The First Islamic Arts Biennale, artistically directed by Sumayya Vally, opened on January 2023 and is still ongoing until May 23, 2023, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The inaugural event was commissioned and produced by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation and was curated by Vally alongside Dr. Julian Raby, Dr. Omniya Abdel Barr, and Dr. Saad Al-Rashid. The biennale re-imagines the Western Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz Airport, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and winner of the 1983 Aga Khan Award, as a cultural space to redefine Islamic Arts from "within, in a way, that connects some of these art forms and forms of artistic expression to the experience and rituals" of those that live it.
Sumayya Vally is a South African architect, founder, and director of the Johannesburg-based collaborative architectural studio Counterspace. Designer of the Serpentine Pavilion in 2020/2021, she was the youngest architect to get this commission. Part of Time’s 100 emerging leaders who are shaping the future, in 2021, the only architect to make the list at that time, Sumayya started her career as a curator and teacher, and recently she was appointed as artistic director of the first Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah. ArchDaily had the chance to talk with Vally about her contribution to this biennale, her vision of the exhibition, the venue, the scenography, and the participating architects. Sumayya also shared some exclusive info about her entry for the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, starting on May 20th, in Venice, Italy.
Founder and Director of the African Futures Institute (AFI) based in Accra, Ghana, Lesley Lokko, is a Ghanaian-Scottish architect, educator, and novelist. With a career that spans Johannesburg, London, Accra, and Edinburgh, she has held several teaching positions and is widely recognized in her field. Professor Lokko was appointed as the curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia in December 2021, after serving as a jury member for the Golden Lions Awards for the previous edition of the Venice Biennale. In her first interview with ArchDaily, after she was appointed curator of the 2023 Architecture Biennale, Lesley Lokko shares insights about the preparations, the theme, and this 18th edition.
With offices in Zürich, Barcelona and Majorca, the work of Gus Wüstemann Architects is a constant evolution between matter and context. From the strong heritage of timber and concrete construction in Switzerland, to the blurry boundaries of inside and outside found in Mediterranean architecture, Gus' work always put an emphasis on the core values of the local construction and craftsmanship, mixed with the cross learnings of working across different regions.
Currently working on projects such as A Barn, for Demna’s Atelier and Loïc’s Studio, and a mixed use hybrid concrete/timber in Feldmeilen, along with several residential projects in Italy and the Balearic Islands, Wüstemann's architecture can be seen as archetypical, essential or even raw. The interiors are a direct expression of these core concepts, with a brut aesthetic.
With more than 900 projects in over 40 countries, every project that Zaha Hadid Architects designs and builds has an impact on the narrative of contemporary architecture. At ArchDaily, we know that each architectural project has a team of professionals behind it which makes it possible. In this edition of the ArchDaily ProfessionalsVideo Interviews, we talked to Johannes Schafelner, associate director at Zaha Hadid Architects, and Enrique Peiniger, founder of OVI-Office for Visual Interaction about their long-standing collaboration in projects merging design and lighting.
The House of Music Hungary is one of the biggest cultural investments in the European Union. Designed by Sou Fujimoto Architects, it is becoming a hub for city dwellers and worldwide visitors wishing to attend concerts, visit the exhibition or record music in the building's open studios.
ArchDaily editors first got in touch with the Liget Budapest Project in the summer of 2021 and were treated to an impressive site visit at the House of Music Hungary. We were among a few select invitees that caught a glimpse of the finishing phases at one of the city's major projects located in its 200-year-old park. Developers and contractors were racing to catch up on the time they’d missed due to the pandemic – a challenge they certainly fulfilled, with the project completed in less than six years and being opened to the public in December 2021.
The DAAily platforms Designboom, Architonic, and ArchDaily held a unique storytelling space to feature curated talks about design and architecture during the Milan Design Week 2022. Dubbed the DAAily Bar, the set served as a new meeting point inviting renowned designers and exhibiting immersive art installations.
In the complex trade of architecture and construction, you are never alone. And behind every great building there is a strong team of professionals combining their expertise.
Hanif Kara OBE is a structural engineer and one of the founders of AKT II, one of the top engineering firms in the world. Based in London, he has been closely collaborating with some of the world’s most innovative architects, including Grafton Architects, David Chipperfield, Norman Foster, BIG, Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick, and many more.
As part of the DAAily Bar Live Talks, ArchDaily's Founder and Editor-in-Chief David Basulto had the chance to talk with Carlo Ratti, director of MIT's Senseable Lab and founder of innovation studio Carlo Ratti Associati about this multidisciplinary approach, the blurred boundaries of the profession and his recent projects.
During the week-long event, ArchDaily had the chance to speak with Alper Derinboğaz, architect and founder of Istanbul-based Salon Alper Derinboğaz, selected among ArchDaily's 2020 Young Practices, to discuss the firm's responsibility towards the environment, seeing architecture as part of the Earth within Geospace's framework, challenges facing the new generations of architects and their access to information, and experimenting with the Metaverse.
For its 60th and first post-pandemic edition, the Salone del Mobile.Milano was back in full force following two years of setbacks and alternations between digital and physical events. The week-long exhibition, which welcomed over 262,000 visitors from across the world, highlighted the opportunities of environmental consciousness, inviting designers to adopt and reinforce the values of sustainability in the long term, support the protection of human rights, and promote environmental responsibility through design.
One of the most anticipated installations within the Fiera was a centerpiece by Italian architect Mario Cucinella titled “Design With Nature”. The large-scale installation demonstrated the various ways people can improve their relationship with nature, inviting visitors to eat, drink, converse, and work in a piazza-inspired space. During Milan Design Week, ArchDaily had the chance to speak with the architect to discuss the concept behind his installation, the relationship between the city of Milano and Salone, and the importance of valuing our natural resources.
In these fast-paced and constantly evolving times, architecture has been adapting to new building technologies and complexities to serve today’s world needs. Teams of experts from all areas, architecture, engineering, construction, and a long list of professionals, come together to bring these solutions to our built environment. At ArchDaily we have been highlighting these actors in the architecture we curate and publish every day, but we often come across other types of projects, in which we spot different needs, and ways of building in certain places and communities, that equally require a highly qualified team, specific local techniques, and knowledge that are worth sharing.
Looking ahead to the future of our built environment, a one-size-fits-all approach simply won’t do. Issues like rising sea levels, temperatures, and water scarcity in urban communities need localized solutions that take into account questions of sustainability, culture, and public health. Having investigated vernacular infrastructure across indigenous communities for her book Lo-TEK. Design by Radical Indigenism, designer Julia Watson is an expert in local, nature-based technologies that are inherently adaptable and resilient. We talk to her about the future of our cities, building materials, and her latest project for Our Time on Earth – a five year, world-touring exhibition that just opened at London's Barbican Centre to investigate how radical, collaborative ideas for the way we live can get us to a much improved place by 2040.
Videos
Background photograph courtesy of Charlie Hui, Viswerk. 2020
Led by architectural designers Khensani de Klerk and Solange Mbanefo, Matri-Archi is a collective based between Switzerland and South Africa that aims to bring African women together for the development of spatial education in African cities. Through design practice, writing, podcasts, and other initiatives, Matri-Archi — one of ArchDaily's Best New Practices of 2021 — focuses on the recognition and empowerment of women in the spatial field and architectural industry.
ArchDaily had the opportunity to talk to the co-directors of the collective on hegemonic space, informal architecture, technology, local idiosyncrasies, and the future of African and global cities. Read the full interview below.
The climate crisis has reshaped contemporary architecture. Sustainability has become a central guiding force in design, and in turn, architects are rethinking how to build today. For CO Adaptive Architecture, addressing the climate crisis begins with a process oriented practice. Together, Ruth Mandl and Bobby Johnston have created a firm that embodies how a values-based approach can tackle the most pressing issues of our time. The result is elegant and impactful architecture brought to life with poise and finesse.
HANNAH Office is a US-based experimental research and design studio whose work focuses on advancing architecture and contemporary construction practices by examining the possibilities of new digital routines and fabrication technologies. Selected as one of Archdaily's Best New Practices of 2021, HANNAH Office was founded in 2012 by Leslie Lok and Sasa Zivkovic and constitutes a platform for exploring technology and material methods across a variety of scales, from furniture to urbanism in search of new design outcomes.
Urban Radicals is a design collective based in London, founded in 2019 by Era Savvides and Athanasios Varnavas. The practice operates at the intersection of multiple disciplines, exploring public space and the notion of collectivity across a variety of scales, contexts and design expressions. One of Archdaily's Best New Practices of 2021, Urban Radicals shrinks and grows organically through the projects, dissolving the boundaries between diverse fields of knowledge and circumventing traditional office structure to integrate a multiplicity of perspectives within architecture.
In this second edition of the ArchDaily Professionals Video Interviews, ArchDaily's Managing Editor, Christele Harrouk, met with Mat Cash, Group Leader of Heatherwick Studio, Signe Nielsen, MNLA's Founding Principal, and David Farnsworth, Arup Principal, to discuss their collaborative work on one of New York City's latest green areas, Little Island Park at Pier 55.
