Through the “Search History” exhibition at MAXXI Museum in Rome, Lara Lesmes and Fredrik Hellberg, directors of the architecture and art studio Space Popular, set out to explore the work of Also Rossi and to translate his notions of “urban fact” and “analogous city” to the virtual realm. The installation is a reflection on the proliferation of metaverse platforms and the concept of virtual urbanism. The exhibition is part of the fifth edition of Studio Visit, a partnership between Alcantara and the MAXXI Museo nazionale delle arti del XXI secolo, which challenges designers to put forward a personal reinterpretation of the works of the masters in the MAXXI Architecture Collections.

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Biennales, exhibitions, and architecture focused festivals provide a platform for opening debates, conducting research, and driving innovation, but they can also contribute to the incremental changes that shape the image and the character of a city. Through temporary installations and experiments, this type of events have the opportunity to open lines on inquiry into the quality of urban spaces, inviting visitors and residents to slow down, break away from their daily routine and interrogate their local environments. The effects might not be immediate, but by cumulating these impressions and moments of contemplation, architecture and design festivals can have a long-lasting impact on the cities that welcome them.

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Studio KO as the curator of the Uzbekistan National Pavilion at the 18^th Venice Architecture Biennale. Uzbekistan’s response to this year’s overarching theme, Laboratory of the Future, is an exhibition titled “Unbuild Together.” It aims to bring into focus the country’s rich architectural heritage as a potential tool and inspiration for developing a more sustainable future. The curatorial team will include Karl Fournier, Olivier Marty, Jean-Baptiste Carisé, and Sophia Bengebara.

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Architects play an important role in creating healthy, functional and aesthetically pleasing environments. Interior design represents a natural continuation of the same prerogative, and its importance has been accentuated in recent years, from the lockdown forcing many people to remain indoors for extended periods of time, to the rise of remote work. The task of the interior designer is not decorating spaces, but planning for an effective use of space, understanding the needs of the user and highlighting the intrinsic qualities of a space. Acoustics, lighting, material properties and proportions all play a role in achieving a coherent and enjoyable interior space.

This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights interior design projects submitted by the ArchDaily community. From a pastel-colored library in Turkey to a renovated symphony hall in San Diego, US, this selection of unbuilt projects showcases how architects design interior spaces by integrating textures, materials, light, and color in well-proportioned spaces. The article includes projects from Turkey, US, Switzerland, Indonesia, UK, and Denmark.

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Developed by WERK Arkitekter and Snøhetta, the new maritime center on the coast of Esbjerg, Denmark, opens to the public. The wooden structure is conceived as a gathering space for watersports clubs and other visitors to the harbor, providing the coastal town with a maritime social hub. The circular structure protects the visitors from harsh weather conditions, while the large windows and amphitheater stairs open up views of the sea. Dubbed “The Lantern,” the project represents the winning design of a competition organized in 2019.

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LEVER Architecture has been selected to lead the design team for the campus expansion of the Portland Museum of Art. The project aims to not only expand the existing campus but also to create a unified identity for the institution, one that ties together all the architecturally significant buildings on site. The winning proposal is primarily a mass timber structure inspired by Maine’s communities, history, and culture.

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MVRDV, in collaboration with UAD, has been selected as the winner of the competition to design a new library for Wuhan, poised to become one of the largest libraries in China. The large-scale project creates diverse study environments and offers reading and studio spaces while also connecting to its surroundings via three large openings that display the life inside the buildings to invite visitors to enter. Spanning over 140,000 square meters, the distinctive building adapts its volume to reflect its position at the confluence of two main rivers in Wuhan and become a recognizable landmark for the city.

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The Islamic Arts Biennale re-imagines the Western Hajj Terminal at King Abdulaziz Airport in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as a cultural space to create an evocative journey to explore Islamic heritage. The terminal, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and a winner of the 1983 Aga Khan Award, will be extended and complemented to create the setting for the event. Through the contributions of over 60 artists from over 20 countries, the biennale aims to become a platform to explore and reflect the diversity of the Muslim experience worldwide. Themed Awwal Bait, or The First House, the event intertwines commissioned works with never-before exhibited historical artifacts to convey a holistic perspective of the Islamic arts. The Biennale, curated by Sumayya Vally, now in its inaugural edition, will be open from January 2023 to April 2023.

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Renée Gailhoustet, French architect, pioneer of social housing, and winner of the 2022 Royal Academy Architecture Prize, has passed away aged 93. As announced by the Royal Academy, she passed away in her home in Le Liégat, Ivry-sur-Seine, one of her best-known projects, which was completed in 1982. Throughout her career, stretching back to the 1960s, Renée Gailhoustet was a strong advocate for social housing, exemplifying through her work a vision of generous housing in harmony with their urban environments.

Norwegian architecture offices A-lab and LPO revealed the plan to develop the last remaining plot in Bispevika, part of the Fjord City, a large-scale waterfront urban renewal project in the center of Oslo, Norway. The intervention strengthens the connection between the historic medieval city of Oslo to the new Fjord City while also introducing cultural, creative, and commercial activities to the area. The project comprises five buildings forming a quarter. The proposed massing and height take a contextual approach as they are reduced toward important local monuments such as the baroque residence “Ladegården” with its baroque garden “Barokkhagen." The project is developed by Oslo S Utvikling (OSU), the same client behind the Barcode project, and in collaboration with landscape architects SLA.

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International office MVRDV has been selected by the Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs to design the Hoowave Water Factory, a large-scale redevelopment of Huwei’s Beigang and Anqingzhen waterways. The project combines a strategic master plan with the landscape design in an effort to move beyond the mono-functional approach for controlling and distributing water. Besides storing and capturing water, the proposal also opens up access to the river and the natural ecosystem by integrating cycling paths, cultural amenities, and ecological systems. The master plan also includes a comprehensive strategy for flood resilience while improving the quantity and quality of available water. The project is expected to be completed in 2026.

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International architecture office KPF has unveiled the design for Parkside Seoul, a new mixed-use neighborhood planned for the South Korean capital designed to complement the surrounding natural elements and pay homage to Yongsan Park. The 482,600 square meter development is composed of a layered exterior envelope that encompasses various programs and public amenities with the purpose of enhancing the residents’ experience of space. Besides the residential units, the complex includes office and retail spaces, and hospitality facilities along with public and green spaces.

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On Friday, King Charles III has released the New Year Honours List 2023, recognizing those in the UK who have demonstrated exemplary service or achievements in their fields. Ghanian-Scottish architect, academic, and novelist Lesley Lokko is among those who have been named an Office of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for her services to architecture and education. In December 2021, Lesley Lokko was announced as the Curator of the 18th International Architecture Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia, which will be held from Saturday, 20 May to Sunday, 26 November 2023.

Architecture criticism and journalism are often expected to announce “the good, the bad, and the ugly” in architecture and the built environment. Its purposes go however further than that. As Michael Sorkin put it, “seeing beyond the glittering novelty of form, it is criticism’s role to assess and promote the positive effects architecture can bring to society and the wider world”. In other words, by telling us what they are seeing, critics are also showing us where to look in order to identify and address the issues plaguing our built environment.

The field of architecture journalism has been led by female writers even in times when the pursuit of a career in architecture was discouraged and inaccessible for women. Ada Louise Huxtable established the profession of architecture journalism by holding the first full-time position of architecture critic at a general-interest American newspaper. In 1970, she also received the first-ever Pulitzer Prize for criticism. Esther McCoy started her career as a draughtswoman at an architecture office, yet, because of her gender, she was discouraged from training as a professional architect despite her ambitions to study the field. Through her writings, she managed to bring attention to the overlooked architectural scene of the American West Coast and advocate for the values of regional Modernism.

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The promise of the metaverse, this new type of three-dimensional and immersive digital space, is proving to become more and more appealing to architects eager to explore the new realm of virtual creations. As it currently stands, the metaverse does not have a singular definition but is composed of many narratives and explorations. This unknown land is however fruitful ground for architects, who have to opportunity to shape not only the new environment but also the experiences of future users. The SOLIDS project represents one response to these conditions. Developed by FAR, an architect and engineer working with digital environments, SOLIDS uses a generative process to design unique, metaverse-compatible buildings.

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