Archinect - Features

Security, Resilience, and Stewardship: Studio Ma Collaborates with the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Overseas Building Operations to Create Resilient, Forward-Looking Environments for All

2021-07-02T12:52:00-04:00

Phoenix-based architecture and environmental design firm Studio Ma works with The U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Overseas Building Operations (OBO) in their architectural research initiative that examines new applications for large-scale institutional buildings. This research explores the application of mass timber, rammed earth, and design solutions for extreme heat and drought conditions.

In an exclusive interview with OBO and Studio MA, Archinect dives into their research objectives and what steps can be taken to develop resilient buildings fit for the world's changing climate.

Architects take Climate Action! Archinect speaks to practitioners and educators taking on the challenge of adapting to the climate emergency

2020-10-12T10:53:00-04:00

The IPCC, backed by the UN Secretary-General, issued a warning in fall 2018 that there are just 12 years left to take action on the climate emergency before triggering a global environmental and economic crisis. ‘Architects Take Climate Action!’ Part I investigated how, catalyzed by inertia in the construction sector, architects have self-organized to call for change and launch targeted campaigns. Major industry bodies, including the AIA, have now confirmed their commitment to support urgent climate action and exponentially accelerate the decarbonization of the built environment. How can architects bring about the deep operational change required across the construction industry in the 10 years which remain?

In Part II, Archinect explores the work of practitioners and educators striving to embed climate principles into their practice and organizations. Matthew Barnett Howland and Dido Milne from CSK Architects, a UK Architects’ Declare signatory firm, explore the opportunities and c...

Architects take Climate Action! Archinect talks climate emergency activism with built environment groups taking a stand

2020-10-05T08:45:00-04:00

The first ‘climate emergency’ declaration by a constituency of suburban Melbourne in 2016 was an early signal that public opinion on global heating and biodiversity loss had shifted from a feeling of concern to that of crisis. Architects and built environment professionals around the world have since joined forces with their colleagues and youth groups in a global climate movement calling for urgent action and pragmatic solutions. In recent years, the visibility of these campaigns has intensified, in part due to the release of an alarming 1.5ºC report from the IPCC, articulated by young Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. Today, over 1777 local authorities across 30 nations have declared a ‘climate emergency’, yet, according to the UN Environment Programme’s latest Global Status Report, building construction and operations remain the largest CO2 emitter by sector, accounting for 36% of global energy use and 39% of global energy-related CO2 emissions.

The first of our two-part series, ...

The Technological Sublime of Non-Human Spaces: A Review of Liam Young's "Machines Landscapes"

2019-03-20T12:00:00-04:00

A significant number of buildings around the world are deliberately uninhabitable by humans. They are, however, designed absolutely towards the service of human needs. The unusual conditions of these buildings, including those of telecommunications networks, automated agriculture and data centers are explored in Machine Landscapes: Architectures of the Post-Anthropocene, a timely publication by Liam Young, the Australian-born architect operating in the spaces between design, fiction and futures, currently teaching at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc).

Liam Young and Geoff Manaugh will present their thoughts on the book at Architect Outpost March 23rd at 7pm, followed by a book signing. Machine Landscapes can be preordered from Archinect Outpost here.

You can RSVP here to reserve your spot at the event.

Five Steps to Becoming a More Responsible Architect in the Age of Climate Change

2018-12-13T13:00:00-05:00

The latest climate report by the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC) anticipates that the world will experience the more extreme effects and consequences of climate change much earlier than originally thought, all within most of the global population’s lifetime. This news, paired with the ongoing world climate crisis, pushes us to maximize our efforts toward a more sustainable future.

As professionals in the AEC industry, we must first acknowledge the effect our work has on the environment and then focus on what steps can we take to mitigate those impacts.

Screen/Print #52: Shela Sheikh Searches for New Political Vocabularies in 'And Now: Architecture Against a Developer Presidency'

2017-04-05T12:12:00-04:00

On November 8, 2016 Donald Trump won the US Presidential election. Just under a month later, the US Army Corps of Engineers temporarily halted the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline following large protests heavily covered by the media. These events frame Shela Sheikh’s essay “Translating Geontologies”, which contends with an emerging (or at least, for some, a newly visible) political landscape marked by “an insidious violence that is more often than not environmental and affecting the bodies of racialized subjects.”

Ornament and Extinction in the Nuclear Era

2016-10-26T13:01:00-04:00

The Anthropocene is a contested name for "the era of geological time during which human activity is considered to be the dominant influence on the environment, climate, and ecology of the earth." As the fourth installment of the recurring Architecture of the Anthropocene series, this piece looks at a design problem that is larger, and perhaps more important, than any other imaginable.

Ways of Seeing in the Anthropocene: Review of "The Geological Imagination" and "The Underdome Guide to Energy Reform"

2015-12-03T16:51:00-05:00

Jim Inhofe, the senior Senator from Oklahoma, resumed chairmanship of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works in early 2015, following an eight year hiatus. Shortly after, he stood on the Senate floor holding a snowball sealed in a plastic bag. "In case we have forgotten, because we keep hearing that 2014 has been the warmest year on record,” Inhofe began, taking the snowball out of the bag and chucking it across the room. “You know what this is?”

Architecture of the Anthropocene, Pt. 3: Getting Lost in the Ozone

2015-05-07T12:08:00-04:00

This is the third installment of the recurring feature Architecture of the Anthropocene, which explores the implications of the Anthropocene thesis for architecture. The Anthropocene is a contested name for "the era of geological time during which human activity is considered to be the dominant influence on the environment, climate, and ecology of the earth."

Prior installments can be found here.

Architecture of the Anthropocene, Pt. 2: Haunted Houses, Living Buildings, and Other Horror Stories

2014-11-25T10:09:00-05:00

In horror fiction, a house is usually haunted in one of two ways: either a building is inhabited by the ghosts of dead humans, or the structure itself is animated by a strange, non-human life. Edgar Allen Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” an influential achievement of the genre, falls into the latter camp; the horror of the House of Usher can never be properly pinned down because it pervades the setting itself. But what’s so scary about a living building?

Architecture of the Anthropocene, Part 1

2014-09-29T11:12:00-04:00

“Hurricane Kyle is tracking way off shore, but still Miami South Beach is underwater,” reports Sam Champion of the Weather Channel beneath a shifting, computer-generated dome. On the ground, storm tracker Jim Cantore, with the aid of a hovering drone, analyzes the surging tides that have inundated the coastal town despite the distance of the hurricane. In Chicago, a deadly heat wave forces the Cubs to play their games at night and in 90 degree weather. Meteorologist Stephanie Abrams documents cities endangered by the megadrought in the Southwest. “And it’s only going to get worse.”