In a recent interview with Metropolis Magazine, Kenneth Frampton answered questions about his existing architectural influence and his opinion as it relates to the direction of architectural theory and criticism. Frampton has long been a prominent voice in the world of architectural theory and writing. He has taught at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation (GSAPP) since 1972, all the while publishing a large collection of critical essays and books on the topic of 20th-century architecture—the most notable of those being his 1983 essay “Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance.”
Even today, Frampton's evaluation of critical regionalism is still widely appreciated. In the interview, Frampton admits that he now sees the influence of critical regionalism primarily outside of "the Anglo-American world," but he believes that the implied importance of a "direct democracy" is what he sees as most beneficial.
3D printing – also known as additive manufacturing – turns digital 3D models into solid objects by building them up in layers. The technology was first invented in the 1980s and has since found its way into our everyday life – and in architecture and interior design. Architecture firm DUS has a vast expertise in architectural 3D printing and is now applying its expertise to interiors and retail spaces.
“3D printing is an ideal technique to tailor-produce to a space or a brand,” says Inara Nevskaya, head designer at DUS. “We can link a furniture’s functionality with unique form features to create statement pieces, special focal points that frame new experiences for the consumer in the retail landscape.”
https://www.archdaily.com/890494/interior-design-and-3d-printing-giving-unique-forms-to-functional-spacesLidija Grozdanic for Archipreneur.com
March 22 is World Water Day, an annual international celebration launched and organized by the United Nations. The goal of the day is to raise awareness about a wide range of water-based issues from around the world. This year’s theme is “Nature From Water”, which invites everyone to think about how nature can provide solutions to the water challenges we face today.
To celebrate World Water Day this year, we’ve rounded up 20 of our favorite projects that utilize water as a central design feature. Whether it be Zumthor'sThermal Vals or Chritso and Jeanne-Claude'sFloating Piers, water has been playing an important role in architectural design and in demarcating the boundaries of nature against our built environment.
One thing is key when it comes to wood-based materials: Authenticity. In addition to how it looks, the feel of a surface is also important. The right texture gives a decor character and depth, as well as a natural appeal, brings it even closer to the real thing.
Public spaces are having a moment. People from outside the field of urban planning are beginning to notice the vital contributions that they make to our quality of life: inserting nature and cultural memory into the everyday, reminding us of our collective responsibilities, supporting democratic expression. People are also beginning to notice the subtle ways in which those contributions are being eroded by threats of privatization, corporate appropriation, and apathy.
Most acutely, this moment is brought to us by Apple, which has begun an aggressive retail rebranding effort to re-conceptualize its stores as “town squares,” and wrought a wave of well-founded concern. Technology continues to beckon us away from the need to leave our homes or interact face-to-face with other humans. If for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, it would follow that opportunities for such interpersonal interaction become a luxury we begin to seek, a call to remember our origin as social beings.
Before airplanes, it took mail carriers on horseback months to transport letters across the country. Before washing machines, it took a full day of physical exercise to wash and dry a family’s laundry. And before cranes, it took decades—sometimes centuries—to build large structures such as castles and cathedrals.
The point being: Whatever you do, technology probably gives you a better way to do it.
Parque Zaryadye Plan / Diller Scofidio + Renfro. Image via Diller Scofidio + Renfro
Frequently imperceptible to the inhabitant, the architectural plans of landscape designs are unquestionably the best tool for understanding certain relationships between elements and the strategic organization of the work. They are therefore an essential part of any good architecture project.
The distribution and type of vegetation, topography levels, the relationships between the preexisting urban or natural context, the possible routes and incorporated activities, and the materiality and the dimensional precision required for its construction are some of the considerations that are usually reiterated in this type of representation.
The result permits the communication of intentions in an organized way, while clearly exposing the concerns of the authors; for this reason, we invite you to review a series of different examples of architectural plans of public spaces that enables a comprehensive approach to the role of each project.
For some practitioners of architecture, the insatiable desire to draw everything, from the largest to the smallest to take full control of the project, echoes the famous phrase uttered by Mies Van Der Rohe: "God is in the details." Similarly, designing furniture provides another creative outlet for in-depth exploration of human-scale works of architecture.
Throughout the history of the Brazilian Architecture, and especially since the modernist movement, architects not only became known for their building designs, but also for their detailed chairs and tables. Several of these pieces of furniture were initially designed for a specific project and then went into mass production due to their popularity.
Living rooms are spaces dedicated to sharing time with family, receiving visitors, working, and carrying out a wide range of unpredictable activities. Regardless of their size, the key to an innovative design for this part of a house is in creative spatial organization, in its connection to other parts of the home and, above all, in programmatic flexibility. Here, we present a selection of exceptional living rooms captured by renowned photographers such as Hiroshi Ueda, David Foessel, and Wison Tungthunya.
Historically inspired by some of the first man-made shelters—such as the black tents first developed using camel leather by the nomads of the Sahara Desert, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, as well as the structures used by Native American tribes—tensile structures offer a range of positive benefits compared to other structural models.
Tensile structure is the term usually used to refer to the construction of roofs using a membrane held in place on steel cables. Their main characteristics are the way in which they work under stress tensile, their ease of pre-fabrication, their ability to cover large spans, and their malleability. This structural system calls for a small amount of material thanks to the use of thin canvases, which when stretched using steel cables, create surfaces capable of overcoming the forces imposed upon them.
via Wikipedia User: HalloweenHJB Licensed Under CC BY-SA 3.0
Even in the age of instant information, museums enthrall us. Lining the tourist guidebooks of cities across the world, art museums are a must-see destination for visitors and locals alike. However, as our methods of communication and archiving change, driven by science and innovation, historic institutions such as art museums must keep up.
In cities around the world, art museums are redefining themselves to respond to the contemporary, experimental demands of the 21st-century. In Buenos Aires, the architecture of art museums showcases a diverse catalog of form, materiality and atmosphere, blending the instant, flexible demands of the modern age with a historic role of archiving some of humanity's most evocative works.
Below, we paint a picture of Buenos Aires' diverse art museums, showcasing the changing nature of exhibition architecture in one of the world’s most energetic cities.
This article was originally published by Ezra Schwartz on LinkedIn. It has been reprinted here with permission from the author.
Following a recent family visit to Chichén Itzá, I became somewhat obsessed with a couple of design enigmas I found there:
Design Enigma 1: The large pyramid in this amazing archeological complex, known as the Temple of Kukulkán, is highly symmetrical. But the first thing I observed when we approached it and stood in front of its west side, is that the structure on top of the pyramid (A above), is not center-aligned relative to the 9 terraces below it, as one would expect*. The visual guides 1 and 2 show the misalignment (images above and below).
Over the centuries green has signified many emotions; love, jealousy, health, and more recently the environment. Particularly in the middle ages, it was used to suggest wealth and riches, being used by Leonardo da Vinci as the color of Mona Lisa’s dress. It has also been part of the important tradition to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day as part of the celebrations, a custom in Ireland that dates as far back as 1640.
When it comes to architecture, green color buildings stand out in cities that are usually abundant with brick, concrete and steel and their monochrome palette. In 2017 we saw the revitalizing shade of green, ‘greenery’, being named Pantone’s Color of the Year so it’s no wonder that there are copious numbers of buildings and interiors adorning such a refreshing tone.
Is green the new black? It’s up to you to decide as you scroll through the 18 gorgeous projects below featuring green with such pride.
After finishing a building, the client is faced with an important question: How do they celebrate the new architecture? This moment offers an essential opportunity to inform the public about the existence and mission of the building. Therefore, the designs of opening ceremonies are often loaded with symbolic imagery to construct a new identity. Fireworks and light shows are an especially common part of the powerful repertoire used to magnify the aura of architecture. This luminous storytelling can underline the client’s uniqueness and superiority on both a local level and an international stage. I spoke with two leading designers to get their insights on how opening ceremonies have changed in recent years: Christophe Berthonneau, Creative Director at Groupe F, who introduced the Louvre Abu Dhabi, and Fred Thompson, Creative Director at Laservision Mega Media, who worked on the opening of the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore.
The first few times I received negative feedback I was surprised about how I felt. I could feel my body getting tight, my temperature rising and a feeling of tension. For a brief moment, I felt as if the air had left my body and could feel myself getting defensive.
Pritzker Prize Laureate, Balkrishna Doshi, has imparted many lessons through his poetic architecture. Drawing upon local craft and culture, he has created buildings that focus on community and humanity. Doshi once described design as "nothing but a humble understanding of materials, a natural instinct for solutions, and respect for nature," the philosophy evident in his architecture which combines the natural environment with a focus on the human. Here, The Leewardists illustrates one of his famous quotes and show how B.V. Doshi has inspired generations of students and practitioners in the universal values he displays in his architecture.
What if the one thing that makes BIG "BIG" was suddenly stripped away right at the apex of its potential? That's the question posed by the trailer for Kaspar Astrup Schrøder’s documentary BIG TIME, which ominously illustrated a possible problem with Bjarke Ingels’ health.
Schrøder's documentary highlights the intense journey of Bjarke Ingels, the founder of Bjarke Ingels Group, through the past few years of his life. This unique insight into what exactly it's like to be an architect on top of the world ultimately poses a question that needs to be answered by anyone seeking to reshape the world through design. How do you handle the responsibility of forming the future you want to live in?
The modern movement was a key player in the cultural construction of Chile in the 20th century. Although the first projects came from the private sector, their urban and landscape principles were adopted by the modernizing project of the welfare state that began to be built after the social conflicts that exploded in the 1920s.
During chile's industrialization process, the State's housing construction incorporated concepts such as liveability, and universal access to housing and sanitation, which were put to the test early on in the reconstruction of cities such as Chillán after the 1939 earthquake. As Chile is a country that is familiar with earthquakes, it was necessary to readjust the concepts of the modern movement to national structural requirements, that is, resizing the reinforced concrete sections, which gave them a heavier visual expression than in Brazil or Argentina.
From the daring vision of Sergio Larraín García-Moreno and Jorge Arteaga in the Oberpaur building - the first of the modern movement - to the urban visions of BVCH in the Villa Portales, or the first exercises in height in the upper middle class sectors, the modern movement has left its mark on our society and in our cities. However, only one of the projects presented here is declared a historical monument.
In this edition of the architectural guides, we present you twenty chronologically ordered projects that reflect the evolution of the modern movement in Santiago, Chile.
Bars are the perfect meeting place to finish the day in the company of friends and a few drinks. The relaxed atmosphere and lighting allow intimate discussions around tables, while the social butterflies can instead meet around the focal element of the space, the bar.
The atmosphere provoked by the mixture of textures, smells, materials, and darkness—ideally accompanied by a cocktail menu—is an essential component in helping us find our favorite watering holes. Read on for a selection of 15 incredible examples of this typology, with images by prominent photographers such as Frank Herfort, Serena Eller Vanicher, and Yann Deret.
Last Wednesday the world knew the name of the latest Pritzker Prize laureate: Balkrishna Doshi, the first Indian architect to receive architecture’s highest honor. The jury stated that "with an understanding and appreciation of the deep traditions of India’s architecture, Doshi united prefabrication and local craft and developed a vocabulary in harmony with the history, culture, local traditions and the changing times of his home country India".
While architects all in India are rejoicing and celebrating him, Anupama Kundoo, Professor at IE School of Architecture and Design, shared her thoughts on Doshi’s Pritzker Prize. "It is timely that there is recognition of a holistic understanding of the role of the architect, where the design of the built environment is seen as sensitive interventions that retain human scale in the man-made built landscape", stated Kundoo.
Architecture meets the outdoors in Sou Fujimoto's L’arbre Blanc housing tower, under construction in Montpeller, France. Image Courtesy of SFA+NLA+OXO+RSI
The destruction wrought upon Ishinomaki by the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami damaged the city’s civic hall and cultural center beyond repair. To rebuild, Ishinomaki City wanted to create a landmark combining these two facilities into a new complex—one that would be like a city unto itself, serving the community.
In 2016, design proposals were screened in a process that included public presentations, with many locals participating. In the end, Sou Fujimoto, a leader among the next generation of Japan’s architects, was selected for his innovative design.
At first, it was just a crane or two, a little urban renewal down on Westlake, a rumor that Paul Allen was cleaning things up, wanted a huge park with bike trails. I thought that might be nice and didn’t think about it again for a while.
No park happened, but one day I went down to the new Whole Foods below where I work and noticed that a whole habitat had sprung up on Westlake, an expensive Mexican chain restaurant and an expensive Italian place and an expensive Thai place, and some expensive after-work bars. I also noticed small groups of men, all white or Indian and all wearing lanyards. These groups moved around the streets, talking animatedly, freshly out of their cubicles and going to lunch, oblivious to whomever else was on the street.
Carbon fiber's light weight and unique properties make it an exciting potential building material, say researchers at Autodesk BUILD Space. Image Courtesy of University of Stuttgart
On any weekday, Chicago’s downtown business district, the Loop, teems with harried humans crossing the street like herds of wild antelope fleeing a predator. Most scurry past the Field Building without considering its significance—or that of the historic building demolished in 1931 on the same site: the Home Insurance Building. Built in 1884, it was the first tall building erected on a frame made of structural steel—a light, affordable, and durable material that allowed structures to be built taller, stronger, and faster than those made of wood or stone.
Acoustic shells are iconic elements seen in public spaces around the world. But beyond their curious form, their operation is highly interesting. Inspired by the design of the human ear, the sound waves produced within acoustic shells are organized by their form, becoming stronger and more vivid for the audience in front of the structure.
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