Our ability to form and maintain friendships is shaped in crucial ways by the physical spaces in which we live. [...]
in America we have settled on patterns of land use that might as well have been designed to prevent spontaneous encounters, the kind out of which rich social ties are built. [...]
We do not encounter one another in cars. We grind along together anonymously, often in misery.
— vox.com
More on the repercussions of sprawl:Urban sprawl costs the American economy more than US$1 trillion per yearThe true costs of sprawlSeven Myths About New UrbanismWhy sprawl may be bad for your health View full entry
We believe that renderings reflect our aspirations as architects, and that our decisions about representation matter. Renderings should reflect the people in and around the site, and should project a future that values diversity and acceptance of all people. The goal of NONSCANDINAVIA is to give young architects and students access to a database of free, high-res, PNG images that reflect diversity in all its forms. — Nonscandinavia
The world of architectural renders is a strange place. Here, the air is hazy yet skies are blue. Trees grow translucent and lawns are always green. Buildings are illuminated by perhaps two or three suns. Little girls roam cultural centers alone, clutching red balloons.And just about everyone is a... View full entry
Choosing building materials is a delicate balance of factors – looks, quality, price, environmental impact and sustainability all contribute to the success and overall value of the product. When data about building materials are illegible or biased, the construction process can become convoluted... View full entry
The Gulf in the Middle East, the heartland of the global oil industry, will suffer heatwaves beyond the limit of human survival if climate change is unchecked, according to a new scientific study.
The extreme heatwaves will affect Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha and coastal cities in Iran as well as posing a deadly threat to millions of Hajj pilgrims in Saudi Arabia, when the religious festival falls in the summer.
— The Guardian
"The study shows the extreme heatwaves, more intense than anything ever experienced on Earth, would kick in after 2070 and that the hottest days of today would by then be a near-daily occurrence."Related:Luxury Anthropocene: Dubai gets its first private floating islandsIt's only August but humans... View full entry
CicLAvia [is] a series of one-day events organized by a local nonprofit in which neighborhood streets are closed to motor vehicles so that people can walk and cycle freely...
Now, a study by the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health has found that the event significantly reduces air pollution along the CicLAvia route and even on other streets in the communities where the event is held.
— UCLA
For more information on CicLAvia, visit their website. View full entry
... transparent photovoltaic cells are fundamentally inconceivable, considering that solar panels can develop energy power through a transformation of absorbed protons into electrons [...] light would have to flow unrestrained to the eye, meaning that those protons would have to go wholly through the substance. Therefore what the Michigan State team developed [...] a device that utilize organic salts to take in wavelengths of light that are imperceptible to the human eye. — Next Nature
The non-profit group GreenWave, which won the prestigious 2015 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, is gaining attention for designing reportedly the world's first 3D multi-species ocean farms. Much like the group's marine-oriented initiatives, the ocean farm project aims to restore ocean ecosystems and... View full entry
Sustainable, fast, and cheap housing: just what you need when you're escaping oppressive regimes, natural disasters, and other refugee-creating events. Christoph Chorherr, Vienna's Green Party planning spokesperson, has blogged that the mobile Passive House dormitories designed by Günter Lang... View full entry
Despite its economy of presentation – just text and video, nothing flashy or interactive – the installation #mythomaniaS at the Chicago Architecture Biennial offers a density of thought at once alluring and abstruse. In this, it well conveys the concerns and formal strategies of its slippery... View full entry
The Stevens Institute of Technology of Hoboken, New Jersey won the 2015 Solar Decathlon with their storm-resilient SURE HOUSE this past weekend. One of the crowd favorites in this year's competition, the SURE HOUSE scored the highest in seven out of the 10 contests, which put the team in the lead... View full entry
The ruins of a 16th century church have emerged from the waters of a reservoir in Mexico.
The water level in the Nezahualcóyotl reservoir in Chiapas state has dropped by 25m (82ft) because of a drought in the area. The church, known as the Temple of Santiago or the Temple of Quechula, has been under nearly 100ft of water since 1966.
The church, which is believed to have been built by Spanish colonists, is 183ft long and 42ft wide, with a bell tower that rises 48ft above the ground.
— the Guardian
The sun beat down onto the asphalt grounds of the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California, where a village of 14 solar-powered houses popped up for the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon. Multi-disciplinary teams of college students worldwide dedicate two years to designing and... View full entry
A research team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) Department of Energy has created a new model for how we can connect the way we power our homes and vehicles. Dubbed AMIE... the platform features special technology that allows a bi-directional flow of energy between a dwelling and a vehicle. In other words, the house can fuel the car and the car can fuel the house. What's more, ORNL used 3D printing technology to build the dwelling and the vehicle... — Gizmag
AMIE, or Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy, is a hybrid of different futuristic technologies, mashed together into a single platform. First, both the house and the vehicle were 3D printed.The former, a single-room structure, was designed in collaboration with Skidmore, Owings and Merril and... View full entry
This is important for Africa, where despite high urbanisation rates the development focus has been primarily rural. Consider Ghana. The country’s urban population has grown from four million in 1984 to more than 14 million today. Fifty one percent of Ghanaians now live in cities. While urbanisation rates vary across Africa, Ghana reflects an overall global trend towards a predominantly urban future.
Ghana demonstrates how cities can be highly productive in Africa.
— qz.com
Related on Archinect:MASS Design Group to propose "Bauhaus of Africa" at U.N. SummitChinese Urbanism takes root in AfricaA Look at Africa's Modernist Architecture View full entry
A proposal under consideration here called the Flussbad (“river pool”) would clean up a filthy canal, part of the River Spree, that flows around the tourist-mobbed Museum Island. The plan would add new wetlands and some place the public can literally dive into.
Despite detractors who picture Berlin’s cultural center being upstaged by the equivalent of one long, riotous water-filled bouncy castle, the idea, which has been around for a while, is gaining momentum.
— NY Times
Over the past few decades and across the globe, cities have been increasingly reimagining their waterways and -fronts. Hydrologic infrastructure projects, from Cheonggyecheon in Seoul to the LA River Revitalization Project (to be helmed by Frank Gehry), have the potential to inspire renewed... View full entry
