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The Mechanized Landscape Statecraft and Environment in the Tennessee Valley

In 1933 the United States government created the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) and gave it jurisdiction over a demarcated region—the watershed of the Tennessee. The TVA was authorized to develop the resources in the Valley and promote the welfare of its residents. The TVA pursued these goals by constructing three large-scale operations, referred as the river, land and power machines. The TVA also invested in social projects, including support for housing and tourist industries in the region. The Mechanized Landscape: Statecraft and Environment in the Tennessee Valley examines this comprehensive effort as a form of statecraft—the art of government persuasion and diplomacy—manifested through environmental transformation. It follows the TVA's physical transformations and its investment in infrastructural power—programs that extended the state's capacity to reach even the most remote residents. The product of this process, the mechanized landscape, is a testament to the TVA's complex approach to democracy, its racial and middle-class biases, and its technical and managerial acumen. By bringing together original photography, newly created maps, and text, this book offers a well-researched, visually compelling appraisal of the TVA's plans and their implementation. Rather than following a linear textual narrative, readers are invited to explore the complexity of the mechanized landscape through multiple media.

MATERIA FORMA

MATERIA · FORMA is a visual and editorial project documenting the transformation of Spazio Moby, formerly the site of the Moretti furniture factory in Treviso, Italy. The publication — conceived as a photographic and written reflection — chronicles the full arc of an architectural revitalization: from abandonment to renewal, from raw structure to inhabited space.
Opening with a quote from Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, the book sets its tone immediately: cities of the future already exist in the present, layered and folded within one another. This idea of temporal stratification runs through the entire work. In an era defined by speed, the project deliberately slows down, choosing to dwell on the complexity and nuance of a process that cannot be rushed. Quality, the authors argue, demands care, attention, and the willingness to change direction — a process that is rarely linear.
The photographic gaze at the heart of the publication is intentionally unhurried and non-standardized. Rather than imposing a predetermined visual language, the images adapt to the space and context, seeking to read each environment in its deepest essence. The lens captures fleeting, unrepeatable moments — scenes that exist only in a specific "here and now" during the construction site's successive phases.
The building itself becomes the protagonist: first an abandoned shell, motionless and forgotten, yet rich with traces and memories of its industrial past. As demolition and transformation begin, the structure reveals its latent tension — a potential energy pointing toward what it might yet become. This tension becomes the generative force behind the design process, giving rise to new forms, new spatial relationships, and ultimately a renewed dialogue with the surrounding city.
Text by Silvia Possamai accompanies the visual narrative, weaving together architectural reflection and poetic observation. Together, image and word construct a layered account of time, material, and place — a record of how a forgotten building reclaims its identity and is reintegrated into the urban fabric of Treviso.
MATERIA · FORMA is both a document and a meditation: on the nature of transformation, on the patience that meaningful architecture requires, and on the quiet power of spaces that have been given a second life.

We Are Desco Egyptian Graduation Projects Competition 3.0 Cermony

The Egyptian Graduation Projects Competition 3.0 Ceremony by We Are Desco, proudly sponsored by Aedas, is a prestigious event celebrating the top architectural graduation projects across Egypt.

New Schools on the Block

New Schools on the Block presents a decade of school building practice by AFF Architekten, a collective of architects, craftspeople and researchers in Berlin and Lausanne.
For AFF, schools are not just places for learning, but also formative spaces for personal identities. As such, AFF aspires to create buildings that, through the interplay of their design and ways of use, provide settings for experiences that foster a sense of identity. The designs in this book range from the transformation of conventional corridor schools to the creation of new learning clusters. Numerous floor plan studies invite the reader to imagine diverse learning environments, and photos of the built projects show that even handrails or sanitary facilities can constitute engaging elements of design. Essays by Barbara Pampe and Gregor Harbusch, an interview with the architects by Josepha Landes, and cartoons by Peter Auge Lorenz contribute further perspectives that add depth over and above that of a lesson on school design.

Open Call: A New Crystal Palace Open Ideas Competition

The Museum of Architecture, the Great Exhibition Road Festival and Dr Neal Shasore have launched an open international design competition to rethink the Crystal Palace for contemporary society, considering what it might look like, how it would function and who it should serve.

Call for Submissions: Drawing of the Year 2026

Submissions are open to the Drawing of the Year Awards 2026! The seventh annual, global Awards are free to enter and celebrate excellence in creative imagery, drawings and visual representations.

Book Talk: Architecture x Architecture: A Dialectic

On May 20, join MAP (Metropolitan Architecture Practice) co-founders Katherine Lambert, AIA, and Christiane Robbins in conversation at Rizzoli Bookstore to mark the release of the firm's new monograph. Created between 2022 and 2024, Architecture x Architecture: A Dialectic captures a pivotal moment when architecture began to grapple with its own synthetic reflection and traces how machine vision and generative AI are shaping multidisciplinary design practice in the 21st century. Edited by Oscar Riera Ojeda (ORO Publishers) with project direction by Christiane Robbins, the volume includes a foreword by Kum-Kum Bhavnani, essays by Bill Seaman, Katherine Lambert, Christiane Robbins, Kyle Steinfeld, and Amanda Wasielewski, and an afterword by Aaron Betsky.

CAMPOSAZ 51:51 | Costruire Centrale - Wooden Self-Build Workshop

CAMPOSAZ 51:51 | Costruire Centrale - Wooden Self-Build Workshop
The workshop will take place in Ex Centrale del Latte, Vicenza, Italy
From 22-05-2026 to 31-05-2026
Applications must be submitted by midnight on 6 Maggio 2026

Open Call: Built Projects with Sustainable Materials

Open call for built projects.

The 15th National Architecture Symposium: Echoing Brilliance

The annual celebration of architectural excellence returns once again with the 15th National Architecture Symposium: Echoing Brilliance, organized by the Architecture Network (ARCHINET) as a celebration of its 20 years of legacy and distinction. This convergence of insight, knowledge, and discussions of more than 600 forward-thinkers will be held on May 2, 2026 at the Buenaventura Garcia Paredes O.P. Building in the campus of the University of Santo Tomas, Manila.

Crafting Wellbeing - European Crafts Alliance Annual Conference 2026

Across Europe, craft is expanding beyond the workshop and into public health and community care. Co-hosted by Artex, this year's European Crafts Alliance (ECA) Annual Conference explores the critical intersection of making, social participation, and wellbeing.

The Architect Guide: A Learning Reference

The object of this guide is to provide architecture learners with concise and accessible information about contextualized styles and movements. Think of the style or movement as a bright star in the sky. This book takes us beyond its shine, exploring it from every angle and uncovering its every detail. after explaining the historical context, we provide details for each style about the architectural concepts, landmarks, notable architects and architectural elements, so whether the reader was a student, enthusiast or professional in the field, this book aims to serve as a valuable resource to deepen your understanding of architecture.

Samoa's Iconic Fale - How Culture Informs architecture

Samoa's Iconic Fale: How Culture Informs Architecture (ISBN: 978 4 9910659 0 3) is a new, brilliant book that brings decades of research together to document the traditional construction of Sāmoa's iconic meeting houses. Drawing on rare knowledge from master builders, early travellers, and recent scholarship, it highlights why the fale remains central to Sāmoan identity, community, and cultural life.

Community Centre in Podgorica

The subject of this competition arises from the need for the Zabjelo neighborhood in Podgorica to obtain a Local Community Center that will, through its program, contribute to improving the social quality of life of its residents. More precisely, its content will support the long-term development of the Capital City through principles of spatial planning, along with social and economic development and environmental protection.

Belonging in London: Art and Inclusive Public Space

London, UK — Galerie de Nuage hosts a cross-disciplinary talk about inclusive urban environments as part of the London Festival of Architecture programme.

RE_SOLUTION: Lord Marvin Rees OBE, former Mayor of Bristol, at IE School of Architecture & Design

IE School of Architecture & Design will host, as part of its RE_SOLUTION public series, a lecture by Lord Marvin Rees OBE, Mayor of Bristol from 2016 to 2024, followed by a conversation with Santiago Íñiguez de Onzoño, Executive President of IE University.

Buildner Launches Unbuilt Award 2026 With €100K in Awards and Announces 2nd Edition Winners

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Buildner has launched the Unbuilt Award 2026, the third edition of its annual competition, offering a €100,000 prize fund. At the same time, the results of the Unbuilt Award 2025 have been announced, marking the second competition in a series that celebrates architectural designs that have yet to be realized. The initiative provides a global platform for architects and designers to showcase their most compelling unbuilt projects—whether conceptual, published, unpublished, or fully developed.

When Sculpture Becomes Discourse: Reflections on Mujassam Watan

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In the city, aesthetics are not measured by the height of towers or the width of roads, but by their ability to evoke meaning within space. From this perspective, the Mujassam Watan initiative emerges as more than a mere artistic endeavor. It involves a deliberate attempt to redefine the relationship between people and place, between material memory and imagined identity. In the city of Khobar, in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia—where urban modernity intersects with rapid social transformation—this initiative raises the question: How can a sculpture become an open text, one that is both visually read and experientially felt?