The notion that the prototypes could qualify as conceptual art might seem somewhat far-fetched. They were designed to United States Customs and Border Protection specifications, built to withstand a 30-minute assault from sledgehammers to acetylene torches, and to be difficult to scale or tunnel beneath. Aesthetic considerations are largely secondary to brute strength, but, when viewed up close, the walls collectively have the undeniable majesty of minimalist sculpture. — Art Net
Cadillac Ranch, Prada Marfa, The Gates from the Met and The Border Wall. As excessive, fantastical, dismal and maddening as that list may sound, it may be closer to reality than we would think. For artist, Christoph Büchel, the possibility that the expected role of the Border Wall proto-types and... View full entry
The goal with it is simple, says architect James Law: to utilize “leftover space” between buildings in Hong Kong, a city with limited land and a constant housing shortage. — Quartz
The city of Hong Kong has retained the title of the world's most expensive real estate market for the past seven years. As housing prices continue to soar, many residents are finding themselves with inadequate shelter, including over 200,000 people living in what has come to be referred to as... View full entry
As the year comes to a close and Trump finishes up his first year as President, we're taking the opportunity to reflect on 2017's trials and tribulations and how they affected the architecture world. 45's Border Wall, and its implications for the industry, dominated our coverage of his presidency... View full entry
From job auditions and activism to artificial intelligence and life beyond architecture, 2017 brought upon a very eclectic collection of top features of the year. Looking back, we collected the the most relished and savored; which one did you love?The Architecture of Artificial Intelligence What... View full entry
Dan Becker, president of the Safe Climate Campaign, told E&E News that "a sewer problem at HQ headquarters has resulted in poop exploding out of water fountains." — The Outline
In a somewhat unusual, and fitting turn of events, the EPA's offices are beginning to speak up and not necessarily in the most conventional way. The building itself has found its mode of most eloquent communication by using sewer plumbing inadequacies to flood the Washington offices with black... View full entry
Four walls and a roof, a basic bathroom and a kitchen sink. Basic access to electricity (a couple of sockets "here and there") and no flooring or wall coverings. This is what the non-for profit developers Naked House – created by a London-based startup – is proposing as an alternative to the £484,000 standard cost of a home for fellow members of generation rent. — Independent
If you thought coming home with Ikea boxes made for an exciting afternoon of assembly, a London based startup, Naked House, is thinking of you. The concept of the startup is to allow the owner to have full control of the interior creation of their homes. With the current thread of DIY reaching... View full entry
The trend for “green” eco-fantasy buildings is sweeping the world of architecture, with designers now integrating gardens, terraces and all manner of vertical planting in their specifications for office blocks, apartment buildings and even skyscrapers. “Starchitects” [...] who a few years ago would have scoffed at the idea that their sleek and shiny building might incorporate something as embarrassingly domestic and “unmodern” as a garden, are now getting in on the act. — telegraph.co.uk
We have all seen many plant covered architectural renderings of firms getting in on the green building movement. While green buildings and sustainability are not new concepts, they are now a widespread trend being commercialized on a whole different scale. From the vast number of these green... View full entry
The Serpentine Pavilion 2017, designed this year by Germany-based architect Francis Kere, will be moved to Malaysia by early next year.
“Thanks to the generous donations by a group of philanthropists, Ilham Gallery now has a prestigious architectural commission in its collection.
“It was a surprising yet very welcome bit of news to be the new custodian of this exciting work,” said Ilham Gallery director Rahel Joseph.
— The Star Online
In an exciting and unexpected outcome, Francis Kere's serpentine pavilion will be given renewed life with a permanent move to Kuala Lumpur next year. With the final site still unknown, the transition was made possible by a plethora of donations and support. The short shelf life and physical... View full entry
In January, tenants will move into a six-storey Vancouver apartment building designed to be so energy efficient, you could heat each bedroom with a 100-watt light bulb. [...] Others are under construction and many more are at the rezoning stage, including a residence that will house 750 students at the University of Toronto's Scarborough campus and two 40-plus highrise towers in Vancouver that aim be the tallest passive house buildings in the world. — cbc.ca
Until now most passive houses have been single-family homes, but Canada is changing that. With several projects underway, architects are tackling the issues of scaling up this sustainable technology for larger buildings. Without using furnaces and air conditioners, these green buildings are... View full entry
Architects know best, as they often claim. With conviction, they’re sure certain details will make a space more hospitable, more beautiful, more preferable, and more enjoyable...But an emerging field of research is now uncovering and quantifying our psychological response to buildings: cognitive architecture. The hope is that by better understanding through science what exactly it is people like or dislike about our built environment, designers can truly improve it. — Fast Co Design
What does it mean to see a building? As we approach a building, what is that calls our attention? The door? The entry? That corner detail that is doing something we have never seen before? Architect Ann Sussman and designer Janice M. Ward are two leading researchers studying how our brains see... View full entry
Since 2008, Solidia Technologies [...] has been quietly developing a new cement-making process that produces up to 70% fewer CO2 emissions at a cost that DeCristofaro claims is on par with or better than conventional cement.
Solidia, which was formed in a bid to commercialize ideas developed at Rutgers University in New Jersey, is not the first company to attempt to make environmentally friendly cement. But industry experts say it’s the most promising yet.
— Quartz
"Of course, the startup now needs to show that this lower-emission cement can be made into concrete that’s at least as good as others, and can be scaled up in a way that’s affordable," Quartz explains. "That’s what Solidia is working on right now." View full entry
China’s State Council announced that “weird architecture that is not economical, functional, aesthetically pleasing or environmentally friendly will be forbidden.” Many architects and members of the public understood the frustration and bewilderment, even if they questioned the subjective nature of the official instruction. — The Economist
That was a close call, thankfully 'Weird Architecture' that is economical, functional, aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly is still completely accepted and encouraged. China may be forcing itself into a semantically and conceptually charge subjectivism that could potentially bring... View full entry
The Hill House in Helensburgh was built as "a home for the future" by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1902. But the experimental building material used has allowed water to soak into the building. Now, the National Trust for Scotland will surround the house with a protective "shield" in the form of a "giant cage" while it comes up with ways to restore it. The trust plans to build the huge see-through structure [...] over the top of the landmark to protect the building from the elements. — bbc.com
This temporary structure buys preservationists time in finding a permanent solution to the building's structural problem. While the design problem persists, architects Carmody and Groarke have allowed a unique opportunity for visitors to experience the landmark building from new perspectives with... View full entry
As a part of the Harvard Graduate School of Design's, Grounded Visionaries campaign, it has been announced that the school has received a $15 million gift from Ronald M. Druker (Loeb Fellow ’76) and the Bertram A. and Ronald M. Druker Charitable Foundation — the largest single gift in the... View full entry
Following their research into the Droneport—a project that explores the potential of an ‘infrastructural leap’ using cutting edge technology to surmount the challenges of the future—Foster + Partners is now working with Be Tomorrow UK, the UK arm of a leading autonomous drone software... View full entry
