Students sent each other memes and other images mocking sexual assault, the Holocaust, and the deaths of children, according to screenshots of the chat obtained by The Crimson. Some of the messages joked that abusing children was sexually arousing, while others had punchlines directed at specific ethnic or racial groups. One called the hypothetical hanging of a Mexican child “piñata time.” — The Harvard Crimson
Ten students who managed to beat out nearly 38,000 others to gain admission to Harvard lost their chance to attend the university after sharing offensive online memes in a private Facebook chat. After discovering the memes, which ironically were traded over a platform designed by a former alumnus... View full entry
Back in 2015, the 11-storey, AHMN-designed scheme for Google's headquarters was deemed "too boring" by Google CEO Larry Page. Heatherwick Studio and BIG were brought in to add some pizazz to what was an admittedly fairly straightforward, boxy design. Today's freshly unveiled renderings show a more... View full entry
This week we are releasing a series of conversations, or "Mini-Sessions", with architects and designers in LA and Detroit, in partnership with the Los Angeles Design Festival. The festival will be taking place in Downtown LA from June 8 to 11th. Today we're sharing my conversation with Sean... View full entry
Marina Bay Sands is set to unveil ‘Spectra’, a new entertainment experience with state-of-the-art light and water show in June.
The city skyline will glimmer with a kaleidoscope of colours and lights each night with Spectra’s free-to-public outdoor light and water show displayed over the water at the Event Plaza along the promenade.
Combining an array of state-of-the-art lasers, lighting, water effects and projections, the show promises to be a multimedia extravaganza [...].
— theurbandeveloper.com
"The show will also boast specially developed underwater LED fixtures that allow lights to show perfect whites and richer colour hues. Other state-of-the-art technology used in Spectra include a synchronisation software called timecode, which enables the soundtrack to trigger, down to the... View full entry
The Android-only Wallabot device is apparently designed to help you avoid sawing through a waterline or prematurely snipping an electrical wire by virtue of showing you what lurks beneath your walls before you begin working. The device, which is demonstrated via video below, is paired with your... View full entry
Galleries often act as stagnant interior display spaces: their primary function is to host works in a relatively unobtrusive way that is artful without being ostentatious. But what about galleries that are designed to serve another purpose, as the freshly completed Roca’s Beijing Gallery in... View full entry
This week, starting today, we are releasing a series of conversations, or "Mini-Sessions", with architects and designers in LA and Detroit, in partnership with the Los Angeles Design Festival. The festival will be taking place in Downtown LA from June 8 to 11th. First up is with Edwin Chan of the... View full entry
Repurposing and renovation are some of the hottest new trends in architecture, but architects in Hamburg may have elevated the stakes by their proposal to place a 19-meter high "green mountain" atop a World War II bunker in Hamburg, Germany. The new mountain would offer residents lots to grow... View full entry
How will China's $36.1 billion dollar investment shape the future of Africa? While China only has 66 projects over the continent compared to the United States' 91 projects, it has pledged about ten times the total amount of money, and the lion's share of that cash is earmarked for Egypt. As Global... View full entry
To most people, mushrooms are a food source. To mycologist (mushroom scientist) Philip Ross, fungi are much, much more. In fact, Ross is most passionate about mushrooms’ ability to be used for building materials and it is this is what he primarily focuses his attention on. Recently, the mycologists figured out how to make bricks from growing fungi that are super-strong and water-, mold- and fire resistant. — Truth Theory
Referred to as "mycotecture," the mushroom bricks originally were embraced by the art world, but increasingly are being considered for other structural uses. Stronger and cooler-looking than concrete, the above fungi-brick structure is held together using chopsticks. View full entry
AA Summer DLAB experiments with the integration of advanced computational design, analysis, and large scale prototyping techniques. In its 12th year, Summer DLAB continues to build on its expertise on complex architectural design and fabrication processes, relying heavily on materiality and... View full entry
It’s been a decade since Google Street View launched, giving folks all the tools they need to virtually travel to far-flung places without leaving the comfort of their couch. But the tool is also useful for those who are curious about the evolution of places over time—and few places have experienced as drastic a change to their landscape in the past decade as New York City. — Curbed NY
Consider how much NYC has transformed in the past ten years. It is hard to even imagine the city's appearance in 2007 — prior to 20 skyscrapers' rising above the southern side of Central Park, before projects like Hudson Yards, the High Line, Pacific Park even begun their construction, and... View full entry
Stefano Colombo, Eugenio Cosentino & Luca Marullo published their second text in a series conceived for Archinect on deserts and radical islands. It is a heady exploration of subcultures (ranging from Punk to Dark Valley, Dark Enlightenment and the Neoreactionaries) and how they "can be seen... View full entry
How can you transform a not particularly sustainable 1940s building into a leading example of pioneering environmental design? First, get the Harvard GSD Center for Green Building and Cities team focused on green building techniques, and secondly, hire Snøhetta. The result? This press release... View full entry
Funded mainly by tourist dollars, the French site of Guedelon has been building a medieval-style castle for the last 17 years using only the technology and tools that would have been available circa 1245. The result, which has created a living lab of craftspeople visited by curious schoolchildren... View full entry
