Archinect - News

Dewan's NFT of the Tower of Babel offers infinite spiraling exhibition spaces

2022-01-21T14:33:00-05:00

Dewan Architects + Engineers have unveiled Babel 4.0, a project which the firm with headquarters in the UAE describes as “the first architecturally-inspired NFT from the Middle East.” A reinterpretation of the mythical Tower of Babel, the project speculates on the role of architects and designers in shaping futuristic metaverse landscapes.

Babel 4.0. Image by Dewan Architects + Engineers.

Available now on OpenSea, the project consists of an infinitely-propagating helix form. Visitors to the tower begin at a communal space at ground level, before ascending anticlockwise through exhibition and museum levels which exhibit user-generated NFTs in a virtual museum. The public exhibition spaces are currently reserved for 100 invited members, which may be extended at a later date.

Babel 4.0. Image by Dewan Architects + Engineers.

The silos are intended as a platform to promote interaction between digital artistic communities, building on a renewed popular focus on the metaverse. “Babel 4.0 i...

Shaped Touches by Sean Lally features an interactive video game for the Venice Biennale

2021-07-22T20:03:00-04:00

As part of this year’s Venice Biennale, architect Sean Lally of Switzerland-based Sean Lally Architecture has paired a physical installation with an immersive simulation video game.

Shaped Touches is an investigation into the ways architecture and space can be perceived, showcasing the inherent subjectivity of the craft. The project is centered around climate change, specifically the impact it will continue to have on the way future environments are experienced. Using a virtual platform, Lally provides unfamiliar and potential perspectives to its users.

“Architects are in a position to foreshadow the opportunities and implications these pressures will have on shared public spaces,” reads the project description. “Shaped Touches offers a proposition for how architecture will define its shape and the relationships of people and communities touching that space.”

Within the video game, players explore a design space. Every minute, the game restarts in the same space but with new senso...

New York’s Center for Architecture Launches Digital Residency to Promote New Voices in Design

2021-04-19T11:39:00-04:00

New York’s Center for Architecture has announced the launch of the Center for Architecture Lab – a digital residency dedicated to promoting new voices and ideas in architecture. Created in response to major destabilizing forces, from the COVID-19 pandemic to the racial justice movement in the United States, the program will invite a diverse, multi-disciplinary field of professionals to engage with important issues through the lens of architecture and design. Through this, it hopes to encourage the architectural community to consider outside perspectives, critical questions, and innovative solutions to problems within and beyond the architectural profession.

The multi-month residency program will see a series of individuals, institutions, and organizations contribute their expertise to important questions in the built environment. The program will offer residents full authorship over dedicated areas of the Center for Architecture’s digital platforms, where they will publish compellin...

NFT artwork inspired by Calvino’s “Invisible Cities” explores visions of urbanism; real and imagined

2021-04-15T10:53:00-04:00

Recently, we took a closer look at how architecture and design may be affected by the rise of NFTs (non-fungible tokens), and the underlying blockchain technology supporting them. In the latest intriguing development on the subject, the digital art marketplace SuperRare has announced the launch of Invisible Cities; a ground-breaking digital exhibition showcasing a range of real and imagined cityscapes, inspired by Italo Calvino’s seminal book of the same name.

Mari.k, Emiris, 2021, Unique Non- Fungible Token

The exhibition, on display from April 2-30, 2021, features the work of 10 artists who have used Calvino’s Invisible Cities as the basis for an exploration into the relationship between real and imagined cities, and the visible and invisible entities that allow them to operate. The captivating images are also available to purchase as NFTs throughout April, where interest in the subject has been spurred by Christie’s recent NFT sale of Beeple’s Everydays for $69 million.

Karisman...

Honoring California architecture students through scholarship at the 2020 2x8 Virtual Exhibition

2020-12-23T14:29:00-05:00

Virtual events became commonplace as in-person conferences, symposiums, and exhibitions switched to a virtual format. As event teams transitioned to digital platforms, the amount of work and effort showcased provided a humbling reminder of how far visual representations of work could be taken.

In November, the AIA Los Angeles and the 2x8 Committee showcased their annual 2x8 Exhibition and Scholarship Award Ceremony. In previous years, this in-person event would attract students, faculty, visitors, and more than 20 California-based schools to witness an exhibition that celebrates the very best the state have to offer.

Archinect Feature: AIA|LA recognizes the work of California's architecture students at the 2019 2x8:Exchange Competition. 2x8 Exhibition: Exchange (2019) Designed by: small talks: LA – At Helms Bakery District. Image © Kirill Volchinskiy/Courtesy of AIA|LA 2x8

Besides student work and scholarship awards, what makes the 2x8 Exhibition so unique is the site-specific exhib...