Archinect - News

Previewing the 2023 SXSW Art Program

2023-03-10T16:55:00-05:00

The annual SXSW festival opens today in Austin, Texas. A total of four installations will be featured prominently along with a series of art-based conferences in the event’s 36th edition, which this year runs until Sunday, March 19th.

“The 2023 SXSW Art Program highlights three artists using mixed reality to explore Afro-Futurisms, holographics that morph between human and animal anatomy, and viewer interactivity beckoned by the use of Quantum Physics,” Aimée Everett, SXSW’s Art Program Curator, said in a statement. "These artists are beginning to interrogate these varied topics that impact society and are confronted on the SXSW stages.”

SXSW adds that each installation “showcases experiential and conceptual visual artworks that apply emerging technologies and immersive environments to spark discovery, inspiration, and connection.”

Scroll down to learn more about the 2023 Art Program.

Ancestral Archives by Josie Williams in association with EY metaverse lab and NEW INC.

"Ancestral...

Squint/Opera announces merger with Journey as the industry-leading experience designers look to scale up digital production

2022-11-02T13:54:00-04:00

3D experience pioneer Squint/Opera has been acquired by the digital agency Journey in a move announced on November 1 by the newly-formed entity.

The merger will enable both to pursue an expansion of their services at a time when the industry is seeing an increase in demand thanks to the advent of metaverse design and other forms of media.

“The opportunity to join Journey was momentous.” Julius Coke, the CEO of Squint/Opera, explained in a statement. “Over the last few years Squint has experienced significant growth, as the demand for immersive 3D experiences grows and new platforms and technologies enable a new level of creativity tapping into our storytelling, virtual production and creative media skills.”

Previously on Archinect: BIG and UNStudio's investment in co-working platform SpaceForm signals a tide-change in architectural practice

Founded in London in 2021, Squint/Opera has since then, it has garnered a reputation through groundbreaking projects like The Observatory at The ...

Abu Dhabi unveils emirate-wide digital twin project

2022-10-19T09:00:00-04:00

Abu Dhabi’s Department of Municipalities and Transport (DMT) has announced the launch of a digital twin project, a first-of-its-kind initiative for the emirate capital.

The undertaking was unveiled during GITEX Technology Week, a tech and startup event held in the Dubai World Trade Center, which ended last week. The project will integrate a range of advanced technology, including aerial photography, LiDAR scanning, and game engines to create an accurate digital copy of Abu Dhabi, supporting the work of planners, engineers, and specialists from the public and private sectors. The aim is to simulate changes to the city’s built environment in 3D and evaluate vast amounts of data. For example, spatial analysis tools will assist in analyzing the impacts of various urban planning scenarios.

The emirate’s buildings, infrastructure, and even interior spaces will be made virtual to improve planning a...

OpenSea is now hosting a Nakagin Capsule model NFT auction

2022-08-17T18:29:00-04:00

Tokyo’s beloved Nakagin Capsule Tower may be getting its speculated second digital life after all thanks to a new metaverse project from the firm of its original designer Kisho Kurokawa Architect and Associates (KKAA) and the NFT platform OpenSea.

In an exclusive collaboration with the LAETOLI Corporation’s KABUKI-X venture, the firm is now auctioning off the rights to reconstruct their founder’s most famous Metabolic work in both the physical and digital realms only a few months removed from the neglected tower’s ongoing demolition, which began formally at the end of April. Bidders will have the chance to reconstruct the tower inside the metaverse and at the global site of their choice using CAD data and a digital model of the tower produced in Revit by design partners BDP.

Image courtesy OpenSea

Restrictions are limited to the local zoning laws and regulations of the country the holders of the ‘real space’ rights select to build in. This otherwise allows for the potential resale ...

PLP Architecture teases concept metaverse design for upcoming 5,000-piece NFT collection

2022-08-02T13:06:00-04:00

The cadre of high-design firms creating on-demand virtual architecture in the metaverse has grown recently with the announcement of PLP’s upcoming 5,000-piece NFT skyscraper collection, which they debuted earlier last month with help from VerseProp, a virtual property platform.

Ostensibly in keeping with trends indicated by its expanding digital client base, the London-based firm says its collection is meant to “bridge the gap between those interested in both digital and physical real estate.” An opportunity to design your own building alongside a PLP staffer is on offer as well, and they promise each building will have a “valuable commercial utility.”

Image courtesy PLP Architecture

Up for grabs are the owning rights to a digital token derived from a concept building design that PLP says will come embedded with exclusive content such as webinar access and even physical artworks. The firm is pitching this as an exploration into not only the digital design of buildings but also the ap...

Tony Hawk enters the metaverse with 'largest virtual skatepark ever made'

2022-07-19T19:13:00-04:00

After conquering the X Games and video games, Tony Hawk has set his sights on his next frontier: the metaverse. The legendary skateboarder this week announced plans to partner up with The Sandbox — an online game built on the ethereum blockchain where players can spend cryptocurrency to buy virtual land — to build the “largest virtual skatepark ever made,” the company said in a Wednesday press release.

Called Tony Hawk LAND, the virtual space is being developed through a partnership between Tony Hawk Inc. and The Sandbox. NFT production company Autograph will design purchasable avatars based on Hawk, along with his most iconic skateboards, equipment, and apparel, including a digital replica of the skateboard he used at the X Games in 1999.

Screenshot of the ramp-building feature. Putting those CAD skills to good use!

“I have been a fan of new technology all of my life — from the first videogames and home computers with CGI capabilities — so I am fascinated by the metaverse, and excited to bring our culture into the virtual landscape of The Sandbox,” skateboarding pioneer and entrepreneur Tony Hawk said in a statement.

Other recent metaverse creations and proposals that made the Archinect news included a virtual version of Liberland by Zaha Hadid Architects, BIG's virtual HQ for Vice, Grimshaw-designed blockchain spaces for pax.world, and this NFT of the Tower of Babel by Dewan.

Pr...

Meet dynamic visionaries StudioTEKA: Your Next Employer?

2022-07-11T14:34:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles’ TOLO Architecture, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series east to Brooklyn, New York, where we find innovative practice StudioTEKA.

Founded in 2003 by Vanessa Keith, the practice operates from a “beautiful loft space in the heart of DUMBO,” producing work which varies from carefully-crafted commercial, residential, and interiors to visionary urban design proposals and research provocations.

With six core staff and ongoing contributions from freelancers, the practice is currently recruiting for a junior/intern architect over on Archinect Jobs.

StudioTEKA's team at their loft office in DUMBO. Image via StudioTEKA / Facebook

Describing their office atmosphere, StudioTEKA says that “in contrast to a stuffy corporate office, you’ll find our studio relaxed, friendly and informal, and fun to work in!” The firm approaches its work through a multidisciplinary lens, intersecting with architecture, economic and social development, and urba...

Hip Hop Architect Michael Ford on building a foundation for future generations of BIPOC designers

2022-05-10T14:22:00-04:00

“Getting new voices and pulling new people into architecture is important, but also having a portfolio of good work is important as well,” Ford said. “I think my ultimate legacy, though, for me will be measured by the number of people I inspire to become architects. And not just become architects but to not check their culture at the door. When you can bring your total self into the design world, that’s where you can make a true contribution.”

The “Hip Hop Architect” took Madison.com on a site visit to the local Quarra Stone Co., where granite tiles are being made for a forthcoming installation at the National Guardian Life company’s headquarters in Madison, Wisconsin.

For the project, Ford plans to erect a 25-foot-tall lobby installation with the company’s DEI statement engraved across 360 individual tiles using his own self-developed hieroglyphic alphabet. (“It’s architecture that prompts people to do something,” he explained.)

Rendering of the lobby installation Ford designed for National Guardian Life Insurance. Image courtesy BrandNu Design.

“I don’t think it's pushing the limit,” the 39-year-old continued, speaking of the corporate commission and another metaverse project for the non-profit Infamous Mothers. “For me, it’s representing what can happen when you bring more diverse minds to architecture and diverse experiences, backgrounds and culture because architecture has lost its mystique of what it once was. For m...

Grimshaw tapped to design first of four metaverse spaces for pax.world

2022-04-14T14:27:00-04:00

A noteworthy development in the expanding field of digital architecture as Grimshaw has been tapped to design their first-ever blockchain project for the forthcoming metaverse platform pax.world.

The endeavor will be the first of four ‘Metaserai’ metaverses that take their name from ancient trade-friendly roadside inns called Caravanserai which carry a symbolic significance to the platform’s digital commerce-oriented mission. In the quest for further development of its nascent 20,000-parcel footprint, pax.world will lean on Grimshaw’s long-established history of working on design’s cutting edge to attract prospective buyers as it begins the initial sale of land parcels ahead of an official public launch set for later this summer.

“From our founding, Grimshaw has led the design and architecture industry in the development of buildings that are adaptable, consider change, flexibility of use, and sustainable principles to extend their life and use,” Grimshaw Chairman Andrew Whalley sai...

Why does the metaverse look so ordinary, UCL researchers ask

2022-04-04T10:32:00-04:00

Last week, our editorial team had some fun with the metaverse. While light-hearted in nature, our April Fools article was nonetheless inspired by the serious interest shown by our community, the architecture world, and society at-large in the metaverse and how architecture and design intersect with virtual space.

Now, a new article by UCL researchers Luke Pearson and Sandra Youkhana puts forward the thesis that the metaverse doesn’t appear as disruptive or radical as the underlying technologies it is often associated with, be it blockchains, cryptocurrencies, or NFTs.

Instead, the team argue that the architecture and urbanism of the metaverse appears to follow real-world principles of design and construction, despite the freedom given by virtual space to transcend these principles.

“People have always imagined cyberspace to look like a version of real urban space,” say Pearson and Youkhana. Th...

Lumber shortage hits the metaverse, leads to construction delays

2022-04-01T08:00:00-04:00

A new report released today by the industry group Lumber Supply Research Group (LSRG) reveals a dramatically increased scarcity of lumber in the digital realm as demand for the sought-after material has skyrocketed within the last quarter, leading to significant price hikes and delays in construction projects throughout the industry.

According to the report, average rates per cubic pixel of digital lumber have increased by 73% since the beginning of the year, marking a three-fold price jump compared to the beginning of Q2 2021. Throughout March alone, prices soared to unprecedented levels, leaving wholesale traders of the coveted commodity often without inventory and contractors stranded.

"What the market has been experiencing over the past months can be attributed to two major factors," says LSRG analyst Michael Chen. "One reason is the unregulated deforestation in Minecraft which has left entire stretches of old-growth forest barren without sustainable concepts in place to replan...

Minecraft's crowdsourced NYC design is insane

2022-03-11T13:03:00-05:00

Two years into the project, they construct the city in short and mobile sprints. “We circle around different districts,” explained Minefact. “We work one week in Chinatown, then one week in Tribeca, one week on Bowery and then come back to Chinatown. We always work on multiple districts at the same time to keep things interesting.”

The crowdsourced design-build was begun by a German user named MineFact who had attempted a similar project the year before for his hometown of Frankfurt using rendering software that incorporated data taken from Google Maps.

Incorporating a replacement for the obsolete Mercator projection maps they call Airocean, an impressive workforce of over 2,700 Minecraft users started at the 9/11 Memorial Site and has to date completed mostly exterior versions of different New York area landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Brooklyn Bridge.

Related on Archinect: An army of gamers is building a Minecraft version of New York's state capital. (Image via Reddit User GeoffHenderson.)

The New York City group is a spinoff of a larger consortium called Build the Earth, which has recently completed digital versions of other important sites across the Tri-State Area. Users don’t have an exact anticipated date of completion just yet (the city has approximately 1 million build...

BIG unveils designs for Vice's new virtual headquarters 'Viceverse'

2022-03-02T18:17:00-05:00

Two giant names in the world of architecture and online media are now teaming up to take over the metaverse as Vice Media Group has announced a new partnership with Bjarke Ingels Group for a new virtual office space called the Viceverse.

The newly-opened space is hosted by the popular Decentraland platform where it will serve as a kind of virtual innovation lab for the company’s digital creative culture agency, Virtue.

Through its creation, the company says, Virtue will now be able to pursue innovative new ways of collaborating with clients that include brands like Coca-Cola and Beats by Dre.

Image courtesy Decentraland

“It's not about just getting in there and planting a flag, we wanted to do it in style with aesthetics and ideas when creating, so we teamed up with BIG,” creative director Morten Grubak told Campaign magazine. “It just made sense to make a space for ourselves where we can invite clients and collaborators to dip their toes in that space without actually doing a big-...

Zaha Hadid Architects is planning a metaverse city for Liberland

2022-02-25T15:25:00-05:00

In January, Liberland unveiled its most dazzling and arguably most convincing proposal yet. Working with Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects, Jedlička portrayed his country as a futuristic crypto paradise through a fully realized city in the metaverse. Picture a national assembly hall, a buzzy NFT bazaar, office towers—all done in Hadid’s trademark swooping, swoon-worthy architectural style.

ZHA principal Patrik Schumacher has been personally spearheading the metaverse version of a disputed quasi Freestate called the Free Republic of Liberland since shortly after it was founded in 2015 by the self-styled libertarian Czech politician Vít Jedlička.

Liberland City Hall. Image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects.

Jedlička and Schumacher’s joint ambit has grown over the preceding years and now seeks to (virtually) cement its place in the popular imagination through the establishment of institutional infrastructure and the push for eventual recognition of statehood from the United Nations.

Liberland's virtual trading floor. Image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects.

“It was time to turn ideas into something more concrete,” the 38-year-old politician told Quartz. “It’s important to show to the world that we are serious about starting development in Liberland.”

Liberland's NFT Plaza. Image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects.

An avowed libertarian himself, Schumacher says the program of parametr...

Dewan's NFT of the Tower of Babel offers infinite spiraling exhibition spaces

2022-01-21T14:33:00-05:00

Dewan Architects + Engineers have unveiled Babel 4.0, a project which the firm with headquarters in the UAE describes as “the first architecturally-inspired NFT from the Middle East.” A reinterpretation of the mythical Tower of Babel, the project speculates on the role of architects and designers in shaping futuristic metaverse landscapes.

Babel 4.0. Image by Dewan Architects + Engineers.

Available now on OpenSea, the project consists of an infinitely-propagating helix form. Visitors to the tower begin at a communal space at ground level, before ascending anticlockwise through exhibition and museum levels which exhibit user-generated NFTs in a virtual museum. The public exhibition spaces are currently reserved for 100 invited members, which may be extended at a later date.

Babel 4.0. Image by Dewan Architects + Engineers.

The silos are intended as a platform to promote interaction between digital artistic communities, building on a renewed popular focus on the metaverse. “Babel 4.0 i...

An army of gamers is building a Minecraft version of New York's state capital

2022-01-21T12:43:00-05:00

Minecraft lovers may soon be able to wander around a virtual Albany. A voluntary group of builders associated with Build the Earth Northeast USA is building the city and other parts of the Capital Region into the game.

The organization is made up of thousands of volunteer gamers who have produced successful virtual versions of other cities distributed across regional networks. Building in the hugely popular MMOG has seen a renaissance of late thanks to a mod intervention which produced construction techniques that lead to the ability for designers to create taller and taller structures using something called cubic chunks. The groups ask applicant designers to construct a virtual Long Island test home as part of their official vetting process.

The Albany build is being overseen by a splinter called Build the Earth Northeast USA. The group says it is currently in the process of constructing the state’s capitol building (itself designed in tandem between 1867 and 1899) and has already finished former Governor Nelson Rockefeller's obsessive dream Empire State Plaza and the marble Erastus Corning Tower and has preparatory plans for the New York State Museum to follow. Project managers say they have st...

NFTs will be at the (i)heart(blob) of the Tallinn Architecture Biennale

2021-12-17T11:49:00-05:00

The hot new trend sweeping the art and design communities will be at the center of next year’s Tallinn Architecture Biennale. The festival released its 2022 list of exhibitors on Thursday, which includes an installation program highlighted by a virtual metaverse space from the web-based studio iheartblob.

Touted as the world’s first-ever blockchain-funded pavilion, the installation "Fungible Non-Fungible Pavilion" has a specific focus on the concept of slowness similar to the overall theme of the biennial, which this year is “Edible; Or, the Architecture of Metabolism.”

Image courtesy iheartblob

The installation was named the de-facto winner of this year’s installation competition after another exhibitor, the fungi-inspired team called Simulaa (previously on Archinect), dropped out due to unforeseen circumstances. iheartblob nonetheless won for its crowdfunded and sourced entry that they say will empower local communities towards craftsmanship in specifically AI and NFT-based hybrid...

Decentraland is playing host to six-figure deals as architects begin to embrace the metaverse

2021-12-13T18:55:00-05:00

As part of the design community’s incorporation of talent into the nascent, ever-growing world of blockchain technology and digital architecture, more spaces are cropping up that have the potential to do outsized business opportunities with ramifications in the metaverse and beyond.

One of those spaces is the relatively new Decentraland, a 22-month-old 3D platform that currently plays host to over 90,000 parcels of land subdivided into individual 9-square-mile plots which can command prices as high as $2.43 million as the cost of digital land has boomed in unison with the rise of NFTs.

Metapurse HQ. Image courtesy Voxel Architects.

Thus far, Decentraland has featured some headline-grabbing projects, including a functional digital twin of the auction house Sotheby’s London headquarters. The display of NFT art has become one of the most predominant forms of building in the metaverse, followed by gaming, retail, and other forms of entertainment like blockchain casinos that have users li...

Zaha Hadid Architects' NFTism exhibition at Art Basel Miami proposes a new standard in digital architecture and the metaverse

2021-12-03T19:36:00-05:00

As Art Basel Miami Beach draws to a close this weekend, the twin buzzwords of NFTs and the metaverse have been left ringing throughout the convention hall with the notion that the oft-dismissed digital art platform will invariably become an art fair mainstay as the critical acceptance of the works and their medium continues to grow.

Going into this year’s rendition, many attendees and other interested observers were eager to see how Big A architecture might respond to the new mandate for metaverse spaces with showcase designs that offer real-world locations to host and display the blockchain technology.

Image courtesy Zaha Hadid Architects

Zaha Hadid Architects took up the mantle with a virtual gallery that houses a dynamic multi-artist exhibition its curator compared, favorably, to a Trojan Horse. The studio says its spatial design focuses on the user’s experience and interaction with one another along with the theatrical presentation of the virtual exhibition itself.

Image courtes...