London's annual Serpentine Pavilion is gearing up for its grand opening on Friday with a first preview of this year's completed design by Korean architect Minsuk Cho. Envisioned together with his Seoul-based firm Mass Studies, the 23rd annual summer pavilion, titled Archipelagic Void... View full entry
Eduardo Souto de Moura has debuted a new timepiece collection for the Swiss watchmaker Cauny. His sober grayscale design evokes both the contemporary and classical with an “ironic” modern use of Roman numerals and a polished steel case. Its wrist strap is made of German leather. Image... View full entry
The big beasts of London’s Elizabeth line and King’s Cross redevelopment loom large, but newly announced regional contenders for this year’s prize should include a classy Cambridge dining hall, an all-timber office block and a wheelchair-friendly rural retreat — The Guardian
While the official announcement of the annual Stirling Prize for the best new building in the UK is still months away (find the results here in October), architecture critic Rowan Moore just published his customary hot take on the contenders that have been released so far. Picking from a... View full entry
South Korea's Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism just announced that Thomas Heatherwick will be the General Director of its fifth iteration next year. Billed as Asia's biggest architecture biennial, the 2025 program seeks to explore "how to make buildings and cities radically more joyful... View full entry
When Melvalean McLemore earned her license to practice architecture in 2016, she was only the 16th Black woman in Texas to do so.
McLemore became the first Black woman president of the American Institute of Architects Houston chapter late last year [...]. While being first is exciting, McLemore said it was a bittersweet feeling.
“It’s a little bit sad to hear that someone is the first of anything in 2023, 2024,” McLemore said.
— Bisnow
Bisnow recently interviewed Melvalean McLemore, AIA Houston President, Moody Nolan Texas studio design leader, and a 2024 AIA Young Architects Award recipient; discussing her path to architecture and the lack of Black women in architecture. "There are still less than three dozen Black female... View full entry
Really, the differences between the plan and the final construction are not great. Then again, I make this tentative conclusion, that our salvation depends on attention to small things, to what lies obvious before us, once seen clearly, felt within, once absorbed. Mies said similar. — Architectures/Models
Gary Garvin, a name familiar to many Archinectors, delves into the lesser-known early design phase (Plan I) of Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion. This study highlights the architectural and conceptual distinctions between the initial plan and the final structure. Garvin’s detailed... View full entry
Even though record prices on the secondary market have heightened anxiety about the rising costs of living in Singapore, one of the world’s most expensive cities, public housing remains broadly affordable — at least for those who qualify for government subsidies to buy units.
Today, close to 80 percent of Singapore’s residents live in public housing, and about 90 percent of the units are owned on a 99-year lease.
— The New York Times
The architect of Singapore’s successful “social engineering” campaign after 1965, Liu Thai Ker, is a Malaysian-born Yale graduate and former understudy of I.M. Pei, who told the New York Times recently that he was “sad” to see the city-state’s current market dynamics affecting some of... View full entry
Niall Patrick Walsh wrote the final (of 26 features) chapter of Archinect In-Depth: Artificial Intelligence. Therein “New contributions on the topic from Autodesk's Mike Haley and Superusers author Randy Deutsch are joined by earlier reflections from throughout the series by Richard Saul Wurman... View full entry
Cornell University’s College of Architecture, Art, and Planning (AAP) has announced architect, urban planner, and academic Jose Castillo as its next Department of Architecture Chair. Castillo, the co-founder of the Mexico City-based studio a|911, has taught previously at UPenn, Tulane... View full entry
The New School has announced current Professor of Architecture and Sustainable Design and the former Executive Dean of the Parsons School of Design Joel Towers as its tenth President. Towers’ appointment was announced today by Board of Trustees Chair Linda E. Rappaport, who also led the search... View full entry
A celebration of Japanese architect Riken Yamamoto as the 53rd official Pritzker Prize laureate was held in Chicago over the weekend. Yamamoto was joined by past winners Francis Kéré (2022) and Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal (2021) on stage at the Illinois Institute of Technology College... View full entry
The UK’s Loughborough University has accepted Thomas Heatherwick's challenge to ‘humanize’ and create ‘joyful’ architecture with a new academic offering: A master's degree aiming to give students the opportunity to take part in a burgeoning movement created to solve a global “urban... View full entry
the drawing for (Parc de) la Villette...was based on very definite sources...Of course...it was no gigantic leap if you were familiar with those Belgian cartoons. Willem-Jan Neutelings would always draw these little cartoons for the buildings he made, certainly when he opened his own office...The other inspiration was a painter in Chicago named Roger Brown, who made these tip-up paintings—all his scenes were using that perspective—and he was influenced by Italian 13-14th Century painting. — Drawing Matter
In collaboration with Drawing Matter, Architect Richard Hall is publishing a 6-part series based on twenty-three in-depth conversations with key collaborators working with OMA during its formative years. Most of the image material is from the in-house project archive of OMA at the Rotterdam office... View full entry
Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, the influential California-based graphic designer and landscape architect, passed away on May 7th in San Francisco at the age of 95. Stauffacher Solomon died a prominent member of the design community whose career advanced aside an unusual synthesis of modern... View full entry
Curator Carlo Ratti has announced the title and theme for next year’s Venice Architecture Biennale. The 19th International Architectural Exhibition will advance under the banner Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective., a portmanteau title representing different forms of intelligence... View full entry
