Archinect - News

Foster + Partners unveils next two-tower luxury scheme for Dubai’s Business Bay

2024-12-20T14:27:00-05:00

Months after inaugurating the new Lana Residences and hotel complex in Dubai, a new design for a neighboring plot from Foster + Partners has been announced featuring two new luxury residential towers with heights totaling 590.5 feet (or 180 meters). One apartment is allotted per floor to bring the total to 60 in both towers. Each unit is equipped with a range of wellness amenities to go along with winding interlocked terraces offering views of Dubai's high-rise architecture and the adjacent Marasi Marina.

Image rendering courtesy Foster + Partners

Previewing TWBTA and Davis Brody Bond's new U.S. Embassy in Mexico City

2024-12-20T13:55:00-05:00

Work is wrapping up on the new U.S. Embassy facility in Mexico City designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien (TWBTA) and David Brody Bond at a reported cost of around $1 billion. The LA Times recently checked in on its delayed progress. The project first began construction on the Paseo de la Reforma in February 2018. An opening is now expected by the last quarter of 2025.

Image rendering by DBB/TWBTA

3XN's mass timber Sydney Fish Market project tops out in Australia

2024-12-20T13:16:00-05:00

Construction on the new Sydney Fish Market from 3XN has topped out in Australia. The 700,000-square-foot building will become the largest fish market and have the largest glulam roof structure in the southern hemisphere once completed. Its PV-paneled roof is calibrated to withstand high wind loads while meeting the spatial demands required by the marketplace, is held in place by 594 beams, and is capable of harvesting rainwater throughout the year.

The project offers a worthy follow-up to the Danish firm's award-winning work on the upcycled Quay Quarter Tower in Sydney. They are working locally with local architects BVN, GXN Innovation, and the landscape architects Aspect Studios.

2024 showcased the potential of 3D printing in architecture

2024-12-20T08:00:00-05:00

The architecture world witnessed a transformative year in 2024, with 3D printing continuing to broaden the possibilities of design and construction. From high-profile collaborations between architecture firms and technology companies to groundbreaking projects that span continents—and even reach beyond Earth—this year marked a surge in innovation across construction sites and research labs alike.

This year, Archinect’s editorial included exclusive insights from BIG’s Bjarke Ingels and ICON’s Melodie Yashar, digging deeper into a collaboration spanning 3D printing materials, hardware, software, and business models. Elsewhere, we saw notable projects such as North America’s first 3D-printed three-story home and the world’s tallest 3D-printed tower in Switzerland, and innovative research led by institutions including MIT, Princeton, ETH Zurich, and IAAC, dwelling on topics as diverse as fish scales to liquid metal.

To further explore these trends, we have set out the key developments a...

Nonprofit begins 100 home 3D printed supportive housing project in Austin

2024-12-19T16:46:00-05:00

ICON’s 100 home 3D printed Community First! Village is underway in an effort to combat homelessness in the Austin, Texas area. The only neighborhood of its kind in the nation, Community First! Village provides permanent housing solutions and supportive care for those experiencing chronic homelessness.

ICON's contribution to the larger development, which serves 1,800 people, follows its previous work with Lennar on the Wolf Ranch in Georgetown, Texas.

The homes 3D printed by ICON across in the Village’s expansion are a mix of townhome units and family designs with footprints varying between 380 to 1,040 square feet.

Image courtesy ICON

City of London approves record-tying skyscraper design from Eric Parry Architects

2024-12-18T12:11:00-05:00

A challenger to The Shard’s title as the tallest skyscraper in the UK is moving forward with plans to construct a new building designed by Eric Parry Architects that will equal its record height of 309.6 meters (or 1,015.75 feet). The height is limited by aviation safety rules for the City of London, where the planned 1 Undershaft will soon begin construction towards an anticipated early-2030s completion.

As was first reported by The Guardian, "On completion, 1 Undershaft, which is being built on the site occupied by insurer Aviva’s former headquarters, will provide almost 13% of the office space required in the City of London to 2040."

Image: DBOX/Eric Parry Architects

Grenfell victims' families file ARB complaint against refurbishment architect

2024-12-17T17:43:00-05:00

The BBC is reporting on an effort led by family members of victims of the fatal 2017 Grenfell Fire tragedy to hold Studio E, the architectural firm responsible for its design, accountable in front of the UK’s Architects Registration Board (ARB).

The action outlines Studio E as a negligent party. The BBC reports Studio E is already undergoing the liquidation process. Petitioners are, however, hoping to "set a precedent enabling other residents of buildings with dangerous cladding to file a complaint against their architects with the ARB."

Studio Gang updates progress on mass timber conference center at Harvard

2024-12-17T16:12:00-05:00

The new David Rubenstein Treehouse conference center project from Studio Gang for Harvard University has topped out near its campus in the Allston neighborhood of Boston.

What will become Harvard’s first-ever mass timber structure is included as part of the larger 36-acre Enterprise Research Campus (or ERC) development that was announced last summer along with designs from MVRDV, Moody Nolan, and Marlon Blackwell. It follows another creative higher ed timber design from Studio Gang, the new two-building campus expansion for the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco, which was unveiled in November.

MAD completes ‘flying saucer-shaped’ installation for China’s Guangdong Nanhai Land Art Festival

2024-12-17T11:22:00-05:00

MAD Architects has unveiled The Never Hut, an interactive installation at the Guangdong Nanhai Land Art Festival 2024 in Yanqiao Village, Foshan City, China. Set in a village with over 600 years of history, the installation reimagines a former elementary school playground into a community space for rest and connection.

Image credit: Zhu Yumeng

Inspired by Yanqiao Village’s Qing Dynasty architecture, river systems, and its iconic banyan tree, The Never Hut features a flying saucer-shaped structure supported by three tentacle-like forms crafted from local fishing nets. The design responds to environmental elements, swaying subtly with the breeze to create a dynamic relationship between movement and stillness.

Image credit: Zhu Yumeng

The installation’s bright, colorful eaves provide a shaded, circular space, encouraging interaction among villagers and visitors. The scheme’s playful aesthetic contrasts with the historic surroundings, establ...

BIG's four-building 670 Mesquit scheme approved by LA City Council

2024-12-17T11:10:00-05:00

Bjarke Ingles Group (BIG) has received planning permission to build the new 670 Mesquit project in Downtown LA.

Situated at the eastern edge of the Arts District overlooking the LA River, the four-building scheme yields 894 new residential units, a hotel, charter school, and more than 676,000 square feet of office space. Studio-MLA is attached to the project as its landscape designer, delivering a layered connection of terraces and other areas between the former industrial site and riverbank that allows for an active indoor-outdoor lifestyle year-round for its users.

Image credit: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

BIG’s founder said he and the design team "asked ourselves if we can renew the arts district by embracing rather than replacing the qualities that have spawned this unique urban culture. We have imagined a hybrid of two unique local typologies: the downtown warehouse and the case-study house."

Image credit: Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

"Like a flexible framework the project operates on...

David Chipperfield Architects debut three-building La Confluence contribution in Lyon

2024-12-16T17:18:00-05:00

David Chipperfield Architects has just completed a three-building scheme for the larger La Confluence master plan in Lyon, France designed by Herzog & de Meuron.

View of the office building from one of the garden courtyards. Image: © Simon Menges

The program includes a small office building, housing block, and mixed-use tower. The firm tells us each is "shaped by their structure and defined by their simple rectilinear forms yet react to their specific location in different ways."

View of the social housing building from one of the garden courtyards. Image: © Simon Menges

All three mirror each other and the other buildings in the plan thanks to the choice of mineral-like materials to cover each of their facades. The three buildings combined offer a gross floor area equal to 30,000 square meters (appx. 323,000 square feet) and were designed especially to enhance their site's riverfront connection.

The mixed-use tower building. Image: © Simon Menges

Housing—or at least its possibility—b...

'E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea' captures the famous architectural drama in a new docufiction

2024-12-16T10:15:00-05:00

A new work of 'docufiction' out this year from the filmmakers Beatrice Minger and Christoph Schaub has captured the creative period surrounding the design and construction of Eileen Gray’s E.1027 villa on the French Riviera.

Central to the film is Le Corbusier’s notorious 1938/39 mural vandalism of the property. Minger previously told Variety, "It is a case of setting the record straight, yes, but it was never about making a 'cancel culture' film about [Le Corbusier]. Of course, emotionally, we are on her side, but we were more interested in the different layers where the violation actually took place."

The later Tempe à Pailla villa made by Gray in 1934 nearby in the Côte d'Azur hit the market this fall for $3.87 million.

Three projects with strong geometries by Obra Architects: Your Next Employer?

2024-12-16T07:00:00-05:00

Following our previous visit to WORKac, we are keeping our Meet Your Next Employer series in New York City this week to explore the work of Obra Architects.

Founded by Pablo Castro and Jennifer Lee in 2000, the firm has since expanded to operate an office in Seoul, ultimately being appointed as one of the Seoul City Government’s Public Architects. The firm describes its mission as to “develop architectural projects founded on a carefully considered form of design discipline that leads, through research and rational means of construction and fabrication, to an articulation of the unique spatial combinations necessary to enrich and empower inhabitation.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for an Architect to join their New York City team. For candidates interested in applying for a position or anybody interested in learning more about the firm’s output, we have rounded up three projects by Obra Architects that exemplify the firm’s ethos.

BEATFUSE!. Image courtesy: Ob...

The future gets murkier for hurricane-damaged Tropicana Field

2024-12-15T08:00:00-05:00

The Tampa Bay Times is reporting on a stalled effort to repair damages caused during Hurricane Milton to Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida. The 35-year-old stadium was initially set for a much-needed influx of $24 million worth of funding. Instead, with a last-minute reversal and given the separate uncertainty now surrounding the fate of its $1.3 billion new home, the future of the Rays franchise in the city has been cast in doubt.

Some 18 of the 24 fiberglass roof panels were lost during the storm after the 370,000 square feet of PTFE roof system failed in the face of 125+ mph winds. The cost of repairs had been previously reported at $55.7 million. This fall's hurricanes also led to a decline in construction spending for October.

10 stair designs we liked this week

2024-12-14T08:00:00-05:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Stairs.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ Villa M in Mies, Switzerland by Leopold Banchini Architects; Photo: Rory Gardiner

↑ ARAKAWA Bldg. in Tokyo, Japan by NIKKEN SEKKEI; Photo: Harunori Noda (Gankohsha)

↑ Casey Casey Showroom in Paris, France by Atelier NEA; Photo: Lorenzo Zandri

↑ Porcelain Factory Plugin Revival in Jingdezhen, China by Liu Kecheng Design Studio and People’s Architecture Office (PAO); Photo: Zhuyumeng

↑ House in Kutná Hora, Czech Republic by BYRÓ architekti; Photo: Alex Shoots Buildings

↑ Manhattan Brownstone in New York, NY by Delson or Sherman Architects; Photo: Jason Schmidt

↑ Uncloud Coffee in Bang Saen, Thailand by Unknown Surface Studio;...

Sculptural Façade of Zaha Hadid Architects' Shenzhen Institute of Financial Technology takes shape

2024-12-13T16:40:00-05:00

Zaha Hadid Architects’ upcoming Shenzhen Institute of Financial Technology Tower is taking shape. Construction work on the 46-story structure’s sculptural façade has begun.

Image: Xue Liang

Located on a narrow site in the center of Shenzhen’s Futian district, the tower aims to accommodate the Institute’s ongoing expansion to serve China’s growing fintech industry.

Image: Xue Liang

The roughly 818,000-square-foot building will house research and development laboratories, technology exchange, data centers, and a training campus, together with management, support, and administrative departments.

Image: Xue Liang

The tower’s composition is defined by its surrounding urban environment. Its volume features set-backs, which were determined by mapping and modeling the annual paths of sunlight across the site. The set-backs optimize the amount of direct sunlight that reaches the surrounding streets, public plazas, and buildings. In addition, the tower’s envelope is set to incorporate high perfo...

Le Corbusier's Paris home for Oscar Miestchaninoff on the market for $5.2 million

2024-12-13T09:01:00-05:00

The home designed by Le Corbusier with Pierre Jeannere for sculptor Oscar Miestchaninoff in Paris in 1925 is now on the market for €4.95 million ($5.2 million USD). The listing is through the French platform Architecture de Collection. It features a turreted design, the largest of two home studios that were commissioned for the plot by Miestchaninoff and his fellow artist Jacques Lipchitz, and also includes a ground-floor art studio and roof garden. The home was was later remodeled after receiving an historic designation in 1975.

Image: © Manuel Bougot – FLC/ADAGP 2024

New York's $10 billion Midtown Bus Terminal replacement gets final federal approval

2024-12-12T14:54:00-05:00

The Foster + Partners and Epstein-designed Midtown Bus Terminal replacement project for The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey has been approved by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

The $10 billion plan will construct a new 2.1-million-square-foot facility in phases over four years with an eventual 2032 completion after a temporary space is built in 2028. The original structure dates to 1950 and will be upgraded with a new main entrance, added street-level retail, and a multi-story indoor atrium comparable to Fulton Center, and new public open space.

Image: courtesy Foster + Partners and Epstein

The Port Authority says the existing terminal has served approximately 205,000 average weekday daily passengers this year.

Revery Architecture's new Butterfly Tower appears on the Vancouver skyline

2024-12-12T10:56:00-05:00

Revery Architecture has shared renderings of the soon-to-open Butterfly Tower and First Baptist Church in Vancouver.

This more than 600,000-square-foot project encompasses a new 57-story luxury residential component and the rehabilitation of a historic church dating from 1911 on its downtown site.

Image credit: Hayes Davidson

The firm and client Westbank say they have been targeting a LEED Gold certification for their effort. The design’s sculptural facade affects a cloud-like impression against its urban backdrop in order to lend the development a light and ephemeral quality.

Image credit: Hayes Davidson

Perhaps the most exciting component is its all-season indoor lap pool, which is placed between the podium's roof and the tower’s main amenity suite. A galleria serves to visually connect the tower with the church beginning at the street level. The social housing building also evinces the "same spirit of community connectivity, participation, and stewards...

Take a first look inside the newly reopened Notre Dame cathedral

2024-12-11T17:40:00-05:00

Archinect has received first photos of Notre Dame Cathedral’s completed restoration following the special ceremony that was held in Paris over the weekend in celebration of the unprecedented five-year rebuilding effort.

Photo: © Julio Piatti/Notre Dame de Paris

Images taken from inside the restored landmark showcase the extraordinary effort that went into the project, requiring an international army of more than 2,000 workers and skilled tradespeople working under the command of the late four-star General Jean-Louis Georgelin (who died tragically last summer) and his chief architect Philippe Villeneuve.

Photo: © Julio Piatti/Notre Dame de Paris

It was Villeneuve's desire, as he stated, to "erase the horror" felt in the wake of the April 2019 tragedy by restoring the cathedral as closely to Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's 19th century design as possible.

Photo: © Julio Piatti/Notre Dame de Paris

Accounting for the extent of the damage—the church's timber framework, roof, spire, and three sect...

Your next role could be with preservation specialists of Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan landmarks

2024-12-11T07:30:00-05:00

Following our previous look at an opening for a CNC programmer at OTTRA, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Preservation Architect at Architectural Preservation Studio, DPC.

The role, based in New York, calls for an individual with a background in historic preservation and building envelopes with at least 4-6 years of practical experience. Among the responsibilities for the role will be “building envelope investigation and analysis, report writing, preparation of design and construction documents with little supervision, construction administration, and field inspections for a variety of building types.”

Related on Archinect: Jenny Holzer restages 1989 projection piece at the Guggenheim in New York City. Photo: Ariel Ione Williams © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, New York

Why the role interests us

The open role at Architectural Preservation Studio offers us the opportunity to explore the various high-profi...

Wuhan ski resort rises with terraced pixels and swooping form by CLOU architects

2024-12-11T00:42:00-05:00

The Wuhan Ski Resort, located in the Huangpi district of Wuhan, China, has emerged as a new landmark in the region, offering a fusion of sports, entertainment, and retail within a striking architectural framework. Designed by CLOU Architects, the 178,000-square-meter complex integrates a broad array of functions, including a half-kilometer-long indoor ski slope, retail precincts, outdoor carnival areas, and lakeside leisure zones. The resort reflects a growing interest in snow sports in China, fueled in part by the popularity of the Beijing Winter Olympics.

An overhead perspective highlights the sweeping architectural form of the ski slope and the colorful retail pavilions lining the central lake. © Shrimp Studio

The architecture employs a modular façade system composed of “three-dimensional pixels,” unifying the visual language across the various structures. This terraced aesthetic is both functional and expressive, providing a cohesive identity to the diverse building typolog...

The Met releases first images of Frida Escobedo-led Tang Wing expansion

2024-12-10T14:58:00-05:00

The forthcoming Frida Escobedo-led Tang Wing design for the Metropolitan Museum of Art has been revealed as a five-story expansion totaling 126,000 square feet and to be completed by 2030 after a $550 million capital campaign.

The new home of the Met’s modern and contemporary art holdings will finally establish a greater congruency with the rest of the museum while increasing existing gallery space by 50 percent and addressing accessibility, infrastructure, and sustainability concerns after years of awkward placement.

Renderings for the design show a staggered, rhythmic sequence of solids and voids rising from a three-floor base to a recessed two-level all season indoor-outdoor terrace. The materials selected include limestone modules and glass in deference to the late Kevin Roche’s contributions to its campus after 1967.

Sunlight is filtered diaphanously f...

Oklahoma City group claims Legends Tower proposal poses risk to aviation

2024-12-09T18:06:00-05:00

Plans for what would become the tallest skyscraper in the United States—AO’s proposed Legends Tower for Oklahoma City—are now facing an impediment after being labeled as a potential aviation danger in a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) from a group called the Oklahoma City Airport Trust.

According to KOCO News, "The airport trust also said the proposed tower changes the departure procedures for both Will Rogers International Airport and Wiley Post Airport, creates issues with airspace and will have a negative impact on other aviation sites like Tinker Air Force Base and Max Westheimer Airport."

(Developer Scott Matteson also related to them: "We’re waiting for the full report from the FAA, which we are supposed to get by the end of this month.")

Zaha Hadid Architects' first all-wood soccer stadium plan gets approved in the UK

2024-12-09T17:37:00-05:00

The BBC is reporting that a proposal from Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) for what will be the first all-wood soccer stadium design in the world is finally moving forward after planning approvals were granted in Nailsworth, UK.

We covered its initial announcement back in 2016, when it was marketed as the 'centerpiece' for the town's £100 million ($127.5 million USD) Eco Park development. The plan calls for 5,000 seats plus other key inclusions making it "the lowest embodied carbon of any stadium in the world."

HOK's design for the first all-electric soccer stadium, Etihad Park in Queens, also recently broke ground in New York City.

Notre Dame's restoration architect on the five-year path to reopening

2024-12-09T16:30:00-05:00

"That’s success,” Villeneuve said. "If I can make (cathedral visitors) doubt there was ever a fire, then I’ve erased the horror.”

The landmark reopened over the weekend to cap a headline-grabbing year for the French capital. Archinect has followed the process of recovery and restoration since the first reports of the fire broke on April 15th, 2019. Villeneuve told reporters: "This wasn’t about me, but I’ve left my mark in my own way." The $800 million restoration is not expected to be fully completed until late 2025 or 2026 to allow for the return of all prior public and liturgical activities.

Here's some highlights from the past few years:

Plans for restorative New Lots Library are unveiled in Brooklyn

2024-12-09T14:00:00-05:00

MASS Design and the New York-based Marble Fairbanks Architects are behind a new library project in Brooklyn that combines restorative justice with the needs of the community into one dynamic 25,000-square-foot design.

The forthcoming New Lots Library will be realized on a site historically recognized as a burial ground for former slaves and freedpersons dating to the Revolutionary War era, simultaneously acknowledging their experiences and the fact that slavery as an institution was legal in New York until two decades into the 19th century.

Image credit: MASS Design Group and Marble Fairbanks Architects

Through an extensive community feedback process, both firms have envisioned a library whose activity is centered around a unifying 'Palaver' inspired by traditional African spaces used for collective community gatherings and defined by 'branch-like' radial beams extending outward to cover the reading areas and collection rooms.

Image credit: MASS Design Group and Marble Fairbanks Ar...

BIG shares images of science center progress at Claremont McKenna College

2024-12-09T09:35:00-05:00

A new higher ed project for Southern California’s Claremont McKenna College from BIG has been updated on the way to its previously announced completion next fall. The 135,000-square-foot design for the Robert Day Sciences Center targets LEED Gold certification while bringing better quality research spaces to trigger a key turn towards the liberal arts college’s "next chapter" of scientific research into neurology, genealogical studies, and climate change.

An updated rendering of the firm's 670 Mesquit residential project overlooking the Los Angeles River at the Arts District with Studio-MLA is also included at the end.

Five New York projects by WORKac: Your Next Employer?

2024-12-09T07:00:00-05:00

Following our previous visit to Laney LA, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York City this week to explore the work of WORKac.

Co-founded by Amale Andraos and Dan Wood, the firm has amassed a portfolio that includes public, cultural, and civic projects. The firm describes its ethos as using “the power of architecture and design to engage environmental and social concerns, and to create new possibilities for the future.” Last year, Archinect covered the firm’s success in the 2023 AIANY Design Awards.

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Senior Architect to join their New York City team. For candidates interested in applying for a position or anybody interested in learning more about the firm’s output, we have rounded up five projects in New York by WORKac that exemplify the firm’s ethos.

Kew Gardens Hills Library. Image credit: Bruce Damonte

Kew Gardens Hills Library, New York, NY

The new Kew Gardens Hills Library branch integrates an existi...

Las Rocas blends modular homes with Valle de Bravo’s rocky terrain

2024-12-06T15:52:00-05:00

In the northern part of Valle de Bravo, Mexico, known as La Peña, a complex of four houses seems to naturally rise from a mountainous, rocky landscape. Called Las Rocas, the project was designed in collaboration by architecture firm, Ignacio Urquiza Arquitectos, and interior design studio, Ana Paula De Alba.

Image: Onnis Luque

As detailed by the designers, the approximately 69,000-square-foot site was treated as an extension of the adjacent natural reserve. A detailed and accurate site analysis was required to determine where to position each of the houses for minimal impact on the surrounding environment.

Image: Onnis Luque

The complex is accessed through a narrow cobbled road, which leads to a central service area that contains a car park, storerooms, cisterns, machine rooms, and treatment plants. Users are required to leave their vehicles here and walk to the houses via paths, steps, and small plazas.

Image: Onnis Luque

The project is described as dynamic as each home features diffe...