San Francisco is a city defined by its relationship to housing. Since the 90s it has faced an affordable housing shortage, and now, has some of the highest rents of any major US city. As planners and policy makers work to move beyond the city's past and find new paths forward, architects and designers are testing out diverse housing models. From dense residential towers to multi-unit developments, modern housing aims to strike a balance between economy and urbanity.
Living in Paradise: Luxurious Homes Along the Hawaiian Coast
Hawaii has become a place that defines paradise. From pristine beaches and a warm climate to natural scenery and active volcanoes, the islands are home to incredible landscapes and culture. With indigenous and modern building styles, the state’s architecture is intimately tied to the environment. Reinterpreting historic building techniques and traditions, contemporary Hawaiian architecture balances a desire to honor the past while celebrating new experiences and modern culture. This has led to the formation of incredible spaces to live and dwell.
Solar Design: How Architecture and Energy Come Together
Solar design in contemporary architecture is rooted in the profession's sustainable turn. The relationship between architecture and energy is tied to both passive strategies and performance via more recent innovations in technology. As one way to begin addressing the global climate crisis and greenhouse gas emissions, solar design is reshaping cities and architecture around the world.
AIA California Announces 2020 Residential Design Awards
The American Institute of Architects California (AIA CA) has announced the recipients of the 2020 Residential Design Awards. With nearly 100 projects submitted, the jury recognized ten projects with honor, merit and leading edge awards. As AIA California states, the jury took many aspects into consideration, looking for "exceptional design" that represents all that California architecture has to offer.
Monochromatic Kitchens: 3 Design Strategies with a Single Color
A monochrome environment is a space in which most architectural elements are of a single color. Although it is common for architects to design black or white monochromatic spaces due to its neutrality, it is possible to use almost any color to design a space, taking advantage of their infinite tones, undertones, and shades.
How New York City's Architecture Has Responded to National Emergencies over the Last 20 Years
New York City is the pinnacle hybrid between the vibrant and granular neighborhoods that Jane Jacobs once envisioned and the sweeping urban innovations of Robert Moses. However, its diverse population has experienced hardship over the last twenty years, forcing the city into a recursive wave of self-reflection to reevaluate the urban strategies, design trends, and global transportation methods that it had grown so accustomed to. After the September 11th and Hurricane Sandy tragedies, the delicate balance between promoting a sense of individual culture and the strength in unity that New Yorkers are so often known for served as the lifeblood for revitalization. New York City has consistently handled adversity, by always rethinking, redesigning, and rebuilding this city for a better future.
Sacramento Municipal Utility District HQ Renovation / Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture
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Architects: Dreyfuss + Blackford Architecture
- Area: 131495 ft²
- Year: 2019
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Professionals: Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Capital Engineering Consultants Inc, Buehler Engineering Inc., +5
Skigard Hytte Cabin / Mork-Ulnes Architects
RISD Student Success Center / WORKac
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Architects: WORKac
- Year: 2019
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Manufacturers: Vitro®, Carritec, Kawneer
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Professionals: Odeh Engineers
Water Works, the Exhibition by WORKac at Musea Brugge Goes Digital
WORKac in collaboration with Musea Brugge and Cultuurcentrum Brugge has created an exhibition entitled Water Works. Set to run initially from March 7th to June 7th, 2020 at the historic Poortersloge in Bruges, Belgium, the exhibition has been temporarily closed to the public due to the ongoing COVID-19 epidemic. However, the New York-based architectural practice has produced a brief video highlighting its six themed rooms and the eighteen projects on display.
"We Design for Human Connection": Studio BBA on Building Resilience and Culture During Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic has transformed how we work. As designers are quickly rethinking traditional workflows to stay connected, in San Francisco, Studio BBA is adjusting the way they work to make sure client needs are delivered. Advocating for architecture that inspires human connection, they are creating spaces and places from the alchemy of inspiration, site, materials, vision and form.
New York's Interiors: Apartments, Penthouses and Lofts in the Big Apple
One of the most important cities in the world –and the most populated in the United States of America–, New York is home to a great mix of cultures and history that has been shaped over the years, while art and architecture play a fundamental role in this development.
Edwina Benner Plaza / David Baker Architects
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Architects: David Baker Architects
- Area: 110 m²
- Year: 2019
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Manufacturers: AutoDesk, Owens Corning, Sika, Assa Abloy, Dow Building Solutions, +68
The Architectural League Announces Winners of Emerging Voices 2020
Each year the Architectural League of New York selects eight firms, based in the United States, Canada or Mexico, to be granted the Emerging Voices Award, and to be recognized as emerging practices with the potential to influence the disciplines of architecture, landscape, and urban design.
512 West 22nd Street Office Building / COOKFOX Architects
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Architects: COOKFOX Architects
- Area: 172000 ft²
- Year: 2019
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Manufacturers: Boston Valley Terra Cotta, Cosentino, MetalTech-USA, Assa Abloy, Kebony, +16
There's No Good Architecture Without Daylight: How to Promote Designs Molded and Nurtured by Light
Humans spend almost 90% of the time indoors; that's approximately 20 hours a day in closed rooms and 9 hours a day in our own bedrooms. The architectural configurations of these spaces are not random - that is, they have been designed or thought of by someone, and are at least slightly "guided" by the conditions of their inhabitants and their surroundings. Some people inhabit spaces specially catered to their needs and tastes, while others adapt and appropriate designs made for someone else, perhaps developed decades before they were born. In either case, their quality of life may be better or worse depending on the decisions that are made.
Understanding the importance of carefully designing our interiors, particularly through the lens of access and enjoyment of natural light, was the purpose of the 8th VELUX Daylight Symposium, held on October 9 and 10 of 2019 in Paris. This year, more than 600 researchers and professionals attended and reaffirmed the importance of natural light, presenting a series of concrete tools that could help quantify and qualify light by designing its entry, management, and control with greater depth and responsibility.