Archinect - News

Google updates Open Buildings data sets using AI

2024-10-28T10:46:00-04:00

In 2021, the Google Research Africa team launched Open Buildings, an open-source dataset of building footprints across the Global South produced using AI and high-resolution satellite imagery. The team had a simple vision: to fill a major gap in data for population and density in the developing world. Now in its third version, their dataset contains polygons for 1.8 billion buildings over an area of 58 million km² in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The data is useful in determining population size and other factors to solve urban density problems.

Google's Research product manager Olivia Graham says: "About 2.5 billion more people could move to cities by 2050, most of them in the Global South — this could be a real step change for governments and organizations working through that growth. If a city is planning where to put essential services like healthcare and education, or where to develop infrastructure like water and energy supplies, this dataset shows the areas that are actively growing."

The data can be explored via a searchable map using that's accessed here.

COBE to design Adidas’ Meet & Eat in Germany

2014-12-16T14:12:00-05:00

Sports brand giant Adidas recently selected the COBE-led consortium to design the Adidas "Meet & Eat", a new public conference center at the Adidas Group's World of Sports headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany...The 11,000 m2 building has an open, clean design that complements and embraces its natural surrounding landscape. Aside the hints of Adidas' insignia through the interior, the "striped" pattern of the roof also seems to subtly nod to the brand's triple-stripe mark.

“OPEN” - winning entry by Ramon Bernabe Simo + Tomas Labanc for Amstetten in Europan 12 Austria

2014-01-06T18:53:00-05:00

Shanghai-based architects Ramon Bernabe Simo and Tomas Labanc collaborated to create "OPEN", the winning entry for the Amstetten site in the Europan 12 Austria competition. As suggested by its name, their team's proposal is a response to improve connectivity, livability, and "opening up" the city to leave room for potential urban expansion.

Take a peek at their proposal:

Renderings by idealarch.com

Is Nostalgia Dead? Retro-Futurism, Architecture & Film

2011-07-28T19:18:01-04:00

There is a certain quality about the 60s dream of the future that strikes a chord in everyone's heart. The melancholy and beauty of these dreamlike creations have survived not only in architecture, but also in fashion, product design and - most vividly so - in cinema. It is through cinema that the unique feel of this nostalgic breed of buildings could be experienced with the most powerful effect.

Tom Mallory, of our good friends over at OpenBuildings.com, refuses in an article on Huffpost to say 'goodbye' to retro-futurism and explains why it makes us feel so warm and fuzzy inside.

OpenBuildings app now available on Android

2011-07-25T14:01:28-04:00

Our friends at OpenBuildings have just announced that their mobile app, already available for the iPhone, is now available for Android users. Go check it out explore the architecture around you!

The Wild Beast by Hodgetts + Fung Design and Architecture

2011-07-20T05:45:29-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Week series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

Acoustic clarity and precision were governing principles for the design of this recital space and outdoor stage for the Masters Program in music at the California Institute of the Arts. Sited at the gateway to the 1970’s era campus, the project serves a multitude of purposes, for which acoustics, structural design, materials, and symbolic presence were integrated to produce a building which was conceived as a highly tuned instrument for musical performance.

The Wild Beast pavilion is a new one story multi-purpose space which consists of a classroom, theatre and performance space. This freestanding building has been designed to be adaptable for both small recitals and large public performances. The front wall of the building slides open, transforming the interior into an open air performance space, a folding glass awning helps pr...

Vis-à-vis with Fernanda Marques: The Malibu Residence in São Paolo, Brazil

2011-07-13T08:51:02-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Week series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

São Paulo-based architect Fernanda Marques is one of the most versatile, comprehensive and innovative designers of our time. Her unique style in architecture provokes sensations. As Le Corbusier writes: 'a series of sensations is like melody in music.. The melody is the idea, harmony is the means, the tool, the presentation of the idea.'

What is the parti in the project?

Escaping the obvious, presenting innovating solutions and making full use of technology.

How are the spaces laid out and articulated?

On the lower floor the emphasis was placed on enhancing the living areas so as to provide full integration between the areas. The gourmet kitchen was opened onto the dining-room, the staircase and the lift shaft casing were built of clear glass, to integrate the living area and the home-theatre and the outside area, where a...

Building of the Week: City of Culture of Galicia

2011-07-06T17:07:00-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Week series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

As I set on writing about the City of Culture of Galicia, I was baffled by the amount of papers, articles and comments on the subject and their diversity. I should have seen this coming, as the project's scale, budget and implications have stretched far beyond the initial expectations and urged a furious debate among architects, journalists, politicians and locals.

Commissioned in 1999, after an invited competition featuring a constellation of starchitects (Libeskind, Koolhaas, Nouvel, Perrault, Steven Holl and Ricardo Bofill, to name a few), the winning project of Peter Eisenman originally featured eight buildings (later reduced to six) composed in a complex, three-dimensional undulating terrain merging harmoniously with the environment.

Eisenman himself admits that "there is no question that the Santiago project is a res...

'Meissen | SO - IL', 18th-century Porcelain in Contemporary Architecture'

2011-06-01T18:27:00-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Day series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

During the summer of 2011 (May 28 - Aug 28), de KAdE in Amersfoort will host an extensive overview of the work of Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu (SO – IL) architectural office. The show will take place concurrent to 'Meissen | SO - IL', 18th-century porcelain in contemporary architecture'.

SO – IL has designed 32 modern, geometrically shaped showcases in bright colours and with ‘pointed tops’. As well as showing off the fifty-plus Meissen objects to best advantage, these vitrines are autonomous works in their own right.

As Florian Idenburg of SO – IL explains, “We wanted to come up with a strategy to help visitors ‘take a fresh look’ at Meissen so that they could understand the pieces in a new way. By using the vitrine to ‘upset’ conventional ways of looking at the works, we force viewers to redefine their relationship with the...

Houses for elderly people in Alcácer do Sal by Aires Mateus Arquitectos

2011-05-31T20:09:24-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Day series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

The nursing home in Alcácer do Sal, Portugal, designed by Aires Mateus Arquitectos, aggregates into a unique volume and harmoniously fits with the surroundings. Its minimal shape creates a pleasant contrast to the softer natural environment, creating a look that is clean, clear and uncluttered.

‘The project is based on a attentive reading of the life of a very specific kind of community, a sort of a micro-society with its own rules. It is a program, somewhere in between a hotel and a hospital, that seeks to comprehend and reinterpret the combination social/private, answering to the needs of a social life, and at the same time of solitude', explain the architects.

Independents unities aggregate into a unique body, whose design is expressive and clear. The reduced mobility of those who will live in the building suggests that ...

Galleria Centercity by UNStudio

2011-05-29T18:35:36-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Day series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

UNStudio’s Galleria Centercity Department Store in the Korean city of Cheonan has been awarded a RIBA International Award 2011. It reclaims the social and cultural space within the private, commercial large scale department store.

The first element that catches the viewer’s eye is the striking façade. During the day the building has a monochrome reflective appearance, whilst at night soft colours are used to generate waves of coloured light across the façade.

The main architectural theme for the Galleria Cheonan is the dynamic flow.

“The most interesting thing to me about the effect of the Galleria Cheonan is that, because of the organisation of the atrium and the moiré treatment of the facade, Illusions are created which result in the seeming alteration of scales and the creation of double images. No image is permanent ...

Prada Transformer by OMA

2011-05-27T10:11:00-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Day series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

OMA has begun to install its exhibition of projects with Prada at Ca’ Corner della Regina, a 17th century palazzo in Venice and the venue of a new outpost for the Fondazione Prada. The show, which opens on 1 June, includes the Prada Transformer project and a detailed scale model for the future Fondazione Prada in Milan.

The 20-metre high Prada Transformer is a portable, shape-shifting cultural pavilion, consisting of four basic geometric shapes – a circle, a cross, a hexagon, a rectangle – leaning together and wrapped in a flexible, elastic white skin, manufactured by the Dutch company Cocoon Holland. Each shape is a potential floor plan designed to be suitable for different cultural programming- fashion exhibitions, film festivals, art exhibitions, or a Prada fashion shows.

'Walls become floors and floors become walls ...

Hillcott Barn by RRA

2011-05-26T09:15:30-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Day series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

“Take an isolated Hilltop Barn, add some crispy edged modern steel and glass, and three hundred years of history and you have the rich ingredient in which to create a mouth watering contemporary barn conversion”
Kevin McCloud

RRA Architects was formed in 1986 and has developed a reputation as a highly innovative architectural practice. They bring three essential qualities: imagination, value for money and freedom from worry.

'Hillcott barn is a celebration of the fabric of an impressive historic structure within the Wye valley,' explain the architects. 'The need to keep costs down drove the desire for off site manufacture and the ability to phase construction. The lightness of the central spaces around the threshing doors of the barn were where the living accommodation was placed, and the darker more intimate spaces we...

Fogo Island Long Studio by Todd Saunders

2011-05-24T08:21:28-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Day series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

The Shorefast Foundation and the Fogo Island Arts Corporation commissioned Todd Saunders to design a series of six artists’ studios on various Fogo Island locations. The key consideration for the design was committed to preserving the Islanders’ traditions and aims at rejuvenating the island through the arts and culture. An enchanting place to work and live!

The concept of the long studio responds to the transition of the seasons. The studio is organized in a linear from that consists of three different spaces. An open but covered area representing the spring marks the entrance to the studio and the beginning of the seasonal activity. The central portion is left open and mostly exposed to be fully immersed in all that is offered by the long summer days on Fogo Island. The end and main body of the studio is fully enclosed to p...

Villa Vals by SeARCH and Christian Muller Architects

2011-05-22T16:58:16-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Day series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

Shouldn’t it be possible to conceal a house in an Alpine slope while still exploiting the wonderful views and allowing light to enter the building?

SeARCH and Christian Muller Architects designed this gorgeous private holiday villa in Switzerland, located near the thermal springs of Therme Vals. A truly inspiring sight to behold!

Surprised that it was permissible to construct a pair of dwellings so close to the world famous thermal bath of Vals, the client seized the opportunity to develop the site, without disturbing the bath’s expansive views. The introduction of a central patio into the steep incline creates a large façade with considerable potential for window openings. The viewing angle from the building is slightly inclined, giving an even more dramatic view of the strikingly beautiful mountains on the opposite side of...

The White House by WT Architecture

2011-05-20T16:07:41-04:00

Consolidation of the structure provided a challenge given the size of the cracks and a system of exposed stainless steel ties and bracing frames in original window and fireplaces openings was devised with project engineers David Narro Associates.

The RIBA has announced the 17 ‘best new houses’ vying for this year’s Manser Medal. The White House by WT Architecture won the Ambassador Award. This exceptional private home, situated on the Isle of Coll, Scotland, was built in the ruins of a house abandoned 150 years earlier.

'Consolidation of the structure provided a challenge given the size of the cracks and a system of exposed stainless steel ties and bracing frames in original window and fireplaces openings was devised with project engineers David Narro Associates. There was no economic means of closing the main cracks up and it was also felt that they contributed so much to the identity of the house that they should be retained and enhanced where possible. The consolidation work was carefully undertaken by local island builder Tom Davies and took almost a year up to the point when the main construction contract started', explains Will Tunnell.

A three storey high entrance hall and stairway was created in ...

Celebrate the launch of Archinect v3.0 with us in NYC on April 29th

2011-04-22T00:34:39-04:00

Please join us for drinks and socializing next Friday, April 29th, in New York City, at the Samsung Experience space in the Time Warner Building, for a celebration of the launch of Archinect v3.0, and a very special announcement of an exciting new alliance formed by Archinect, Designer Pages, OpenBuildings and Otto.

We'll be utilizing the high-resolution digital screens in the space to show our new site, and the work from our community. If you would like to submit work to be considered for presentation at the event, please upload your projects to your individual profile (apply here for a profile if you don't already have one) and/or upload projects to your firm profiles (click here to set up your firm profile if you don't yet have one).

Friday, April 29, 2011 @ 6:00 PM

Samsung Experience: Time Warner Building

10 Columbus Circle, New York, NY (map)

Please RSVP by sending an email to connect@archinect.com, indicating your name and the number of guest you will b...

OpenBuildings launches new site and secures Series A funding from leading investors

2011-04-13T14:15:59-04:00

We're excited to share this news from our friends at OpenBuildings. Stay tuned for more upcoming exciting news about Archinect's collaborations with OpenBuildings, DesignerPages and Otto.

OpenBuildings, a global archive of buildings for architecture lovers and industry professionals, today announced it has secured a $2 million Series A funding round led by BlueRun Ventures and Index Ventures. John Malloy of BlueRun Ventures will join the board and the funding will be used to expand the team in London, UK and Sofia, Bulgaria as well as improve the existing technology of this cross media service. OpenBuildings aims to promote the sharing of architectural knowledge and gives a platform for discourse between professionals and the general public. What I find exciting is that OpenBuildings allows people to discover buildings and then share and discuss them in a completely new way. I think this is going to really stimulate people’s interaction with architecture.” Adel Zakout, Co-Founder, C...