Articles

The Midnight Charette is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by architectural designers David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features a variety of creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions. A wide array of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes provide useful tips for designers, while others are project reviews, interviews, or explorations of everyday life and design. The Midnight Charette is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.

This week Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet discuss strategies for acing your job interview! The two answer questions from callers and discuss preparation, the essential mentalities to have, talking and behavior tactics, what to bring and wear, asking for the right salary, finding out what the interviewers are looking for in the interviewees, and closing the interview. Call or text their Design Companion Hotline to ask your questions or to share your stories at 213-222-6950.

From revitalizing degraded green spaces to hosting collaborative games, events, and workshops, there are numerous volunteer initiatives capable of transforming a city's landscape and the lives of its residents.

In addition to serving as vital forms of social participation, community collectives and volunteer-driven initiatives facilitate dialogue between public authorities and local communities. This collaboration yields numerous benefits, particularly in reshaping how we interact with our cities.

OPEN Architecture’s anticipated project Chapel of Sound has finally topped out on November 15th with the pouring of its broad concrete roof.

The project, which is expected to open in the summer of 2020, includes a semi-outdoor amphitheater, an outdoor stage, and viewing platforms, overlooking the mountainous rural area of the Jinshanling Great Wall. 

Encompassing a Buckminster Fuller–designed geodesic dome and an Alexander Calder sculpture, the intervention shows how the city is rethinking its world’s fair treasures.

The contemporary urban fabric of Montreal, perhaps more than any other Canadian city, was shaped by a single event in its modern history: the 1967 International and Universal Exposition, popularly known as Expo 67. With its record-breaking number of visitors, it was the most successful world’s fair of the 20th century and fueled a construction boom in the city that stretched into the late 1970s.

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India’s uprising from a dependent to an independent governance altered the way it was perceived by the world. The country’s evolution left architects and urban developers with important questions: How can they solve the economic and environmental disparities in India, and how can they implement an understanding in people about the potential of what they can achieve with their country’s culture and resources.

In a new extensive video interview by Louisiana Channel, Indian Pritzker Prize-winner Balkrishna Doshi narrates how he became an award-winning architect, his traditional Hindu beliefs and culture, and India’s juxtaposition of having nothing to keeping up with a world that is creating everything.

A quality public transit system does not depend on buses alone: its overall quality is also directly linked to adjacent elements—such as bus stops. In all cities participating in the QualiÔnibus Benchmarking Group, bus stops were identified by the public as one of the most problematic components. But what can cities do to improve them?

Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an increasingly common acronym among architects. Most offices and professionals are already migrating or planning to switch to this system, which represents digitally the physical and functional characteristics of a building, integrating various information about all components present in a project. Through BIM software it is possible to digitally create one or more accurate virtual models of a building, which provides greater cost control and efficiency in the work. It is also possible to simulate the building, understanding its behavior before the start of construction and supporting the project throughout its phases, including after construction or dismantling and demolition.

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In regions with high temperatures and intense solar radiation, buildings must ensure adequate thermal comfort for their occupants. To this end, the use of brise-soleils is an effective solution for projects featuring large glass surfaces, thereby reducing heat gain from direct sunlight.

Wherever there is a center, there is by necessity a periphery. This in itself should not generate any headlines; we live in a world of centers, and peripheries that continually stretch those centers, whether it be politics, countries, or societal norms. It also applies to architectural practice. In a complex, interconnected world, members of the architectural profession around the world are constantly expanding into new peripheries, generating new visions for how practice should operate, influenced by technological, political, cultural, and environmental changes.

The adaptability of architectural professionals in Brazil is indisputable. Confronted in recent years with crises of various kinds that have hindered the execution of work and, perhaps even worse, immersed in a structure that systematically undervalues the profession, the professional, and the project, the vast diversity and high quality of current production is remarkable. 

In recent years, people started to regain interest in a movement that dates back to the last century; a movement, first introduced during the 1940s and 1950s, through the works of Le Corbusier and Alison and Peter Smithson. With monolithic structures, modular shapes, and impressive massing, Brutalism highlights architectural integrity. This movement is highly characterized by rough, raw, and pure surfaces that underline the essence of the substances in question. Spread across the globe, architects have adopted and developed their own vision of this modern movement, creating contextual variations.

In the midst of all the chaos currently taking place in the city of Beirut, we look back on the Lebanese capital’s hidden Brutalist gems. To shed the light on a movement that's often neglected and forgotten, Architect Hadi Mroue created a series of images that highlight the Lebanese Brutalism movement as well as its evolution as an important part of the Lebanese modern heritage.

In a recent analytical exercise, we examined the main narratives surrounding Brazilian inequality for an internal training program at the Pólis Institute. It came as no surprise that income occupies the center of the debate, whether in media outlets or academic studies. Our goal with this study was to understand how the Right to the City [1] can contribute to analyses of inequalities and serve as a tool of struggle to close the gap between citizens.

Earthen construction remains highly relevant today, spanning the preservation of architectural heritage, new projects seeking sustainable horizons, and numerous training programs offered by institutes and universities. Yet we cannot overlook one of the major driving forces behind this building material: self-construction. Thanks to its technical advantages and accessibility, communities worldwide have chosen to build their settlements with earth. Consequently, construction becomes a collective exercise where every individual can contribute to shaping a shared future.

In this article, we look at how the NGO Terrachidia works with the community of Mhamid in Morocco to rehabilitate public spaces chosen by local residents. Supported by volunteers, they rescue regional building traditions, successfully preserving and highlighting the local knowledge embedded in places where the pursuit of modernity has led to abandonment, but which remain deeply valued by those who inhabit them.

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Real estate speculation is undoubtedly the greatest villain singled out by those who study, inhabit, or are simply interested in cities today. It gets blamed for practically every urban problem: whether a city is too dense or too sprawling, choked with traffic or prohibitively expensive; whether local politics are corrupt or the poor are marginalized to the periphery; whether corporations profit from public investments or public infrastructure lies idle; whether historic heritage is destroyed, new buildings alter the cityscape, or informal settlements are burned down. The list is endless.

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Wood is a very easy-to-work material, allowing professional and amateur builders to manufacture simple objects and structures without major problems. However, when thinking about larger-scale housing or buildings, it's important to take certain precautions that ensure good quality and good construction behavior. To this end, it's essential to evaluate every project and analyze which connection system best suits its structural and aesthetic needs.

We spoke with the experts of Simpson Strong Tie, a leading company in structural connectors, anchors, and fastening systems, to learn more about these topics. Here are six important lessons and tips for building safer and more resistant wooden houses and buildings.

Located in the historic neighborhood of San Ignacio in the city of Bilbao, Spain, Levante Square is a prominent gathering point for residents and visitors alike. To address the lack of covered spaces protecting from the heavy rain, Spanish architecture office CANOBARDIN has designed a solution for users: a concentric structure titled "A Piece of Sky in Levante Square" that allows people to inhabit the public space and find shelter without losing touch with their surroundings, acting as a piece of the sky by day and a reflection of the square by night.

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Throughout November 2019, Venice has been inundated with the city's worst floods in half a century. Photographs and videos spread across the world showing the city’s iconic St Mark’s Square underwater, with a 2-meter-high surge threatening irreparable damage to historic sites such as Saint Mark’s Basilica. While the city has been battling rising water levels since the 5th century, the recent floods, set against the context of climate change, have spurred debate about how coastal cities are vulnerable to rising sea levels, and how the damage can be mitigated against.

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Glued Laminated Wood (Glulam) is a structural material manufactured through the union of individual wood segments. When glued with industrial adhesives (usually Melamine or Polyurethane resin adhesives), this type of wood is highly durable and moisture resistant, capable of generating large pieces and unique shapes.

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