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.

This article was originally published on CommonEdge as "An Amazon Correction: The City Won – and the Company isn't Going Anywhere."

The Amazon brouhaha needs clarification: the company is not “pulling out of New York.” It’s simply canceling the construction of a physical campus in Long Island City, the fastest growing neighborhood in the city for almost a decade. The fate of that neighborhood reflects the outsize development trend of the larger city and the erroneous assumption that construction means growth. But let’s leave the bigger picture aside for the moment.

For a couple of years students at Belgrade’s Fakultet savremenih umetnosti have been designing posters dedicated to architectural masterpieces. The series, titled Architecture – Strictly Minimal, is part of the course Contemporary Architecture and Design and school’s Interior Design module. Presented with a template, each of the students was tasked with selecting a piece of architecture he or she found fascinating and then designing a single figure. The language applied throughout the series was formulated intentionally as a means of reducing the given piece to a single and eye-catching motif. This minimalist gesture was imagined as revealing something special about this same work of architecture.

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Designing a home is an experience that nearly all architects have either already had or will encounter over the course of their careers. However, balancing the future residents' requests with technical requirements brings daily challenges, whether due to tight budgets or limited space—both of which can serve as intriguing catalysts in architectural practice. As a result, architects are often challenged to maximize the residential program within a constrained footprint.

This article was originally published on Metropolis Magazine as "Game Changers: Architect Zena Howard is Using Design as Urban Healing." Metropolis' annual Game Changers series highlights those in design who are pushing the field forward.

Transforming urban centers can be slow going when the process is rooted in community engagement. But within the next five to ten years, historically African-American neighborhoods in Charlotte and Greenville, North Carolina; Miami; Vancouver; and Los Angeles will experience major change, thanks to architect Zena Howard, who leads Perkins+Will’s cultural practice in North Carolina.

The results of the National Catalog of Modular Schools Competition in Peru were recently announced, with a single winning team unanimously selected for all five categories across their respective bioclimatic zones: Coast, Rainy Coast, Highlands, Frost, and Rainforest. Remarkably, this team was formed by an alliance of several highly influential architecture firms in the country, as evidenced by the caliber of their proposals. What made this outcome so compelling was that unity and diversity prevailed in a competition that seeks to foster those very principles through architecture and education.

However, there is an important detail in the competition's process—and processes are journeys worth remembering. The project developed by the architecture offices leonmarcial + Ghezzi Novak was awarded first place by the jury in the Highlands Catalog category; however, it was disqualified for failing to meet the required documentation. Such situations are common in architectural competitions, where regulations must ultimately be upheld.

Beyond the outstanding projects that ultimately won, what happens to those left behind? What becomes of all that valuable material? They, too, deserve visibility, as they represent efforts that should lead to some outcome. We are committed to sharing quality architecture, and this project, given its winning caliber, is undoubtedly one of them.

Videos

The increasing use of air conditioning is causing many cities to hit record energy consumption levels during brutally hot summer months. In populous countries like India, China, Indonesia, Brazil, and Mexico, large urban centers function like ovens: buildings absorb heat that is re-released back into the environment, further increasing the local temperature. More heat outside means more air conditioning inside, which not only raises energy consumption, but also increases the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

With this vicious cycle in mind, a paint was created to protect buildings and urban structures from excessive solar radiation, diminishing the effect of the urban heat island. The innovation came from the partnership of UNStudio, a Dutch architectural firm, and Monopol Color, a Swiss paint specialist. The dark-colored materials that are used to construct the buildings in our cities are one of the main causes of heat accumulation in urban areas. While darker materials absorb up to 95% of the sun’s rays and release them straight back into the atmosphere, this value can be reduced to 25% with a normal white surface. Now, with ‘The Coolest White’, it is possible to reduce absorption and emission to 12%.

Le Corbusier’s statement, “a house is a machine for living in,” forecasted a future where the house would become an engineered product of standardized, easily-duplicable pieces for an ideal city, while also achieving its ultimate functional purpose: the well-being of its inhabitants.

The curatorial team of the fifth edition of the Tallinn Architecture Biennial (TAB), for which ArchDaily is a proud partner, has announced the winner of their installation program “Huts and Habitats”. The winning proposal, Steampunk, designed by SoomeenHahm Design, Igor Pantic and Fologram (UK), was chosen from a shortlist of more than 137 international submissions.

Guilherme Essvein de Almeida's doctoral dissertation presents an analysis of two major works of contemporary architecture: the Casa da Música in Porto, designed by Rem Koolhaas, and the Cidade das Artes in Rio de Janeiro, designed by Christian de Portzamparc. Defended in 2018, the dissertation was advised by Prof. Dr. Carlos Eduardo Dias Comas as part of the graduate program at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Read the author's abstract and find the link to the full dissertation below.

If you look back at who has been awarded the Pritzker Prize in previous editions, you will realize that anything is possible. Over the last three decades, the world's most renowned architects have received it, helping to shape public discourse around current trends and ideas in the field of architecture. Recent years have been no exception: in 2014, for instance, Shigeru Ban's humanitarian work sparked a widespread discussion on the social role of architects; and in both 2016 and 2018, awarding the prize to Alejandro Aravena and Balkrishna Doshi served as a continuous reminder that "architects are at the service of society."

However, just as the selection of the Pritzker Prize can shape public debate, it is also influenced by public opinion. Consequently, a month ago we asked our Ibero-American readers from ArchDaily en Español and ArchDaily Brasil to share their thoughts on the potential winners. We conducted a poll on who should win the 2019 Pritzker Prize, offering a selection of architects we thought stood a chance, along with the freedom to nominate their own candidates—always keeping in mind not who is likely to win, but who should win.

Enquanto meio de representação da arquitetura, a fotografia apresenta qualidades indiscutíveis. Com ela, é possível apresentar a um público distante obras erguidas em qualquer lugar do mundo, de vistas gerais a espaços internos e pormenores construtivos - ampliando o alcance e, de certo modo, o acesso à arquitetura.

Entretanto, como qualquer outra forma de representação, não é infalível. Na medida que avanços tecnológicos permitem fazer imagens cada vez mais bem definidas e softwares de edição oferecem ferramentas para retocar e, por vezes, alterar aspectos substanciais do espaço construído, a fotografia, por sua própria natureza, carece de meios para transmitir aspectos sensoriais e táteis da arquitetura. Não é possível - ao menos não satisfatoriamente - experienciar as texturas, sons, temperatura e cheiros dos espaços através de imagens estáticas. 

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Materials, products, and construction systems are constantly evolving and following new technologies, discoveries, and market trends. The question is: are we, as architects, evolving with them? We have heard about robots working on construction sites, responsive and intelligent materials and the continued rise of 3D printing, but is it all white noise at the moment of starting a new design? More importantly, could these new systems continue to progress without sensitively and effectively taking people's quality of life into account?

How should we use materials—both in their traditional forms and in their future conceptions—so that our projects are making relevant contributions to the way we are inhabiting our planet?

In order to evolve, we have to know how, so it' s worth beginning a discussion around these issues.

While the next edition of the Venice Biennale for Architecture is still more than a year away, the Art Biennale sister event is right around the corner. Ghana, for whom this will be their first ever foray into the major art event, has announced their pavilion lineup and designer - none other than Sir David Adjaye.

Just like the architectural elements that make up built space - floor, walls and ceilings - natural elements are also capable of creating spaces in large-, medium- and small-scale areas, in places like public and residential gardens.

According to Brazilian landscape architect Benedito Abbud, "Landscaping is the only artistic expression in which the five senses of the human being participate. While architecture, painting, sculpture and other visual arts use and abuse only the vision, landscaping also involves smell, hearing, taste and touch, providing a rich sensory experience by adding the most diverse and complete perceptual experiences. The more a garden can sharpen all the senses, the better it fulfills its role. " [1]

Below we list some of the key elements of landscape planning and design. See the principles and learn why you should never randomize the placement trees!

When we think of energy from renewable sources, the first that probably come to mind are solar and wind. And decentralizing power generation is something that has inspired engineers and inventors from all over the world.

So what about turning the mechanical energy generated when people walk into electrical energy? It can be done thanks to technology developed by Laurence Kemball-Cook,founder of Pavegen. Using platforms inserted within sidewalks Pavegen converts steps into electric power (while also generating data and even rewards). But before you go out there feeling like Michael Jackson in Billie Jean, you should understand how this system works.

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Videos

Through its Seminar on Culture and Contemporary Reality, Escola da Cidade invited Pedro Abramovay, Eduardo Ferreira Valério, and Paula Santoro to discuss social rights and the city. This topic has become increasingly urgent and sensitive when discussing any possibility of a democratic and empathetic city. In this video, the panel discusses some of the historical roots and contemporary issues surrounding this theme.

Videos

In a profession as complex as architecture, resistance to change is common. Adopting new technology brings new challenges. Nevertheless, as ​technology moves forward, architecture practices keep pace with it to stay relevant.

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Global Warming is causing a series of changes in our climate, and as a result, in our landscape. Successful and exemplary Landscape Architecture delivers proposals that tackle these environmental changes in two areas of development: Design and Architectural Representation.

As industry has shifted over the past century, in format, location, and type, the manufacturing and industrial spaces scattered across the western world have been repurposed. You have no doubt seen these structures, though perhaps without realizing. The large windows, high ceilings, and open floor plans optimized for factory work now mark the territory of the “creative class”. Such spaces have been disproportionately appropriated by creative industries such as arts and architecture; think of Herzog + de Meuron’s renovation of the Tate Modern (from a former power station) or the recent collaborative transformation of a locomotive yard into a library in the Netherlands.

The future of architecture is urban; there is no longer any doubt about it. Projections indicate that by 2050—that is, in just over 30 years—75% of the world's population will live in cities, while in Brazil this figure will exceed 90%. However, our discipline must concern itself with the quality of life for everyone; therefore, projects in rural contexts will continue to be on the agenda of architects worldwide.

Below, we present a selection of residential projects built in the countryside. These Brazilian houses, nestled in rural and pastoral landscapes, are designed for the daily lives of their inhabitants or as temporary retreats to decompress from urban life. One way or another, they all share a single objective: to open themselves up to their bucolic surroundings. 

Starting this month, ArchDaily has introduced monthly themes that we’ll explore in our stories, posts and projects. We began this month with Architectural Representation: from Archigram to Instagram; from napkins sketching to real-time-sync VR models; from academic lectures to storytellers.

It isn’t particularly novel or groundbreaking to say that the internet, social media, and design apps have challeged the relation between representation and building. A year ago we predicted that "this is just the beginning of a new stage of negotiation between the cold precision of technology and the expressive quality inherent in architecture". But, is it? Would you say digital tools are betraying creativity? This is an older dilemma than you think.

In this new edition of our Editor's Talk, four editors and curators at ArchDaily discuss drawings as pieces of art, posit why nobody cares about telephone poles on renders and explore how the building itself is becoming a type of representation.

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Internationally renowned for her avant-garde search for architectural proposals that reflect modern living, Zaha Hadid made abstract topographical studies for many of her projects, intervening with fluid, flexible and expressive works that evoke the dynamism of contemporary urban life.

In order to further knowledge of her creative process and the development of her professional projects, here we have made a historic selection of her paintings which expand the field of architectural exploration through abstract exercises in three dimensions. These artistic works propose a new and different world view, questioning the physical constraints of design, and showing the creative underpinnings of her career.

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YACademy launches the second edition of Architecture for Heritage, a high-level training course offering 8 scholarships and internships for internationally-renowned architectural firms.

106 hours of lessons, a 32-hour workshop and internships/lectures held by internationally-renowned architectural firms like OMA, Mccullough Mulvin Architects, Aires Mateus E Associados, Claudio Nardi Architects, and Carrilho Da Graça Arquitectos.

Nike's New York flagship store, primely located on Fifth Avenue, is perhaps the closest thing to a temple in the digital age. At a massive 68,000 square feet, it commands attention and symbolically dwarfs even its skyscraper surroundings. The exterior facade features a grid of undulating glass that casts glimmering shadows both inside and out. Inside, a tractor-beam type installation hangs from the ceiling, giving the space-age flavor. There's no set ritual or tradition like in the temples of old, but sneakerheads might certainly feel they've found their heaven on earth.

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