Starting tomorrow, April 8, the London city government will implement strict emission rules for pollutants and particulate matter in the central area of the city. The goal is to reduce air pollution levels. According to London Mayor Sadiq Khan, the measure could help reduce the incidence of lung disease and premature deaths related to air pollution. Official estimates suggest that around 9,000 people die annually in the city from pollution-related illnesses.
Casa Besign is a temporary project born out of the need to showcase the talent of interior designers, mostly from Puebla, as part of Besign México—a platform created to honor Puebla's 2015 designation as a “Design Capital” by UNESCO, connecting disciplines, key players, and companies in the fields of design, creativity, and innovation.
GoArchitect have launched a “fast-paced card game” aimed particularly at “raging architects,” challenging competing players to build a new city. Titled “CITY,” the game is currently in the process of development, with a Kickstarter campaign launched to fund the first batch. The game pits players against each other, with would-be tycoons trying to build a complete city while interfering with their competitors’ efforts.
Rozana Montiel has won the Global Award for Sustainable Architecture 2019, along with Werner Sobek, Ersen Gürsel, Ammar Khammash and Jorge Lobos. The award ceremony will take place on May 13, 2019 in Paris, France.
Today, Friday, April 5, the National Board of the Chilean Association of Architects (Chile) announced Miguel Lawner as the winner of the 2019 National Architecture Prize—the highest honor an architect can receive in the country, previously awarded to other renowned figures in past editions such as Germán del Sol, Enrique Browne, Teodoro Fernández Larrañaga, and Edward Rojas Vega.
Lawner served as the executive director of the Urban Improvement Corporation (CORMU) until the 1973 Chilean coup d'état, during which he was detained in concentration camps before being exiled to Denmark. Both from abroad and following his return, he has been recognized for his social housing projects, as well as his research and advocacy exposing human rights violations.
The Royal Institute of British Architects has published a new guidance for architecture practices on closing the gender pay gap as part of its commitment to support a diverse and inclusive profession. The RIBA’s guidance – Close The Gap – Improving Gender Equality in Practice – outlines best practice measures and initiatives, and the guidance is accompanied by a #CloseTheGap pledge. The RIBA is encouraging all Chartered Practices to sign up to the pledge as a demonstration of commitment to improving gender equality and ensuring that individual career prospects are independent of one's identity.
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The Bulgarian artist Christo will wrap the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris with recyclable blue fabric in his next work. The work, which will open on April 9 and last for two weeks, coincides with the artist's large exhibition at the Center Pompidou, which brings together works done in partnership with his late wife, Jeanne-Claude, during the period in which they lived in Paris.
Bjarke Ingels Group has released details of their proposed landscape urbanism project in Brooklyn, New York, transforming a six-lane highway into a connected realm between the city and waterfront. The scheme centers on the Robert Moses-designed Brooklyn Queens Expressway, dating back to the 1960s.
As part of UN-Habitat’s New Urban Agenda, Bjarke Ingels Group has proposed a vision for the world’s first resilient and sustainable floating community, designed to accommodate 10,000 people. “Oceanix City” is a response to the prediction that by 2050, 90% of the world’s largest cities will be exposed to rising seas, resulting in mass displacement, and the destruction of homes and infrastructure. The scheme is anchored in the UN Sustainable Development Goals, enacting circular flows of food, energy, water, and waste.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Rockwell Group's iconic Shed has opened after more than a decade in the making in New York City. The building features a 120-foot telescopic shell in Hudson Yards that can extend out from the base building when needed for larger performances. Clad in ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) “pillows,” the project is connected to the High Line on 30th Street to bring performances and art to the city's newest neighborhood,
Eight months after the agreement was signed, São Paulo City Hall will finally assume ownership of the Parque Augusta site, which until now has been held by developers Setin and Cyrela. The signing of the deed will take place next Saturday, April 6, during a ceremony held on the site itself.
Safdie Architects have announced an expansion to the Marina Bay Sands Resort in Singapore. Linking to the existing resort and waterfront development, the project takes cues from the original three hotel towers completed in 2011. Safdie Architects will expand the existing resort with a new stand-alone hotel tower with about 1,000 suites and its own sky roof and swimming pool, as well as a 15,000-seat music arena.
David Chipperfield Architects Berlin has won a design competition for a new headquarters for the Bayerische Versorgungskammer (Bavarian Pensions Fund) in Munich's Bogenhausen district. Designed in collaboration with landscape architects Atelier Loidl, the scheme is to be erected on the former Siemens site at 76 Richard-Strauss-Straße. Prevailing against 11 other submissions, the Chipperfield scheme was praised by the jury for its clear formal language, and highly-flexible floor plans.
Skidmore Owings and Merrill have unveiled their design for the Kempegowda International Airport Terminal 2 in Bengaluru, India. The new air travel hub for the region, the SOM terminal reimagines the airport as a landscaped, serene transportation experience, conceived by the airport commission as a “terminal within a garden.” The project’s first phase of construction is scheduled to be completed in March 2021, when it will serve 25 million annual passengers.
Danish firm Dorte Mandrup have designed a new skyscraper to become Western Europe’s tallest tower in Brande, Denmark. Rising over 1000 feet, the project is sited in a rural Danish village of 7,000 people. Dubbed Bestseller Tower, the project will be visible from 37 miles away in every direction. The skyscraper will include offices for the Bestseller fashion company, a hotel, and a “village” of green retail pavilions. The company aims to make the skyscraper "climate positive" as part of their sustainability goals.
At Casa da Arquitectura, the sounds of Brazil are heard every day at the exhibition “Infinito Vão – 90 Years of Brazilian Architecture,” but in April, this intersection of music and architecture will be further strengthened. Zuza Homem de Mello—a leading figure of jazz in Brazil, musicologist, journalist, radio host, and music producer—is the central figure of this programming, which includes the Illustrated and Musical Lecture “90 Years of Brazilian Song – 1928 to 2018,” the concert “Brazilian Music, Portuguese Musicians,” the presentation and screening of the documentary “Zuza Homem de Jazz,” and a poetic performance inspired by Clarice Lispector starring actress Camila Pitanga.
Every four years, the city of Olympia hosted athletic competitions in honor of the god Zeus. During this period, time stood still: the city-states declared a truce and wars were suspended. These festivities were known as the Olympic Games. These new activities required new building typologies; architecture was put at the service of sports, a tradition that continues to this day.
For the third edition of the Youth Olympic Games, held in Buenos Aires, architects from across the country participated by creating various spaces. The multidisciplinary team from Galpón Estudio, along with Gruba and Hacelo Sonar, among other professionals, led the creation of Espacio Infancia, which invites visitors to awaken their senses. Running, climbing, walking, pausing, observing, listening, imagining. Learn more about the project in the words of its designers.
Los Angeles based architect and curator Francois Perrin has passed away. Perrin was diagnosed with a rare form of brain cancer in January, 2019, and passed away on April 1, 2019, in Ventura County, California. As the founder of Air Architecture, the Paris-born architect worked in Southern California while remaining professionally active in France. He is known for his creative and inventive approach to materials, and for his ability to rethink everyday life through his work.
