MAD Architects led by Ma Yansong, unveiled renderings of the MoLo, short for Mobility and Logistic hub, a new gateway situated along the western boundary of the Milano Innovation District (MIND). In collaboration with Architect Andrea Nonni, Open Project, and Progeca, the 28.5 meters high complex brings together several facilities across 68,700sqm of surfaces. Designed as an integration of nature and architecture, the MoLo “performs as a welcoming entrance and education space for issues related to mobility in which visitors can drop off their cars to explore the district on foot and see innovative transportation technology in person”.

Sou Fujimoto has unveiled a “Not a Hotel Ishigaki”, a new project in the southwest of Ishigaki Island in Okinawa, Japan. The unique tropical resort hotel sits on a circular base open in all directions toward the surrounding natural landscape. The main feature of the building is the undulating roof covered in vegetation. Its shape allows access from the building terraces, creating an inner landscape, complete with meadows, relaxation areas, and a water mirror that reflects the sky and the singular tree in its vicinity.

June is the month in which the day of Japanese immigration is celebrated in Brazil, a country that has the largest Japanese colony outside Japan, with more than 2 million people, Japanese or descendants. Since the 20th century, Japanese families immigrated to Brazilian rural regions, forming a solid colony in the interior of states like São Paulo, influencing many aspects of the local culture.

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The International High-Rise Award 2022/23 has nominated 34 outstanding projects from 13 different countries to compete for this year’s edition. Selected by the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM), the shortlisted buildings were picked from more than 1,000 new high-rises worldwide dating from the past two years. As in previous years, a considerable decline in high-rises completed was to be observed.

The jury of international experts for this year’s High-Rise Award was chaired by architect Sven Thorissen (MVRDV) and included architects, engineers, architectural critics, and representatives of DekaBank, the City of Frankfurt, and Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM). In the fall, five finalists will be announced in the second step of the process, and the winner will be released on November 8, 2022.

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Notre Dame cathedral in Paris is on course to reopen to worshipers and the public in 2024, according to Culture Minister Rima Abdul Malak’s statement on Thursday, almost three years after the devastating fire. In the statement, she noted that the clean-up phase of the restoration project is now completed, allowing rebuilding work to get underway. The 12th century cathedral is being restored to its previous design, including the 96-meter spire designed by architect Eugene Viollet-le-Duc in the mid-1800s, for which new timber has been selected.

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Architecture and cuisine build different relationships, depending on the local culture. When this combination results in stores, it usually enhances the experience of restaurants, cafes, bakeries, and bars.

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Beyond the traditional boundaries of Scandinavian minimalism and Japanese wabi-sabi, the aesthetics from the far north and the far east have more parallels than one might think at first glance –it is not for nothing, after all, that they are so popularly combined with each other, creating the term Japandi.

The Albert Einstein Education and Research Center, the first project in Brazil by Safdie Architects, is nearing completion. Scheduled to open this August, the building—which features spacious garden courtyards that create an urban oasis in the southern zone of São Paulo—will house a new medical school and research facilities for one of the country's most advanced healthcare institutions.

Celebrating its 35th anniversary, this edition of CasaCor brings together projects by 68 renowned professionals spread across more than 10,000 square meters inside a landmark of São Paulo modernism, the Conjunto Nacional. Under the theme “Particular Infinite,” this year's exhibition focuses on the accumulation of time, on the stories already told and those we tell about ourselves. In this universe of ways of inhabiting the world, and of the traces we leave around us—from finger marks on the walls to the dust we carry on the soles of our shoes—we are always searching for something that is ours alone, inexhaustibly our own.

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In urban planning discourse, advocacy for public transit is as widely agreed upon as it is frequently repeated. Proposals such as transit-oriented development (TOD), which advocates for coordinating urban density with transit corridors, have gained traction over recent decades. They have moved from academia into the recommendations and case studies of institutions like the World Bank, into political platforms and official documents, and are already visible in various urban interventions worldwide—from Curitiba to Toronto, and particularly in Asia.

The use of bicycles in urban areas has been steadily increasing. Health, leisure, cost savings, convenience—there are numerous reasons and benefits driving this choice. However, for people to choose cycling, a fundamental factor must be met: safety during the ride, which is primarily provided by bike paths and lanes. To highlight this, we present a ranking of which Brazilian capitals prioritize cyclists and the quality of their routes, fostering the construction of a better city through active mobility.

Often times in architecture, the way that a project's ability of its underscored elements to subtly carry a dialogue with the existing site is one of the most powerful moments in design. Swimming pools are a great example of these types of projects, since their designs often are a direct response to a variety of existing site conditions, including occupying both inside and outside spaces, assuming different forms, and incorporating a variety of finishes that might completely transform the aesthetic of the space.

Women Architects and Urban Planners Day was established in 2020 by the Council of Architecture and Urbanism of Brazil (CAU/BR) to reaffirm its commitment to promoting gender equality across all its spheres and in its relationship with society. According to a survey by CAU/BR in its 2019 Yearbook, women represent 63% of architects and urban planners, a proportion expected to increase in the near future. Among professionals aged 30 and under, that number rises to 75% women compared to 25% men.

When addressing the recycling process of construction materials, several obstacles stand in the way of achieving a comprehensive and effective outcome. First, careless demolition can make the process highly complex, as materials destined for different recycling streams are often mixed together. Furthermore, not all materials can be recycled or processed efficiently, as many still require costly or overly complex processes. However, the construction industry—a major contributor to waste production and greenhouse gas emissions—has also developed multiple new technologies to improve its practices. This is where the WOOL2LOOP project comes in, aiming to resolve one of the greatest challenges in applying a circular approach to construction and demolition waste.

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“A hundred times have I thought New York is a catastrophe, and fifty times: It is a beautiful catastrophe.” Le Corbusier. This architecture city guide celebrates Modernism in one of the world's greatest cities: New York. We embark on an architectural journey through nearly a century of innovative, revolutionary architecture: from early 20th century, revivalist Beaux-Arts; to machine-age Art Deco of the Inter-War period; to the elegant functionalism of the International Style; to the raw, exposed Brutalism characteristic of the Post-War years; and, finally, to the splendid forms of organic architecture. From world-renowned landmarks to undiscovered jewels, we invite you to explore the 2,028 blocks that make Manhattan an architectural mecca for citizens around the world.

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It is common to find the concept of Created Land (Solo Criado) in Master Plans (PD) and Land Subdivision, Use, and Occupation Laws (LPUOS). This concept enables the implementation of certain urban planning instruments, such as the Onerous Grant of the Right to Build (OODC) and the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR). But what exactly is Created Land?

“Architecture is embedded storytelling,” wrote Marco Frascari. Emphasizing the reciprocity between architecture and narrative throughout his career, this Italian architect, theorist, and educator saw stories as the key to creating a “nontrivial”—and therefore transcendent—architecture. It is from his ideas, writings, teachings, and studies that the reflection inspiring this text arises.

The TAC! Urban Architecture Festival is an initiative led by the General Directorate for Urban Agenda and Architecture of the Ministry of Transport, Mobility, and Urban Agenda (MITMA), in collaboration with the Arquia Foundation. It is aimed at young architects to design and build a temporary pavilion that will host exhibitions, meetings, and activities.

Fortunately, architecture has the power to solve numerous issues of the modern world and how we live in it, and there are infinite ways of doing so. However, not all architecture is effective in providing solutions while also being sensitive and thought-provoking. With a portfolio that is getting richer every year, SO–IL, an architecture practice based in New York City, has proven that buildings can actually do this and much more.

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HA-HA, in partnership with BIK Bouw and Wooncompas Housing, will develop four social housing blocks for the community of Ridderkerk, near Rotterdam, Netherlands. The project uses materials from the existing social housing estate, built in the 1950s, and employs an innovative modular-timber system to create sustainable human-centered housing. The old buildings are planned to be disassembled and their components reused and integrated into the new development, which will increase the number of affordable units by 13%.

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Since 2011, the Aromeiazero Institute has been promoting the "Bike Parada não Rola" (A Stationary Bike Doesn't Roll) campaign. The initiative partners with residential building managers to identify abandoned bicycles in condominium bike racks. 

Far from the US state of Tennessee, the Memphis movement emerged in Milan in the 1980s and revolutionized design. Its gaudy colors, exaggerated patterns and conflicting prints were intended to overturn the minimalism status quo of the time, also contradicting the functionalist design postulated by the Bauhaus with its purely aesthetic and ornamental forms.

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In the 1960s, Jane Jacobs criticized modernist urban planning from the perspective of the integrated city. She believes that the purpose of urban renovation is to establish a better-integrated relationship between urban space and urban function by repairing the gap between them. Rather than "beautify" the urban environment.

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This article was originally published on Common Edge.

There are few more powerful questions than “Where are you from?” People feel intensely connected to cities as places and to other people who feel that same kind of connection. In other words, we tend to understand and experience places in a very personal way.

Yet to understand place—indeed, to understand human settlements in general—it’s important to recognize that places are not created by accident. They are created on purpose to further a political or economic agenda. Better cities emerge when the people who shape them think more broadly and consciously about the places they are creating.