Mycelium-Grown Bio-Bricks / Evocative Design & The Living. Image Courtesy of The Living
The building industry is one of the biggest generators of carbon emissions, with some estimates suggesting that 38% percent of all CO2 emissions are linked to this field. As a response to the current crisis, architects, designers, and researchers are taking measures to reduce their carbon footprint during and after construction. Many initiatives and research teams are looking at building materials to find low-carbon solutions and reduce the impact of building materials during production.
One of the most prominent fields of research is concerned with biofacture, the type of process that involves using biological organisms to manufacture materials. By understanding the abilities of organisms such as algae of fungi, alternatives to widely used materials can become carbon neutral or even carbon negative. Other initiatives are researching novel ways to use untapped, yet readily available resources such as desert sand, soil, or waste from demolitions.
When thinking of marble, we often associate the material with ancient Greek sculptures, Classical architecture, or the Italian Renaissance. Monumental landmarks such as the St. Peter’s Basilica or the Taj Mahal, have positioned marble as an elite and timeless material that stands the test of time. And in today's conversations about the future of construction materials, amid sustainability, feasibility, and affordability, the natural stone remains high-caliber. In this interior focus, we’re taking a look at marble between the past, present, and future.
Design and innovation office CRA - Carlo Ratti Associati unveils the result of its Urban Vision and Urban Program for Manifesta 14, the European Nomadic Biennial in Prishtina, Kosovo, between July 22 and October 30, 2022. CRA’s project proposes a new methodology for reclaiming public space in the city. It starts with a series of open-ended design interventions to encourage citizen participation and foster feedback loops to create long-term effects on the built environment. During the 20th century, regime changes and political clashes brought considerable turbulence to Kosovo and its cities. As a result, Prishtina currently suffers from a substantial shortage of public space, but a large group of disenfranchised residents is eager to reverse this situation.
Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei unveiled the Arch, a cage-like sculpture in front of the National Museum of Stockholm. The 12-meter-tall stainless steel structure features at its center silhouettes of two people holding one another, appearing to break through the steel bars of the cage. The artwork was created to symbolize refugee stories and is seen as an ode to freedom. The sculpture is installed outside Nationalmuseum national gallery on the Blasienholmen peninsula in Stockholm’s archipelago. It will remain there for one year, after which, it will be moved to a yet undisclosed location in the city.
Only a few days left until the annual inauguration of Milan Design Week 2022, one of the biggest international design events which features the Fuorisalone and Salone del Mobile. From the 7th till the 12th of June 2022, the streets of Milan will be hosting an array of architectural interventions and exhibitions curated by local and international designers as part of the Fuorisalone. And at the Fiera Milano | Rho, Salone del Mobile 2022, the awaited furniture and interior design event of the year, will be celebrating its 60th anniversary with themes and projects that reflect on “inclusive” design, fostering "autonomy, comfort, movement, usability, interaction and safety for all".
The Naomi Milgrom Foundation has announced that internationally renowned architecture and design practice all(zone) is the the recipient of the MPavilion 2022 commission. Demonstrating how architecture and design can contribute to creating equitable cities, the Bangkok-based studio was commended for its commitment to designing built environments where people can feel at home in the world, reusing and recycling local materials in bold and innovative new ways.
Tallinn Architecture Biennale (TAB 2022) announced the programme for its 6th edition that brings forward circularity in architecture. Under the theme "Edible; Or, The Architecture of Metabolism", this year's edition explores "architectural strategies for local production and self-sufficiency" and highlights ways of reusing waste resulting from urban environments. Curated by Lydia Kallipoliti and Areti Markopoulou, in collaboration with local advisor Ivan Sergejev and assistant curator Sonia Sobrino Ralston, TAB 2022 reflects on the possibilities that natural metabolical processes can bring to cities and buildings when transferred to the domain of architecture.
Nowadays, the role of architects exceeds the limits of construction, reaching fields that are often unthinkable, but which nonetheless demonstrate a close relationship with the profession. If we go back in time, the fact is that many buildings, houses, monuments and even cities have been built intuitively without urban planning or renowned architects. Undoubtedly, today's architects are facing a great challenge that goes beyond demonstrating our skills and knowledge and extends to other areas that involve us, but we still don't know it. So we ask ourselves, what will be the profile of the architect of the future?
Tsz Yan Ng is a Michigan-based firm principal, professor, researcher, and artist whose interdisciplinary and collaborative work seeks to challenge and improve upon modern fabrication and manufacturing practices. “We haven’t changed the way we build in so long,” Ng said. “We need to think of it more productively—not just economically—but as a collection of different voices. Architecture is a global ecosystem of people, where the sum is greater than the parts.”
Babyn Yar Synagogue by Manuel Herz, image by Iwan Baan. Image Courtesy of BYHMC
Babyn Yar, a ravine in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, witnessed the killing of more than 33,000 Jewish men, women, and children, on September 29 and 30, 1941. The site of one of the largest single massacres perpetrated by occupying German troops against Jews during World War II, Babyn Yar became a symbol of the Holocaust by Bullets.
While the main tragic event took place in 1941, throughout the occupation, the site was used as a killing location by the German forces. In fact, it is reported that 70 to 100 000 people lost their lives in Babyn Yar. With no architecture to the tragedy and only a remaining “broken” landscape, people struggled with achieving memorialization and public recognition.
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Hospital Mirdiff, Dubai, U.A.E. Image Courtesy of Equitone
Made of cement reinforced with cellulose fibers, fiber cement cladding is a building material used to cover the exterior of a wide range of buildings, including hotels, schools, office buildings, retail centers, hospitals, corporate centers, and residential buildings. Fibre cement panels are aesthetically pleasing, long-lasting, and highly resistant to fire and weathering.
Architect Diana Najib Hamad provides interesting case studies for the use of fiber cement in three recent Dubai-based commissions.
The Urban Conga has collaborated with HIVE Public Space and Long Island City Partnership on a new urban intervention titled "Ribbon", a vibrant and interactive installation for people to connect, share, and learn about each other's experiences in Long Island City, New York. Each unit includes kinetic pieces that rotate, reflecting the surrounding context and revealing different love notes written by locals to the city.
Andreas Ruby, Director of the Swiss Architecture Museum shares his thoughts on the wrapped Arc de Triomphe installation by Christo and Jeanne-Claude, in a 3 part essay, converting a monument glorifying war into a monument of decolonization. The temporary installation opened to the public on September 18, 2021, and will be dismantled starting October 3, 2021.
Designer and art director Serena Confalonieri, along with a team of students and volunteers have created “Quadra”, a graphic installation that is part of the initiative “Piazze Aperte” promoted by the Municipality of Milan. The urban intervention is a graphic art project in a former parking lot in the Quarto Oggiaro district that aims to enhance and characterize tactical urban interventions in all cities.
The Green. Image Courtesy of Mimi Lien/Rendering by Timothy Leung
After several event cancellations due to the pandemic, Manhattan’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex have transformed their outdoor plaza into a green park and outdoor performance venue called The Green. As of May 10, the Restart Stagesinitiative will add fake grass across the 14,000-square-foot (1,300 sqm) Josie Robertson Plaza. The plaza, which was originally designed by Philip Johnson, Wallace K. Harrison, and Max Abramovitz, and renovated by award-winning architecture firm DS+R in 2010, will transform into a public urban space of gathering, leisure, and entertainment.
Ever since the tramline’s closure, the 800-meter-long strip in the center of Corso Gabetti and Ponte Regina Margherita in Turin, has been abandoned. To make use of the dead area and give residents an extra space outdoors following Italy's severe pandemic repercussions, non-profit cultural association Torino Stratosferica has transformed the tree-lined strip into Precollinear Park, a temporary public space fit for socially-distanced leisure.
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