Cinemas mirror architecture. While the coronavirus pandemic shuttered theaters across the world for months, the industry is looking to the future as it aims to rethink the movie-going experience. As crowds flocked to the cinema after the 1918 pandemic, so too will the industry change shape again as it respond to new modes of watching films together.
In recent years, several extreme weather events around the world have devastated cities, including those in Brazil. In 2022, heavy rains battered the mountainous region of Rio de Janeiro, especially the city of Petrópolis, which recorded 250 landslides in a single day.
A similar situation occurred in Pernambuco, where above-average rainfall triggered landslides. In late 2021, in the state of Bahia, severe storms pushed at least 72 municipalities into a state of emergency. As in previous cases, these disasters caused casualties and left numerous families displaced. Globally, the situation is no different, even if the specific hazards vary.
From September 21 to 25, the Mextrópoli Festival + the XII Ibero-American Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism took place in Mexico City. As part of the event, ArchDaily sat down with 2014 Pritzker Prize laureate Shigeru Ban to discuss the theme "Inhabiting at the Margins." This topic seeks to explore solutions addressing the growing social, environmental, and economic demands at the fringes of the architectural system.
Mitigating climate change and adapting to the risks of more frequent extreme events demand a rapid and radical transformation of cities worldwide, as they account for the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions. However, the impacts of a changing climate are not shared uniformly across all cities; those who feel its most intense effects are precisely the most vulnerable populations. Achieving inclusive, low-carbon urban transformations tailored to diverse urban contexts requires bringing the global climate agenda down to the local scale—to the people who live in and know their neighborhoods.
Amid paradigm shifts and new opportunities for living, the Colegio de Arquitectos de Guatemala has launched the first Central American Architecture Biennial (BARCA 2021-2022). The initiative aims to establish a shared space for Central American countries, cities, neighborhoods, and people, fostering the exchange of ideas through creativity, research, and academia. Under the premise of rethinking 21st-century architecture and urbanism, BARCA seeks to build a platform for dialogue that showcases Central American architecture from the past decade, creating the first comprehensive overview of the region's contemporary architectural landscape.
It is becoming a priority for architects to optimize projects that require increasingly smaller spaces, especially when building in urban areas where land value is often the most critical factor. This happens in countries like Portugal, for example, where urban plots are scarce and the properties available for remodeling are usually very small.
Working on a small scale offers somewhat playful flexibility. From adaptable interiors to urban installations and treehouses, one must use the imagination to solve the issues of limited space or budget. Check out the following 15 projects in Portugal —from stores to small pavilions— that show that spatial limitations do not diminish the quality of architecture.
Data centers, automated assembly lines, telecommunications facilities, and warehouses represent a very utilitarian aspect of the built environment, and yet they compose a particular kind of infrastructure within contemporary society, one that is fundamental to the development of everyday life. Rarely discussed within the profession, these new typologies have more recently penetrated the architectural discourse, raising questions about the architectural significance and design potential of the spaces sustaining the mechanics of today's world.
Max Bill was a Swiss designer, painter, sculptor, and architect recognized as one of the most influential figures of the 20th century, particularly within the Concrete Art movement, and for his work in education in both Brazil and Germany. Meanwhile, Lina Bo Bardi, one of the 20th century's most iconic architects, became renowned for designing MASP and the famous Glass House. Her legacy extends far beyond architecture, as she also made significant contributions to scenography, visual arts, furniture design, and graphic design.
Although there is much conflict surrounding the term Brutalist, there are certain constants and patterns within the movement that offer a concrete idea of the movement and its place in contemporary architecture.
The buildings that adhere to Brutalism—an off-shoot of the Modern Movement that erupted between 1950 and 1970— stand out in part to their constructional sincerity- that is, keeping no secrets about the materials that went into their creation, their bold geometry, and the asperity of their textures and surfaces. Reinforced concrete is the predominant material in Brutalist works thanks to its prominent and dramatic texture, which is put on full display.
The Jockey Club Córdoba, in collaboration with the Architects' Association of the Province of Córdoba (CAPC), launched a National Ideas Competition to strengthen the club's identity as a sports, recreational, and cultural hub for the city. Located in the south-central area of Córdoba, the competition sought proposals and programs capable of fostering synergy between different disciplines, encouraging member interaction, and creating high-quality spaces for activities.
When building near the sea, a project’s design strategy must pay special attention to the effects of marine corrosion. The salt content in the environment provokes a chemical and physical process which incites a material breakdown or degradation, compromising the durability of the building’s infrastructure.
As a response to the demands for ocean-side buildings, and the corresponding façade components that go along with them, air-lux has developed a system that aims to perform reliably in maritime conditions. By virtue of its corrosion-resistant materials, improved surface coatings, and technically optimized components, the system withstands marine climates and minimizes salt water damage.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the Hackney School of Food, designed by Surman Weston, as the winner of the Stephen Lawrence Prize 2022. The award aims to encourage new architectural talent and to reward projects with a budget of less than £1 million. RIBA has also awarded the Neave Brown Award for Housing 2022 to the Hackney New Primary School and 333 Kingsland Road by Henley Halebrown. The award is given in honor of social housing pioneer Neave Brown (1926-2018) and it recognizes affordable housing initiatives in the UK.
On October 14, the first edition of the TAC! Urban Architecture Festival will begin. This year, the festival will be held in the city of Granada and will run until November 14. The opening of the event will be marked by the inauguration of the temporary pavilion “AIRE,” the winning project of the open call, located in Plaza del Humilladero and designed by P + S Estudio de Arquitectura.
Urban Agency, in partnership with COBE, won in 2019 a competition to transform a former steel factory into an 850,000 square meters car-free mixed-use district. The industrial site is planned to become a mixed-use district, with housing for over 8,000 new residents, office spaces, schools, workshop spaces, and 268,000 square meters of landscape, including a reactivated river area. The master plan strategies focus on urban nature, renaturalization, preservation and reuse, car-free streets, and an adapted dense mix of buildings and functions.
Designed by Níall McLaughlin Architects, the Magdalene College Library was just selected as the winner of the 26th edition of the RIBA Stirling Prize. Selected from a pool of shortlisted projects, the outstanding new building replaces a library gifted to Magdalene by Samuel Pepys 300 years ago and provides the students of the University of Cambridge with a new space that includes an archive and an art gallery.
This article was originally published on Common Edge.
Writer Eva Hagberg and I have known each other for a long time. Way back, in a year I can’t remember, I assigned her one of her first magazine assignments. Literally, dozens of other assignments followed. So it was with some anticipation, and a bit of surprise, that I received her new book When Eero Met His Match: Aline Louchheim Saarinen and the Making of an Architect (Princeton University Press), an intriguing hybrid text, one-part Aline and Eero biography, one part memoir of Hagberg’s experiences as a design writer and publicist. (I am briefly mentioned in the book.) The book’s main argument is that Aline Saarinen largely invented the role of the architectural publicist. Recently I traveled out to the Brooklyn Navy Yard to talk to a very pregnant Eva about the impetus for her new book, its dual structure, and the journalistic ethics of Aline Saarinen.
As our collective conscience challenges the ethics of mass production and the manufacturers of high-end furniture make moves towards more mindful and individually specified making, a design-and-make mentality is becoming ever more present in the industry. It’s new but old. It’s workshops coming to the fore and it’s happening when design entrepreneurs are committed to the very 2022 preoccupations of waste-free production, individualisation and durability.
To celebrate the first decade of ArqFilmFest, Santiago Architecture Film Festival, various members of its community—including architects, cultural managers, film critics, academics, among other professionals—were invited to answer the question: What do we talk about when we talk about film and architecture?
Journalist and film critic Christian Ramírez responds with "Filmed Space, Inhabited Space," reflecting on the relationship between the recorded and the built; architect Martin Schmidt Radic presents "Reflections of the Future," addressing projections over time; and sociologist and cultural manager Julia Ramos responds with "10 Years of Narrating the City," exploring the importance of fostering exchange between film and architecture. Read the full columns below.
Within the context of the comprehensive recovery of the Historic Center of Lima, the Rímac River Special Landscape Project (PEPRR) is developing a proposal for the regeneration of the iconic Alameda and Plazuela de Acho. This project—together with the other 50 interventions proposed in the PEPRR master plan—aims to spark a multidimensional recovery of the riverfront and heritage environment, while simultaneously defending and strengthening the civic qualities of Lima's public spaces through a systemic approach that coordinates mobility, the urban environment, heritage, and landscape.
As part of the World Habitat Day celebrations, the platform SPACE10 has launched "Urbanismo Comunitario," a 20-minute documentary on informal settlements in Medellín, Colombia. Amid rapid urbanization and forced displacement, the number of people living in informal settlements is growing. The UN estimates that by 2030, three billion people will be living in these territories. The documentary examines new alternatives for housing construction in informal settlements, based on community collaboration, material innovation, and the co-development of solutions in partnership with communities.
From the first traces of a sketch to the ribbon cutting at the official inauguration, a building and its construction process goes through numerous steps. From understanding client demands, complying to local regulations, staying within budget, getting the necessary approvals for development and construction details, a lot of time, resources and decisions are involved. To this end, it is essential to have a workforce that knows and understands the correct processes inside-out, are well informed and have experience and availability. Finding and training this workforce isn't always easy though, and this is where Aligned Studios comes in: a service that creates and manages teams composed of qualified designers for US architectural and construction companies.
BDP Quadrangle has revealed the design of a 54-storey, mixed-use tower in downtown Toronto, Canada. The project will replace an existing 10-storey office tower built in the 1960s. The new tower will contain office and residential units, with amenities and outdoor terraces on the 11th floor and at the ground floor. The building is planned to accommodate a total of 278 apartments with penthouses on the 52nd and 53rd floors. The project is currently in the pre-construction phase.
The construction of the new building of Palmer Museum has begun. Located at Penn State, USA, and scheduled to open in the spring of 2024, the new 6600 square meters complex will expand nearly double the space of the current gallery to host the growing collection of more than 10,000 pieces. The design features a series of pavilions, educational areas, and courtyards to boost accessibility to the art collections for students, staff, and the public. The construction aligns with the 50th anniversary of the museum along with a multitude of events, including the exhibition of Allied Works' pieces of the design process for the new Palmer Museum.
To mark the launch of the Wood Chair program, organized by Onesta and the University of Navarra, the exhibition PERPETUUM MOBILE is coming to Madrid from October 6 to 25, 2022. The showcase is dedicated to private-use furniture designed by Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue for their home in Barcelona, updated and produced with the support of the American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC).
