Although the original Foster + Partners renderings for the new Chicago Apple Store did not include a logo on its gray, rectilinear convex carbon-fiber roof, construction workers briefly unrolled the trademark white Apple across what now can only be viewed as a giant MacBook (no word yet on whether... View full entry
Potential employers don’t pose design challenges with the expectation that you blow them away with your ingenuity or clever solutions. They want to see if you ask probing questions that uncover constraints, or if you rush to the whiteboard without deeper understanding. — Muzli
Design challenges are often used by companies to asses potential employees’ problem solving skills. This Google interview challenge in particular seems to have captivated the design community —How do you design an interface for a 1000 floor elevator? Dozens of designers around the world... View full entry
Spotted by The Mercury News, it’s designed for “densely populated” areas. The tower allows drones to fly in and out, acting like a giant beehive, with robotic arms that help snatch them out of the sky. Inside, the core features layers of spokes around one central hub. The spokes are specialized for various purposes, like repairing the drones, or loading them with goods. — Fast Co. Design
Amazon has been experimenting with the use of delivery drones for some time now though this approach to shipping has yet to take off for the e-commerce giant. As they continue testing this prospective delivery method, it is clear the retailer takes the particular vision quite seriously. On... View full entry
Featuring a talk by Dr. Ann Rubbo on the artist and architect Marion Mahony Griffin, this screening of "A Girl is a Fellow Here: 100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright" at the Center for Architecture in New York on June 28th at 6 p.m. investigates Wright's history of working... View full entry
Turning iconicity on its head, MVRDV have designed a striking building that purposefully refuses easy categorization. Depending on the angle from which it is viewed, the Baltyk Tower seems to assume different forms, a look that is achieved by a series of scenic terraces and a rippling... View full entry
The Fundació Mies van der Rohe has launched an app so that anyone with a mobile phone can find on a map, and visit, the nominated works of this year's European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture. The app suggests routes for visiting the sites and even allows it's users to propose new ones... View full entry
“It would be quite fun to be on Mars because you would have gravity that is about 37% of that of Earth, so you would be able to lift heavy things and bound around,” [Elon Musk] adds, predicting that journey times could eventually be cut to 30 days. — The Guardian
Aside from the money, specific technology, and solid timeframe, Elon Musk has figured out a way to get to Mars. The colonization plan, which is designed to place about 1 million people on the planet in 40-100 years using a yet-to-be constructed ship that would carry 100 passengers per trip, needs... View full entry
Confined in Utah’s Mars Desert Research habitat for three days—habitat diameter: 33 feet—the five-person team experienced the cramped living quarters and zero-waste living necessary to survive a journey to outer space. — Quartz
Designers from IKEA are exploring space-saving solutions for tiny homes by living in an actual Mars research station. During the immersion workshop led by Constance Adams, NASA architect behind the habitat for the first human mission to Mars, the team examines the ways in which astronauts'... View full entry
Ever wondered when the high-rises in downtown Los Angeles were built? This two-minute video of animated renderings by Commercial Cafe provides a brief history and date for most of the skyscrapers downtown, from City Hall to the Wilshire Grand, concluding with a color-coded erection sequence by... View full entry
Valdsgaard believes Apple’s know-how and recent progress within AR will be a crucial complement to Ikea’s in-house competencies. Another major benefit of working with Apple is the company’s gigantic ecosystem of users. — Business Insider
Ikea will partner with Apple to co-build an AR-based shopping app that will enable its users to try out virtual furniture at home before making buying decisions. Michael Valdsgaard, Leader of Digital Transformation at Inter Ikea, noted that the app is intended not to replace the... View full entry
Revolution Precrafted, a company launched by developer and art collector Robbie Antonio in 2015, aims to democratize architecture by offering affordable designs for prefab homes and pavilions from over 40 world-renown architects including Kengo Kuma, Jean Nouvel, Kravitz Design, Zaha Hadid... View full entry
How can architects create livable, breathable spaces that not only honor the history of a region, but anticipate the global population increase? This is partly the mission of MVRDV's 300-unit residential apartment/mixed use Ilot Queyries, which is located adjacent to the ZAC Bastide-Niel... View full entry
Chosen from over 65 entries, this year's finalists represent the latest in hotel design and offer a glimpse at the future of travel.The jury looks for projects that are innovative but within the realm of possibility. — CNN Style
The finalists of the hospitality design competition's 11th round are Arno Matis Architecture, EoA Group, and the already existing Play Design Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan. Honorable mentions include student winner, Brandan Siebrecht, from University of Nevada, Las Vegas and student honorable mention... View full entry
Today’s show follows up on Archinect Sessions episode 83, when we discussed this first year of Exhibit Columbus. The inaugural exhibition of Exhibit Columbus opens this summer, on August 26, and will include six built structures, designed by teams from six different Midwestern universities... View full entry
The dark, quasi-Victorian corridors of ODA's 31-unit apartment building on New York City's Renwick Street are a purposeful nod toward British-born James Renwick, 19th century scientist and engineer, after which the street is named. The contrast between the portrait-clad hallways and the light... View full entry
