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Lucien Kroll, paragon of progressive architecture, passes away aged 95

2022-08-15T17:43:00-04:00

An influential figure in the realm of ecological design is being mourned after Le Monde reported the death of Belgian architect Lucien Kroll in Brussels on August 2nd at the age of 95.

The Atelier Kroll co-founder will be remembered for his foundational work in the arenas of green building and participatory architecture. Kroll is best known for his highly-collaborative 1976 La Mémé design on the campus of Belgium’s Catholic University of Louvain in addition to over 100 other projects he and his wife Simone Pelosse completed through the studio after its inception in 1958.

A 1966 residential project in Embourg, Belgium. Image: GAR-Archives d'architecture

A 1951 graduate of La Cambre (where he preceded Maurice Culot by a decade), Kroll’s early commitment to designing spaces “with” rather than “for” their users continued throughout his long career, eventually leading to them being named the Brussels Architecture Prize Lifetime Achievement Award winners just last year. His early-career d...

MVRDV presents a tetris-like structure you can reconfigure at Dutch Design Week

2017-10-23T14:46:00-04:00

Dutch Design Week kicked off in Eindhoven over the weekend, with over 600 exhibitions and events taking place across the city as part of the week-long festival. The theme this year is "stretch," with initiatives exploring cutting-edge sustainable design, the role of robots and the future of flexible living. Projects range from shingles made of waste plastic to jackets created from self-growing textiles; from an Embassy of Robot Love to a small robotic firefly; from paint made out of fungus to a hotel that incorporates individual users’ wishes designed by MVRDV.

Titled (W)ego, the Future City is Flexible installation from the Rotterdam-based firm features nine tetris-shaped rooms that can be moved into different configurations, allowing it to adapt to the different needs of visitors. The firm developed the project in collaboration with their in-house research lab, the Why Factory. Run together with Delft University of Technolog...

Deadline to apply for AA Athens Visiting School is approaching!

2017-05-22T03:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by AA Athens Visiting School.

AA Athens Visiting Schools will be hosting their workshop, Symmetry Sentience, from June 12th through the 22nd and the deadline is approaching—you have until May 29th to submit your online application form and fees!

Our world has been enriched by numerous interactive means that connect us across the different continents. These amplifications take place through various media that in turn estrange people from their surroundings. Our built environment continues to evolve, into an interconnected hyperspace where architecture can be fluid, flexible and vivid. In 2017, AA Athens Visiting School, will address architectural themes involving active engagement and participatory design through prototypes that are characterized by action.

Action-designed structures enabled by technology today, begin to timidly move beyond the utopian proposals of the 20th century’s manifestos and hold a place in the world of realized designs. The AA Athen...

Architecture for Humanity spin-off, Chapter Network, appoints Garrett Jacobs exec director

2016-01-21T17:06:00-05:00

Although Architecture for Humanity officially closed in 2015, a new international, volunteer organization that was affiliated with AFH called The Chapter Network is following in AFH's sustainable-development footsteps, and has chosen Garrett Jacobs as its executive director. Jacobs attended Tulane University before going on to work with both Architecture for Humanity and the Chapter Network. “I am incredibly honored to serve this network,” Jacobs said in a press release. “It is a true privilege to organize with designers committed to creating a more equitable, sustainable and socially just world using the power of participatory design. I started with this group as a volunteer, and I will strive to build an organization where anyone can envision a similar pathway to leadership. Through honesty, trust, patience, and really hard work, we will build the organization we believe can change the world through design.”

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