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In the next few years, Chicago's iconic Aon Center will be getting a shiny, new glass-sheathed exterior elevator that is set to be the tallest of its kind in North America. Designed by locally based Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), the elevator — which will be tucked into the northwest corner of... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)... View full entry
Nike, the multi-billion dollar retail company has transformed the sports industry since its original debut in 1970's when they were formerly known as Blue Ribbon Sports. Today, the multinational corporation has flagship stores all over the world. As innovative as they are with their shoe and... View full entry
The Yumin Art Nouveau Collection by Danish practice JAC STUDIO was crowned the 2018 World Interior of the Year, marking the end of another INSIDE World Festival of Interiors. The last two days saw this year's nominated designers face off in a live competition at RAI Amsterdam in hopes to be named... View full entry
By ornithologists' best estimates, between 350 million and a billion birds in the U.S. die every year from colliding into the windows of buildings. Lacking good depth perception, birds are unable to distinguish reflections in glass from the real thing, causing them to fly into the window at full... View full entry
“If I were commissioning the interior of any kind of store and someone brought me blueprints including glass staircases, I’d tell him to take a hike,” she wrote then. “I wouldn’t give him a second shot. If he’s not intuitive enough to grasp that women in skirts will be uncomfortable walking upstairs, clouded glass or not, then what other errors has he made in his design?” — Los Angeles Times
Last month, LA Times culture writer Carolina Miranda tweeted that “all male architects should be required to navigate their own buildings in a skirt”, recalling the time she walked on the transparent floors of a Diego Portales University library and happened to be wearing a skirt. Others... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)... View full entry
The tinted world of tomorrow is coming, and airports—mini-cities of steel, concrete and lots and lots of glass—are interested. In a test last fall, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport outfitted one of its gates with a new type of “smart glass” that can adjust for sunlight exposure. The obvious point is to keep travelers from getting overheated—but the exercise also brought a more lucrative benefit. — Bloomberg
A Cornell-led study at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport found that implementing a new type of electrochromatic 'smart glass' at one of its gates not only led to cooler, more pleasant surface temperatures in the waiting area, but the tinted glass, and the resulting dimmer light in the neighboring bars and... View full entry
A range of minimalist tableware is the result of Norman Foster's latest collaboration as a designer outside of the world of architecture, with Danish design house Stelton. Image: Foster + Partners.Combining simple sculptural form and soft geometry, the Norman Foster Collection spans a spectrum... View full entry
There’s been one hiccup since it opened last year: Apple employees keep smacking into the glass. — Bloomberg
The Apple headquarters in Cupertino, CA, designed by Foster and Partners, was built with much glass—the building's exterior features the famed curved panels of safety glass while the interior is populated with work spaces, also made from glass. Well, apparently, the favored building material is... View full entry
But a number of prominent architects and urban planners have been speaking out against the material's overuse. [...] They raise questions about the impact glass structures have on our public spaces and the fabric of our cities. Developers demand floor-to-ceiling windows, abundant natural light and views worth charging tenants for -- but what about the rest of us? — CNN
Architects including Ken Shuttleworth (who worked on The Gherkin) and Alan Ritchie (who co-founded PJAR Architects with Philip Johnson) give their two cents on the issues about the abundant use of glass in skyscrapers, from energy efficiency to their uninviting appearance — and yes, that one... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)... View full entry
In The Hague, the Dutch King officially opened the OMA-designed Rijnstraat 8 government building yesterday. With OMA Partner Ellen van Loon and architect Bart Nicolaas as the project leads, the firm helped renovate the former VROM building, which marks the first big step in the Dutch... View full entry
East Taiheng Glasswalk in China is different from other glass-bottomed walkways; it cracks under your feet as you walk on it. But don't worry too much, the cracking is just a special effect to scare visitors, and it works! Watch the video below: View full entry
Facades using the product, called Solar Squared, will be able to generate electricity while allowing greater amounts of daylight. The blocks also provide improved thermal insulation, developers say.
Solar Squared’s design consists of an array of optical elements that focus sunlight on small-sized solar cells. These are incorporated within the glass bricks during manufacture and they collect diffuse components of sunlight, making it useful for capturing solar energy in urban areas.
— Global Construction Review
Academics from the Engineering, Mathematics and Physical Science department of England's University of Exter have developed a solar power technology that fits into glass bricks. Its modular design is scalable, allowing for flexible structural integration. We now have the capability to build... View full entry
