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A research team from Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) Department of Energy has created a new model for how we can connect the way we power our homes and vehicles. Dubbed AMIE... the platform features special technology that allows a bi-directional flow of energy between a dwelling and a vehicle. In other words, the house can fuel the car and the car can fuel the house. What's more, ORNL used 3D printing technology to build the dwelling and the vehicle... — Gizmag
AMIE, or Additive Manufacturing Integrated Energy, is a hybrid of different futuristic technologies, mashed together into a single platform. First, both the house and the vehicle were 3D printed.The former, a single-room structure, was designed in collaboration with Skidmore, Owings and Merril and... View full entry
We updated our methodology to include new metrics: percentage of women and minority designers; range and value of employee benefits; rate of employee turnover. — Architect Magazine
What defines a successful architectural firm? For Architect Magazine, it's a blend of diversity in staffing, sustainability, and overall design savvy/business acumen. Accordingly, big names Gensler, SOM, and Perkins + Will snagged places in the top five, while Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill... View full entry
Construction is slated to start this month on what-will-be the world's first high-rise residential tower built according to Passive House (PH) standards, considered the most rigorous criteria for reducing a building's greenhouse gas emissions. Passive houses, such as the building on the right in... View full entry
“The architecture becomes a solution to an almost unsolvable puzzle,” Ingels told me one recent morning. — WIRED Magazine
Last week Archinect broke the news that Bjarke Ingels' BIG had taken over the design of Two World Trade Center from Foster + Partners, and today BIG has released its first renderings of its proposed new design. Foster's slanted quadruple diamond crown has been nixed in favor of a stepped-back... View full entry
The technology of supertall buildings is a bit like genetic testing or nuclear energy: a volatile form of power. Technological capacities have outpaced our judgment. We know we can do it, but we don’t know when not to do it. And so some endlessly wealthy mogul [...] will eventually move into a preposterously expensive penthouse so far above the Earth’s crust that the air is thin and gales hammer at the glass. A mile’s not science fiction. It’s not even an outer limit. — nymag.com
Archinect Sessions is proud to have Brian Newman of Dykema Gossett PLLC as our official legal correspondent, offering insight into the legal quagmire of architectural practice. Brian is a regular guest on the podcast, dishing out advice to make every architect better informed and protected... View full entry
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill can update their track record of AIA awards with the recent win of their sixth AIA Twenty-Five Year Award for the Exchange House at the Broadgate development in central London. Since 1969, the AIA bestows its sought-after Twenty-Five Year Award to a completed... View full entry
“It’s not so bad,” offered an architect who has a window facing the building.
Alas, it is.
Like the corporate campus and plaza it shares, 1 World Trade speaks volumes about political opportunism, outmoded thinking and upside-down urban priorities. It’s what happens when a commercial developer is pretty much handed the keys to the castle.
— The New York Times
The London office of SOM and Copenhagen-based firm Entasis -- who collaborated with COWI in Denmark and Sweden -- was just announced as having the winning design for the Polestar Tower in Gothenburg, Sweden. Once built, the 230 m. structure will reportedly be Scandinavia's tallest tower. — bustler.net
Since our last update on the Gothenburg tower competition, five star-studded finalist teams submitted their proposals under anonymity. SOM and Entasis went against teams led by Zaha Hadid Architects, Ian Simpson Architects, Wingårdhs Arkitektkontor, and Manuelle Gautrand... View full entry
NATO is building a new headquarters for one billion euros. But the construction consortium is in financial difficulties and the project is at risk of being halted. — spiegel.de
Watch a 2008 video interview below with lead architect Jo Palma of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill discussing the ideas behind the design of the building. More European key projects in dire financial troubles: ECB Headquarters: Skyrocketing Costs for Skyscraper Project Starchitect Trio: The Men... View full entry
The Chhatrapatri Shivaji International Airport Terminal 2 designed by Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill celebrated its opening late last week in Mumbai. India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, along with visiting dignitaries and representatives from the developer GVK, inaugurated the new terminal... View full entry
In the latest edition of the Student Works feature, Building Soft takes on the L.A. River's infrastructure, students from SWA’s Summer Student Program presented projects such as; Topo-Infrastructure for Health, Stairway to the Hill, or Performative Punk Playground. NewsJustine Testado... View full entry
The success of a public work of art is measured not merely by aesthetics, but rather, by its magnetic qualities that inspire interaction. The art is a reflection of the City, the art becomes a part of the City, the art is instrumental in making the City. — Spirit of Space
Acting as poetic translators between cities and their citizens, the creative agency Spirit of Space uses digital media to showcase humanity's built environment, consequently enhancing the citizen's self-awareness and appreciation of architectural space. Their film for Skidmore, Owings... View full entry
Since we first announced that Skidmore, Owings & Merrill was chosen to design the new federal courthouse in Downtown LA, construction for the new cubic courthouse at the corner of First Street and Broadway began on August 8. The approx. 600,000 square-foot building was proposed back in... View full entry
Dubai ceremony marks inauguration of world's highest twisted tower.
Saudi developer Cayan inaugurated late Monday the opening of the 73-story, one-thousand-and-seventeen-foot (310-meter) tall Cayan Tower in Dubai's prestigious Marina district.
Inspired by the structure of human DNA, each floor of the 272-million-U.S.-dollar (1 billion-Dirham) tower is rotated by one-point-two degrees to achieve the full 90-degree spiral, creating the shape of a helix. Dignitaries from diplomatic corps and Corporate Dubai joined the celebrations which... View full entry