Articles

The beginning of the fall semester is quickly approaching, and prospective architecture students are gearing up for the beginning of their future careers. While the next step may seem daunting, the first year of your architecture education helps set the pace for the remaining four to five years. So it's important to get started on the right foot.

Architecture studios are notorious for long nights, intensive model-making and desks overflowing with trace paper and parti diagrams. But there is one important aspect of studio life that is too often neglected: the student-professor relationship.

Read on for the four steps to start investing in this unique relationship to set yourself up for success.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) has announced the opening date for their new home, the Chicago Architecture Center (CAC). Set to open August 31 of this year, the CAC will be the "home to everything architecture in Chicago." The 20,000-square-foot structure is located at 111 East Wacker Drive, just above the dock for the River Cruise offered by the CAF.

Lynn Osmond, the CAF's president and CEO, said of the new Center, "We can't wait for people to visit and experience how Chicago architects have influenced the world through their innovation and vision. We've engineered a stimulating and immersive space where visitors can have fun discovering Chicago's groundbreaking architecture and appreciate its profound impact on the world."

Designed by Chicago-based firm Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture (AS+GG), the CAC will feature custom spaces designed for education, tour orientation, and other public programs, as well as a store and interactive exhibits.

Read on for more about the Chicago Architecture Center and its unique design experience.

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In Dnipro, Ukraine, sits a unique multi-purpose pavilion rich with historical roots and design influence. Stage is a collaborative project between architects from Ukraine, Poland, Denmark and Italy, crowdsourced and crowdfunded by the citizens of Dnipro. The site for the pavilion has been centered around community involvement throughout the complex history of Dnipro, but it has laid unused for over 70 years.

Stage is an emanation of the rich and vibrant culture and was built to accommodate the needs of dozens of artists, poets, painters and musicians, who previously relied on various spaces scattered around the city. Their "collective creative energy" was used to reactivate the lost community space. Stage was recently awarded Special Mention in the 2018 European Prize for Urban Public Space.

Read on for more about Stage and the collaborative effort that made this initiative possible.

Researchers @FECYT_Ciencia have developed a genetic algorithm that predicts the vertical growth of cities. @physorg_com with the details: https://t.co/QsnRA1nTxz pic.twitter.com/JFB6DMJRmR

— Retina Images (@retinaimages) June 5, 2018

The growth and expansion of metropolitan areas has been evident over the past decade. Buildings are getting taller, and urban areas are getting larger. What if there was a way to predict this growth and expansion?

A new study by Spanish researchers from the University of A Coruna has discovered that the increase of skyscrapers in a city reflects the pattern “of certain self-organized biological systems,” as reported by ScienceDaily. The study uses "genetic evolutionary algorithms" to predict urban growth, looking specifically at Tokyo's Minato Ward. Architect Ivan Pazos, the lead author of the new study, explained the science behind the algorithm: "We operate within evolutionary computation, a branch of artificial intelligence and machine learning that uses the basic rules of genetics and Darwin’s natural selection logic to make predictions."

Read on for more about the study and what it could mean for the possibility of estimating vertical urban development.

A recent survey done by Chicago-based digital marketing firm Digital Third Coast asked 2,000 current or prospective homeowners for their feedback on their realistic dream house, along with their opinions on homeownership in general. Commissioned by an Illinois fireplace company, Northshore Fireplace, the survey presented respondents with a list of multiple choice questions, as well as open response questions to come up with an in-depth analysis of the 'American Dream Home of 2018.' The survey was done via the Amazon Mechanical Turk platform and included people from all across the country and different age groups. The main qualifying criteria for respondents was that they either owned a home currently or were looking to purchase a new home within the next 5 years.

Findings from the survey include ideal exterior and interior styles, most desired luxury, most popular words used to describe a dream home, average square footage, and much more. Based on the survey data, you can even compare design and finance ideas of GenX and Millenial homeowners to that of the Baby Boomers generation.

Read on for the detailed infographic that displays the resulting criteria for the 'American Dream Home of 2018.'

There has been a recent trend to monetize design businesses online. Outside the world of architecture, digital marketing is growing exponentially, and every day more and more companies are taking advantage of the benefits that come from curating an online presence.

The traditional architectural business model is largely dominated by the fees associated with design and construction. The actual structure of the billing is perhaps another argument to have all on its own, but relying on this type of income has been (and likely will continue to be) an efficient and successful model for the majority in the design industry. But what if there was another market to leverage to supply your design business with passive, additional income?

There has long been an understandable stigma associated with spec-house plan sets. Most spec plans lack any response to site, personalization, and even quality design. There is a relatively saturated market for these spec-type plan sets, but the untapped potential lies in this model's intersection with architectural practice.

Here are three ways you can begin to reverse the stigma associated with selling plan sets online while providing your design business with an additional revenue stream.

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) has recently released new data surveying the number of licensed architects in the United States. Conducted annually by NCARB, the 2017 Survey of Architectural Registration Boards provides exclusive insight into data from the architectural licensing boards of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. At first glance, the numbers reflect promising growth for the architecture profession. The number of architects licensed in the U.S. rose to 113,554, according to the survey, which is a 3% increase from 2016 and a 10% increase from the numbers reported a decade ago.

Even more impressive, when you compare the increase in registered architects to the U.S. population, the number of architects licensed has risen over 10% since 2008; while the total U.S. population has risen 8%, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That equates to roughly 1 architect for every 2,900 people in the country. To put this into perspective, a medium-sized architecture firm of 50 people would theoretically have the potential to directly impact 145,000 people in the U.S.

Based on these statistics, one might assume that more architects naturally means more architecture, thus more influence from the profession in general. But that might not be the case. Read on for more data from NCARB's report and what it could mean for the profession as a whole.

Continuing their Time-Space-Existence series of monthly videos leading up to this year’s Venice Biennale, PLANE—SITE have released a new conversation with architect and former Harvard GSD chair of architecture Toshiko Mori. Each video highlights the ideas that drive the work of well-known designers, with this episode focusing on Mori’s philosophy of visual communication, dialogue with history and considering the future in her work.

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We all know the typical architect’s look: a black turtleneck, slim fit pants, pointed toe boots, and minimalist jewelry pieces. Almost all of us, at one point or another, have tried to imitate the style of our favorite architect. Perhaps it was by sporting a pair of Corbusier and Philip Johnson’s iconic round glasses. Maybe it was through a chic statement haircut, or it could even have been by adopting the unofficial uniform of designers with the all-black outfit. If none of these sound appealing to you, there's no need to worry- there are still plenty of other ways to look like your favorite famous architect.

In partnership with a 3D laser-scanning nonprofit called CyArk, Google Arts & Culture began the Open Heritage Project, a new chapter for historic preservation in the form of virtual reality. By using advanced 3D laser scanning technology, high-res drone photography, and DSLR cameras, CyArk can virtually recreate historic architecture to be more easily explored and restored.

Cape Town native Alexis Christodoulou is a winemaker by day but also dabbles in the art of 3D visualization. His Instagram (@teaaalexis) is a striking composition of intricate spaces rich with color, light, and materiality. Crafted entirely from scratch, each of Christodoulou's digital worlds appears to be influenced by many of the modernist masters. In a recent interview with Curbed, Christodoulou lists Aldo Rossi, David Chipperfield and Le Corbusier among his inspirations.

Much has been said about the new "Instagram aesthetic." Put that together with the emerging role of Instagram and other social media platforms in the design process, and the result is a new type of digital art form. Christodoulou's page is the creative collection of a year-long personal challenge to regularly create and publish images of his own fantasy worlds, which has resulted in a community of nearly 20K followers.

Get lost in more of the images below.

It's fundamental that architects know about structures, not only to bring their designs to reality but also to be able to discuss their projects with engineers in order to find the best solutions for construction. Structural pre-dimensioning is crucial to the initial design of the structural components, revealing the restrictions and the possibilities of the spaces.

One of the main loads that a structure must support is its own weight, so it's essential to know this information so that the different parts of the building can be dimensioned. When starting a structural project, the engineer doesn't yet know the dimensions of the different pieces that make up the structure, and therefore, can't know their own weight. A paradox appears without a solution: to know the weight it's necessary to know the dimensions, but, to know the dimensions, it's necessary to know the weight.

During the development of the project the architect finds himself in the curious situation of having to design without necessarily knowing the size of each of the parts of the building (such as the size of the pillars, for example). These important elements directly affect functionality and aesthetics of the project.