Archinect - News

Oliver Wainwright has seen this movie before with Heatherwick’s Tree of Trees installation

2022-06-01T17:40:00-04:00

Heatherwick himself has become the puckish poster boy for the current bout of arboreal mania. He has even incorporated his trademark plant-pots-on-sticks into a range of office furniture. If in doubt, the studio mantra seems to go – just smother the design with a garnish of greenery.

The Guardian critic echoed colleague Rowan Moore's derisive critique of Heatherwick’s continued “abuse of metaphors” published in late April and added his own criticism that the 350-tree structure, just like the MVRDV-designed Marble Arch Mound, offers “yet another example of the recent fetish among certain architects and designers for conjuring a cartoonish version of nature, suspending shrubbery and balancing trees in ways that make the plants look decidedly unhappy to be there.”

Previously on Archinect: An 'abuse of metaphors': Rowan Moore on Thomas Heatherwick’s tree-inspired jubilee design (and other UK public monument debates)

Brooklyn-based Almost Studio provides a new interpretation of mobility with their winning competition proposal 'That's a Wrap'

2021-04-13T14:06:00-04:00

Co-founders Dorian Booth and Anthony Gagliardi established Almost Studio in 2018. Along with junior designer Isabella Calidonio Stechmann, the team considers a successful project "as never complete and always becoming: exposing unknown cultural, social, and spatial potential as time passes." With this design methodology, the team has become well known for projects such as "Playground for a Fashion Designer," RADICAL, House for a Sojourner, and Tent in a Vegetable Garden. The design studio entered the Ragdale Foundation's annual competition, the Ragdale Ring competition, and selected as winners for their design "That's a Wrap."

Original 1912 Ragdale Ring by Architect Howard Van Doren Shaw. Image courtesy of Ragdale Foundation

The Ragdale Foundation is a national artist residency program located in Lake Forest, Illinois. In 2013, the Foundation launched a competition to "reinterpret the Ragdale Ring" designed by architect Howard Van Doren Shaw in 1912. Shaw's ring design helped spring...

Ekene Ijeoma's latest public installation reflects on social inequality to create a place of 'sanctuary at a time of intense hardship and loss'

2021-03-19T15:09:00-04:00

"Between the ongoing struggles in the racial and political movements in the United States and the COVID-19 pandemic, it can be difficult to find the time and space to breathe deeply and rest well. I held my breath for most of last year..." — these are the words of Ekene Ijeoma, artist, professor of Media Arts and Science at MIT, and founder/director of the Poetic Justice group at MIT Media Lab.

On March 16, Ijeoma unveiled his public installation Breathing Pavilion to the public. Located at The Plaza at 300 Ashland in Brooklyn, the pavilion was co-produced by Van Alen Institute and the not-for-profit local development corporation Downtown Brooklyn Partnership.

Ekene Ijeoma is the founder of Studio Ijeoma. "Through both his studio and lab at MIT, Ijeoma researches social inequality across multiple fields including social science to develop artworks in sound, video, multimedia, sculpture and installation." Text courtesy of studioijeoma.com Photo: Kris Graves

Breathing Pavilion, Ekene...

Students from Harbin Institute of Technology create a memorial design to pay homage to those impacted by Covid-19

2020-12-01T13:21:00-05:00

DesignClass created an open call for designers to create a local memorial that honors those affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. The competition brief explained, "This incredible loss is compounded for many families who were not able to say goodbye to their loved ones in person due to hospital safety measures or hold proper funerals because of the incredible scale of the situation."

According to DesignClass, the competition brief was inspired by Brazilian architect Leonardo Dias and his design entry that he later turned into a real life memorial for his town. Image courtesy of DesignClass

"In the face of these tragedies, how may a local community memorial honor those who have passed and bring solace to families [...] This is your challenge, design a local memorial that honors those who have been lost to Covid-19 and brings solace to your community."

The competition received 145 project entries worldwide, and through public voting, the top projects were nominated. To learn more about th...