2017

+ 21

If you ask someone to define “fine jewelry” you’ll usually hear something about gold, platinum, diamonds, and other traditionally “precious” materials. But go to any high-end jewelry trade show today, and you’ll find that the term “fine jewelry” rarely matches this limiting definition. Designers no longer hesitate to mix non-traditional materials. The lines between “fine” jewelry and “fashion” jewelry are now blurred. The new generation of buyers doesn’t want to conform to traditional boundaries anymore. For them, “precious” and “non-precious” don’t matter as much as one thing: MAKING A PERSONAL STATEMENT.

+ 28

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Oslo-based architecture firm Dark Arkitekter hopes to jumpstart the revitalization of the city’s cultural center with their proposed rehabilitation of the National Theatre and redevelopment of the surrounding public space. The government is currently planning to renovate the 118-year-old structure, but Dark Arkitekter was unimpressed with the minimal-effort plan and so put forth their design on behalf of the Theatre.

+ 7

The city of Los Angeles manufactures the myth of its own aspirational promise with cult-like fervor showcasing both spectacular virtuosity and deep social myopia - at once its glory and its menace, as Frank Lloyd Wright might have said. LA often stands apart as the urban sing-song of denial replete with clenched eyes and muffled ears. Thus, an illustration of homeless architecture which draws from the same artistic tools and idealism that typically supports the other end of the housing spectrum satirizes the ubiquity of the illusion machine and asks viewers to consider their place on the assembly line of fantasy.

+ 18

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+ 55

+ 26

International offices HUNI Architectes has received the highest prize in an international competition to design the Da Nang City Center Square in Vietnam. Organized by the Department of Construction, the city launched its competition for the square, with HUNI beating out 15 other designs competing for first place. HUNI has experience in Vietnam-based projects, already having collaborated with OMGEVING & Partners to restore Da Nang’s riverfront.

The design adopts the symbolic shape of a typical local element: the Lotus lake. Featuring distinctive ‘Lotus flower’ and ‘Lotus leaf’ canopies, the square aims to increase bike and pedestrian access, along with decreasing water runoff in Da Nang’s rain-filled location. Using its canopy-like shade structure, the Lotus Square will host a playground, market, and water feature symbolic of its chosen motif.

+ 19

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The Danish Capital Copenhagen is World renowned for being the most happiest and livable city in the world. If you ask the locals regarding the reward they all will sum-up to one thing and that’s the hygge which generally means coziness, but encompasses far more. The city is well crafted with bike friendly streets, hued town houses and craft studios, Freetown Christiania aligned with Copenhagen is attracted by the concept of collective business, workshops and communal living.

Spanish architecture studio PRÁCTICA and Rodrigo Pérez de Arce have released designs for their proposal of the Punta Arenas International Antarctic Center in Chile. The proposal was one of the contenders in the design competition for the building, which plans to become the Antarctic’s point of entry for the world.

+ 9

Charles Square is a public space of city-wide importance and one of the pivotal sites in the Prague Heritage Reservation. However, it need a complete reconstruction. The city has decided to announce so called procedure with competition dialogue. This entails interactive collaboration between the city and architects, which will provide for continuous consensus between all stakeholders on the form of the project.