Manhattan is known for its iconic skyline, brimming with skyscrapers, high rises, and some of the most impressive architecture in the world. But it wasn’t always that way; it took hundreds of years for New York City to become the structurally diverse, world-famous city that it is today.
The United States is a comparatively young country, but one with a rich and diverse history. From the ancient villages of New Mexico’s Pueblo people and the early Spanish settlers in Florida, to the Russian traders of Alaska and 19th-century missionaries in Utah, each of the 50 states has its own story to tell.
There’s no better way to trace this history than through buildings, which is why we’ve mapped out the oldest intact building in each US state. Whether they’re cottages, grand mansions, fortresses or churches, these historic sites offer us a glimpse into the early days of the regions. They help us to understand what brought early inhabitants to the state – and what their lives might have been like.
Ever wondered about the hardest and softest woods in the world? As architects, we're all pretty familiar with the softest: Balsa. Its material qualities are what make it so attractive to make models. But what about the the strongest wood in the world? Ever pondered just how many pounds or kilos of force they can withstand?
If you were to identify, categorize and map the 21st century’s emergent architectural practices from the world over, all on one diagram, what would it look like? Considering how the current architectural landscape consists of several different approaches, attitudes and political stances, how would you map them without being too reductive? And how would you ensure that out of hundreds of emergent practices and firms across the globe, you don’t leave anyone out? Perhaps the Global Architectural Political Compass V 0.2 could offer a clue.
Created by Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Guillermo Fernandez-Abascal, the diagram is part of an ongoing inquiry into “the state of the art in (global) architectural practice” [1]. In 2016, Zaera-Polo explored the subject in a comprehensive essay for El Croquis titled “Well into the 21st Century” in which he set down the framework for 11 political categories that now form the compass diagram.
Nathan Yau collected US Census data between 1950 and 2015 to create a set of visualizations that demonstrate how the diversity of the workforce has evolved. "Naturally, men and women now work many of the same jobs, but many jobs are mostly men or mostly women," explains Yau. So how does the architecture profession fit into this narrative?
If you find yourself always looking up the same information, or if you're just starting out and you need to have the basics handy, this post is for you. There are hundreds of these helpful guides floating around on Pinterest—and if you want to venture further into interior design or more towards engineering, you're covered! We selected the best and most useful architecture and interior design infographics so that your next project is on point.
Chicago is one of the most architecturally rich cities in the world with the history of modernism embedded in its skyline. From the Willis Tower to the Aqua Tower, the skyscrapers of Chicago have led the development of tall buildings, the city becoming a breeding ground for innovations in structure and design. The Windy City has solidified itself among other metropolitan giants like New York and London as having one of the most recognizable skylines in the world.
This new infographic by Chicago Line Cruises offers a look at some of the most visible figures in Chicago’s skyline, with embedded information on each of the buildings. View the infographic after the break.
All over the world, projects are being built. From pavilions to skyscrapers, the range of scales is tremendous, and even among the multitude, some projects stand head and shoulders above the rest in terms of sheer size, cost, and ambition. The following infographic collects eight of the largest projects that are currently in construction all over the world. With countries like Egypt, the United Kingdom, China, and The United Arab Emirates represented, they showcase a definite diversity while supporting the trend of extreme growth throughout Asia and the Middle-East that has been prevalent in the past decade - the UAE alone hosting three of the eight projects.
Some projects comprise multiple buildings – the Yas Island Complex in Abu Dhabi already features landmarks like the Yas Island Yacht Club and the Yas Hotel - while others are a single, massive piece of infrastructure like the Great Man-Made River Project in Libya. See them all after the break.
One of the biggest decisions to make when setting out alone - either as an independent architect or starting your own firm - is which software to use. It can be tempting to simply choose an industry leader, but you may end up paying over the odds for a product which doesn't suit your style. In this post, originally published on ArchSmarter as "Which architectural software is right for me?" Michael Kilkelly works through the factors that should influence your decision, whether you're making it for the first time or reviewing a choice you made long ago.
Which CAD or BIM software should you use? Well, that depends. What functionality to you need? What are your priorities with regard to cost, comparability, interoperability? Are you using a Mac or a PC?
Graphic artist and designer Martin Vargic of Halcyon Maps has created a fascinating set of infographics that showcase both the cultural typologies of each continent's architecture as well as the evolution of its tallest buildings throughout history. Exploring the progression of height differences of the tallest buildings in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, South America, and Oceania, Vargic's visually-striking charts detail 5,000 years of building history, from ancient to modern times.
Check out the charts, after the break.
Seven years ago today, ArchDaily was launched with one mission: to provide inspiration, knowledge and tools to the architects who are challenged with designing for the world's next 3 billion urban inhabitants. With two guiding principles in mind - that little-known architects should be able to rub shoulders with architecture greats, and that all of this should be free and accessible to everybody - we set about on a path that would eventually lead us to become the world's most visited architecture website, with over 350,000 daily readers.
From a staff of five in 2008, ArchDaily has grown to have sixty staff, working from nine countries on four different local versions: Plataforma Arquitectura, ArchDaily Brasil, ArchDaily México, and ArchDaily Colombia (with more coming soon!). Over seven short years, we've attended Pritzker Prize ceremonies and Venice Biennales, given lectures and presented awards, spoken to hundreds of architects all over the world - and of course, published thousands of projects and articles. This is our story.
Selected by votes from over 31,000 architects and architecture enthusiasts around the world, the winners of the 2015 Building of the Year Awards represent the best architecture of the past year. By using the intelligence of the crowd to judge over 3,000 entrants the awards provide a refreshing antidote to the decisions of expert juries. As a result the winners include Pritzker Prize winners such as Álvaro Siza, Herzog & de Meuron and Shigeru Ban, but also up-and-coming practices such as OTO, sporaarchitects and EFFEKT, and even dynamic collaborations such as the housing complex designed by a team of CEBRA, JDS, SeARCH and Louis Paillard Architects.
With 14 winners, designed by a total of 18 practices and built in 12 countries across 5 continents, the process of recognizing these stunning buildings was truly a global effort. Learn more about the 2015 BOTY Awards and this year’s winners by checking out our AD original infographic, presented by ArchDaily and our partners at HP, after the break.
It may or may not be the tallest building in North America, but one thing's for sure: when it comes to costs, no other skyscraper comes close to New York's One World Trade Center. This is the conclusion of Emporis, whose list of the world's top ten most expensive buildings puts 1WTC way out in front at $3.9 billion. Originally estimated at just half that cost, this sets a trend in the top ten list, with many of the featured buildings suffering staggering overruns. The second-place Shard, for example, overshot it's original £350 million ($550 million) budget nearly four times over (although this is to be expected in London).
With more than 7 billion people now alive, the greatest population growth over the last century has occurred in urban areas. Now, a new series of interactive maps entitled "The Age of Megacities" and developed by software company ESRI allows us to visualize these dramatic effects and see just how this growth has shaped the geography of 10 of the world’s 28 megacities. Defined as areas with continuous urban development of over 10 million people, the number of megacities in the world is expected to increase, and while Tokyo still tops the list as the world’s largest megacity, other cities throughout Asia are quickly catching up. Find out more after the break.
Using information collected from the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey, the Hamilton Project at The Brookings Institution has created a set of interactive infographics comparing the lifetime earning potential of graduates of 80 majors. With so much debate over the earning potential of architects, the tool provides us with an invaluable insight into the long-range outlook for members of our profession, charting the both the total lifetime earnings of architects and their average earnings per year over a 42-year career.
Read on after the break for analysis of what the infographics tell us
Learn about the evolution of the workplace, from the very first office developed by the De Medici family to today's open collaboration spaces, after the break!
For time immemorial, humanity has sought to outdo itself architecturally, building longer tunnels, taller towers, and stronger walls. Now, the Master in Civil Engineering program at Norwich University has compiled a definitive top ten list of these impressive structures. In the following infographic, you’ll find some familiar entries - such as the Great Wall of China and the Hoover Dam - as well as some lesser known greats, like the Qingdao Haiwan Bridge. Spanning over 2000 years of architectural ingenuity and invention, this list is sure to teach you something new about the most impressive engineering projects of all time.
With no casualties, last week's fire at the Glasgow School of Art, which caused significant damage to parts of the building and gutted Charles Rennie Mackintosh's canonical library room, will be remembered as a tragic event that robbed us of one of the best examples of Art Nouveau of its time. The intention of the Glasgow School of Art is to restore the building in the hope that in generations to come, the fire will be all but forgotten, a strategy which has been largely well received by the profession.
However, in the case of other fires things have not gone so smoothly: for millennia, fire has played a big role in determining the course of architectural history - by destroying precious artifacts, but often also by allowing something new to rise from the ashes. Read on after the break as we count down the top 10 fires that changed the course of architectural history.
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Last week, Frei Otto was announced as the 40th recipient of the Pritzker Prize, the latest in a long line of talented architects (as well as the first architect to ever receive the Prize posthumously). Learn more about the Prize and its winners after the break!
Pritzker Laureate Shigeru Ban may be as well known for his innovative use of materials as for his compassionate approach to design. For a little over three decades, Ban, the founder of the Voluntary Architects Network, has applied his extensive knowledge of recyclable materials, particularly paper and cardboard, to constructing high-quality, low-cost shelters for victims of disaster across the world - from Rwanda, to Haiti, to Turkey, Japan, and more. We've rounded up images of Ban's humanitarian work - get inspired after the break.
In case you missed it, we're re-publishing this popular post for your material pleasure. Enjoy!
To celebrate AD Materials turning two three (months that is), we decided to dig a bit deeper into the materials we know and love. What's their history? When did they first come to use - and where? How? If you want to know more about the lives - past and present - of concrete, glass, steel, and more, check out our fantastic new infographic after the break!
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Six years ago, we had a crazy idea: let's create a platform to give architects exposure, no matter where they come from or how famous they may be. Let's put them side by side with architectural greats. Let's make that platform absolutely free and accessible to whomever wants to be inspired by it. Let's give architects the inspiration, knowledge, and tools they need to make our rapidly urbanizing world a better place.
In six short years, we went from an idea to the most visited architecture web site in the world, with over 300,000 daily readers, a staff of over 50 people working in 9 different countries, and three local versions: ArchDaily Brasil, ArchDaily México and Plataforma Arquitectura (and a fourth coming soon!). This is our story.
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The winners of the 2014 ArchDaily Building of the Year Awards represent not just an amazing group of buildings, but the best architecture of today. Over four weeks, over 60,000 ArchDaily readers selected 14 stunning winners by up-and-coming architects, like FT Architects, who constructed an intricate Sports facility from locally sourced timber, leaders in community design, like Auburn University’s Rural Studio, who designed and built a civic space for an Alabama community, internationally recognized offices such as BIG, WOHA, and Aires Mateus, and more.
Learn more about this year's winners, and the BOTY Awards in general, by checking out our AD original infographic, presented by ArchDaily and our partners at HP, after the break.
Each year when Design Intelligence publishes "America's Best Architecture & Design Schools," we try to look beyond the rankings. At the end of the day, the report is a snapshot of the state of architecture today and, as such, is a minefield of useful information, particularly for current (or soon-to-be) architecture students. Check out the short infographic after the break to see how the profession's outlook has grown far more optimistic for architecture grads; what firms look for in recent grads (it may surprise you); and the unequal relationship of high-ranking sustainability programs vs. the prevalence of LEED certification.
