Technology provides new opportunities for architecture and design. The pandemic has shown how flexible workflows are grounded in building connection across workstations and collaborative platforms, as well as newer ideas like implementing VR over Teams. For Dan Stine, Director of Design Technology at Lake|Flato Architects, theses changes are part of a larger drive to reimagine how technology can shape practice.
As long as cities have been around, there’s been one pressing question central to their future: “What makes urban areas desirable?” Over half of the world’s inhabitants live in cities and that number is projected to climb over the next decade with more than 5 billion people inhabiting urban cores globally. To prepare for this demand, cities are finding ways to be more desirable, draw in talent, and entice both big and small businesses, all while finding more ways to create equitable living opportunities for all.
Transforming the typical artistic experience, Snøhetta proposed a design to renovate the Blanton Museum of Art at The University of Texas at Austin. The comprehensive grounds remodeling seeks to “unify and revitalize the museum campus, […] through architectural and landscape improvements”. Construction is scheduled to begin in early 2021 and conclude by late 2022.
Hotel Magdalena, the latest from Bunkhouse Group, a Texas-based hospitality company known for the highly Instagrammed El Cosmico in Marfa, Texas, is an 89-room hotel that plays on Austin‘s music culture and love for lakeside living. Named after Mary Magdalene, the hotel is part of the group’s hotels that are named after Saints, neighboring the popular Hotel Saint Cecilia and Saint Cecilia Residences, which are currently under construction.
https://www.archdaily.com/952583/the-first-mass-timber-hotel-in-north-america-has-opened-in-austinLauren Jones
The acclaimed studio Miró Rivera Architects has published a 448-page monograph, entitled Miró Rivera Architects: Building a New Arcadia. Designed by the award-winning architects, the book features 20 of the firm’s most remarkable projects brought to life through 230 color photographs and 95 drawings. Featuring essays by notable thinkers and cutting-edge practitioners in the fields of architecture and urban design, Building a New Arcadia situates the firm’s diverse portfolio in a global context related to concepts of nature, sustainability, history, and urban design.
Few cities have a growing design culture like Austin, Texas. Ranked as one of the best places to live in the United States, the city is experiencing a building boom in recent years. With a wide variety of residential styles, architects are continuing a legacy of modernist design. With an emphasis on craft and detailing, these new homes use simple geometry and forms as they open up to hills, lakes and the urban fabric.