Archinect - Features

Does 3D Printed Architecture Have Real Potential? We Talk With an Architect About His Experience Designing and Building a 3D Printed House

2021-12-15T07:45:00-05:00

3D printing is older than you may think. The term was first coined in a 1984 patent, while the idea of generating 3D objects from 2D drawings dates back to sci-fi visions as early as 1945. Fast forward to today, and 3D printing has become a viable method of producing everything from medical stents to passenger vehicles. For those involved in building design and construction, the advent of 3D printing poses several questions: What is it like to design and build a 3D printed structure? How does an architect approach the process? What does the future hold for 3D printed architecture?

In this article, we seek answers to these questions by speaking with an architect who has gained real-world experience in delivering a 3D printed house as well as one of the world’s leading innovators in 3D printed construction.

Can a Building Dream, Learn, and Hallucinate? A Conversation with Refik Anadol

2021-09-24T12:43:00-04:00

Refik Anadol has carved an eclectic career, rich with confluences. His work blurs the boundaries between art and science, the visible and invisible, the operational and emotional, the fleeting and permanent. The composition of this studio further demonstrates this confluence; housing artists, architects, data scientists, and researchers, drawn from 10 countries and fluent in 14 languages. Since establishing Refik Anadol Studio in 2014, the Istanbul-born artist has produced a litany of projects that celebrate, and define, the aesthetics of data and machine intelligence, from his installation at Frank Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in 2018 to his Sense of Space exhibition at the 2021 Venice Biennale.

Archinect’s Niall Patrick Walsh spoke with Anadol in September 2021 at an exciting time for the artist: not only during his ongoing project at the Venice Biennale, but also on the eve of his latest milestone: a first-of-its-kind NFT project to be auctioned by Sotheby’s Hong Kong. In the...

A Conversation With Cover Co-Founders on Their Tesla-Inspired Building Process And The Future of Construction

2021-02-10T14:24:00-05:00

Alexis Rivas and Jemuel Joseph first met while studying architecture at the Cooper Union. After school, Alexis worked on several residential projects at a number of firms. He began to notice inefficiencies in the project delivery process, which propelled him into an exploratory journey that eventually led him to a job in prefab construction. But that wasn't good enough for Alexis.

He believed the prefab construction industry had missed a few things. There were still too many pitfalls. With lessons uncovered from the automotive and tech industries, Alexis wanted to productize the home, approaching its production like one might approach the production of a car or a smartphone. But he needed help.

Alexis reached out to his old colleague from architecture school, Jemuel, who had a special gift with software and computers, and the two soon embarked on an ambitious pursuit to reinvent the way homes are designed and delivered.

Soon, the partners conceived Cover, a technology company that...

Investigating the Emerging Field of XR and Its Applications in Architecture, With Popular YouTuber and Software Developer Matthew Hallberg

2021-02-04T14:26:00-05:00

In this second installment of our 4-part series Designers in Tech, Alessio Grancini, Prototyper Engineer at Magic Leap and ex-Morphosis XR developer, speaks with Matthew Hallberg about his work and research into Extended Reality (XR) and its potential in architecture and urban design.

With 50k+ subscribers, Third Aurora Software Developer and YouTuber Matthew Hallberg is well known for speculative cutting edge prototypes and demos that feature the most recent technologies available in the field of XR.

Designers in Tech: How Architecture Is Unlocking the Potential of New Emerging Technologies

2021-02-03T14:01:00-05:00

As 2021 starts, there is growing evidence that technologies connecting us together are scaling up the game. The COVID-19 lockdown has introduced a wider community to more new emerging technologies, like VR and AR, and we find ourselves integrating more smart devices into our daily lives. As the digital environment grows and the meaning of space starts shifting, the field of design and architecture is preparing to explore new media and expand its domain. In this miniseries, we are taking a closer look at a number of emerging technologies and software applications that are building the foundation of the future understanding of space. We are doing it, with the expertise of 4 guests that deal with the future of technologies in their everyday life in a series of four installments.

A 5-Part Video Series on "The Architecture of Artificial Intelligence"

2018-05-08T11:20:00-04:00

The Architecture of Artificial Intelligence is a 5-part video series, produced for Archinect by Otis Harley, exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) is changing architecture, design and the construction industry. The videos are based on ‘The Architecture of Artificial Intelligence' by Hannah Wood, published on Archinect last year.

Fellow Fellows : Zahra Safaverdi

2018-03-02T09:00:00-05:00

Fellow Fellows is a series that focuses on the current eruption of fellowships in academia today. Within this realm, these positions produce a fantastic blend of practice, research, and design influence, traditionally done within a tight time-frame. Fellow Fellows sits down with these fellows and attempts to understand what these positions offer to both the participants and the discipline at large. It is about bringing attention and inquiry to the otherwise maddening pace of revolving academics while giving a broad view of the breakthrough work being done by those who exist in-between the newly minted graduate and the licensed associate.

This week we speak to Zahra Safaverdi who served as the Harvard GSD's Irving innovation fellow in architecture in 2017.

Baumgartner + Uriu is a Small Studio with Big Innovations

2018-02-05T10:00:00-05:00

Baumgartner + Uriu (BplusU) are innovators known for pushing boundaries. With an in-house fabrication studio, the LA-based practice is consistently experimenting with the latest digital techniques and materials. Founded in 2006, the firm is led by Herwig Baumgartner and Scott Uriu, both with a background in music and working for Frank Gehry. For this week's Small Studio Snapshot, we talked with the duo about how they got their start, what drives their work today, and what is on the horizon.

To design a secure bank, ask a bank robber

2016-06-30T08:22:00-04:00

Joe Loya, a former bank robber turned TV writer, learned to read spaces the way other criminals learned to crack safes. His insights illuminate the changing role of privacy in the architecture of crime prevention design for banks.

Science Nonfiction: bringing emerging technologies into the UK's architecture education

2015-12-05T04:00:00-05:00

Taking stock of emergent technologies at The Bartlett and the Architectural Association in London – two of the most innovative and genre-pushing architectural education institutions worldwide – it’s difficult to not be in awe of the possibilities. Michael Weinstock, Director of the Emergent Technologies and Design at the AA, describes the current state of just what “emerging” means: "I think we are at a kind of break point where we are just starting to get free of the imitation of previous ways of doing things. We've already got the efficiency, fewer people, fewer materials – that's the first goal, that's established. But let's remember that emerging technology is the outcome of an evolutionary process."