Tag: urban-acupuncture | ArchDaily

Tuwaiq Sculpture 2026 Transforms Riyadh into a Platform for Public Art

Eduardo Souza — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 07:45:00 +0000

For centuries, sculpture has been associated with the materialization of religious values, the celebration of heroic achievements, or the consolidation of political power. Today, it also operates as a critical instrument and an urban mediator. Many contemporary works interrogate the present, challenge scale, engage with movement and circulation, and reshape perceptions of public space. Sculpture is no longer conceived as an isolated object, but as part of broader processes of urban transformation.

A Model for Community-Led Heritage Preservation: Esna's Aga Khan Award-Winning Revitalisation

Mohieldin Gamal — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 03:00:00 +0000

Among the seven winners of this year's 16th Aga Khan Award for Architecture was the Revitalisation of Historic Esna in southern Egypt. Led by the Cairo-based firm Takween, the project was far more than a simple restoration. It was a comprehensive renewal effort that combined deep community engagement with the preservation of both tangible and intangible heritage. By creating thousands of jobs and restoring the historic center, the initiative offered a powerful alternative to demolition. The Aga Khan Trust lauded it as a 'replicable model for sustainable development'.

Libraries as Urban Acupuncture: Small Interventions, Big Impact in Asia

Ankitha Gattupalli — Mon, 08 Sep 2025 04:00:00 +0000

In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture works through strategically placed needles that trigger healing throughout the entire body. Urban planner Jaime Lerner's concept around targeted architectural interventions find success in China as well as neighboring countries in Asia, where localities are revitalized through simple interventions. Libraries, specifically, are bringing in social, cultural, and economic transformation to the continent.

The Barcelona Model: Public Space as a Synonym for Urban Adaptation

Jaume Barnada — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 03:30:00 +0000

CityMakers, The Global Community of Architects Who Learn from Exemplary Cities and Their Makers, is working with Archdaily to publish a series of articles about Barcelona, Medellin, and Rotterdam. The authors are the architects, urban planners, and/or strategists behind the projects that have transformed these three cities and are studied in the "Schools of Cities" and "Documentary Courses" made by CityMakers. On this occasion, Jaume Barnada, coordinator of the award-winning Climate Shelters project in Barcelona schools and speaker at the "Schools of Cities", presents his article "Barcelona, the public place as a synonym for the adaptation of the built city."

The Philippines Pavilion Employs Urban Acupuncture to Address the Flawed Ecology of Manila at the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale

Maria-Cristina Florian — Thu, 15 Jun 2023 06:30:00 +0000

At the 18th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, The Philippines Pavilion presents an exhibition that investigates the ecology and social implication of the Tripa de Gallina estuary in Manila. The body of water, once a mechanism for flood mitigation, has now become congested and polluted, affecting the lives of the nearby communities. The Pavilion aims to present the initiative that set out to gather and investigate the guts of the estuary and to work with the residents to find adequate and sustainable architectural solutions. Titled “Tripa de Gallina: Guts of Estuary,” the exhibition in Venice is co-curated by Architect Choie Funk and Sam Domingo and presents the work of the Architecture Collective, represented by Bien Alvarez, Matthew Gan, Ar. Lyle La Madrid, Noel Narciso and Arnold Rañada.

Carlo Ratti Associati Joins Manifesta 14 to Design Urban Interventions in Prishtina, Kosovo

Maria-Cristina Florian — Mon, 25 Jul 2022 05:30:00 +0000

Design and innovation office CRA - Carlo Ratti Associati unveils the result of its Urban Vision and Urban Program for Manifesta 14, the European Nomadic Biennial in Prishtina, Kosovo, between July 22 and October 30, 2022. CRA’s project proposes a new methodology for reclaiming public space in the city. It starts with a series of open-ended design interventions to encourage citizen participation and foster feedback loops to create long-term effects on the built environment. During the 20th century, regime changes and political clashes brought considerable turbulence to Kosovo and its cities. As a result, Prishtina currently suffers from a substantial shortage of public space, but a large group of disenfranchised residents is eager to reverse this situation.

Temporary Architecture: Innovation, Testing-Ground and Entertainment

Andreea Cutieru — Mon, 30 Aug 2021 04:00:00 +0000

Beyond "experience tourism" and light entertainment, temporary architecture is a fertile ground for testing ideas, examining places, popularizing new concepts and technologies. Taking a wide array of forms, from disaster relief projects and utilitarian structures to design experiments, architectural statements and playful installations, transient structures showcase alternative visions for the built environment, opening up new possibilities and questioning established norms. As temporary architecture now seems at odds with sustainability imperatives, the following discusses the value of temporary architecture as a vehicle of experimentation, advancing design and engaging communities.

Urban Acupuncture: Regenerating Public Space Through Hyper-Local Interventions

Andreea Cutieru — Fri, 25 Sep 2020 06:30:00 +0000

Urban acupuncture is a design tactic promoting urban regeneration at a local level, supporting the idea that interventions in public space don’t need to be ample and expensive to have a transformative impact. An alternative to conventional development processes, urban acupuncture represents an adaptable framework for urban renewal, where highly focused and targeted initiatives help regenerate neglected spaces, incrementally deploy urban strategies, or consolidate the social infrastructure of a city.

Medellin’s Comuna 13 Shows Why All Great Public Spaces Should Be Kid-Friendly

Rodrigo Díaz — Mon, 06 Nov 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Jaime Lerner defines urban acupuncture as a series of small-scale, highly focused interventions that have the capacity to regenerate or to begin a regeneration process in dead or damaged spaces and their surroundings.

Spotlight South Africa: Three Designs Instilling Dignity & Defeating Stigma

Vanessa Quirk — Fri, 06 Jun 2014 01:00:00 +0000

How do you undo centuries of inequality? How do you overturn an inequality so ingrained in a culture that it manifests itself physically - in the architecture of its homes and in the misshapen nature of its cities?

Urban Agriculture Part III: Towards an Urban "Agri-puncture"

Vanessa Quirk — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 11:30:05 +0000

Earlier this month, The New York Times’ Michael Kimmelman tackled a common narrative in the architecture and urban planning community. It goes like this: once upon a time, in the 1990s, Medellín, Colombia, was the “murder of the capital of the world.” Then thoughtful architectural planning connected the slums to the city. Crime rates plummeted and, against the odds, the city was transformed.