This guide covers a workflow that moves from project parameters to generated floor plans, 3D perspective views, exterior design exploration, and site context visualization, using AI tools in place of preliminary CAD and rendering work.

The choice of Lacaton & Vassal to receive the 2021 Pritzker Prize was, above all, emblematic. Under the mantra “never demolish, never remove or replace, always add, transform and reuse”, the French duo built a career focused on renovating buildings, providing them with spatial quality, efficiency and new programs. Their approach contrasts with most of the architecture we are used to honoring: iconic, imposing and grandiose works. It also contrasts with the notion of the tabula rasa, of building and rebuilding from scratch, so well represented in Le Corbusier's Ville Radieuse, and which has fascinated architects and urban planners ever since.

Whether because of the sustainability demands currently in vogue, or simply because there are already enough buildings around the world, the task of rehabilitating spaces and buildings has been seen as an important driver of change. The focus is generally to center efforts on interior spaces, paying special attention to the environmental quality and comfort of the inhabitants, in addition to adapting the uses to contemporary demands. The main question revolves around how to update (and even automate) the buildings of the past to adapt to new needs for efficiency, sustainability and well-being.

Creating a compelling visualization that communicates your design intent and gets stakeholders on board is no easy feat. While designers have plenty of visualization tools to deploy— from powerful rendering engines to the simplicity of pen and paper — there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to visualization. As your design evolves, you may need multiple renderings at various levels of detail. 

According to Jim Kessler, Director of the Visual Media Group at Jacobs, "When a design is in flux and conversations with the clients are taking place, a photorealistic rendering signals completion of the project and that design changes are no longer possible. Whereas, a non-photorealistic rendering visual suggests a sense of flux and has a huge artistic element to it, which architects gravitate towards."

We know that lighting is probably one of the most powerful means of influencing the perception of a space in terms of its geometry. Only through light does color become color, and matter becomes relevant.

Last year, architect Danish Kurani completed a new tech lab in New York City in partnership with Black Girls Code. As a place where young women from all over New York can come together to learn about technology, the revamp project includes 3,900 square feet of space at Google’s New York offices that were turned into a tech exploration lab.

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Contract furniture that counters the radical changes of our time with elegant design and optimal functionality is what Portuguese specialist Fenabel offers. Discover their new collection at supersalone, Hall 03 k18.

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Guerrero is a state in the southwest corner of Mexico that shares land borders with the State of Mexico, Morelos, Puebla, Oaxaca, and Michoacán and a coastline with the Pacific Ocean. With over 64,281 km² of territory, it is the twelfth most populated state in Mexico. It's capital city is Chilpancingo de Juárez and it's most populated city is Acapulco de Juárez.

This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights museum projects submitted by the ArchDaily community. Through examples from all around the world, the article explores how these spaces of knowledge and discovery are designed to inspire and inform.

Featuring a vertically developed art museum in Finland, a structure that merges with the landscape in China, or a maritime museum shaped by the conditions of the shoreline in Brazil, the round-up spans various kinds of museums and art spaces, as well as different attitudes towards the built or natural environment. The following projects reveal the ideas that shape museums in different contexts, illustrating diverse approaches towards what constitutes an institution of learning.

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MUDA-Architects was founded in 2015 in Beijing, China, and Boston, USA, establishing its Chengdu office in 2017. MUDA features an international team of architects composed of creative designers from diverse global backgrounds. The firm brings forward-thinking concepts, extensive experience, high professional standards, and unique creativity to the fields of architecture and design. MUDA’s design portfolio spans public, cultural, and commercial buildings, as well as urban design, landscape architecture, and interior design.

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Archivo de Ideas Recibidas is an interdisciplinary research and dissemination project that aims to record and connect the ideas of individuals who contribute to the contemporary creative ecosystem through art, design, and architecture. It is built on conversations between the team and various creators, exploring themes related to memory, academia, cultural context, their primary influences, and working methodologies.

Finnish architect Alvar Aalto was a pioneer of modern architecture and design, especially in his use of organic, naturally derived materials. When he decided to embark on a career as an architect, he traveled to Helsinki, the only place where he could find academic training in the profession. His journey did not end there, however, as his work can be seen around the world. Here, we have mapped out 20 of his most notable works that must be seen up close and in-person to truly be appreciated.

In 1963, the exhibition “Nordeste” inaugurated the Museum of Popular Art of Unhão in Salvador. Despite the promising backdrop for Lina Bo Bardi to launch the museum project within the restored premises of Solar do Unhão, its activities were cut short after only a year. This temporary and sole exhibition open to the public relied on loans from various private collections and museum archives to present a vast assembly of diverse objects, inviting the general public to understand the value of popular craftsmanship. The exhibition, which the architect would have preferred to title ‘Civilização Nordeste’ [Northeast Civilization], exposed class attitudes that had little to do with an understanding of what she termed the "progressive attitude of popular culture linked to real problems." (BO BARDI, 1963)

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The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.

A variety of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes are interviews, while others are tips for fellow designers, reviews of buildings and other projects, or casual explorations of everyday life and design. The Second Studio is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.

This week David and Marina are joined by Phyllis Lambert, an architect, the Planning Director of the Seagram Headquarters, and the Founding Director Emeritus of the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montréal.

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The COVID-19 pandemic deepened the crisis of urban centers, especially those whose vitality, like Rio de Janeiro's, is closely tied to commercial and service activities.

Lockdown mandates and the rise of remote work substantially reduced foot traffic, which previously sustained a range of local businesses—especially bars and restaurants, small retailers, and cultural venues.

When we look at African architecture, we see the architectural diversity of a continent which has been shaped and moulded into its present form by a combination of internal and external factors. When we look at African architecture, there is also a tendency for certain regions to take precedence over other parts of the continent. The Tropical Modernist works of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew in Ghana and Nigeria, for example, are extremely well documented. So is the extremely well-preserved colonial-era architecture of the Eritrean capital of Asmara. Yet, there seems to be parts of the continent that “slip under the radar” in African architectural conversations – and the book Architectural Guide: Sub Saharan Africa is a welcome addition to African architectural scholarship.

One of the big economic factors of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the issue of tenant evictions and rent moratoriums. As millions of people quickly lost their jobs, it meant that they began to struggle to pay their rents. Now, as the economy slowly begins to recover and some return to work, there’s been pushback on the moratoriums, with landlords and tenants being split on how to move forward with the future payments. Tenants still can’t pay their rent and landlords themselves are burdened by the lack of income. But what this tug of war really sheds light on is how out of reach the costs of living have become in some of the densest cities, and how housing in some ways has been seen as an amenity, not a necessity or a basic right- even in a global pandemic.

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Architecture 2030 is calling on all architects, engineers, planners, and individuals involved in the building sector worldwide to design all new projects, renovations, landscapes, cityscapes, and infrastructure to be zero carbon starting now.

With the building industry responsible for 50 per cent of material consumption worldwide, GROHE sees huge potential for innovation here and is putting the Cradle to Cradle® design concept at the heart of its product development.

Artist collective Space Saloon recently completed the inaugural Public Art and Ecology Artists-in-Residence in the Okoboji region of Northwest Iowa. Observing local landscapes and diverse ecosystems, the team created a series of temporary installations, site-specific sculptures and multi-species performances. Working in association with Imagine Iowa Great Lakes and the Iowa Lakeside Lab, the process led to a series of public events reimagining how to engage regional ecologies.

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In this week's reprint from Metropolis, the National Gallery of Victoria, a thought-leading institution surveys the ever-expanding fields of speculative and critical design in Australia, through the work of Formafantasma.

This article by Diego Navarro-Mateu, Oriol Carrasco, and Ana Cocho-Bermejo was originally published under the title "Diseño inverso para superficies doblemente regladas: aproximación geométrica y optimización del hypar de la Iglesia de Nuestra Señora del Valle de Félix Candela" in issue 27 of the Dearq journal on July 1, 2020 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.18389/dearq27.2020.08). The following text proposes a reverse engineering/design methodology based on evolutionary computation to discover the hidden, primal hyperboloid that forms the roof of the Church of Nuestra Señora del Valle (Spain), a legacy of the work of architect Félix Candela.

It is presented here as part of a joint collaboration to help disseminate the research, analysis, and opinions developed by the national and international academic community on architecture, urban issues, and related fields.

The climate crisis, resource scarcity, and socio-spatial inequality are among the challenges currently facing the architectural discipline and the construction industry. In the Chilean Altiplano—a territory marked by a wealth of natural and cultural treasures contrasting with the scarce natural resources of the desert—the Fundación Altiplano invites us to rethink heritage restoration through the lens of sustainability, community-based conservation, and participatory processes. Developed and implemented alongside the communities themselves, this model leverages ancestral knowledge and local materials, offering not only answers but also critical questions for navigating our turbulent contemporary context.

Questioning the new now, especially with the new challenges of Covid-19, around the world, cities are advocating for structural change and collective action. Berlin questions, an annual, multi-day conference and a platform for transdisciplinary dialogue, in its 2021 edition “Metropolis: The New Now”, tackled the immediate present, creating a place for debate. Dedicated to local solutions to global challenges, the event took on a hybrid format, at various locations in Berlin and online, resembling the world we live in.

ArchDaily had the chance to meet up with the winner of the Iconic Awards 2021 in the Architects of the Year category Dorte Mandrup, architect, founder, and creative director of Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter at Berlin Questions, to discuss the firm’s latest project in the German capital, the Exile Museum and to reflect on her career and visions.

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Morelos is a state nestled in the south-central region of Mexico, surrounded by the states of Puebla, Guerrero, Estado de México, and Mexico City. With just over 4,893 km² of territory, it's Mexico's second smallest state. It's capital and largest city is Cuernavaca.

The historical Roman town has been busy at work and new exciting buildings, squares, and public parks have bloomed across the city. Since my first trip to Zürich in 2014, a lot has happened around good old Turicum.

After a compelling trip organized by Visit Zürich and my friend Philipp Heer, we were able to visit some of the newest, most interesting and uplifting places of the city. Flitting hither and thither, Roc Isern, David Basulto, and I enjoyed the privilege of a tailored itinerary, access to Zürich's gems, and perhaps the most inspiring, the architects behind these amazing structures.

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