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Norman Foster Is 84 And He Instagrams Better Than You Do

Looking at the Hearst tower made out of Lego

A post shared by Norman Robert Foster (@officialnormanfoster) on

Norman Foster only began to casually upload photos to Instagram in 2017. But don’t be fooled by his short tenure on the thirteen-year-old social media platform. At the ripe old age of 84, the British architect has demonstrated that his talents go far beyond designing buildings.

What makes Norman Foster’s Instagram feed more charming than Bjarke Ingels’, or more impressive that Richard Branson’s, is a complex mix of je ne sais quoi, athletic prowess, and a taste of the “he’s just like us!” Architects love that the photos provide behind-the-scenes insight into the life of one of the most prolific and revered professionals of our time. Behind the accolades and behind the Barony, we discover a man swimming, biking, rowing, and helicoptering his way into his eighth decade. It’s reassuring to see that an architect who has always sought to stand at the vanguard of the innovative and the bold doesn’t show signs of letting up anytime soon.

Lord Foster’s Instagram posts show us positive, human endeavors that we should respect as a profession: spending time with family, taking a vacation, and, most importantly, enjoying his work as an architect – a creative passion, or way of living, that permeates everything we do. If we are indeed moving beyond the age of “cults of personality” cultivated by the media, it’s fascinating to see that Norman Foster is taking full advantage of the one-to-one relationship between public figure and the public by openly showing us what he enjoys, treasures, and strives to achieve.

Álvaro Siza and Others Imagine Possible Scenarios for a Reconstructed Syria

Sketch for Syria, a project initiated by by Marco Ballarin and Jacopo Galli at IUAV, Venice, has brought together 150 architects from 26 nations in a large-scale effort to "imagine, trace and share possible scenarios" for Syria, following the recent devastation of the lives of its citizens and a significant amount of its architectural heritage.

In response to the United Nations' (UN-ESCWA) drafting of an agenda on July 14th, 2016 to consider ways of reconstructing the country, this drawing project has attracted contributions from the likes of Álvaro Siza, Philippe Rahm, Peter Wilson, and Francisco Aires Mateus.

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In Ningbo, Two Vast Construction Sites Highlight the Spectacular Scale of High-End Construction in China

Photographer Marc Goodwin—perhaps best known to our readers for his series shooting architectural offices in London, Seoul, Beijing, Paris, and the Nordic countries—recently travelled to Ningbo, China, on behalf of RSH+P (Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners) and Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects (SHL).

The resulting photo essay at once captures a series of projects currently under construction—including "Ningbo Gateway", a luxury residential tower by RSH+P, and a range of accompanying buildings by SHL—while simultaneously revealing a sense of the very particular atmosphere of this industrial port city.

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Hidden Studio Beneath a Busy Bridge Provides Creative Solitude for Its Designer

As urban environments become denser, more expensive and, on occasion, less desirable, creative minds are creating novel ways to escape the hustle, bustle, and tumult of the city. Fernando Abellanas, a designer based in Valencia, has gone to new extremes in his search for solitude. Positioned beneath a traffic bridge somewhere in the Spanish city, a hidden studio comprises a shelf, a chair, and a small desk – all anchored to the concrete undercarriage of the bridge by means of rails and rollers. Movable, the "room" becomes both impenetrable and isolated by the turn of a hand crank.

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Sebastian Weiss Reveals The Public Personalities of French Landmarks in Paris, Nanterre and Arcueil

Sebastian Weiss Reveals The Public Personalities of French Landmarks in Paris, Nanterre and Arcueil - Featured Image
© Sebastian Weiss

For Hamburg-based photographer Sebastian Weiss, buildings are dramatis personae, or "characters". Inspired by Ash Amin and Stephen Graham's 1997 book The Ordinary City, in which the authors described the city as the "theater of life", this photo-essay of architectural landmarks in the French cities of Arcueil, Nanterre, and Paris examines the personalities of public buildings.

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Pezo von Ellrichshausen and Felice Varini Unveil Designs for a Civic Installation in the UK's 2017 City of Culture

Pezo von Ellrichshausen and Felice Varini Unveil Designs for a Civic Installation in the UK's 2017 City of Culture - Image 3 of 4
Pezo von Ellrichshausen, Hull pavilion, Hull, UK, 2017. (Aerial perspective, watercolour on paper, 22 x 22 cm, 2017). Image Courtesy of RIBA

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) and Hull UK City of Culture 2017 have jointly commissioned Chile-based architects Pezo von Ellrichshausen and Swiss artist Felice Varini to design an ambitious temporary outdoor structure in the historic heart of Hull, a port city on the country's east coast. The project, which is part of the Hull 2017 "Look Up" programme of public art installations, will "transform Trinity Square with sixteen galvanized steel columns arranged in a grid formation in front of Hull Minister to highlight the symmetry of its façade."

This Map Shows The Evolution of Frank Lloyd Wright's Oak Park Designs

Home to Frank Lloyd Wright for many years, Oak Park, Illinois is also the site of the greatest concentration of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes and buildings than anywhere else in the world. Having designed structures for the neighborhood for nearly four decades, Wright used Oak Park as a place to try out new techniques and evolve his personal style.

Picking up on this, Illustrator Phil Thompson of Cape Horn Illustration has created a new map of Wright’s Oak Park designs. Organized both chronologically and by location, the map allows viewers to make connections between the structures, as their lines evolved from gabled to flat roofs and expanded in scale and in ambition.

Plans Unveiled to Construct the World's Largest and Most Secure Data Center in Northern Norway

Plans have been revealed by American-Norwegian data company Kolos to construct the world's largest data center, a claim based on the amount of electrical power the site intends to draw from the grid to supply its banks of servers and cooling facilities. Located on a fjord in Ballangen, Norway, the proposed site sits within the Arctic Circle and would take advantage of the cold climate, low humidity, and the abundant supply of hydropower currently available in the area.

Gunārs Birkerts, Architect of the World's Largest Library, Dies Aged 92

Gunārs Birkerts, the prolific Latvian-American architect best known for designing the "Castle of Light"—the world's largest library in Riga, Latvia—has died aged 92. The National Library, which was first conceived in 1988 and officially opened in 2014, has become among the most significant, and controversial, contemporary public buildings in Latvia.

Erwin Wurm's "Fat House" Is Exhibited Amid the Baroque Splendor of Vienna's Upper Belvedere

In a new solo exhibition of the work of Erwin Wurm in the artist's home city of Vienna, the "Fat House"—created in 2003—is being publicly displayed for the first time amid the baroque splendor of the Austrian capital's historic Upper Belvedere. The central exhibition of Wurm's work at 21er Haus comprises over forty "performative sculptures" and statues, examining "extraordinary examples of architecture and objects of daily use."

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Zaha Hadid Architects Unveil Photographs of "World's Tallest Atrium" Under Construction in Beijing

Zaha Hadid Architects Unveil Photographs of "World's Tallest Atrium" Under Construction in Beijing - Featured Image
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects and SOHO China

Zaha Hadid Architects have released new photos showcasing the ongoing construction progress of Leeza SOHO, a mixed-use office tower in Beijing's Lize Financial Business District. This twisting, contorted structural skeleton, which weaves together two separate sections of the tower and visually fuses them, will house the world's tallest atrium, rising the full height of the building.

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Watch Eyal Weizman Explain Forensic Architecture's Pioneering Investigatory Methods

In this film produced by Vice, Eyal Weizman—director of London-based research agency Forensic Architecture—explains how his team have developed methods of investigating bombings in areas of conflict across the globe. Using cellphone footage, examining floor plans, and utilising road maps, Weizman brings together scientists, journalists, and graphic designers in order "to analyze destroyed buildings for evidence of human rights abuses."

16 Achievement Stickers To Motivate Freelance Architects

Life as an architect can sometimes be trying. These stickers, designed by for The New Yorker, are designed to pep you up in your work day with a motivational boost, or a celebratory pat-on-the-back. Did you behave well during a Skype call? There's a sticker for that. Did you finish that presentation before 1am? There's a sticker for that, too. There's even a little badge of honor for which you can self-decorate once you've sent that final, final... final draft to your Project Manager for review.

BIG's Cactus Towers in Copenhagen Will Stand Next to an Urban IKEA

A new project in central Copenhagen will see two Danish practices—Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Dorte Mandrup Architects—create a new urban IKEA store, a budget hotel, and housing linked together by green space. Set to open in 2019, the area—which sits adjacent to Kalvebod Brygge, close to the railway lines that pass through the city core—will be master-planned by Dorte Mandrup while two striking high-rise residential towers, dubbed "Cacti", will be designed by BIG.

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Riku Ikegaya Constructs a Series of Nested Spaces in a Berlin Church Designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel

Berlin is city in which the past and the present often collide – a phenomenon particularly acute when it comes to the built environment. In this project by Japanese architect and artist Riku Ikegaya, the interior of St. Elisabeth-Kirche (Church of St. Elizabeth)—designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel—is transformed by means of a structural installation. Consisting of a scale model of Schinkel’s plans for the Rosentaler Vorstadt Church, the artist has composed a "three-dimensional architectural sketch."

Pompidou Center to Open Gallery in Shanghai, Designed by David Chipperfield Architects

David Chipperfield Architects has revealed the design of the newest home of the Centre Pompidou, the West Bund Art Museum in Shanghai. The Parisian institution revealed the details with the announcement of a 5-year deal with the West Bund Group to stage exhibitions in the museum beginning in 2019. Approximately 20 exhibitions – including a focus on contemporary Chinese art – will be included in the deal, described by the Centre Pompidou as "the most important long-term cultural exchange project” between France and China.

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Call for Classics Interns: Fall 2017

UPDATE: Deadline extended to Monday, August 21st, 2017 at 12:00 PM EST! is looking for a motivated and highly-skilled architecture-lover to join our team of interns for Fall 2017! An ArchDaily internship in Classics provides a unique opportunity to learn about our site and write about historically significant architecture projects.

Interested? Then check out the requirements below.

Call for ArchDaily Interns: Fall 2017

UPDATE: Deadline extended to Monday, August 21st, 2017 at 12:00 PM EST! is looking for a motivated and highly-skilled architecture-lover to join our team of interns for Fall 2017! An ArchDaily Content internship provides a unique opportunity to learn about our site and write engaging, witty and insightful posts.

Interested? Then check out the requirements below.