Tag: concrete-buildings | ArchDaily

Beyond Imported Icons: Tao Ho and a Local Modernism for Hong Kong

Jonathan Yeung — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 08:30:00 +0000

When Hong Kong's architectural story is told, it is often reduced to a handful of icons. Many people most readily name I.M. Pei—Pritzker Prize laureate and architect of the Bank of China Tower in Central (1990), as well as global works such as the Le Grand Louvre in Paris and the Miho Museum in Shiga. Looking elsewhere, one also encounters a long lineage of British and international architects whose imprints have shaped the city's institutional skyline: from Ron Phillips' civic works—most notably the former Murray Building (1969), now The Murray Hotel, and Hong Kong City Hall (1962)—to Norman Foster's infrastructural and corporate monuments, including the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) Tower (1986) and Hong Kong International Airport (1998), and, more recently, Zaha Hadid Architects' The Henderson (2024).

More Than Gray: 15 Projects That Explore Red Pigmented Concrete

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Thu, 31 Jul 2025 07:30:00 +0000

Concrete is often seen as the material of modernity, defined by its structural strength, raw finish, and unmistakable gray tone. It became the default palette of 20th-century architecture, a symbol of functionality and permanence. Yet, concrete is not bound to this chromatic identity. Its color is a byproduct of the cement, aggregates, and chemical composition used in its mix, and it can be intentionally altered through pigmentation. Among the many hues explored, red stands out — not only for its visual intensity, but for its ability to root buildings in place, evoke cultural references, and imbue architecture with a material presence that feels both elemental and expressive.

Between Housing Demand and Environmental Goals: Alejandro Aravena on Incremental Solutions and Net-Zero Concrete

Maria-Cristina Florian — Fri, 16 May 2025 07:30:00 +0000

During the Time Space Existence exhibition, organized by the European Cultural Centre in Venice, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Alejandro Aravena and his firm ELEMENTAL unveiled a full-scale prototype for a new approach in incremental housing solutions. Titled the USB Core, standing for Basic Services Unit housing prototype, this proposal aims to demonstrate how efficient construction can provide all the essential housing components in a minimal space. The prototype is also the result of a collaboration between the architecture office and concrete manufacturer and researcher Holcim, and is built out of a newly developed type of net-zero concrete mix. It also incorporates fully recycled aggregates, in alignment with circular economy principles. The collaboration aims to demonstrate a more environmentally conscious yet cost-effective way of providing essential services to at-risk communities without harming the planet.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Mayan Revival Houses in Los Angeles: Creating Atmosphere and Perception of Space

Moises Carrasco — Fri, 14 Mar 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural legacy is vast, but among his most enigmatic and atmospheric works are his Mayan Revival houses in Los Angeles, California. Residences such as the Hollyhock House redefine the interplay of light, materiality, constructive innovation, and spatial perception. By using modular concrete blocks in an ornamental and structural way, Wright developed a unique aesthetic deeply rooted in both the past and the future.

SO – IL Reveals Design for a New Residential Condominium Project in Brooklyn, New York

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 06:30:00 +0000

Architecture firm SO – IL has revealed plans for a new residential condominium project planned for Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood. Named 144 Vanderbilt, the development offers 26 condominiums and amenities spanning almost 90,000 square feet. According to SO – IL, the architecture takes cues from Brooklyn's historical heritage, while incorporating a modern twist, as the staggered building prioritizes community interactions and comfortable urban living.

AD Classics: Interdesign Building / Khalil Khouri

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 07:30:00 +0000

In Beirut, a city marked by transformation, the Interdesign Building echoes the vision of an architect steadfast in his conviction. Designed by Lebanese architect Khalil Khouri in 1973 during a period of economic growth, the building took 23 years to build, a process halted by the onset of the Lebanese Civil War. By the time it was completed in 1996, the urban landscape that surrounded it had changed. The structure has stood largely unused since, as a relic of hopeful modernity. While its design is singular in its narrative and expression, this structure illustrates the tension between aspiration and struggle throughout its complex history.

Designing for Two Worlds: How Space Exploration is Shaping the Future of Architecture on Earth

Diogo Borges Ferreira — Fri, 30 Aug 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Space exploration isn’t merely a testament to human ambition or a quest for new territories and resources. Our ventures beyond Earth’s atmosphere are driven by a deeper purpose: to understand better our place in the cosmos and to pioneer innovations that can transform life on our home planet.

ICON Reveals New 3D-Printed Residential Development in Wimberley, Texas

Maria-Cristina Florian — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 06:30:00 +0000

ICON, the office that pioneered large-scale 3D printing, has announced a new residential development of 3D-printed homes to take shape at Wimberley Springs, in Texas, United States. The complex, comprising 8 single-family homes, features designs from ICON’s CODEX Digital Architecture Catalog. The houses, currently under construction and available for sale, leverage ICON’s robotic technologies to create an energy-efficient, low-carbon construction process.

Harnessing Thermal Mass for Sustainable Living: 4 Residential Projects in the U.S. Deserts

Nour Fakharany — Sat, 15 Jun 2024 07:30:00 +0000

Thermal mass is the ability of a material to absorb, store, and release heat. Used to moderate building temperatures by reducing fluctuations, the concept is crucial in improving energy efficiency. Materials with relatively high thermal mass, such as stone, concrete, rammed earth, and brick, can absorb significant heat during the day and release it slowly when temperatures drop at night, reducing the need for heating and cooling systems. Properties like heat capacity, thermal conductivity, and density are all considered when assessing the thermal mass property of a material.

Harvesting Architecture: A Glimpse Into 3 Plant-Based Materials

Enrique Tovar — Tue, 12 Mar 2024 08:30:00 +0000

For decades, our society has predominantly embraced an extractivist approach when formulating models for material manufacturing across diverse industries. While we now know that this model is unsustainable, a major question remains: So, how do we do it? We may be a while away from offering a definitive answer to this challenge. Still, it is exciting to note that, in a context marked by a challenging global and ecological horizon, the architectural community maintains a positive approach by pushing for a re-evaluation of what we make and how we make it.

Does AI Correlate Materiality with Contemporary Architecture? An Experiment with Six Building Materials

Enrique Tovar — Thu, 21 Dec 2023 04:00:00 +0000

As AI has become more accessible, we have witnessed examples illustrating its diverse applications. Prominent among these are generative AIs, which excel in their ability to “create” images through prompts, many distinguished by their composition and vividness. These AI systems are neural networks with billions of parameters, trained to create images from natural language, using a dataset of text–image pairs. Thus, although the initial question posed by Turing in the 1950s, “Can machines think?” still recurs today, the generation of images and text is grounded in existing information, limiting their capabilities.

How to Reduce the Carbon Footprint Through Architecture? Three Approaches Across the Building Lifecycle

Enrique Tovar — Tue, 31 Oct 2023 14:37:00 +0000

Architecture encompasses multiple processes, starting with identifying needs and transforming them into habitable structures through thoughtful design. Historically, construction-related processes like resource extraction and end-of-life disposal were often overlooked. However, it is essential to recognize that buildings have a lifecycle with significant impacts on carbon emissions. Emphasizing sustainable practices is vital to minimize our ecological footprint and positively impact the planet.

Architecture Classics: Petroperú Building / Walter Weberhofer + Daniel Arana

Vania Masalías — Wed, 11 May 2022 04:30:00 +0000

The Petroperú building, jointly designed by architects Walter Weberhofer and Daniel Arana Ríos, was the result of a state competition held by the military government of Velasco Alvarado in the early 1970s. The building, strategically located in the capital of Peru, within the prosperous district of San Isidro, was designed to house the recently created state company in charge of the whole petroleum process of the country (Petroperú S.A.). The monumental building, built and inaugurated in 1973, became the symbol of the newly installed regime.

DDC Church / Oh Jongsang

Andreas Luco — Wed, 23 Jun 2021 22:00:00 +0000

Site plan. Late autumn. Rural village outside the city. I visited the site where shabby farm houses and vinyl houses were scattered here and there. It was a place where the water flowing from the mountain made dizzy mud and was full of weeds. It was a distracting landscape far from the romantic rural scene.

Hatsuse Mita Apartments / ihrmk

Hana Abdel — Tue, 15 Jun 2021 02:00:00 +0000

A big house. An owner-occupied rental apartment building typically has its owner’s penthouse above the rental units. Hatsuse Mita is also an owner-occupied property with several rental units, but its spatial organization is much different. The owner's family was forced to move out of their former residence due to the area's redevelopment project and they needed a new home that can adapt to changes in their family structure and society.

Paquidermo Building / Martin Dulanto

Andreas Luco — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 14:00:00 +0000

The taking of part of this project, consists of 3 independent departments for members of the same family, arises the need of the client to have privacy with respect to his neighbors. The land where he building is located has 2 lots, although one of them (the posterior) looks directly to the sea, the other one, the main one, faces to a multifamily building of 9 floors of height, whose windows look directly to the Pachyderm Building, generating the sensation of being directly exposed. To solve his problem, 2 measures are taken: On the one hand, the façade which looks at the main entrance is considered fairly closed, with small windows which are enough to allow proper ventilation and natural lighting of the environment’s that are facing this façade without being exposed to the exterior.

Theodor Herzl Center / Asaf Lerman

Hana Abdel — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 01:00:00 +0000

In a beachside residential area of Herzliya, TEO (the Theodor Herzl Center for Culture, Art and Content) comes into view as a distinct single storey building, eminently lower than the neighborhood’s enclosed private mansions. The freestanding TEO opens up a wide panorama toward the west—the horizon over the ocean—thus rupturing the visual and social narrative of walled luxury villas this area of Herzliya is known for. The insertion of a fully exposed public cultural center as an event in the surrounding urban-scape was key to the design strategy.

Carmelo560 Building / OYTO Arquitetura, Planejamento e Construção

Andreas Luco — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 11:00:00 +0000

CARMELO560 was conceptualized, developed and built by architects, which resulted in a more sustainable architecture – environmentally, socially and economically speaking. Abundant natural light and cross ventilation in all areas, balconies on the west front, recycled water, a green rooftop, photovoltaic power for common areas, and the use of greener materials were some of the strategies adopted.