While technology has always been a double-edged sword when it comes to sustainability and equity, it also holds the key to ameliorating pressing environmental challenges. A rising generation of materials engineers and designers are engaging these questions with renewed urgency, examining the nexus of nature and technology to develop more sustainable architectural products. — Metropolis
With the changing environment, architects and designers must consider the evolution of architectural materials and its uses. Digital building techniques have already made an impact on the built environment, however building materials are being re-evaluated not only for their application but their... View full entry
A team of Boston University researchers recently stuck a loudspeaker into one end of a PVC pipe. They cranked it up loud. What did they hear? Nothing.
How was this possible? Did they block the other end of the pipe with noise canceling foams or a chunk of concrete? No, nothing of the sort. The pipe was actually left open save for a small, 3D-printed ring placed around the rim. That ring cut 94% of the sound blasting from the speaker, enough to make it inaudible to the human ear.
— Fast Company
"The mathematically designed, 3D-printed acoustic metamaterial is shaped in such a way that it sends incoming sounds back to where they came from," explain the Boston University researchers behind the discovery: Xin Zhang, a professor at the College of Engineering, and Reza Ghaffarivardavagh, a... View full entry
Will Alsop's posthumous building, the £2m Neuron Pod, has completed at the Queen Mary University of London's campus. Shaped like a giant porcupine, the structure comes complete with illuminated fibre-optic spines and will serve as the school's new neurological education pod, where science shows... View full entry
In 2017, Sidewalk Labs, aka Google's Company for Cities, announced plans to build an innovation-forward community along Toronto's waterfront. Developed alongside designs by starchitecture firms Snøhetta and Heatherwick Studios, the idea behind the mini smart city is to integrate cutting-edge... View full entry
Along the way, the games have introduced millions of players to the joys and frustrations of zoning, street grids and infrastructure funding — and influenced a generation of people who plan cities for a living. For many urban and transit planners, architects, government officials and activists, “SimCity” was their first taste of running a city. — Los Angeles Times
"It was the first time they realized that neighborhoods, towns and cities were things that were planned, and that it was someone's job to decide where streets, schools, bus stops and stores were supposed to go," writes Jessica Roy for the Los Angeles Times. Happen to look for a real life urban... View full entry
In Dübendorf, Switzerland the official opening of the world's first digitally planned and built residence now stands. Coined, the DFAB House, the project was developed by researchers from ETH Zurich in collaboration with industrial partners and the National Center of Competence in Research... View full entry
Microsoft will allow businesses to customize HoloLens 2 before purchasing a fleet of headsets. Trimble, the owner of 3D modeling package SketchUp, has already modified the headset so that it can be worn like a hard hat in construction sites and other potentially dangerous locations. The rebranded version will be called Trimble XR10 and is set to launch alongside the regular HoloLens 2 later this year. — engadget
One of the first 'working-in-the-field' customizations of Microsoft's newly unveiled HoloLens 2 mixed-reality headset is a hard hat by Trimble for construction workers that pulls up holographic CAD data on the worksite. Image: Trimble/Microsoft"It will have all of the same specs, performance, and... View full entry
Join us March 16th at Archinect Outpost to celebrate Swimming to Suburbia, the latest book of essays by UCLA professor Craig Hodgetts. Hodgetts will provide a lecture about the books, followed by a book signing. The book is available for presale here, to be signed by Craig Hodgetts at the event... View full entry
There are T-shirts floating around WeWork’s New York City headquarters that say “Buildings equal data.” The nano manifesto hints at a conviction that architecture should be shaped by a methodical study of how people utilize spaces instead of unique aesthetic signatures. More than that, correlating digital information with physical structures is good business—it has quickly become a core strategy for the eight-year-old, $47 billion company racing to expand its footprint globally. — Metropolis
Architects today are very familiar with data and its influence over design, construction, and feasibility. However, what else can data teach us? When you're a massive billion dollar company like WeWork, opportunities for turning data into teachable tools coincides well with the company's... View full entry
On this week's episode of Archinect Sessions we talk with Carlo Aiello, a Mexican-born, LA-based designer and founder of eVolo. Most of our readers are familiar with eVolo's (very) popular annual skyscraper competition and related series of books. Carlo, the founder of eVolo, is also the designer... View full entry
UNStudio is known for their groundbreaking work in solution driven designs relating to the ever-changing urban environment. Climate is changing, which leaves architects and designers taking steps towards designing buildings and structures that can accommodate to the overheated urban environment... View full entry
We would like to thank everyone that attended the launch of Jose Sanchez's book, The Blindspot Initiative. During the packed-house event Jose spoke about the intention of the book and was followed by Behnaz Farahi, Biayna Bogosian of Somewhere Something and Casey Rehm of Kinch. Published... View full entry
Turkish based architecture studio Melike Altinisik Architects (MAA) wins the first ever international design competition hosted by The Seoul Metropolitan Government. The first competition of its kind, applicants were asked to submit a design idea to pioneer the world's first robot science museum... View full entry
Join us at Archinect Outpost on March 6th, from 7-9pm to host Lydia Kallipoliti and her newest book, The Architecture of Closed Worlds: Or, What Is the Power of Shit? Published by Lars Müller Publishers and Storefront for Art and Architecture, the book accompanied an eponymous exhibition... View full entry
Amazon on Thursday canceled its plans to build an expansive corporate campus in New York City after facing an unexpectedly fierce backlash from some lawmakers and unions, who contended that a tech giant did not deserve nearly $3 billion in government incentives.
The company, as part of its extensive search for a new headquarters, had chosen Long Island City, Queens, as one of two winning sites, saying that it would create more than 25,000 jobs in the city.
— The New York Times
Amazon announced the change of course for its hotly contested New York City HQ2 aspirations in a statement this morning: After much thought and deliberation, we’ve decided not to move forward with our plans to build a headquarters for Amazon in Long Island City, Queens. For Amazon, the... View full entry
