Did architects have sustainability figured out in the 1970s, and can the lessons they learned help contemporary architects design for the challenges of climate change? In an attempt to answer this question, Canada is taking a closer look at its previously built sustainable architecture during the... View full entry
If you don't think you can handle another year on Earth, the possibility of dwelling comfortably on another planet is closer than you might expect. After announcing a winning design from Clouds Architecture Office and Space Exploration Architecture last October, NASA has released more... View full entry
When European leaders meet for the first time in their new headquarters, known as the Europa and built for about 325 million euros, or $340 million, they will experience “joyful” surroundings, Philippe Samyn, the project’s architect, said during a recent tour of the building.
It has been a long time since any gathering of the bloc’s leaders could be described as joyful.
— the New York Times
The building is described as a "giant glowing orb" or a "vase". It also includes a restored hallways from the building the previously occupied the site, the former headquarters for the Nazis when they occupied Brussels during the war.The orb is encased in a glass cube. The structure symbolically... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect... View full entry
The world’s highest bridge officially opened Thursday in China, spanning a gorge that’s almost 2,000 feet deep.
The Beipanjiang Bridge in southwest China took three years to build, and cost $146.7 million. The four-lane structure stands 1,854 feet above the Beipan River below. [...]
Technically, France’s Millau Viaduct bridge still holds the title of world’s tallest bridge, thanks to the height of its towers rising from the valley floor. But its road bed is a mere 890 feet above the ground.
— MarketWatch
Photos by Eric Sakowski (Illustration of the completed bridge by Jon Fether, Jesus Catalan, Eric Sakowski); Images via HighestBridges.com.Related stories in the Archinect news:China's record-breaking glass bridge already closed again after two weeksWorld's longest and highest glass bridge opens... View full entry
DAM has spent considerable sums in the past decade on new buildings—practically rivaling what much larger museums in New York and San Francisco have expended for new construction and renovation projects in that same time period. The Hamilton Building, completed in 2006, cost $100 million. And just two years ago, DAM moved its administration offices into a new $12 million building on the campus. — Architectural Record
Earlier this month, Josephine Minutillo reported on the plans by Denver Art Museum, for an $150 Million upgrade and addition to it's Gio Ponti building. View full entry
Every year, there are the projects the slip under the radar and projects that grab headlines. For any number of reasons, be it form or function or fracas, these are the projects that stuck out from the rest—in no particular order.Archinect's critical round-up of Snøhetta's SFMOMA... View full entry
One million brilliant white tiles clad the 65m-tall precast concrete roof [...] glazed ceramic tiles need to be hand-checked, or tapped, every five years by specialist engineers, who abseil down the roof “sails” looking for changes in their sound or appearance. Now, thanks to the combined efforts of the opera house, the Getty Foundation, the University of Sydney and the engineering and design group Arup, this expensive, vertigo- inducing process is a step closer to becoming a thing of the past. — theartnewspaper.com
Related stories in the Archinect news:Jørn Utzon's saga with the Sydney Opera house coming to the big screenJørn Utzon's final touch to the Sydney Opera House: a Le Corbusier tapestryThe Sydney Opera House by Jørn Utzon Celebrates Its 40th Anniversary"So much more than an engineer": Ove Arup... View full entry
It takes a certain audacity to move to rural-nowhere and erect a house from found materials, to grow your own food and carve, kiln or create whatever else you need. And the house itself, in its porous approach to its natural surroundings, exhibits a typically Californian philosophy of design. — NYT - T Magazine
Back in November Amanda Fortini profiled The Blunk House. Designed/built by the late multidisciplinary artist-craftsman J.B. Blunk in Marin County, the cabin is a holistic expression of an artistic life. View full entry
These are the articles that made big waves in 2016 – not just in traffic, but in defining the discussions architects were having. From professional practice issues to academia to interviews and showcases, we present to you our favorite original editorial of the year:One student's solution to the... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect... View full entry
Harris County commissioners have chosen Houston-based Kirksey Architecture to design a project to retrofit the Astrodome by raising its floor and installing parking spaces underneath.
The $105 million project -- unveiled by county officials in September -- is the most recent attempt to secure the building's future. [...]
Many feared then that the world's first multi-purpose domed stadium for sporting events would face the wrecking ball.
— Houston Chronicle
Houston "Eighth Wonder of the World" previously in the Archinect news:ULI report says Houston Astrodome “can and should live on”Urban Land Institute issues recommendations for Houston's AstrodomeThe Astrodome: The World's Largest Indoor Garden?Can buildings be too young to save?Winners of the... View full entry
After being diagnosed with ALS, a disease of the nervous system that gradually takes away motor control, breathing, and speech, 38-year-old landscape architect Steve Saling decided to invent a home that he could control with eye movements. As CNN.com explains:With a grant of $500,000 from Berman... View full entry
How many architects, young and old, have been inspired by a hero or heroine who must imagine new realms and new spaces — new ways of being in this strange world? This project presents a line of flight into architecture as a fantastic, literary realm of becoming. — Places Journal
This week, our series on Fairy Tale Architecture returns with four new designs by Snøhetta, Ultramoderne, Smiljan Radić, and Bernheimer Architecture. Each one explores the relationship between the domestic structures of fairy tales and the imaginative realm of architecture. But don’t expect... View full entry
"The gallery captures the exuberance with which the U.S. trumpeted its industrial progress." — The Wall Street Journal
Metcalfe (with Art Guild Museums + Environments and Drexel University's Center for Cultural Partnerships) designed the exhibits for the 13,000 square foot National Museum of Industrial History that are housed in its 100 year-old former Bethlehem Steel facility. The first Smithsonian Museum... View full entry