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.

After the success of the original guide-book on underrated Soviet architecture, Garage Museum of Contemporary Art is publishing an English version of the bestselling guide: Moscow: A Guide to Soviet Modernist Architecture 1955–1991 in a new digitalized format with six new chapters.

+ 5

The history of the spaces presents an important diversity throughout the world, which corresponds to different geographical, economic and cultural moments and conditions. Technology plays an important role since the constructions through which time has passed also work with a kind of sample that breaks down all the advances and ambitions in force of the time, leaving reflections that it are important to keep today.

Videos

The challenges associated with the provision of adequate and affordable housing around the world demand that architects respond with original solutions that challenge traditional building forms, typologies and methods of delivery.

PLANE–SITE brought together the architects of four inventive housing projects. These projects represent a diversity of approaches to similar housing challenges across radically different global contexts. From the redensification of European urban centers to the rapid urbanization of the tropical Asian megacity, these radical housing models challenged existing paradigms in order to advance resident well-being as their principle design concern. In contrast to Schumacher’s divisive speech, the panel illustrated projects that were deliberately designed to promote community life and social interaction between residents – and in some cases also with other citizens in spaces that blur the line between public and private.

Architecture and design studio Hello Wood have created a line of "smart" outdoor furniture for educational institutes and public communal spaces. The two furniture pieces, Fluid Cube and City Snake, re-introduce modular public structures in a contemporary and sustainable way.

+ 7

The global need to find more sustainable ways to meet new demands is one of the most compelling catalysts for the reuse of materials or structures in contemporary architecture. In the field of scenography, repurposing materials to construct stage sets has long been a reality. Professional practice in this field deals with the representation of a scene, using temporary elements designed to stimulate the spectator's imagination. In this context, the work of scenographer Renata Mota has paired repurposing with the reuse of materials—either discarded or donated—that have lost their original function, using them to craft sets for performances, exhibitions, and other events.

Videos

Automation is rapidly becoming a normalized part of many people’s daily lives and careers, a trend which has by no means evaded the construction industry. While this increasingly pervasive technology is often considered a symptom of the contemporary 21st century, however, one automated construction technology may have a history stretching as far back as the 1960s. This technology, the bricklaying robot, has transformed dramatically since its limited realization over 50 years ago, splintering into newer, more technologically advanced variations today.

In Brazil, an increasing number of people are choosing to live in apartments rather than houses. Mirroring this trend, the supply of residential buildings with diverse floor plans and typologies has grown at a similar pace. In this context, and aiming to evoke the feeling of a standalone house, developers are increasingly offering lofts and duplex apartments. These layouts foster spatial openness, functional design, and enhanced natural light and ventilation through large openings and glass expanses. Additionally, double-height ceilings establish a visual connection between different floors, among other features that provide greater comfort to residents.

Continuing our series of articles studying social housing in Latin America, Nikos A. Salingaros, David Brain, Andrés M. Duany, Michael W. Mehaffy, and Ernesto Philibert-Petit present a reflection on the problems and solutions of favelas. Read the previous articles and the new piece below.

This article was originally published on Common Edge.

Every field has its heroes. In architecture, heroic designers have often been celebrated both for their skills and as public personalities. Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn were icons in the 20th century. In the 21st, Zaha Hadid was as bold and evocative as her buildings, and she became a “starchitect” (to use the industry-specific parlance), her untimely death further elevating her to what-might-have-been status. But heroes are only human, and their deaths do not automatically convey a permanent place in the pantheon. They do, however, allow for a fresh perspective on the living.

In the fields of architecture and engineering, the term "span" refers to the distance between two structural supports, typically describing the uninterrupted space between the columns of a building's load-bearing frame. Several notable spans have achieved fame for their impressive scale, particularly in public and civic projects, such as Lina Bo Bardi's MASP and Paulo Mendes da Rocha's MuBE, both in São Paulo. Yet, large spans can offer spatial generosity and visual freedom in any project, including those on a smaller scale.

A person living in Moema, a neighborhood with one of the highest income concentrations in São Paulo, lives 20 years longer than someone born in Cidade Tiradentes, in the far east of the capital. Brazil's wealthiest city exposes just how unequal the country is, and how much access to public policies varies depending on where one lives. 

What happens when the sensor-imbued city acquires the ability to see – almost as if it had eyes? Ahead of the 2019 Shenzhen Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB), titled "Urban Interactions," ArchDaily is working with the curators of the "Eyes of the City" section at the Biennial to stimulate a discussion on how new technologies – and Artificial Intelligence in particular – might impact architecture and urban life. Here you can read the “Eyes of the City” curatorial statement by Carlo Ratti, the Politecnico di Torino and SCUT.

Media Architecture is a merging of new technologies and the built form in order to explore narrative and to imbue character, to engage people and create new dialogues through a layer of meaningful experience. 

It isn’t a new concept - telling a story about a building through its form, particularly the facade of a building, has been around throughout history;- just think of York Minster’s stained glass windows, St Mark’s Basilica in Venice, and the Meenakshi Temple in Tamil Nadu.  What is exciting now is the opportunities brought about by technology to create new narratives and new forms of human interaction. 

Videos

The 5th edition of Portugal's PNAM (National Wood Architecture Prize) was awarded on November 8 at the Monastery of Alcobaça. Organized by the Association of Wood and Furniture Industries of Portugal (AIMMP), the Portuguese Chamber of Architects (OA), and the Portuguese Construction and Real Estate Confederation (CPCI), the biennial award is open to Portuguese architects who choose wood as a primary material for their projects.

Discover the award-winning projects below. 

The Minha Casa, Minha Vida (MCMV) program was a cornerstone of federal housing policy under recent administrations. By financing new affordable housing, MCMV incentivizes developers to build in areas far from urban centers. This occurs because performance metrics focus solely on the number of units delivered, creating a strong economic incentive for developers to build far from downtown areas, where land is cheaper. Consequently, many of these developments are distant from job opportunities and basic services, as well as isolated from public mass transit networks, which are structurally unsuited to serve low-density peripheral areas.

In late October, the Guardian’s architecture critic Oliver Wainwright reported that the United Kingdom’s first architecture union had been formed. The Section of Architecture Workers (UVW-SAW) is a section of the United Voices of the World, a new model of grassroots trade union that supports the expansion of union ideals to professions and sectors which traditionally did not have such representation. The launch of the union, and the reasons behind it, serve as the latest episode in long-running concern over the working conditions faced by architects in the UK and across the world.

For the past four years, Avenida Paulista has come alive with color, dance, music, and a vibrant flow of pedestrians and cyclists on Sundays and holidays. This is the result of mobilization by civil society organizations and the public, which in 2015 led the São Paulo Municipal Government to establish the Paulista Aberta Program as part of the city's Ruas Abertas (Open Streets) initiative. Since then, one of the state capital's busiest avenues has served as a stage for economic, cultural, and leisure activities, while providing a vast, free space for physical exercise.

Widely used in infrastructure, gabion walls are structures made of mesh metal cages filled with stones. These permeable walls use galvanized steel wire to withstand outdoor conditions. 

+ 57

These river journeys are intended for on-site research, documentation, and data collection focusing on rivers. They are conducted by researchers from the Fluvial Metropolis Group of the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo (FAUUSP), coordinated by Professor Alexandre Delijaicov. Each researcher maps out their itinerary based on personal interests, yet shares a common goal: to gather design references for fluvial infrastructure architecture, expanding the research group's imaginary and repertoire. The driving question for the researchers is: how do people relate to the river waters flowing through their metropolises, cities, or towns within the built environment along the riverbanks? The boundary defined by the elements of land and water is the starting point for this observation.

Rua Miguel Calmon has been the stage for significant transformations in Salvador. Until the early 20th century, before the land reclamation that created the left side of the street and a new port for the city, it was called Rua do Cais and was bordered by the sea. A century later, this street in the Comércio neighborhood has become the first Complete Street in the capital of Bahia, standing as a symbol of the interventions revitalizing its historic center.

A lot can change in a city within one year; from demolitions, to reconstructions and project completions, a city's urban fabric is constantly being altered. During the past 4 years, Chilean architect and photographer Francisco Ibáñez Hantke of Estudio Ibanez has put together a photo-series titled Non-Structures, which focuses on London's urban regeneration and transformation and captures its various moments of ruins, planning, process, and eventually, complete architecture.

+ 16

Changtteul Church, is an old place of worship in Gyeonggi-do, South Korea, that gets its name from the term "changtteul", meaning "a frame containing a window", in Korean. As its name suggests, the building's character lies in its series of windows, giving the visitors both outside and inside a unique experience of light and scenery.

Designers Hanyoung Jang and Hanjin Jang of studio minorormajor utilized the windows of Changtteul as a metaphorical motif for their design concept: the first being the 'window between man and God', and the second being ‘the window between man and nature’, immersing the abandoned religious facility with dramatic experiences.

+ 15

Mars has been notable for capturing humans' interest, intriguing business moguls such as Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos to go on a "billionaire space race" and settle on the planet. But does humanity have the right to colonize another planet? If so, who does this sky-high ambition serve? 

After centuries of using wood for the development of window and door carpentry, the Rationalism of the 20th century began to adopt a new material for these purposes: steel. Driven by industrial production, and promoted by architects such as Adolf Loos, Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier, steel was evolving to generate increasingly thin and resistant frames. However, efficient and low-cost materials, such as aluminum and PVC, gradually began to replace its widespread use, increasing the size of the frames and losing steel's "clean" aesthetic when applied to a growing architecture of large glass paneled facades.

At present, new technologies have refined their production processes, developing minimal profiles of high rigidity and precision, which take full advantage of the transparency of the glass and deliver new comfort and safety features. We talked with Jansen's experts to deepen our understanding of their application in contemporary architecture.

Text provided by MasilWIDE. The Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism was held for about two months, came to an end in great success on November 10. First carried out in 2017 under the theme of 'Imminent Commons', the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism (hereinafter Seoul Biennale) gathered 450,000 people in the first year and marked the beginning of the Seoul Biennale. This year, the much-expanded scale and interest of people were able to be seen as the attendance numbers of the first year was already exceeded in October, at the height of the Biennale.