Zaha Hadid Architects is not going away quietly, but cogently. In a statement forwarded by the Japan Olympic Committee, ZHA details the origins of what would eventually become the budget fracas over the cancelled New National Stadium, noting that early in the design process "we advised the JSC... View full entry
The transformative effect of removing cars from a dedicated street or urban center and creating a pedestrian-friendly area isn't a new idea, but it's a popular one. Sydney, Australia has decided to repurpose its relatively trafficky George Street into an elegant shopping and walking area bisected... View full entry
"I’m a huge fan of Zaha’s, I’ve always been. I would venture to say she’s one of the most talented architects of our time and of history in my opinion.
The kinds of shapes and the kinds of structures that she transcribes from her mind’s imagination – I think that Zaha’s designs are just like her buildings, they augment reality forever. And I feel like with the Supershell, she created, while using the dimensions of the shoe, cast shadows that weren’t necessarily there”
— Pharrell Williams
This isn't the first time the singer and architect have worked together – Williams referred to a pre-fab housing collaboration back in 2013. And his designs on associating with the architecture community were made clear at the AIA National Convention in 2014, where he delivered a keynote speech... View full entry
According to a statement issued on Zaha Hadid's website, the project-ending cost of the New National Stadium is not the fault of the design, but rather the "inflated costs of construction in Tokyo, a restricted and uncompetitive approach to appointing construction contractors, and a restriction on... View full entry
The Golden State's nickname has taken on a grave new meaning. The agricultural and economic powerhouse of the country is in the midst of a historic drought pervading the whole U.S. Southwest, at once turning sprawling front lawns into golden-brown scratch pads and inciting Chinatown-style... View full entry
The project, estimated at 400 million euros, or $433 million, features designs by the architects Eva Jiricna, Richard Meier and John Pawson, in addition to the 10 emerging firms, three of which are Czech and seven that are British. — The New York Times
Simply look up into the sky at a single cloud, on average that white pouf holds 8 million gallons of water — enough to sustain 100,000 people for a day. Yet the water we harvest has become so scarce, its cost is greater than the devices invented to catch and deliver it. [...]
How might we imagine new ways to collect water? How do we get it off my socks and into my coffee cup?
Fog catchers – contraptions that gather the moisture in our atmosphere for drinking water – have been used by humans and animals alike to survive in some of the driest places on earth. In Chile's Atacama desert, fog catchers have been in use for over half a century, and even are used to... View full entry
The Digital Junkyard is an experiment in virtual salvage. It is a repository of donated digital information that is used to generate real physical and spatial objects...This project is an embodiment of the growing collective intelligence that technology affords us; and an experiment in ideas about digital ecology. It also honours the time and energy that designers put into testing and making mistakes. — digital junkyard
No, this isn't some snarky Craigslist ad. Recently launched by architecturally trained designer and artist Car Martin, the Digital Junkyard is a website with a mission to transform as much of your unwanted vector files into a new physical object or creative idea of sorts, in the real world. In... View full entry
If you happen to find yourself wandering IJburg's Centrumeiland artificial island in Amsterdam this summer, you might encounter a peculiar group of art installations randomly camped out in what feels like the middle of nowhere. Although the installations alone are enough to draw in passers-by... View full entry
What is iconic in architecture? It's a debate that will never be settled precisely because the definition of "icon" is perennially changing to reflect the culture from which it derives. An icon, after all, is not necessarily a classic, and this inherent tension is partly what fuels... View full entry
He’s Mr. Lifestyle of the rich and famous, do you want a piece of him? No not Britney Spears, but rather world-renowned architect Renzo Piano. Visitors to the recent Piece by Piece: Renzo Piano Building Workshop at the Power Station of Art in Shanghai were engaged in the evolution of the... View full entry
Been a little too productive today? Amuse and potentially frighten yourself by seeing what architecture looks like through the warped, creepy lens of Google's "DeepDream," a recently unveiled image recognition software program that essentially displays what artificial neural networks think they... View full entry
Called Lysningen or ‘The Clearing’, it has been designed by the Bergen-based architects 3RW. [...]
“It is actually much better than I had thought,.” [Jørgen Watne Frydnes, the general manager of Utøya,] said. “The frame around the woods and the silence of nature, makes it feel like a well.”
— thelocal.no
On July 22, 2011, on the island of Utøyah, a lone gunman named Anders Breivik attacked a youth summer camp run by the Norwegian Workers’ Youth League (AUF), killing 69 people. Today, on the fourth anniversary of the attack, a memorial to the victims officially opens on the island. Known as... View full entry
"I propose a Moon village on the far side of the Moon.” –Professor Johann-Dietrich Woerner, Director General of the European Space Agency — BBC.com
The Director General of the European Space Agency Johann-Dietrich Woerner has proposed creating an international village on the moon, partly as an apolitical way to bring more countries into the space program, and partly as a way to realistically pursue new frontiers in cosmic... View full entry
Following a successful inaugural event last year, LEGO Architecture is presenting another opportunity for architecture students in the Villa Pennisi in Musica 2015 summer workshop to hone their acoustic-design and LEGO-building skills in the upcoming #FILLTHETHEATRE challenge.Taking place in... View full entry
