Archinect - News

MIT team creates 3D-printed glass bricks for reusable construction

2024-09-21T12:31:00-04:00

MIT engineers have created 3D-printed glass bricks that could offer a new approach to construction with sustainable and reusable materials. These interlocking bricks, which offer similar strength to concrete, are designed for circular construction, allowing buildings to be disassembled and reassembled at the end of their life cycle.

The team, led by Assistant Professor Kaitlyn Becker and former MIT researcher Michael Stern, developed the glass bricks using a custom 3D printing technology from MIT spinoff Evenline. Made from recycled glass, the bricks are shaped like figure eights and interlock like LEGO pieces, offering flexibility in assembly and disassembly.

Each manufacturing method is shown from left to right: FH (Fully Hollow), PC (Print-Cast), and FP (Fully Printed). Credits:Image: Ethan Townsend

In mechanical testing, the glass bricks demonstrated strength comparable to concrete blocks, proving their potential for real-world architectural applications. The team experimented wi...

CHYBIK + KRISTOF debut greenhouse tribute to Gregor Mendel in Brno

2023-06-01T17:03:00-04:00

The Brno office of CHYBIK + KRISTOF (CHK) just completed a new scientific greenhouse project in its historic Czech Republic home city.

Mendel’s Greenhouse is an homage to the influential late-19th-century genetics biologist and takes its form from the namesake’s own drawings of the human hereditary system produced at St. Augustin Abbey, to which the then 22-year-old first came to reside in 1844.

Photography by Laurian Ghinițoiu. Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF.

Taking the resemblance of the site’s original greenhouse that served as a laboratory for Mendel until it was destroyed in the 1870s, the new glass and steel structure will serve as a permanent exhibition of his scientific legacy as it doubles as a new hub for community and social engagement for Brno’s population of nearly 400,000.

Photography by Laurian Ghinițoiu. Courtesy of CHYBIK + KRISTOF.

CHK empha...

First renderings of new slim, glass-clad medical building in Manhattan by INOA Architecture

2022-04-08T14:23:00-04:00

Renderings from INOA Architecture are the first to reveal a new seven-story mixed-use building at 308 East 59th Street in Sutton Place, Manhattan. Located immediately next to the Queensboro Bridge onramp, the building will house a mix of hospital outpatient facilities with specialized medical spaces above.

Plans for the structure were first revealed in 2015 from local developer Tony Boemi. Original renderings from C3D Architecture depicted a 16-story building with 12 rental apartments and a 2,000-square-foot retail space on the ground floor. This, however, never broke ground.

Here, the new renderings by INOA Architecture show a building with a distinct glass façade with folds and cantilevers. Obtaining maximum light exposure is clearly a distinguishing feature of the space. Its top floor takes the shape of a trapezoidal volume.

According to New York Yimby, construction of the new building is expected to begin this summer and conclude by the end of 2023. Permits have reportedly been approved by the Department of Buildings, the Department of Transit, and the City Planning Commission.

Bird-Safe Buildings Act passes United States House of Representatives

2020-07-01T19:37:00-04:00

Following a rare show of bipartisan support, the Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2019 has passed the United States House of Representatives and is now headed for consideration by the Senate.

The bill would require "each public building constructed, acquired, or of which more than 50% of the facade is substantially altered" by the General Services Administration (GSA) to meet the a new set of design standards geared toward eliminating collisions between birds and the structures in question.

The new regulations stipulate that "at least 90% of the exposed facade material from ground level to 40 feet shall not be composed of glass or shall be composed of [modified, bird-friendly] glass." According to the text of the bill, bird-friendly glass could be made up of "elements that preclude bird collisions without completely obscuring vision, such as secondary facades, netting, screens, shutters, and exterior shades" in addition to fritted glass assemblies and screens that limit "horizontal space...

"The Glass House Project" begins construction at the Menokin Foundation

2020-06-26T14:18:00-04:00

The Menokin Foundation has announced the commencement of construction on The Glass House Project, a preservation endeavor to transform the ruins of Menokin, the home of Declaration of Independence signer Francis Lightfoot Lee and his wife Rebecca Tayloe Lee. The project will preserve the remaining portions of the 1769 Colonial-style home and replace missing walls, floors, and sections of the roof with glass.

The foundation is working with Machado Silvetti, a Boston-based architecture and design firm, along with a team of experts, to realize the ambitious project. Also on the project team are Consigli Construction Co. Inc (construction); DATA Investigations, LLC (archaeology); Eckersley O’Callaghan (glass design); Encore Sustainable Architects (historical architect); John Fidler (preservation technology); Reed Hilderbrand (landscape architecture); and Tillotson Design Associates (lighting design).

"The remains of the Menokin Plantation challenged our imagination to develop a design...

North American bird populations are in crisis

2019-09-20T18:19:00-04:00

new research published Thursday in Science shows bird populations have continued to plummet in the past five decades, dropping by nearly three billion across North America—an overall decline of 29 percent from 1970.

Reflective, glass-skinned buildings are responsible for the deaths of over 1 billion birds each year in the United States. According to the American Bird Conservancy (ABC), buildings are the second-deadliest human-linked cause of death for birds; Only domestic cats kill a higher number of birds every year.

ABC bird experts recommend minimizing the amount of reflective glass used along building facades, avoiding the use of glass handrails and balustrades along balconies, and limiting artificial lighting at night to not confuse nocturnal migrating birds. When glass is necessary, the group recommends specifying architectural glass marked with fritted patterns and designing screens to break up expanses of glass, among many other approaches.

Architects lobby for bird-friendly glass as NYC overhauls cladding regulations

2019-09-09T20:30:00-04:00

It is estimated that up to 1 billion birds die every year in the United States due to collisions with glass facades and buildings, according to experts at the American Bird Conservancy and the Smithsonian.

This worrisome statistic has prompted municipalities to institute "bird-friendly" glass standards for certain types of buildings in cities as diverse as Minnesota, Oakland, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco, and Toronto.

New York City is poised to become the latest municipality to try and reduce the number of bird collisions by adopting new rules that would require up to 90-percent of glass on new and altered buildings to be treated with films, coatings, and other decorative elements to ensure that birds can see and avoid the expanses.

FXCollaborative's Center for Global Conservation uses bird-safe glass. Image courtesy of David Sundberg/ESTO.

As the New York City Council's Committee on Housing and Buildings continues to debate the proposed regulations, architects are speaking out...

Is it time to ban all-glass skyscrapers?

2019-07-31T19:02:00-04:00

“If you’re building a greenhouse in a climate emergency, it’s a pretty odd thing to do to say the least,” said Simon Sturgis, an adviser to the government and the Greater London Authority, as well as chairman of the Royal Institute of British Architects sustainability group. “If you’re using standard glass facades you need a lot of energy to cool them down, and using a lot of energy equates to a lot of carbon emissions.”

As the global community continues to mobilize against the rising threat of climate collapse, cities and other entities are moving toward banning or limiting the future development of all-glass skyscrapers due to the buildings' high energy demands, according to a report in The Guardian.

For decades, designers have relied on technological approaches like double- and triple-glazing facade units to maximize the energy performance of these designs, but as the limited lifespan of these systems comes under question, it has become clear that more drastic efforts are needed.

Simon Sturgis, chairman of the Royal Institute of British Architects sustainability group, told The Guardian, “To mitigate the amount of energy used to cool these buildings, you have to produce a really complicated façade, which is usually triple glazed.”

Sturgis added, “But double glazed units and laminated glass don’t last very long – 40 years or so. So you have to replace your facade every 40 years, that’s also not...

Plans unveiled for Chicago's second tallest skyscraper alongside repurposing the Tribune Tower

2018-04-17T15:59:00-04:00

Developers on Monday unveiled plans for Chicago’s second-tallest skyscraper, a tapering shaft of metal and glass that would soar above historic Tribune Tower, resemble the top of Batman’s black mask and be only 29 feet shorter than Willis Tower. If completed, the $1 billion-plus project to repurpose Tribune Tower and build a skinny, 1,422-foot high-rise just northeast of it would bring more than 700 residences and 200 hotel rooms to an area north of the Chicago River.

Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture are working with Los Angeles developers Golub & Co. and CIM Group to build Chicago's next skyscraper. Their design would take over Trump International Hotel & Tower's title of second-tallest in the city.

Current plans for the new tower have construction beginning in late 2019. The new skyscraper would house a 200 room hotel, 439 rental apartments, and 125 condos in its upper floors. The site would be on what it now a surface parking lot behind Tribune Tower.

Their plans also call for repurposing Tribune Tower with 163 condominiums. This conversion will be headed up by Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), with Vinci Hamp Architects brought on as historic preservation consultants. The earliest of these condo's would be ready by 2020.

Tribune Tower project rendering, Chicago. Image: Golub & Co. and CIM Group.

Steven Holl's Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU to open April 21

2018-04-17T15:14:00-04:00

Steven Holl Architects' new Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) will open to the public on April 21, 2018. The ICA's new building named the Markel Center will debut with its inaugural exhibition Declaration, an exploration of contemporary art’s power to respond to pressing social issues. This will be Virginia's first art institution dedicated exclusively to exhibiting contemporary art.

Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU Markel Center at night. Image: Iwan Baan.

Aerial view of the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Image: Iwan Baan.

The building features dual entrances opening to the city’s arts district on one side and VCU’s Monroe Park campus on the other, providing a connection between the two.

View of the Royall Forum at the Institute for Contemporary Art at VCU. Image: Iwan Baan.

Steven Holl Architects activated the 41,000 square feet of space with an open design to create flexibility. With an inviting 33-foot-high central forum, ...

This glass cabin in Iceland lets you sleep under the northern lights

2018-03-22T14:03:00-04:00

Panorama Glass Lodge is a luxury vacation cabin in Hvalfjörðu, Iceland. Situated directly by the sea, visitors will experience stunning views of the Aurora Borealis from above and reflected off the water below. The structure features an all glass bedroom allowing travelers to experience sleeping under one of the world's most spectacular light shows.

Panorama Glass Lodge located in Hvalfjörðu, Iceland. Image: Panorama Glass Lodge.

This secluded cabin is the perfect viewing destination due to its removal from any light pollution.

Panorama Glass Lodge located in Hvalfjörðu, Iceland. Image: Panorama Glass Lodge.

If that wasn't enough to satisfy, the cabin also includes a hot tub to view the spectacle above.

Panorama Glass Lodge located in Hvalfjörðu, Iceland. Image: Panorama Glass Lodge.

AIA gold medal winning library is now boarded up and covered in graffiti

2018-03-05T14:54:00-05:00

Taking his inspiration from a Chestnut Street shoe store designed by architectural pioneers Oskar Stonorov and Louis Kahn, Martin produced a diaphanous glass jewel box, two stories tall and 35 feet wide. Large shop windows separated by the thinnest possible aluminum strips offered passersby views of the library’s bookshelves and clusters of comfortable reading chairs.

Sydney E. Martin's Mercantile Library was awarded the gold medal in 1954 by the American Institute of Architects (AIA). Inspired by modern retail buildings, Martin designed the library with a transparent glass facade to display the books as merchandise. This innovative design is hailed as one of the 1950's most daring modernist buildings by historian Jeffrey L. Baumoel. So why is it boarded up now?

Google Maps street view of the former Mercantile Library on Chestnut St. in Philadelphia. Image: Google Maps.

The branch was shut down in 1989 by the Free Library due to asbestos contamination concerns. The interior has been gutted and the roof has reportedly caved in. The building is now owned by Brickstone Realty, known for several historic renovations. Hopefully the Mercantile Library will be given new life so visitors can once again experience this important modernist building.

Are glass skyscrapers bad for cities? Architects chime in

2018-01-25T15:41:00-05:00

But a number of prominent architects and urban planners have been speaking out against the material's overuse. [...] They raise questions about the impact glass structures have on our public spaces and the fabric of our cities. Developers demand floor-to-ceiling windows, abundant natural light and views worth charging tenants for -- but what about the rest of us?

Architects including Ken Shuttleworth (who worked on The Gherkin) and Alan Ritchie (who co-founded PJAR Architects with Philip Johnson) give their two cents on the issues about the abundant use of glass in skyscrapers, from energy efficiency to their uninviting appearance — and yes, that one time the 20 Fenchurch Street building partially melted a car.

"It makes sense to put glass if you've got a nice view, and it makes sense to put glass at the top to let daylight in. But it doesn't make much sense to put glass at the bottom where there's no view and a limited amount of daylight penetration. It's just about being sensible," Ken Shuttleworth tells CNN.

Visiting Philip Johnson's other glass house in midtown Manhattan

2017-03-28T14:16:00-04:00

Walk through the towering door now, and Midtown falls away. The transition is not abrupt; a visitor is met first with a bank of wooden cupboards, easing newcomers off the street and into the vastness of the house itself. Then, space. The main room provides an unimpeded vista through 100 feet of natural-lit openness, a glass wall, a courtyard and pond, and a small separate structure beyond. The effect — of muted light, of air, of cleanness — is moving.

Fresh from her daily column at The Paris Review, Sadie Stein visits a Philip Johnson-designed apartment/artistic showcase in midtown Manhattan known as the "Rockfeller Guest House."

Combining a rich historical narrative with some evocatively observed design, this piece is, as befits its author, a delightful and engaging read (and the photos aren't bad, either).

Editor's Picks #422

2015-07-06T13:40:00-04:00

Nicholas Korody interviewed Andrés Jacque (of the Office for Political Innovation ) about COSMO, the winning entry of this year’s MoMA PS1 Young Architect’s Program competition. Therein he argued "I believe that the architect’s role nowadays can also be providing alternatives, and enriching through diversity the collective catalogue of desirable possibilities."

Thayer-D commented "I don't think this qualifies as architecture, but it's very interesting" to which Kozumelle responded "I have seen this in person and it is not architecture in the strictest sense but still a wonderful, fantastic idea. Jaque's ideas are always politically charged and veer into other territories and he does it well."

Plus, for Screen/Print #34 Amelia Taylor-Hochberg featured the latest edition of KTISMA , from the University of Oregon’s School of Architecture and Allied Arts.

News
The Guggenheim Helsinki Design Competition selected Paris-based Moreau Kusunoki Architectes as the grand-prize winners.

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New photos of E. Fay Jones' Thorncrown Chapel unveiled to mark 35th anniversary

2015-05-19T15:29:00-04:00

Concealed within the forest landscape of the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas, the acclaimed Thorncrown Chapel will celebrate its 35th anniversary this summer. Designed by E. Fay Jones, who was commissioned by retired schoolteacher Jim Reed, the 48 ft. tall chapel boasts 425 windows and over 6,000 sq. ft of glass, and it became widely recognized for its organic "Ozark Gothic" style when it first opened on July 10, 1980.

To mark the Thorncrown Chapel's anniversary, architect-turned-photographer Randall Connaughton from Atlanta began an ongoing photography series of the wood-and-glass structure last year in what he described is "an effort to add new depth to the visual record of Thorncrown Chapel and bring its transcendent experience to a wide audience."

Thorncrown is the backdrop to countless wedding photos, but according to the Chapel organization, Connaughton's snapshots are the "first professionally produced photos of their kind" since 1980 -- when those photos that first contributed to ...

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...