Archinect - News

There is water that far down

2012-12-02T18:23:00-05:00

"You need to get concrete out of your head and replace it with greenery," Bödeker had thundered at the head of planning at the urban planning authority. The gruff German made such an impression that to this day, Saudi authorities continue to hire and recommend him. Image by Susanne Kölbl / DER SPIEGEL

Susanne Koelbl introduces the work of Richard Bödeker, a German landscape architect who has been working in Saudi Arabia for nearly 40 years. Bödeker Partners has played a key role in introducing green spaces to Riyadh and has pushed the limits in terms of making the desert bloom. However, one does wonder how green all that green really is, in a desert?

Yucca Crater: Ball-Nogues

2012-01-05T22:52:00-05:00

I've read that it's biodegradable, right? I ask Ball. "It's degradable," he says. "I don't know about bio."

Our friend Katya Tylevich covers Ball Nogues Yucca Crater installation in Joshua Tree National Park, CA. You may recall Katya's UpStarts feature on Ball Nogues that we published here a couple years ago.

Yucca Crater by Ball Nogues

2011-07-01T16:47:24-04:00

Each fall High Desert Test Sites invites artists to create experimental projects adjacent to California's Joshua Tree National Park. This year HDTS invited Ball Nogues Studio to create a structure in a remote region of the Mojave Desert. This presents a unique opportunity to make an intervention upon an unfettered landscape at a grand scale.

Desert Lodges by Chad Oppenheim in Wadi Rum

2011-04-19T14:32:36-04:00

Chad Oppenheim's competition-winning plan for a new Desert Lodge scheme takes this ersatz upscale canvas and blends it with minimalism, drama and, perhaps most importantly, sustainability.