After NASA announced strong evidence of the presence of liquid water on Mars, efforts to bring Earthlings to the red planet seems to be picking up steam. Elon Musk is talking about nuking its poles and design competitions, like the 3-D Printed Habitat Challenge, are increasingly looking at... View full entry

Public arts initiative Laka wants to know how today's architects, engineers, scientists, and students interpret the theme "Architecture that Reacts" for the Laka Competition 2015. To get those ideas churning, architecture that reacts is responsive and highly adaptable to both current needs and... View full entry

So continues the space-age fantasy of humankind someday living successfully on the Red Planet, or undertaking expeditions to the far ends of the universe. In this spirit, NASA and America Makes' launched their 3D Printed Habitat Challenge late last year, wherein multi-disciplinary teams proposed... View full entry

At the start of every week, we highlight some of the most recent news in competition-winning projects, commissions, awards, shortlists, and events on Bustler from the previous week that are worth checking out.Check out Bustler recap #77 for the weeks of Sept. 21-25 and Sept 28-Oct... View full entry

Among the many writers of disasters and crisis – from Barthes to Blanchot to Ballard – there is a strain of thinking that rejects the normative and reductive assumption that a disaster must be met with an austere temper or melancholic pragmatism. Rather, disasters can breed their own wild... View full entry

In the lead-up to the Beijing Olympics, there was a flurry of news about the Chinese government's attempt to seed clouds in order to engineer the weather. In fact, the technology – while largely considered imperfect – both exists and has been implemented. The SEEDING MICRO-CLOUDS. Power... View full entry

In the face of events that exceed our capacity for comprehension, humans tend to invent myths and stories that render things palatable. The passage of the sun across the firmament, the surge of the oceans in a storm, the crash of thunder that follows the flash of lightning – these all have been... View full entry

Consuming disproportionately-vast quantities of water for the recreational pleasure of a small (typically elite) group of people, golf courses often become a first line of attack during droughts. But what if they could be appropriated in order to help mitigate the effects of a water shortage?... View full entry

While the current drought is likely linked to larger issues like climate change, California has always had cycles of dry and wet seasons, as well as regular drought periods. But, for thousands of years, the inhabitants of the region were (for the most part) able to survive times of water scarcity... View full entry

Long abandoned to the shadows of architectural thinking, the proverbial "throne" of the house – the toilet – is beginning to make a bit of a comeback, taking a central role in last year's Venice Biennial, and making an occasional appearance in Archinect features. While it may upset our... View full entry

One of the great ironies of the California drought crisis – or at least one that's repeatedly mentioned – is that the thirsty state borders the theoretically-endless water reserves of the Pacific Ocean. But, of course, closer examination reveals that a) desalination is no simple task and b)... View full entry

Part and parcel to the image of Orange County in the popular imagination, the suburban tract home is a ubiquitous, popular, and oft-derided element of the Southern California architecture vernacular. The Freshly Squeezed: Survival on the Fringes Honorable Mention proposal crafts an extended... View full entry

Coping with California's drought and ensuing water restrictions have been stressful for everyone in the state, but some bear that stress more heavily than others. In Apart, We Are Together, the state's most affluent members will manage to detach the water infrastructure from everyone else to... View full entry

Used in some of the world's driest places, fog-catchers can turn atmospheric moisture into potable water, effective on scales small and large – it's used by the South African Namib Desert beetle as an evolutionary trick to stay hydrated, and by a Chilean brewery to make beer... View full entry

While Thomas Heatherwick's proposed Garden Bridge hasn't attracted universal acclaim, it has spurred an unusual competition. A purposefully free-to-enter satirical contest known as "A Folly for London" encouraged anyone and everyone to submit "absurd, illogical, egotistic and obtrusive designs... View full entry