Archinect - Features

Curating Development: Carson Chan on Forming Community Through Building Groups

2020-03-01T07:00:00-05:00

Although trained as an architect, Carson Chan is mostly known for his work as a curator and writer. In 2006, after working for Barkow Leibinger Architects and the Neue Nationalgalerie's architecture exhibitions department in Berlin, he founded PROGRAM, a non-commercial initiative for art and architecture collaborations. Since then, he has worked on more than thirty international exhibitions of contemporary art and architecture, notably including the 4th Marrakech Biennale in 2012 and the Biennial of the Americas in Denver in 2013. Meanwhile, Chan has written for a wide range of publications across the fields of art, architecture, and contemporary culture, and serves as the Editor-at-Large of 032c—all while pursuing his doctorate in architecture at Princeton University, researching the rise of environmentalism and aquarium architecture in postwar United States.

In Focus: Helin Bereket Discusses Architecture's Emotions Through Photographs

2019-07-28T13:27:00-04:00

In Focus is Archinect's recurring series dedicated to profiling the photographers who help capture architecture and who make the work of architects look that much better. In this series, we ask: What is their relationship to architecture? How do they work? What are their goals when capturing buildings?

For this installment, Archinect chats with Berlin-based architectural photographer Helin Bereket. After receiving her bachelor's degree in architecture from Yildiz Technical University, Bereket realized that she could unify her passion for composition, form, and color through architectural photography. Now recognized for her keen eye toward visual content curation, Bereket uses the skills she learned in architecture school to blend the distinction between architecture and art. Showcasing photographs that are both beautifully isolating and visually provocative, Bereket's oeuvre is fueled by her spontaneity and ability to capture genuinely immersive images.

‘Friedrich Kiesler: Architect, Artist, Visionary’ at Martin-Gropius-Bau tells, rather than shows, the architect's oeuvre

2017-03-31T12:08:00-04:00

"Factual communicability is privileged over the immersive experience, and architecture is presented as a set of instances—shown through models, drawings, photographs—rather than a process," the Canadian curator Carson Chan told me in a recent conversation. "Exhibited through representation, the architectural work more easily assumes the mantle of single authorship, where in situ, the same thought is almost impossible. In this sense, estrangement is built into the exhibition of architecture."

In Focus: Paul Raftery

2017-02-10T10:01:00-05:00

In Focus is Archinect's series of features dedicated to profiling the photographers who help make the work of architects look that much better. What has attracted them to architecture? How do they work? What type of equipment do they use? What do they think about seeing their work in blogs?

In this feature, we talk to Paul Raftery based in the South of England.

Designing the House of One, a Worship Space for Three Religions by Kuehn Malvezzi

2016-12-21T13:03:00-05:00

From the Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba to the Hagia Sophia, there are many spaces that have, at one time or another, served different religions. But, by and large, each religion has a monopoly on the space at a given time. Few religious spaces are truly shared between different faiths, even if they have competing claims to the site. But with the House of One, a worship space designed for the historic Petriplatz in Berlin, a single site will be shared by the Jewish, Christian and Muslim communities. We got in touch with the architects, Kuehn Malvezzi, to hear more about the project.

Working out of the Box: Anne Dérian, Architect turned Mosaic Artist

2014-10-15T11:16:00-04:00

Working out of the Box is a series of features presenting architects who have applied their architecture backgrounds to alternative career paths.

In this installment, we're talking with French-born Berlin-based mosaic artist and pattern designer Anne Dérian.

Are you an architect working out of the box? Do you know of someone that has changed careers and has an interesting story to share? If you would like to suggest an (ex-)architect, please send us a message.

Factory Berlin, a New Tech Incubator, Emerges from the Ruins of the Berlin Wall

2014-09-15T11:06:00-04:00

The archives of the New York Times testify to the euphoria that accompanied the fall of the Berlin Wall in November of 1989. An article entitled “The End of the War to End Wars” reads: “Crowds of young Germans danced on top of the hated Berlin wall Thursday night. They danced for joy, they danced for history. They danced because the tragic cycle of catastrophes that first convulsed Europe 75 years ago, embracing two world wars, a Holocaust and a cold war, seems at long last to be nearing an end.”

7 Lessons from the 3rd International Architectural Education Summit

2013-10-07T10:45:00-04:00

Just over a year ago, the Architectural Review published “Alternative Routes for Architecture”, calling for a drastic reinterpretation of architectural education in the face of rigid institutions and extreme financial strains. Certainly this demand is older than a year -- as we allow technology to knit information more thickly into our cultural fabric, we question the nature of education at large as having a physical place and hierarchy, through systems such as MOOCs or mobile workspaces. Add prohibitively high costs, followed by debt and depressing unemployment rates, and the architect is getting fit to reconstitute itself as newly relevant and multi-faceted professional.

Student Works: DRX 2012 – Minimal Surface Highrise Structures

2012-11-02T20:04:00-04:00

The Design Research Exchange (DRX) is a non-profit residency program for researchers hosted by HENN Architekten. The DRX, initiated by Moritz Fleischmann (HENN Research Director) and Martin Henn (HENN Design Director), provides an open platform to unite experts from various fields. By exploring architectural topics of shared interest, the DRX promotes a multi-disciplinary discussion between academics and professionals.