2018 should prove to be a pivotal moment in how the design community uses virtual reality to deliver work. With leading firms exploring the introduction of mult capabilities, the technology will experience a breakthrough shift from purely enabling new modes of consumption to one that empowers design.

Today, VR essentially allows designers, clients, and stakeholders to consume models in dynamic new virtual environments. One by one, individuals can put on VR goggles and experience spaces that only exist digitally as others watch, listen to their reactions, and wait their turn. This implementation of VR technology has already strengthened design outcomes by enhancing strong communication throughout the design process, translating to less risk and stronger confidence in the eventual built product for clients.

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Videos

Each year the Vilcek Foundation selects American immigrant champions of the arts and sciences. This year the 2018 Vilcek Prize in Architecture was awarded to Guatemala-born, and now San Diego-based, professor and architect Teddy Cruz. Cruz uses his past experiences, living in Guatemala during its civil war, to focus his academic and professional career on shaping political and socioeconomic forces.

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The ArkDes Fellowship offers practitioners, spatial thinkers, and researchers operating in or around the fields of architecture and design opportunities for interdisciplinary research at ArkDes, the Swedish Centre for Architecture and Design. The first annual fellowship will be dedicated to the theme of Projecting the Future, providing four Fellows with space to conduct explorative work for a six month-long period (September 2018 to February 2019) in Stockholm.

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UNStudio has revealed new renderings of their massive development and master plan for FOUR Frankfurt, as the firm joins forces with HPP Architects (UNS + HPP) to carry out the next stages of the project.

Located on a 16,000 square meter site in the Frankfurt financial district formerly housing offices for Deutsche Bank, Frankfurt FOUR will consist of a multi-story, mixed-use plinth and four skyline-changing high-rise towers, the tallest of which will cap out at 748 feet (228 meters).

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A new National Geographic documentary is set to reveal a newly discovered Mayan "Megalopolis" in what is being called a “major breakthrough” in Mayan history. Over 60,000 homes, infrastructure systems, and man-made features that were once hidden underneath the dense jungles of Guatemala are now being revealed to the world, painting a picture of ancient cities that were both much larger and much denser than previously thought.

The tenth Case Study House wasn’t actually intended for the Arts & Architecture programme. It was added on its completion in 1947, to fill out the roster, as many houses remained unbuilt. Clearly, the Nomland design earned its place on the list, having many features in common with other Case Study homes and, most importantly, meeting the stated aims of economy, simplicity, new materials and techniques, and indoor/outdoor integration. The different departure point, however, can be seen in the layout. Whereas Case Study homes were designed primarily for families, this plan is for “a family of adults”—which is to say, a childless couple.

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