Interviews: The Latest Architecture and News

The international design firm Olson Kundig has designed a new sustainable option for after-death care. In fact, the architects created the world’s first facility for converting human remains into soil, a flagship building for Recompose in Seattle.

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As you may know, things aren't going too well for mother earth. With challenges like deforestation, fires, pollution, and even methane from cows we are facing an uphill battle against climate change.

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Richard Saul Wurman is one of the most influential architects of our time; a remarkable achievement for someone whose passions and explorations extend far beyond the traditional realms of the profession. Wurman’s lifelong pursuit of the misunderstood, the unknown, and the unexplored, has offered a litany of contributions to the wider world, from the highly-acclaimed TED Conference, which he founded in 1984, to signature theories such as LATCH and Information Architecture. Born in 1935 in Philadelphia, an architectural alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania, he has counted Louis Kahn and Charles Eames among his mentors, and Moshe Safdie and Frank Gehry among his great friends.

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The Midnight Charette is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by architectural designers David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features a variety of creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions. A wide array of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes provide useful tips for designers, while others are project reviews, interviews, or explorations of everyday life and design. The Midnight Charette is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.

This week David and Marina discuss software in design and architecture. It's not as boring as it sounds! The two cover the more pragmatic and specific issues and the more conceptual ones: everything from what programs you need to know to design and to get hired different offices; how to learn programs; balancing technical skillsets with conceptual thinking; why working in the computer is both advantageous and dangerous; 2D drafting versus 3D modeling; things to consider when choosing a software; the failures of successes of BIM programs for employers and employees; key issues to consider before transitioning to BIM; what BIM programs are best (Revit or ArchiCAD) for small and large offices and which project types (the more office-focused and BIM-focused conversation starts at 37:30) and workflows between different programs. If you have any questions or advice about portfolios or any other design-related topics, leave a voicemail at The Midnight Charette hotline: 213-222-6950.

FuturArc Prize 2020 asks how an Asian city might restore a human-nature balance.

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Sustainability in architecture is an issue that may bring to light too general proposals and there are a lot of possibilities concerning the application of their concepts in design process. Sustainable strategies are essential so that the project development reconcile the economic and ecologic pillars and, above all, consider the well-being impact for those who are going to use the built space. Thinking about this, we have gathered four projects of different typologies that applied innovative methods in the conception of the buildings that stand out for their sustainable practices. Read on for the projects:

Once restricted to space stations and satellites, photovoltaics are now gaining popularity and becoming an increasingly viable option. Every day, the sun releases an enormous amount of energy, far more than the entire population consumes. Being that the sun is a sustainable, renewable, and inexhaustible source for generating electricity, not using it seems almost counter-intuitive, especially considering the social and environmental impacts of other forms of energy generation. But the technology to create electricity from the sun is by no means simple and still has some limitations, the most significant being price. The following article attempts to explain some basic concepts about this process, and to highlight important considerations for designing a solar energy system. 

Carlo Ratti can be considered one of the great architectural innovators of our time. The founder of Carlo Ratti Associati, and Director at the MIT Senseable City Lab, Ratti champions the power of new technologies to transform both how we live, and how we design. The act of “convergence” is central to Ratti’s architectural outlook, whether it be the convergence of bits and atoms, or natural and artificial, or human and technology. Moreover, he believes that this convergence can reframe the design process, and engage citizens in discussions on what kind of city they want to live in.

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eVolo Magazine is pleased to invite architects, students, engineers, designers, and artists from around the globe to take part in the 2020 Skyscraper Competition. Established in 2006, the annual Skyscraper Competition is one of the world’s most prestigious awards for high-rise architecture. It recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the implementation of novel technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations; along with studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution. It is a forum that examines the relationship between the skyscraper and the natural world, the skyscraper and the community, and the skyscraper and the city.

Facades are the interface between the interior and exterior of a building. They are the most striking and visible parts of a building, they protect it from external agents and are one of the main contributors to creating comfortable environments since it is where thermal gains and losses occur. Just like our skin, an extremely versatile organ of our body, it should be natural for it to be the part of the building which bears technology capable of becoming adaptable to the environmental conditions of the place where it is located.

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“Clashes and Intersections” is an ongoing, one-on-one YouTube interview series with architects, theorists, and curators. The interviews begin with the question, “What do you consider your first project to be?” By initiating a dialogue between the practical and theoretical frameworks that have formed the interviewee’s work, this question aims to develop an understanding of reactions and critiques to historic, conceptual, and cultural events. In addition, it allows us to cross-examine the relationship, or lack thereof, between the participants. 

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ABC | MONZA 2019 is an international architectural ideas competition in the time of Digital Transformation.
The theme of the competition is the urban regeneration of an industrial site of approximately 60,000 square meters in the city of Monza - Italy in accordance with the values of environmental, economic and social sustainability.
One of the characterizing elements of this competition is the use of BIM (Building Information Modeling) for the ideation, design and submission of the proposal.

To the uninitiated, Ricardo Bofill might come across as something of a chameleon. Comparing the post-modernism of his projects in Paris of the 1980s, his recent glass-and-steel towers, and the stark stoicism of his own home and studio which he renovated in the 1980s, one would be forgiven for thinking that there is no consistent thread present throughout his work. However, as Bofill reveals in this interview from Vladimir Belogolovsky's 2016 “City of Ideas” series, his designs are actually rooted in concepts of regionalism and process which, while recently popular with the architectural community at large, have underpinned his architectural mind since his twenties.

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Architecture is mostly known through representations. Even today, when traveling is no longer rare or just for the rich, buildings and places are mostly disseminated and appreciated through images. In that sense, photography has been—and still is—paramount to architecture. The following interview delves into Erieta Attali’s work and the relationship to both architecture and landscape through the lens of her camera. With over two decades of experience, shooting and teaching all over the world, the Israeli photographer reflects on the origins and evolution of her renown practice.

The City of Utrecht Council, in collaboration with advertising agency Clear Channel, has transformed 316 bus stops across the city into “bee stops.” The adaption involved installing green roofs onto the bus stops, creating bee-friendly spaces for the endangered species.

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The term "resilience" has been employed in a wide range of subjects. The scientific definition is the ability of a substance or object to recover its form after suffering some trauma. In other words, it is quite different from resistance, as it concerns the capability of adapting and recovering. In ecology, resilience is about the ability of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or disturbance, resisting damage and recovering quickly. In architecture, however, designing something while having resilience in mind can lead to a variety of approaches. Resilient designs are always site-specific. Predicting the potential scenarios for typical building use, and even any disasters that could challenge the integrity of the project and its occupants is an important starting point. Furthermore, it is possible to address adaptive structures and materials that can ''learn'' from their environment and continuously reinvent themselves. Since there are software and robots with algorithms that learn from their contexts, why can't we use the same approach in construction?

We have selected 10 adaptive materials and solutions that work under the concept of Resilience in Architecture and Construction. We are left wondering whether these solutions will someday become mainstream or merely occasional innovations.

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