The Colburn School, Los Angeles' renowned school for music and dance, has unveiled architectural designs by Frank Gehry for the Colburn Center, a 100,000 square-foot campus expansion that aims to inspire and promote the region’s young performing artists and organizations. The center will serve as a cultural and civic hub in the heart of Downtown LA through public programs, as well as performance and educational collaborations with local and touring artists.
UNStudio revealed a mixed-use high-rise building design in Dusseldorf integrated within the new Belsenpark masterplan. The tower, designed in collaboration with OKRA Landscape Architects, results from an international architecture competition held by private developer Pandion and features a diverse ground floor programme tied together by a pocket park. The project integrates prefabrication and modular design, thus reducing the building's environmental impact.
Nowadays everything is “painted” green. It's green packaging, green technologies, green materials, green cars and, of course, green architecture. A “green wave”, stimulated by the environmental and energy crisis we are facing, with emphasis on climate change and all the consequences linked to global warming. This calamitous situation is confirmed by the second part of the report entitled Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and presented in recent weeks. It reveals that, although adaptation efforts are being observed in all sectors, the progress implemented so far is very low, as the actions taken are not enough.
A carbon neutral building is achieved when the amount of CO2 emissions is balanced by climate-positive initiatives so that the net carbon footprint over time is zero. Considering their unmatched ability to absorb CO2, planting trees is often viewed as the best carbon offsetting solution. But as cities become denser and the amount of available horizontal space for green areas drastically reduces, architects have been forced to explore other approaches. Therefore, to address these climatic challenges and connect people to nature, exterior green walls have become a rising trend in increasingly vertical cities. Even if there is research to claim that these can positively impact the environment, many question if they can actually contribute to a carbon neutral architecture. Although the answer may be quite complex, there seems to be a consensus: green walls can be effective, but only through good design.
On the heels of the Eames Office’s 80th anniversary marked by an exhibition and a Ray-inspired sneaker, director Eames Demetrios spoke to Metropolis about the matriarch who continues to inspire design.
Shower toilets are fast becoming the new standard when it comes to personal hygiene. GROHE Sensia Arena showcases the benefits of this all-encompassing approach with award-winning design, innovative technology and an undeniable feel-good factor.
On the path toward poverty reduction, economic growth, and environmental sustainability, both water and sanitation measures play a fundamental role, demonstrating the importance of access to a resource like water in people's lives. To mark World Water Day, celebrated every March 22, we present the Palacio de Aguas Corrientes (Water Company Palace) in Buenos Aires—one of the greatest creations of the 19th-century European foundry industry outside Europe, combining art and engineering in a unique Argentine work declared a National Historic Monument in 1989.
We are pleased to present the finalist projects for the 2022 Obra do Ano Award. After two weeks of nominations, the favorite projects have been chosen from hundreds of buildings constructed in Portuguese-speaking countries. Our expert jury, composed of our own readers, has once again done an excellent job selecting these 15 projects.
From today until March 30 at 11:59 PM (Brasília time - GMT-3), you can vote once a day for the projects you consider to be the best examples of contemporary Lusophone architecture. The results will be announced on March 31.
The 2022 Obra do Ano Award is presented by Dornbracht, a company internationally renowned for its kitchen and bathroom products.
Pedro Pitarch Architectures & Urbanisms, a Madrid-based architecture office, has recently designed a project for the Special 40th Anniversary Section of the ARCO Fair called "ARCO 40+1." This exhibition space commemorates 40+1 years of the art fair. The exhibition, where nineteen galleries present their works, was curated by María Inés Rodríguez, Sergio Rubira, and Francesco Stocchi.
Despite being the smallest rooms of houses, bathrooms have always been one of the most challenging and critical to design, which often left them fairly simplified. The past few years, however, saw these spaces undergo significant change; what was once only limited to functionality, ease of maintenance, and privacy, is now being given a strong character with pops of color, classic fixtures, and patterned surfaces. Similarly for public bathrooms, where "functionality" and "ease of maintenance" are now complimented with aesthetics, technology, and high quality finishing. In this interior focus, we explore the three main bathroom typologies used in residential projects, and look at how architects have employed them through 12 examples.
Architecture firm HKS and landscape designer Hood Design Studio have been selected by global entertainment and media company CMNTY Culture to design a new creative campus in the heart of Hollywood. Dubbed CMNTY Culture Campus, the project will feature production spaces, offices, performance venues, bringing together creative industries in a 500,000-square-foot development.
The upcoming exhibition in The Architect's Studio series hosted by the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art presents the work of Forensic Architecture, a multidisciplinary research group operating at the intersection of architecture and investigative journalism. Led by architect Eyal Weizman, the collective of architects, artists, software developers, journalists, lawyers, and animators investigates and documents human rights violations across a wide range of global conflicts.The practice constructs models and virtual spaces to share a new perspective on specific events.
Over the years, interior design has evolved according to the needs that arise, but above all according to the experiences we seek to provoke in the user. In the last two years, we witnessed a radical change and a particular interest in this subject because the pandemic forced us to pay specific attention to the configuration of the places we inhabit. This brought about much more holistic designs that cater to the wellbeing of the user, combining colours, sensory experiences, technology and natural elements that promote health.
Gender inequality in the practice of architecture is the result of a multifaceted process, within which the role of narratives woven daily by journalism remains understudied. Here, we present how two female architects were portrayed by Rio de Janeiro's daily press in the 1950s, aiming to examine how their professional image was constructed in a way that was inseparable from their personal lives.
For centuries and centuries we’ve built – and the diversity in our global built environment is a testament to that. The many different cultures around the globe have had different ways of building throughout history, adapting locally found materials to construct their structures. Today, in our globalized present, building materials are transported across the globe far from their origins, a situation that means two buildings on completely opposites sides of the world can be more or less identical.
Tragedy, protest, insurrection, and political turmoil have led to a renewed awareness of racial injustice and democratic instability. These issues create new challenges for users and designers of public spaces in America. Cultural spasms have resulted in contested public spaces — sites of killings, protests in streets and parks, and forgotten burial grounds. These spaces need a new form of environmental justice.
Comfortable outdoor spaces are more desirable than ever. Over the past couple of years, people have been spending more time at home, connecting with nature from the relative comfort of covered balconies, patios, and pergolas. But even with pleasant views, cooling breezes, and the warmth of the sun, covered outdoor spaces can be uncomfortable. Temperature variations, glare, rain, and wind quickly create an unpleasant experience. In warmer climates, insects can be an additional a nightmare.
Publishing architecture is necessary for the discipline itself to be understood as such. Without it, architecture becomes an endeavor devoid of public inquiry, confined to private practices. Yet its presence opens up a field that translates a material language into a written one, reformulating the discourses emerging from this arena. Among the “smallest” of these publications are fanzines—mediums that arise from a desire for self-management and low-cost, small-run production, capable of adapting to diverse content, whether in the form of a booklet or simply folded paper.
The playful potential of the fanzine has sparked growing popularity in Chile, culminating in its inclusion in the XXI Chilean Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism in 2019. Although awareness of this medium predated this event, there is still a gap in understanding its characteristics. This necessitates asking simple, almost naive questions about the specific conditions of its production—discussions that ultimately reveal an invisible network woven among individuals who, without knowing it, were already connected.
Clay walls have a high thermal inertia. This means that they act as a climate buffer that creates a thermal delay in the flow of heat from the outside to the inside, absorbing it during the day and releasing it overnight. The material is especially suitable for hot and dry climates, such as that of Gando, where Francis Kéré built his first school. After years of studying abroad, Kéré returned to his home community with the intention of building this school with the same materials historically used by locals, which many originally viewed as strange, as he said in this lecture. Despite the initial prejudice, it was the combination of local materials and techniques with Kéré’s acquired knowledge that ultimately gave strength to the project.
Under the latest round of NYC's Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Project Excellence Program, Commissioner Thomas Foley has announced that the agency has selected 20 firms to provide architectural design services for New York City’s future public buildings project. 10 of the selected firms are certified Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs), meeting the city’s ambitious goals of supporting M/WBEs and increasing its ability to generate culturally competent designs.
On February 24th, 2022, Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine, triggering the largest and most rapidly unfolding refugee crisis in modern-day Europe. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), nearly 6.5 million people were displaced within Ukraine, and 3.4 million fled across international borders into neighboring countries since the onset of the war. The humanitarian crisis united the world in protest against the military violence targeting civilians and triggered an unprecedented global response in support of the aid efforts. The architecture community has also rallied in support of Ukraine, condemning the war, halting work in Russia, and supporting Ukrainian creative professionals by hiring their services.
Martin Benavidez founded Ben-Avid in 2018, an architectural practice he runs from Córdoba, Argentina, where he develops national and international architectural projects of various scales and complexities.
His projects are commercial spaces, galleries and exhibition pavilions, urban and metropolitan transport infrastructure, among others. They are collaborative and tell stories. It is architecture that has a narrative. His Pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai together with MMBB Arquitetos and JPG.ARQ is one of his most recent projects. Its protagonists are the waters of Brazil: its rivers and mangroves, a natural heritage that underlies the whole discourse on the sustainability of the planet.
Selected by ArchDaily as one of the Best New Practices of 2021, we conducted the following interview with Martin to tell us more in detail about all his inspirations, motivations, work processes and upcoming projects.
Paris has been making headlines for years with its aggressive steps to anti-car, pro-pedestrian urban improvements. Faced with increasing issues around air pollution and an attempt to reclaim streets for alternate modes of transit, as outlined in their proposed plan for a 15-minute city, the French capital is seen as a leader in future-forward urbanist strategies. Recently, their department of transportation set a deadline for their lofty goals of eliminating traffic from its roads. In just two years from now, in time for the French capital to host the Olympics, Paris plans to ban non-essential traffic from its city center, effectively eliminating around 50% of vehicular mobility. What does this plan look like? And how might other cities use this strategy to eliminate their own urban issues?
With a history that dates all the way back to 1834, manufacturer of luxury cases and safes WOLF knows all about the importance of protecting not only treasured possessions, but legacy, too.
