Archinect - News

London's new Elizabeth Line project wins the 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize

2024-10-16T17:00:00-04:00

The 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize — the annual honor of the UK's best new architecture — has been conferred to the London Underground system's new Elizabeth Line designs from Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation, and AtkinsRéalis.

The official jury citation mentions ten separate Underground stations and their "platform architecture, passenger tunnels, escalators, station concourses, signage, furniture, fittings, finishes and supporting technology" as the fundaments of the "intuitive, frictionless experience" offered by it to the capital's transit users.

The Elizabeth Line, London Underground, by Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation, and AtkinsRéalis. Image: Hufton + Crow

The new Crossrail, which was renamed to honor the late Queen Elizabeth II, was inaugurated in May of 2022 after a massive $25 billion infrastructure investment and covers a large swath of Central London while connecting to the Great Western Main Line and Great Eastern Main Line of the National Rail.

The Elizabeth Line, London Underground,...

Editor's Picks #562

2024-08-29T20:31:00-04:00

Earlier this summer, Archinect invited the community to share insights and feedback on the economic outlook of their firm and sector. Analysis of these results has been released in two parts. Part I and Part II

The "survey showed a significant divergence between the sentiments of owners and workers" in a couple of key areas, which made sense to Donna Sink "overall employees are more anxious than owners. Possibly because they're younger and more pessimistic about the future in general?...It's bleak out here."

Plus, Joseph Choma, Director of Florida Atlantic University's School of Architecture, explained the thinking behind FAU’s five-year BArch and their approach to AI, demystifying the digital, teaching "computation even though they are not using a computer" and how "One of the roles of the architect will be to create a web or network to connect the AIs together".

News

The United States Department of Defense finalized a revision to the fee limitations for federal design projects aft...

Thandi Loewenson honored with 2024 Wheelwright Prize for examining racial capitalism and Earth's resources

2024-06-27T10:00:00-04:00

The Harvard Graduate School of Design just announced this year's winning proposal for the coveted Wheelwright Prize, featuring an examination of colonial systems and racial capitalism from the UK-based Zimbabwe-born researcher Thandi Loewenson.

The $100,000 award is provided annually with the chance to give a lecture at the GSD and be published in one of five different school publications. Loewenson will have the chance to uncover "how we get free" through a series of what she calls "Black Papers," breaking down the "entanglement of Earth and Air" in the endemic landscape of seven different countries. The prize money supports her study of "Outer Space," which includes examining aerial land surveying techniques as well as the mining of precious metals used in smartphone devices and unwittingly underwriting a system of "digital dispossession" worldwide.

Loewenson, currently a senior tutor at the Royal College of Art, also holds a PhD from the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture.

Tha...

Rowan Moore picks his Stirling Prize top contenders for 2024

2024-06-04T12:53:00-04:00

The big beasts of London’s Elizabeth line and King’s Cross redevelopment loom large, but newly announced regional contenders for this year’s prize should include a classy Cambridge dining hall, an all-timber office block and a wheelchair-friendly rural retreat

While the official announcement of the annual Stirling Prize for the best new building in the UK is still months away (find the results here in October), architecture critic Rowan Moore just published his customary hot take on the contenders that have been released so far.

Picking from a field of well over 100 RIBA regional award winners, Moore acknowledged the importance of high-profile London megaprojects, such as King’s Cross and the Elizabeth Line, and praised lesser-known but worthy designs, including Níall McLaughlin's Auckland Castle, the Waugh Thistleton-led Black & White Building, the Homerton College dining hall by Feilden Fowles, and Clementine Blakemore's Wraxall Yard.

The thoughtful design for a London elder care facility by Mæ took home last year's Stirling Prize top honor.

AIA California Announces Twelfth Annual Architecture at Zero Competition

2024-05-29T19:22:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by Architecture at Zero 2024

The American Institute of Architects California (AIA CA) has launched the twelfth edition of its renowned Architecture at Zero competition. This annual event invites students and professionals from around the world to design innovative buildings with a focus on sustainability, equity, and resilience.

This year’s challenge centers on creating a new building for the Griffith STEAM Magnet Middle School in East Los Angeles, California. Participants will design a facility to replace existing relocatable classrooms, incorporating science labs, an art classroom, maker spaces, outdoor learning environments, and a teacher workroom. The competition encourages bold, creative ideas, as it is an ideas competition and not tied to a specific construction project.

A distinguished panel of international experts, including Paul Torcellini from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Lance Collins AIA from Partner Energy, and Allison Williams ...

Winning designer of Canada’s Afghan War memorial sues government for bid slight

2024-05-01T19:06:00-04:00

The winning bid for a $3.5 million contract to design a new memorial to Canadian military veterans of the war in Afghanistan from a Montreal-based studio that was replaced by the government has prompted a lawsuit by its architect. Renée Daoust is suing the federal government after it replaced hers with a proposal from the Indigenous artist Adrian Stimson citing an apparently “un-scientific” online survey, according to the CBC’s reporting last month.

"We're very concerned because it does create a precedent, a very dangerous precedent for Canada in terms of competitions, public art competitions, architectural competitions and so on," Daoust told the broadcaster. "There was political interference, so we don't want this to happen again."

Stimson is reportedly working to finalize his design without a clear resolution in sight. The American National Global War on Terror memorial in Washington, D.C. from Marlon Blackwell Architects is also being planned for the National Mall.

...

AI models predict the 2024 Pritzker Winner

2024-03-04T08:10:00-05:00

As the architecture community anticipates the official Pritzker Prize announcement this Tuesday, our team at Archinect has been fully immersed in the whirlwind of predictions and speculations. A few days ago we published a roundup of forecasts from the Archinect community, highlighting potential winners such as Moshe Safdie, Barclay Crousse, Eyal Weizman/Forensic Architecture, Thomas Heatherwick, H arquitectes, and Johnston Marklee, to name just a few. This curiosity led to an idea for a fun experiment: consult with various Artificial Intelligence models to gauge their insights on the prestigious award's 2024 recipient. Initiating conversations with four leading LLM models—ChatGPT 4, Google Gemini, Anthropic's Claude 2, and Perplexity—I navigated the sometimes hilariously clumsy, but mostly very interesting "thoughts" from our AI frenemies. Each of the models ended up predicting different winners, but there's a common theme with all of the selections that you'll notice.

I conducted...

The 2024 AZ Awards is now open for entries!

2024-01-17T17:15:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Azure Magazine

Show the World What You Have Accomplished: Submit your best work to the 2024 AZ Awards!

It’s the beginning of a new year – and that means that it’s time to kick off the 2024 AZ Awards. Open for submissions until February 23, AZURE’s 14th annual competition is accepting entries into its eight major categories, from architecture, landscapes and urban design to interiors, product design and the A+ Award for best student work. Enter here!

Last year’s edition celebrated more winners than ever — including MVRDV’s striking Valley mixed-use complex in Amsterdam and Shim-Sutcliffe’s exquisitely refined Ace Hotel Toronto. Taken together, the 26 winners represent the world’s best in design at all scales and disciplines. You can see them all online on the AZ Awards website.

Winner in the "Commercial & Institutional Interiors" category - Omar Gandhi Architects: Prime Seafood Palace, Toronto, Canada. Photo credit: Adrian Ozimek. Read more about the ...

MVRDV plans a new 'Green Heart' in the center of Düsseldorf

2024-01-10T20:30:00-05:00

MVRDV has released updated renderings and other details about its forthcoming Grüne Mitte (or “Green Heart”) plan that calls for a redesigned new green district in the culturally rich German city of Düsseldorf.

The firm’s plan, which entails the construction of a colorful residential component totaling 500 units (half of which are considered social housing) around a small landscaped public space from fellow Dutch designers LOLA, was the product of an intensive community input process that included members of the diverse Flingern-Süd community.

The area has been considered a "hot spot" for squatting since the end of the 1980s and features equally popular shopping spaces and a parking structure that was built only 11 years ago before the land was acquired by the developers Cube Real Estate.

Image © MVDRV

As part of that process, residents selected the Green Heart proposal from a trio of outline primers. Their solution calls for a 36% reduction in paved areas, with a new...

Editor's Picks #554

2023-12-29T00:45:00-05:00

In a conversation with Niall Patrick Walsh, Natasha Sandmeier considered the potential up-side(s) to the growing abilities of Artificial Intelligence "I do not believe there are many creatives who aspire to draw door details for three months or to endlessly clean up red-line drawings. Yet, these constitute the majority of tasks for many architects...If we can outsource such taxing labor, whether door details or miscellaneous writing, AI has the potential to impact our workflow positively while also opening new doors and avenues of exploration for the profession."

Via by Jiaqi Kang, Deeksha Harish, Yilan Huang (UCLA AUD Entertainment Studio 2023).Via follows a group of cloaked wanderers who drift across landscapes and seasons, finding balance between humans and nature. In a far distant future, post-AI, the wanderers migrate past electrified fields, examples of a new nature.

Plus, the folks from Archinect HQ shared what they are Thankful for in 2023. Of note, founder Paul Petrunia took...

Architect Stefano Boeri faces bid-rigging allegations in Milan’s BEIC design competition

2023-10-12T19:53:00-04:00

Architect Stefano Boeri has responded to charges of alleged bid-rigging in relation to his role as the jury chair for a 2022 competition to design the new European Library of Information and Culture (BEIC) in Milan.

The 66-year-old Boeri told the Italian news agency ANSA this week, “I am calm and confirm my complete willingness to cooperate with the competent authorities to provide all the information in my possession in order to clarify a situation that I find unbelievable,” before saying he would not provide any further comments at this time.

The allegations were made public as news of an investigation on the part of local tax police broke earlier in the week. Boeri’s role in the investigation remains unclear, however, the “conflict of interest” at the center of the case reportedly includes “false declarations regarding the identity or personal qualities of oneself or others.” The connection architects Angelo Raffaele Lunati and Giancarlo Floridi, whose firm Onsitestudio was awar...

Editor's Picks #551

2023-10-03T20:30:00-04:00

As part of Archinect’s Studio Pin-Ups series, Katherine Guimapang featured work from NYIT’s ARCH 802 Design-Research Studio "Designing (Inter)Scalar Domains".

Reimaging Social Infrastructures Urban Conservation - Coexisting Ecologies by Kaymar Thomas via NYIT

Plus, for the latest Studio Snapshots she highlighted the work of Studio MUKA, a West-coast based boutique-sized firm with a team of 4–6 people, founded in 2021.

via Studio MUKA

News

UC Santa Barbara's released an RFQ for the "construction of the UCSB Student Housing Infill and Redevelopment Project" which appears to confirm a turning point in the history of the hotly contested and breathtakingly window-deprived Munger Hall proposal.

Madrid-based Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos won the Reimagining the Dallas Museum of Art International Design Competition. While some were disappointed monosierra was at least willing to "see how Nieto Sobejano develops this."

Bank of America awarded a $1 million grant toward...

National Museums Liverpool re-tenders Slavery Museum design contract after Adjaye departure

2023-09-19T18:55:00-04:00

National Museums Liverpool (NML) has issued a new tender for design contracts for the anticipated new Liverpool Slavery Museum a month after its original architect David Adjaye was formally removed from the project over sexual misconduct allegations that were first made public in June.

The announcement was picked up today by UK-based publications. NML says whoever is selected will shepherd the project from the RIBA Plan of Work scale's stage 3 (Spatial Coordination) to the completion stage 7 (Use) in coordination with community partners and the museum. The hope is for whoever takes over the project to complete the planned overhauls of Albert Dock's existing Hartley Pavilion and the Martin Luther King Jr. Building, which houses the new museum. Ralph Appelbaum Associates will remain on as the project’s exhibition designers as well.

Previously on Archinect: David Adjaye accused of sexual misconduct by three former employees

Adjaye had already stepped away from the larger waterfront rede...

The most popular '22/23 architecture lecture poster vote goes to...

2023-09-01T08:00:00-04:00

The votes are in for your favorite Fall '22 and Spring '23 architecture school lecture posters featured in Archinect's Get Lectured series. Which five posters racked up the top votes?

The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture took the top prizes for their Fall '22 and Spring '23 lecture poster designs. The team behind their Fall poster shared that they utilized Midjourney to help create the visual theme, which can be seen in both posters. Third place went to the University of Illinois Chicago School of Architecture's Spring '23 poster, followed by a fourth-place tie from the University of Milwaukee School of Architecture & Urban Planning and their Fall '22 and Spring '23 lecture posters.

Also among the top ten poster designs in the online popularity contest were Thomas Jefferson University, UCLA, University of Colorado at Denver, Washington University in St. Louis, East Los Angeles College, and Syracuse University.

First Place: University of Texas at Austin, Fall 20...

Editor's Picks #550

2023-08-28T12:36:00-04:00

ICYMI, Niall Patrick Walsh spoke with Liam Young as part of the Archinect In-Depth: Artificial Intelligence series.

Liam offered a reality check "AI is a dangerous distraction from the pressing issues defining our generation. The world is on fire and we are worried about whether AI is going to write the first draft of our screenplays. The scale of climate catastrophe enveloping us right now is crazy…We need radical, systemic, planetary change, but in our popular cultural visions of the future, everything that operates at that scale is dystopian."

Donna Sink commented "This is such an amazing interview and Liam you are doing such poignant and difficult work! Gait detection terrifies me; it’s part of why I love wide-legged pants and big gauzy shirts".

News

archanonymous penned a ChatGPTish paean in response to Adjaye Associates' 130 William debut. Then news broke and as Gregory Walker summed up "adjaye's own actions here…are speaking as to the severity of the allegations and...

Vote now for your favorite Fall & Spring '22/23 architecture school lecture poster

2023-08-17T17:25:00-04:00

It's time to let Archinect readers judge the graphic prowess of architecture schools again as they have showcased their lecture and public events programming in our ongoing Get Lectured series.

As we prepare for the upcoming Fall term, which Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 lecture poster will win the top spot for our latest popularity vote?

In our last poll, Boston Architectural College's Spring 2021 poster took home the first prize, followed by the University of Toronto's Winter/Spring poster winning second place, and Woodbury University taking the third and fourth spots for their Spring and Fall poster submissions.

Check out the posters we've presented throughout the Fall '22 and Spring '23 terms, and vote for your favorites here.

Voting closes on Monday, August 28, at 5:30 p.m. Pacific Time. The lecture posters with the most votes will be announced on Friday, September 1. Have fun!

Want to share your school's latest lecture series and be included in the Fall 2023 series? Send us your ...

Winners announced for Archinect's Generative Futures: AI + Architecture Storytelling Challenge

2023-07-11T12:01:00-04:00

Archinect is pleased to reveal the winners of the Generative Futures: AI + Architecture Storytelling Challenge!

The competition invited participants to develop creative and original submissions, welcoming various storytelling formats and genres, such as allegories, love stories, horror stories, diary entries, or data-driven predictions. Participants were encouraged to use AI tools to assist in generating submissions. Entries were judged based on creativity and originality (50%) and impact and relevance (50%).

After careful deliberation, the competition jury selected a Top Prize winner and four honorable mentions from each category: The AI-infused city; The AI-infused architecture studio; The AI-infused construction site; and the Open Category: entrants may define their own theme as it relates to AI and architecture

Explore the winning entries and honorable mentions below:

TOP PRIZE WINNER: Open Category

Maurice's Last Shift by Tim Papienski

Image generated using Dall-e. Courtesy of...

'Maurice's Last Shift,' Top Prize winner in Archinect's Generative Futures: An AI + Architecture Storytelling Challenge

2023-07-11T12:00:00-04:00

Maurice's Last Shift by Tim Papienski

Just after dawn, as light rain pattered down on the tarps of the construction site, Maurice stepped gently, trying not to land in the mud. As he passed through the guarded entrance, the banner above proudly proclaimed “847 days without a workplace accident.” Mounted on a pole below, was the ever-present red Stop Work button.

Maurice was a Sensor Jockey. Led a crew of them, in fact. He was retiring after 40 years, and today was his last shift. Maurice has spent his entire working life on jobsites such as this—big, sprawling constructions. He knew everything a person could know.

The jobsite was a repurpose of an abandoned office complex, a mix of apartments, businesses and “Temps.” Maurice headed to the end of the site, the final section block of Temps being printed. The great gantry had been rolled into place, the concrete extruder paused dramatically, like a monk about to illuminate the edges of a medieval bible.

Nobody really knew what wa...

'Dystopian Dreams and Gigabyte Gleams,' Honorable Mention in Archinect's Generative Futures: An AI + Architecture Storytelling Challenge

2023-07-11T12:00:00-04:00

Dystopian Dreams and Gigabyte Gleams by Mason Miles

Forming a representation of a nature-infused city of the future, hybridizing optimism and entropy, the project lends a satirical outlook on the AI city. The images are each accompanied by a correlating haiku, prodding at what the future may hold while providing space for the viewers' imagination to run free.