Archinect - News

Cities depend on water. Here's the best solutions for urban designers to ensure their security

2024-06-17T19:51:00-04:00

More cities will likely face these kinds of shortages as climate change, deforestation and ecosystems degradation increasingly threaten the natural systems that maintain water supplies. But nature offers solutions, too. By protecting, restoring and sustainably managing forests within their watersheds, cities can improve water quality and quantity in a cost-effective way. And they can make water sources more resilient to a changing climate.

The most recent ASLA survey of U.S.-based landscape architects confirmed the industry’s positive response to this critical demand, including that a total of 42% of respondents have said they are pursuing climate projects worth more than $1 million and another 29% saying the value of this work was over $10 million.

Mexico's recent presidential election is another barometer, as the environmental engineer and former CDMX mayor Claudia Sheinbaum’s ability to tackle the looming water crisis there proved a decisive factor in her historic victory. (A catastrophic 'Day Zero', however, still looms right around the corner.)

Bjarke Ingels Group + AECOM join forces with Hyperloop

2016-05-11T19:32:00-04:00

Not content to merely redefine skyscrapers, football stadiums, and the agency of the architect, Bjarke Ingels Group is now leaping into the realm of transportation, joining up with Hyperloop to "transform the future of public infrastructure."

Bjarke explained it thusly: "Traditionally, the work of an architect is to design buildings for the same known program - a residence or a workplace - and try to squeeze in a marginal improvement here or an elegant design solution there. With Hyperloop we are not only designing a futuristic station or a very fast train - we are dealing with an entirely novel technology with the potential to completely transform how our existing cities will grow and evolve - and how new cities will be conceived and constructed."

For its part, AECOM will focus on improving the freight end of the transportation system, focusing its highly trained teams on the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. "AECOMs partnership with Hyperloop One has the potential to transform ...

A river of solar power: a scheme for the Tijuana river

2016-03-23T18:30:00-04:00

In Tijuana, another architect is devising a plan to turn the Tijuana River channel into a solar farm that could provide power to as many as 30,000 homes. Rene Peralta, co-founder of the Tijuana firm Generica and director of an architecture master's program at San Diego's Woodbury University, thinks that his city can transform this unwieldy piece of infrastructure into a renewable energy plant and water-cleaning station.

February 2016 was the hottest month in several thousand years, so it seems like a good idea to start transforming erstwhile urban heat islands into power-generating rivers. Below, Generica's rendering of the proposed redesigned Tijuana river channel:

For more on projects that turn seemingly intractable swaths of infrastructure into gorgeous urban amenities:

PLANT Architect Wins National CSLA Award

2014-03-06T12:00:00-05:00

Pottery Road Bicycle and Pedestrian Crossing in Toronto recognized by CSLA as preeminent example of Canadian landscape architecture.

Ottawa, 6 March 2014 — The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) announced the national and regional winners of its annual Awards of Excellence. The Pottery Road Bicycle and Pedestrian Crossing is one of fifteen projects that received a national award this year. It is the first component of a larger scheme to provide interpretation, accessibility, and environmental control for the Lower Don Recreational Trail in Toronto.

Pressured by its urban location, the site’s heavy usage by cyclists and pedestrians resulted in numerous unplanned and unsustainable trails, including a widely used but extremely dangerous crossing at Pottery Road. PLANT Architect addressed these and other issues by designing a new controlled crossing and reconfigured road-island with visual graphics and laser-cut signage to direct and control traffic.

Since its unveiling in ...

“En Pointe” runner-up entry by The Open Workshop + Lorena Del Rio Architects for E12 Austria, Kagran

2014-01-10T17:29:00-05:00

After submitting "En Pointe" to the Europan 12 Austria competition, The Open Workshop + Lorena Del Rio Architects team placed as a Runner-Up in a three-way tie for the Kagran site (In other words, a "Winner" title wasn't given.) "En Pointe" uses the arcade concept and hybrid, multi-functional spaces to improve Kagran's connectivity and potentially enhance the city at an architectural and urban level.

Here's a preview of their project:

Find out more on Bustler.

You can also click here to see other Europan 12 entries.

Copenhagenize your bike with MIT's Copenhagen Wheel

2013-10-22T13:56:00-04:00

Superpedestrian, a start-up in Boston, announced on Monday that it has received $2.1 million in financing to help build a wheel that transforms some standard bicycles into hybrid e-bikes. The product, the Copenhagen Wheel, is a design from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology SENSEable City Laboratory. The original goal of the wheel was to entice more people to more bicycles in large cities in lieu of cars by giving them help from a motor.

Initially presented at the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change in 2009, SENSEeable City Lab's Copenhagen Wheel will soon be produced through Boston start-up Superpedestrian. Rather than buying a whole new bike or installing a cumbersome motor, the Copenhagen Wheel can be adapted onto most regular bikes, and will be comparable in price to most e-bikes. The wheel can be synced with the rider's iPhone to collect transit data, both for the benefit of the rider keeping tabs on exercise and commute regimens, and for the benefit of the city -- riders can choose to anonymously share data with their local government, aiding the improvement of cycling infrastructure and traffic management.

The Wired City, PD Smith

2012-08-06T12:42:17-04:00

In this excerpt from his new book, City: A Guidebook for the Urban Age, PD Smith explores the history of ‘invisible’ urban infrastructure, from the network of subterranean steam pipes synchronising Paris clocks in the 1870s to the ‘organism’ that is Seoul today. The next step: a city that talks back to its citizens?