Archinect - News

OMA, Peter Cook, Morphosis, Adjaye Associates among firms showcasing design proposals in NEOM's recent The Line Experience exhibition

2023-02-02T15:00:00-05:00

A list of architecture firms involved in the design of Saudi Arabia’s NEOM project has come to light along with a preview exhibition on view now in Riyadh at the Diriyah Biennale Foundation for Contemporary Art that features proposals from unspecified designers.

Peter Cook, Adjaye Associates, OMA, Pei Cobb Freed & Partners, Studio Fuksas, Oyler Wu Collaborative, Morphosis Architects, Tom Wiscombe Architecture, HOK, Delugan Meissl Architects, UNStudio, and Coop Himmelb(l)au are the entities included in the exhibition, according to a report published recently in the Architects' Journal.

Exhibition image courtesy of NEOM (2022).

The scope of each firm’s involvement remains unclear as the proposals were not credited to anyone specifically. The Architects’ Journal was also unable to obtain either confirmation or quotes from any of the firms named in the exhibition, making it a guessing game that nevertheless reflects on the $500 billion project’s murkiness and the reluctance of global de...

Anyone can build a model, but can you craft an exhibition-quality model? If so, BIG may need your help

2022-04-06T08:27:00-04:00

The technological complexity behind one of the most fundamental parts of the design process has evolved progressively beyond paper and other rudimentary, hand skills-based ways of form-making to include 3D printing, laser-cutting, and even AR systems as the new and constantly improving tools that go into architectural modeling.

As part of our recurring job highlights series, we recently showcased an opportunity to work as a Signage & Wayfinding Project Manager at the iconic graphic design agency Pentagram or as an exhibition design professional at the biggest and most influential art museum in the United States. This week, we're profiling an industry heavyweight as it searches for the right person to play an important part in this crucial step essential to its philosophical underpinnings and pursuit of new business.

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) is now hiring a full-time Model Shop Assistant to work alongside its Model Shop Manager running the day-to-day operations at the firm’s Brookly...

Tate Modern unveils a visual feast for the Great British Bake Off

2021-11-24T19:19:00-05:00

The Tate apparently showed off a gingerbread model for the finale of the Great British Bake Off. This year’s winning entry for the BBC Channel 4 competition was an oversized remake of the Mad Hatter’s tea party from one-time architecture critic Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland.

The edible museum model was produced by food artists Caitlin Levin and Henry Hargreaves. The duo originally prepared several models of different museums like the MAXXI and Guggenheim for the 2013 edition of Miami Art Basel they said are inspired by each building’s unique form.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Tate (@tate)

“We wanted to really focus on architecturally heavy galleries. Ones that were a mixture of the iconic and ones that people might not know, because a lot of it’s about learning and playing," Hargreaves said at the time. "Once we figured which galleries we wanted to do, we focused on certain angles and great shots and then we’d make a foamcore model of the gal...

Architects Patricia Urquiola, Kengo Kuma, and five other designers participate in new miniature home series called 'The Village'

2021-04-02T15:46:00-04:00

Tuscan-based product and design studio Salvatori created a series that "captures the essence of home" through miniatures titled The Village. Joined by Kengo Kuma, Yabu Pushelberg, and Patricia Urquiola, to name a few, the mini-series invited each architect and designer to develop a "series of whimsical imaginary houses, each designed to address important and fundamental themes of contemporary living."

Starting this past March, famed Spanish architect and curator Patricia Urquiola unveiled the collection's first series. Her contribution to The Village series is a set of small stone homes titled Kore. Urquiola shared during Salvatori's collection release, the series was "a reflection on domestic spaces, something that is more important than ever today. Home has become the center of our lives, our town or city, our habitat. We have all become domestic navigators, trying to orient ourselves to these new latitudes, ways of living."

Kore collection developed by Patricia Urquiola for The V...

Michael Velliquette's intricate architectural paper models to be exhibited in Texas

2020-11-12T18:06:00-05:00

Previously featured on Archinect, artist Michael Velliquette has a new collection of paper sculptures that will be on display at the David Shelton Gallery in an exhibition called Creations are Numberless, I Vow to Free Them.

Everywhere transience is plunging into the depth of being | Paper sculpture |
12” x 12” x 9” | 2020

By constructing objects that convey strength, intent, and durability, Velliquette's work redefines the fragile connotations of paper. The artist's process, done completely by hand, is so intricate and complex that some works can take up to 500 hours to complete.

Now heaven’s river drowns its banks, and floods of joy have run abroad | Paper sculpture | 25" x 25" x 6" | 2017

The love that would soak down into the center of being | Paper sculpture | 20” x 20 x 8” | 2020

The series of abstract layers that make up each sculpture suggest fortress like constructions, tiered mandalas, or complex gears. Velliquette's work is in the permanent collections of the Chazen Museum ...

Is a future filled with levitating buildings on the horizon?

2019-11-18T15:10:00-05:00

During Dubai Design Week, architect and professor Dr. Georges Kachaamy presented an eye catching project that questions architecture's need for the ground. Through his project, "Rising Oases," Kachaamy proposes a future where individual buildings are no longer tied to their "daily restraints," including the need to be firmly anchored to the earth.

According to the Dubai Design Week website, "The structure is suspended in the air using breakthrough technology, providing visitors with an outlet to disconnect from the city." Part of an ongoing research project that has been in the works over the past decade, according to a recent report from CNN, Kachammy's project, which uses magnetic levitation technologies to levitate scale models above their bases, stunned the design week attendees.

Rendering of one of Kachaamy's levitating buildings. Courtesy of Georges Kachaamy.

Some might view his proposal as implausible, but according to Kieron Monks of CNN, Kachammy is prepared to win over th...

Brazilian architect Márcio Sequeira's latest Mola Structural Kit makes understanding the structural behavior of buildings fun

2019-06-17T11:19:00-04:00

Before launching the Mola Structural Kit 1 in 2014, Brazilian architect Márcio Sequeira spent ten years developing the Molar design model before it hit the market. He initially came up with the Mola Structural Model while he was a postgraduate student in architecture school. Since then, Mola has not only become Brazil's most successful crowdfunded campaign, it has found its way into classrooms and major universities across like MIT, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), and Technical University Madrid (UPM). In 2016, Sequeira and his team launched a second campaign, Mola 2. The goal was to help fund the production of additional products and expand the line.

Mola Structural Kit 1 launched in 2014 and Kit 2 launched in 2016. Image © Mola Structural Model

Now the company releases its latest model, the Mola Structural Kit 3. According to the Mola team, the kits are used as"a learning tool with a modular construction system that allows those interested in architecture to easil...

Artist hand-cuts paper shapes and assembles them into sacred architecture

2018-08-09T14:06:00-04:00

Mixed media artist Michael Velliquette has been making imaginary architecture models. A prolific artist who favors paper as his medium, his latest is a series of carefully detailed installations. Using hand-cut paper shapes, Velliquette assembles countless pieces of paper into complex forms he describes as both "scared architecture and three-dimensional mandalas." Textured and layered over one another, the Wisconsin-based artist's work takes interest in "ritually driven object making, devotional ornamentation, and our natural human impulse for razzle-dazzle."

Image courtesy of Michael Velliquette.

UK model making firm specializes in custom miniatures of client's homes

2018-04-04T15:17:00-04:00

Custom miniatures are increasingly the focus of Chisel & Mouse, which Robert Paisley runs with his brother, Gavin. The duo, yearning for a more fulfilling career after working in software sales and banking, turned to model making seven years ago [...] A cottage industry of architectural model-makers has arisen in the U.K. to offer this bespoke service.

Chisel & Mouse's passion for architecture results in miniatures of famous architectural structures as well as custom models. Using modern and traditional printing and sculpting techniques, the group will make an exact miniature of anything you choose working from satellite data, architect's drawings, photos and sketches.

Maidman House by Chisel & Mouse. Image: Chisel & Mouse.

With their early Makerbot 3D printer, Chisel & Mouse have made molds of building such as the Tate Modern, the Battersea Power Station, and the Capitol Records Building in Hollywood, CA.

Battersea Power Station by Chisel & Mouse. Image: Chisel & Mouse.

Bauhaus Dessau by Chisel & Mouse. Image: Chisel & Mouse.

Inside Frank Gehry and Thomas Krens' hybrid Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum

2018-02-20T14:25:00-05:00

Picture the World Trade Center near the Empire State Building near Fenway Park near London's Tate Modern. Now picture trains zipping past the architectural icons. That is the vision world-famous architect Frank Gehry and museum developer Thomas Krens are trying to bring to North Adams, in the form of the Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum.

With the aim of developing North Adams, Massachusetts as a cultural destination, Frank Gehry and Thomas Krens released plans last summer for their hybrid Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum. The initial concept has now developed into an entire model showcasing more of what the museum will look like.

The model museum features 164 buildings showcasing contemporary architecture by 71 international architects. Interwoven amongst these building 12 rail lines will run 107 operating model trains.

The proposed museum houses this entire set up in one 670-foot-long gallery stretching the length of 2.5 football fields. Buildings will be constructed at a 1:48 scale including iconic structures such as the Seagram Building in Manhattan or the Brooklyn Bridge. The tallest building, the One World Trade Center, will reach 40 feet tall.

The trains and buildings will also be surrounded by video-projected landscaping blending the physical models into a seamless background. The...

Frank Lloyd Wright's shabby models and how MoMA preserved them

2017-06-29T13:21:00-04:00

The majority of the models were far from pristine. Architectural maquettes are often only used to quickly communicate an idea; longevity of materials such as chipboard or Plexiglas is rarely a concern. So, when Moody set out to restore the 14 models in MoMA’s archive (the museum holds the three-dimensional works of Wright’s massive archive), she was faced with missing elements, acidified paper, warping, and discoloration, among other issues.

Exploring lesser-known parts of Wright’s 70-year-long career, MoMA's new exhibition, Frank Lloyd Wright at 150: Unpacking the Archive (on view through October 1, 2017) presents projects for an experimental farm and a series of rural school buildings in the segregated South. Besides that, the show also focuses on Wright's models—often extensively modified by him and largely representative of the architect's thought process and the evolution of his ideas.“For him, they were presentation pieces meant to seduce the clients or put them at ease, especially if the designs were avant-garde or difficult to picture on paper,” says MoMA conservator Ellen Moody.

Analysis of the models also revealed the alterations performed by other stakeholders, including clients and conservators.

Model for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (Image courtesy of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation Archives MoMA Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, Columbia University)

"A model of an early iteration of the Solomon...

16 designers to display new "Tribune Tower" models at the 2nd Chicago Architecture Biennial

2017-03-07T19:41:00-05:00

The 1922 contest drew 263 entries from 23 countries and led to the construction of a landmark neo-Gothic skyscraper. In 1980, Chicago architects Stanley Tigerman and Stuart Cohen organized a "Late Entries" version of the legendary contest...Now, the curators of this year's Chicago Architecture Biennial are putting together what might be called the "Late Late Entries" to the Tribune Tower competition.

Although the names of the sixteen designers picked to create a new "Tribune Tower" at the Chicago Architecture Biennial haven't been announced quite yet, according to this article their designs are already being value-engineered in order to be as feasible as possible for potential construction. Whichever design may ultimately go on to the big time of 1:1 scale, the Biennial will be a delightful experience for all of those who still enjoy enormous physical models of both the built and the unbuilt variety:

In addition to the 16 new versions of Tribune Tower, the curators are commissioning two other 16-foot-tall models of designs for the skyscraper from early in the last century. One is a famous, columnlike version by the Austrian architect Adolf Loos that was part of the 1922 competition. The other, which was not officially entered, is a gridded modernist design by the German architect and urban planner Ludwig Hilberseimer.

The toy-like Mola Structural Kit allows architects to experiment with structural engineering

2016-11-29T14:02:00-05:00

How can architects determine if their designs are structurally sound? Aside from consulting with a professional structural engineering firm, the Mola Structural Kit offers a playful way to test out the strength and durability of various designs. The company has unveiled the second edition of the kit, which has been designed to be compatible with the first. Here's a video that explains it all:

See downtown Los Angeles in Legos

2016-10-04T13:15:00-04:00

Take away the conceptual heft of Chris Burden's Metropolis II and substitute in a grade-school love for pre-fabricated plastic building blocks and you'd have something like Jorge Parra Jr.'s eight-years-in-the-making Lego model of Los Angeles, which portrays a detailed swath of the city's downtown. Here's a video tour, including scale-model billboards, a working Metro train, and a faithful representation of its latest skyscraper:

Bjarke builds a model! (and explicates his design process)

2016-07-21T14:59:00-04:00

Proving that he can hold his own against 8 to 14-year old contenders, Bjarke Ingels demonstrates some model-building basics by participating in the "Build Your Own Pavilion" challenge, whose participants are usually still in grade school. Admittedly, Bjarke's nimble paper crinkling is integrated seamlessly into an explanation of the design concept behind his "unzipped" Serpentine Pavilion. Here's the full video:

Tour hundreds of Japanese architectural models by the likes of Shigeru Ban and Kengo Kuma at Tokyo's 'Archi-Depot'

2016-06-20T13:14:00-04:00

The museum, which will open on Tennozu Isle in Tokyo’s Shinagawa district will not only be a place for these models to be displayed, but also act as an effort to preserve them. The space will be lined with over 100 shelves to display their permanent collection, in addition to special exhibits. Each model in the museum will be accompanied by a QR code which can be scanned using a smartphone to access more information about the structure, including photos of the completed work.

The Archi-Depot museum originated from the Archi Depot Foundation (founded last year by Terrada Warehouse and Tokyo Design Center companies), with the core purpose of conveying to a general public the significance and artistry inherent to the architectural model-making process. Before opening the museum, the Foundation staged an exhibition at the 2015 Triennale di Milano.

Related on Archinect:

Aspiring Japanese surgeons build tiny models to get hired

2016-04-26T12:41:00-04:00

Forget the life and death drama of heart transplant surgery—what about the insane pressure to expertly fold a piece of origami in under 15 minutes? Located in Japan's Okayama prefecture, Kurashiki Central Hospital is holding fierce recruitment competitions in which surgeons must assemble tiny models—in one case, a piece of sushi with a single grain of rice—to demonstrate their fine motor skills (and coolness in a complicated deadline situation: sound familiar, model builders?). Here's the video of the tryouts:

Envision your next design with Arckit + giveaway!

2016-01-28T12:04:00-05:00

Need a break from LEGOs or want to refresh your creative process for your next project? Arckit is a choice you wouldn't want to pass up. Irish architect Damien Murtagh created the aesthetically savvy modular kit for architects, students, hobbyists, and design enthusiasts of any age to enjoy and use for their architectural modeling needs.

Arckit uses a series of reusable modular components that connect without glue(!), allowing the creation of freeform structures that can be endlessly modified. The system is based on modern building techniques and uses a universal sale — making it ideal for architectural projects, showcasing finished designs, or just for good ol' fun.

Are you in dire need of one of these kits? Archinect is giving away three Arckit sets to our lucky readers!

Read on for more about Arckit, and find out how to enter the giveaway.

'You can design almost any structure with Arckit – from a room, extension, walled garden, dream home, street, high-rise tower or even replicate so...

Cutting across the Chicago Architecture Biennial: Sou Fujimoto's potato chips and other found architectures

2015-10-11T12:00:00-04:00

There’s a difficulty inherent to any presentation of architecture in an exhibition context: architecture (it is commonly thought) operates in the physical world, so how do you do architecture inside a gallery space? Hence, it’s pretty inevitable that a survey like the Chicago Architecture Biennial will be met with lots of questions marks and even defiant denouncements: “This is not architecture!” In general, such accusations tend to fall flat: architecture is hardly an immutable object moving through space-time.

But then again, when an exhibit is explicitly tailored to professional, academic, and lay audiences, it’s also difficult to ignore the murmurs of an exiting tourist, “I just don’t get what that has to do with architecture…” For some, the Japanese architect Sou Fujimoto’s installation Architecture is Everywhere, comprising a collection of “found architectures” – a pile of potato chips, a cardboard box, an upturned ashtray – left them scratching their heads.

There’s a whole lot...

International architecture star Shigeru Ban is a Prospect.3 no show

2014-11-11T14:40:00-05:00

Internationally renowned Japanese architect Shigeru Ban is one of the biggest names on the roster of New Orleans' international art festival, Prospect.3. But his exhibit at Longue Vue House and Gardens is a non-starter. [...] Unfortunately, whatever plans Ban had for presenting a structure or artwork at Prospect.3 must have fallen through, because the exhibit at Longue Vue is comprised of nothing more than a sleepy selection of miniature architectural models and photos.

Editor's Picks #358

2014-03-12T15:10:00-04:00

The latest edition of Student Works: highlighted three different pop-up shops designed and built by some students at Tsinghua University in Beijing for their "Tectonic Studio". Constructed for under 2500 RMB (569 USD or 412 EUR), the program was to store and sell t-shirts.

arllita felt they were "beautifully designed and provide an efficient solution to rolling storage! Do you know if they or something similar are available for sale and, if so, are you able to direct me?"

Meanwhile, the ninth edition of Screen/Print: featured: The Air from Other Planets: A Brief History of Architecture to Come by Sean Lally. The featured excerpt is from the introduction where Lally proposes;

"Instead of thinking of architecture as a mass of inert and ossified energy—even stone and steel were not always solid masses—standing as walls in opposition to their surroundings and carving out interior space, why not look to intensify those very energy systems we know are capable of creating microclimates and ...

A Master Model Maker

2014-02-27T15:14:00-05:00

Architectural models can cost upward of $100,000, and sometimes far more. Architects use models to realize and improve upon their designs; developers rely on them during presentations, hoping the models will convince the relevant authorities to approve their plans. For brokers, models have become a key marketing tool, used to persuade buyers to shell out millions of dollars for homes that have yet to be built.

Julie Satow profiles Richard Tenguerian who has spent the past three decades working for some of the world’s most famous architects. Even though he graduated in 1984 with a degree in architecture he eventually went into business for himself, as a professional model maker.

"MODEL" - a short film exploring the future of model building

2013-09-05T18:36:00-04:00

A couple of years ago, I took a temp job assisting an architectural model builder. It was an intense experience - meticulously crafting delicate materials into structural works of art. I became fascinated with the craftsmanship and artistic ability that goes into this work. The advent of 3D printing - as exciting as it is - poses a problem for this art form. If a machine can spit out a 3D version of a building, is the era of model-making coming to an end?

What happens when we ask writers to try their hand at architecture?

2013-08-06T11:26:00-04:00

Great architects build structures that can make us feel enclosed, liberated or suspended. They lead us through space, make us slow down, speed up or stop to contemplate. Great writers, in devising their literary structures, do exactly the same. So what happens when we ask writers to try their hand at architecture?