This guide covers a workflow for generating multiple style variations, testing material and furniture options, and assembling a visual presentation package, all from one photograph of the existing room.

Architects and coffee go hand in hand. The aesthetic of the espresso maker has become a mundane part of the morning ritual. The designers at Montaag are changing that with the release of AnZa a show-stopping espresso maker made of concrete. After four years of prototyping and testing, the espresso maker is equipped with high-tech functionality for important things, like remotely brewing your cup as an incentive to get out of bed.

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You’re going to wish you saw this Instagram worthy art installation. Gateways (@Landofceramics) at the central fountain in Granary Square, King’s Cross closed this week. It was designed to celebrate the DesignJunction event (September 21-24) an interior design show by and for the industry, set in challenging industrial sites as part of the greater London Design Festival.

Bamboo has been used by man as a construction material since ancient times. The amazing thing about bamboo, besides being a totally natural material, is that it is sustainable, lightweight, flexible, and inexpensive. Although not widely used in the construction world (at least not when compared to materials like timber), the use of Bamboo enables original and attractive results. This week we have made a selection of 17 photos from well-known photographers such as Julien Lanoo, John Gollings, and Pasi Aalto.

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Believe it or not, architects are just like everyone else! They love a shortcut in their tool belt to accomplish a task. Whether it's in the office or out in the field, all architects have a handful of tricks up their sleeves. The following are ten measuring hacks you can introduce to your daily routine. You can thank us later. 

Videos

As part of the series of new urban developments sprawling up in Moscow, Zaryadye Park is the latest to open this month in a bid to improve the city’s green space. Commissioned by Moscow Chief Architect, Sergey Kuznetsov, an international consortium led by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Hargreaves Associates and Citymakers has designed this new public space that encourages integration and celebrates the amplitude of regions across Russia by artificially emulating each of their climates: the steppe, the forest, the wetlands and the tundra.

There wasn’t much in the way of art that Roberto Burle Marx couldn’t do. He was a painter, print-maker, sculptor, stage designer, jeweler, musician, tapestry-maker and one of the leading landscape architects in the 20th century. Marx’s passion for art, in all forms, strengthened his ability to design landscapes.

Brazil’s Housing Development Company of The Federal District (CODHAB-DF) announced the winners of their National Architecture Design for Affordable Housing Contest. Out of 88 projects submitted across the country, three winners were chosen for each of the following affordable housing categories: single-family housing, duplexes, and apartment buildings.

In addition to the architectural design, requirements for the contest included: well thought-out structural, mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, along with construction implementation, materials, estimated budget and feasibility. The winning proposals, determined by the Judging Committee, demonstrated aesthetic, accessible, functional, low-maintenance and innovative solutions with a feasible timeline and budget.

See the winners of the contest below:

Designed for the V-A-C Foundation, Venice-Based Israeli architect Omri Revesz’s adjustable Street Cinema rests lightly next to a canal in Venice, Italy, expanding, contracting, opening, and closing as its program changes.

Acting as a social gathering point during the day and an open-air cinema at night, the structure was open for the 74^th Venice Film Festival as part of the V-A-C’s Venice Art Biennale 2017 exhibition Space Force Construction – a reflection on the centenary of the Soviet Revolution.

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A new space has been given a retro makeover while a historic one is racing towards modernization as work continues on the transformation of Eero Saarinen’s iconic TWA Terminal into a luxury hotel and event space.

Just completed is the TWA Lounge, a satellite space for the hotel located on the 86th floor of One World Trade Center. Part gallery, part mock-up, the Lounge space recreates the look and feel of the original terminal down to the smallest detail.

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Videos

At this morning’s International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia, SpaceX founder and Lead Designer Elon Musk announced the most ambitious plans yet for the colonization of planets and satellites beyond Earth, including the establishment of a lunar base and a permanent Mars colony by 2022.

“The future is vastly more exciting and interesting if we’re a space-faring species than if we’re not,” said Musk during his keynote. “It’s about believing in the future and thinking the future will be better than the past.”

Arup's’ research into alternative production techniques and materials has focused on the potential of 3D printing metal in the construction sector. Complex and individually designed steel structural elements can be efficiently produced “resulting in endless possibilities in mass customisation, weight reduction, product integration and more.”

Working with the Anglo-Dutch company 3Dealise, their 3D-printed sand molds are used in the traditional casting process to create sophisticated, unique structural steel nodes as a certified material. Sand printing offers a quick technique that can reuse the materials and allows costs to be kept low.

The British Council have revealed Island as the theme of the British Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale. In the exhibition, Adam Caruso, Peter St. John (Caruso St. John), and Marcus Taylor will engage "with current political themes," and was submitted by means of an open call with reference to Shakespeare’s The Tempest:

Be not afeard; the isle is full of noises; Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.

The BIG-designed, 12,000-square-meter LEGO visitor experience center known as the ‘LEGO House’ has officially opened to the public, inviting people of all ages to learn more about the ubiquitous plastic brick and practice their creativity and problem-solving skills through play.

“It has been a dream for me for many years to create a place that will give our visitors the ultimate LEGO experience. With LEGO House, we celebrate creativity and the strength of learning through play. When they play, children learn the basic skills that they need, such as creativity, collaboration and problem-solving abilities,” said former president and CEO of LEGO, Kjeld Kirk Kristiansen.

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Arena International and pioneering technology leader ABB have announced the winners of the 2017 ABB LEAF Awards, celebrating the “projects and personalities that have made the biggest impact upon our built environment, and the international design community, over the last 12 months and beyond.”

This year, awards were given out across 19 categories dedicated to various aspects of building, including best façade design, best future building, and public building of the year, as well as a lifetime achievement award, this year given to Sir Peter Cook.

“To be given a Lifetime award by the ABB Leaf organisation is serious stuff,” said Cook. “It makes me look again at my work and realise that - since it is being taken seriously - I should reiterate again and again its espousal of the experimental, the investigatory and - sometimes- the audacious in architecture. Even at the age of 80 I regard my next building as potentially my best, my next book as my most readable and my next lecture as my naughtiest. I feel truly honoured.”

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Designed by David Svensson, a total of 400 meters of a neon resembled warm white LED from GE is a work of art representing the pulse of city life in busy Stockholm station.

The project, a piece of suspended light, is built by metal profiles and a ceiling where the warm and white light of a series of LED strips is projected, in the quest to represent the basic visual language of the line. 

In the entryway of ArchDaily’s Headquarters, there is a framed, handwritten note from a student in Australia, Alice McLeod. This is something that we have cherished as a company with a very specific mission. She writes,

I grew up in a country town in Victoria, Australia. I lived 3 and half hours drive from a city. My closest library has 5 books in the “architecture & design” category. I had no access to the world and history of Architecture. Your website opened that world up to me. I found my passion and education through ArchDaily. In January I moved to Melbourne to begin my first year of my Architecture Degree. I have never been happier.

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has awarded its 2018 Royal Gold Medal to London-based artist and architect Neave Brown, a revered Modernist architect best known for his visionary Alexandra Road housing estate. Built by London's Camden Council in the 1970s the 500-home estate is, in Brown's own words, a "piece of city" containing shops, workshops, a community centre, a special needs school and children’s centre, a care home for young people with learning difficulties, and a 16,000sqm public park.

The medal is awarded in recognition of a lifetime’s work and is approved personally by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. It is given to a person, or group of people, who have had a significant influence "either directly or indirectly on the advancement of architecture." The medal is being presented earlier than usual—in 2017 rather than 2018—owing to Brown's poor health.

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Working out of a UNESCO world heritage site in Cartagena, Colombia, Smart Everyday Nighttime Design is a research project that aims to use light as a means to build better communities. The project, spearheaded by Arup’s Lighting team with urban-lighting leader Leni Schwendinger, seeks to address nighttime activation of Getsemaní’s streets and public spaces in a bid to improve safety, stimulate the night time economy and engage with the local communities and events.

This documentary, produced by PLANE—SITE, presents the project’s findings and explains the research process and the resulting prototype. The team had two main ambitions:

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San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum has unveiled plans for a $38 million renovation and addition project that will transform the institution’s exhibition and educational programs while reconnecting the building to its Civic Center location. Designed by architect Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY, the project consists of a new 13,000-square-foot exhibition Pavilion and Art Terrace clad in a rusticated gray terracotta facade that echoes the design language of the original beaux arts building.

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Blossoming from the rugged terrain of the California desert, Whitaker Studio’s Joshua Tree Residence is taking shipping container architecture to the next level. Set to begin construction in 2018, the home is laid out in a starburst of containers, each oriented to maximize views, provide abundant natural light or to create privacy dependent on their location and use.

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