Archinect - News

AL_A moves forward on world’s first magnetized fusion power plant in UK

2023-01-16T12:06:00-05:00

AL_A has been granted permission to construct the world’s first magnetized fusion power plant. The Culham Science Centre facility, to be located in Oxford, UK, is anchored by a 125-foot-tall cylindrical fusion hall wrapped in a translucent facade.

The scheme was first unveiled in August 2021, commissioned by the Canadian energy company General Fusion in collaboration with the UK Atomic Energy Authority.

Unlike traditional nuclear fission stations, which generate energy by splitting atoms, the fusion process involves merging two atoms to generate vast amounts of energy without the highly radioactive waste associated with nuclear fission. Last month, US scientists announced a major breakthrough in the process through a fusion experiment that released more energy than was inputted by the lab’s equipment.

Image credit: AL_A

For AL_A’s plant, the central cylindrical fusion hall is surrounded by a radial arrangement of support systems, all of which are equidistant from the core. In our 20...

Amanda Levete: the role of public buildings is to unite us

2017-09-19T15:16:00-04:00

There has never been a more important time in society to celebrate what unites us rather than divides us, and that can be through culture and, more simply, through the creation of public spaces where people can come together.

Amanda Levete reflects on the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump. She argues for the responsibility of architects to create spaces of intersections and conversations across thresholds in the contemporary political climate.

Amanda Levete shares the songs, book and luxury item she'll need while stranded on a deserted island

2017-05-12T13:25:00-04:00

Brought up in Richmond, the oldest of three children, she showed her independent spirit early on, and left school at 16. She discovered architecture while on a Foundation year at art school and was offered a place at the Architectural Association, even though her portfolio didn't feature a single drawing of a building.

Desert Island Discs is a long running radio program broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Each episode, a guest is asked to choose eight recordings, a book and a luxury item that they would want if they were stranded on a desert island. Amanda Levete, the Stirling Prize-winning British architect was a recent guest on the show. Catch up here to listen to the architect discuss what she would want to accompany her, the importance of civic spaces, what it was like winning the Stirling Prize and more.

Naomi Milgrom appoints OMA's Rem Koolhaas, David Gianotten for fourth MPavilion

2017-02-20T23:52:00-05:00

In pavilions you can test things you cannot do within buildings -Rem Koolhaas

Naomi Milgrom has appointed high-profile architects Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten of Netherlands-based architecture firm OMA to design the fourth MPavilion temporary culture venue for Melbourne. MPavilion is Australia’s leading architectural commission and design event conceived and created by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation in 2014. Every year, one new temporary pavilion, designed by a leading international architect, is erected in Melbourne’s historic Queen Victoria Gardens.

Rem Koolhaas, founder of OMA and winner of the 2000 Pritzker Prize, is a controversial architect known for his large-scale projects such as CCTV "Pants Building" in Beijing and De Rotterdam "Vertical City" pictured above. On this year's appointment, Ms. Milgrom said “Rem Koolhaas is one of the world’s most provocative and influential architects. His contribution to the cultural landscape as an urban thinker together with OMA’s multi-disciplinary approach to architecture reflects MPavilion’s desire to inspire...

AL_A-designed Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) opens in Lisbon

2016-10-04T19:49:00-04:00

Lisbon's new Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology officially opens October 5, spread across two structures: the renovated interior of a former power station, and a new kunsthalle designed by AL_A.

The MAAT was founded by the EDP Foundation, a private Portuguese organization primarily focused on energy and environmental concerns, and their extension into society and culture. MATT's construction extends EDP's preexisting art campus on the banks of Lisbon's Tagus River, and is part of an ongoing urban revitalization project along the historic waterfront, which includes Vittorio Gregotti’s Cultural Centre of Belém and Paolo Mendez de Rocha’s Coach Museum. Materially, the building is also meant to directly reference its site's craft tradition, made of 15,000 three-dimensional ceramic tiles.

AL_A's design for the MAAT includes a massive, low-slung roof that extends into the public space—allowing visitors to walk over and under it—intending to bridge the waterfront and the city. The m...

Tell us what does the EU referendum means to you

2016-06-22T11:33:00-04:00

According to a recent poll by the AJ 78% of architects want Britain to remain in the EU. In May David Chipperfield, Richard Rogers, Amanda Levete, and Thomas Heatherwick were among many prolific industry professionals who vocalised their decision to back the remain campaign with an open letter published in the Telegraph.

With less than 24 hours before voting begins is this percentage still the same? How will the referendum and aftermath affect the industry? And why are you voting to remain or leave? We want to know what you think.

Photos (and video) of Amanda Levete's MPavilion

2015-10-07T20:40:00-04:00

The 2015 pavilion, founded and commissioned by the Naomi Milgrom Foundation, was designed by AL_A, the studio of award-winning British architect Amanda Levete. The pavilion is made up of 13 large and 30 smaller petal-like shades, supported by four metre high columns.

Made from carbon fiber poles and roof petals, Amanda Levete's newly opened MPavilion (which runs through February 7th, 2016) also has an acoustic component, courtesy composer Matthias Schack-Arnott of Speak Percussion.

"Sunset Ritual," as the L.E.D. lighting and music show is known, welcomes the night in Melbourne, Australia.

Check out a far more swooping, aurally pleasing view of the MPavilion in this video:

Amanda Levete Picked to Design Melbourne's MPavilion

2015-04-09T14:15:00-04:00

“What is it that you can do in a pavilion that you can’t do in a building? Buildings – you don’t want them to move. How can we get this structure to respond in a very subtle way to the weather and perhaps amplify the sound of the wind moving through it?”

Whipsawing from tragedy to triumph, British architect and former Future Systems partner Amanda Levete has been awarded the design of the MPavilion, Australia's sprightly so-called version of the U.K.'s Serpentine Pavilion. Levete founded her current firm, Amanda Levete Architects, in 2009 after the death of her husband and design partner, Jan Kaplicky. The MPavilion, which is entering its second year, will run from October 5, 2015 to February 7, 2016 in Melbourne.

Amanda Levete, architect – portrait of the artist

2012-08-29T11:54:00-04:00

What's the biggest myth about architects? That we're all individualistic fundamentalists. Actually architecture is a very collaborative discipline. On a big project, there can be a cast of thousands: the job of the architect is not only to create, but to get everybody on board. In that sense, it's very consensual.

The Saturday interview: architect Amanda Levete

2011-04-08T21:34:36-04:00

Amanda Levete made her reputation working with in the influential architectural practice, Future Systems. She talks about her 'spectacular failures', and also her many thrilling triumphs

Amanda Levete Architects Chosen for V&A Exhibition Road Site

2011-03-28T15:46:41-04:00

Amanda Levete Architects has won the V&A’s Exhibition Road competition and will go on to develop their team’s concept design as part of the FuturePlan strategy for the museum. The ALA scheme will transform the remaining undeveloped quadrant of the V&A’s London headquarters and create an exciting new relationship with Exhibition Road and the surrounding South Kensington area.