A social housing project in the Netherlands plans to adopt a Vertical Forest designed by Stefano Boeri Architetti. Now Eindhoven will join the list of Vertical Forest cities Milan, Nanjing, Utrecht, Tirana, Lausanne, and Paris. The client, Sint-Trudo, has instigated the... View full entry
Laurentian University is pleased to welcome Dr. David Fortin as the next Director of the McEwen School of Architecture (MSoA). Dr. Fortin, a faculty member at the MSoA, assumed his new duties at the beginning of January, 2018, taking over from the school’s Founding Director, Dr. Terrance Galvin, who successfully led the creation and development of the MSoA since its inauguration in 2012. — Laurentian University
The statement by Laurentian University's McEwen School of Architecture points out that Dr. Fortin is a member of the Métis Nation of Ontario, making him the first Indigenous director of a Canadian architecture school: "Dr. Fortin currently focuses on Indigenous design in contemporary... View full entry
Richard Meier’s oeuvre is known for bold, geometric buildings cast in luminous white, a color he believes enhances nature and refracts the world. One of the most recognized architects alive today, Meier has dedicated five decades to his field and worked on projects around the globe. As part of... View full entry
Unlike traditional buildings, amphibious structures are not static; they respond to floods like ships to a rising tide, floating on the water’s surface. [...] Amphibiation may be an unconventional strategy, but it reflects a growing consensus that, at a time of climatic volatility, people can’t simply fight against water; they have to learn to live with it. — The New Yorker
The New Yorker features Elizabeth English, an associate professor of architecture at the University of Waterloo and founder of the Buoyant Foundation Project which seeks to promote the benefits of amphibious architecture for homes in flood-prone areas and communities that will experience the... View full entry
A new exhibition, Letters to the Mayor: Rotterdam, features personal letters written by local architects to their mayor. The exhibition will be on display at Het Nieuwe Instituut with an opening ceremony in the presence of the Rotterdam mayor. This project is the result of a year-long... View full entry
The new submission page for BRACKET issue #5 [On Sharing] is now live! Founded by Archinect and InfraNet Lab, BRACKET is a collaborative annual publication that documents issues that are overlooked yet central to our cultural milieu that have evolved from the intersection of... View full entry
The first images of MUJI Hotel Shenzhen have been released, and they show that it has been built to reflect the ethos of the brand that is best-known for its minimalist homeware products. [...]
The company says the hotels have been designed to reflect “an anti-gorgeous, anti-cheap” concept. Its goal is to offer great sleep at the right price, provide a space supporting both body and mind while away from home, and connect travellers to local people and places.
— Lonely Planet
Bedroom inside the MUJI HOTEL in Shenzhen.After experimenting with houses for (strictly) dogs and (mostly) humans, Japanese lifestyle design retailer MUJI is now also entering the hospitality sector with two new branded hotels to open in Shenzhen on January 18 and in Beijing on March... View full entry
A company in Colombia is tackling plastic waste issues and affordable housing with a single ingenious solution: interlocking LEGO-like bricks that can be used to build houses for a few thousand dollars per structure. Walls are formed using a slim slotted brick then framed using a thicker module used for beams and columns, locking the smaller units into place and providing rigid vertical and lateral support. — weburbanist.com
What to do with the heaps and mounds of plastic piling up all over our planet? Build LEGO's. Conceptos Plásticos' technological innovations make their plastic block homes cost only $5,000. The company is also using this new method to build emergency shelters, community and educational... View full entry
For the first time since the AIA opened the Twenty-Five Year Award competition in 1971, no winner was selected for 2018. Ouch. The yearly award honors a building that has gracefully stood the test of time over the last 25-35 years. For the 2018 edition, buildings completed between ... View full entry
Following a long battle with terminal lung cancer, the beloved architect Neave Brown has passed away at the age of 88. Known for his modernist social housing, Brown's projects are considered to be some of most innovative and successful low-cost housing schemes of the late 20th century with many... View full entry
Yet what has drawn the most concern and curiosity with regards to Quayside is a uniquely 21st-century feature: a data-harvesting, wifi-beaming “digital layer” that would underpin each proposed facet of Quayside life. According to Sidewalk Labs, this would provide “a single unified source of information about what is going on”—to an astonishing level of detail—as well as a centralized platform for efficiently managing it all. — City Lab
While tech companies struggle to discover the new way to get a glimpse into our daily habits—attempting to discover how and where we spend our time and money—Alphabet might have just brought the ‘Truman Show’ approach to marketing. With Sidewalk Labs, a subsidiary of Alphabet, announcing... View full entry
Thomas Heatherwick plans to bring more eccentricity to Manhattan’s west side with two condo towers covered in a bubbled facade and bisected by the High Line, as CityRealty reported on Wednesday. The straddling pair at 515 West 18th Street, currently known as the Hudson... View full entry
It's been just over three years since the Smithsonian Institute announced their massive, 2-billion-dollar redevelopment plans. Designed by BIG, the intended overhaul includes a renovation of the Smithsonian castle, expanded visitor services, a new courtyard and mall-facing entrances and walkways... View full entry
From temporary installations to large-scale urban interventions, a total of 32 projects were named as winners in the 2018 AIA New York Design Awards, which distinguish exceptional work by AIANY members and architects practicing in New York City. Awards are given in four categories... View full entry
That, Mr. Zwirner said, is the site of what in the fall of 2020 will become the new heart of his New York operation: a five-story, $50 million gallery designed by Renzo Piano. [...]
The precise design has yet to be determined — Mr. Piano is in the early stages of the process. But it is likely to have a similarly spare aesthetic to Mr. Zwirner’s current spaces, by Annabelle Selldorf.
— The New York Times
In its article about art dealer David Zwirner's upcoming Renzo Piano-designed gallery and global headquarters, the NYT recounts a telephone interview with Piano about (early) design visions for the building: "You kill art by making just white boxes, so you need to integrate emotion in some way... View full entry
