Archinect - News

Through the eyes of Verner Panton; a master of color through contemporary expression

2019-01-03T09:38:00-05:00

If you don't know his name, you probably know of his work. Verner Panton's iconic designs have noted him an innovator in furniture as well as atmospheric design. Deemed the "bad boy" of Danish design, Paton's rise as an icon in contemporary design broke through social convention. His take on design and its accessibility to others was his calling card. Obsessed with the needs of individuals, Panton believed that intelligent design should be available for the masses, and not merely set aside for the wealthy.

A less successful experiment is preferable to a beautiful platitude”

The '60s was a time of the search for the psychedelic and social progress, Panton's design theory and ideals fit well within the needs of the time. Famously said, "A less successful experiment is preferable to a beautiful platitude.” A true optimist in the future of design and social mobility, Panton strived to create objects and spaces that provoked the senses. In his new monograph by Phaidon, writers Ida Enghol...

Chicago's apartment high rises are multiplying for better or worse

2017-09-12T14:36:00-04:00

A surge of tall buildings, the vast majority of them housing rental apartments, is creating a densely populated, urban core [...] the Super Loop is patently un-super in at least one respect: It lacks a new version of the technological and aesthetic innovations that made Chicago's reputation as the cradle of modern architecture. As Mayor Rahm Emanuel prepares to host the second edition of a global architecture biennial [...], most of the new high-rises are based on tired commercial formulas.

Chicago's Super Loop is gentrifying and becoming denser as apartment buildings are multiplying and younger generations are moving in. But, most of the new apartments in these high rises are quickly built concrete boxes with glass balconies. The ordinary character of new construction in Chicago's Super Loop proves that it takes more than a strengthening economy to create interesting architecture.

The five 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award finalists are revealed

2015-02-25T18:15:00-05:00

From 420 to 40 and now the final five. The European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe announced the finalists of the 2015 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award today in London. Initiated in 1987, the biennial €60,000 prize is one of the highest-ranking prizes in European architecture for projects less than 2 years old.

The award highlights recent projects that best represent the prize's mission to foster design and technological innovation as well as noteworthy contributions from architects across the continent. Previous grand-prize winners include familiar names like David Chipperfield Architects, SNØHETTA, Zaha Hadid, OMA, Nicholas Grimshaw, Peter Zumthor, Dominique Perrault, Foster + Partners, Álvaro Siza Vieira, and Henning Larsen Architects.

The five contenders are:

↓ Ravensburg Art Museum in Ravensburg, Germany by Lederer Ragnarsdóttir Oei
Authors: Arno Lederer IC), Jórunn Ragnarsdóttir, and Marc Oei (DE)

↓ Danish Maritime Museum i...

The 2015 Mies van der Rohe Award shortlists 40 projects

2015-02-10T20:16:00-05:00

Out of a competitive pool of 420 projects that were nominated back in December, 40 of them were shortlisted for the 2015 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award. The biennial €60,000 prize was initiated by the European Commission and the Barcelona City Hall in 1987 and is considered to be the highest-ranking award in contemporary European architecture.

The selected projects, which must have been completed within the last two years, are regarded as models of architectural and technological innovation in European architecture. The awards program also acknowledges the significant contributions and the evolving creative process of present-day architects working throughout the continent.

↑ Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, The Netherlands by Cruz y Ortiz Arquitectos.

↑ Danish Maritime Museum in Helsingør, Denmark by BIG

↑ Marseille Vieux Port in Marseille, France by Foster + Partners

↑ De Rotterdam in Rotterdam, The Netherlands by OMA

↑ Everyman Theatre in Liverpoo...

Buildings That Lie About Their Age

2013-04-19T20:10:00-04:00

John Hill’s book “A Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture” is filled with examples of the crazy new forms of the last decade, like Frank Gehry’s white wind-filled “sail” on the West Side Highway in Chelsea. [...] And yet, the United States is in the middle of a great revival of traditional architecture — Georgian, neo-Classical, Arts and Crafts and so forth — that is almost absent from Mr. Hill’s stimulating and enjoyable work. So, what isn’t contemporary about traditional design?

Post(card) Ideological Icons

2011-11-28T05:14:00-05:00

What about revisiting the hardcore shapes of the avant-garde?

It has been almost a century since the air was heavily saturated with the combustible gas of ideology. Almost a hundred years have passed since everything from film, through art and architecture, to urbanism was susceptible to the slightest friction in the atmosphere sparking endless manifestoes and multiple visions of the perennial “new beginning”. But what happens when the ideological fire that fuels urbanism is extinguished, and in its place just smoke remains? What is left after the idealistic energy of the avant-garde has vanished and we are left with necrophilic icons of dead ideologies? Why aren’t we able to see the striking similarities and contrasting disparities between the avatars of yesterday’s ideological urbanism and today’s pop-architectural icons?

In the twenties imaginary taut wires, steel trusses, and structural concrete gave form to the muscular monuments of a Potemkinesque avant-garde. Utopia had...