new purpose-built creative hub at the heart of the Greenwich Peninsula. Featuring a polished aluminium-clad façade that reflects the neighbouring buildings, the design engages with the surrounding context, while also referencing the area’s industrial past.

+ 27

Platform lifts. Swedish manufacturer ARITCO shows how architects can integrate them into residential properties without them looking like an afterthought – but rather a serious design statement.

Videos

The Proyectar a Conciencia competition aims to energetically modernize existing buildings through non-intrusive passive solutions, such as EIFS continuous exterior insulation technologies. This fourth edition was particularly special, adding the Chilean Chamber of Construction as a co-sponsor, tripling its prizes, and expanding the call for entries to the professional sphere.

The 20th Serpentine Pavilion, designed by Johannesburg-based practice Counterspace, directed by Sumayya Vally, will finally open on 11 June 2021. After its 1-year postponement due to the global pandemic, the temporary pavilion will stay on display until 17 October 2021, on the Serpentine Gallery’s lawn in Kensington Gardens.

+ 2

Located in the heart of Westminster, a short distance away from the Buckingham Palace, Henning Larsen are building a community hub that reimagines traditional office and commercial spaces. 105 Victoria Street will be the architecture firm's first ever project in London, providing visitors with an urban plaza that enables an active and social working environment both indoors and outdoors. The project is being developed by BentallGreenOak and is designed in collaboration with Adamson Associates Architects and KPF.

+ 1

The new Atelier collection from Italian manufacturer of porcelain-stoneware tiles Casalgrande Padana shows the power of softer colour tones.

Zaha Hadid Architects is collaborating with Hyperloop Italia to co-design the next phase of works of the transport vehicles, marking a turning point for the future of transportation. The collaboration aims to merge transformative architecture, engineering, and urban planning with the most efficient and sustainable transport network to improve accessibility, connectivity, and well-being in cities.

The Spanish Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism BEAU 2021 has announced the finalists for its 'Research Exhibition', 'Thesis Projects Exhibition', and 'Photography Exhibition' categories. The winners will be announced on July 2, coinciding with the opening of the event at the Patio Herreriano in Valladolid.

After completing One Vanderbilt, the tallest office building in New York, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates has unveiled plans for a new skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan. The 320-metre high office tower at 343 Madison Avenue makes the most out of its relatively small plot and the silhouette mandated by the New York City zoning laws, featuring a series of receding volumes that leave a way to gardens and terraces at different levels. When completed, the project will also create an important new transit entrance to the Long Island Rail Road and the Grand Central Complex.

To answer the Biennale's question of "How Will We Live Together", curators of the national pavilions explored what the future would look like in an architectural, cultural, and environmental context. Many saw the future as an entirely virtual environment whereas other highlighted the cruciality of physical coexistence with neighbors. ArchDaily met with Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli, curator of the Russian Pavilion, to discuss how the idea of the pavilion came together throughout the year as a virtual platform for interdisciplinary creative thinkers, the role of cultural institutions across physical and digital spaces, and how digitalization is always part of the conversation.

+ 26

Construction work began for Herzog & de Meuron’s transformation of a former power plant building in San Fransico into a mixed-use project. Designed in collaboration with California-based practice Adamson Associates, the adaptive reuse of iconic Station A is part of the Portrero Power Station project, the redevelopment of a 29-acre industrial site into an extension of the Dogpatch neighbourhood. Herzog & de Meuron’s design retains and repurposes various features of the industrial building while adding a lightweight, steel-framed structure on top, thus giving new life to one of San Francisco’s landmarks.