Archinect - News

Researchers debut mycelium glamping cabin prototype

2024-05-06T17:04:00-04:00

A new experimental demonstration glamping concept that represents likely the first building project made using mycelium in the Czech Republic has debuted from the home reconstruction financier Buřinka with a cross-disciplinary team from Mykilio and the Czech Technical University called MYMO.

Rendering courtesy Buřinka and MYMO

The SAMOROST concept is the latest example of sustainable construction using mushroom-based compounds as an alternative material to insulate external walls, roofs, and floors, as well as other non-load-bearing components. The cabins were designed using special proprietary mycocomposite, which they claim has been proven in lab testing over the past two years to have suitable qualities for residential structures. The experiment sought to improve usability for campers and is being pursued with support from the country’s Minister of the Environment, Petr Hladík.

Rendering courtesy Buřinka and MYMO

Design author Tomasz Kloza, a final year Master's in architecture and...

Guggenheim to host "Competing Intelligence" Digital Architecture Masterclass this Saturday

2015-03-04T20:40:00-05:00

Mark your calendars, The Guggenheim is hosting a free one-day "Competing Intelligence" Digital Architecture Masterclass this Saturday, March 7 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. All current architecture students and recent graduates (from within the past five years) in the New York metro area are encouraged to join!

This experiment will bring together human and artificial intelligence in evaluating design, as an interactive way to test the limits of artificial intelligence in an architectural context, specifically in the architecture competition. To make things even more interesting, the Stage One entries of the popular Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition will be used as the data set.

The one-day workshop will be led by Hugo Liu, principal scientist at eBay and a Ph.D. holder from the MIT Media Lab, and Troy Conrad Therrien, who is the curator of the Architecture and Digital Initiatives.

Results will be showcased in the forthcoming Guggenheim Helsinki Now exhibition at the Kunsthalle Helsinki a...

See Artists Experiment with Compact Living in a Rotating Wheel

2014-03-07T15:38:00-05:00

The way it works is each loop, outside and in, is equipped with a bed, study, kitchen, bathroom, and little dresser, arranged so that when the wheel stops the matching item is available to each person at the same time. To switch over to a new activity, they both have to walk in tandem...

Is that a luge in Times Square?

2014-02-06T16:34:00-05:00

Former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s vision of new sporting venues across the boroughs fizzled, and New York lost its bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. But what if the city had tried to get the Winter Olympics instead? It would probably take more hubris than even this city can muster, but the exercise provides some telling measures of scale.

Developing an "urban neuroscience" to build better cities

2014-02-05T13:53:00-05:00

If we want to know how to make a better city, the place to start is at ground level, using observation and measurement ... to build a psychologically grounded view of the relationship between the physical design of a city and what happens there. [...] How do we develop an experimental science of urban design? In the research laboratory for immersive virtual environments (Relive) at the University of Waterloo, we have turned to simulation methods to help build such a science.

Can offering free rides invigorate public transit?

2014-01-30T19:27:00-05:00

Last January, Tallinn, the capital city of Estonia, did something that no other city its size had done before: It made all public transit in the city free for residents. [...] One year later, this city of 430,000 people has firmly established itself as the leader of a budding international free-transit movement. [...] What’s less clear on the first anniversary of free transit in Tallinn is whether it has actually changed commuting behavior all that much.

As it turned out, Tallinn's bold move last year to offer free-transit to its residents did not have a very dramatic effect on its own ridership. But the experiment has clarified some subtle issues in public transit:

Free-transit as a "second-best pricing scheme": if a city wants to curb drivers and increase public-transit use, it may be best to de-incentivize driving, rather than incentivizing public transit. Fees on drivers and increased taxes for car ownership may be more effective in getting folks on public transit than offering free rides.
Price affects accessibility, but not necessarily use: This may seem obvious, but without price-barriers, the unemployed could commute through all of Tallinn and increase access to potential employers. Transit ridership grew the most in Lasnamäe, a densely populated area with high unemployment.
Free-rides for everyone may not be sustainable, but it can still be good policy for some demographics. Cities like Hasselt, Belgium and Chengdu in China ha...