In a continued effort to deliver tools, inspiration, and knowledge for readers, 2019 saw ArchDaily editors and contributors engage in a wealth of conversations with distinguished individuals from all corners of the design world. Whether this be a discussion with Carlo Ratti and Winy Maas on artificial intelligence or a conversation with Mario Botta on Modernism, these interviews convey the remarkable variety of talent, ideas, and paradigms through which one can engage with architecture and design.
https://www.archdaily.com/929978/the-top-20-architecture-interviews-of-2019Niall Patrick Walsh
This 12 day design and construction workshop at the AA School in London, teaches a design process which synthesises computational design tools and materials with natural variability such as bamboo, informed though first-hand experience of the material and 1:1 scale bamboo construction.
We need to look at new sustainable, locally available natural materials for construction, and architects need to respond to this challenge and develop new processes to work with natural materials which ensure structural integrity and affordability.
The AA-ITB Bamboo Lab is a collaborative programme of the AA Visiting School and the Institut Teknologi Bandung which explores the fusion
SFERA 2020: BIOURBANISM is an international conference on building better cities using knowledge about the natural world around us.
SFERA 2020: BIOURBANISM is a conference in Tel Aviv that will bring together international innovators – urbanists, biologists, architects, programmers and designers, – to discuss how we can build better cities using knowledge about the natural world around us.
Not only is Tel Aviv an urban gem, but the inspiration for its unique design comes from nature. A biologist by education, Patrick Geddes was a revolutionary urban planner who incorporated ideas from natural sciences in Tel Aviv’s tree-laden boulevards, countless public gardens, and
SOS Children’s Villages Lavezzorio Community Center / Studio Gang. Image Cortesia de Studio Gang
Having been utilized as early as the Roman era in buildings of almost every scale, it is almost impossible to think of a building that does not have at least one concrete element. In fact, it is the most widely used construction material in the world, due to its versatility, resistance, ease of handling, accessibility, aesthetics, and other factors. At the same time, its manufacture is also one of the main polluters in the atmosphere, mainly due to the fact that the cement industry emits around 8% of all global emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2).
In addition to its intensive production, concrete is an extremely rigid material, heavy and composed of cement, water, stone, and sand. Thus, would it be possible to continue to use concrete sustainably after demolition, eliminating its disposal as mere waste and overloading landfills?
Sala Beckett: Definición del vestíbulo central. Image Cortesía de Flores & Prats
When we approached the Flores & Prats firm, we wanted to focus on their precise drawing just as much as their detailed mock-ups. We wanted to see a project that not only "values the time invested and accumulated in it but also sees said time as a virtue and not a defect;" an indication of paying attention to the process as well as the unexpected. (In this sense, it reminds me of reading about how to draw a forest, among other things, in "Las tardes de dibujo en el estudio Miralles & Pinós").
We conducted a long-distance interview with the Eva Prats and Ricardo Flores studio for this reason; to get a better idea of their thoughts on the impact of drawing on architectural representation.Their input makes clear the "why" of their decisions, and explains not only how they operate in a contemporary context but also indicates their relationship with construction among other disciplines.
In this interview with Can Ziyal, Chad Oppenheim, founder of Oppenheim Architecture + Design, talks about architecture, their projects, his way of thinking on how to approach and solve problems, and his fascination with nature and its purity.
IKEA Austria is establishing a car-free city center store, in the heart of Vienna. Addressing global issues, IKEA’s newest building will cater to the changes in customer and mobility behaviors.
Architects of today face a common task that defies intuition – how to balance building performance and strict carbon targets against cost. Sustainability in design is certainly a worthy and necessary goal, but the amount of options can be overwhelming and the costs prohibitive, especially in the eyes of owners. How can designers best convince their clients to integrate sustainability into a project? Keeping costs low and backing up decisions with fact-based analysis are solid first steps.
For decades, scientists have been warning us about global warming, and the consequences of human actions on the planet in the form of environmental disasters. The construction sector is today one of the major contributors to global warming and the climate crisis. According to data of the United Nations (UN), currently, 36% of the global energy is dedicated to buildings and 8% of all pollutant emissions are caused by the production of concrete alone.
As part of the activities that took place during the 16th MUTEK Mexico festival from November 16 to 24 in Mexico City, Adidas Originals presented 'Aether', an inverted installation by Max Cooper & Architecture Social Club. This installation represents an audiovisual mapping of abstract forms that works as an emotional instrument, and was presented in 'La Fábrica', a renovated 18,000-meter space serving as a reference for the electronic culture of the Eighties and Nineties.
It is an inevitable truth that the world population is growing exponentially. Higher numbers can only lead to a higher demand for resources, food, and housing. By the year 2100, the 7.6 billion people currently living on earth will reach, according to the UN, a whopping 11.2 billion.
This increase can only mean that the need to accommodate these people will become an urgent priority, innovating and shifting from the household system that is present nowadays. Soon enough this will be a global pressing issue.
Imagined by Sasaki, the Kabul Urban Design Framework creates a vision of what the city can become. The project generates a set of guidelines that can transform the Afghan capital into a model of sustainable, equitable, and resilient development.
Iñaki Alday is the current dean of the School of Architecture of Tulane (New Orleans). Founder of Alday Jover arquitectura y paisaje, he also offers advice to the United Nations as an expert on the urban planning of rivers and deltas. In this context, he is a noted co-founder of the ‘Yamuna River Project’, a university research project for the recovery of the Yamuna River in New Delhi - one of the most polluted in the world.
Below, we talk with Iñaki Alday about innovations in cities related to the climate emergency, with questions that approach the urgency of research and how universities should prepare students to face the global challenge.
BIG unveiled its latest intervention, the Toyota Woven City, the company's first venture in Japan. Nestled at the foothills of Mt. Fuji, the project, in collaboration with Toyota Motor Corporation, is the world’s first urban incubator pushing forward the development and progress of mobility.
Seoul is considered one of the most densely-populated and over-priced cities in the world, reaching a staggering $ 80,000 per square meter. The extreme conditions of the city have forced local architects to operate, design, and build framing the city's urban issues, traditions, and history. This approach by architects has created the theoretical basis of “The Condition of Seoul Architecture”, a publication by multidisciplinary practice TCA Think Tank which sees the point of view of 18 innovative South Korean architects. In this interview, Pier Alessio Rizzardi, founder of the practice, interviewed Chi Min-suk of Mass Studies, explaining his point of view on ephemeral architecture and what influences the studio's work the most.
Concrete is the most carbon-intensive material found in the built environment, and rammed earth is a viable alternative—at least for projects of a certain scale. The San Antonio–based architecture firm Lake|Flato has opted for rammed earth on two of its residential projects, such as this one in West Texas.Courtesy Kyle Melgaard/Pilgrim Building Company
Practitioners have finally begun taking a more nuanced approach to the carbon emitted by new buildings. Are they too late?
I’ve started calling them come-to-carbon moments—the inner alarm bells that sound as you begin to register the devastating ecological costs of every man-made surface around you. Every sidewalk you’ve ever walked on, every building you’ve ever walked into, and every material inside those buildings, too. It’s the kind of thing you can’t un-see once you’ve started looking, the kind of knowledge that can transform a worldview, or a practice.
In their recent interview for the Time Space Existence video series, Plane-Site, through the support from the European Cultural Centre, interviewed Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill. The series will be exhibited in the biennial exhibition in Venice, opening May 21-22, 2020.
Lisi Green Town. Image Courtesy of Lisi Development
Architects and developers have always been on opposite ends of the construction world. While the first wanted to create dreamy spaces, the latter just wanted to cater to the basic needs. In these past few years, the world has witnessed significant changes, with the aggravation of climate-related issues, the evolution of technological solutions, and the newly acquired awareness and growth of the population.
While everything is transforming, building trends also evolved, mainly due to an alteration in people’s perceptions and priorities. However, one question remains unanswered: Could all these changes mean that the never-ending conflict between architects and developers reached some sort of common grounds? And could they finally be seeking one same goal, of a sustainable, resilient and inclusive future?
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