The design is based on the universal notion that you need to sacrifice something in order to make something new. Every product is a compound of different pieces of nature, whether it is a cell phone, a car, a stone floor or a wood board; they have all been harvested in one way or another. Our project is about trying to harvest something as gently as possible so that the source of what we harvest is displayed in a pure, pedagogic and respectful way... — Visiondivision website
Chop Stick has hit the internets today! Chop Stick is a concession stand, playground, and sculpture-building for the Indianapolis Museum of Art's 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park. I was very fortunate to be local architect-of-record for this innovative... View full entry
b3tadine[sutures] concurred "i love it. that work of this complexity and beauty is being built in Dallas, let alone the US, is testament to Mayne and Morphosis being one of the premiere firms in the world”. However, some like accesskb argued "beautiful forms and spaces... ugly and cold choice of materials and colours".
News The post announcing the opening of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science, designed by Morphosis Architects and which opened this past Saturday in Dallas, featured some great photos by the photographer Iwan Baan. Cosmos commented "Everything about this building is great. Function... View full entry
LAVA is creating the new interior spaces for an old cabaret theatre dating from the 1920s. The abandoned cabaret theatre has been recently uncovered in the heart of Berlin. Built in 1905, the three level musical hall and restaurant has been buried in 30 tonnes of rubble since 1934 when it closed... View full entry
After several years of planning, design and construction, a team of students from The New School and Stevens Institute of Technology who participated in the 2011 U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon celebrated the completion of Empowerhouse, an innovative model for affordable, energy efficient green housing located in the Deanwood neighborhood of Washington. — The New School
Developed in partnership with Habitat for Humanity of Washington, D.C. (DC Habitat), and the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD), the project marks the first time in the Solar Decathlon's history that a team partnered from the outset with civic and government agencies to... View full entry
The Rotterdam-based Bureau of Architecture, Research, and Design (BOARD) won the Second Prize with its entry entitled “Het hergebruikte appartement” (“The Recycled Apartment”) in the open competition for “Sustainable Krajicek Playgrounds”. — http://b-o-a-r-d.nl
We took the wish of the competition’s organizers, the Richard Krajicek Foundation (RKF) – to involve the surrounding buildings as closely as possible in the design of the playground - literally and picked a typical apartment from a building in the neighborhood, enlarged it five times... View full entry
Modern retailers go to extremes to make their mark and compete within an increasingly competitive market. This often goes beyond out the box design ideals such as virtual retail or smartphone-based shopping processes. — DesignBuild Source
While becoming the tallest in architectural terms will always garner attention, taller building often harbour some of the lengthiest development periods.
With a rise in the prominence of prefabrication, however, large is no longer necessarily equated with lengthy.
— DesignBuild Source
Related: Sky City: World’s tallest building, to be built in 90 days View full entry
McLain Clutter, Assistant Professor at the University of Michigan Taubman College of Architecture and Kyle Reynolds, Assistant Professor at the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee School of Architecture and Urban Planning, along with a team of students from the University of Michigan, have... View full entry
The parametric climbing wall system developed by ONL [Oosterhuis_Lénárd] in cooperation with climbing specialists Mountain Network and engineering firm Arcadis, has won the Wood Innovation Award 2012. The developed parametric design system, in which design and production are... View full entry
After the success linked to their Rolex Learning Centre, built on the campus of EPFL Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, SANAA again set out to design a non-hierarchal relationship between the elements of a landscape that is human before it is architectural. The campus lies on the former site of Milan's Centrale del Latte (milk-processing plant), whose north side is attached to the university's existing complex. — domusweb.it
A mirror tracks the sun throughout the day, reflecting its rays onto a parabolic dish, which then focuses the reflected daylight into a small ‘light pipe’ aperture. The concentrated light then travels through a series of relay lenses “over any distance and in any direction”, according to the company. A diffuser ensures that light evenly reaches the desired areas. — forumforthefuture.org
Modular construction has long been a dream of architects, for its efficiency and control, and now it could be a boon for New York City developers as well, since prefab methods can save 20 to 30 percent from traditional design methods. — New York Observer
Thanks to a deal with construction unions, the developer of the controversial Atlantic Yards project will move ahead with a 363-unit, 32-story prefab apartment building in Downtown Brooklyn. Designed by SHoP Architects, Skanska and ARUP, it is tentatively the tallest prefab tower in the world... View full entry
November 28, 2012 (Raleigh, NC) – Frank Harmon Architect PA, a multi-award-winning firm in Raleigh, NC, has received an Honor Award from the North Carolina Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA NC) for the design of the new AIA NC Center for Architecture and Design in... View full entry
Separated by about four centuries and the Pacific Ocean this pair of houses may seem on paper to have little in common. One was an imperial villa in Kyoto, the other a suburban villa in West Hollywood. One is built on Zen principles for the Japanese emperor, the other was built by a central European architect for himself. — ft.com
Edwin Heathcote discusses the historical relevance of Rudolph Schindler's Schindler House and Kyoto's Katsura Imperial Villa, and how they helpef influence the modern movement. View full entry
Maltzan and his firm were sent back to the drawing board to revise plans for a pier renovation in St. Petersburg, Florida after scientists disputed the feasibility of the proposal’s main appeal: its underwater reef garden. Today, the firm released details of its revisions – the redesign will add shaded balconies, vehicular transit, and another restaurant — features suggested by the local community — while taking away the quasi-aquarium that helped christen the project “The Lens.” — blogs.artinfo.com