Patrick is ArchDaily's News Editor. Prior to this position, he was an editorial intern for ArchDaily while working full time as an assistant for a watercolor artist. Patrick holds a B. Arch degree from Penn State University and has spent time studying under architect Paolo Soleri. He is currently based in New York City.
A metal microlattice developed by Boeing and HRL Laboratories has just been awarded the Guinness World Record for lightest metal.
Made from nickel phosphorus, the microlattice emulates human cell structure, reaching a density and surface area similar to lung tissue. So light it can be balanced on the top of a dandelion seed head, the material weighs in at approximately 100 times lighter than styrofoam.
BIG and French studio Silvio d'Ascia have been selected to design the new Pont de Bondy metro station in Paris. The station is the latest design to be announced as part of the Société du Grand París’ Grand Paris Express project, which is seeking to modernize the existing transport network through the addition of nearly 200 kilometers of rail lines and a series of architect-designed stations throughout the city.
Of a total of 68 new stations, nine have been labeled as “emblematic,” meaning that they are expected to serve as significant neighborhood nodes within the larger masterplan. The Pont de Bondy station will constitute one of these emblematic projects, joining designs from Kengo Kuma & Associates, Dominique Perrault, Enric Miralles Benedetta Tagliabue (EMBT) and Bordas+Peiro, Agence Duthilleul, and Elizabeth de Portzamparc.
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Dubai Design District (d3) has announced the opening of offices by 4 of the world’s leading architecture firms – Zaha Hadid Architects, Santiago Calatrava Architects & Engineers, Foster + Partners and Benoy – marking another step towards the city’s goal of becoming a global design hub.
Since first launching in April 2013, d3 has become the region’s preeminent destination for artists, designers and creative types of all kinds to work and collaborate. So far, d3 has welcomed in over 30 architecture firms of medium to large size, including SSH and Viktor Udzenija, RMJM and Wanders Wagner.
Tadao Ando’s only project in the United Kingdom, the ‘Japanese Pavilion’ at Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, is slated for demolition as part of a £10m redesign of the park and plaza.
Built in 2002 as part of a makeover for the square, the pavilion takes the form of a long, gray concrete wall along the park’s southwestern edge, which critics have argued divide the public space, describing the design as “bleak and depressing” and comparing it to the Berlin Wall.
JAJA Architects has been announced as the winners of an open international competition to design a new parish church in the Sydhavnen (South Harbor) district of Copenhagen. When completed, it will be the first new church built in Copenhagen since 1989.
The competition, organized by The Danish Association of Architects, sought proposals for a 3,200 square meter church to be located on a waterfront site in the revitalized district of Sydhavnen that could be used for a range of religious, social, cultural and musical events. Construction of the church is expected to be completed in 2019.
Continue reading to see the winning proposal as well as several additional entries.
SketchUp developer Trimble has launched SketchUp Viewer, a new virtual and mixed reality app for the Microsoft HoloLens that will allow users to inhabit and experience their 3D designs in a completely new way. Using the holographic capabilities of the HoloLens, SketchUp Viewer creates hologram versions of models that can be placed in real-world environments –allowing architects to study and analyze how their buildings will react to their context while still in the design stage.
At today’s Trimble Dimensions keynote, architect Greg Lynn presented SketchUp Viewer for the first time, demonstrating the technology using his re-imagining of the Packard Plant in Detroit, commissioned as part of the “Architectural Imagination,” the U.S. Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale exhibition.
"Trimble mixed-reality technology and Microsoft HoloLens bring the design to life and bridge the gap between the digital and physical. Using this technology I can make decisions at the moment of inception, shorten the design cycle and improve communication with my clients,” said Lynn.
Architectural photographer Danica O. Kus has shared with us new images of BIG’s VIA 57 West. Having opened earlier this year, the “courtscraper” has already been the recipient of several awards, including its unanimous victory of the 2016 International Highrise Award last week. This new photoset takes us inside the public and private spaces of the 32-story building, including interior shots of the lobby, lounge, pool and the residential units.
Check out the full set after the break.
The Plaza of Herzog & de Meuron’s Elbphilharmonie has opened to the public. The concert hall’s observation deck, located 37 meters (121 feet) above ground level, is designed around a public square concept and is accessed via a 82 meter (269 foot) long, curving escalator, providing visitors to panoramic views of the city and harbor.
To mark the event, the Elbphilharmonie has released a new set of photographs by Iwan Baan, showing off the newly completed interior spaces. The full building is set to officially open to the public on January 11 and 12, 2017.
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The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) has named Gensler’s Shanghai Tower as the 2016 Best Tall Building Worldwide, citing its “innovative design scheme in traditional Shanghainese architectural traditions.” The building was selected from among four regional winners, which included BIG’s VIA 57 West (Americas), Jean Nouvel’s The White Walls (Europe) and Orange Architects’ The Cube (Africa).
In October 1997, the unforgettable swooping metal panels of Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao made their debut, drawing the attention of art and architecture lovers around the world. Images of the building quickly circulated through the infant world wide web, turning the museum into an instant icon that permanently elevated and transformed the international perception of the city of Bilbao.
Cities all over the world saw the potential in creating their own “Bilbao Effect,” and soon, a slew of new eye-catching, sculptural buildings had be built. This phenomenon persisted through the 2000s, manifesting itself in works by Gehry, Zaha Hadid, and many others. But recently, notable figures both inside and outside architecture have began to distance themselves from the icon, notably in the design philosophies of OMA and alumni such as Jeanne Gang and Matthias Sauerbruch.
In a new opinion piece for the Guardian, photographer Stuart Franklin extends this sentiment not just to architecture, but to all images in general. Franklin explains the history of the “iconic image” and the reasons why it may no longer exist.
Read Franklin’s full piece, here.
The Library of Congress has announced the winners of the 2016 Holland Prize, which recognizes the best single-sheet, measured drawing of a historic building, site, or structure, completed to the standards of the Historic American Building Survey (HABS), Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), or the Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS).
The prize is awarded annually to “increase awareness, knowledge, and appreciation of historic resources throughout the United States while adding to the permanent HABS, HAER, and HALS collection at the LOC, and to encourage the submission of drawings among professionals and students. By requiring only a single sheet, the competition challenges the delineator to capture the essence of the site through the presentation of key features that reflect its significance.”
Chilean studio Pezo von Ellrichshausen has erected a temporary wooden tower of “an ambiguous” scale in the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris. Named the “Deci Pavilion,” the structure is made up of ten stacked octagonal wooden drums of decreasing size. While in reality only large enough to hold one visitor at a time, the column’s form and relationship to its surroundings give it the presence of a much larger structure.
The Wall Street Journal has named Snøhetta their “Architecture Innovator of the Year” for 2016. Founded by 55-year-old American Craig Dykers and 58-year-old Norwegian Kjetil Trædal, Snøhetta rose to prominence with their competition-winning designs for the 20th-century successor to the lost wonder of the ancient world, the Library of Alexandria, and the National Norwegian Opera House in Oslo.
Zaha Hadid Architects has been announced as the winner of an international competition to design a new football stadium for the Forest Green Rovers in Stroud, UK. Following a seven month competition featuring over 50 entries from around the world, ZHA was selected over finalist Glenn Howells Architects for their all-wood proposal. When finished, the stadium will be the first in the world to be built entirely out of wood.
BIG has completed their second building on U.S. soil, a 92,000-square-foot office building at 1200 Intrepid Avenue in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that also marks the firm’s first realized office building design. Located within the revitalized Philadelphia Navy Yard master plan (designed by Robert Stern), the four-story building features a bowing, double-curved facade and a supersized “periscope” inspired by the historic battleships docked a few blocks away.
BIG’s VIA 57 West has been unanimously chosen as the winner of the 2016 International Highrise Award (IHA) for the world’s most innovative highrise.
One of the world’s most important architectural prizes for tall buildings, the award is presented by Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) every two years to the project that best exemplifies the criteria of future-oriented design, functionality, innovative building technology, integration into urban development schemes, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness.
The third and final phase of the Chicago Riverwalk is officially open to the public. Designed by Sasaki and Ross Barney Architects, the 1.5 mile long promenade revitalizes an underutilized industrial area into an active public space featuring restaurants, cultural activities and amenities while reconnecting the Chicago River to the urban fabric of the city.
Foster + Partners has released plans for a connected pair of skyscrapers that will provide 660 new luxury condos in the Miami’s Brickell neighborhood. Taking advantage of updated height limit regulations, "The Towers" will top out at 1,049 feet (320 meters), becoming one of 5 new buildings that will share the title of Miami's tallest tower.
Historically, building heights in Miami have been restricted due to proximity to the Miami International Airport.
