The Center for Arts and Innovation has just selected Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano to design its new creative campus. The campus is situated in the heart of downtown Boca Raton in Florida and aims to become a global hub for creative excellence. Ultimately, The Center is on a mission to transform Boca Raton into an internationally recognized destination for culture, arts, innovation, and technology.
Most biennales and architecture events, especially the recent ones, have influenced and shaped the dialogue of the ones that followed. In fact, during a conversation earlier this year with Lesley Lokko, the curator of the 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale, she explained and affirmed that “all exhibitions […] take sustenance from those that came before”, further noting that “if I look back at the dozen or so Architecture Exhibitions over the past twenty years, each one has contributed in some way to the discourse of the next.”
So far, 2023 has witnessed significant events in the architectural world, ranging from the XXIII Architecture Biennial in Santiago, Chile, and the Islamic Arts Biennale in Jeddah, KSA, to Milan Design Week and Salone del Mobile in Milan, Italy, as well as the Venice Biennale and the UIA World Congress of Architects in Copenhagen. Addressing both contextual and global themes, this year continues to contribute to the international architectural discussion.
In the realm of architectural design and interior furnishings, achieving a balance between form and function is a daily challenge that designers encounter. This interplay between utility and aesthetics has not only evolved over time but also involves a constant exchange of styles and production methods. Frequently, this interchange leads to standardization and generic designs, potentially causing a depletion of authenticity in the design process.
For this reason, in the contemporary era, designers are revisiting the fundamentals, rediscovering manual design processes that range from sketching to model making, all while embracing pure forms. Designers and manufacturers alike are embracing conscientious approaches to develop proposals that maintain simplicity in design while retaining a distinctive identity. In response to this, Bette, in collaboration with the British design studio Barber Osgerby, proposes the creation of minimalist-style bathrooms through the BetteSuno bathroom collection, stripping away complex shapes and seeking a light visual design.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the six projects selected for the shortlist of the 2023 RIBA Stirling Prize. The annual award is one of the United Kingdom's most prestigious recognitions in the field of architecture, judging projects on a range of criteria, including design vision, innovation, originality, and the capacity to engage and delight the occupants and visitors. Sustainability and accessibility are also crucial conditions for the selection. This edition’s shortlist includes projects by architects such as Apparata, Sergison Bates Architects, and Adam Khan Architects, featuring for the first time at the Stirling Awards Shortlist, as well as practices that have previously won, Witherford Watson Mann Architects and Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios.
The newly transformed Tom Lee Park by Studio Gang and SCAPE Architects reopened this weekend to the public. Located alongside the Mississippi River in downtown Memphis, the 31-acre park is a centerpiece of the city’s riverfront. As an essential zone included in Studio Gang’s six-mile masterplan for the riverfront, the design will serve as a model of the restored natural ecology of urban parks.
Earthy tones, from those used in traditional vernacular constructions to contemporary interior design trends, are instrumental in crafting inviting, organic, and harmonious environments. These tones encompass a spectrum of shades reminiscent of natural elements such as earth, clay, sand, and stone, fostering a deep connection with nature. They are readily available in various construction materials, paints, and coatings, allowing for captivating texture combinations. In the following section, you'll find inspiring projects that exemplify the potential of these color palettes.
Designer pools bring status to luxury homes and five-star hospitality spaces. But adding the cooling, calming, energizing, and environmental benefits of a hyper-local water body to a residence can far outweigh the cost of installation. With a range of long- and short-term landscaping options possible, meanwhile, luxury is available, whatever the budget.
Most pools are built below ground to retain unobstructed visuals above. While all in-ground pools start off the same way – with excavation, then connecting the plumbing and filtration systems – the main difference is in the construction of the pool’s basin. The simplest and quickest method is to lower a pre-fabricated reinforced plastic pool or pre-cast concrete basin into the cavity, before connecting the pipework and backfilling the recess with sand. But this is only suitable for off-the-shelf pools with simple geometries. In order to make the most efficient use of all available space, bespoke pool shapes and sizes are best achieved by pouring or spraying concrete into a rebar or timber frame.
Visionary architect Raymond Moriyama, co-founder of Moriyama Teshima Architects and the designer behind some of Canada’s most influential buildings, has passed away at the age of 93. Renowned for designing major buildings across the world, including the Canadian War Museum, Ontario Science Center and the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, Moriyama focused on creating humane buildings reflecting ideals of democracy, equality, and inclusivity. Moriyama passed away on September 1st, 2023, according to a statement from his firm, Moriyama & Teshima Architects.
The exhibition “Warsaw 1945-1949: Rising from Rubble” took place this year at the Museum of Warsaw, exploring the postwar reconstruction and rebuilding process that took place after the war. After the Second World War, Warsaw’s entire urban fabric, architecture, and social and economic status had to be rebuilt from the ground up. Curated by Adam Przywara, the exhibition “offered a new perspective on the myth of the postwar reconstruction of the Polish capital city and one of the most interesting pages in its history.”
Although the use of color can be employed to hide or disguise a specific characteristic, it can also be used to highlight them. Within the Latin American territory, we can observe that shades of red, green, and blue have predominated in residential architecture, aiming to integrate a language appropriate to the context in which it is implemented.
The wellness market is booming, predicted to grow by almost 60% in the five years since the COVID pandemic, with consumers taking greater care of both their physical and mental health. It’s now understood, of course, that wellness – the virtue of feeling good in both body and mind – is more affected by our environment than we used to admit.
Since 2020 we’ve been quickly migrating away from cities, with attitudes on work and living also shifting to include more natural beauty and the hunt for the nirvana of greater wellbeing. These four wellness centers take care to complement the rejuvenating surroundings of the outdoors with healing activities and architecture, helping visitors to feel at peace with themselves and the world around them.
Wood has played a key role in the history of architecture by adding warmth, versatility, and sustainability to buildings. Today, its use is experiencing a renewed interest, driven both by technological advancements brought about by the use of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) and by growing environmental awareness.
The following list is an index of articles, news, and projects published on ArchDaily that cover everything you need to know about the use of wood in architecture, from design strategies and the latest trends to its application in construction works and building materials.
India hosts a multitude of museums, art galleries, public libraries, theaters, and heritage centers. Nevertheless, many of these structures remain abandoned and fossilized like the artifacts they intend to present and protect. The development of cultural infrastructure in India has historically been a government endeavor, often resulting in a state of stagnation. The past two decades have seen a noticeable shift in the country’s cultural landscape. Increased interest from private institutions has paved the way for plenty of cultural projects to be initiated, usually in partnership with city authorities. These contemporary projects aim to celebrate the richness of India’s historical and contemporary culture, becoming prize destinations for the rising middle class.
Burning Man, the annual festival taking place in Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, has opened on August 27th, with thousands of festivalgoers gathering to create the Black Rock City, a ‘temporary metropolis’ complete with numerous installations, artworks, and pavilions that celebrate “community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance.” This year, however, the festival experience has been different, as heavy rains inundated the desert and festival site, creating thick, ankle-deep mud. The roads to and from the festival have been closed as large vehicles risk remaining stuck in the mud. While some people have left the site by walking out, the majority of the 70,000 campers remain stranded, as reported by CNN.
The photographic archive of landscape photographer and architect Alan Ward has been recently gifted to the Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF). The collection features 110 Portfolios composed of approximately 2,500 images of parks, estates, memorials, gardens, university campuses, cemeteries, museums, and botanical gardens, taken in 12 different countries, and captured by Alan Ward, a principal at the Boston-based firm Sasaki and a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
Yucatán is a state located in the southeastern part of Mexico on what is known as the Yucatán Peninsula, bordered by the Gulf of Mexico, Quintana Roo, and Campeche. Within this state, there are 4 magical towns: Izamal, Maní, Sisal, and Valladolid. The architecture of this region is a blend of indigenous, Hispanic, Mexican, French, Italian, and American influences.
Last summer, Spain promoted cleaner transportation by offering free seasonal tickets for suburban and regional trains, which translated into roughly 48 million journeys per month. The initiative hoped to help citizens reduce fuel consumption and reduce the cost of living during the economic uncertainties and rising energy prices. In the summer of 2022, a 30% discount for municipal public transport was announced, with local governments in places like Catalonia topping up to a 60% discount. The program ran between the 1st of September and the 31st of December of last year.
The concept of a city can be viewed as a constantly evolving system where both architects and users contribute to its design and redesign. While its framework may start with planners or designers, the character of the urban fabric is ultimately shaped by the societies and generations that inhabit it. The question of "city authorship" often arises in the context of masterplan design. Can architects and urban planners determine the extent to which a city will evolve through its initial design? The answer is no. User authorship then acknowledges that city planning should not be approached like building design, where designers attempt to predict every aspect of shape, pattern, behavior, and culture. Instead, it recognizes the role that people play in shaping the urban fabric through their personal taste in architecture, the development of neighborhood personality, and ongoing redesign that contributes to the story and spirit of a place. These factors should be considered in the initial design by engaging ideas related to future expansion, adaptable infrastructure, and empowering citizens to contribute to the city's architecture, thus making the city design democratic. This article explores conceptual radical cities where designers embrace the ideas of user authorship and the constant evolution of ephemeral architecture.
