This guide covers a workflow that moves from project parameters to generated floor plans, 3D perspective views, exterior design exploration, and site context visualization, using AI tools in place of preliminary CAD and rendering work.

Designed by LYCS Architecture, the new headquarters for GeTui (Zhejiang Daily Interactive Network Technology) is located in Hangzhou's Unicorn Industrial Park. The project represents a collaborative milestone between LYCS Architecture and the independent smart big data service provider. The architectural scheme has officially received planning approval, with construction slated to begin in mid-2019 and completion scheduled for 2021.

On April 17, 2019, details were announced for the "2019 Shanghai Urban Space Art Season" (SUSAS), hosted by the Shanghai Urban Sculpture Committee and co-organized by the Shanghai Municipal Planning and Natural Resources Bureau, the Shanghai Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau, and the People's Government of Yangpu District, Shanghai.

Following the successful editions in 2015 and 2017, the 2019 Space Art Season continues to explore urban space topics against the backdrop of Shanghai's current phase of urban regeneration. This year's theme is rooted in the municipal government's "One River, One Creek" public space development strategy. Focusing on the global topic of "waterfront spaces bringing a better life to humanity," the event will span nearly two months. Through themed exhibitions, case studies, joint exhibitions, and various public activities—combined with cultural and tourism initiatives like "One Million Citizens Viewing Shanghai"—it will showcase Shanghai's recent achievements and future vision in connecting and improving waterfront spaces citywide. The main exhibition will open at the Yangpu Waterfront at the end of September.

(Article by Wang Xin) Recently, Chengdu officially launched the detailed design phase for the “Capital of Pandas,” marking the start of construction on the new home for the pandas. In January 2019, the master planning and conceptual design scheme developed by the consortium of Shanghai Tianhua Architecture Planning & Design, Chapman Taylor LLP, and Masa Studio (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. won the competition. The consortium was awarded the detailed design contract for the “Beihu Area,” the project's largest plot and home to the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

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According to announcements on the UNESCO website, the World Heritage List represents an invaluable legacy of monuments, natural beauty, and cultural treasures belonging to all humanity. The sites inscribed on this list serve as milestones on our planet, symbolizing regional and national awareness of the significance of place and shared wealth, while preserving this collective heritage for future generations.

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China's unique social development has provided a distinctive breeding ground for contemporary Chinese architecture. As one of the country's primary design hubs, Shanghai can be seen as an ideal entry point to understanding this landscape. Shanghai-based architect Liu Yuyang, who was born in Taiwan and raised in the United States, has forged a unique architectural trajectory shaped by his rich life experiences and multicultural background. Through an extensive portfolio of built work, he has established a distinct voice within the broader professional landscape. In the following excerpt from an interview with author Zhang Yifan (YF), Liu discusses his design approach, the origins of his philosophy, and his professional ethos.

2050年马德里的气候将更像今天摩洛哥马拉喀什的气候，斯德哥尔摩将更像布达佩斯，伦敦更像巴塞罗那，莫斯科更像索菲亚，西雅图更像旧金山，东京更像中国的长沙。

苏黎世联邦理工学院克劳瑟实验室（The Crowther Lab）在科学杂志《公共科学图书馆》（PLoS ONE）上发表了一篇题为《从对相似城市的分析开始理解气候变化》的研究，为世界城市中心的未来描绘了一幅严峻的图景。

Introduction: This interview is part of the “Echoes for the Future” exhibition, which primarily features video interviews with architects. In 2008, architect Che Fei and international curator Yao Jing co-initiated a series of interviews themed “The Beijing Olympics in Architectural Discourse.” In 2018, we revisited the same nine architects, bridging the fields of media, research, and education to illuminate reflections on the built environment and future visions. For this first installment, we delve into the “past, present, and future” of Li Hu, founding partner of OPEN Architecture.

Over the past 20 years, the role of representation and rendering has shifted dramatically across the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industries. New rendering technologies, techniques, and software, such as Lumion, have driven this evolution. By integrating 3D rendering tools, architects and designers can leverage intuitive, versatile visualization technologies to enhance creativity rather than stifle it.

Project Background
As a strategic pivot of the national "Belt and Road" Initiative and the core engine for innovative cooperation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, Qianhai is set to become a futuristic, world-class bay area city center. On January 17, 2019, the Qianhai Authority officially launched the global call for proposals for the "Qianhai Public Space Design" project, attracting applications from 42 consortia representing over a hundred leading design firms worldwide.

The primary objective of the "Qianhai Public Space Design" project is to establish a unique bay area city center. Grounded in human-centric design, the project aims to enhance public well-being and the region's overall appeal through the creation of a beautiful, inviting network of public spaces.

Yesterday, the Changjiang Art Museum, designed by Vector Architects, opened in Taiyuan, Shanxi Province. Simultaneously, the museum inaugurated three exhibitions: "Backbone: Four Chinese Architects," featuring the work of Dong Gong, Hua Li, Li Xinggang, and Cheng Yanchun; "Reshaping the Block: Qiandu·Dongshanqing Architectural Practice Exhibition"; and "Changjiang Village: A History/Space Exhibition."

Preservation and renewal are constantly unfolding in our cities. Against the backdrop of rapidly evolving lifestyles and the transition of China's economic development to a "new normal," urban renewal and regeneration are gradually superseding new construction as crucial aspects of Chinese urban development. This exhibition focuses on the theme of urban renewal, gathering outstanding projects from home and abroad to comprehensively review successful experiences across various regions, scales, typologies, and stakeholders. In doing so, it showcases the achievements, dilemmas, reflections, practices, current conditions, and futures within the urban development process, contributing diverse voices to the ongoing discourse on China's urban renewal.

We interviewed Zhu Xiaodi, co-curator of the exhibition “Born of the Old,” to discuss the significance of the theme, the rationale behind its unique exhibition design, and the stories behind the project.

Past, Present, Future is an interview project by Itinerant Office that invites prominent architects to share their perspectives on the constantly evolving world of architecture. Each interview is divided into a three-part video series—Past, Present, and Future—where interviewees discuss their architectural philosophies and experiences. The project's first installment featured 11 architects from Italy and the Netherlands, while the second edition comprises interviews with 13 architects from Spain, Portugal, France, and Belgium.

The aim of this interview series is to study these successful firms and understand their methodologies. The videos seek to offer a clear picture of what it means to be an architect in the 21st century, while serving as inspiration for the next generation of emerging architects and students entering the field.

On December 20, 2019, the opening press conference for the eighth **Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Shenzhen)** (hereinafter "UABB") was held at the **Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MOCAPE)**, marking the official launch of this year's biennale.

Under the theme of "**Urban Interactions**," this year's UABB is chief-curated by architect and director of the MIT Senseable City Lab **Carlo Ratti**, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering **Meng Jianmin**, and renowned curator and art critic **Fabio Cavallucci**. The South China-Turin Joint Lab (Politecnico di Torino and South China University of Technology) serves as the academic curator. The exhibition **opens on December 21, 2019, at the main venues—the Shenzhen Futian High-Speed Railway Station and the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning—and will officially open to the public on December 22**. In addition, **nine sub-venues** across various districts of Shenzhen will interface with the main venues, establishing an organic network of interaction throughout the city.

The exhibition comprises two main sections, "**Eyes of the City**" and "**Ascending City**," each exploring the evolving relationship between urban space and technological innovation from distinct perspectives. **The main venues showcase over 140 works, bringing together more than 280 exhibitors from 24 countries and regions**. These include renowned international and domestic architects, artists, and institutions such as MVRDV, Liam Young, Stefano Boeri, Sou Fujimoto, Thomas Heatherwick, Ryoji Ikeda, Wang Shu, Yung Ho Chang, Dominique Perrault, Philip F. Yuan, Liu Cixin, and Academicians Cui Kai and Wang Jianguo.

On December 20, 2019, the opening press conference for the 8th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (Shenzhen) (UABB) was held at the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MOCAPE), marking the official launch of this year’s exhibition.

The theme of this year's UABB is "Urban Interactions." It is chief-curated by architect and director of the MIT Senseable City Lab Carlo Ratti, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Meng Jianmin, and renowned curator and art critic Fabio Cavallucci. The South China-Torino Collaboration Lab (Politecnico di Torino and South China University of Technology) serves as the academic curator. The exhibition opened on December 21, 2019, at the main venues—Shenzhen Futian High-Speed Railway Station and the Shenzhen Museum of Contemporary Art and Urban Planning (MOCAPE)—and officially opened to the public on December 22. Concurrently, nine sub-venues across various districts of Shenzhen will collaborate with the main venues, forming an organic interactive network throughout the city.

The exhibition features two main sections, "Eyes of the City" and "Ascending City," which explore the evolving relationship between urban space and technological innovation from distinct perspectives. The main venues showcase over 140 works, bringing together more than 280 participants from 24 countries and regions, including MVRDV, Liam Young, Stefano Boeri, Sou Fujimoto, Thomas Heatherwick, Ryoji Ikeda, as well as renowned domestic and international architects, artists, and institutions such as Wang Shu, Yung Ho Chang, Dominique Perrault, Philip F. Yuan, Liu Cixin, Academician Cui Kai, and Academician Wang Jianguo.

Around 80% of the Brazilian population lives on what was once forest and is not even aware of it. In Brazil, history has been—and continues to be—forged by opposing the city to the forest, within a civilizational matrix fundamentally based on the devastation of native ecologies and their replacement by monocultures and invasive species. In just a few centuries, we have transformed a megadiverse forest continent into sterile environments through urban standardization, bleak architecture, and unsustainable landscaping, imposed as a design project. We live on former forests but resist thinking of cities as forest ruins. [1]

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"The history of architecture is incomplete. Not wrong, but incomplete," said Lesley Lokko when announcing The Laboratory of the Future, the theme of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale. Echoing the curator's statement, a new study published by Studio Autonoma, led by Paulo Tavares, reveals deep disparities in representation within the Brazilian pavilion at the world's largest architecture event.

Titled Historical Census of the Brazilian Pavilion at the Venice Architecture Biennale (1980-2021), the study reveals a significant discrepancy in the profile of curators and participants over these three decades, with a predominance of white men from Brazil's Southeast region, particularly from São Paulo.

What has architecture done for democracy in Portugal—and what has the democratic era done for Portuguese architecture? These are the questions guiding the exhibition O que faz falta. 50 anos de arquitetura portuguesa em democracia [What is Needed: 50 Years of Portuguese Architecture in Democracy], organized by Casa da Arquitectura, which celebrates the fifty years since the 1974 Carnation Revolution.

Curated by Jorge Figueira with co-curator Ana Neiva, the exhibition highlights the intimate relationship between architecture and the democratic regime in Portugal, exploring how Portuguese architects contributed to democratic consolidation by transforming the country's public and private spaces over five decades.

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The history of building materials is a journey of innovation and adaptation to environmental demands. In their most rudimentary forms, for example, the earliest adhesives were made from natural sources, such as mixtures of tree resins, lime, and water. Later, cultures like the Egyptians refined these methods, using starch and casein (a milk protein) to bond elements in their structures. This evolution reached a milestone during the Industrial Revolution, when industrialization and the introduction of synthetic compounds laid the groundwork for the advanced products we know today. The production methods of these materials have transformed construction, optimizing processes and driving significant progress toward sustainability.

"Perhaps in other times knowledge was a secret, which held back progress. As knowledge is made public, knowledge advances." - Juan Baixas

This micro-documentary by HOLDER is the result of an initiative dedicated to bringing visibility to contemporary Latin American design through its histories and creations. In this first episode, Juan Baixas offers a first-person account of the creation and development of his Puzzle Chair, a piece that was added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York in 2015, highlighting its significance in modern design.

When the Minergie sustainable building standard was established in Switzerland 25 years ago to reduce energy consumption and improve indoor comfort, it was hard to foresee that it would become one of the country's most sought-after certifications. Today, it boasts a significant footprint with over 50,000 certified buildings. It was equally difficult to imagine its future in present-day Latin America: how could a system developed for the specific demands of one nation respond to the needs of another region with such diverse geography and culture?

What role do glass surfaces play in connecting contemporary architecture, nature, and the experience of those who inhabit interior spaces? The evolution of the glass envelope has accompanied the development of contemporary architecture, with the transmission of natural light serving as one of its defining qualities. Furthermore, the material's versatility and transparent character blur the boundaries between indoors and outdoors, while evoking a range of sensory and psychological experiences, among other virtues. In its constant search for innovation, Glasstech offers a wide range of glass solutions, providing end-to-end support from initial project design to final installation. To illustrate these diverse applications, we examine Casa Bosque in Chile as a prime example of architecture in harmony with its natural surroundings.

Offering a balance between aesthetics and comfort, designing wooden decks for outdoor spaces such as patios, terraces, walkways, balconies, gardens, or swimming pools represents an excellent alternative for creating outdoor areas for relaxation, entertainment, and recreation. When paired with swimming pools, fountains, or water features, decking in various dimensions, colors, and finishes combines the warmth of wood with the clarity of water, provided it is treated and maintained to maximize durability and optimize long-term performance. Indeed, Leaf Panel's Forta Deck offers a renewable, recyclable, and high-quality solution for outdoor flooring, highlighting the importance of reducing the carbon footprint of building products and leveraging the properties of acetylated wood to improve outdoor performance.

Nicolás Valencia speaks with Venezuelan architect Betina Rincón, research coordinator at ⁠re:arc institute⁠, about the work of the Danish philanthropic organization in supporting and funding community-led solutions to address the climate crisis worldwide.