Overtaking the Tour Firstskyscraper, the 48-story, 220-meter HEKLA Tower will be the tallest building in Paris’s La Défense business district, as well as the second tallest building in all of France. Currently under construction and designed by Pritzker prize-winning Jean Nouvel, it is set to become a powerful architectural statement. Due to complete this 2022 in the midst of the sector’s redevelopment program, the futuristic skyscraper spreads over 76,000 sqm of floor area distributed in offices, services, lobbies, an amphitheater, projection rooms, performance halls, restaurants, bars, gyms and loggias. All of this with the aim of providing a unique user experience with vast, flexible workspaces that promote interaction and well-being.
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The Bodmin Jail Hotel. Image Cortesia de VELUX Commercial
Commercial building refurbishment projects present architects with design challenges. Transforming 18th century Bodmin Jail into a modern hotel meant an acknowledgement of restrictions in relation to the building’s infrastructure. Listed buildings often have construction regulations to preserve historic and architectural interests, impacting thermal comfort and how daylight is introduced to transform building spaces.
These design challenges can make architectural planning appear more complex, particularly when a building is being repurposed. Common challenges include sourcing materials to replicate or meet existing infrastructures. The adaption of floor plans, consideration of user comfort and introduction of technology in planning phases, also influence contemporary design. The Bodmin Jail Hotel required skylight installations that could work within an existing and iconic sloping roof.
Nowadays everything is “painted” green. It's green packaging, green technologies, green materials, green cars and, of course, green architecture. A “green wave”, stimulated by the environmental and energy crisis we are facing, with emphasis on climate change and all the consequences linked to global warming. This calamitous situation is confirmed by the second part of the report entitled Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability prepared by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and presented in recent weeks. It reveals that, although adaptation efforts are being observed in all sectors, the progress implemented so far is very low, as the actions taken are not enough.
A carbon neutral building is achieved when the amount of CO2 emissions is balanced by climate-positive initiatives so that the net carbon footprint over time is zero. Considering their unmatched ability to absorb CO2, planting trees is often viewed as the best carbon offsetting solution. But as cities become denser and the amount of available horizontal space for green areas drastically reduces, architects have been forced to explore other approaches. Therefore, to address these climatic challenges and connect people to nature, exterior green walls have become a rising trend in increasingly vertical cities. Even if there is research to claim that these can positively impact the environment, many question if they can actually contribute to a carbon neutral architecture. Although the answer may be quite complex, there seems to be a consensus: green walls can be effective, but only through good design.
Ray working on a model for the Billy and Audrey Wilder House in 1950 (unbuilt).. Image Courtesy of Eames Office
On the heels of the Eames Office’s 80th anniversary marked by an exhibition and a Ray-inspired sneaker, director Eames Demetrios spoke to Metropolis about the matriarch who continues to inspire design.
With the Sensia Arena model, manufacturer GROHE offers a shower toilet that combines the global trend towards highly functional and hygienic toilets with award-winning design. Image Courtesy of Grohe
Shower toilets are fast becoming the new standard when it comes to personal hygiene. GROHE Sensia Arena showcases the benefits of this all-encompassing approach with award-winning design, innovative technology and an undeniable feel-good factor.
Despite being the smallest rooms of houses, bathrooms have always been one of the most challenging and critical to design, which often left them fairly simplified. The past few years, however, saw these spaces undergo significant change; what was once only limited to functionality, ease of maintenance, and privacy, is now being given a strong character with pops of color, classic fixtures, and patterned surfaces. Similarly for public bathrooms, where "functionality" and "ease of maintenance" are now complimented with aesthetics, technology, and high quality finishing. In this interior focus, we explore the three main bathroom typologies used in residential projects, and look at how architects have employed them through 12 examples.
Biblioteca Jose Vasconcelos / Taller de Arquitectura X / Alberto Kalach. Image Cortesía de Taller de Arquitectura X / Alberto Kalach
Over the years, interior design has evolved according to the needs that arise, but above all according to the experiences we seek to provoke in the user. In the last two years, we witnessed a radical change and a particular interest in this subject because the pandemic forced us to pay specific attention to the configuration of the places we inhabit. This brought about much more holistic designs that cater to the wellbeing of the user, combining colours, sensory experiences, technology and natural elements that promote health.
For centuries and centuries we’ve built – and the diversity in our global built environment is a testament to that. The many different cultures around the globe have had different ways of building throughout history, adapting locally found materials to construct their structures. Today, in our globalized present, building materials are transported across the globe far from their origins, a situation that means two buildings on completely opposites sides of the world can be more or less identical.
Tragedy, protest, insurrection, and political turmoil have led to a renewed awareness of racial injustice and democratic instability. These issues create new challenges for users and designers of public spaces in America. Cultural spasms have resulted in contested public spaces — sites of killings, protests in streets and parks, and forgotten burial grounds. These spaces need a new form of environmental justice.
Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts – Vienna, Virginia | FlexShade® ZIP | Dealer: Goodwin Bros. Shades and Specialties | Photographer: Alan Wycheck – alanwycheckphoto.com. Image Cortesia de Draper
Comfortable outdoor spaces are more desirable than ever. Over the past couple of years, people have been spending more time at home, connecting with nature from the relative comfort of covered balconies, patios, and pergolas. But even with pleasant views, cooling breezes, and the warmth of the sun, covered outdoor spaces can be uncomfortable. Temperature variations, glare, rain, and wind quickly create an unpleasant experience. In warmer climates, insects can be an additional a nightmare.
Clay walls have a high thermal inertia. This means that they act as a climate buffer that creates a thermal delay in the flow of heat from the outside to the inside, absorbing it during the day and releasing it overnight. The material is especially suitable for hot and dry climates, such as that of Gando, where Francis Kéré built his first school. After years of studying abroad, Kéré returned to his home community with the intention of building this school with the same materials historically used by locals, which many originally viewed as strange, as he said in this lecture. Despite the initial prejudice, it was the combination of local materials and techniques with Kéré’s acquired knowledge that ultimately gave strength to the project.
https://www.archdaily.com/978851/how-does-francis-kere-use-materials-to-respond-to-local-climate-conditionsValeria Montjoy and Eduardo Souza
Paris has been making headlines for years with its aggressive steps to anti-car, pro-pedestrian urban improvements. Faced with increasing issues around air pollution and an attempt to reclaim streets for alternate modes of transit, as outlined in their proposed plan for a 15-minute city, the French capital is seen as a leader in future-forward urbanist strategies. Recently, their department of transportation set a deadline for their lofty goals of eliminating traffic from its roads. In just two years from now, in time for the French capital to host the Olympics, Paris plans to ban non-essential traffic from its city center, effectively eliminating around 50% of vehicular mobility. What does this plan look like? And how might other cities use this strategy to eliminate their own urban issues?
With a history that dates all the way back to 1834, manufacturer of luxury cases and safes WOLF knows all about the importance of protecting not only treasured possessions, but legacy, too.
The election of Kéré is not only symbolic in a time of identity demands, where the institutions that make up the mainstream are required to more faithfully represent the social, cultural, and sexual realities that make up our societies, but it also confirms the recent approach of the Pritzker Prize jury.
In recent years, there has been an increased focus on indoor lighting, especially in the context of the growing numbers of open-plan offices. In large parts of the world—and especially in Nordic countries—people can spend up to 80-90% of their time indoors. The light we are surrounded by affects both our circadian rhythm and hormones, making our indoor environment and its light an important factor of our well-being. Opinions on the optimal indoor lighting solution—and if one exists at all—are numerous and divided. To gain some more insight into this, the Danish lighting manufacturer Louis Poulsen set out to test the effects of various artificial lighting conditions in their own head office in Copenhagen.
Based in São Paulo, Atelier Marko Brajovic was founded in 2006 by architect Marko Brajovic. With a multidisciplinary practice, the idea of the hybrid manifests itself as the conceptual north of the office that operates on several fronts: architecture, scenography, expography, creative direction, interior and product design. With a vast language that explores different areas, formats and aesthetics, its projects are, above all, recognized for breaking with the modern canon and seeking solutions in nature.
Balconies provide residents with great views while literally and figuratively looking down on the neighbors, but they also offer numerous other advantages.
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Urban Sequoia Forests of Buildings Isolating Carbon & Producing Biomaterials . Image Courtesy of SOM / Miysis
With the magnitude and urgency of the immediate Covid-19 crisis worldwide, efforts have been concentrated on saving lives, rather than focusing on concerns related to the road to Net-zero carbon. Net Zero carbon in regards to construction is defined as when the amount of carbon emissions associated with the construction of a building and its completion is zero. A zero-energy building will have an overall zero net energy consumption; the total amount of energy used by the building annually is equal to the amount of renewable energy generated on-site.
As the climate emergency presents itself as a severe and existential threat, it is crucial that the road to net-zero carbon is resumed large-scale in both an architectural and commercial sense. Around the globe, efforts have been renewed in an attempt to tackle the almost inconceivable. According to the 2019 global status report for buildings and construction, the buildings and construction sector accounted for 36% of final energy use and process-related carbon emissions in 2018. Although carbon emissions were temporarily reduced during the peak of the pandemic, they are set to swiftly return to previous figures.
The Second Studio (formerly The Midnight Charette) is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by Architects David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features different creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions.
A variety of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes are interviews, while others are tips for fellow designers, reviews of buildings and other projects, or casual explorations of everyday life and design. The Second Studio is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.
This week David and Marina discuss mental health and burnout in architecture, covering how the issue is perceived by different generations, why looking to other colleagues and professions can be helpful but also not helpful, passion as a solution and problem, the inherent complexity of architecture, architects being undervalued, whether or not architecture school should change, the instability of a project-based practice, and the main reasons for poor mental health and burnout exist in architecture and how they can be addressed.
https://www.archdaily.com/978731/the-second-studio-podcast-architectures-mental-health-and-burnout-problemThe Second Studio Podcast
18.36.54 House, Connecticut. Image Courtesy of Nikolas Koenig
Polish-American architect, artist, professor, and set designer, Daniel Libeskind, founder of Studio Libeskind in 1989, believes that buildings are crafted with perceptible human energy, constructed with the intention to address the greater cultural context in which they are built. His commitment to expanding the scope of architecture reflects his profound interest and involvement in philosophy, art, literature, and music.
He addresses the notion of drawings being akin to a score, a piece of music that is interpreted by a like-minded community. Proportions, light, and materiality are all implicated in the drawing, and in this same way, buildings are also called to present space, atmosphere, and illuminate the practice.
Architecture education was never designed to prepare you for the entrepreneurial side of running a practice. In the minds of the creators that constructed the system which stands for what you now know to be the path to getting licensed, you were never meant to start a business in architecture prematurely. There is a code, a set of rules that drives you to obey and follow a one-sided vision of success.
Cozinha Americana, 1946. Autor: Harris & Ewing, fotógrafo. N STREET, KITCHEN. [Entre 1905 e 1945] Fotografia. Recuperado da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA [www.loc.gov/item/2016861773/]. Imagem em Domínio Público [PD US Government]. Image via Wikimedia Commons
The discovery of fire was one of the great events that changed the social organization of human agglomerations, which gradually passed from nomadic to sedentary lifestyle. Fire, which in that context served to keep people warm and protect the group, was also being explored as a source for cooking food, which not only changed human eating habits, but also made it possible to conserve food, changing the social organization of communities. The preparation and meals were collective acts, which brought people together to feed, warm up and protect themselves. It is from this habit that we inherited the practice of large banquets and the appreciation of food and meal times. Food preparation, on the other hand, was gradually marginalized.
While the Egyptians, Assyrians, Phoenicians, Persians, Greeks and Romans shared the habit of holding large banquets, the preparation gained less and less prestige, losing its collective social dimension until it was physically segregated in a specific room: the kitchen.
From celebrations of important conquests to expressions of wishes for someone who is sick to get better, the act of gifting someone (or oneself) with flowers is present at different stages of our lives and can carry numerous meanings. This kind of ritual materializes the expression of a feeling and, in many cultures, it is a delicate and sensitive choice, which usually takes into account the selection of specific species for each event.
For this reason, flower shops and stores specializing in flower arrangements are often places where the diversity of species is arranged in order to make it possible to choose the right arrangement or bouquet of flowers. In this sense, many florists take advantage of spatial organizations and design elements that seek to enhance the natural beauty of flowers. Some examples of this strategy are the use of more neutral tones on the surfaces, in contrast to the colors of the different species, and the use of innovative displays in dialogue with the arrangements.
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.jpg?1647822667 "Serpentine Pavilion / Kéré Architecture. Image Courtesy of Kéré Architecture")
.jpg?1647822697 "Startup Lions Campus / Kéré Architecture. Image Courtesy of Kéré Architecture")
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