Archinect - Features

3D Printing, Artificial Intelligence, and Space Habitats: A Conversation with ICON’s Melodie Yashar

2024-03-12T16:00:00-04:00

As a ‘Space Architect’ working on the design and delivery of 3D printed habitats on the Moon and Mars, Melodie Yashar is aware that, even in space, 3D printing does not exist in a vacuum. Like any construction methodology, it requires a confluence of design intent, delivery systems, material science, and accessible economics.

In her role as Vice President of Building Design & Performance at the construction technologies company ICON, Yashar is overseeing the design and implementation of products across all these fields, with an immediate primary goal of establishing a more affordable and sustainable design and construction system. As Yashar outlined in her 2022 TED Talk, the lessons learned from such ambitious endeavors here on Earth can spark lines of inquiry for perhaps humanity’s ultimate unresolved ambitious endeavor: surviving and thriving beyond Earth itself.

Last week, Archinect’s Niall Patrick Walsh spoke with Yashar as ICON was in the process of unveiling a suite of new tec...

'Beauty Is a Measure of Ecological Intelligence'; A Conversation with ecoLogicStudio Founders Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto

2023-07-31T09:00:00-04:00

Against the backdrop of a frenzied AI discourse dominated by end-product tools such as ChatGPT and Midjourney, Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto articulate a refreshing call to adventure. The two ecoLogicStudio founders have built their professional and academic careers at the intersection of computation and biology, allowing them to articulate a vision of artificial intelligence that, in their words, "is more like a slime mold, a spider's web, a microalgae colony, or a mycelium network." Here, the computational and biological find common ground in their use of patterns as meta-language; a commonality that, when pushed, invites both human and non-human designers to shape the built environment as an organism itself rather than a static entity enlivened only by our own mechanics.

For Pasquero and Poletto, this is no theoretical exercise. ecoLogicStudio has already won wide acclaim for its real-world applications of ecological systems in the built environment while also articulating ...

'AI Is Built on Datasets That Are Already Biased'; A Conversation with Felecia Davis

2023-06-22T08:27:00-04:00

Ever since her childhood summers sewing patterns at the family dining table, Felecia Davis has understood the power of textiles to be a vehicle for communication, connection, and understanding. As her career in architecture unfolded in parallel with wider advances in computational capabilities, Davis dedicated her studies, and subsequent career, to the question of how computational textiles could intersect with and challenge social, cultural, and political constructions.

This dedication to mobilizing design and creativity in the name of confronting societal biases permeates Davis' many leadership positions, whether as the founder of Felecia Davis Studio, a co-founder of the Black Reconstruction Collective, or as an associate professor at Penn State University, where she directs SOFTLAB; a research group dedicated to tools, methods, and design solutions associated with computational textiles. Davis’ leadership in the field has been recognized through many honors, including the Archit...

‘In the Climate Context, Architects Need to Push a New Frontier’; A Conversation with Mario Cucinella

2023-04-22T05:29:00-04:00

When TECLA was unveiled to the world at the beginning of 2021, it captured the attention of both the architectural community and the imagination of the mainstream media. The world's first 3D-printed house made from raw earth, TECLA was one of 17 projects showcased at COP26 in an exhibition highlighting pathways for the built environment to reduce its carbon footprint.

For Mario Cucinella, the architect behind TECLA, the project represents a broader conviction to “imagine a world where beauty is soulful and sustainable.” This same conviction has seen Cucinella and his team at Mario Cucinella Architects establish not only a portfolio of projects driven by dual principles of sustainability and creativity, but an in-house School of Sustainability encompassing environmentally-themed education, research, and practice.

Archinect’s Niall Patrick Walsh sat down with Cucinella recently at the 2022 World Architecture Festival in Lisbon, Portugal for a wide-ranging discussion encompassing the f...

Finding Value in Waste: Japan’s Kamikatsu Zero Waste Center is a Temple to Material Reuse

2022-02-03T15:37:00-05:00

Today, building materials account for half of all solid waste generated worldwide every year. In response to mounting concerns over the impact of construction on the built environment, a growing number of architects and material scientists are investigating the potential for recycled materials to form an integral part of future construction. In this article, we reflect on a recently completed building in rural Japan that embodies an alternative approach to the norm; with the added accolade of being perhaps the world's first waste recycling center constructed almost entirely from recycled waste.

'Matters of Scale' with Bill Zahner, head of the engineering-design consultancy behind the Petersen Automotive Museum's redesign

2016-05-31T09:56:00-04:00

For the second installation of the Matters of Scale series I’m talking to Bill Zahner, president and CEO of the A. Zahner Company. For many people Bill doesn’t need an introduction—he’s been involved with the engineering and fabrication of metal façade systems for the likes of Frank Gehry, Herzog & de Meuron, Diller Scofidio + Renfo, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates, and many, many others. When initially planning the Matters of Scale series, Bill’s name was first on my list of people that I wanted to include in the larger conversation, and I’m elated to be able to include him so early in the series.