Archinect - News

Henning Larsen unveils a new campus center for the MCI in Austria

2021-12-15T17:01:00-05:00

Promising “a view of the Alps from every window,” Henning Larsen has unveiled new designs for a university building in Austria that will unite the diffuse Management Center Innsbruck (MCI) campus in a world-class learning environment, according to the architects.

Promoted as a standard-bearer for “openness, identity, communication, and design excellence”, the 35,000-square-meter (377,000-square-foot) building is located on the edge of the city center and was commended by the selection committee as an “ideal urban development of the new campus as a lighthouse project between the historic Hofgarten, the University of Social Sciences, and the new security center.”

Visualization by Sora courtesy Henning Larsen

MCI has been steadily growing since first being established in 1995. A byproduct of that growth has meant that the university’s facilities are now spread out across the city in a number of different areas of Innsbruck. Henning Larsen has thus leveraged its six decades of experience...

A 19th century passive house in Chicago is a model for sustainable retrofitting

2021-04-22T12:53:00-04:00

On the subject of architecture and construction’s contribution to climate change, our existing building stock is coming under increasing scrutiny. While the United Kingdom recently announced a review into embodied carbon in buildings, thanks in part to the Architect Journal’s RetroFirst campaign, U.S. President Joe Biden has promised tens of billions of dollars in investment to retrofit four million buildings across the country.

Although new buildings, and the regulations surrounding them, are achieving ever-higher accolades for sustainability, 80% of the buildings that will exist in 2050 have already been built – many of which fall below the environmental performance standards needed to address the climate crisis. On Earth Day, we look at one example of how retrofitting old houses can offer benefits to inhabitants, streetscapes, and the environment.

The Yannell PHIUS+ House. Image: Christopher Barrett / HPZS

In the Ravenswood neighborhood of Chicago, among the familiar two-story...

Dear Apple, what will you do next?

2018-12-27T20:22:00-05:00

Architecture, creativity, and community. These are the themes that best summarize Apple retail in 2018. Over the past year, Apple has worked in new ways to expand its global and local reach. The company has challenged the traditional definition of brick-and-mortar stores during an uncertain time for many retailers.

The multi-billion dollar company made moves this year with its heavy presence of retail stores through out the globe. From their new and newly remodeled stores every flagship highlights elements of accessibility, natural light, and energy efficient initiatives present. This year alone, nine brand new Apple stores were built across the globe. Each with a custom layout and a large focus on community, Apple's retail strategy is pushing the boundaries for what is possible for the global enterprise.

Apple Garosugil - Built January 27th, 2018

Apple Cotai Central - Built June 29th, 2018

Apple Champs-Élysées - Built November 18th, 2018

Through out the year Apple strived to transform its flagship stores to become more than just places to buy product. The goal of creating a sense of community through their retail spaces, Apple launched Today at Apple in 2017. The goal was to expand costumer reach and community awareness through Apple "sessions." These in-store, creative, educational sessions are...

Harvard GSD unveils ultra-efficient HouseZero, designed to produce more energy than it uses

2018-12-04T18:41:00-05:00

The U.S. building stock is responsible for around 40 percent of energy
consumption, with housing nearly a quarter of that use. In 2014, Harvard GSD established the Harvard Center for Green Buildings & Cities to tackle the high energy and environmental costs of the industry. Yesterday, in collaboration with the international firm Snøhetta, the school completed their new headquarters which also doubles as a prototype for ultra-efficiency.

Image: Snøhetta / Plompmozes

Named HouseZero, the facility was built with ambitious performance targets that serve as a model for retrofitting inefficient existing buildings. The result is a transformed pre-1940s building in Cambridge that requires zero energy for heating and cooling, zero electric lighting during the day, operates with 100 percent natural ventilation, and produces zero carbon emissions. Not only that, over its lifetime, the building will actually produce more energy than it uses, even covering the energy costs of its own production.

“...

MAD’s tent-like conference center breaks ground in China's rugged mountains

2018-07-26T15:08:00-04:00

MAD Architects' new China Entrepreneur Forum Conference Centre has broken ground in the rugged, snow-capped mountains of Yabuli, located in northeastern China.

China Entrepreneur Forum Conference Centre by MAD Architects, located in Yabuli, CN. Image: MAD Architects.

The new centre will act as a permanent venue for annual summits hosted by the China Entrepreneur Forum (CEF) in Yabuli. CEF commissioned MAD Architects, led by Ma Yansong, to design a building that embodied China's entrepreneurial industry.

China Entrepreneur Forum Conference Centre by MAD Architects, located in Yabuli, CN. Image: MAD Architects.

Cited along the axis of a mountain, MAD designed a dynamic, tent-like structure defined by soft and sloping lines. The building reaches only 78 feet in height allowing the structure to quietly integrate into the surrounding landscape.

China Entrepreneur Forum Conference Centre by MAD Architects, located in Yabuli, CN. Image: MAD Architects.

Organized into four floors, the st...

Maximum sustainability in Harvard GSD and Snøhetta's "HouseZero"

2017-05-23T19:20:00-04:00

How can you transform a not particularly sustainable 1940s building into a leading example of pioneering environmental design? First, get the Harvard GSD Center for Green Building and Cities team focused on green building techniques, and secondly, hire Snøhetta. The result? This press release from Harvard says it all:

The Harvard Center for Green Buildings (CGBC) at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design, in collaboration with Snøhetta and Skanska Technology, are retrofitting CGBC’s headquarters in a pre-1940s timber-framed building to become one of the world’s most ambitious sustainable buildings. As a first-of-its-kind research project, HouseZero demonstrates how to transform a challenging building stock into a prototype for ultra-efficiency, rapidly reducing the level of reliance on energy-intensive technology while simultaneously creating comfortable indoor environments.

HouseZero attempts to address the global environmental challenge of climate change by focusing on exi...

How 100 years of zoning shaped New York City's quest for sunlight

2016-12-19T19:17:00-05:00

Ever since 19th century city commissioners laid a grid on the hilly island of Manhattan, New York City has been squeezing skyward. That’s meant natural light has always been in short supply—for some New Yorkers more than others. Access to sunshine was one of the main drivers of the first zoning laws, as a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, Mastering the Metropolis, explores.

MAD reveals renderings of highly sustainable Xinhee Design Center

2016-08-10T18:00:00-04:00

Pretty much every element of MAD's design for the Xinhee Design Center factors in sustainability: water features, full-blown gardens and offices commingle on the six star-shaped floors that sprout from the central atrium, while an envelope of PTFE provides ventilation and shade.

Solar panels occupy the roof, while the footbridge in the atrium provides both air circulation and the opportunity for impromptu fashion modeling. The use of natural light throughout the building is aided in part by the facade's translucent coating, which allows light transmittance of up to 40%.

However, the concept behind the building is meant to reflect the business of the client, an international fashion group. As MAD founding principal Ma Yansong explains, “We envision it as a building with skin-and-bones. The correspondence of clothing and architecture is they both explore the relationship between the interior and the exterior.”

For more on MAD:

Norman Foster's secret garden: a tour of Foster + Partners' Maggie's Center

2016-05-04T13:07:00-04:00

Cancer survivor Lord Norman Foster gave HRH Duchess of Cornwall a tour of his newly completed Maggie's Center in his hometown of Manchester at the cancer facility's official opening April 27th, showing her a design that emphasizes natural light and a connection to nature. This has lead to numerous sliding glass doors and walls throughout the rectilinear plan, as well as the intention to plant vines on the signature triangular timber frame. Additionally, each treatment and counselling room comes with its own private garden.

As Foster noted, "Our aim in Manchester, the city of my youth, was to create a building that is welcoming, friendly and without any of the institutional references of a hospital or health centre – a light-filled, homely space where people can gather, talk or simply reflect. That is why throughout the building there is a focus on natural light, greenery and views; with a greenhouse to provide fresh flowers, and an emphasis on the therapeutic qualities of nature and ...

Developer of SOM-designed Nanjing skyscraper found guilty of depriving nearby residents of precious sunlight

2015-12-08T13:40:00-05:00

The developers of the 450-meter high Zifeng Tower in Nanjing have been found guilty of robbing the surrounding neighborhood of precious sunshine, and will have to compensate residents accordingly. [...] The 89-story Zifeng Tower was designed by American architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. It is the tallest building in Nanjing, fourth tallest in China and 12 tallest in the world.

The all-glass Photon Space could help us get our daily dose of sunlight, and then some

2014-12-08T17:58:00-05:00

The Photon Space is becoming known as the first all-glass modular structure of its kind that addresses the health benefits of exposure to natural light and the importance of those benefits in our contemporary lifestyle — where many of us spend it indoors — and its everyday stresses.

Recently launched on Crowdcube by The Photon Project, the Photon Space is a luxury daytime suite that has a 45 m2 footprint and includes a furnished living room, a double bedroom, and a modular integrated kitchen and bathroom. But what distinguishes the Photon Space is its intelligent glass architecture.

The design of the Photon Space glass is supported by recent long-term research led by Russell Foster, a professor of Circadian Neuroscience and Head of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Oxford. Professor Foster's research states that a healthy dose of natural light can help regulate circadian rhythms, reduce stress, and improve mood, among other benefits. The multi-layered, high-performa...

Penumbra, Kinetic Daylighting and Shading System

2014-03-17T12:58:00-04:00

This project was designed to offer a kinetic and mechanical solution to a problem that would otherwise be nearly impossible to solve with static architectural components: providing shading across a building facade for both low evening sun and high afternoon sun conditions.

New technology pipes sunlight into windowless rooms

2012-11-29T14:13:00-05:00

A mirror tracks the sun throughout the day, reflecting its rays onto a parabolic dish, which then focuses the reflected daylight into a small ‘light pipe’ aperture. The concentrated light then travels through a series of relay lenses “over any distance and in any direction”, according to the company. A diffuser ensures that light evenly reaches the desired areas.