Responding to Rem Koolhas’s theme of “Absorbing Modernity," OfficeUS, the US's National Pavilion at this year's Venice Biennale, launched as an experimental architecture firm with a mission to revisit, rethink and re-evaluate one thousand American architectural projects from the last century. The Giardini Pavilion was transformed by New-York based firm Leong Leong into a multi-functioning and interdisciplinary office, run by the six “partners" who were hand-picked for the job. Assigned with the ongoing task of producing models, drawings, and engaging in workshops and lectures throughout the duration of the Biennale, the partners and their collaborators in Venice and around the world attempt "to construct an agenda for the future production of architecture."
Focused mainly on exported architecture, the projects vary from nuclear plants to US embassies, residential typologies and museums and are lined on the pavilion’s walls within research booklets, available for the use of the partners and the public.
Care to join in? Check out 15 of the projects investigated by OfficeUS, after the break…
Today is Europe day in the EU, and to celebrate we're rounding up some of the best Europe-inspired architecture. First, two buildings designed for European institutions, the Court of Justice of the European Communities by Dominique Perrault and the Council of Europe by Art & Build Architect. Next, we've got a building which celebrates the achievements of Europeans, the Cultural Centre of European Space Technologies. Finally, two buildings which promote the very notion of Europe: the EU Pavilion by Senat Haliti, a message of hope for the 72% of Kosovans who wish to join the EU; and Le Monolithe by MVRDV, which has the first article of the European Constitution imprinted on the facade - expounding a belief in "a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity, and equality between women and men prevail."
Happy Pi Day everyone! To celebrate the circle and its influence on architecture, we've decided to round up some rounded structures. First up, Roll It, a cool experimental house/cylinder. Second, Villa Vals, the hobbit-like neighbor of Zumthor's Therme Vals (designed underground to maintain the bath houses' extensive views). Then, the stacked, rounded form of the Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, designed by Moshe Safdie for optimal sound reflection. Next up, Galaxy Soho, designed by the queen of curvature, Zaha Hadid. And - last but not least - the "mothership" itself, Foster + Partners' design for Apple's new campus, scheduled for completion in 2016.
There are few topics that stir up more controversy on ArchDaily than that of women in architecture. From those of you who vociferously advocate for women in the field to those who steadfastly purport that gender has no place in architecture at all, you, our readers, represent a wide spectrum of viewpoints and opinions on the subject.
And so, in honor of International Women's Day, we've decided to take a look back at some of our past comment-stirring articles (even more after the break):
In honor of the 48th annual NFL Super Bowl, we at ArchDaily are rounding up 5 astounding arenas for your viewing pleasure (way more captivating than those silly commercials): the lavishly leviathan Lasesarre Football Stadium by NO.MAD, the curiously colossal BBVA Compass Stadium by Populous, the daintily dolloped Ice Dome Bolshoy by SIC Mostovik, the tetragonally titanic Olympic Tennis Centre by Dominique Perrault Architecture, and the whimsically whopping Wanangkura Stadium by ARM Architecture. For more Stadium Round Ups, follow this link.
From Zaha Hadid to Sou Foujimouto, from houses to pavilions, from South America to Europe; here are–as you were probably expecting–the 20 most popular projects of 2013.
The Plug-In City by Peter Cook, 1964. Image via Archigram Archives
This AD Round Up is dedicated to unbuilt classics, a selection of projects and ideas that, although never built, contributed greatly to the canon of twentieth century architecture. In 1920, Buckminister Fuller designed the Dymaxion House, which displayed forward-thinking innovations in sustainability and prefabrication. In 1924, Le Corbusier’s radical plan for Ville Radieuse (The Radiant City) had an extensive influence upon modern urban planning and led to the development of new high-density housing typologies. In the same year Friedrick Kiesler introduced his "Endless House", the basis for his subsequent manifesto of Correalism. Eight years later in 1932, Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock curated the “Modern Architecture: International exhibition” at the MoMA, introducing the emerging International Style and laying the principles for Modern architecture. And finally, one of Archigram’s most famous utopian visions, the Plug-In City, proposed by Peter Cook in 1964, offered a fascinating new approach to urbanism and reversed traditional perceptions of infrastructure’s role in the city.
In honour of the royal baby's birth, we rounded up a selection of schools in the UK. If architecture was your only criteria - where would you send the third in line to the throne?
The United States has a special relationship with houses. The ideal of owning one's own home is often considered a proxy for the American Dream, and this connection with the country's "national ethos" has given the house an unusual level of importance in the American psyche. As a result, the United States is home to some of the world's most iconic houses. To mark the 4th of July, we've rounded up five of the most recognizable houses in the US. Which one is your favorite?
