The world's most visited architecture platform

“Sick Architecture” opened on May 5^th at CIVA in Brussels. Co-curated by Beatriz Colomina, the exhibition investigates the intrinsic relation between architecture and sickness. The architectural discourse always weaves itself through theories of body and brain, constructing the architect as a kind of doctor and the client as the patient. Architecture has been portrayed as a form of prevention and cure for thousands of years. Yet architecture is also often the cause of illness, from the institution of hospitals to toxic building materials and sick building syndrome. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted this topic.

+ 3

What is the story that your city's public space tells? Who are the people honored in monuments scattered throughout it? Issues like these have led to a series of insurgencies in recent years in several cities. The notions of memory and representation have expanded the reflection on which narrative we build in our spaces, a fact that has triggered an urban question for the future: after all, what do we want to remember (or forget) through the symbols that we rise (or destroy) in cities?

+ 3

Architect, researcher and teacher Marina Tabassum was elected winner of the Lisbon Triennale Millennium bcp Lifetime Achievement Award. Marina is the first person from the global south to receive the honor, joining Denise Scott-Brown from the USA (2019 winner), the French duo Lacaton & Vassal (2016), Kenneth Frampton from the UK (2013), Álvaro Siz from Portugal (2010) and Vittorio Gregotti from Italy (2007).

UN-Habitat has just released its annual World Cities Report during the eleventh session of the World Urban Forum, which took place in Katowice, Poland from June 27 until June 30, 2022. Titled “Envisaging the Future of Cities”, the 2022 release highlights insights on the future of the urban realm, based on “existing trends, challenges, and opportunities, as well as disruptive conditions, including the valuable lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic”. In fact, it seeks to present cities with ways to be prepared for future challenges and address current issues.

As the global population living in urban areas is set to rise from 56 percent in 2021 to 68 percent in 2050, mainly in Africa and the Middle East, transforming our cities in order to achieve a better future should be a global interest. Urgently needing “innovative solutions for urban areas to respond to this triple C crisis of COVID, climate and conflict” as stated by UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat Maimunah Mohd Sharif, the 2022 World Cities Report calls for greater commitment by national, regional and local governments, and encourages the further adoption of innovative technologies and urban living concepts.

+ 7

+ 20

+ 50

+ 6

+ 27

+ 20

+ 28

Videos

+ 21

+ 11

+ 25

+ 34

+ 26

Japanese digital consultancy Gluon plans to preserve the Nakagin Capsule Tower Building in Tokyo, one of the most representative examples of Japanese Metabolism by Kisho Kurokawa. The “3D Digital Archive Project” is using a combination of measurement techniques to record the iconic building in three dimensions and recreate it in the metaverse. The tower is currently being demolished due to the structure's precarious state and incompatibility with current seismic standards, as well as the general state of decay and lack of maintenance.

+ 22

Rugs are not items that usually go unnoticed in residential environments. In addition to warming the environment and making them more cozy, when used correctly, rugs connect the furniture and give unity to the decor. Here are some tips on how to properly size and choose this item in your home.

+ 13