WXCA Architectural Design Studio has won the international competition for the reconstruction of the Saxon Palace, a heritage site located in the historical city center of Warsaw, Poland, that was significantly damaged during the Second World War. The competition, organized by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage in cooperation with the Association of Polish Architects, aimed to create a concept for the restoration of the monument, which is set to be rebuilt in its external Neoclassicist form of 1939.
Nowadays, the term “utopia” is used to describe an idea that seems unattainable —at least in the contemporary context— intrinsically related to philosophical, scientific, urbanistic, and architectural concepts, among others. The close connection between utopias and architecture is evident, as this discipline is often associated with imagination. Some notable examples include “The Unreliable Utopia of Auroville's Architecture” and “The City in Space: A Utopia”by Ricardo Bofill. In this context, architects and designers alike use design as a means to develop innovative and disruptive ideas through various elements.
Although considered an idealized concept that does not exist, some designers have ventured into exploring the notion of utopia. AXOR, in conjunction with the Valencia-based design studio Masquespacio, has turned the page by conceiving and bringing to reality a new bathroom concept for a unique hotel suite that embodies their vision of personal luxury. Titled “Utopian Dream”, this design response blends vibrant colors with unexpected details, a combination that this duo defines as a mystic experience above the clouds.
https://www.archdaily.com/1007798/balancing-neoclassical-and-futuristic-design-the-utopian-dream-bathroom-conceptEnrique Tovar
Founded in 1541 by the Spanish conquistador Pedro de Valdivia on indigenous settlements in the valley of the Mapocho River, Santiago is the capital and most populated city of Chile. This South American city is enframed by the Andes Mountains to the east and the Chilean Coast Range to the west, in addition to 26 island hills (cerros islas) scattered throughout the city. Some of these island hills have been converted into urban parks, such as Santa Lucía and San Cristóbal, while Chena, Calán, and Renca are in the process of expansion.
The end of the War of 1812 left the young United States of America awash with nationalist fervor. In the following years, the world’s first modern republic experienced unprecedented growth and prosperity; it was not without reason that the period came to be known as the “Era of Good Feelings.”[1] It was into this epoch of unbridled national pride that Thomas Jefferson, one of the country’s founding fathers and its third President, introduced his master plan for the University of Virginia: an architectural manifestation of the Enlightenment and republican ideals he had helped cultivate.
For the best part of a century, architectural discussion has been dominated by modernism and other related forms of futurism and functionalism. For some, this constant invocation of the radically new has begun to look quite tired. In the 1980s looking backwards for inspiration famously brought us the adaptive and populist postmodernists, but also emerging at this time was New Classical architecture, which completely rejected any continuity with modernism and returned instead to traditional rules. In the years since, New Classical architecture has evolved into a resurgence of pre-modern forms, with the term also incorporating designs that would never have been considered "classical" in the first place - including Gothic and non-western historicist styles. We've rounded up some of the most surprising, interesting - even high-tech - examples of New Classical architecture after the break.
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