Local Materials: The Latest Architecture and News

The early 20th century marked a pivotal era in Brazilian architecture with the advent of the modernist movement. Architects like Oscar Niemeyer or Lúcio Costa introduced avant-garde designs characterized by sleek lines, reinforced concrete, and a focus on functionality. What's more: residential projects of the era, in particular, blurred the lines between indoor and outdoor, flawlessly merging interior and exterior spaces to reflect a lifestyle that harmonizes with nature. Fast forward to the present day, and contemporary architects and designers in Brazil continue to embrace the challenge of creating indoor-outdoor homes that nod to the country's tropical climate. These residences often feature open floor plans, expansive glass walls, and strategic positioning of courtyards, gardens, or terraces with a design philosophy that emphasizes natural light, ventilation, and the incorporation of greenery for increased well-being. We take a detailed look at four recently completed residential projects in Brazil that fuse contemporary architecture, sustainable living, and a deep appreciation for their natural surroundings.

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Ammar Khammash is a Jordanian architect, designer, and artist best known for his approach that focuses on the preservation of cultural and natural heritage while crafting an architecture that engages with its surroundings. With deep admiration for nature and its ecosystems, Khammash trusts that "the site is the architect”, a statement for which he is renowned that underscores the profound influence of context on his architectural design. With over three decades of experience spanning various disciplines and across several Middle Eastern countries such as Jordan, Oman, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, and the UAE, Ammar Khammash has consistently attempted to preserve and enhance the symbiosis between human constructions and the natural environment. His contributions include the Royal Academy for Nature Conservation, the Wild Jordan Center, and the restoration of the Church of Apostles.

In 2022, he was featured in the first edition of the Dongola Architecture Series, a biannual publication that offers unique perspectives into Arab culture by highlighting prominent contemporary architects. The issue, titled “Notes on Formation: Ammar Khammash,” written by Raafat Majzoub, explores "architecture as a transdisciplinary tool of expression, and as a method of imagining and reimagining the future," encapsulating the ethos of the publication. ArchDaily had the opportunity to talk to Ammar Khammash and Sarah Chalabi, founder of Dongola Limited Editions, to delve into the architect’s perspectives on site, materiality, and culture, along with his philosophy, notions on academia, and insights into the future of the profession.

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On April 4 – 6, the international conference FABRICATE 2024 will be held at the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen. Since its inception in 2011, FABRICATE has established itself as a global forum for new radical possibilities for architecture and welcomed thousands of participants from practice, industry, and research.

In this third article we meet architect Zhu Pei who is the founding Director of Studio Zhu Pei and Dean of the School of Architecture at Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. The text is an excerpt from the upcoming FABRICATE 2024 book and is based on an interview conversation led by Co-chair Phil Ayres between Zhu Pei and architect Cristiano Ceccato, Director of Zaha Hadid Architects. The book will be published on the opening night of the FABRICATE 2024 conference.

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On the 3rd of February, this year's Lagos Biennial opened at the Tafawa Balewa Square, Lagos, an emblematic venue that was once the site of Nigerian independence celebrations in 1960. As the 4th edition of the art fair, it continues with its objective of using art to activate historic landmarks that have lost significance either through functional use or symbolic meaning to the residents of the former capital city.

The previous editions of the Biennial have explored various aspects of the city's architecture, its symbolic significance, political implications, sovereignty, ownership, notions of belonging, and its relationship with the public. This year, the theme of "Refuge" at the Tafawa Balewa Square takes this exploration even further. Curators Kathryn Weir and Folakunle Oshun highlight that this theme prompts the square to address the concept of a nation-state. It also brings together artists and architects from different disciplines to explore alternative approaches to constructing renewable communities and promoting climate justice.

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Videos

Weaving is not only a technical craft but also a way to design material experiences. Engaging in the process of weaving allows us to structure, communicate, reflect on, and connect with our designs. By experimenting with different fabric structures, we gain insight into how materials behave under tension and compression. This understanding helps us push the boundaries of textiles and their limitations, resulting in designs that stretch and test the properties of the materials.

In architecture, the construction mechanism of weaving centers the shelter to the building process. In this sense, shelter becomes a direct manifestation of material production. Additionally, weaving offers numerous environmental and social benefits by creating shelters that actively engage with materials, tools, technologies, and creative potentials, thereby supporting placemaking.

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Cameroon boasts a rich architectural heritage of Catholic Christian worship buildings. These buildings encompass various styles, including contemporary designs, Terracotta brick explorations, and Gothic, and Byzantine architectural influences. Since the arrival of missionaries and colonial communities in 1890, numerous religious buildings have been constructed with the involvement of local communities. These buildings not only contributed to the development of the Christian faith but also served as venues for the exchange of architectural ideals between the local and foreign communities.

During this period, Cameroon explored the Gothic and Byzantine movements, which had reached their peak in Europe, to create these churches. They were interrogated through local building practices and now represent the historical heritage of the country's cathedrals.

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Located in the city of Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, is the Notre Dame Cathedral. This large red brick church was built in the early 1900s in the French colonial style. As the city grew from a small outpost to a colonial capital, the building was formed as a cultural and symbolic fusion of European and Central African architectural styles. Designed by French architect Roger Erell, the cathedral showcases local construction craftsmanship, provides a space for spiritual solace, and contributes to the national identity of the country.

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Architecture in the Global South often embodies a rich cultural heritage and craftsmanship, incorporating vibrant colors, intricate patterns, and symbolic elements. It also tackles the challenges faced by developing economies, such as limited resources, rapid urbanization, and social inequality, by promoting inclusive and community-driven design solutions. As installations and pavilions serve as radical templates for interrogating these architectural ideals and seeking innovative solutions, we present the top architectural installations as part of our year-in-review. They encompass curated exhibitions like the Venice Architecture Biennale, as well as permanent pavilion structures in specific contexts that delve into local materials, waste reuse, and the reinterpretation of historical narratives.

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Innovative materials play a crucial role in shaping the future of architecture. They offer not only novel ways to craft buildings but also sustainable and efficient solutions to address pressing environmental challenges. Architects and designers are now more than ever exploring and integrating innovative materials into their projects. By harnessing the unique properties of these materials, they create structures with new visual languages while also being environmentally friendly.

As part of our year-in-review, we reflect on the innovative materials that were featured. These materials delved into the concepts of recycling agro-waste, adapting bio-based products, transforming local materials, and decarbonizing concrete. The objective was not only to offer alternatives to traditional construction practices but also to help reduce carbon emissions and promote a more sustainable built environment. In this dynamic field, these materials demonstrate the potential to revolutionize building design and construction in diverse contexts, paving the way for a more sustainable and resilient future.

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The built environment represents, for most of us, the background of everyday life, and yet, when we look at a building, we rarely understand what it is made of. In doing so, we also fail to understand its impact on us and on the larger systems of nature. Office Kim Lenschow aims to draw attention to this and to provoke critical thinking in relation to architecture and the materials that make it. By focusing on small-scale, mostly residential projects, the office seeks to reveal this hidden narrative of materials and cultivate more awareness and engagement with the structures surrounding us. For their involvement in the exploration of materials and sustainable development, Office Kim Lenschow has been selected as one of the ArchDaily 2023 New Practices. Every year since 2020, ArchDaily has curated and highlighted emerging offices that bring a new perspective to the field of architecture and design.

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Heatherwick Studio has revealed the design of a new shopping district in the historic city of Xi’an in Shaanxi, China. The proposal aims to highlight the city’s rich heritage of ceramic-making and, through this, to create a sensory experience for visitors in opposition to the restricted act of online shopping. Spanning over 1115,000 square meters, the development features a mixture of functions, from offices, apartments, and a hotel, to a variety of green spaces, rooftop terraces, gardens, and a sunken terrace, all doubling as social spaces. The project is under construction and scheduled for completion in 2024.

Sir Peter Cook and Gavin Robotham’s CRAB Studio has unveiled the design for a new cultural center to be constructed in New Delhi, India. Located on the site of a former quartzite quarry, the BRIJ offers facilities for the visual, performing, literary, and culinary arts as well as a new arts academy. The scheme, aiming to promote interactions between artists and audiences via an immersive environment, is designed by CRAB Studio, now led by Gavin Robotham, and CP Kukreja Architects (CPKA) as Executive Architect.

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The architecture and construction industry has undergone a transformation with the integration of various digital tools, now indispensable to the design process. The welcoming of technologies has effectively streamlined operations, enhanced efficiency, and elevated design quality. This digital shift, however, has resulted in a digital divide that goes beyond accessibility to tools and software. It also encompasses the crucial aspect of integrating traditional and indigenous communities into the urban development landscape. Can advancing technology support the growth of vernacular architecture? Can indigenous building practices find a place in the vision for a digitalized future?

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As we understand it today, the sustainable architecture movement began to take shape at the end of the 20^th century. Essentially, it responds to growing concerns about environmental degradation, energy consumption, and resource scarcity. In this global discourse on sustainable architecture, wood has long been celebrated as a symbol of environmental consciousness and decarbonization. As one of the most widespread building materials, it has gained popularity with the rise of this movement. This is because trees absorb carbon dioxide during their growth, which stays in the wood during its construction use, keeping it out of the atmosphere.

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Tropical Africa boasts vast forests that cover 3.6 million square kilometers of land in West, East, and Central Africa. These forests provide valuable timber resources that significantly impact sectors, such as the furniture, fuel, and paper industries. However, interestingly, timber is seemingly absent in the contemporary architecture of the countries in this region. While architectural taste plays a role, the main reasons for this absence can be attributed to the wood industries' inability to meet the requirements of availability, affordability, aesthetic appeal, durability, and climatic and structural performance of timber. The wood industry in tropical Africa is mainly composed of informal and small-scale operations, focused primarily on sawing logs rather than refining wood for architectural or structural purposes. Despite this, the large number of informal enterprises in the region presents an opportunity to reshape the wood industry and utilize the local forestry resources to construct timber buildings.

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Videos

In an age where humanity's detrimental impact on the environment has become increasingly evident, the concept of rewilding is emerging as a powerful approach to conservation and ecological restoration. In line with growing attention on landscape architecture in recent years, the idea of removing human intervention from our natural surroundings in order to restore a stable equilibrium seems to offer a low-effort, ethereal way to right fundamental climate wrongs. But is a lack of meddling in nature really all there is to rewilding, and how does this relate to architecture and design? We look at key concepts, applications, and examples to find out.

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African societies' cultures are intrinsically linked to color. From fabrics to clothing, products, sculptures, and architecture, various societies explore rich and vibrant colors that are vivid, expressive, and joyful. Through different shades, hues, contrasts, motifs, and ornamentations, colors are embraced as an unspoken language, a palette for storytelling, and a sense of cultural identity. Although the use of color in African societies may seem decorative on the surface, it is extremely symbolic, with a deep sense of history behind it. Traditional African architecture is a prime example. Ethnic societies have endowed their homes with color through ornaments and motifs, expressed it with religious and cultural patterns, employed it on facades to tell familial stories, and created labyrinths of communal architecture that not only celebrate color but explore its ethnic meaning.

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Videos

In Lagos, a city with a complex urban fabric that includes historical buildings and vast interpretations of contemporary architecture, lies PatrickWaheed Design Consulting (PWDC). This design practice, Co-led by Adeyemo Shokunbi, aims to contribute to a Nigerian architectural language through the renaissance of local materials. Through explorations anchored in local laterite, they have developed the material as a modern finishing technique, investigated its potential as a natural dye, discovered new ways to employ its thermal properties, and now build the research prospect of other local materials. I had the opportunity to speak with Architect Shokunbi, who discussed the initial inspirations and investigations during the construction of two building projects (Mad House & Abijo Mosque) in Lagos. These projects brought the Laterite finishing technique to life and now help build the case for a Nigerian architectural language.

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