Over 20 years since the Kyoto Protocol, over 10 years since the Global Financial Crisis, and in the first year of the global Coronavirus pandemic, there has been no real change in the architecture of architecture itself. That will only happen when it stops connecting everything with itself, stops beginning with itself. When it admits the revolution into its own citadel. — Volume
Ole Bouman writes a Volume piece on 'Solipsism of Architecture' where he discusses a revolution will not happen in architecture until......Until then, in an inversion of Le Corbusier’s most notorious epigram: Architecture or Revolution. Architecture can be avoided.Previously on Archinect... View full entry
And finally, we're at December, the end of 2020... the year everyone's happy to bid farewell. It's been a melancholic month, with many taking time off from work, some braving the virus to spend time with family, with others staying cautious and remaining at home with family or alone. A vaccine... View full entry
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) develops an online resource for those interested in mass timber use in tall building construction. Thanks to a USDA Forest Service grant, the CTBUH aimed to explore the work and research regarding mass timber and its... View full entry
This post is sponsored by TerraViva Competitions TerraViva Competitions has officially released the complete list of winning projects of the design contest “Tactical Urbanism NOW.” The challenge of the competition was to encourage participants to imagine a city where public space goes beyond... View full entry
...architects have been working with the International WELL Building Institute, an organization that’s developing standards for healthy buildings and is now run by Hodgdon. Since the pandemic, the Institute has been registering more than a million square feet of real estate a day in its certification program, putting buildings on the path to wellness. — WIRED
A new article by WIRED's Sonner Kehrt explores the long term effects of 'healthy' design. "Over the past several months, the Covid-19 pandemic has sparked a surge of interest in the role that indoor environments—where we spend 90 percent of our time, even in a normal... View full entry
In the mountains of Ecuador's Cymbayá valley stands Jean Nouvel's latest residential project, Aquarela. In collaboration with local architecture developer Uribe Schwarzkopf, a new complex will transform the area into nine residential spaces. Initial construction began in... View full entry
Inspired by some recent events, Margie Lavender reflected on the Progress and Equality of Women in Architecture. spiketwig commented "This really reflects my experience as well - for the most part I do not experience overt discrimination, but there have been the occasional incidents I've written... View full entry
Results of a new five-year study of recycled concrete show that it performs as well, and in several cases even better, than conventional concrete. Researchers conducted side-by-side comparisons of recycled and conventional concrete within two common applications -- a building foundation and a municipal sidewalk. They found that the recycled concrete had comparable strength and durability after five years of being in service. — Science Daily
Find the complete study Recycled aggregate concrete from large-scale production to sustainable field application by University of British Columbia Okanagan researchers here. View full entry
Although 2020 proved to be a challenging year, architecture students continued to push forward and create award-winning projects. The annual RIBA President's Medal awards program recognizes the best architecture student projects. This year the program received the highest number of project entries... View full entry
In just two days, Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) becomes the second Architects Declare co-founder to leave the advocacy group, following Foster + Partners' withdrawal yesterday. In a statement released by Architects' Journal, ZHA said that "climate change is a defining challenge of our... View full entry
One of the UK’s most famous architects has withdrawn from an environmental coalition in a dispute about the destructive role of aviation in the escalating climate crisis. [...]
The decision follows a row over Foster and Partners’ work on airports around the world – seen by critics as incompatible with tackling the climate and ecological emergency.
— The Guardian
Airport designs have been key projects in Foster + Partners' portfolio for years, with prominent recent commissions and competition entries in Saudi Arabia, Marseille, Chicago, Mexico City, and Beijing. Following Foster's decision to withdraw from his initial commitment, Architects Declare issued... View full entry
Commercial interiors product manufacturers are struggling to understand the best way to reach their customers with the product information they need to make recommendations and execute on solutions that support the health, safety and welfare of employees returning to the office. Design practices... View full entry
Shohei Shigematsu of OMA announces the firm's upcoming project, the ReefLine, in collaboration with cultural placemaker Ximena Caminos. Leading the project's masterplan and structural design will be Shigematsu and his team, while Caminos will lead as its artistic director. Known for its... View full entry
Forest Products Laboratory (FPL) researcher Junyong Zhu in co-collaboration with colleagues from the University of Maryland and University of Colorado, have developed a transparent wood material that may be the window of tomorrow. Researchers found that transparent wood has the potential to outperform glass currently used in construction. — USDA Forest Service
The abstract of the researchers' paper A Clear, Strong, and Thermally Insulated Transparent Wood for Energy Efficient Windows points out that besides its energy-efficient qualities, transparent wood is a "sustainable material, with low carbon emissions and scaling capabilities due to its... View full entry
Slowly, slowly, LA's new Academy Museum of Motion Pictures is inching towards its anticipated completion. The LACMA-adjacent, Renzo Piano-designed 300,000 square-foot museum campus on Wilshire Boulevard was forced to push back several official opening dates — most recently, the December... View full entry
