Deltawerk //, which opened September 27th, is envisioned as a “tribute to the majesty and seemingly indestructible power of the Dutch delta works,” shedding new light on the “practice of preserving cultural heritage.”
https://www.archdaily.com/903312/raaaf-and-atelier-de-lyons-monumental-deltewerk-is-a-tribute-to-the-majesty-of-dutch-flood-defensesNiall Patrick Walsh
Fentress Architects has revealed their design for the expansion of the Norwegian Chancery in Washington D.C. A prominent new addition to the embassy’s Washington D.C. campus. The scheme expands the architectural language of the existing embassy buildings, embracing contemporary design techniques within the context of traditional bureaucratic architecture.
Fentress’ design integrates materials of Norwegian cultural significance as prominent features of the façade. The use of Norwegian spruce timber, Oppdal stone, and patinated copper pay homage to the country’s traditions in shipbuilding and woodworking, as well as their abundance of natural resources.
In a creative scene that is already bursting with talent and innovation, Atelier Deshaus' works in China stand out. Their projects, often renovations of existing spaces, do not follow particular rules of style set by others or even themselves. Yet they are united in their subtle and enigmatic take on the experience of space in the ever-changing urban environments in China.
Avid gamers and casual observers alike have probably heard of The Sims, a life simulation video game and one of Electronic Arts' (EA) most popular franchises. The Sims, which has undergone multiple iterations and expanded its virtual universe many times over the past decade, allows players to dream and control elaborate stories for their Sims. This "virtual dollhouse," as The Sims creator Will Wright describes, also lends players the ability to endlessly customize and construct their own houses and cities for their Sims–a feature that has allowed many gamers to interact more closely with the real world of architecture.
Steven Chilton Architects has designed a forest of white columns and a latticed metallic roof around the Wuxi Show Theater in China. The screen of angled columns surrounding the circular building was inspired by the Sea of Bamboo, a national park with one of the biggest bamboo forests in the country. Opening in December 2019, the design will provide a permanent home for Belgian theatre director Franco Dragone's show, the House of Dancing Water.
Across the world, developed cities are rebelling against heavy industry. While some reasons vary depending on local circumstances, a common global drive towards clean energy, and the shifting of developed economies towards financial services, automation, and the gig economy, is leaving a common trace within urban centers. From Beijing to Detroit, vast wastelands of steel and concrete will stand as empty relics to the age of steel and coal.
The question of what to do with these wastelands, with defunct furnaces, railways, chimneys, and lakes, may be one of the major urban questions facing generations of architects to come. What can be done when the impracticality of industrial complexes, and the precious land they needlessly occupy, collides with the embodied energy, memories, and histories which few would wish to lose?
House Vision China 2018 has opened with 10 futuristic residential designs by architects like Penda, Open Architecture and MAD. Located outside the Bird's Nest stadium in Beijing's Olympic Park, House Vision is a cultural research project initiated with the concept of “new life in the future”. Together with architects and enterprises, the exhibition aims to build cultural research around the future home at a 1:1 ratio. House Vision features a range of home designs, from a shelter for life on Mars to a Living Garden.
Japan’s Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute have created HRP-5P, a humanoid robot that can perform common construction tasks, including installing drywall. As TechCrunch reports, HRP-5P uses environmental measurement, object detection and motion planning to perform various tasks. The robot may help in Japan's rapidly aging society where declining birth rates meets a lack of skilled construction workers.
Carlo Ratti Associati has unveiled the "Greenary," a renovated farmhouse designed around a 10-meter-high tree in the countryside near Parma, Northern Italy. The scheme marks the first step of CRA’s winning 2017 masterplan for the Mutti tomato company, driven by a closer integration between nature and the built environment.
The 50-year-old Ficus tree, situated within the main living area, is encircled by stepped areas rising to the treetop, creating six domestic spaces. The house will be coupled with a factory developed in close architectural continuity, due to their physical proximity.
https://www.archdaily.com/903235/carlo-ratti-associati-places-30-foot-high-tree-inside-renovated-italian-farmhouseNiall Patrick Walsh
Robert Venturi (1925-2018) was the most influential American architect of the last century, though not primarily for his built work, or because of his stature as a designer. He will never stand beside Wright, or Kahn, or even Gehry in that regard. Between 1965 and 1985 he and his collaborator, Denise Scott Brown, changed the way all architects look at buildings, cities, and landscapes, much in the way that Marshall McLuhan, Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol changed our view of art, media, and popular culture during the same period.
I worked with Bob Venturi during my apprenticeship in the 1970s; I also grew up with his books, buildings and paternal influence. He and my father were one year apart; Denise is the same age as my mother.
https://www.archdaily.com/903226/robert-venturi-and-the-difficult-whole-how-architectures-enfant-terrible-changed-design-foreverMark Alan Hewitt
OPEN Architecture in collaboration with Chinese electronics giant Xiaomi have unveiled the minimal housing prototype MARS Case at ChinaHouse Vision 2018. Located outside the Bird’s Nest National Stadium in Beijing, the design is part of an annual cross-industry innovation and research platform known as House Vision, which uses the medium of the “house” to explore and question the direction of our living habits and urban environments in the future.
Venturi Scott-Brown’s National Gallery Sainsbury Wing extension (1991) was born into a precarious no-man’s land between the warring camps of neo-Modernists and traditionalists who had been tussling over the direction of Britain’s cities for much of the prior decade. The site of the extension had come to be one of the most symbolic battlefields in British architecture since a campaign to halt its redevelopment with a Hi-Tech scheme by Ahrends Burton Koralek had led to that project’s refusal at planning in 1984.
Turkish practice Melike Altinisik Architects have released new photos of Istanbul's futuristic 369 meter-tall Çamlıca TV and Radio Tower. The new telecommunications tower will replace several outdated structures currently in use and support an estimated 125 broadcasting transmitters. Designed for the Ministry of Transportation and Communication, the project is currently under construction, and the new photos showcase the tower's ongoing progress. The project is set to become the tallest tower in Istanbul.
COOKFOX Architects and Oxford Properties have reimagined New York's St. John’s Terminal as a workplace of the future. The 1.3 million square foot proposal aims to connect the Hudson Square neighborhood to the waterfront at the end of The High Line. Combining outdoor space and greenery with 100,000 square-foot floor plates, the project reinterprets the industrial past of the former freight terminal. The project was created to shape how businesses innovate and create between Lower Manhattan and the waterfront.
Twin brothers Chris and Bill Sharples are two of the founding partners of SHoP Architects, a New York-based firm established 20 years ago to bring together diverse expertise in designing buildings and environments that improve the quality of public life.
The firm’s style is difficult to define, but a connective thread throughout SHoP’s portfolio is a design philosophy rooted in constraints. From digital models to next-generation fabrication and delivery techniques, technology is at the center of the firm’s movement toward an iterative approach that, as Chris Sharples says, “is beginning to blur the line between architecture and manufacturing.”
MVRDV has released details of their proposed renovation of a 19th-century listed building on Slodowa Island in Wroclaw, Poland. The “Concordia Hub” will see the retention of the existing façade, with the addition of a contemporary rear extension to “create a focal point” for the general public and visitors.
The site’s former use as a German artillery base in 1945 means almost all of the island’s structures were destroyed in the closing months of World War II. The Concordia Hub scheme seeks to preserve one of the only surviving heritage structures on the island, while transitioning the building into the modern age.
https://www.archdaily.com/903159/mvrdv-proposes-respectful-renovation-for-19th-century-heritage-building-in-wroclaw-polandNiall Patrick Walsh
It would be hard to associate zen philosophy with Mies van der Rohe, even harder to associate it with the German Pavilion in Barcelona. Nevertheless, the latest work by American artist Spencer Finch, Fifteen stones (Ryōan-ji), precisely establishes that connection with the iconic pavilion.
Spencer Finch was the latest artist invited to intervene the Fundació's pavilion. With the aim of "provok[ing] new looks and reflections through [his] intervention in the Pavilion, [he] enhanced it as a space for inspiration and experimentation for the most innovative artistic and architectural creation." Finch joined a prominent team of artists and architects, including SANAA, Jeff Wall, Ai Wei Wei, Enric Miralles, Andrés Jaque, and Anna & Eugeni Bach, among others.
Patinated copper, also called oxidized, is a metal coat that "ages well" with excellent weathering resistance. Due to its capacity for transformation over time, when coming into contact with atmospheric conditions, the material does not require major maintenance, giving a unique aspect to the facades.
In addition to orange-colored plates, this material also gives off a blue / green appearance through a controlled chemical oxidation process. Its coloration is defined by the amount of crystals contained in the surface of the material. With the appearance of natural light, the panels display various shades and nuances of color.
Architecture and design practices Penda and Smartvoll have created a giant watermill for Austria's National Pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai in Dubai. ‘The Source of Everything’ was selected as a finalist in an international competition and marks the first collaboration between Penda Austria and Smartvoll. The project features a supersized mill that circulates water through the pavilion and brings an experience to the desert of Dubai that Austria is famous for: Refreshment.
Architecture firm Jasmax has been selected to design New Zealand's National Pavilion for Expo 2020 Dubai. New Zealand will participate in Expo 2020 from October 2020 to April 2021. Expo 2020 Dubai will bring together 180 nations and 25 million international visitors. Over six months, the event will inspire collaboration on global challenges and opportunities. New Zealand’s theme for Expo 2020 is 'Care for People and Place'. The pavilion will feature an exhibition experience, corporate hosting facilities, a restaurant and design store.
The New York firm WXY and the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation have proposed vertical manufacturing buildings in a new Navy Yard masterplan. A series of renderings show plans for the next phase of development, including high-rise structures with 5.1 million square feet of urban industrial space. The $2.5 billion masterplan was first announced in January 2018, and as Curbed NY reports, the master plan and rezoning calls for new manufacturing buildings, increased public access, and more educational programming.
Following the announcement by SpaceX founder Elon Musk that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa would be the first paying customer to visit the Moon, the retail tycoon generated further excitement by declaring he would bring between six and eight artists to accompany him.
The “Dear Moon” project would see a painter, musician, film director, and others, accompany Maezawa in order to “dream dreams that have never been dreamed…to sing songs that have never been sung, to paint that which has never been seen before.”
https://www.archdaily.com/903090/life-on-the-moon-according-to-8-architects-and-artistsNiall Patrick Walsh
After graduating from Tecnológico de Monterrey, a leading technical school in Mexico, Francisco Gonzalez Pulido worked on design-build projects for six years before leaving for the US where he earned his Master’s degree from Harvard’s GSD in 1999. The same year the architect started working with Helmut Jahn in Chicago where he stayed for 18 years – from intern to becoming the president of the company in 2012, at which point he renamed the firm into Jahn. By then he developed his own body of work there. Last year Gonzalez Pulido started FGP Atelier in his adopted home city.
Today the studio, counts a dozen of architects and is overseeing the design of a couple of high-rises in China, a baseball stadium in Mexico City, and university buildings in Monterrey, among other projects. The following interview was conducted at FGP Atelier in Chicago, during which the architect was explicit about transmitting his view: “Architecture is too rigid, too formal. It is time to break free…I want to build lighter. I want to build smarter.”