Archinect - News

The Architecture of Photography - Conversation with Simona Rota

2012-07-30T15:04:00-04:00

From the eroded optimism of the heroic building-monuments in east-Europe, to the monochromatic banality of housing developments in the Canary Islands, the photographs of Simona Rota appear to be talking to us about the aspirations and shortcomings of architecture in both its megalomaniac and its quotidian streams.
Often lacking human presence, the photographs tell a tale of evaporated intentions, and failed dreams, making through the images a visual statement about the power of humanity to create, alter, and transform our environment.

Images of architecture about topics that transcend architecture, projects like Ostalgia, Instant Village, and Placelessness take us to a personal journey through some of the faces of modernity in Europe, while revealing simultaneously the seducing beauty of its ugliness, and the vulnerability of its invincible architectures.
We are drawn towards the fantastic journey of an upcoming visual story teller that equally dazzles us with an image of the ...

European Prize for Urban Public Space 2012 Announces Joint Winners

2012-04-30T17:58:00-04:00

The Jury of the European Prize for Urban Public Space 2012, chaired by Spanish architect Josep Llinàs, has announced two joint First Prize winners [...]. The European Prize for Urban Public Space is an award created by the CCCB in 2000 to acknowledge and encourage the creation and recovery of public spaces in European cities, and to highlight urbanistic interventions that promote the public dimension of urban space and its role in social integration.

Can US communities learn from this European suburban retrofit?

2012-02-22T15:15:59-05:00

In 2008, the substantially updated town center of Plessis-Robinson, a suburb of Paris, was named “the best urban neighborhood built in the last 25 years” by the European Architecture Foundation. A composite of six connected districts ranging in size from 5.6 to 59 acres, the revitalization comprises public buildings, retail, market-rate and subsidized affordable housing, parks, schools, gardens, sports facilities, and a hospital. Construction was begun in 1990 and took a decade to complete.

Regional Holcim Awards 2011 for Europe

2011-10-10T15:24:07-04:00

Just last week, we published the winning projects of the Holcim Awards 2011 for Latin America. Here are now also the winners of the 3rd International Regional Holcim Awards for sustainable construction projects and visions from across Europe that were recently presented at a ceremony in Milan.

Living Architecture in Europe

2011-08-11T18:41:37-04:00

As Europe continues to battle economic and environmental gloom and doom, nations across the continent are re-evaluating how to build the cities of tomorrow with tight budgets and green mindsets. "We are at a key moment, where we as architects must become activists. We must innovate and help to find new solutions for how people can live well and do well," says Enric Ruiz-Geli, founding principal of Cloud9 architects in Barcelona.

RIBA Award Winners 2011 Announced

2011-05-20T20:11:09-04:00

Yesterday, we published the RIBA International Award Winners for 2011. Today, we also have the winners of the 2011 RIBA Awards, recently announced by the Royal Institute of British Architects. These awards for architectural excellence will be presented to 97 buildings in the UK and Europe (89 in the UK and 8 in the rest of the EU).