Archinect - Features

10 Controversial Buildings That Became Iconic Landmarks

2024-10-07T06:48:00-04:00

Architectural landmarks often become beloved symbols of their cities, but many were not always welcomed with open arms. Throughout history, some of our most acclaimed structures have in fact provoked heated debates, divided public opinion, sparked fierce controversy, and in one case, caused the late great architect Richard Rogers to be attacked by an elderly Parisian with an umbrella.

To mark World Architecture Day 2024, we take a look back through the history of some of the architectural structures most beloved by the public today, and demonstrate how their status as landmarks was hard-won.

To see how a building initially deemed a monstrosity, an eyesore, or an insult to tradition can evolve into the defining element of a city’s character is an interesting exercise in itself. Beyond the novelty, however, these stories raise apt questions for architects today. To what extent do, or should, we design in response to present tastes? Do we too quickly abandon ideas today in response t...

Cosmic Architecture: Studio Christian Wassmann's Sun Path House

2020-05-25T09:00:00-04:00

A monumental spiraling concrete wall takes on structural, functional, and sculptural purposes in a three-story Brutalist addition to a 1930s bungalow in Miami Beach.

A Look at Brutalist Guatemala

2018-12-12T12:32:00-05:00

With the launch of Archinect's Brutal coffee, we hit our second destination in this two part feature. Heading over three thousand miles North-West of Brazil, we explore Guatemala and its Brutalist movement.

Guatemala and its relationship with these monolithic structures are tied with the culture and artistic identity of the area. Pulling from its Mayan roots, these prominent structures scattered throughout the region use the Brutalist movement to accompany the historical architecture already present in the city. The artistic presence within the country is a blend of rich folklore and the interlacing of various architectural movements. Highly influential architects such as Roberto Aycinena, José Montes Córdova, Raúl Minondo, and Efraín Recinos, among others, have created a legacy influencing Guatemalan architecture to this day.

A Look at Brutalist Brazil

2018-12-08T15:06:00-05:00

With the launch of Archinect's Brutal coffee we've decided to take a look at the Brutalist architecture of the two regions our beans have originated. A two part feature, today we explore the history of Brazil's Brutalist movement and how the iconic style has influenced the country. Stay tuned for the next part, looking at Brutalism in Guatemala.

Other than focusing on the pure materiality of these structures, Brutalism within Brazil can be interpreted as a beautiful expression of monumentality and its complementary nature to Brazil's lush landscapes. Once dissected into further detail, iconic designers like Italian-Brazilian architect, Lina Bo Bardi used the cultural makeup of the city, married with the honest materiality of Brutalism, to highlight the social and cultural potential of architecture in Brazil.

#ArchinectMeets @manvisual

2018-11-30T08:30:00-05:00

#ArchinectMeets is a series of interviews with members of the architecture community that use Instagram as a creative medium. With the series, we ask some of Instagram’s architectural photographers, producers and curators about their relationship to the social media platform and how it has affected their practice.

Social media has undeniably affected the way we perceive, interpret and share opinions about architecture today. While we use our own account, @Archinect, as a site for image curation and news content, we wanted to ask fellow Instagram users how they navigated the platform.

We spoke to Jonathan Wilson, the photographer behind @manvisual. Wilson zooms into the architectural details and juxtapositions of London to reveal light and material sensations far too easily missed by first glance.

Soapbox: Brutalism

2018-08-15T09:00:00-04:00

Soapbox is a weekly series delivering a curated set of lectures, talks and symposia concerning contemporary themes but explored through the archives of lectures past and present. With the plethora of lectures, talks, symposia and panels occurring world wide on a daily basis, how can we begin to keep up and if not, find them once they are gone? Soapbox looks to assemble a selection of recent, archived and outlier lectures surrounding a given theme. Soapbox looks to curate this never-ending library of ideas into an engaging and diverse list of thoughts and provocations. Soapbox is just that, a collection aimed at discovering the occasional needle in a haystack.

(Un)believable Utopias: 6 Forgotten Projects and their Provocative Stories

2017-06-16T10:06:00-04:00

Consciously or otherwise, social context determines design. Architecture, in turn, is capable of not only representing political ideals but also of reinforcing or shaping them—for example, through fostering forms of collective living or through breaking down gendered behavioral norms. The following projects may not be well-remembered, but they represent ambitious attempts to address or challenge the status quo through the built environment.

Moshe Safdie Reflects on the 50th Anniversary of Habitat 67, the Masterpiece He Completed at 25

2017-05-10T11:41:00-04:00

Fifty years ago, a young Canadian-Israeli architect got the chance of a lifetime: the opportunity to realize his senior thesis for the 1967 World Fair in Montréal. The resulting housing complex inspired generations of architects inside and outside of Canada, and its influence is visible in buildings built to this day. It wasn’t just formal innovation that determined Habitat 67’s significance—although that’s certainly part of it—but also the new way of life it imagined by way of affordable, dense urban housing with all the greenery, spaciousness, and privacy of the suburbs.

Devastation is in the details: a review of "High-Rise"

2016-05-29T11:05:00-04:00

Whatever risks one takes with allegorical storytelling—namely, that the conceit will wear thin far before the third act—one does gain the advantage of being able to luxuriate in detail.

Showcase: A’ House by Wiel Arets Architects

2015-01-05T22:58:00-05:00

Wedged between the narrow alleys and razor-sharp property lines of Tokyo's Nishi-Azabu neighborhood, A' House fits in its dense context like a shiny puzzle piece. Bold yet familiar, expansive yet compact, transparent yet opaque, open to dialogue yet impenetrable like an oyster shell.

Designed by Wiel Arets Architects, the building's innovative system of immense sliding windows responds to varying desires for privacy, air flow, light intake and participation in the neighborhood's social life.

Turns out, where Dutch and Japanese practicality intersect, one might discover concrete poetry.

Showcase: Sparrenburg Visitor Center by Max Dudler

2014-11-26T12:41:00-05:00

Max Dudler's brutalist beauty falls serenely in line with Sparrenburg Fortress's 800-year history in Bielefeld, Germany.