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SCI-Arc's immersive 2024 Spring Show exhibition to feature a colorful assortment of new student work

2024-04-18T12:58:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect Partner School

SCI-Arc, an Archinect Partner School, is hosting its annual Spring Show exhibition later this month that will feature the work of undergraduate and graduate students from all school programs. The show takes place on its LA Arts District campus, beginning with the opening reception at 6 PM on Saturday, April 27th.

The annual exhibition is meant to highlight students' work and the diversity of SCI-Arc’s course offerings via four immersive monochromatic rooms, each with different textures covering its surfaces. The curator of this year’s Spring Show, postgraduate Fiction and Entertainment program faculty Alexey Marfin, tells Archinect: "The spaces operate on two scales: The bold statement seen from afar, but also the fine material detail seen on closer inspection."

"The exhibition will be centered around an experience...

Shigeru Ban: The Paper Log House opens at The Glass House with the help of Cooper Union architecture students

2024-04-17T06:00:00-04:00

Archinect has received first photos of Shigeru Ban Architects’ new collaborative installation project with students from The Cooper Union Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut.

A product of this semester’s Building Technology course, Shigeru Ban: The Paper Log House honors the 75th anniversary of one of America’s foremost examples of modernism with a special nine-month run that began this week, April 15th, and will run until December 15th.

Students from The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at The Cooper Union cut and sort components for the Paper Log House’s top connector in the school workshop. Video still by Hudson Lines

Students slot preassembled sections of paper tube walls into crenelated base panels along the perimeter of the floor. Video still by Hudson Lines

Working together with a team from the Pritzker Prize winner’s New York office, a group of 39 students engaged in a two-day assembly process that created a 13.5 by 13.5-...

Exciting student projects, academic research, and fellowships at architecture schools in 2023

2023-12-26T14:20:00-05:00

Continuing with our 2023 Year in Review series, we look back at the exciting design and research projects from students and faculty at architecture schools across the U.S. and abroad.

2023 proved to be a year filled with new academic research expanding on building materials, applications in AI, and 3D printed fabrication and modeling. We also covered the appointment of new academic fellows and published in-depth conversations about the results of their work, including the Harry der Boghosian Fellow and Schidlowski Emerging Faculty Fellow.

Notable Thesis Projects

Archinect's ongoing Thesis Review series offers a look at the work and process of thesis projects produced each year by graduate and undergraduate students. In 2023, we connected with B.Arch and M.Arch graduates to dive into their process, architectural perspectives, and their post-graduation pursuits.

51mi + 25km = 13ft — Archiving the place that remains, thesis project by Sophie Akoury. Thesis advisor: Marcelyn Gow. Image...

University of Buffalo architecture students displayed 3D printed "Archi-texture" in special Hong Kong Design Centre exhibition

2023-11-08T15:50:00-05:00

Students from the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Urban Planning had the opportunity to display a folded paper apparel concept as part of a special exhibition called The Full Gamut organized by the Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC).

The project stemmed from a graduate architecture media seminar led by Gregory Serweta, Maia Peck, and Lukas Fetzko where students developed "wearable assemblies of folded paper and 3D-printed resin" to produce shirt and skirt combination "structures" called “sh/kirts.” The work was displayed in the Centre’s satellite Design Spectrum space over the summer.

Students blended architecture and fashion by working with 3D modeling software and a CNC milling machine to complete a process that helps them understand the relationship between two-dimensional planes and three-dimensional modeling, according to the professors.

Image still from “sh/kirts” video courtesy of Architecture and Planning | University of Buffalo.

“Paper is a material with infini...

A new Kharkiv School of Architecture student project delivers valuable design solutions for rebuilding schools in Ukraine

2023-09-06T18:43:00-04:00

A new project aimed at improving the educational experience of Ukrainian schoolchildren is helping students at the Kharkiv School of Architecture participate in their country’s concerted response to an infrastructure crisis that began in February 2022 and has seen the destruction of an estimated 331 educational institutions nationwide, thus far.

The "First-Aid Spatial Kit" initiative is being taught as part of the school’s first-year construction practice curriculum and allows students to develop copyable designs for various interventions (furniture, pavilions, play spaces, etc.), which, in turn, can be implemented using readily-available materials by affected school districts looking for “self-help” solutions in rebuilding.

Photo: Zlatoslava Kryshtafovych & Oleksandr Holovashkin, courtesy Kharkiv School of Architecture

Over the course of four weeks, students developed a suite of six solutions that were also marked by a consideration for accessibility and universal design. Each of t...

SCI-Arc graduate students will showcase work that goes beyond traditional architectural representations at the 2023 Graduate Thesis Weekend

2023-08-16T12:15:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect School Partner

SCI-Arc is proud to present its annual Graduate Thesis Weekend, taking place September 8-10 at the school’s LA Arts District campus. In recognition of the exceptional talents that form the Graduate Thesis class of 2023, this year’s graduating M.Arch 1 and M.Arch 2 students will share their thesis projects with their community, colleagues, and public, capping a year of extensive research and experimentation. The Graduate Thesis Exhibition will be open to the public during Grad Thesis Weekend and will remain on view in the SCI-Arc halls until September 13.

House Moving Hassle - Thesis project by Jia Mendoza. Image courtesy of SCI-Arc.

Aligned with the first week of the fall term, the Graduate Thesis Weekend at SCI-Arc fosters a connection between outgoing graduates and incoming students by filling the school with multimedia projects. In characteristic SCI-Arc fashion, this year’s graduating class has delved into the po...

Robots assemble a domed timber pavilion designed by the universities of Stuttgart and Freiburg

2023-08-15T11:16:00-04:00

The University of Stuttgart and the University of Freiburg have partnered on the construction of a domed timber pavilion on the University of Freiburg campus which seeks to showcase an “integrative approach to design and construction for sustainable architecture.” The livMatS Biomimetic Shell at the FIT Freiburg Center for Interactive Materials and Bioinspired Technologies will serve as a research space for the development of innovative, cross-disciplinary research ideas.

Image credit: Conné van d'Grachten

The design of the building envelope is based on the morphological principles of the plate skeleton of sea urchins, which have been researched at the University of Stuttgart for over a decade. For the pavilion, the segmental shell construction was further developed as a highly insulating structure for year-round and permanent use, with the combination of two partial shells of different shapes and sizes creating an opening skylight.

Image credit: Con...

10 new architectural student projects we liked this week

2023-08-12T08:00:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding student projects on various Archinect People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Student Work.

Tip: Use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ Green Paris: The Urban Forest by Cristina Mock

↑ A Different Domain: Live-Work by Tamim Aljefri and Yunha Choi

↑ Accessible Art by Junyi Zhou

↑ Oakland Metamorphasis by Weiyu Xu

↑ Filum by Sean Meng

↑ 410 Ribbion by Farouk Fares (lead designer)

↑ Irregular Pavilion by Yunong Li

↑ Motorcycle Diaries by Zhikang Liu

↑ Field Leaps - Feldsprünge by Stephan Gräbner, Claudia Hermann, Christoph Wendland

To see more highlights from Archinect's Pinterest boards, click here.

Want to be included in one of the next roundups?

Simply upload your work as a Project post to your Archinect People or Firm profile, and with some luck, your...

Florida Atlantic University's Joseph Choma leads students to explore folded fiberglass structures

2023-08-04T15:17:00-04:00

A research studio led by Florida Atlantic University (FAU) Director of the School of Architecture, Joseph Choma, uses foldable structures to construct a pop-up structure for Google.

Much of Choma's work has explored innovative design methods through complex geometric structures, materials, and experimental construction methods. For his latest studio, Choma implemented his pedagogical approach of "teaching through research and research through teaching" by having students collaborate on an applied research project with Google. In working with Google's Head of UX Workplace Design, Amy Badersnider, she promoted the studio to discover a new way to "design space as a product" and explore ways to "design and fabricate deployable structures which can be used for community engagement initiatives" globally. She challenged the students by asking, "How do we take product research outside of corporate headquarters and engage the public directly within outdoor public spaces?" The end result dev...

IAAC team’s mass timber nature observatory floats above a Barcelona forest

2023-05-16T12:13:00-04:00

A team from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) has constructed a timber observatory in a Barcelona forest to support analyses of nature. The group of students and researchers from the institution’s Masters in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities program were inspired by the hanging walkways of American biologist Margaret D. Lowman.

Image credit: Adrià Goula

Located in the city’s Collserola Natural Park, and named the Forest Lab for Observational Research and Analysis (FLORA), the facility seeks to provide researchers a space to live and work in the forest canopy. Among the observatory’s facilities are a bird radio, bird houses, working and projection space, as well as bird watching spaces.

Image credit: Adrià Goula

The observatory’s design process began with students studying the biodiversity of the forest, including identifying various inhabitants from underground, aboveground, canopy, and sky levels. T...

Team of UBC students builds one of Canada's first near-zero embodied carbon campus spaces

2023-04-21T12:33:00-04:00

A team of students from the University of British Columbia (UBC) has built a near-zero embodied carbon building on campus using hempcrete, wood, and steel as primary materials.

Called the Third Space Commons, the project was led by Third Quadrant Design, UBC’s first green building design team. The group is comprised of 60 students from the Faculty of Applied Science and the Sauder School of Business. The building is a wooden structure spanning 2,400 square feet, made from the adaptive reuse of an existing single-family home on the campus. Every aspect of the project, from the materials to the building methods, were chosen to decrease and capture carbon emissions.

The building’s thermal insulation is made of hempcrete, a concrete substitute made of lime and hemp fibers that is effective in carbon sequestration. Its foundation was constructed with reusable steel piles, and, for most of the project, the team used light wood framing instead of engineered wood, which contains fossil fuel-derived adhesives. The team also reused many materials from other construction sites in Vancouver, including the building’s windows, solar panels, appliances, and lumber, whic...

Architecture students will reconstruct an original Buckminster Fuller geodesic dome at the National Museum of American History this summer

2023-04-14T14:00:00-04:00

A new collaborative project between the Catholic University of America and the National Museum of American History will offer architecture students the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to repair and reconstruct one of Buckminster Fuller’s famed geodesic domes in the hopes of presenting such structures as a viable resilience tool to be used by designers in the ongoing fight against climate change.

Beginning in early July, a group of students from the school’s undergrad and graduate programs will work together on the reconstruction of the more than 70-year-old The Weatherbreak design created by Fuller protégé Jeffrey Lindsay in the museum’s Flag Hall.

Under the guidance of assistant professor Tonya Ohnstad, lead fabricator Lorenzo Cardim DeAlmeida, and museum curator Abeer Saha, the group will explore its potential usage as affordable, resilient housing. This is the first time the structure will be displayed to the public since entering the museum’s collection and represents the first ...

Spring Show 2023: 'SCI-Arc Night Live' Examines the Intersection of Architecture and Entertainment

2023-04-14T10:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect Partner School

SCI-Arc is proud to announce the return of its annual student exhibition, Spring Show, curated by faculty member Soomeen Hahm. This year's event, “SCI-Arc Night Live: Premiere Night,” will take place on Saturday, April 29, 2023 from 5pm to 8pm, and will showcase the groundbreaking work of SCI-Arc's talented student body.

Spring Show is one of the most anticipated events on the school's calendar, and this year promises to be no exception. The exhibition will feature a diverse range of work, including architectural models, immersive multimedia installations, and interactive experiences. Visitors will be able to engage with the cutting-edge design and technology for which SCI-Arc is internationally renowned. “SCI-Arc Night Live" is part of the school’s ongoing commitment to fostering a culture of experimentation in architecture. The exhibition is an opportunity for students to showcase their extraordinary work and engag...

Harvard students' survey finds most architectural tasks can be done remotely

2023-03-13T08:00:00-04:00

Students from the Harvard Graduate School of Design have published the results of their survey into the question of whether architecture can be practiced remotely. Launched in November 2022, the survey received 221 responses from across the profession and has led organizers to conclude that “architects believe that the vast majority of architectural tasks can be done ‘entirely or almost entirely remotely’”.

The survey, authored by students Su In Kim, Yun Ki Cheung, and Pedro Rodríguez-Parets as part of the “Frameworks of Practice” course, was designed to reflect NCARB's structure for the ARE, specifying 36 tasks across 6 project phases to create what the organizers considered a typical workflow from project inception to completion as well as practice management. For each of the 36 tasks, the survey asked respondents to respond ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the question of whether the specific task could be done “almost entirely or entirely remotely.”

Graph via the "Can Architecture be practiced...

Recognizing the grit and determination of architecture students and academic fellows in 2022

2022-12-20T08:00:00-05:00

2022 proved to be a year filled with reevaluating what it means to offer an architecture education as well as to receive one. Schools, students, and faculty across the globe continued to adjust to remote learning while students were also welcomed back to campus. This, however, didn't stop the innovative and inquisitive minds of students, academic researchers, and fellows from producing new and exciting work.

Each year comes with its own sets of challenges and questions. Nonetheless, the perseverance of students provides the industry with a glimpse into the future of architecture as a whole. To recognize and celebrate student work, research, and fellowship in architectural academia published on Archinect in 2022, we've curated a collection of stories worth revisiting.

Exploring Architecture Studio

Exploring and highlighting academic work has been one of Archinect's editorial pillars for years. Beyond exclusive interviews with students and graduates this year, our team launched a new...

New Harvard online survey asks: Can architecture be practiced remotely?

2022-11-18T12:02:00-05:00

As the global COVID-19 pandemic approaches the end of its now third calendar year, the architecture industry is once again in a state of adjustment, seeking to find that sweet spot between various available remote, hybrid, and in-person working arrangements. Continuing shifts in technological, health, and cultural standards have forced architectural practice, as well as employment models, to adapt to the post-pandemic challenges at hand.

A new research project at the Harvard Graduate School of Design is looking to study these trends within architectural practice at a time when an increasing number of firms choose to return the office.

Led by instructor Jacob Reidel under the banner of "Frameworks of Practice," the initiative aims to "understand how architects have designed new ways of practicing in direct response to crises ranging from economic collapse to structural racism to natural disaster to global pandemic."

Through a brief online survey with simple rating questions, the st...

ETH Zurich students construct timber dome entirely from waste materials

2022-10-20T12:00:00-04:00

A group of research students at ETH Zurich has completed a timber geodesic dome constructed from nothing but demolition waste. The research group, led by assistant professor Catherine De Wolf of the university’s Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, sees the project as a demonstration of the potential for circular economics.

Photo credit: Catherine De Wolf

Photo credit: BuserHill Photography

Work on the project began in October 2021 when the group, titled the Circular Engineering for Architecture lab, gained permission to salvage materials from an old car depot scheduled for demolition. Through dismantling an entire floor of the building, the group salvaged OSB panels, wooden beams, steel girders, and plastic piping for use in the pavilion.

Photo credit: Catherine De Wolf

Photo credit: Anna Buser

According to the group, the decision to construct a geodesic dome from the waste materials was due to the shape’s stable, efficient, and elementary structural properties....

ETH Zurich students and researchers build prototype 3D printed 'eggshell pavilion'

2022-10-03T11:17:00-04:00

A group of faculty and students from ETH Zurich has completed a prototype architectural pavilion whose production merges 3D printing with computational design. Unveiled at the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, the Eggshell Pavilion’s development seeks to demonstrate how "digital design techniques and robotic 3D printing can enable the creation of freeform concrete structures out of recycled ultra-thin formwork."

Formwork 3D printing. Image ⓒ Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich

The pavilion’s design and fabrication was driven by design algorithms that generated both the geometry of the structure and the fabrication data needed to 3D print the pavilion. The team believes that this combination of computational design and robotic fabrication can unlock the potential for designers to shape concrete elements efficiently, avoiding traditional labor-and-cost-intensive formwork processes.

Formwork 3D printing. Image ⓒ Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich

The 3D printed formwork of the Eggshell...

SCI-Arc's upcoming 'Select Graduate Thesis' exhibition showcase projects representing ideas emerging in architecture today

2022-09-21T12:40:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by SCI-Arc, an Archinect Partner School

Select Graduate Thesis ‘22 showcases imaginative responses to provocations transforming the discipline of architecture today. This year’s exhibit includes Graduate Thesis award recipients of the Gehry Prize, Peer Recognition Award, and Merit Thesis Awards.

Crossing over with the first week of the fall term, Graduate Thesis at SCI-Arc is the nexus of school events, cultivating an inevitable link between outgoing thesis ideas with incoming students’ curiosities.

The weekend of reviews gives thesis students an invaluable platform to articulate, propose, and defend their work to the SCI-Arc community and beyond. 62 students and 17 faculty advisors will converge with an array of invited guest critics from within and outside the discipline of architecture to review, debate, and contemplate the provocations of this year's thesis projects.

Reflections of Utopia - work by M.Arch II student Jordan Micham. Faculty advisor: Wi...

10 new architectural student projects that stood out this week

2022-09-17T09:00:00-04:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding student projects on various Archinect People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Student Work.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ Co-Construction Library by Zhiyuan Zhou

↑ Secret Oasis by Ling Lin and Yujing Jiao

↑ Portfolio Work by Chenglu Xue

↑ Collecting Housing by Shaoshuai Jiang

↑ Moving Pictures by Rob Leising and Di Liang

↑ Metabolism Community by Lich Tong

↑ Cuba Cultural Center in Vietnam by Trang Ha

↑ Tear Down The Rail by Chenyang Li and Zhang Yuqian

↑ Solar Carve (Graduation Project) by Porus Vakshoor

Click here to see more "Ten Top Images on Archinect's Pinterest Boards" posts.

Wanna be included in one of the next roundups?

Simply upload your work as a Project post to your Archinect People or Firm profile, and with some luck, your w...

IAAC team 3D prints a zero-waste housing prototype using local earth

2022-09-12T18:13:00-04:00

Barcelona's Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) and Italian 3D printer manufacturer WASP have created a building they say is the first made entirely of local materials and 3D printing technology in Spain.

Called "TOVA," the project was developed by a team of students and researchers from the 3D Printing Architecture (3DPA) postgraduate program of IAAC. The endeavor was born out of the institution’s ongoing research to find new ways of facing the social and environmental challenges of the future through its various education and research programs. The structure was conceived as a prototype for sustainable housing that could be built anywhere in the world.

Photo by Gregori Civera

TOVA was constructed at the Valldaura Labs facilities on the outskirts of Barcelona and is part of a larger project in collaboration with WASP that envisions a complete house. Together the teams are exploring the future of housing solutions as the threat of a global housing emergency loom...

The International Velux Award Announces 2022 Regional Winners

2022-07-08T19:30:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by VELUX

The 2022 edition of the International VELUX Award, a biannual international student ideas competition endorsed by the UIA since 2004, has announced its Regional Winners. 507 submitted projects were submitted from 211 schools of architecture around the world.

Organized around the theme, “Light of Tomorrow”, the competition invites architecture students to explore how we use sunlight and daylight for energy and light as well as how to ensure health and well-being for the people who live and work in buildings. Students may enter projects in one of two categories: Daylight in Buildings or Daylight investigations.

The 2022 jury, which included Anupama Kundoo, John Ronan, Rainer Hofmann, Fuensanta Nieto, and Lotte Kragelund met in Copenhagen to select 10 Regional Winners in the two categories, noting the “future-oriented nature of the projects … high in imagination and aspiration.” Jury chair John Ronan explained that the jury selected projects which ...

University at Buffalo students are constructing tiny homes to fight homelessness

2022-06-20T13:55:00-04:00

Students from the University at Buffalo have embarked on the construction of three tiny homes to help combat homelessness. Led by Brad Wales, a clinical assistant professor at the university’s Department of Architecture, the initiative forms part of a design-build program within the school called the Small Built Works Project.

Tilt House render. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo

The process began with students designing prototypes for tiny houses, which were developed into permit-ready construction documents for three homes in Syracuse, New York. Construction on the homes began in June 2022, and are expected to be completed by June 2023.

Passive Solar House render. Image courtesy of University at Buffalo

For Wales, the project is the latest of dozens of projects undertaken in the Small Built Works Project’s 21 year history, which has secured nine building permits to develop and install public benefit projects across Buffalo. The program has been focused on affordable housing sinc...

Mississippi State University studio teaches the value of collaboration between its architecture and building construction science students

2022-05-20T13:27:00-04:00

Earlier this week, we explored the relationship between architecture and construction science disciplines through the lens of a Building Scientist position at Payette. While the two fields are commonly intertwined within professional practice settings, they are also being implemented in a collaborative design studio taught at Mississippi State University (MSU). Students from the school's architecture and building construction science departments worked together in a unique studio called the PCI Foundation Studio.

After receiving a special grant from the PCI Foundation in 2020 to incorporate "precast concrete into the classroom," MSU Architecture's Associate Professor Alexis Gregory allocated the $100,000 grant to be utilized within architecture courses at the school. This funding was used to develop the Spring 2021 PCI Foundation Studio.

Under Gregory's direction, sixteen teams of students from both departments worked together to develop a collaborative design-build project benefitt...

Drury architecture students build homeless shelter that plays on light and color

2022-05-17T11:54:00-04:00

Architecture students at Drury University have unveiled a new shelter designed and built to aid the homeless community in Springfield, Missouri. Situated at the Revive 66 Campground, a local site offering nightly stays for unhoused people, the project is designed to offer a more spacious alternative to the teardrop trailers predominantly used in the grounds.

Photograph by Traci Sooter FAIA

Outside, the shelter’s exposed timber structure and cladding are brought to life by a multicolored window forming a second skin around the patio. Inside, the cabin is designed with a full-sized bed to accommodate couples and enable ADA-compliant accessibility for wheelchair users. Heating is provided through an electric radiant floor system, supported by highly-insulated walls, floors, and ceilings.

Photograph by Traci Sooter FAIA

“The structure honors the role of community in helping to provide dignity for those that so often encounter the indignities of poverty and homelessness,” said Traci Soote...

Rice architecture students design and build ADU with a nod to Texas’ architectural past

2022-05-05T08:29:00-04:00

Architecture students from Rice University have unveiled their newly-completed accessory dwelling unit (ADU) in Houston, Texas. Designed by Rice alumni Madeleine Pelzel and Kati Gullick during their time at the university, the 640-square-foot ADU was ultimately built in real life over a period of three years.

The solar-powered structure is split by an outside breezeway reminiscent of traditional Texas Dogtrot dwellings, with a living room and kitchen on one side and a bedroom and bathroom on the other. The Dogtrot form dates back to the era before air conditioning, designed to encourage natural ventilation and shading. Separating the living and sleeping elements of the home also allows for more precise energy use, rather than heating or cooling the entire unit simultaneously.

Image via Rice University

To create the scheme’s unique roof structure, the students used a computer-controlled mill to print plywood plates, connecting the roof and walls at precise angles. The roof’s gentle s...

Virginia Tech team completes world-first observation tower with innovative low-carbon timber

2022-04-20T11:51:00-04:00

A team of students and faculty at Virginia Tech has completed an innovative observation tower in rural Virginia. The design and delivery of the project saw the development and certification of a new custom timber product, off-site prefabrication, and the discovery of the ruins of a historic building.

Photography by Kay Edge and Edward Becker

The project, formally titled the New River Train Observation Tower, was delivered to the city of Radford, Virginia. In 2018, the city commissioned Virginia Tech to design and build a train observation tower that would create publicly accessible views over the city’s New River and a historically significant railroad bridge. With a budget of $100,000, the city requested that the tower used clean-tech, low-carbon building products to showcase the city’s transition away from its industrial past.

Photography by Kay Edge and Edward Becker

The student/faculty team initially sought to construct the tower from cross-laminated timber (CLT) due to its durab...

Expo of biomaterial structures populates University of Virginia campus, created by architecture students and scholars

2022-04-11T09:00:00-04:00

The University of Virginia (UVA) campus has become the showground for an array of creative structures built from natural materials. The Biomaterial Building Exposition (Bio-Build Expo for short) was organized by the university’s architecture school and showcases the possibilities of organic, bio-based materials including salvaged lumber and fungal structures.

Penn State researchers Benay Gürsoy (assistant architecture professor) and Ali Ghazvinian (PhD candidate) collaborated with Arman Khalilbeigi and Esmaeil Mottaghi from Paragen Creative Studio to design a spatial structure made from mycelium blocks. Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications. Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications

The exhibition, and the projects featured within it, were created by a combination of UVA students, visiting scholars, and biomedical engineering researchers, led by UVA assistant architecture professors Katie MacDonald and Kyle Schumann. “It is both old-school and new-school,” MacDona...

Winning projects of USC's 2022 architectural design charrette tackle healthcare pop-ups as community amenities

2022-03-09T19:32:00-05:00

The USC Architectural Guild has announced the winners of the 11th annual Design Charrette.

Past challenges have addressed pressing issues such as homelessness, climate change, and the need for the city to rapidly adapt ahead of its bid as host of the 2028 Summer Olympics, among other themes. Each entry in this year’s Charrette had the unique opportunity to create an important piece of infrastructure which could serve as a weapon in the fight against one of the greatest public health challenges in the past century.

Responding to the 2022 theme of Catalytic Community Space, entries from fourth-year, fifth-year, and graduate students answered a two-fold challenge to design a pop-up Covid-19 testing site that can later be repurposed into a community-oriented amenity.

Twenty teams of three each had five days to complete a concept and video presentation which demonstrated both an elevation of the overall experience of the facility and the ability to prioritize diversity and inclusion, s...

IAAC students build advanced prototype greenhouse for food and energy production

2022-03-04T12:00:00-05:00

The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) has unveiled a prototype greenhouse which responds to urban food and energy needs. The Solar Greenhouse was designed and built by a team of students, professionals, and experts from the school’s Masters in Advanced Ecological Buildings and Biocities program, and was constructed in a natural park on the outskirts of Barcelona.

The greenhouse has been designed to be replicated in rural and urban areas, and potentially to populate the rooftops of urban buildings. Responding to the European Union’s zero-emission goals for 2050, the project seeks to return food and energy production to cities with a compact structure that uses solar energy, sustainable materials, and advanced urban farming technology.

“The aim was to design and build a system that could be replicated in both rural and urban areas,” the team says. “Solar Greenhouse is the result of the investigation and search of new ways...