Amazon’s Spheres, a botanical gardenlike workspace for the retail giant’s employees, are primarily a private space.
But the company has set up a few ways for the public to access the geodesic domes — in downtown Seattle on Lenora Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues — starting Tuesday, when the Spheres officially open to visitors and employees.
— The Seattle Times
The Amazon Spheres, designed by NBBJ, will now be open to the public; however, getting in may be tricky. There is the option of entering from the ground floor to see an exhibition about the Spheres, and the much more difficult option to join a guided tour of the entire headquarters. Inside the... View full entry
"His legacy will be admired for many years to come and his vision – to create a better everyday life for the many people – will continue to guide and inspire us," says Jesper Brodin, the CEO and president of the IKEA Group. — NPR
Over the weekend, the Swedish entrepreneur who created IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad (age 91), passed away quietly at his home in Sweden. The company confirmed Mr. Kamprad's death on Sunday, citing "short illness." The business magnate displayed a penchant for entrepreneurship from a young age, selling... View full entry
Other than the conversion of the dining room into a library and a den into office space in 2000, the apartment has remained largely unchanged since the 1970s.
“Some people might see this as dated,” [Luca] Vignelli said. But much of the apartment feels timeless, as his parents intended, he added: “I would love to see somebody who appreciates the space and their presence in the space” as a buyer.
— The New York Times
The design legacy of the late Lella and Massimo Vignelli lives on in their New York home, which will be listed for $6.5 million. The home hasn't changed much since the couple bought it in 1978. Their children Luca and Valentina Vignelli, who are selling the duplex because they both live... View full entry
To me, everything looks fascinating from the air. But, for some reason, I never expected Bogotá, Colombia, to look so striking. — Fast Co. Design
Colombian artist, Camilo Mønón Navas has produced a series of images titled, Arial Façades, in which Camilo takes various perspectival photographs and assembles them whimsical and fantastical means while bringing his home city of Bogota to the surface through all its cultural glory. In... View full entry
Move over Bureau Spectacular, Ball Nogues and LOC... robots are coming for your jobs. Botnik Studios created a hilarious (and somewhat believable) Coachella lineup using their artificial intelligence RNN algorithm to generate a list of band names and installation designers. Located at the... View full entry
But a number of prominent architects and urban planners have been speaking out against the material's overuse. [...] They raise questions about the impact glass structures have on our public spaces and the fabric of our cities. Developers demand floor-to-ceiling windows, abundant natural light and views worth charging tenants for -- but what about the rest of us? — CNN
Architects including Ken Shuttleworth (who worked on The Gherkin) and Alan Ritchie (who co-founded PJAR Architects with Philip Johnson) give their two cents on the issues about the abundant use of glass in skyscrapers, from energy efficiency to their uninviting appearance — and yes, that one... View full entry
The Japanese answer to the hostel, the capsule hotel, debuted in Osaka in the late 70s as a way to provide cheap, basic overnight accommodation to businessman. Stripped down to the bare necessities of a hotel room, individual pods the size of a single bed are stacked together while also offering... View full entry
A new project titled CASA ED & JO features a clean and curved design by NOARQ. The renovated house is located in Famalicão, Portugal with tucked away patios inside a triangular urban plot. CASA ED&JO by NOARQ located in Famalicão, Portugal. Image: João Morgado. The lot is highly... View full entry
Ms. Yee, who oversees pastry for all the restaurants in the Resurgens Hospitality Group, used to be an architect, and she designs desserts the way she once did building interiors: meticulously sketching every element, testing many prototypes. And these days she has plenty of company: Many of the country’s top pastry chefs have practiced or studied architecture. — New York Times
As we have shown in Archinect's ongoing series Working Out of the Box, architects have a background and skillset that can be applied in many ways outside of traditional architecture practice. For example, these prominent pastry chefs all started off as architects and switched to designing cakes... View full entry
The council housing designed 50 years ago for a progressive London borough remains a potent symbol of the achievements of postwar social democracy. — Places Journal
Prompted by Mark Swenarton's recent book, Cook's Camden, Douglas Murphy looks at the radically experimental public housing estates built by the London borough from 1966 to 1975, and the reevaluation of these extraordinary projects currently underway in our own era of unaffordable cities and... View full entry
Built atop the rolling hills of eastern Napa Valley in California, the Odette Estate Winery was designed with sustainable farming and wine production in mind. Designer Signum Architecture was awarded as an Industrial Building category winner for the project in the 2017 American Architecture Prize... View full entry
In her latest interpretation of the material, Prada asked the architects Rem Koolhaas and Herzog & de Meuron — with whom she collaborates regularly — to design something in nylon for the show, and to select another talent from their field to do the same. They chose, respectively, the German designer Konstantin Grcic and the French designers Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec. T spoke to each of them about their designs. — The New York Times Style Magazine
Prada just wrapped up its anticipated fall/winter 2018 show, which the fashion powerhouse held in a converted warehouse in Milan, designed by AMO. "The building is organized in sectors that each correspond to a specific theme," a Prada statement describes the venue conversion. "Boxes, crates and... View full entry
Copacabana has conjured images of beauty, sand and ocean, long before Barry Manilow was singing its praises. Capitalizing on some of the best beach-adjacent real estate north of Havana, the Emiliano Hotel enlisted the help of Oppenheim Architecture for the hotel brands new location on Rio de... View full entry
Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) has defended proposals for a high-rise, mixed-use scheme in London – described as a ‘breakthrough project’ for the practice – following criticism over its size and location. Shortly before Christmas, the firm submitted plans to Lambeth Council [...] The scheme, the practice’s first major mixed-use residential and commercial development in the UK, has been dubbed a ‘two-fingered salute’ by opponents, who claim the proposals are too big for the site. — architectsjournal.co.uk
Zaha Hadid Architects combatted criticism of their proposal for the Vauxhall Cross Island site in London. Critiques of ZHA's plan claim the design overcrowds the area with towers that are too tall overshadowing the surrounding area and creating traffic congestion. ZHA director Jim Heverin... View full entry
Shortly, electricity will replace petrol and diesel as the fuel for our cars, and such a change could radically shift our urban landscape as the formal aspects of gas stations is then open to reimagining. Danish Architecture firm COBE is looking to do just that. Understanding that under current... View full entry
