Articles

The New York firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) gained worldwide attention in 2002 with the Blur Building, designed for that year's Swiss Expo. The volume was formed by 35,000 high-pressure nozzles that sprayed water from the lake below, creating a massive artificial cloud. Its shape, boundaries, colors, and translucency shifted with the sun and wind, offering visitors an immersive experience as they entered a fully permeable volume. Ten years later, Carla Juaçaba and Bia Lessa designed Humanidade2012 for the Rio+20 United Nations Conference, where several programmatic volumes were arranged within a massive scaffolding structure. With more voids than solids, its edges dematerialized into the sky, and at night the volumes appeared to float. According to the architects, “the very movement of people through the building turned visitors into exhibits when seen from afar.” Despite differences in scale and context, both temporary projects succeed in working with notions of translucency, lightness, the dissolution of boundaries, and movement.

The Un-Habitat or the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development, whose primary focus is to deal with the challenges of rapid urbanization, has been developing innovative approaches in the urban design field, centered on the active participation of the community. ArchDaily has teamed up with UN-Habitat to bring you weekly news, article, and interviews that highlight this work, with content straight from the source, developed by our editors.

In this second collaboration with UN-Habitat, discover different examples on how to design with and for kids in marginalized areas. In fact, child-responsive planning leads to a vibrant and animated inclusive city. Focusing on spaces for children, this feature highlights cases in Bangladesh, Niger, and Vietnam. These public spaces implementation projects seek to promote environment-friendly livable cities, taking on participatory approaches and involving the youngsters from the beginning of the process. In the end, no one knows the needs of kids, more than the kids themselves.

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Team 10 and the 3 Pioneers: First Generation – Housing cooperatives in Uruguay are currently the country's most prominent form of cooperativism, though by no means the only one. This model transcends housing, having gained significant momentum in the first half of the twentieth century. For instance, Montevideo's transit company (CUTCSA) began operating as a cooperative in 1937. Specifically, while 843 cooperatives were registered in 1989, by 2017 this number had risen to 3,665 cooperatives across various sectors.

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Recent studies note the lack of growth in productivity and innovation in the construction fields. Quickly falling behind other sectors, this stagnation often leads to projects that are over-budget or over-schedule (or both). Part of this inefficiency could be combated by more effective coordination among the architects and various consultants during the design phase. Currently, an estimated 30% of project time is spent in coordination tasks within the team. A new Integrated Design tool aims to make collaboration more seamless, with the end result of more efficient communication and ultimately better buildings. 

According to the United Nation’s “The World’s Cities in 2018”, it is estimated that, “by 2030, urban areas are projected to house 60 percent of people globally and one in every three people will live in cities with at least half a million inhabitants.” Also, between 2018 and 2030, it is estimated that the number of cities with 500,000 inhabitants or more is expected to grow by 23 percent in Asia. China, as the largest economy in Asia, with a GDP (PPP) of $25.27 trillion, is expanding rapidly, both economically and demographically.

With more and more migrant workers coming into the bigger cities in China, it has become increasingly difficult for workers to find an affordable place to live. Some people decide to move away from urban centers and bear with the lengthy commute time, while others are seeking creative design solutions to transform their home into a tiny, functional space to meet their daily needs.

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Humans spend most of their lives inside buildings, whether to live, work, or play. COVID-19 further highlighted this issue during lockdown, underscoring the need to design healthier and more comfortable buildings.

This article presents several tips for designing healthier projects, highlighting the importance of a systemic approach that integrates diverse disciplines—including architecture, engineering, materials science, mechanics, physiology, and psychology.

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Academic experience in architecture must prepare future professionals for the urban, social, and community needs to which they will contribute their expertise. Through its International Experience Program (PEI), the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana enables students to put social housing theory into practice.

In this case, they present *Máquina Verde* (Green Machine), an adaptable modular prototype developed for the Ciénaga de la Virgen on Colombia's Caribbean coast. Explore the project in greater depth below.

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It’s no secret that tiny homes have become exceedingly popular in recent years – a signifier of minimalist bohemian living in response to the excesses of the current day. From reoutfitted RV’s to prefabricated Muji homes to futuristic Nestron pods, the world of architecture has seen a variety of tiny houses gain viral attention in the past decade alone. As this typology grows more widespread around the world, communities of these tiny homes have proliferated as well, popping up in North America, New Zealand, East Asia, and more. These communities combine the quaint lifestyle of minimalist living with collective spaces for social interaction, bringing together like-minded families and individuals into fashionable tiny neighborhoods. We will examine several such communities below.

The technology used in smartphone facial recognition or digital car keys has the potential to revolutionize the way people access and move through buildings. Many common aspects of building access systems today seem outdated in comparison to technological advances in other parts of our lives: PIN pads, security badges, key cards, even physical locks and keys. However, the technology already exists with the potential to make building access simultaneously more seamless and more secure.

New Generations is a European platform that analyses the most innovative emerging practices at the European level, providing a new space for the exchange of knowledge and confrontation, theory, and production. Since 2013, New Generations has involved more than 300 practices in a diverse program of cultural activities, such as festivals, exhibitions, open calls, video-interviews, workshops, and experimental formats.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront an acute awareness of infection control in building design, both in public spaces as well as our personal spaces like homes and offices. Infection prevention and control experts consistently advise that improved hand hygiene is critical in maintaining a safe and sanitary environment. However, handwashing is not as simple as it would seem at first blush. The faucet itself is a major infection vector unless careful precautions are taken. The obvious answer to increasing the effectiveness of hand washing is by reducing the danger of being re-contaminated by the faucet through hands-free operation.

On August 20, the landmarking process began for the scale model of Salvador, which is currently on display at the Associação Comercial da Bahia in the state capital [1]. The model, which will remain open to visitors by appointment until September 18, 2020 [2], was first conceived in the early 1970s by architect Assis Reis. Since then, it has been continually updated by a team of craftspeople from the Salvador Municipal Government to represent the city's urban changes, thus preserving the original vision behind its creation.

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The health crisis forced the MEXTRÓPOLI Festival to be rescheduled from March to September. However, months later, it remains an equally critical landscape. In Latin America, and specifically in Mexico, the number of infections continues to increase and the outlook does not present a close solution to the problem. That is why it was decided to move, once again, the Festival's face-to-face activities to March 2021, hoping that by then a safer scenario will be lived that allows to enjoy the activities already programmed, and some that can be added. then.

ArchDaily's theme of August 2020, How We Will Live Together, invites readers to contemplate the way we inhabit spaces with those around us. In this article, we address different aspects of coexistence in a world impacted by COVID-19 and the changes that need to be made in order to create a world where everyone has the space to live, work, and grow.

Nowadays, our day to day interactions with those around us hinge on social distancing, leading many to question--is this truly the best solution for curbing the spread of COVID-19? With people worldwide still reeling from the socio-economic upheaval caused by the pandemic, the concept of forcefully distancing yourself from friends and family, especially at at time when you most need them, seems just plain inhuman. While distancing is undoubtedly necessary, it seems more optimistic words would serve to better drive home the message. For example, a slogan like 6ft of Empathy maintains the necessary safety principles without stripping away the social element that humanity thrives on.

With a complex debate underway about monuments and the way we engage history, we should start thinking about a COVID-19 Memorial. Yes, I know we are in the middle (or is it still the start?) of this pandemic, but the intensity of the moment might actually help us envision what such a memorial could be. Instead of waiting for a time when we have more distance from our current catastrophe, we should capture the passions coursing through society right now.

One of the most prevalent themes in current discussions about the city is gentrification. Broadly defined as "when someone different from you moves into your neighborhood," this urban phenomenon is far more complex than that, involving issues of land use, real estate speculation, public and leisure spaces, and urban planning.

The Vale do Anhangabaú, or simply Anhangabaú, is the area of São Paulo that separates the so-called Centro Velho (Old Center) from the Centro Novo (New Center). True to its name, the Valley is the region bordering the stream of the same name—a somewhat ominous moniker that in Tupi-Guarani means “river or water of the evil spirit.” And indeed, judging by the various unsuccessful ways the space has been used over time, the “curse” embedded in its name seems to linger to this day. 

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The umbrella column or hollow vault (bóveda cáscara) is a reinforced concrete structure designed by Amancio Williams (Buenos Aires, 1913-1989) that, thanks to its form, has the capacity to support massive amounts of weight while independently maintaining its balance. In other words, it doesn't need any reinforcing structure, save for its singular column, to remain standing.

The studies surrounding bóveda cáscara in architecture were started by Williams in 1939, and resulted in numerous essays and small-scale models. The structures, specifically designed for high roofs and also known as 'umbrellas' or 'parasols,' are a prime example of the modern architectural movement in Argentina, distinguished by their experimentation in form and function.