Archinect - News

London's Open House launches new collection of card models to make at home

2020-09-16T16:13:00-04:00

Open House, the volunteer-led festival of London's urban landscape, has created a collection of card models of iconic London buildings. The collection is one of a number of new "virus-proof" initiatives celebrating London's architecture during the pandemic.

There are a total of sixteen card models, which can be ordered online and made at home. Some of the structures included are St Paul's Cathedral, Kew Gardens Palm House, and the Hoover Building. Every model kit comes with two sets of printed and pre-creased sheets to assemble the building along with information about the structure and its architectural history.

"For Open House 2020, we’ve created a program of in-person events all across the city but we wanted to create something for families and individuals who can’t visit the festival in person too," said Hafsa Adan, Assistant Curator of Open House 2020 in a statement. "For those who can’t get out and about in London this weekend, we’re bringing the skyline to them instead."

The ...

Startup Pod(o) proposes a tiny-architecture solution to the festival industry's waste problem

2018-11-13T22:17:00-05:00

With the increase in festival events and attendance, one company strives to fix the waste problem these highly attended festivals make. Based in Christchurch, Dorset, Above All C6(n) is a sustainable technology company that is using recycled plastic water bottles to create sustainable alternatives to tents found at festivals. Pod(o) is an accommodation unit that is reusable, stackable, and lockable. It is capable of incorporating solar-power components, an eco water supply, as well as its own bio toilet. Currently holding a capacity of 2 person(s), the team at Above All C6(n) is working on a pod that can accommodate more people.

Pod(o) Image © Deep South Media

At the core of its construction are single use plastic flakes that make up its MESR TECNIC (Modular, Extensible, Scalable and Reusable) building components. These lightweight structures are made to reduce the production of more plastic waste. Event organizers claim that many of the tents that are available for rent at festivals...

A look at the incredible structures of Burning Man 2018

2018-09-05T14:57:00-04:00

While Bjarke Ingels's 30-ton Orb installation–described by some as a giant disco ball—has transfixed many of the festival goers at Burning Man this year, the annual festival saw a slew of spectacular artworks worth checking out. Adhering to the theme of I, Robot, the playa was transformed by larger-than-life works that helped create a unique event for the more than 70,000 visitors descending on Black Rock City. From a massive, spiraling wooden temple to a memorial celebrating Burning Man's co-founder Larry Harvey, who passed away earlier this year, here is a selection of the art of Burning Man 2018.

Bjarke Ingels is crowdsourcing funds to bring a giant mirrored orb to Burning Man

2018-07-05T12:49:00-04:00

Bjarke Ingels, along with fellow BIG partner Jakob Lange, are heading to Burning Man this summer with the ORB, a giant reflective ball installation scaled to 1/500,000 of the earth’s surface. With a diameter of nearly 100 ft, the ORB will hover above The Playa, reflecting everything around it. According to Ingels, the idea behind the project is to "turn public life into public artifact."

With the festival just under two months away, the ORB is nearly complete. Carried out by the BIG Ideas project unit, they have funded the majority needed for 30 tons of steel and 1000 hours of welding of the structure as well as 1500 sewing hours. But, to raise the last $50,000 USD for the project, the team has launched an Indiegogo campaign. In exchange for support, donors can receive a range of perks, including postcards, posters, an engraved mini, steel version of the ORB, and come Burning Man, a private visit inside.

Burning Man reveals 2018 Temple design: Galaxia

2018-01-04T17:25:00-05:00

Galaxia celebrates hope in the unknown, stars, planets, black holes, the movement uniting us in swirling galaxies of dreams. A superior form of Gaia in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation series, Galaxia is the ultimate network, the fabric of the universe connecting living beings into one entity.

Rejoice burners — the design for the 2018 Temple has been unveiled: 'Galaxia' by London-based French architect Arthur Mamou-Mani.

"Galaxia is shaped of 20 timber trusses converging as a spiral towards one point in the sky," describes the Burning Man Journal. "The triangular trusses form different paths towards a central space holding a giant 3D printed mandala, the heart of Galaxia. The timber modules start large enough to hold small alcoves in which people can write in peace. As participants walk through the path, the timber modules lift up and become thinner and thinner towards the sky as people reach the central mandala."

Mamou-Mani is no stranger to Burning Man: he and his MArch students at the University of Westminster's WeWantToLearn studio (taught jointly with with Toby Burgess) have been contributing art installations to the annual event site, Black Rock City in the Nevada desert, for the past six years: Shipwreck, Fractal Cult, Hayam Sun Temple, The Infinity Tree, Reflectio...

French architect will use robotic tools to build 2018 Burning Man Temple

2017-12-28T16:22:00-05:00

Mamou-Mani, the French architect chosen to build the 2018 Burning Man Temple, believes that robots can only further the possibilities in his field, and he plans to enlist the help of a number of robotic tools this year in creating Burning Man's most sacred structure.

Burning Man is known for its over-the-top installations and structures that pop up in the middle of the the Nevada desert for a week, one of the most important being the Burning Man Temple. Next year, the temporary structure will be built by the French architect Mamou-Mani along with the help of students at the University of Westminster where he teaches. In addition, Mamou-Mani has discussed plans on enlisting the help of robotic tools as well.

Take a look at these installations from this year's Coachella Festival

2016-04-21T18:38:00-04:00

Every April, music fans venture in droves to the High Desert outside of Los Angeles for the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival – a veritable rite of spring for the selfie era.

And, like with any good spring bacchanal, the musical experience is often enhanced through the consumption of substances, licit or otherwise. But while imbibing may help you maintain stamina for the dance floor, it can also ramp up your internal body temperature (likely already elevated by the grueling desert sun).

Enter the architects and artists responsible for the latter half of Coachella's proper name. Tasked with designing structures that both shade and visually-entertain, the selected designers are given one of the more unusual – and fun – prompts around.

Here's a look at some of the structures that adorned the Empire Polo Club this year:

The Tower of Twelve Stories
Jimenez Lai (Bureau Spectacular)

Described in accompanying texts as a "a cartoonish metropolis of tiny bubble-like spaces populated by ecce...