OMA's research and publication branch AMO has taken over the fences of the United Nations Headquarters in New York for a public exhibition showcasing a follow-up of the 2020 Countryside, The Future project. Curated by Rem Koolhaas and Samir Bantal, director of AMO, Countryside at the United Nations, invites reflection and public discussion on the topics of agricultural innovation, ecological change and food production in anticipation of the UN Food Systems Summit taking place in September 2021.
“If you gave me your shoe, I could tell you with about 90% accuracy the city in the world from which you came,” says Christopher Mason, Ph.D., a professor at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, NY, co-author of the first global atlas of urban microorganisms. The study, carried out by the international Metagenomics and Metadesign of Subways and Urban Biomes (MetaSUB) consortium, creates a map of the microbiome of some of the largest cities in the world.
MVRDV has revealed the design of an exhibition and visitor centre for the Port of Rotterdam, which would tell the story of Europe’s largest port. Scheduled to open in 2024, The Harbour Experience Centre features a stack of five rotated exhibition spaces framing views of the surroundings, and outdoor staircases wrapped around the structure provide visitors with a route up the various terraces and to the rooftop. The project is the successor of FutureLand, a temporary information centre from 2009, whose success prompted the creation of a permanent exhibition.
Charles (June 17, 1907 – August 21, 1978) and Ray Eames (December 15, 1912 – August 21, 1988) are best known for their personal and artistic collaboration and their innovative designs that shaped the course of modernism. Their firm worked on a diverse array of projects, with designs for exhibitions, furniture, houses, monuments, and toys. Together they developed manufacturing processes to take advantage of new materials and technology, aiming to produce high-quality everyday objects at a reasonable cost. Many of their furniture designs are considered contemporary classics, particularly the Eames Lounge & Shell Chairs, while the Eames House is a seminal work of architectural modernism.
https://www.archdaily.com/642966/spotlight-charles-and-ray-eamesArchDaily Team
Plant 7 at Congdon Yards, an adaptive reuse project in High Point, North Carolina. Image Courtesy of Keith Isaas
Adaptive reuse or the process of transforming an older building by reusing the structure and changing its original purpose, has gained relevance over the years especially because it allows a complete optimization of the performance of the existing built environment. In a piece, originally published on Metropolis, author Elissaveta Brandon explores how "architects and developers are transforming the staples of the South—located throughout a 120-mile region from Winston-Salem to Fayetteville—into infrastructure fit for today". Transforming historic mills into design hubs, and mixed-use complexes, the article highlights 3 examples from North Carolina.
https://www.archdaily.com/963472/three-adaptive-reuse-projects-in-north-carolina-reinvent-historic-millsElissaveta M. Brandon
The Media Architecture Awards are handed out to the best projects in the integration of displays, interactive installations and other media into architectural structures, such as facades and urban screens. The winners will be announced at the Awards Ceremony on July 2 (15:30-16:30 CEST). The award ceremony will be live-streamed. The coming weeks the three nominations in each of the five categories will be revealed here, on ArchDaily.
Studio Gang and The Community Builders have won the City of Chicago’s C40 Reinventing Cities, a competition that seeks to “transform underutilized sites or buildings into beacons of sustainability and resilience and act as a showcase for future zero-carbon urban developments”. The winning proposal will create 207 residences for the downtown workforce earning as little as minimum wage, revitalize Pritzker Park, and add community spaces and amenities to the Chicago Loop.
The human scale spans both physical dimensions and sensory perception. Designers create spaces and objects like steps, doorways and chairs that are closely aligned to human measurement and how we see the world. But as we look beyond the human scale, new ideas and typologies emerge that help us rethink how we conceptualize architecture and build for the future.