Archinect - News

Grimshaw launches new building decarbonization platform called Minoro

2024-07-15T12:18:00-04:00

UK mainstay Grimshaw has announced the launch of a new online platform that will help accelerate the decarbonization of buildings. It follows a two-year development phase that relied on the support of 20 other industry organizations, including the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, RIBA, Architecture 2030, and the World Green Building Council.

Minoro is a free resource that provides links and access to more than 1,000 "policies, guidance and methodologies" related to decarbonization. The firm says this centralization enables design teams and other stakeholders to set targets and develop clear, informed actions across every stage of the building's life cycle.

Related Feature on Archinect: The U.S. Just Defined a Zero Emissions Building: Is It Enough?

Paul Toyne, the Sustainability Lead at Grimshaw, promised that it "brings, for the first time, all the key information to help tackle carbon in our buildings together in one place, but will also, importantly, bring team...

Instagrammer creates architectural AI designs inspired by food

2024-07-05T18:23:00-04:00

Fatih Ekşi, the popular Istanbul-based architectural designer, has shared some thoughts on the creative process behind his work, which has garnered over a million combined followers on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.

His followers were recently treated to some playful, food-inspired architectural creations made using AI tools by his visualization studio Blick 3D.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fatih Ekşi (@efatiheksi)

The latest series combines software with the principles of biomimetic architecture to produce designs whose form, structure, and building program utilize the natural geometries found in fruits, vegetables, and meat.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Fatih Ekşi (@efatiheksi)

"I studied Architecture for five years at the Vienna University of Technology, where I was nearing graduation but had to return to my hometown due to family matters," Ekşi tells Archinect of his background. "I have been working in archit...

Architects develop new AI visualization tool for architectural rendering

2024-07-03T06:23:00-04:00

Gendo, a new AI visualization platform, has launched today following a $1.1 million investment into the product created by London-based architectural designer George Proud with the help of his colleague and software engineer Will Jones.

The platform claims to convert 2D drawings, sketches, or text-based inputs into life-like visualizations.

Image courtesy Gendo

Zaha Hadid Architects, David Chipperfield Architects, and Benoy are among the beta testers of the software. It is being promoted as a way for firms to reduce costs and labor and gain an advantage in project and design competitions.

George Proud stated that, unlike mainstream generative image platforms such as Midjourney and DALL-E, Gendo allows generated visualizations to be edited, offering architects greater detail and precision.

The announcement follows closely last week's launch of another AI-driven platform called Treasury.

Digital spatial asset platform Treasury launches in partnership with Zaha Hadid Architects and other creatives

2024-06-25T17:01:00-04:00

A new creative digital suite promising itself as the "Getty Images of premium spatial assets" has just been launched by San Francisco-based design technology startup Treasury Spatial Data in response to the growing influence of spatial computing in nearly every segment of the design industry.

Users of the new platform will have the ability to discover, fingerprint, license, share, and even commission their own spatial assets for licensing while simultaneously ensuring their protection against machine learning software and generative AI.

The platform's founders say: "The Treasury spatial asset platform is the foundation of a new era in design development for spatial assets and their applications."

Image: © Zaha Hadid Architects

Patrik Schumacher, principal of Treasury's early partner company Zaha Hadid Architects, added: "I have believed for many years that the metaverse will become compelling to a large portion of humanity not just when the technology is sufficiently sophisticated —...

New 'Zillow Gone Wild' HGTV show to launch inspired by popular Instagram account

2024-05-02T12:00:00-04:00

Friday, May 3rd, will see the launch of a new show on HGTV inspired by the popular Instagram account Zillow Gone Wild. The show, which bears the same name as the social media account, will offer insights into “exceptionally weird, wacky, and wild properties that sellers put on the market every day.”

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zillow Gone Wild (@zillowgonewild)

Hosted by actor and comedian Jack McBrayer, the series will feature characters from non-traditional homes with distinctive decor and imaginative architecture. The history of each will be explored, alongside backstories from buyers and sellers. Among the homes set to be featured are a house in Berkeley, California, designed by a jazz musician, and a home in New Orleans with an eclectic parlor lounge.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Zillow Gone Wild (@zillowgonewild)

The run of nine weekly episodes will conclude with HGTV awarding one home the accolade of “wild...

Autodesk develops AI-powered embodied carbon tool for early-stage design

2024-04-03T11:39:00-04:00

Autodesk has developed an embodied carbon analysis tool to be integrated into the software maker’s AI-driven Forma application.

Powered by the C.Scale data model developed by U.S.-based architecture firm EHDD, the tool “enables designers to better understand the carbon impacts from primary material choices and building form during site feasibility and massing studies at the beginning of a project planning process,” Autodesk says.

Image credit: Autodesk

The tool allows architects working in Forma to subject their early design concept to an AI-powered analysis that can evaluate design concepts and iterate toward reducing carbon emissions.

Located in the ‘analysis’ tab in the Forma web application, the analysis allows users to define site-wide analytical properties as well as those specific to individual buildings. Parameters that can be specified include building function, structural system, and envelope factors such as cladding and window-to-wall ratio.

Image credit: Autodesk

Accordi...

Is the architectural design causing serious Wi-Fi issues at Google's new Bay View headquarters?

2024-03-26T17:28:00-04:00

Google has not publicly disclosed the reasons for the Wi-Fi problems, but workers say the 600,000-square-foot building’s swooping, wave-like rooftop swallows broadband like the Bermuda Triangle. [...] But, a Google spokeswoman acknowledged, "we’ve had Wi-Fi connectivity issues in Bay View." She said Google "made several improvements to address the issue," and the company hoped to have a fix in coming weeks.

The roof of the BIG and Heatherwick Studio-designed Bay View headquarters, which opened in 2022, is a key component of the building’s circular design strategy and features 90,000 "dragonscale" solar panels. Some believe they could be causing the interference.

Related on Archinect: Google's BIG + Heatherwick-designed Bay View HQ campus opens. Photo: Iwan Baan, courtesy of Google

The other culprit would be the building’s internal layout and configuration and the density of routers within it (H/t various Reddiors). Google would not publically address the source of the connectivity issues.

Operations at the company's other new headquarters inside the St. John’s Terminal in Manhattan, which opened in February, however, appear to be running a bit more smoothly.

Henning Larsen debuts Open Detail, a digital biomaterials resource for architects

2024-03-21T18:34:00-04:00

Henning Larsen has unveiled a new tool for designers that allows them access to a database of biogenic materials examples taken from around the world.

The firm debuted its new Open Detail resource at the AEC Hackathon in Copenhagen. Together with collaborators Copenhagen School of Design and Technology (KEA), Ramboll, Speckle, and Chevrant, the entry took home first place for the 'Best Mashup Project' at the Hackathon.

Now, their aim is to "foster a shift towards low-carbon architecture" by making such "tangible" biogenic design solutions more easily accessible to the public and practitioners as an open-source repository and knowledge-sharing platform.

The searchable Open Detail will allow users to contribute and download material details in either 2D or 3D format once actualized. Henning Larsen says this is "only the beginning" for Open Detail, adding that the project's off...

New 'Architecture for kids' podcast shares resources on the best engagement practices for children

2023-08-22T15:20:00-04:00

A new podcast series aimed at enhancing educators’ ability to teach architecture to school children is now available thanks to a collaboration between the UK's Built Environment Trust, Thornton Education Trust, and the Welsh School of Architecture at Cardiff University.

Hosted by Architecture for kids CIC founder Antonio Capelao, the ten-episode series engages with various practitioners, academics, and other experts in design education who are working at the field's leading edges with the long-term goal of encouraging wider participation in the built environment from a young age.

The producers share: "These short and to-the-point podcasts hope to improve the interplay between the fields of the built environment and education as we share knowledge between the practitioner, the creative, and the primary school teacher. Exploring how to prepare children and young people for economic, environmental, and societal challenges, and for their professional lives according to today’s needs an...

Kate Wagner goes from McMansion Hell to critic at The Nation

2023-07-03T12:41:00-04:00

The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture, today named Kate Wagner (@mcmansionhell) to its masthead as architecture correspondent. Best known as the brains behind the brilliant and satirical architecture blog, “”McMansion Hell,” and following a wildly successful stint as a Nation guest columnist earlier this year, Wagner will contribute monthly commentary on architecture and the built environment—but not as always conventionally understood.

Wagner succeeds Michael Sorkin, who died in 2020. The new correspondent said the post is “an ideal perch for me to explain how everything we see and everything we build is political.” She is now one of a select coterie of dedicated critics writing for American publications, including Michael Kimmelman, Lee Bey, Carolina A. Miranda, Ingra Safron, and Robert Campbell. Wagner's personal account of her ascent from the widely-acclaimed blog, which she founded in 2016, can also be found here via The Baffler.

Previously on Archinect: Bro, Do You Even Quoin? A conversation with McMansion Hell's Kate Wagner

With OpenAI’s new 3D model tool Shap-E, text-to-3D printing may soon be a reality

2023-05-10T12:11:00-04:00

OpenAI, the company behind AI applications such as ChatGPT and text-to-image tool DALL-E, has unveiled a new model that allows users to generate 3D objects from text or images. Named Shap-E, and available for free on GitHub, the tool generates 3D objects that can be opened in Microsoft Paint 3D and converted into STL files for use in 3D printers.

Unlike ChatGPT and DALL-E, Shap-E does not operate over an online application and is instead downloaded onto a PC for local use. The tool works in three modes: a ‘text-to-3D’ mode that uses text prompts to generate models, an ‘image-to-3D’ mode that turns a 2D image into a 3D object, and ‘encode-model’ which takes an existing 3D model and transforms it into another model.

3D objects generated from text prompts by Shap-E. Image credit: OpenAI

According to a paper by OpenAI announcing the tool, Shap-E can produce both textured meshes (3D objects formed of polygons overlayed by colored textures) and neural radiance fields (3D scenes generated b...

Introducing the ‘Archinect In-Depth: Artificial Intelligence’ series

2023-05-01T08:00:00-04:00

Quick links

At Archinect, we are excited to announce the launch of Archinect In-Depth, a new initiative examining the most pressing, transformative, and integral subjects in the architectural community. Each series of Archinect In-Depth will feature three months of dedicated coverage across our platform, addressing each subject's relationship with architectural practice, employment, education, research, and beyond.

Our initiative kicks off today, May 1st, with the inaugural series Archinect In-Depth: Artificial Intelligence. Over the next three months, we will explore the ever-evolving relationship between architecture and artificial intelligence through dedicated news, features, interviews, calls for submissions, and a storytelling competition, with input from both Archinect’s editorial team and ou...

Architecture 2030's new CARE Tool helps measure the carbon reduction of retrofit projects

2023-02-15T14:38:00-05:00

A new metric measuring the amount of carbon reduced in reuse projects is changing the way practitioners of the built environment can quantify the success of retrofit projects of all types and sizes.

Architecture 2030’s new CARE (Carbon Avoided Retrofit Estimator) Tool is a way of providing valuable statistics that show the carbon savings of each project accurately and using a standardized methodology. Its tool was developed by Siegel and Strain Architects principal Larry Strain along with Architecture 2030’s Erin McDade and Goody Clancy’s Lori Ferriss and is already in use at several leading firms nationwide.

CARE Tool works by taking user inputs about energy targets and potential building interventions to estimate operational carbon emissions and embodied carbon emissions in each project.

According to the group: “Outputs are visualized as total embodied and operational em...

In Kyiv, a virtual tour guide shows the world what's left to uphold

2022-08-30T12:24:00-04:00

Soloviov’s virtual tours, which he announces on his Instagram page, have also become a way of coping with present circumstances. He says that during the pandemic and now the war, he has missed meeting visiting foreigners, some of whom were his most inquisitive tour participants. Now, he’s meeting them in their living rooms.

Dmytro Soloviov is unlike the many Ukrainian citizen journalists using social media to inform the non-traditional, non-television-connected audience about their war-torn home. Evacuated at the outset to the western Carpathian Mountains region, he began offering in-person and then (upon his return to the capital) virtual tours to audiences who described them alternatively as either “very intimate” or as places of refuge.

He says he won’t offer reviews of bomb-damaged buildings as a rule and is working to preserve the country's stock of Soviet-era architecture so as not to see it fall victim to war's terrible cycle of destruction — even after the shelling stops. “What will our descendants know of the 20th century in Ukraine if we demolished it all?” he said. “What will they think? That we did nothing?”

Three triangle-shaped buildings 'transformed' into tortilla chips as part of new Doritos marketing campaign

2022-08-29T13:29:00-04:00

Apparently, Doritos are everywhere. What you thought was Bjarke Ingels Group’s VIA 57 West is actually a cheesy tortilla chip.

Through a new marketing campaign by Frito-Lay North America titled Triangle Tracker, people can currently utilize Snapchat’s augmented reality software to seek, scan, and convert triangular shapes anywhere, including buildings, into Doritos for the chance to win money and other prizes. The company launched the program by illuminating three triangular-shaped structures in bright orange. Along with the aforementioned BIG building in Manhattan, the upside-down triangle shape at the top of Atlanta’s 101 Marietta Street skyscraper and the Memphis Pyramid were converted into gargantuan chips.

To participate, users need to point their Snapchat AR lens at any triangle in their environment or use TikTok to engage in weekly challenges.

The Most Liked Instagram Posts of Winter 2022 on @archinect

2022-04-19T19:00:00-04:00

As the architectural news cycle has seemingly barreled through the first few months of the year, let's take a quick peek back at the highlights on Archinect's Instagram feed this past quarter.

Maybe you're already one of @archinect's 87k followers or not (yet) — here's a small collection of the most popular posts of the past three months, showcasing stand-out projects from various firm profiles on Archinect as well as from here, our news and features editorial sections.

Also, if you want to stay up-to-date on the latest architecture firms hiring right now, don't forget to follow our dedicated @archinectjobs IG account as well.

9. Eastman Restaurant in Kyiv, Ukraine by JK Lab Architects / @jklab_architects @jannakiseleva and First Line Group; Photo: Margo Didichenko @didichenko

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Archinect (@archinect)

8. Serpentine Pavilion in London, UK by 2022 Pritzker Architecture Prize winner Diébédo Francis Kéré / @kerearchitecture; P...

Forensic Architecture has been named a 2022 Peabody Award winner

2022-03-30T18:30:00-04:00

The activist community can rejoice today on the news that groundbreaking London-based collective Forensic Architecture (FA) has been given an Institutional Peabody Award for its continued public service and contributions to electronic media.

The group was cited for their work documenting the use of Israeli spyware called Pegasus, the ongoing exhibition Cloud Studies, and myriad investigations into police brutality, war crimes, surveillance culture, environmental racism, and the illegal occupation of Palestine.

FA’s use of various forms of data, 3D visualization technology, photogrammetry, lidar, and citizen videos was likewise commended for its innovation and incorporation into what the awards jury deemed “sophisticated architectural techniques.”

The twelve-year-old group founded by Israeli academic Eyal Weizman is coming off of another banner year in which its pursu...

Minecraft's crowdsourced NYC design is insane

2022-03-11T13:03:00-05:00

Two years into the project, they construct the city in short and mobile sprints. “We circle around different districts,” explained Minefact. “We work one week in Chinatown, then one week in Tribeca, one week on Bowery and then come back to Chinatown. We always work on multiple districts at the same time to keep things interesting.”

The crowdsourced design-build was begun by a German user named MineFact who had attempted a similar project the year before for his hometown of Frankfurt using rendering software that incorporated data taken from Google Maps.

Incorporating a replacement for the obsolete Mercator projection maps they call Airocean, an impressive workforce of over 2,700 Minecraft users started at the 9/11 Memorial Site and has to date completed mostly exterior versions of different New York area landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, and Brooklyn Bridge.

Related on Archinect: An army of gamers is building a Minecraft version of New York's state capital. (Image via Reddit User GeoffHenderson.)

The New York City group is a spinoff of a larger consortium called Build the Earth, which has recently completed digital versions of other important sites across the Tri-State Area. Users don’t have an exact anticipated date of completion just yet (the city has approximately 1 million build...

New media crackdown in Russia forces censorship of open letter signed by country's architects and urban planners

2022-03-04T20:43:00-05:00

The open letter by architecture magazine Project Russia, which included over 6,500 signatures of Russian architects and urban planners opposing military strikes in Ukraine, has been removed and replaced.

The original text from their open letter, which can be found in Archinect's previous coverage, is now replaced with the image of Picasso's "Dove of Peace" and the following statement:

Here was a letter on behalf of the architects and urban planners of Russia, expressing their position on the current policy of our country from February 26, when it was published, until March 4, 2022, more than 6,500 people signed it.

Unfortunately, under the threat of criminal liability under the law that came into force today, we were forced to remove the text of the letter. We are for peace!

The magazine's now erased statement was a bold expression of revolt against Putin's invasion of Ukraine. Posts from the magazine's Instagram and Facebook as well as the use of the "Нет войне!" (No war!) graphi...

Pentagram designs new visual identity for Tulane School of Architecture

2022-02-24T09:00:00-05:00

This post is brought to you by Tulane School of Architecture

Creating a strong and impactful visual identity for brands and companies is essential. This follows suit for institutions and academic departments. Tulane School of Architecture recently announced its partnership with renowned design firm Pentagram and unveiled its reimagined visual identity. Together, Tulane and Pentagram created a "new suite of branded materials and an entirely redesigned website."

According to Tulane, the school is entering a "new era of educating future professionals in the built environment on the importance of navigating humans' relationship with water and supporting local communities in a wide range of design challenges." With this in mind, the visual rebranding also aimed to cultivate discourse in how the school addresses "pressing environmental, social, and economic challenges."

Video courtesy of Tulane University School of Architecture.

The Pentagram design team brought an impressive level of e...

An army of gamers is building a Minecraft version of New York's state capital

2022-01-21T12:43:00-05:00

Minecraft lovers may soon be able to wander around a virtual Albany. A voluntary group of builders associated with Build the Earth Northeast USA is building the city and other parts of the Capital Region into the game.

The organization is made up of thousands of volunteer gamers who have produced successful virtual versions of other cities distributed across regional networks. Building in the hugely popular MMOG has seen a renaissance of late thanks to a mod intervention which produced construction techniques that lead to the ability for designers to create taller and taller structures using something called cubic chunks. The groups ask applicant designers to construct a virtual Long Island test home as part of their official vetting process.

The Albany build is being overseen by a splinter called Build the Earth Northeast USA. The group says it is currently in the process of constructing the state’s capitol building (itself designed in tandem between 1867 and 1899) and has already finished former Governor Nelson Rockefeller's obsessive dream Empire State Plaza and the marble Erastus Corning Tower and has preparatory plans for the New York State Museum to follow. Project managers say they have st...

Decentraland is playing host to six-figure deals as architects begin to embrace the metaverse

2021-12-13T18:55:00-05:00

As part of the design community’s incorporation of talent into the nascent, ever-growing world of blockchain technology and digital architecture, more spaces are cropping up that have the potential to do outsized business opportunities with ramifications in the metaverse and beyond.

One of those spaces is the relatively new Decentraland, a 22-month-old 3D platform that currently plays host to over 90,000 parcels of land subdivided into individual 9-square-mile plots which can command prices as high as $2.43 million as the cost of digital land has boomed in unison with the rise of NFTs.

Metapurse HQ. Image courtesy Voxel Architects.

Thus far, Decentraland has featured some headline-grabbing projects, including a functional digital twin of the auction house Sotheby’s London headquarters. The display of NFT art has become one of the most predominant forms of building in the metaverse, followed by gaming, retail, and other forms of entertainment like blockchain casinos that have users li...

Many firms not capitalizing on digital marketing or technology, AIA report finds

2021-12-02T13:42:00-05:00

A new report from the American Institute of Architects has found that business marketing remains underutilized among U.S. architecture firms. The finding forms part of the newly released Technology, Culture, & the Future of the Architectural Firm report, which explores the influence of technology adoption on workflow and profitability in U.S. practices.

The 69-page report, available to download for free, notes that cultural and technological barriers currently hamper firms’ embrace of business development and marketing as a way of securing growth. “89% of respondents agree that relationships matter more than marketing for winning new business, and only 43% agree that digital/social marketing is important to them,” says the report. “However, firms that use social media are successful at driving leads through these channels.”

When asked what factors expect to drive their growth over the next three years, ...

Like all innovations, AI will destroy some architect roles, and create others

2021-10-18T12:28:00-04:00

The question “Will a robot take my job?” is never too far from any discussion about the role of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the future economy. The answer to this simple, justified question is anything but clear, and continues to divide experts in economics and business trends.

As Time Magazine noted in a 2020 piece, a group of economists from MIT and Boston University estimates that 42% of the 40 million jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic will be permanently replaced by AI and machines, adding to the 400,000 jobs already lost to automation in U.S. factories between 1990 and 2007. To back their claim, the Time piece points to the prevailing trend of successful U.S. companies reducing their human workforce in favor of AI, in fields ranging from law and finance to DJs and…writing.

Separately, however, a 2020 MIT paper titled ‘Artificial Intelligence and Future of Work’ paints a more optimistic picture, positing that the rigid, single-task thinking still exhibit...

An Instagram account with an eye on Soviet-era modernism is cropping up in Ukraine

2021-10-14T11:55:00-04:00

An IT specialist in his 30s, he says that his interest in his hometown’s Soviet-era architectural history began gradually, starting with an appreciation of 19th-century neoclassical architecture. From there, he became interested in constructivism, and finally, modernism. “I began to understand that these [Soviet-era buildings] were not just ‘boring, Soviet panels’, as most people thought of them, but perhaps masterpieces of world architecture.”

The Ukrainian port city of Odesa offers a unique blend of popular 19th-century styles and Soviet-era modernism. Architect Heinrich Topuz’s Academic Theatre of Musical Comedy, completed in 1981, stands as one of the city’s best examples of building in the period. Similar social media tributes to modernism remain among the more popular for design fans online.

“My Instagram account will become an architectural monument to the Odesa which we have lost,” the curator of @odessamodernism told The Calvert Journal. Currently, the account has over 6,000 followers.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by architecture | design | art (@odessamodernism)

Autodesk announces new features for Construction Cloud, including scheduling tool and Microsoft Teams integration

2021-10-06T14:12:00-04:00

Autodesk has announced a series of new updates to their Autodesk Construction Cloud, a software solution seeking to connect design and construction team members through a single ecosystem. The latest updates are centered on Autodesk Build, a software that focuses on construction management, including quality, safety, and cost control.

Among the new updates in Autodesk Build is a Schedule tool that allows teams to centralize schedule management. Office and construction teams can now share digital schedules in real-time and link documents, sheets, photos, and RFIs into their communications. Schedules can now be viewed in calendar or chart formats, display activity status in real-time, and integrate with the Cost tool to display schedule-related expenses such as material handling and clean-up costs.

Additional updates rolled out to Autodesk Build include sheet sharing across accounts, whereby cu...

When Facebook and Instagram went dark, architecture Twitter was there for the laughs

2021-10-05T11:46:00-04:00

In my opinion, remembering what it was like before social media and high-speed internet access is a gift. The early days of social media barely resemble the landscape of how impressionable and profit-driven it is today. Data privacy wasn't considered "a thing," and promoting a product or service back then was influential thanks to television, radio, and print media. However, when social media titans Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp went down, many came flooding back to Twitter to stay connected. Thanks to this 6-hour social media outage, 'architecture Twitter' was there to express what many of us were thinking.

Social media is defined as "forms of electronic communication (such as websites for social networking and microblogging) through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other content (such as videos)." Today, this term has become synonymous with platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, and Twitter to name a few...

Free 3D planning tool launched to help schools teach architecture

2021-09-30T16:17:00-04:00

Planner 5D, a digital design tool, has created a free educational version to help schools teach architecture and design. The tool, which allows users to generate 3D home designs, is offering its free educational licenses to “encourage students to foster their creativity in a digital realm while learning design principles.” The tool is available to teachers worldwide, who can download up to 100 free educational licenses for use by students.

The initiative has been launched to facilitate the teaching of STEM subjects to school kids, including focuses on art, architecture, engineering, and interior design. The app is centered on “problem based learning”, which invites students to develop computational skills by studying and solving home design challenges using a library of 6000 objects.

“With this free educational version for schools, we not only provide students across the globe with access to the platform but also help teachers to encourage them to foster their creativity while l...

Autodesk's new look has the architecture and design community talking

2021-09-12T09:00:00-04:00

A strong visual identity is essential to propelling a company's product, service, and overall brand. However, when it comes to logo designs in architecture, for example, the design's overall look on top of its size, type, and color choice can spark polarizing responses from the community. While not everyone is a trained graphic designer whose expertise and critical analysis of a logo goes beyond the general public, everyone has an opinion on whether a logo satisfies their perspective of the company or goes against what "they" envision.

A while back Archinect conducted a special feature reflecting and reviewing new logos from 10 of the most followed firm profiles on Archinect. During this review, the Archinect team collaborated with Armin Vit, co-founder of the graphic design firm UnderConstruction. Vit, a seasoned graphic designer, and writer lent his knowledge and provided expert analysis on logos from firms like OMA, Snøhetta, BIG, Gensler, and Zaha Hadid Architects, to name a fe...

A look back at Archinect on September 11th, 2001

2021-09-11T20:02:00-04:00

I was staying at a friend’s apartment in the heart of Hollywood on the evening of September 10th, 2001. I had to wake up unnaturally early the next morning to move my car to avoid getting a parking ticket. I vividly recall the eery feeling squeezed into the tiny old elevator as I descended the building with more neighbors than I would have expected to be awake at that hour. Nobody said anything. I could tell something was off. The moment I got into my car the radio quickly caught me up. In fact, it was right at the moment the second plane hit the towers… a little after the 6 am deadline to move my car out of the streetcleaner’s way. I don’t remember re-parking my car or returning to the apartment, but I clearly remember spending the next many hours jumping between the television, my phone, and my computer, taking in the horror and working it out with friends, family, and colleagues in real-time.

Screenshot of Archinect from September 2001

Archinect was only 4 years old at that time....