Sustainable architecture begins with designing for longer lifecycles and reuse. Looking to create more inclusive and viable futures, architects are exploring adaptive reuse as one of the best strategies to address the climate crisis and promote social justice. Reuse keeps the culture of an area alive, bridging between old and new as projects push the boundaries of circular and adaptive design.
Four emerging architecture studio profiles from Greece, Lithuania, Italy, and Denmark have been chosen by New Generations, a European platform that analyses the most innovative emerging practices at the European level, providing a new space for the exchange of knowledge and confrontation, theory, and production. Since 2013, New Generations has involved more than 300 practices in a diverse program of cultural activities, such as festivals, exhibitions, open calls, video interviews, workshops, and experimental formats.
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MVRDV's Depot Boijmans Van Beuningen, the world’s first fully accessible art depot, is opening its doors to the public this weekend. The official opening ceremony is taking place on November 5th, and the public will be able to visit from Saturday 6th of November onwards. Located at Museumpark in the center of Rotterdam, the reflective structure features exhibition halls, a rooftop garden, and a restaurant, and offers a behind-the-scenes look into the world of museums, making art collections accessible to the public.
MVRDV and Hyde Park BV have unveiled their design proposal of Hoofddorp's Station Quarter, a project that aims to transform the area around the existing station into an ecofriendly and affordable urban district. The masterplan will offer 8,500 housing units and renovated train, bus, and metro stations, providing a solution to the housing shortage and access to public transportation without compromising the quality of living.
The 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP 26) debuted yesterday in Glasgow, bringing together more than 190 world leaders, with the aim of accelerating action to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement and UN's Convention on Climate Change. Leading architecture organizations and figures are attending the two-week summit to show the AEC's industry's commitment to reduce carbon emissions and urge decision-makers to implement clear targets to achieve global climate goals.
What is an architecture critic? And what makes a critic in the 21st century? Throughout history, critics were the select few who were chosen to describe and evaluate architecture while we waited for their rave reviews or disappointments before we validated our own opinions. Their thoughts and words became design canon and heavy-handedly shaped our profession. This mindset and culture only further contributed to the idea that architecture is an “elitist” practice where a few set the rules and the rest must learn them. While architecture will always have named critics, just as other forms of art and culture have theirs, there’s recently been a push for architecture to transform itself into a profession that designs for the masses and is equally critiqued by the masses.
All over the globe, countries are facing a housing crisis. United Nations statistics put the number of people who live in sub-standard housing at 1.6 billion, and 100 million of the world’s population are without a home. As conflicts and climate change forces refugees to move to new countries, and as housing prices around the world continue to rise, cities are having to grapple more and more with how to provide safe and affordable housing for their residents.
The Cultural Landscape Foundation - TCLF has awarded Julie Bargmann, founder of landscape architecture firm D.I.R.T. Studio, with the first ever Cornelia Hahn Oberlander International Landscape Architecture Prize, a distinguished award bestowed on designers who are “exceptionally talented, creative, courageous, and visionary, with a significant body of built work that exemplifies the art of landscape architecture.”
Argentina is positioned in the extreme south and southwest of South America and given its extension, it has a multiplicity of climates and differences in the incidence of sunlight. These conditions led many architecture professionals to think about pergolas to generate transitional spaces between the interior and exterior of the homes that allow meeting the needs of its inhabitants by creating shaded, meeting and resting spaces in the open air.
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced its longlist of best new homes in the United Kingdom for the year 2021. The jury, which includes Architect and Chair Amin Taha, Co-founder of Ash Sakula Architects Cany Ash, and RIBA House of the Year 2019 winner Kieran McGonigle, have selected 20 newly-built houses or extensions that feature imaginative and innovative residential typologies that cater to the environment and their users.
Mexican firm Tatiana Bilbao Estudio has unveiled Botániqo, its new project in collaboration with the Ecuadorian firm Uribe Schwarzkopf in Quito, Ecuador. With over 12,000 km2, the project will cede 4,000 km2 to create a new transportation hub expected to service over 60,000 people per day, in addition to the creation of green space around the residential units.
In Metropolis this week, author Annie Howard explores Chicago's Architecture Biennial, which opened to the public on September 17th, showcasing a series of 15 site-specific interventions. Arguing that "a tour of the Damen Silos and a celebration of the Wall of Respect show a biennial struggling to achieve longer-term engagement with the city it calls home", the editor questions how much work is needed in order to make the city fully usable to its residents.
A "symbolic interpretation of the flow of movement", Calatrava’s design for the UAE Pavilion at the 2020 Expo Dubai is a 15,000 square meters immersive and multisensory experience. Images recently shot by Stephane Aboudaram highlight a structure of 28 automated cantilevered wings, that open and rotate at a range of 110 and 125 degrees. Moreover, these photos also show a central skylight, that mimics the logo of this year’s expo.
Homebuilding company Lennar and construction technologies company ICON are collaborating with BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group to build the largest community of 3D-printed homes to date. The 100-home neighborhood in Austin is expected to break ground in 2022 and will combine ICON’s innovative robotics, software, and advanced materials with BIG's designs.
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Within the Andes Mountains, the San Pedro Hot Springs is a place to press pause and contemplate, which interrupts a transnational highway between Chile and Argentina. Although these natural pools became a public landmark within the route, they eventually fell over time into a state of abandonment and deterioration as a result of the constant seismic movements in the region.
In response to this situation, Chilean architect Pia Montero sought to highlight the baths for her built-project thesis at the University of Talca in order to consolidate it as a landmark of tourist potential and symbol of the territorial identity of the Maule Region. Moreover, the project is a wake-up call to rediscover and rescue the value of the natural and cultural heritage of the area from the gradual abandonment into which it fell over the years.
London-based architecture firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) has unveiled its design of a 227-acre distillery master plan in Somerset, Kentucky that aims to become a vibrant destination on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail® with commercial and cultural facilities that honor the heroes of 9/11.
With every household need catered for automatically, the Internet of Things promised us an easy life. Now smart home living can automate our daily lives, but what’s it really like?
Morphosis has joined DesignClass, a growing collection of online classes featuring innovators from architecture, design, and creative leadership. Each class aims to build "curious and creative confidence" in future generations of creative professionals. Delving into design process, logic, and architecture, the new class focuses on how to translate ideas into dynamic architecture with one of the leading practices today.
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.jpg?1635756192 "Courtesy of MVRDV")
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.jpg?1634086531 "© Edgard Torres")
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.jpg?1634086290 "© Gustavo Burgos")
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