Architecture

ArchDaily | Broadcasting Architecture Worldwide

In the design, we not only consider the comfort of the householder, but also respond to the needs of the village. By designing small pockets, cat nests, bird nests and windows facing the street, we create an open and private environment. Despite the high requirements for wiring, we actively respond to the demand of public space, improve space utilization, enhance neighborhood interaction, and make villagers feel a sense of belonging.

© Shengliang Su architects: Shanghai Jiao Tong University Location: Taiyuan, China Project Year: 2024 Photographs: Shengliang Su Area: 245.0 m2 Read more »

The proliferation of villas on Tehran's outskirts reflects more than a desire to escape the city's clamor and density. These homes embody a spirited pursuit of leisure and conviviality. The dynamic interplay of indoor and outdoor spaces, coupled with a playful exploration of different design eras, creates an atmosphere of intrigue and vitality. These villas are stages for the celebration of life, where residents and guests alike can wander, discover, and immerse themselves in a world of endless fascination. Spaces that offer a heightened incentive to stimulate the taste and curiosity of their subjects, where the unexpected leaves a special sensory quality in the mind of the viewer. The play of solid and void volumes, diverse paths, and stairways, not only strengthens the permeability of spaces but also offers a potential opportunity for viewers to climb over the building and become one with the fluidity of the spaces as their memories evolve.

© Mohammad Hossein Hamzelouei architects: AsNow Design & Construct Location: Kuhsar, Iran Project Year: 2024 Photographs: Mohammad Hossein Hamzelouei Area: 540.0 m2 Read more »

True to its name Retreat Home by Neogenesis+Studi0261 is a get-away house to escape the frenzied hustle and bustle of city life. A holiday home to a diamond merchant in Surat, this elemental yet contemporary house has been designed to embrace extended families making room for warm interactions as it seamlessly connects the indoor with the outdoor. The idea was to envisage a space where rustic extravagance entwines with comfort, where every detail is meticulously crafted to create lasting memories. In its first appearance, the abode reveals itself as a two-tiered linearly designed structure partly camouflaged in the greens. The house sits there with a picturesque pitched roof, overlooking an abundance of greens waiting to express its narrative.

© Ishita Sitwala | The Fishy Project architects: Neogenesis+Studi0261 Location: Surat, India Project Year: 2024 Photographs: Ishita Sitwala | The Fishy Project Area: 4386.0 m2 Read more »

This is a residential house of approximately 340 m² located in the Aldea Zamá community in Tulum, Quintana Roo. The project features a design that always seeks the integration of exterior and interior spaces, creating patios that articulate the spaces and allow views to flow through them towards the rest of the land, which preserves the native vegetation without being altered.

© César Béjar architects: As Arquitectura + Diseño Location: Tulum, Quintana Roo, Mexico Project Year: 2018 Photographs: César Béjar Built Area: 336.0 m2 Read more »

PJCArchitecture created a relaxing weekend escape in the Adirondacks for husband and wife retired opera performers. Following the couple's directive to create a comfortable home that engages with its surroundings and provides plenty of space for entertaining, PJCA artfully constructed a three-story, 1910-square-foot house with two bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms, as well as a 158-square foot boathouse with a third bedroom. As in the making of a dance or aria, the creation of this lakeside getaway resulted from a collaborative process between the homeowners, design team, and local laborers.

© Tom Stock, Stock Studios Photography architects: PJCArchitecture Location: Indian Lake, New York, United States Project Year: 2022 Photographs: Tom Stock, Stock Studios Photography Area: 1910.0 ft2 Read more »

We discovered a charming garden house at the end of a garden in Brussels.

© Severin Malaud architects: wissel architectuur studio Location: Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Brussels, Belgium Project Year: 2024 Photographs: Severin Malaud Photographs: wissel architectuur studio Area: 20.0 m2 Read more »

Architecture holds power beyond the creation of buildings - it is a practice that shapes how people live, interact, and thrive within their communities. Architecture can also be a tool for social innovation. Through an understanding of human-centered processes, participatory design, and social sciences, practitioners can address societal challenges such as loneliness, inequality, and public health to equip spaces as vehicles for social equity and engagement. Architecture's role in shaping the future of communities is a direct response to human needs and activated social change.

Columbia Business School / Diller Scofidio + Renfro + FXCollaborative . Image © Iwan Baan Architecture holds power beyond the creation of buildings - it is a practice that shapes how people live, interact, and thrive within their communities. Architecture can also be a tool for social innovation. Through an understanding of human-centered processes, participatory design, and social sciences, practitioners can address societal challenges such as loneliness, inequality, and public health to equip spaces as vehicles for social equity and engagement. Architecture's role in shaping the future of communities is a direct response to human needs and activated social change. Read more »

The brick house in East Frisia, built in the 1960s as a farmworker's home, consists of a main house and a small barn. It was constructed following a standardized plan, reflecting the mass housing developments of post-war Germany.

© Volker Conradus architects: Nidus Location: Ostermarsch, Norden, Germany Project Year: 2024 Photographs: Volker Conradus Area: 100.0 m2 Read more »

Every year, design competitions unwittingly push the creative envelope, setting new benchmarks for architects and designers worldwide. These contests don't just celebrate innovation—they fuel it, inspiring the next wave of boundary-breaking projects. Thanks to such platforms, we get to witness the extraordinary fusion of beauty, ingenuity, and craftsmanship that ripples through the creative industry. 

© Tatiana Bilbao ESTUDIO Every year, design competitions unwittingly push the creative envelope, setting new benchmarks for architects and designers worldwide. These contests don't just celebrate innovation—they fuel it, inspiring the next wave of boundary-breaking projects. Thanks to such platforms, we get to witness the extraordinary fusion of beauty, ingenuity, and craftsmanship that ripples through the creative industry. The German Design Council has certainly joined the fray, recently revealing the winners of the prestigious ICONIC AWARDS 2024: Innovative Architecture—and the results were nothing short of spectacular. This coveted competition honors the full spectrum of architectural and creative disciplines, from visionary spatial concepts and groundbreaking building projects to cutting-edge product design, remarkable brand communication, and inventive uses of materials. Read more »

Over 5 years after a devastating fire threatened to destroy Paris' most famous cathedral, Notre Dame is scheduled to reopen to the public on December 8, 2024. The heritage building has been undergoing an extensive and, at times, controversial restoration process aiming to rebuild its timber roof and reconstruct the collapsed spire, a 19th-century addition to the gothic cathedral designed by French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's design. In preparation for the grand reopening, France's culture minister, Rachida Dati, has proposed introducing a €5 entrance fee to contribute to a fund aimed at protecting the country's historical churches and monuments.

Paris, France - May 26, 2024: South side and new spire of Notre-Dame cathedral under construction. Image © JeanLucIchard via Shutetrstock Over 5 years after a devastating fire threatened to destroy Paris' most famous cathedral, Notre Dame is scheduled to reopen to the public on December 8, 2024. The heritage building has been undergoing an extensive and, at times, controversial restoration process aiming to rebuild its timber roof and reconstruct the collapsed spire, a 19th-century addition to the gothic cathedral designed by French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's design. In preparation for the grand reopening, France's culture minister, Rachida Dati, has proposed introducing a €5 entrance fee to contribute to a fund aimed at protecting the country's historical churches and monuments. Read more »

Home: When does a house become a home? What can a house do more than just provide shelter? Does the feeling of a space rely on tangible elements (furniture, decor, etc)? Or the feeling of a space is defined by the intangible (light, volume, wind, etc)? These fundamental inquiries into the nature of a home; the smallest built component of any society; formed the genesis of this particular project. 

© Vivek Eadara architects: Spacefiction Studio Location: Hyderabad, India Project Year: 2024 Photographs: Vivek Eadara Area: 10000.0 ft2 Read more »

Iceland has announced its National Pavilion for the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, presenting Lavaforming, a project led by architect Arnhildur Pálmadóttir, founder of s.ap architects. This pavilion, commissioned by Iceland Design and Architecture, will showcase an innovative approach to creating sustainable building materials from controlled lava flows.

Courtesy of National Museum of Iceland Iceland has announced its National Pavilion for the 19th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, presenting Lavaforming, a project led by architect Arnhildur Pálmadóttir, founder of s.ap architects. This pavilion, commissioned by Iceland Design and Architecture, will showcase an innovative approach to creating sustainable building materials from controlled lava flows. Read more »

With the heightening of ecological and social crises all around the world, architects have had to re-evaluate their role, impact, and design approach. As the "new needs" of people arise, new architectural processes must be explored to answer them. However, this still comes with much resistance from the standing practices and push for financial gain that often makes it difficult to implement more comprehensive solutions. These notions led the CCA (Canadian Center for Architecture) to launch their new 3-part film and exhibit series called " Groundwork", curated by the associate director, Francesco Garutti. Through this project, the CCA selected and followed three renowned contemporary architects/practices as they developed their concepts and field research, which allowed them to engage respectfully with their site and residing communities. It's an up close and personal look into what motivates the selected architects to examine alternative ways of designing and the challenges they go through as the three parallel stories unfold.

© Joshua Frank With the heightening of ecological and social crises all around the world, architects have had to re-evaluate their role, impact, and design approach. As the "new needs" of people arise, new architectural processes must be explored to answer them. However, this still comes with much resistance from the standing practices and push for financial gain that often makes it difficult to implement more comprehensive solutions. These notions led the CCA (Canadian Center for Architecture) to launch their new 3-part film and exhibit series called " Groundwork", curated by the associate director, Francesco Garutti. Through this project, the CCA selected and followed three renowned contemporary architects/practices as they developed their concepts and field research, which allowed them to engage respectfully with their site and residing communities. It's an up close and personal look into what motivates the selected architects to examine alternative ways of designing and the challenges they go through as the three parallel stories unfold. The first exhibit opening and movie screening was held in May 2024, followed by an in-conversation event with the program curator and architect, where the question of "What is architecture today" was discussed. The exhibit and its many showcased elements, channels visitors along to the first site exploration with DnA's Xu Tiantian as she ventures "Into the Island" of Meizhou, China, in the summer of 2022. Read more »

Our contemporary society has been witnessing a surge in skyscraper construction in urban centers worldwide for various reasons—including engineering advancements, increased urban density, space constraints, and, arguably, a competitive drive for building the tallest structures. The allure of all-glass facades and the pursuit of curtain walls with larger panes of continuous glass have often come at the cost of functionality.

One Central Park / Ateliers Jean Nouvel. Image © Stephen Bridger via Shutterstock Our contemporary society has been witnessing a surge in skyscraper construction in urban centers worldwide for various reasons—including engineering advancements, increased urban density, space constraints, and, arguably, a competitive drive for building the tallest structures. The allure of all-glass facades and the pursuit of curtain walls with larger panes of continuous glass have often come at the cost of functionality. In these towers, operable windows are sacrificed for aesthetics and expansive views, with a central core layout that maximizes 360-degree views while creating architectural "solar heat-gain monsters." Without natural or cross ventilation, these glass skyscrapers trap significant heat from solar radiation within habitable spaces, relying almost exclusively on mechanical HVAC systems to cool these spaces. This raises the question: is passive ventilation strategy becoming obsolete in high-rise design, or can operable systems be integrated effectively into our high-tech towers? Read more »

The village of Maying, located in the Yanqing District of Beijing, derives its name from Maying Castle. Maying Castle was constructed during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty. It has a rectangular shape and is characterized by city walls made of rammed earth. Historically, it served as a significant military fortress and post station. Nowadays, the artificial features of the castle have been erased by time and lost their original form, making it difficult to recognize the original square shape. The rammed earth walls have weathered to become part of the natural environment, coexisting with the willow forest that has been growing on the site for more than seventy years. The village is full of old corn that is being dried, and the ambiance of a typical northern Chinese village envelops the senses. Farther northwest of the village is the Yeyahu National Wetland Park, which is open as far as the eye can see, as there are no more buildings to block the view.

© Yumeng Zhu architects: DL Atelier Location: Yanqing District, Beijing, China Project Year: 2023 Photographs: Yumeng Zhu Area: 2000.0 m2 Read more »

The Campus Center project, located within the Kanagawa Dental University in Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan, was initiated due to the aging of existing office buildings. This plan combines office functions with student spaces into a multifunctional facility, aiming to create a much-needed plaza-like space on campus.

© Hiroyuki Oki architects: Atelier MEME Location: Yokosuka, Japan Project Year: 2024 Photographs: Hiroyuki Oki Area: 4656.0 m2 Read more »

When designing and lighting a space, is the goal to fulfill a specific requirement or to be creative? Both perspectives hold merit; however, a unifying principle should always prevail: people must remain at the center of everything we do. Today, it is well understood that our environment significantly influences our well-being, affecting mood and performance, even in challenging contexts such as outer space. While this standpoint has encompassed anthropometric and biological aspects, new approaches are expanding design beyond the tangible. Lighting is now used to shape atmospheres that resonate deeply with our emotions.

Courtesy of Vibia When designing and lighting a space, is the goal to fulfill a specific requirement or to be creative? Both perspectives hold merit; however, a unifying principle should always prevail: people must remain at the center of everything we do. Today, it is well understood that our environment significantly influences our well-being, affecting mood and performance, even in challenging contexts such as outer space. While this standpoint has encompassed anthropometric and biological aspects, new approaches are expanding design beyond the tangible. Lighting is now used to shape atmospheres that resonate deeply with our emotions. Read more »

In the Central Courtyard project, a tunnel/bar structure features a continuous arrangement of stacked arches, resulting in an intricate three-dimensional central courtyard. This courtyard offers varying degrees of permeability, evident in the floor (through the pool), the walls (open to opposing views), and toward the sky.

© Reza Nasseri architects: NextOffice–Alireza Taghaboni Location: Lavasan, Iran Project Year: 2024 Photographs: Reza Nasseri Photographs: Parham Taghioff Photographs: Neel Studio Area: 734.0 m2 Read more »

This blog wrapped in 2024, so visit my Substack with the same name: archidose.substack.com

I'm breaking my blogging silence to do two things: Alert readers to the fact I am still writing reviews of architecture books under the title A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books, but over at Substack, not Blogger. Put a new post at the top of this blog so I don't have to look at those photos of me every time I come here to find an old post that I want to link to. That is all.

After 25 years of running this blog under various names — all of which can be lumped under the "Archidose" monicker — I've decided to shut it down, moving this hobby, this labor of love, to Substack, which I have used since mid-2021 and where I will continue to send out weekly newsletters focused on architecture books, but in a new format. (You can subscribe to my newsletter here or on Substack.) So, this isn't "goodbye" as much as it is "see you in your inbox." Grayer and hopefully wiser: me, John Hill, from the mid-1990s until today Besides thinking something along the lines of, Wait! 25 years?, you also may be wondering, Why stop now? The now, January 2024, is because I happen to like fives, it turns out — so much so that every significant thing related to this blog has occurred in five five-year intervals (this is by chance, not by design, I swear): 1999: Started A Weekly Dose of Architecture (with a post about the Kimbell Art Museum) 2004: Started A Daily Dose of Architecture (with a post about the World Trade Center Memorial Design Competition) 2009: Started working with World-Architects and got my first book deal (I was out of work at the time, so the writing that I began doing as a hobby in 1999 turned into my primary focus as of 2009) 2014: Stopped A Weekly Dose of Architecture (complete with five bullet points on why) 2019: Started A Daily Dose of Architecture Books (five more bullet points!) 2024: Stopped Archidose In terms of the why, I've thought of that question a little bit, and outside of it just feeling like it's the right time, here are a handful (again!) of reasons: Very few people read blogs anymore (true, that was also the case 10 years ago, but I kept at it until now, as I liked doing it) More people subscribe, open, and read my Substack newsletter than those who click on the links to this blog or find their way here in some other manner to read my posts (the logical step, therefore, is to put everything in the newsletter...but not behind a paywall, mind you) Blogger is outdated, with infrequent updates; its themes/templates are buggy; adding content is frustrating (this list could go on near endlessly) Substack’s formatting is much easier and more elegant than Blogger (see next bullet point, too) This blog takes up too much of my time, time I'd rather spend on other things (the new newsletter will be easier to produce than this blog, but hopefully it will be helpful and therefore worth people's time in opening it and reading it) But stopping this blog also makes me wonder what it amounted to, if anything. Is there enough good content on this blog to put some of it on paper, to make it a more permanent thing? Or is the content simply of its time and therefore best to leave here in the digital ether? I don't know, to be honest, and when I dig back through some of the posts I veer from thinking the things I wrote were really good to thinking they were garbage ... okay, not quite garbage, but not special enough for a bound volume tucked away in a library somewhere. The truth is somewhere between these poles, I reckon, so hopefully I'll come up with a way to make sense of this side project, this 25-year undertaking, and turn what I did into something else even more rewarding.

Instead of digesting a new book or diving into a novel, something others do often but I do rarely, I spent my holiday break reading a five-year-old book about a trio of intertwined topics I'm particularly fond of: drawings, exhibitions, and New York City. Drawing on Architecture: The Object of Lines, 1970-1990 by Jordan Kauffman, published by The MIT Press, 2018 (Amazon / AbeBooks) As the book's subtitle indicates, Drawing Architecture covers a two-decade period — the 1970s and 80s — when architectural drawings produced by contemporary architects increased in popularity: with architects, with museums, and with the wider art market. These decades, especially the 70s, are known for its so-called "Paper Architecture," which arose due to architects encountering a glut of commissions and offsetting it through theorizing and exploring ideas on paper. Although Jordan Kauffman, a researcher at MIT when he wrote the book and now an assistant professor at the University of Nottingham, does not restrict himself to New York City, much of the book takes place there, given the city's role as the epicenter of the art market, the numerous art galleries holding exhibitions of architectural drawings, and the willingness of local architects to promote themselves through those galleries. These display spaces included Judith York Newman's Spaced: Gallery of Architecture, the Leo Castelli Gallery, and the Max Protetch Gallery. There were also a number of museums and other institutions in and beyond NYC — CCA, DAM, MoMA, Getty — that increased their holdings of architectural drawings, in turn increasing value of such drawings until around 1990. Then, as architects found themselves with more projects and computers entered the realm of architectural drawing, the two-decade trend came to an end. I missed Kauffman's book when it was released in 2018, though I have to disagree with George Baird's review published in Architectural Record at that time. He finds the thorough documentation and explanation of this important moment in recent history "not completely satisfactory," due to the inability to grasp the individual drawings in the numerous photographs of gallery shows reproduced in black and white, as in the one below. Baird did appreciate the reproductions of individual drawings that are almost as numerous as the gallery photographs, but not enough to give the book a ringing endorsement. I'd counter that, since the book is about the galleries and institutions marketing and collecting the drawings rather than the drawings themselves, the illustrations selected for the book are ideal. They capture the seminal shows that led to the phenomenon that is the subject of Kauffman's book; without them, readers would be frustrated and have to rely on the author's extensive descriptions of the displays — descriptions that are important for the historical record but stultifying for narrative flow. (Kauffman also separately lists each piece in each seminal show, complete with values ascribed to the individual drawings.) Another review, by Paul Emmons at EAHN, is more gracious toward the book, calling it "a primary resource on the history of the commodification of architectural drawing." Installation view of "Architecture I" exhibition at Leo Castelli Gallery, 1977 (Image source) Being a scourer of used bookstores and having a strong interest in the period explored by Kauffman, many of the museum exhibitions and gallery shows described in the book as "seminal" were known to me before I cracked it open last month. For example, the three "Architecture" shows held at Leo Castelli Gallery every three years between 1977 and 1983 were each accompanied by catalogs: the first one is short, unpaginated and stapled, but the second and third were published by Rizzoli, the publisher of choice for American postmodern architecture in the 1980s. Even though I'm familiar with these shows — and others, including Arthur Drexler's The Architecture of the École des Beaux-Arts (MoMA, 1975) and The Drawings of Antonio Gaudi by George R. Collins (The Drawing Center, 1977) — through their printed companions, Kauffman is able to elucidate considerably more information about the exhibitions themselves as well as how they relate to the publications. Architecture I, the catalog, would lead us now to assume that just a few drawings were in Architecture I, the exhibition, for each of the seven included architects (Raimund Abraham, Emilio Ambasz, Richard Meier, Walter Pichler, Aldo Rossi, James Stirling, Venturi and Rauch), but Kauffman reveals how misleading this assumption is, by describing the circumstances of the show, illustrating it through gallery shots like the one above, and exhaustively documenting what was on display. In this sense, Emmons' description of the book as "a primary resource" is spot-on. Covers of catalogs for three "Architecture" series exhibitions — "Architecture I," "Houses for Sale," "Follies" — held at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1977, 1980, and 1983, respectively While I found it rewarding to learn more about these and other exhibitions I had previous awareness of, Drawing on Architecture was not short on revealing new information to me. Take, for instance, Spaced, the gallery run by Judith York Newman, a name considerably less familiar all these years later than Castelli, Protetch, and the like. The first iteration of Spaced was located on the Upper West Side between 1975 and 1983, making it the first gallery in the city to display architectural drawings and therefore leading the way toward other art galleries doing the same. Although Newman was integral to the reception of architectural drawings in the period, as were Martha Beck, Barbara Jakobsen (aka B.J. Archer), and Pierre Apraxine, their names border on the forgotten, at least relative to the more famous gallerists mentioned above as well as Phyllis Lambert (CCA), Heinrich Klotz (DAM), and Kristin Feireiss (Aedes) outside of NYC. Drawing on Architecture therefore serves, in its focus, to give them much-deserved attention. The shift of architectural drawings toward art and as architecture in and of themselves can also be found in Drawing Ambience: Alvin Boyarsky and the Architectural Association, the exhibition and companion publication from 2015 about the drawings collected by Boyarsky when he was head of the AA in London. Although Boyarsky's two-decade directorship overlapped almost exactly with Kauffman's book, he is only touched on briefly. Instead, we learn a good deal about fellow Londoner Ben Weinreb, "the most eminent antiquarian bookseller of architectural books, prints, and drawings," per Kauffman. Not only did he buy and sell drawings (many of them to Lambert at the CCA), making him relevant to Drawing on Architecture, he produced 58 catalogs over the course of four decades: catalogs that "set new standards for cataloging and connoisseurship," in Kauffman's words. The value of Drawing on Architecture is in discovering about Weinreb and other lesser-known players, carried out through exhaustive research and scholarship, but it is also found in the vivid portrait of 1970s/80s New York, when the architecture and art scenes overlapped and converged, unlike any times before then or since.

For the fifteenth and last time on this blog, I'm highlighting my favorite books of the year, selected from the many books I reviewed or featured as "Book Briefs" on this blog, and the few titles that I reviewed at World-Architects. From the 86 books I featured in 2023, 15 (or 16) books made my list of favorites, organized into three categories: history, monographs, and exhibitions (the books are alphabetical by title within each category). As in previous years, not all of these books were published this year, given how slow I can be at digesting books and my departure from the annual spring/fall cycle of publishers. This last aspect, the timing of the books I draw attention to, will change next year, as I shutter this blog and transition it into something else — details on that will be announced next month. Until then, warm holiday wishes! 6 HISTORY BOOKS: Chicago Skyscrapers, 1934-1986: How Technology, Politics, Finance, and Race Reshaped the City (2023) by Thomas Leslie, published by University of Illinois Press — Thomas Leslie's followup to his 1871-1934 history of Chicago skyscrapers is even better than its predecessor, not only because the buildings covered are by Mies and other modern architects, but because the research is meticulous and the stories are really interesting. The Japanese House Since 1945 (2023) by Naomi Pollock, published by Thames & Hudson — The latest by Naomi Pollock, who has written numerous books on Japanese houses, benefits from a wide-ranging chronological presentation of nearly one hundred such houses but also the input of the architects and, most valuably, the people who lived in them. Lost in America: Photographing the Last Days of our Architectural Treasures (2023) by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams, published by CityFiles Press — In the right hands, archives can yield insights, themes, and presentations that are educational and unexpected, as in photo historians Richard Cahan and Michael Williams digging through the 90-year-old HABS archive at the Library of Congress to show Americans the wonders they have lost over that time. Mies van der Rohe: The Collective Housing Collection (2022) by Fernando Casqueiro, published by a+t architecture publishers — As I pointed out in my review at World-Architects, this book has some flaws in its graphics and text, but they don't detract from the comprehensive presentation of the apartment buildings designed by Mies van der Rohe in the middle of last century. Resisting Postmodern Architecture: Critical Regionalism before Globalisation (2022) by Stylianos Giamarelos, published by UCL Press — Architects who appreciate Kenneth Frampton's theorizing of critical regionalism starting in the 1980s should read Stylianos Giamarelos's scholarly book that explores and recenters the formulation of critical regionalism by Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre ahead of Frampton. Urban Design in the 20th Century: A History (2021) by Tom Avermaete and Janina Gosseye, published by gta Verlag — This carefully organized, beautifully presented, abundantly illustrated, and thoroughly cited history of urban design in the 20th century came out of a course taught by the authors at ETH Zurich, but it really should be a standard textbook for other schools, too. 5 (OR 6) MONOGRAPHS: A Book on Making a Petite École (2023) edited by Michael Meredith, Hilary Sample and MOS, published by Actar Publishers — There are very few practicing architects who produce books as an extension of their practice, and even fewer who do that extremely well. MOS is one of them and this is their latest. (Curiously, I saw an even larger, atlas-sized version of this book on display at Harvard GSD's Frances Loeb Library as part of The Book in the Age of ... exhibition in September.) Caruso St John Collected Works: Volume 1 1990–2005 (2022) and Caruso St John Collected Works: Volume 2 2000–2012 (2023), published by MACK — Released a year apart (will volume three follow a year from now?) but reviewed on my blog in February and December of this year, this monograph series on Caruso St John is stunning: beautifully made but also expressive of the words and images that inspire Adam Caruso and Peter St John in their quiet, poetic creations. Living in Monnikenheide: Care, Inclusion and Architecture (2023) edited by Gideon Boie, published by Flanders Architecture Institute — This book is about Monnikenheide, a residential care center for people with mental disabilities in Zoersel, Belgium, and the numerous buildings that have been designed there since the early 1970s. The book is beautifully produced and reflective of the place's myriad qualities. M³: modeled works [archive] 1972-2022 (2023) by Thom Mayne and Morphosis, published by Rizzoli — Fifty years of Thom Mayne and Morphosis are presented in more than 1,000 pages: a brick of a book centered on the models that the studio is known for, from the early models in wood and resin to the 3D-printed models they still produce. Speculative Coolness: Architecture, Media, the Real, and the Virtual (2023) by Bryan Cantley, edited by Peter J. Baldwin, published by Routledge — Architects my age will have flashbacks to Neil Denari, Peter Pfau, Wes Jones, and other machine-minded architects from the nineties when perusing Bryan Cantley's image-saturated monograph. The name says it all: page after page of speculative coolness, vague projects impeccably delineated. 4 BOOKS FROM EXHIBITIONS: Another Breach in the Wall: The City as a Common Good (2022) by Davide Tommaso Ferrando and Daniel Tudor Munteanu, published by Solitude Project — This two-volume book serves as the catalog to Another Breach in the Wall, the main exhibition of the Beta 2022 Timișoara Architecture Biennial in Romania, which focused on projects and actions in cities that subvert the norm. The book does that to some degree, too, with a foldout map serving as a wrapper for the two paperbacks and an elastic band holding the whole together. An Atlas of Es Devlin (2023) by Es Devlin, edited by Andrea Lipps, published by Thames & Hudson — It's hard to believe it, but the first monographic exhibition and monographic book on Es Devlin, the artist/designer behind sets for Adele, Beyoncé, and Cyrus (comma Miley) arrived this year, nearly thirty years after she launched her career in London. This big, expensive book is more artist book that exhibition catalog, and a highly revealing look at her creative process. Bernd & Hilla Becher (2022) by Jeff L. Rosenheim, published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art — A "captivating tribute to the renowned German photographic duo known for their systematic documentation of industrial architecture," according to ChatGPT, but in my words it is simply a "beautifully produced catalog" of the 2022 exhibition at The Met. For a duo who treated books as an integral extension of their photography, this catalog of their work is equally valuable. Yasmeen Lari: Architecture for the Future (2023) edited by Angelika Fitz, Elke Krasny, Marvi Mazhar and Architekturzentrum Wien, published by MIT Press — In early March, an exhibition on architect Yasmeen Lari, usually described as Pakistan's first woman architect, opened at Az W, and the following month the Oxford-trained architect won the Royal Gold Medal, RIBA's highest honor. Needless to say, the major exhibition and honor were justified for an architect who pivoted from commercial buildings for companies with money to houses and other zero-carbon buildings for the poor. The book is thorough, with essays and interviews accompany the numerous projects.

Just as last week's Places in Time III post featured a trio of books that were initially listed in my earlier holiday gift books post, two of the three monographs featured here were also on that list. As happened when I wrote this post, each book begins with a rhetorical question pertaining to monographs. This post features the last reviews of the year. A week from today I'll have a year-capping roundup of my favorites from the many books featured on this blog in 2023. An Atlas of Es Devlin by Es Devlin, edited by Andrea Lipps, published by Thames & Hudson, December 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Is it possible to love a monograph on a designer whose work you're largely indifferent to? Es Devlin is a phenomenally famous artist and designer who is best known for creating the sets and backdrops for U2, Adele, Miley Cyrus, Beyoncé, and other big-name musicians, and for such events as the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show. Her London studio's designs for these and other performances, such as plays on London's West End, are provocative and attention-getting, befitting their spectacle nature ... but they're just not my thing, they don't strike my fancy. Her immersive installations, on the other hand, though I've yet to experience one, resonate more strongly with me; these include Forest of Us in Miami and Memory Palace from 2019. And while I like the design and the labyrinthine layout of the monographic exhibition now at the Cooper Hewitt that is also called An Atlas of Es Devlin, the appeal of her work to me is just fractional: yes on installations, no on the rest. But reviewing a book or exhibition or some other creation is not about taste and personal preference; it's about judging the thing on its own merits and determining how good or bad it is relative to similar creations. For books, monographs are a genre in and of themselves, and some are better than others; some are notable for being hybrids. Though big, expensive, and with a print run in (I imagine) the tens of thousands, An Atlas of Es Devlin — the first Es Devlin monograph — is as much an artists' book as it is a monograph and exhibition catalog. The spreads displayed here give a taste of the way Devlin, editor Andrea Lipps, who also curated the Cooper Hewitt exhibition, and book designer Daniel Devlin veered from the typical construction of a book — they cut circles in the pages, inserted smaller page sizes and even smaller gatefolds into the binding, used a variety of papers, etc. — to give it an artists-book feel, but on a considerably larger scale: the book is more than 900 pages, though given the atypical nature of the book it's nearly impossible to count the exact number. It is so big it comes in a specially made orange cardboard box for storage and protection. Just as the exhibition features an "iris" formed by overlapping and shifted circles cut into the gallery wall, the hardcover book opens with ten pages with circular cutouts that frame a photo of Devlin on the floor of Memory Palace. The circular openings are rung with statements apparently in Devlin's hand, and radiating from the circles are complex, layered timelines of her studio's prolific output — the last a sign of how in-demand an artist and designer she is. But, befitting an artists' book, these pages go even further, adding raised dots and lines that accentuate parts of the timeline, veer from it entirely, and/or push us to find some meaning amongst the information saturation. The book then shows some full-bleed photographs of her studio's output before launching into the process-based presentations that comprise the largest chunk of the book. The presentation is chronological, moving from "A Student's Sketchbook" (spread above) that spans from 1985 to 1995 to the designs for plays, performances, and installations she is known for, one after the other for at least 250 pages. After those come conversations Devlin had with fellow creatives during COVID lockdown, then more projects, then another 250 or so pages of completed projects in color photos. The book is packed, fully. The parts that make me appreciate the book so much are the process-oriented project presentations. Very few projects are presented simply; most are accompanied by a smaller inserted page and/or a gatefold — something that requires readers to do extra "work" that heightens their awareness and increases their absorption of Devlin's creative process. Each project, furthermore, is keyed to one of the color photographs in the last half of the book, requiring more flipping-back-and-forth "work" and providing a peek at the finished products. Put another way, it's impossible to nonchalantly flip through this book. The design and construction of the book force a slow movement and entice a steady gaze. One gains so much in handling the book that they need not read every description of every project to understand a lot about Devlin as an artist and designer. I can't think of a more ambitious goal for a monograph than the way An Atlas of Es Devlin gives readers such an intimate understanding of her creative thinking. Caruso St John Collected Works: Volume 2 2000–2012 by Caruso St John, published by MACK, October 2023 (Amazon) Is it better for a monograph to have project descriptions written by the architect or by an external writer? The first type ideally give readers some insight into the architect's creative process, though at times these descriptions can read as promotional materials aimed at potential clients. Descriptions of the second type benefit from some objectivity and most likely a critical position, but they might suffer from a lack of information and the sense, on the reader's part, of not learning enough about the illustrated projects. Most monographs fit into one or the other, including the two other monographs in this post: Es Devlin's monograph features project descriptions in her words, while the latest monograph on Jones Studio was written by curator Marilu Knode. Like the first volume of Caruso St John Collected Works, put out last year by MACK but reviewed on this blog in early 2023, Volume 2 has a mix of project descriptions written by the architects and coming from magazines and other external sources, the latter often years earlier and outside of the context of the book. If we look at the "Chicago and Milan" chapter, one of seven chapters in Volume 2, two projects are presented: Nottingham Contemporary, the UK gallery completed in 2009; and the Europaallee Mixed-use Building built in Zurich in 2013. The words of the architects, Adam Caruso and Peter St John, are used for Nottingham Contemporary, in which we learn about the intentions behind their winning competition scheme and the inspirations for the lacy pattern on the facade's concave panels. The longer, more in-depth presentation of Europaallee is accompanied by an article by Ellis Woodman from a 2014 issue of Architectural Review. The architects' mixed-use building is part of the Europaallee development west of Zurich Hauptbahnhof, which was master planned by KCAP and is made up of low- and mid-rise buildings organized about a pedestrian street; Caruso St John's building is at an important spot at the western end of the street, adjacent to a square and near a new pedestrian bridge that connects this main part of Europaallee to a sliver of the development on the north side of the railway tracks. I've seen their building on trips to Zurich, though I can't say I paid much attention to it, as the whole Europaallee project — with buildings by Gigon/Guyer, Max Dudler, David Chipperfield, and others — is characterized by unrelenting grids of windows. It's a bit like Tativille come to life. The Caruso St John building is in line with the rest, though Woodman admits that the narrowing of the piers between windows as the building rises — an element in the competition scheme that would distance the building from the earlier "joyless" building by Dudler — "came to present a significantly less austere image than was suggested by the initial renderings." Although Woodman is primarily positive in his assessment of Caruso St John's Europaallee Mixed-use Building, it makes me think that very few architects would actually incorporate critical texts like this in their monographs. That Caruso St John did so here is following from the format of Volume 1, in which texts by critics about the architects' projects are included, as are texts by others — architects, critics, historians, etc. — as long as they pertain to the issues explored by the architects in some way or serve as some theoretical foundation for their work. So Louis Sullivan's "The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered" first published in Lipincott's Magazine in 1896, is also found in the "Chicago and Milan" chapter, as is "The Existing Environment and Themes in Contemporary Practice," an essay by Ernesto N. Rogers from a 1954 issue of Casabella; these two essays give the chapter, which otherwise just features the two projects in Nottingham and Zurich, its name. Although the essays are presented without comment, the relationship between them and Caruso St John's work can be grasped without difficulty, as Sullivan's essays coming a few pages before the "tall" 13-story building at Europaallee attests. Even without an awareness to such ties, I greatly appreciate the inclusion of inspirational and important texts; it is one element that sets this series of monographs apart from others. In addition to the projects spanning from 2000 to 2012 and the inclusion of articles and essays written by others outside of the context of the monograph, the book also features texts by Adam Caruso and Peter St John. Befitting the series, these texts come from other publications, from lectures and interviews, most of them within the years covered by the volume. An example is Peter St John's "Aldo Rossi's Gallaratese Housing," first published in Building Design in 2012. The architect first experienced Rossi's famous building in 1980, when he was a 20-year-old student on a scholarship, also seeing the buildings of Terragni and catching the The Presence of the Past, the inaugural Venice Architecture Biennale. He recounts his first impressions of the building, discusses it relative to Rossi's famous texts The Architecture of the City and A Scientific Autobiography, and revisits the building to find it "more charming than before." A few pages later we read Caruso and St John's text on Pasticcio, a composition of fragments of classical architecture in Sir John Soane's Museum in London, and see their installation of the same name at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale. That is followed by restoration work at Soane's Museum, a new chancel for St Gallen Cathedral in Switzerland ... the whole book unfolds in this manner: one unexpected piece after another, adding up to a thorough and varied portrait of the duo's quiet and occasionally timeless architecture. STRIVE: Jones Studio Adventures in Architecture by Marilu Knode, edited by Oscar Riera Ojeda, published by Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers, November 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Should monograph present many projects in just a few pages, or very few projects across more pages? Two years ago, Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers put out Jones Studio Houses: Sensual Modernism, a monograph billed as "a self-imposed limited look at the 40-year-plus career of Eddie Jones." The thick, square book limited itself to houses (minus Jones Studio's own "house") and featured just ten of them, highlighted by Prairie Raptor, a stunning house in Oklahoma whose sculptural peak was inspired by Herb Greene's "Prairie Chicken" built in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1954. Digesting the book with its many photographs and drawings accompanied by short blurbs by famous names lauding Jones's architecture, it was clear the book was an incomplete portrait of the studio run by Eddie and his brother and first partner Neal Jones — a first course, if you will, to a larger, more well-rounded presentation of their work. With more than 40 built and unbuilt projects spanning more than 40 years, STRIVE is that main course. If a food analogy for an architecture monograph feels a bit contrived, note that three of the book's five sections take on "Family Table" titles. Instead of a literal family coming to the table to eat, the "family" is made up of Jones and the other architects in the studio, and the "table" is a collaborative work surface about which everyone's desks are arrayed. "Family Table #1," as it's called in the book, was in an office building in downtown Phoenix designed by Alfred Newman Beadle in 1978. In 1984, Eddie moved the studio he had established in 1979 (Neal joined in 1986) from his house to the Beadle-designed building, and years later he expanded within it to create the open-plan family-table office space. (Some further synergy between Beadle and Jones can be found in the fact both of them relocated from the Midwest to Arizona: Beadle from Minnesota, Jones from Oklahoma.) Jones Studio stayed in the Beadle building for 32 years, moving into the purpose-built "Home and Studio" in Tempe that begins the book's "Family Studio #3" chapter. The floor plans in STRIVE show how the literal table in the Beadle building is also at the heart of the now seven-year-old Jones Studio Office; the table and branching desks are described in the book as the "nerve center" of the studio and an "open mosh pit of ideas." So, you might be asking, what about "Family Table #2"? This is the most interesting of the trio, at least in the context of the book, and in two ways. First, for the exhibition southwestNET: Jones Studio, Inc. that took place at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art in 2006, the studio moved its operations into the gallery for its three-month duration, from May to September. Indeed, the studio — the family — literally became the exhibit, sitting at custom-designed desks that converged to form "Family Table #2." Photos in the book show a somewhat typical architecture office, with computers, phones, and lots of papers in the middle of a gallery with drawings on the wall, drawings suspended from the ceiling, and museum goers taking in the scene. The second thing of interest is that the exhibition was curated by Marilu Knode, who considers it "one of the most exciting of my career." She was later approached by Jones Studio to tell the story of the firm in what would become STRIVE. Her writing and consistent voice detached from the making of the projects help make this monograph so good, especially compared to the many monographs that are written in-house and read like marketing copy and therefore lack firsthand insight. People who actually read Knode's words that accompany the buildings will learn A LOT about the studio's process and what makes each project so interesting, beyond the obvious skill with which they've been designed. Having looked at numerous architectural monographs, I've come to the conclusion that the project that occupies the middle section of a monograph is often the most important — both for the architect and for the book itself. The five chapters of STRIVE start with "Jones Studio: The Early Years" and end with "Focused Future," chronological bookends for the three "Family Table" chapters. Given this structure, the second of those, "Family Table #2," sits in the middle of the book's nearly 500 pages. While the firm was working at the southwestNET exhibition, they submitted an RFQ for the Mariposa Land Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona. In 2007, Jones Studio got the job, which became a "colossal, firm-altering undertaking." While Knode's words partly reinforce my hypothesis for middle-project importance, the project's documentation in photos, drawings, and numerous texts over more than 40 pages cement it. The building, completed in 2014, is also found on the cover — another sign of the project's importance in the impressive Jones Studio portfolio.

This third and most likely last installment in the inadvertent "Places in Time" series looks closely at three books: the first about Chicago from the Great Depression to the mid-1980s; the second one about the broader American built landscape over roughly the same period of time; and the third jumping to Switzerland and tracing the urban development of Schlieren, near Zurich, over a 15-year period this century. All three of the books were in my roundup of holiday gift books a couple of weeks ago. The first two Places in Time posts looked at Detroit/Chicago/St. Louis and Paris/Indonesia/Flanders. Chicago Skyscrapers, 1934-1986: How Technology, Politics, Finance, and Race Reshaped the City by Thomas Leslie, published by University of Illinois Press, June 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) In my holiday gift books roundup a couple of weeks ago, I wrote that, of the four pieces in the subtitle to Chicago Skyscrapers, 1934-1986 — "technology, politics, finance, and race" — technology is the most prevalent throughout the book. That assertion was based on just a cursory look through the book, all I could manage at the time, but also on its relationship to architect and educator Thomas Leslie's previous book, Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934, published ten years prior. If I were doing that roundup now, having had more time to delve into the new book, I would write that politics and finance were, if not the most prevalent, the most illuminating and thoroughly discussed aspects in the book's presentation of skyscrapers over fifty years last century. Indeed, many of the drawings and photographs focus on the technical and technological aspects of skyscraper design and construction (just look at the cover!), but the stories of how certain skyscrapers came about and were shaped are rooted in Chicago's political machine, money, and the developers that Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, SOM, and others worked for. An example is in order. If any architect jumps to mind in the period covered by the book, it is Mies, who reshaped Chicago through his glass-and-steel towers but also who, through the replicable nature of their designs, reshaped cities around the world. To this day, his most notable tall buildings in Chicago are 860-800 Lake Shore Drive, the Federal Center, and the IBM Building, all boasting steel structures and glass curtain walls. But before that trio of towers (860-880 came first, in 1952) there was Promontory Apartments, completed in 1949 near the University of Chicago. Structured in concrete, not steel, and with windows sitting on brick spandrel walls rather than on the floor slabs or hung as curtain walls, Promontory is often seen as an anomaly or an awkward step toward the more refined glass boxes that would follow. But, Leslie tells us, concrete was "selected over steel because of postwar supply problems" and the brick spandrel wall was mandated by code as a means of stopping the spread of fire. Furthermore, even with the windows sitting on knee-height walls, lenders balked at their size, wondering "how people can live with so much glass" and making it hard for the developer to gain financing. One year later, in 1950, "Chicago's progressive building code eliminated the masonry spandrel wall requirement," leading to 860-880 LSD and other glass-sheathed towers designed by Mies and others. The book's nine chronological/thematic chapters are full of similar political and financial information that greatly helps put the many notable skyscrapers (as well as quite a few apparently insignificant ones) into context. For example, chapter five, "Daley's City: Commercial Construction, 1955-1972," tackles the most powerful political player the city saw in the half-century covered by the book, Mayor Richard J. Daley. In a flip from his predecessors, "'Daley's City' sprung from investment capital," Leslie writes, "wedded to a regime intent on gaining and exercising raw power to tip the market's balance wherever it could." Early on, Daley oversaw the creation of the Central Area Plan (1958), discussed at some length in the book, and during his lengthy tenure he saw the erection of many commercial and residential towers in the Loop. But the Daley era is also when the Chicago Housing Authority shifted to high-rises and built them as segregated enclaves primarily on the South and West Sides, just about all of which have been torn down in recent years for low-rise developments. As such, the race aspect of the book makes up a good chunk of chapter six, "High-Rise Housing in the 1960s," though the subject is present throughout the book, just not to the same degree as the other three subtitled terms. Oddly, Leslie's book ends with a lengthy discussion of Helmut Jahn's State of Illinois Center, the 17-story building in the Loop that opened in 1985 and was renamed in 1993 as the James R. Thompson Center, for the governor who championed the project and oversaw its realization. I say "oddly" because the squat, rotund building is hardly a skyscraper, at least not in my mind. It is shorter than most buildings around it as well as others being built at the same time, such as Jahn's own 40-story One South Wacker, and does not have the vertically of most towers. So why include it? I think, in part, because it was the climax of postmodern architecture in Chicago in the 1980s, but mainly because it is a case study where technology, politics, and finance converge to the utmost degree; it's a fascinating story deeply and ably recounted by Leslie. It comes at the end of the last chapter, "After Sears," and spreads across four three-column, image-free pages; only on the last spread do we see the building, but only its exterior, not the stunning atrium it is known for. While this ending leaves something to be desired in terms of page design and illustrations, it captures the incredible amount of research Leslie managed to put into this second installment in his skyscraper history of Chicago. I'm hoping there is a next one and that it is already in the works, so it doesn't take ten more years for the rest of us to hold it in our hands. Lost in America: Photographing the Last Days of our Architectural Treasures by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams, published by CityFiles Press, November 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) As an architect who writes primarily about contemporary architecture but who is increasingly cognizant of the importance in saving and reusing old buildings, even going so far as to preferring adaptive reuse over new construction, I have a love/hate view of "Lost ___" books. The ones in my library tend to be about places where I've lived: Lost Chicago by David Garrard Lowe, for instance, and Lost New York by Nathan Silver. Looking at page after page of black-and-white photos of buildings that will never be again is to be transported in time, which I like, but all to often the captions border on the finger-wagging: "How could you tear down this glorious building?" they seem to be telling me, even though I played no part in their destruction. Yet, as Thomas Leslie's skyscraper book featured above reveals, even buildings loved by later generations were often not appreciated in their day. Leslie writes that Henry Ives Cobb's 1905 Federal Building "suffered from grave planning and environmental deficiencies that led to calls for its replacement almost immediately after opening." Lowe, who put the domed interior on the cover of the 2000 edition of his book, calls it "an awesome feat of engineering" with "one of America's supreme interiors." "This magnificent edifice, the most notable example of civic architecture in Chicago," he summarizes, "was wantonly demolished in 1965–66," making way for the three-building Federal Center designed by Mies van der Rohe. While Leslie helps us understand something of why the building was demolished, Lowe looks at it through rose-colored glasses, making its destruction a scar on modern-day humanity. Photo historians Richard Cahan and Michael Williams are a bit more balanced in their description of Cobb's Federal Building, one of the one hundred buildings and bridges they gather from the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) for Lost in America. They give some background on how Cobbs designed the 1905 building in the Beaux-Arts style "that was all the rage in Chicago and across the nation following the 1893 World's Columbian Exhibition," where Cobbs had designed seven of its buildings. And the authors paint the picture in the 1960s, when the "once-majestic courthouse and post office had become lost in the canyons of skyscrapers" and was "covered by decades of city grime." They don't make demolition excusable, but their matter-of-fact description — of this building and the 99 other places in the book — tell interesting facts and appealing stories that do an excellent job in helping readers understand the photographs and the value of HABS. In this case, the photograph is, like the Lost Chicago cover, of the domed interior, taken in 1964 by Harold Allen, who "climbed high to the base of the dome to take this shot." Although Lost in America is limited to one photograph per structure, the descriptions invite readers to dig further into the HABS archive at the Library of Congress, where many of the photographs dating from 1933 to the present are digitized. In 1965, the dome atop the Federal Building was seen better than ever, we read, when neighboring structures were razed and opened up views unavailable before; Allen captured one such view, when one of Mies's glass boxes was already in place behind it. HABS was created in 1933 during the Great Depression and is considered the nation's first federal preservation program. In the ninety years since, the program has documented thousands of structures in the United States through photographs — all b/w large-format film photos, even to this day, it should be noted — drawings, and other materials, all of them archived in the Prints and Photographs Division of the Library of Congress alongside the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) and Historic American Landscapes Survey (HALS) collections, which were created in 1969 and 2000, respectively. Why, you might be thinking, was Henry Ives Cobbs's Federal Building, which was completed in 1905, not documented until 1964? From the beginning, when Charles A. Patterson, an architect at the National Park Service, drafted a proposal for what would become HABS, the intent was to document antique buildings that were "diminish[ing] daily at an alarming rate." So photographing, measuring, drawing, and documenting them otherwise often took place when a building was threatened or demolition was imminent. The cover of Lost in America shows one instance where the act of demolition was actually captured by the photographer: Jack E. Boucher at the Ulysses S. Grant Cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey, in 1963. Cahan and Williams selected the structures and compiled them in a way that the book climaxes, for lack of a better word, with buildings like Grant's cottage, which are partially demolished — photographed just a bit too late. It's a sobering end to a sobering but excellent book that shows how the unfortunate flip side of American progress is erasure and forgetting. Urban Change Over Time: The Photographic Observation of Schlieren 2005–2020 Reveals How Switzerland Is Changing edited by Meret Wandeler, Ulrich Görlich and Caspar Schärer, published by Scheidegger and Spiess, October 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Although I've been to Zurich many times since I started working with World-Architects more than a dozen years ago, I've yet to visit Schlieren, the municipality on the western edge of Zurich. It's certainly an oversight, given that the town, which sunk into a post-industrial malaise from the 1980s onwards, "suddenly" turned the tide this century and "grew dramatically, attracting new residents and architectural tourists." This according to Caspar Schärer, one of the editors of the two-volume Urban Change Over Time, who drives the point home in the next sentence: "Architectural tourists!" How bad was the situation in Schlieren before the fifteen-year turning of the tide the book encapsulates? One newspaper, in a report from Schlieren, was titled "Life in the Cantonal Trash Can" (Schlieren is part of the Canton of Zurich), per another text in the book. So, how did things change, how did Schlieren get through this "difficult phase"? Proximity to Zurich and the town's location along a train line connected to the city surely helped, but much of it can be attributed to planning. In 2005, the town implemented the Schlieren Urban Development Concept (STEK I), which would determine where and how growth would occur, instead of letting it happen "uncontrolled and uncoordinated." STEK I became the basis for a photo project by Meret Wandeler and Ulrich Görlich, who decided on a 15-year timeframe — not shorter — as necessary for being able to see how the urban plan would physically take shape and impact the town. By 2020, when the project was done, the town had already moved on to STEK II, a new plan based on a reevaluation of STEK I in 2015/16, but the photographs nevertheless revealed that change in many parts of the Schlieren was dramatic. The first of the two volumes, which are packaged in a sleeve bearing the cover shown above, is a 152-page landscape-format book with spreads devoted to the 69 locations in town that were documented in photographs over the fifteen years, typically every two, odd-numbered years (some gaps are found in some places). The consistency of the photographic framing is exceptional, owing in part to the hiring of professional photographers after the initial photos were taken by the authors. The locations are keyed to maps in the back of the book, one for 2005 and one for 2020; seen together, the photographs and map illustrate the districts where STEK I was focused, where change was most pronounced. The town is basically bisected by the east-west rail line that connects it to Zurich; the most apparent change and increased density is visible to the north, while areas close to the train tracks on the south side were also filled in. Given the broad swath of the town documented by the project, it's interesting to see places where change is not immediately evident, akin to a real-life version of those find-the-differences cartoons. The second volume consists of essays, additional presentations of some of the photographs (focusing on typologies, on STEK I districts, the town's "building boom," etc.), and in-depth maps that help to give outsiders some orientation while also focusing on the development areas. These many pieces are presented beautifully across 480 pages in portrait format. The wide-ranging essays, which discuss the town, the project, "rephotography," and myriad other subjects, are particularly helpful but also, in the commendation of the book by the jury of the 2023 DAM Architectural Book Award, "very careful not to waste the reader’s time." The repackaging of some of the photographs from volume one is in some ways more helpful in understanding the town's urban change, since the authors use the photographs in ways that turns them into essays in their own right. The "Typologies" section, for example, groups photos of building entrances, parking lots, playgrounds, alleys, stores and restaurants, and garages, while "A New Town," which concludes the book, hones in on the places that would draw architectural tourists. Many of the photos in volume two are considerably larger on the page than the static format of volume one, accentuating one interesting quality of the photographs: they are devoid of people and other living beings, though not of signs of life. This rigorous approach, no doubt an impressive technical achievement, gives the project a strong anthropological quality and reveals that, while planning may be at the heart of the town's evolution this century, the shaping of the lives of the residents via planning was paramount.

This year's roundup of books to give to discerning architects for the holidays is presented in pairs. While at least one book in each pair is new, the other one isn't necessarily so — new, old, or not-so-old, it is related to the first in some manner, as explained in my descriptions. A few of these books will receive longer reviews next month. In the meantime, with this lengthy post and Thanksgiving coming up later this week, I'll be taking next week off, resuming regular posts the first week of December. HEADY STUFF FOR BRAINY ARCHITECTS AND ARCHITECTURE HISTORIANS: Architecture after God: Babel Resurgent by Kyle Dugdale, published by Birkhäuser, February 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Inhabited Machines: Genealogy of an Architectural Concept by Moritz Gleich, published by Birkhäuser, February 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Exploring Architecture is a new series of books from Birkhäuser that are focused "on thematic subjects [in architectural history and theory] that are relevant to contemporary architectural and urban discourse and practice." It aims to include "new and unexpected readings of built work, the analysis of the discipline's discourse and historiography, the study of architectural representation and media, and the consideration of socioeconomic and cultural-political forces on urban transformation." The peer-reviewed series, created under a six-strong advisory board chaired by Reto Geiser, launched in early 2023 with two books: Moritz Gleich's Inhabited Machines followed by Kyle Dugdale's Architecture after God. The pair of books indicate a serious tone for the series but also production values that are on par with monographs, found in the quality paper selection, quality image reproductions, page size that is slightly larger than the norm, and solid cover and binding. Having reviewed a few books made by Geiser, I'm not surprised at this attempt to elevate the design production of history/theory books. Still, these are not books the average architect will plop down in an armchair and read; their audience is small and focused on academia. (Hey, architectural historians like gift books, too!) Dugdale, a Yale professor based in New York City, has written a book set in Germany between the two world wars, using the Tower of Babel and the artistic output of Uriel Birnbaum from Austria as threads to explore how architects recreated a world where God is absent. Moritz Gleich, director of gta Verlag at ETH Zurich, appears to have turned his dissertation "on the genealogy of machinic concepts in architecture" into Inhabited Machines, which looks at technologies and architectural typologies in the 18th and 19th centuries as progenitors for some pretty famous machine analogies in 20th century architecture. TWO COOPER HEWITT TOMES: An Atlas of Es Devlin Es Devlin, edited by Andrea Lipps, published by Thames & Hudson, December 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Making Design: Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Collections by Cara McCarty and Matilda McQuaid, published by The Cooper Hewitt, February 2015 (Amazon / Bookshop) An Atlas of Es Devlin, the first monographic show devoted to UK artist and designer Es Devlin, opened at the Cooper Hewitt on November 18, 2023. Devlin worked with Cooper Hewitt curator Andrea Lipps on the exhibition, one that immerses museum goers in a recreation of Devlin's studio and moves them through a mirrored labyrinth presenting early drawings, models of the large-scale set designs she is known for, and much in between. Lipps is also the editor of the hefty book that is united with the exhibition in terms of its contents but also its execution: it immerses readers in Devlin's process to better understand her output. The exhibition presupposes that visitors do not know anything about Devlin (I'm guessing very few will not), and the book takes a similar approach, revealing insights to readers who are invited to patiently page through the book. At around 900 pages, there's a lot to see, from school-age drawings and glances of her studio to maquettes of theatrical set designs and photographs of concerts by the likes of Adele and U2. Thankfully, with its mix of paper sizes and types, and the insertion of small gatefolds that further explain her design process, the book's format makes a voyage through it anything but boring; there are surprises at every turn of the page. Boasting as many pages as An Atlas of Es Devlin is Copper Hewitt's guide to its own collection, made with designer Irma Boom when the institution completed a major overhaul of its Upper East Side home (the former Andrew Carnegie mansion) in late 2014/early 2015. While the book is big, the numbers on the cover indicate how small it is compared to the collection: it presents just 1,145 of the museum's 210,000 objects in its archive. The objects were selected by the curators, who also penned texts for the book — all expressing the museum's primary goal: "to inspire people to see how design impacts their lives." Boom, ever the innovative book designer, created different colored wraps for the paperback; it's not clear which color one gets on Amazon and Bookshop (red?), but the Cooper Hewitt offers pink and "glow in the dark" (light green) on its website. THE NEW YORK WILLIAM B. HELMREICH KNEW SO WELL: The Bronx Nobody Knows: An Urban Walking Guide by William B. Helmreich, published by Princeton University Press, August 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) The New York Nobody Knows: Walking 6,000 Miles in the City by William B. Helmreich, published by Princeton University Press, October 2013 (Amazon / Bookshop) A few years after Princeton University Press published William B. Helmreich's well-received The New York Nobody Knows, it started putting out standalone "urban walking guides" to each of the five boroughs. Helmreich, a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at the City College of New York, famously walked every street in New York City, speaking with just about everybody he came across (or so it seems), be it a building super, a doorman, a shop clerk, someone leaving their apartment, someone leaving a synagogue, ... The New York Nobody Knows discusses immigration, gentrification, and other issues in thematic chapters; it is thorough, but it must have been evident for both author and publisher that the effort of walking the five boroughs and the results of talking with so many people would lead to more than just one book. The first guide published was Brooklyn, in 2016, followed by Manhattan, in 2018. Sadly, a few months before the Queens guide was released in 2020, Helmreich died, succumbing to COVID-19 in March of that year, the same month fellow CCNY professor Michael Sorkin also died. At that time, as recounted by his wife Helaine, William had already finished the manuscript for the Bronx and the couple was starting to work on Staten Island, walking (again!) the streets of that borough. It's too bad we won't see Staten Island, because it, like the Bronx, is not as widely known (for me, at least, and I'm guessing quite a few other people) as Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens. But as the earlier guides made clear, there is more to the boroughs than the familiar sites found in other guidebooks; and the boroughs are made up of people, not just buildings and landscapes, and it was those people that interested Helmreich the most. Their voices permeate The Bronx Nobody Knows, just as in the other guides. For me, someone who lives in Queens, one thing I appreciate about Helmreich's books is the way he managed to get people to open up and say things that would both describe a place and convey the similarities binding people across the city and, on a wider canvas, across humanity. A BEAUTIFULLY MADE SERIES ON CAROSO ST JOHN CONTINUES: Caruso St John Collected Works: Volume 2 2000–2012 by Caruso St John, published by MACK, October 2023 (Amazon) Caruso St John Collected Works: Volume 1 1990–2005 by Caruso St John, published by MACK, October 2022 (Amazon) Twelve months after MACK released the first volume in the collected works of British architects Adam Caruso and Peter St. John, the publisher put out the second volume, which takes the qualities of the first book — qualities I wrote about earlier this year in "Three Lessons from Three Monographs" — and applies them to the studio as they started their second decade and a new century began. I wrote in that post that monographs "should be comprehensive if not complete, "should convey the voice of the architect," and "should function as archives." Collected Works: Volume 1, I wrote, does all three: "From its simple linen cover with drawing of the steel facade of their Swan Yard project, strong stitching, and matte paper selection, to its documentation of built and unbuilt works over the title's fifteen years and the incorporation of articles and interviews previously published in Quaderns and other venues, the book is a beautiful object that is rewarding and refreshing on every turn of the page." Given the consistency of the two books, the same applies Collected Works: Volume 2. The numerous buildings, projects, exhibitions, articles, lectures, and other artifacts informing Caruso St John's work are presented in seven chapters, most of them pairs: "History and the Modern," "Greece and Rome," "Chicago and Milan," "Competitions," "Thomas Demand," "Switzerland," "Art and Money." These places and themes reflect their work extending beyond the confines of England as well as their teaching doing the same, with positions in Mendrisio, ETH Zurich, Harvard GSD, and elsewhere. The two architects explain how the studios they ran at universities incorporated reference texts by Rosalind Krauss, T. S. Eliot, Louis Sullivan, and others; those text are found here, enriching the monograph's collection of texts and projects and capturing the interests of two maturing architects. (Note: the two volumes are available from MACK in a Caruso St John Bundle.) THE CHICAGO SKYSCRAPER HISTORICALLY CONSIDERED: Chicago Skyscrapers, 1934-1986: How Technology, Politics, Finance, and Race Reshaped the City by Thomas Leslie, published by University of Illinois Press, June 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871-1934 by Thomas Leslie, published by University of Illinois Press, May 2013 (Amazon / Bookshop) In my 2021 review of Thomas Leslie's 2013 book Chicago Skyscrapers, 1871–1934, I pointed out how Leslie's book is described in another book as a "'recent study that includes thorough discussion of structural and constructive technologies,' as opposed to more prevalent architectural histories that focus on aesthetics, politics, planning, social history, and other issues with tall buildings." Such a focus is evident in the appendix listing the dozens of tall buildings built in Chicago between 1871 and 1934 (the years of the Great Chicago Fire and Great Depression) with such criteria as "facade type" (bearing masonry, cast iron, expressed frame, curtain wall, etc.) and "foundation" (piles, spread, caissons). It's an excellent book, as is the second installment in Leslie's series of books on skyscrapers in Chicago, but the subtitle of the second book, How Technology, Politics, Finance, and Race Reshaped the City, indicates the incorporation of those wider contexts eschewed in the first book. Even with these topics, technology is the most prevalent, based on a quick glance at the book's contents, which include numerous construction photographs and 3D "digital reconstructions" of a lot of the buildings discussed in the book. Spanning from the Great Depression to the recessions of the 1970s and 80s, the new book contains a large diversity of architecture — from Art Deco and modernism to brutalism and postmodernism — but also enormous social changes and other aspects (migration, civil rights, oil crisis, Mayor Richard J. Daley) that make the embrace of broader contexts sensible. While any book on skyscrapers in that period would include Marina City, Bertrand Goldberg's classic city within a city completed in 1967, Leslie also includes Goldberg's Raymond Hilliard Homes, a public housing project on the South Side for seniors and families. The latter allow Leslie to compare the forms and construction of the two projects but also the opportunity to touch on racial segregation in the city. (A couple addenda: While the two books have similar covers, three-column page layouts, and graphic design features, the use of different page sizes and proportions — from 10x10" to 8.5x11" — is unfortunate and a missed opportunity for consistency on the shelf, especially if a third book in the series is forthcoming. And just as my 2021 review of the earlier Leslie book coincided with the author speaking at the Skyscraper Museum, Leslie is giving a virtual talk tomorrow night about his new book and the city's residential high-rises in concrete; the talk will be archived on the museum's YouTube channel.) ADVENTURES IN HOUSING: Cohousing in Barcelona: Designing, Building and Living for Cooperative Models edited by David Lorente, Tomoko Sakamoto, Ricardo Devesa and Marta Bugés, published by Actar Publishers and Ajuntament de Barcelona, August 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Housing Redux: Alternatives for NYC's Housing Projects by Nneena Lynch, James von Klemperer, Hana Kassan and Andrei Harwell, edited by Nina Rappaport and Saba Salekfard, published by Yale School of Architecture, December 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) If life were fair, everyone would have access to decent, well-designed housing, and those projects would garner as much attention in the architectural press as the single-family houses that are commissioned by and built for the wealthy. A modicum of balance has been found in recent years, with social housing projects winning major architectural awards and gaining coverage, most notably Lacaton and Vassal's transformation of public housing projects in France and Lacol's La Borda Cooperative Housing in Barcelona. The latter is the star of Cohousing in Barcelona, which features case studies of eighteen built and ongoing projects that are the result of a partnership between the Barcelona City Council and non-profit social housing providers and housing cooperatives. Even though I was fortunate enough to visit La Borda with the architects last year, the book's thorough documentation through photographs, drawings, and lengthy commentary from the architects means I learned something new about it — and the other commendable projects in the book. If cohousing is endemic to Barcelona, what is the NYC situation? In the 20th century it was a mix of below-market subsidized housing, public housing, and middle-income cooperatives, aka Mitchell-Lama. Today, everything is lumped under "affordable housing," and it is typically created by developers as part of larger market-rate projects, with the city incentivizing the developers through zoning bonuses. One place proponents of affordable housing are looking is the open spaces of large public housing projects, in the vein of Carmel Place, a narrow stack of micro-units by nARCHITECTS built in 2016. A recent studio at Yale School of Architecture had students proposing affordable housing solutions for NYCHA's Washington Houses in East Harlem; the public housing project consists of more than a dozen towers on three superblocks that are the equivalent of seven city blocks, with open space comprising more than 85% of the site. The students developed master plans and then designed schemes ranging from reimagined brownstones to terraced housing and other ways of weaving more units between the existing buildings. It's refreshing to see architecture students tackling affordable housing in creative ways. MONOGRAPHS WITH A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA: Field Guide to Indoor Urbanism by MODU (Phu Hoang and Rachely Rotem), published by Hatje Cantz, October 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Quiet Spaces by William Smalley, published by Thames & Hudson, November 2018 (Amazon / Bookshop) These two monographs are atypical — and refreshing — in that they incorporate content from outside the work of the designers who made them, but in ways that meld seamlessly with their own work. Although MODU, the Brooklyn studio of Phu Hoang and Rachely Rotem, is so young and has built so little a monograph would seem a bit premature, their Field Guide to Indoor Urbanism is nevertheless chock full of projects, each one illustrating the multifaceted nature of their output: architecture, urban interventions, installations, and socio-economic research among it. The duo makes a statement by upending conventions, literally, by starting the book with a glossary — one where the terms and definitions clearly describe their unique points of view — and ending it with the foreword. In between are essays, projects, and a series of conversations with Japanese architects, including Fumihiko Maki, Itsuko Hasegawa, and Kengo Kuma. The last is what would be considered the outsider content, but even then the interviews were conducted by Hoang and Rotem as part of their research into Second Nature, which they define as "a dual expression of social and environmental contexts. Humans and nature as one." Quiet Spaces is an apt title for the first monograph on UK architect William Smalley, who established his eponymous practice in London in 2010. The coffee table book is full of full-bleed color photographs captured mainly by Harry Crowder but also Hélène Binet; each photographers' choice of film over digital jibes with Smalley's handling of interior spaces, which could be called, for lack of a better term, timeless. The cover photograph by Binet — of Smalley's Oxfordshire Farm, done in collaboration with James Gorst Architects — hints at this quality, but it also recalls the work of Luis Barragan. Hardly by coincidence, Oxfordshire Farm is preceded by Barragan's own house in Mexico City, one of six "quiet spaces" in the book by other architects, ranging in time from Andrea Palladio to Peter Zumthor, with Geoffrey Bawa and others in between. Smalley's way of treating his inspirations in the book with equal weight to his own work is refreshing and illuminating, revealing shared qualities but also Smalley's enduring fascination with beautiful design regardless of the who, when, or where. (The Record section of his website expresses this too.) The mix results in a monograph that is surprisingly cohesive regardless of the various voices and times, reinforcing the timeless quality of Smalley's architecture. CAPTURING AMERICA'S PAST IN PHOTOGRAPHS: Lost in America: Photographing the Last Days of our Architectural Treasures by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams, published by CityFiles Press, November 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Richard Nickel Dangerous Years: What He Saw and What He Wrote by Richard Cahan and Michael Williams, published by CityFiles Press, December 2015 (Amazon) Anyone with a strong interest in architecture in the United States should know and love HABS, the Historic American Buildings Survey that is maintained by the Library of Congress. The voluminous collection of photographs and drawings spanning from 1933 to the present is a great resource for, among other things, people making architecture books. Photographer Jeffrey Ladd creatively mined the survey for A Field Measure Survey of American Architecture, creating a portrait of the US through a small sampling of the hundreds of thousands of HABS photographs. Similarly, photo historians Richard Cahan and Michael Williams pulled photographs from the survey to draw attention to the buildings and bridges that America lost to decay, neglect, demolition, and destruction. One hundred notable, lesser known, and fairly generic examples are presented in four chapters: Timeless, Forgotten, Disgraced, Doomed. Even though the HABS photographs have remained remarkably consistent over its 90 years, with contemporary photographers still using large-format film (not digital) cameras, Lost in America has a notable arc to it, with famous buildings early in the book and actual scenes of demolition, as in the cover photograph, found at the end. It's hard not to feel a tinge of melancholy or even anger at the wanton destruction implied and captured by the HABS photographers in black and white — emotions tempered, or perhaps even magnified, by the information presented in captions by Cahan and Williams. Although Lost in America is available on Amazon, Bookshop, and other usual outlets, people buying it directly from CityFiles have the option of getting a limited edition with a slipcase featuring a Richard Nickel photo of Chicago’s Republic Building, a Holabird and Roche building that was erected in the first decade of the 20th century and pulled down in 1961. Nickel is one of the photographers inside Lost in America, but the photographer and preservationist is also the subject of Dangerous Years, an earlier book also by Cahan and Williams and also published by CityFiles, in 2015. Cahan had written an earlier, indispensable biography on Nickel, They All Fall Down: Richard Nickel's Struggle to Save America's Architecture (notably, that book features a self-portrait of Nickel atop the Republic Building), so it is logical that he would make another book on Nickel, one that "in his own words and with his own pictures, is his story." The coffee table book traces Nickel's brief but productive and passionate career through photographs, letters, notes, sketches, and other artifacts displayed on large 9x12" pages with black backgrounds. Like Lost in America, Dangerous Years is melancholy, not only because he gravitated to buildings that often met the wrecking ball, but because his widely known end while salvaging materials from one such building is made all the more real through letters to/from his fiancé and even notes for a missing person report made by his parents on the day he went missing. ILLUSTRATED STORIES FOR KIDS — AND GROWN-UPS: Modern New York: The Illustrated Story of Architecture in the Five Boroughs from 1920 to Present by Lukas Novotny, published by Rizzoli, September 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Shigeru Ban Builds a Better World by Isadoro Saturno, illustrated by Stefano Di Cristofaro, published by Tra Publishing, September 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) A pair of illustrated books: one for children and one for grown-ups. Modern New York is Lukas Novotny's second book, following the similar Modern London published in 2018. The colorful illustrations — all of them straight-on elevations, as evidenced by the cover — give the impression that the book is yet another repackaging of famous and predominantly tall buildings in New York City: the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building are there on the cover, as are the American Radiator Building, the Pan Am (MetLife Building), AT&T, Hearst, and 432 Park Avenue. But the inclusion of Paul Rudolph's Tracey Towers in the Bronx and the presence of the Goodyear blimp and a helicopter landing on the Pan Am Building hint at a wider presentation. Novotny is actually drawn (pun intended) to buildings obscure, plain, and off the beaten path — those well beyond what's found in tourist guides. The buildings and modes of transportation, which were potentially more modern than the buildings, are presented in ten chapters: one per decade, from 1920 to present. Each is given at least 16 pages, so relatively insignificant decades (what was built in the 1940s?) reveal surprises even so-called experts, like this reviewer, weren't aware of. I wish there were more children's books about architecture, not only because they provide parents a way to educate their kids about architecture and architects at an early age, but because the subject has such a great potential for doing interesting children's books. Pop-ups! Concertina books! (I reviewed one of those.) Books by architects for their own kids! (I reviewed one of those, too.) Isadoro Saturno's children's book on Shigeru Ban gets creative with format, from its cardboard-like cover with cutout framing a portrait of the architect to the choice of matter paper, cutout-like illustrations, and smaller book on Ban's disaster-relief projects inserted into the middle of the book. By focusing on the fact Ban has made many buildings from paper, from cardboard tubes, and not all of them disaster-relief projects, the book shows kids that what they didn't think was possible is possible. The book opens their minds to the possibilities in anything, architecture or otherwise, encouraging them to think creatively and without limits. CHANGING ZURICH (AND ITS ENVIRONS): Urban Change Over Time: The Photographic Observation of Schlieren 2005–2020 Reveals How Switzerland Is Changing edited by Meret Wandeler, Ulrich Görlich and Caspar Schärer, published by Scheidegger and Spiess, October 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) New Housing in Zurich: Typologies for a Changing Society, edited by Dominique Boudet, published by Park Books, April 2018 (Amazon / AbeBooks) Last month the Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) and Frankfurt Book Fair announced the winners of the 2023 DAM Architectural Book Award: ten books, nine of them from publishers in Germany and Switzerland, six from Zurich alone, and four of the ten winners published by Park Books or its sister publisher Scheidegger & Spiess. A winner by the last is Urban Change Over Time, a two-volume book with fifteen years of photo documentation of Schlieren, a satellite town on the western fringe of Zurich. The jury praised the book for its vision and endurance: "The book’s structure derives from the topic, explores many different aspects of the theme, and yet is very careful not to waste the reader’s time." The slimmer of the two volumes has nearly 150 pages of photographs on landscape-oriented pages, with each spread showing the matching photographic documentation of one spot in town over those fifteen years. The matching of the framing in the photos is remarkable, as if dozens of tripods were cemented into place throughout the town for the fifteen-year duration of the project. In some cases the changes are in your face, in many they're subtle, and in others they're apparently non-existent. The longer volume — 480 pages in portrait format — has photographs as well, many of them larger on the page and in the context of the town's development areas or focusing on different typologies; there are also essays, interviews, and maps that aid in orienting oneself with the photos and understanding some of the development areas. The whole is a beautiful production worthy of its accolade. While I don't think New Housing in Zurich nabbed a DAM Award when it was released five years ago, this book from Park Books pairs well with Urban Change Over Time, for its equally high production values, for its geographic proximity, and for simply having the word "changing" in its subtitle. (This book, though hard to find, should also appeal to readers interested in Cohousing in Barcelona and Housing Redux, featured above.) The book presents 51 housing projects spread across Zurich, some of which I was able to visit years before when in Zurich for my work with World-Architects. The projects I visited, and most of the ones in the book, are fairly large and therefore have large sites where site planning is paramount; site plans or aerial views are then included for each of the 51 projects, as well as floor plans, photographs (or renderings), and project descriptions. What makes the projects remarkable beyond their architectural qualities is the fact they are predominantly middle-class and/or cooperatives — making the book a suitable reference for other places where there is a shortage of such housing, well-designed or not.

A review of a new book released this week: The Japanese House Since 1945 by Naomi Pollock, published by Thames & Hudson, November 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) What makes modern and contemporary Japanese houses so appealing? Much of it stems from the novelty of residential designs, which can be traced to a litany of factors, including a cultural acceptance of demolition and renewal that creates a constant stream of new architecture; a litany of legal requirements pushing architects — both young and established — to be formally creative; and let's not leave out the clients willing to take risks. Most of the houses that spark jealousy in architects outside of Japan are found in Tokyo and other urban areas where money, zoning, and architects converge to fuel unexpected creations. One factor, the country's exorbitant inheritance tax, leads many families to cut up their properties into smaller parcels to pay for the tax; the resulting, awkward pieces of land then require architects to squeeze a house into a wrapper defined by fire-safety requirements, sunshine laws, and practical concerns like a parking space. Such is the case today, but distinctive single-family houses in and beyond Tokyo have been prevalent since the end of World War II, when architects took part in the necessary postwar rebuilding that was buoyed by prosperity in the ensuing decades. Naomi Pollock's excellent The Japanese House Since 1945 traces the evolution of single-family houses across eight decades, focusing as much on the people who live(d) in the houses than the architects who designed them. The book is structured as a chronological, decade-by-decade presentation of nearly one hundred houses across 400 pages. Each house is documented in two to five pages with photographs, drawings, and a brief description. The photographs are of their period, rather than contemporary, probably done because most of the old houses have long been demolished. The floor plans are also original, rather than redrawn for the book, but they use a helpful numbered key that is consistent across the book. Last, and perhaps most important, are Pollock's descriptions, which incorporate quotes from the architects and/or the owners and provide details on the designs and living situations beyond typical surveys. Pollock has written numerous books on Japanese architecture, is an international correspondent for Architectural Record, and has elsewhere brought her firsthand accounts and access to architects in Japan to bear on architecture that many people outside of Japan are fascinated by. Compared to books such as New Architecture in Japan, co-written with Yuki Sumner, and Jutaku: Japanese Houses (see bottom of this review), The Japanese House Since 1945 is her most important and best book to date. Although the Japanese houses that are the subject of Pollock's new book are billed as, per the back cover, "many of the most exceptional and experimental houses in the world," it starts with houses that are more traditional than modern. Kunio Maekawa's own house in Tokyo, completed in 1942, has a wood exterior that "evoked traditional Japanese farmhouses," Pollock writes, but has a "spacious living room, exemplifying Maekawa's vision of the ideal house for the burgeoning modern era." Maekawa worked in the Paris atelier of Le Corbusier, later joining Antonin and Noémi Raymond in Tokyo, two foreign architects who moved to Japan after World War I (Antonin worked with Frank Lloyd Wright on the Imperial Hotel). The couple left Japan ahead of WWII but returned after its conclusion, building a house and studio (above spread) in Tokyo that is also rooted in traditional Japanese architecture but subtly signals this "burgeoning modern era." These two instances illustrate how outside influences entered Japan after the war, with tradition and modernity mixing in ways that would eventually lead to the exceptional architectural experimentation the country is known for. The chronological, decade-by-decade presentation allows the evolution of Japanese residential architecture to unfold gradually and be seen in the context of the 1964 Olympics, Expo 1970 in Osaka, the end of the bubble era, the March 2011 earthquake, COVID-19, and other epoch-defining events that are described by Pollock in intros to each decade. Readers see the introduction of concrete, steel, and other materials in the 1960s and 70s, followed by the light construction of the 80s and 90s, and the formal experimentation of our current century. Each decade has at least one icon — Kiyonori Kikutake's Sky House in the 50s, Kazuo Shinohara's Umbrella House in the 60s, Tadao Ando's Row House in Sumiyoshi in the 70s, etc. — but most readers will find something new among the 98 houses. Even those well-versed in modern Japanese houses will be pleased by the nine "At Home" pieces inserted throughout the book. In these, we learn about Yuki Kikutake, daughter of Kiyonori, growing up in Sky House; Fumihiko Maki writes about his own house built in Tokyo in 1978; and we read about the anonymous husband and wife living in Sou Fujimoto's House NA. A last ingredient is nine spotlights — one at the end of each chapter — that discuss the articulation of various elements: roofs, windows, stairs and corridors, gardens and courtyards, etc. The brief case studies, "At Home" features, and spotlights combine to create a compelling and vivid portrait of modern living in Japan over the last eight decades. Naomi Pollock's latest book prompted me to dig out a few other titles from my library that also present Japanese houses. They are described briefly below, presented in chronological order by date of publication, and are intended for anyone who wants do delve deeper into some of the decades or architects explored in Pollock's book; titles with links point to earlier reviews on this blog. Readers who want a more comprehensive overview of early modern Japanese architecture (not just houses) should find David B. Stewart's The Making of a Modern Japanese Architecture rewarding. The New Japanese House: Ritual and Anti-Ritual, Patterns of Dwelling by Chris Fawcett, published by Harper & Row, 1980 (Amazon / AbeBooks) The push and pull between tradition and modernity is the subject of this book by Chris Fawcett, the British critic who wanted to undo misconceptions in the West about Japanese houses. He focused on "Post-Metabolist" architecture, houses from the late 1960s and the 1970s that he presented as "ritual affirming" and "ritual disaffirming" houses. It's an intriguing book, but not one that seems to have had much of an influence all these years later; I wonder if Fawcett would have gone on to make more lasting and impactful books on Japanese architecture if he didn't die young. The New Japanese House can be bought inexpensively online, but harder to find is GA Houses 4: Ontology of House, Residential Architecture of 1970s in Japan, which features an essay by Fawcett and dozens of houses from that decade. Japan Houses in Ferroconcrete by Makoto Uyeda, photography by Junichi Shimomura, published by Graphic-Sha, 1988 (Amazon / AbeBooks) This book features 35 houses designed by 21 architects, all united by the use of concrete, varying from small applications, such as alongside wood, steel, and other materials, to expansive houses in reinforced concrete by the likes of Tadao Ando. Although dates are not provided for the houses, most are from the 1980s with some from the previous decade. One of the most rewarding aspects of this book, which I was chuffed to discover while browsing a used bookstore, is the fact all of the photographs — and there are A LOT of them — were specially taken for the book; they go much deeper inside the houses than the "official" photographs found in monographs and other publications. Tadao Ando 1: Houses and Housing, published by Toto, 2007 (Amazon / AbeBooks) 2G N.58/59: Kazuo Shinohara Houses edited by David B. Stewart, Shin-Ichi Okuyama and Taishin Shiozaki, published by Editorial Gustavo Gili, 2011 (Amazon / AbeBooks) One thing I find appealing about architecture in Japan is the way many famous architects there continue to design single-family houses even after getting hired for museums, office buildings, and other larger projects; houses are not merely a leg up to bigger commissions. In turn, monographs on architects' houses can occasionally be found. A couple favorites of mine are the first book in Toto's now-five-strong series on Tadao Ando (Houses and Housing was followed by Outside Japan, Inside Japan, New Endeavors, and Dialogues) and a double issue of 2G devoted to the houses of Kazuo Shinohara built between 1959 and 1988. In addition to them including some of the best modern Japanese houses ever built, the two publications are beautifully produced. Small Houses: Contemporary Japanese Dwellings by Claudia Hildner, published by Birkhäuser, 2011 (Amazon / AbeBooks) Another appealing aspect of Japanese houses is their size. Even though the petit houses prevalent in Japan can be attributed to the country's population density, the breaking up parcels to pay for inheritance taxes, as mentioned above, and other considerations that aren't necessarily geared to the sustainability of living small, it's refreshing to see so much creativity put into small houses rather than the oversized houses that are the norm in the US. This appropriately small book is a good collection of around two-dozen small houses by Go Hasegawa, Atelier Bow-Wow, Sou Fujimoto, and others, all of them completed within the few years leading up to the book's publication. The years since have seen many more creative Japanese houses but fewer house books for readers outside of Japan; websites are now the norm, but I'd be more than happy with more books like Small Houses. How to Make a Japanese House by Cathelijne Nuijsink, published by NAi Publishers, 2012 (Amazon / Bookshop) Astute readers may have noticed that most of the books featured in this post were authored by foreigners (Pollock from the US, Fawcett from the UK, Hildner from Germany, Nuijsink from The Netherlands), which goes hand in hand with the strong appeal Japanese houses have on people outside of Japan. I can't imagine a book titled "How to Make a Japanese House" coming from a Japanese architect; they would not need to explain the work they do on a daily basis to fellow Japanese architects doing the same. For Cathelijne Nuijsink, the premise of the book allowed her to explore the making of Japanese houses through in-depth interviews with four generations of their creators: Jun Aoki, Kazuyo Sejima, Junya Ishigami, and so on. It's an excellent book that remains in print a decade later. Jutaku: Japanese Houses by Naomi Pollock, published by Phaidon, 2015 (Amazon / Bookshop) Appropriately, this review of Naomi Pollock's The Japanese House Since 1945 ends with another book by Pollock: a compact Phaidon picture book with more than 400 contemporary Japanese houses, from Hokkaido in the snowy north to Kyushu in the subtropical south. Not surprisingly, most of the houses are found in Kanto Prefecture, which is anchored by Tokyo. It's a stellar collection that suffers from too much in a small package: there is only one photo per house, an exterior photo that shows readers what anyone would be able to see in public, just hinting at the qualities within. Two photos per house — one outside, one inside — could have been done with a slightly larger paper size. Alas, the book proves the creativity in Japanese residential architecture but leaves us wanting more — much more.

The recent publication of two books prompted me to ponder the future of cities and do a write-up of them together: Implementing Urban Design: Green, Civic, and Community Strategies by Jonathan Barnett, published by Routledge, June 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Renewing the Dream: The Mobility Revolution and the Future of Los Angeles edited by James Sanders, published by Rizzoli Electa, September 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Implementing Urban Design is the latest of many books about urban design and planning by Jonathan Barnett, whose career and CV span around fifty years. Over that time he has served as an architect, planner, educator, and an advisor to cities in and beyond the US, including Charleston, South Carolina, Omaha, and New York City, where he was Director of Urban Design in the Department of City Planning. When I received Implementing Urban Design, one of the first things I did was scour my bookshelves for other books by Barnett (something I do with most other reviews). There I found his first book, Urban Design as Public Policy: Practical Methods for Improving Cities, published in 1974. It, his first book, summarized his efforts in that role at NYC Planning, presenting the working methods behind the projects he worked on and doing it in ways that other urban designers in other places could learn from them. Just as Barnett's first book was "concerned with techniques of dealing with a number of significant urban and environmental problems which are found in existing cities, or are created when new areas are developed," his latest book focuses on the "complicated interactive process" that is required to move urban designs from their conceptual phases to completion. "What happens in between," in other words, is the subject of Implementing Urban Design, illustrated in ten chapters with case studies drawn from Barnett's experience as an urban design consultant. New York City is here, in chapter 3, "Designing Cities Without Designing Buildings," an echo of a chapter of the same name in the 1974 book. The chapter in the earlier book includes, among other projects, the Lincoln Square Special Zoning District, created in the wake of construction of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and developers rushing to build near it. A requirement to build to the sidewalk (to a height of at least 85') and including arcades for the buildings on the east side of Broadway were the most dramatic components of the special district. Too early to see its impact in 1974, Implementing Urban Design shows the area nearly fifty years later, with a hodgepodge of towers on podiums along Broadway but a street wall that is fairly cohesive. Although the arcade requirement was eventually eliminated from the special district (they're now "permitted" rather than required, such that recent projects like Robert A. M. Stern's 15 Central Park West don't have one), the bulk of the requirements are there, working to maintain that certain design aspects of Broadway north of Columbus Circle extend into the future. The same chapter in the new book also touches on the office campus of PPG in Pittsburgh and a streetscape handbook for Norfolk, Virginia, but other chapters often delve deeper into individual projects in individual cities. For example, chapter nine, "Mobilizing Support to Redesign an Entire City," presents Barnett's process in the fairly massive creation of a master plan for Omaha, Nebraska (the cover depicts a visualization from the plan). Another chapter, "Changing Regulations to Prevent Suburban Sprawl," documents his work with Wildwood, a town west of St. Louis that incorporated in 1995 and wanted to develop a new zoning ordinance that would be appropriate to the area and veer from the suburban norm. My wife being from St. Louis, a city I've in turn visited numerous times, attracted me to this chapter, whose theme — preventing urban sprawl — is of undeniable importance. Barnett walks through the process in detail, from initial contact and developing a team, to research, concepts, writing the master plan and development regulations, and devising a specific plan for the Town Center. The last is now just partially built out, about 25 years after Barnett was brought in. But if we learned anything from the Lincoln Square example, urban designs can take upwards of fifty years until they are "complete." Spread from Renewing the Dream: The Mobility Revolution and the Future of Los Angeles If the visuals in Implementing Urban Design are, to put it inelegantly, less than sexy, the opposite is true of Renewing the Dream, which was edited by James Sanders, author of Celluloid Skyline, and produced in association with Woods Bagot, the Australian firm that now boasts 17 offices around the world. The "freshest member" of the global studio, founded in 2020, is in Los Angeles, where numerous projects to date have focused on transportation, including a concourse at LAX and a proposal for turning gas stations in Los Angeles into EV charging stations with cultural components like drive-in theaters. This beautifully produced coffee table book is full of striking visuals by Woods Bagot and from the worlds of art, photography, and cinema. Even though Renewing the Dream presents a number of projects by the LA studio of Woods Bagot, including the ReCharge LA Prototype EV Station, I wouldn't call the book a monograph. Consisting of a half-dozen essays and two interviews alongside case studies of Woods Bagot projects — all geared around the theme of the "mobility revolution" in Los Angeles — the book's genre is indefinable: it is a hybrid that Sanders describes in the introduction as a "kaleidoscopic portrait" of LA, with "an unusually wide-ranging mix of content—research and data studies, urban design and public art projects, cultural and historical overviews, surveys of current and future technologies." ReCharge LA Prototype EV Station by Matt Ducharme and Woods Bagot Los Angeles Studio The book's wide-ranging content is predicated on what Sanders and Woods Bagot call LA 3.0, a new Los Angeles in the making, following LA 2.0, the freeway and tract-housing landscape of the mid-20th century, and, before that, LA 1.0, the streetcar and boulevard paradigm before WWII. Some of the in-progress LA 3.0 is mandated — extending the subway by 2028, the year of the LA Olympics, and the outlaw of gas cars and trucks for sale by 2035, accelerating the rise of EVs — but much of it comes from wider developments that aren't necessarily rooted in LA but have taken hold there, notably the climate emergency (think the Getty Fire in 2019) and digital technologies like Uber, which eliminate the need for personal cars on, for instance, nights out with friends. Los Angeles may seem like the most unlikely place for a book devoted to a mobility revolution, but my personal experience with LA gave me the opposite impression. My only trip to the city was around twenty years ago, when I spent two weeks there working on a competition with a short deadline. I stayed at the Biltmore in downtown, with a view of Pershing Square out my window. My morning commute was walking across the street to U.S. Bank Tower; my evening commute, 12 or 16 hours later, was the opposite. No car, no driving — a very un-LA experience of LA. But on weekends I walked around DTLA, took buses to the Getty Center and Santa Monica, and rode the subway to West Hollywood. Although I was a tourist, my experience showed me it was possible to navigate a good deal of LA without a car. An expanded subway network, more frequent buses, urban design focused on walkability and bicycling — it isn't hard to consider these and other efforts having dramatic changes on the car-centric nature of Los Angeles. Yet, the wide-ranging mix of content in Renewing the Dream reveals that the biggest impact of mobility advances on the city — any American city, really, not just LA — is found in parking. If changes in laws, increased public transit, technology advances, and other things lead Americans and Angelenos to have fewer cars, drive less, and use ride-sharing and take public transit more, then the many square miles of surface parking lots can be given over to spaces for people, not cars: densifying (sub)urban areas and providing housing and other much-needed functions. So, in addition to the ReCharge LA project, the book includes MORE LA, Woods Bagot's study for infilling lots previously used for surface parking, and Sanders' own California Court project, a denser version of the city's beloved bungalow courtyards apartments from a century ago. The last, documented in the 1982 book Courtyard Housing in Los Angeles, is one of a few-dozen books in the bibliography whose quotes and influence pepper Renewing the Dream. The older book and newer proposal illustrate that, while certain elements of the mobility revolution are linear and future-oriented, some of them are historical and cyclical. The answers to tomorrow's sustainable Los Angeles, in other words, are found as much in the city's existing built environment as they are in technologies and designs still to come.

In 1939, Otto Neurath's Modern Man in the Making was released by Alfred A. Knopf. Neurath was director of the International Foundation of Visual Information and used the Isotype (International System of Typographic Picture Education) system to "teach through the eye." A recent article describes Modern Man in the Making as a "pictorial statistical history of human technological adaptation and social cooperation [that] addressed a modern audience searching for optimistic narratives amid an economically, politically, and socially volatile era." The book is a classic, and for someone like me who veers toward arguments made in a combination of words and images, it is a book I should probably have — at the very least, I should know more about it. Although it was released as a trade book, can be found cheaply in b/w reprints, and is freely available on the Internet Archive, first editions of Modern Man in the Making go for hundreds and thousands of dollars. This is one of those books that screams out for a high-quality facsimile edition — and it will be getting that treatment early next year, courtesy of Lars Müller Publishers. The timing is curious, though, as Lars Müller just released Joy and Fear, in which Theo Deutinger brings the subjects and visual techniques of Neurath's magnum opus into the 21st century. Although Deutinger writes that his book "enters in dialogue" with Neurath's book, I couldn't help thinking that the two books side by side would heighten the differences and similarities, the constants and changes between the 1930s and the 2020s. Alas, I'll have to wait until February to do that. Joy and Fear is not the first book by Theo Deutinger published by Lars Müller. That was Handbook of Tyranny, which was published in 2018 and was recently released in an updated, expanded edition. I didn't see it upon its initial release, though I did catch Deutinger's display of the book's illustrations — the walls, fences, and other means of controlling human behavior in cities — in actual objects: plants, railings, barbed wire, a prison jumpsuit and other pieces of the "routine cruelties of the twenty-first century" at the Storefront for Art and Architecture. That 2019 exhibition prompted me to get the book and then write a review: "The straightforward illustrations look like they could have been pulled from Architectural Graphic Standards, making the book read at times like an actual handbook for tyrannical dictators." Deutinger's "detailed non-fictional graphic illustrations," as described by the publisher, also owe a debt to Neurath, as evinced by the publication of Joy and Fear. People who already own the first edition of Handbook of Tyranny won't find it necessary to buy the update, given that the changes amount to just eight new pages and consist mainly of some new paragraphs here and there, and the reordering of charts and graphics to reflect the state of the world five years later. Still, I appreciated the fact Deutinger went to the effort of an update, doing something that was de rigueur in books decades ago but is now rare, almost exclusively the province of the internet, which can be updated in close to real time. But Deutinger's illustrations — almost subversive in their dryness — are appropriate to the pages of a book; I feel like they would lose something on the screen, even though the changes impacting his illustrations happen at a clip much faster than in half-decade intervals. Spread from Handbook of Tyranny (Expanded Edition) by Theo Deutinger, published by Lars Múller Publishers, June 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) In between Handbook of Tyranny and Joy and Fear, Deutinger and Lars Müller put out Ultimate Atlas: Logbook of Spaceship Earth, a book that uses lines — and nothing else — "to create a total portrait of the planet." No wonder one review calls it "the ultimate simplification of reality." I haven't seen that book, but visually it seems that Joy and Fear strikes a balance between the highly detailed illustrations of Tyranny and the minimalism of Ultimate Atlas, as if Neurath's Isotype cannot be improved upon in describing the state of the world over time. As described above, Deutinger's book "dialogues" with Neurath's nearly century-old book. It does this by extending the timeline to the present and adjusting some data visualization from the original; the latter updates are highlighted with the icon of a person holding up a sign. What does the book reveal about the modern world? Clearly, yet unfortunately and not surprisingly, that progress is being made by the few, not the many: geographically, demographically, politically, economically, etc. Spread from Joy and Fear: An Illustrated Report on Modernity by Theo Deutinger, published by Lars Múller Publishers, September 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) The spread above can serve to illustrate how the book works. The red, blue, and black chart on the left shows household ownership of amenities in the USA, from 1910 to 2020, including such items as computers, phones, wifi, telephones (cell and landline separately), toilets, and electricity. Most of the amenities are full as of 2020, though only one — landline telephones — is in decline. Though the same chart for other geographical areas would be telling, the opposite page shows an update version of data viz. from Neurath's 1939 book: radios, TVs, and cars in the 1930s (top) and 2020s (bottom) in the six geographical regions used throughout Deutinger's book (USA and Canada, Europe, CIS, Latin America, Southern Territories, Far East). Although the scales change between the two charts, it's clear that the regions in the bottom rows (Latin America, Southern Territories, Far East) have become more modern in recent decades. But it's up to the reader to speculate on what so many cars mean, for instance, to our warming planet. Visualizing how the continued burning of fossil flues will impact our warming planet is one subject of Climate Inheritance, the latest book from Design Earth, the brilliantly inventive studio of Rania Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy that previously wrote and illustrated Geographies of Trash (2015), Geostories: Another Architecture for the Environment (2018), and The Planet After Geoengineering (2021). The cover features one of the many beautiful illustrations populating the book: a diagram of aquifers refilled by injecting storm water into "bladders" that serve to raise the sinking city of Venice. Venice and its Lagoon is one of ten sites in the book, each one on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Others include the Galápagos Islands, Sagarmatha National Park, and the Statue of Liberty. What is the future of such places — heritage sites that are already preserved to a greater extent than other places — when the Anthropocene leads to inherited conditions future generations may not anticipate? Spread from Climate Inheritance by Rania Ghosn and El Hadi Jazairy (DESIGN EARTH), published by Actar Publishers, August 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) By way of illustration, the chapter on the Statue of Liberty indicates that Design Earth is not interested exclusively on the preservation and care of monuments, of places deemed heritage sites; what they symbolize is also important, revealing that inheritances involve myriad problems beyond the environmental and physical. To Ghosn and Jazairy, the statue gifted to the USA from France is about patina, poverty, and pollution: "The ecology of the color line is more than skin deep." Pollution led to damage on the skin of the statue and the need for numerous restorations, but well beyond that, "disparate exposure to pollutants," the book reads in regards to today's reframing of socioeconomic inequalities, "may help explain racial discrepancies in lung functioning." In Design Earth's imagined future, the Statue of Liberty appears to be joined by a "Brown Lady Liberty," the symbol of "a long awaited but not yet actualized freedom that was articulated over a century and a half ago." One more book that joins with the other three to be — in my mind, at least — an illustration of how images are effective in describing the world and the way it changes over time is Stephen J. Eskilson's Digital Design: A History. Eskilson's book, unlike the other three, does not use newly created images to create a narrative, but the story that he is telling is about images: design in its various aspects, from graphic and industrial design to architecture and data visualization. It's a history that needs to be told, especially since people now born into the digital world don't realize how developments in design from the 20th and even earlier centuries shaped our digital present — and likewise will shape our digital futures. Architecture is the subject of two chapters: "Digital Architecture I: Origins" and "Digital Architecture II: Parametrics and 3D Printing." (The latest buzz in architecture — and just about every realm, really — AI, is treated in its own chapter.) In the first architecture chapter, Eskilson moves from the Sydney Opera House, in which "[Ove] Arup pioneered the use of computational analysis," to Peter Cook and Colin Fournier's Kunsthaus Graz via Frank Gehry in Bilbao, Deleuze and Guattari's A Thousand Plateaus, and Greg Lynn. The second chapter jumps ahead to Zaha Hadid and Patrik Schumacher, especially the latter's wholehearted, sometimes controversial embrace of parametricism, while also looking at how digital software bridges construction via 3D printing and robotics. This is design history, remember, so there is nothing novel in what Eskilson discusses, but he succinctly traces some of the most important developments to describe our current condition. (Unfortunately, one typo — and I hope it's just that — distracted me while reading the first architecture chapter: Eskilson calls AD, the "magazine that associated digital architecture with aspects of structuralist theory," Architectural Digest instead of Architectural Design! I can't think of more polar opposites than these two publications sharing the first term and abbreviation but having very little else in common.) Spread from Digital Design: A History by Stephen Eskilson, published by Princeton University Press, October 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Even with two architecture chapters among its twelve chapters, most interesting to me is the chapter devoted to data visualization, a subject that is also strongly aligned with Neurath and Deutinger. Like other chapters in the book, Eskilson briskly covers decades and centuries in just around twenty pages, moving from 18th-century charts and graphs to digital data on websites, across buildings, and on the walls of galleries. Some of what makes this chapter so appealing is the abundance of examples unknown to me, such as Nam June Paik's Electronic Superhighway (1995), which is pictured above, has a permanent home at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and now I feel I must go see. (That said, I wish the book had a list of books for further reading, and I am surprised that a book published by a university press has no footnotes at all.) More recent examples are really interesting, including Oliver O'Brien's Tube Tongues (2014), an interactive map that shows the prevalence of non-English speaking in different London neighborhoods. Rising to the fore re: data viz., though, is the importance of design/the designer in making data in digital environments visible and understandable, especially when the output is on a website and via an API, for instance, rather than in a book and done by an illustrator. The books above may be old-fashioned, just by the fact they are books rather than digital environments, but they offer plenty to consider in regards to thinking about and visualizing the world around us — now and in the future.

Over at World-Architects I reviewed As Found: Experiments in Preservation (Flanders Architecture Institute, 2023) edited by Sofie De Caigny, Hülya Ertas and Bie Plevoets, the companion to the exhibition of the same name at the Flanders Architecture Institute. Read my review here.

The recent receipt of two review books got me thinking about the past and the future of architecture books. The first one is This is Architecture: Writing on Buildings, a collection of excerpted texts about buildings, spanning from the mid-1800s to the 2010s. This is Architecture: Writing on Buildings edited by Stephen Bayley and Robert Bargery, published by Unicorn Publishing Group, October 2022 (Amazon / Bookshop) Edited by Stephen Bayley and Robert Bargery, respectively chair and executive director of the UK's Royal Fine Art Commission Trust, This Is Architecture is billed as "different" from the typical "writing on building by architects [that] is limited to exculpatory manifestos or technical sermonizing to a captive congregation of converts." They describe the nearly 100 excerpted texts as "exceptional examples of writing on buildings by writers which merit inclusion on the quality of the writing alone" (emphasis in original). So readers find Lewis Mumford, Ada Louise Huxtable, Ian Nairn, Martin Pawley, and others who wrote (well) about architecture for a living, but also Virginia Woolf, Umberto Eco, Jean Baudrillard, Blaise Cendrars, and others far removed from the field of architecture. The aims of the "non-partisan" and "non-didactic" selection are to "enhance popular appreciation of architecture and to celebrate those who are architecture's eloquent champions." Presented in a "running order [that] is essentially random," each writing is accompanied by a biography of the author in a narrow column; in a few cases the excerpt is so short the bio runs longer on the page, as in the four lines from Louis Kahn's Conversations with Students from 1969. As in any book that is basically a survey, a collection of things united by a theme, it's easiest as a reviewer to focus on organization, presentation, and selection. In order, I find the "essentially random" organization interesting at times (Kahn's text opposite Rem Koolhaas's Delirious New York, for instance) but for the most part insignificant, since many entries span multiple pages, each one serves as a self-contained statement, and such a book can be read in many ways beyond the usual front to back. The presentation is very good, from the glossy papers with occasional images to the inclusion of a ribbon bookmark and the list of sources in the back matter. The selection is fittingly UK-centric, with numerous English critics alongside Nairn and Pawley, for instance, and far too many writings about London and buildings in London. But where are Michael Sorkin and Herbert Muschamp, two US critics who I read for "the thrill of their prose" and "the stimulation to be had from their insights," qualities the editors find lacking in architectural criticism? Unfortunately, they are missing: a shame, given that Muschamp's nearly iconic critique of Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Bilbao is far more interesting than Jonathan Glancey's piece excerpted here. Judging the book based on what it includes, rather than what it omits, and doing so in the context of me thinking about the past and future of architecture books, This Is Architecture says a few main things to me: writings on buildings are not the sole purview of architects and architecture critics, since architecture is "the most important art because [it is] the one that cannot be ignored," as the editors assert; architecture is more than aesthetics and style, as evidenced by the texts that focus on other aspects of the built environment; and the most influential writings on architecture have not been exclusively in books, given the numerous texts excerpted from magazines and journals, some of which were later collected in book form (think Martin Filler's NYRB essays and his Makers of Modern Architecture series). These three points are hardly groundbreaking — they're obvious, really — but it's good to be reminded now and again about such things. While the point of This Is Architecture is to take pleasure in things written in the past, it inadvertently says some things about the future by focusing on a diversity of voices, approaches to writing about architecture, and media. Which brings us to the second book, Future Book(s), in which editors Pia Pol and Astrid Vorstermans asked journalists, artists, architects, and others to speculate on the future of the book, specifically "books on art, design and architecture, and cultural-critical publications." Future Book(s): Sharing Ideas on Books and (Art) Publishing edited by Pia Pol and Astrid Vorstermans, published by Valiz, June 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) The occasion of the recently published book is the twentieth anniversary of Valiz, the Amsterdam publisher started by Vorstermans in June 2003 (Pol joined in 2008). The last twenty pages of Future Book(s) shows the covers of the many books put out by Valiz over those twenty years, some in series (Antennae, Vis–à–Vis), many in Dutch and almost as many in English, and all on art, design and architecture, and culture, as expected. I have not read any Valiz books before Future Book(s) (one of their books, Binational Urbanism: On the Road to Paradise, was featured on this blog, but reviewed by an outside contributor), but it's clear the publisher focuses on the margins, presenting work by artists, practitioners, and academics that explore new territory in their fields. The design of Future Book(s) accentuates their position; in many ways the book is the antithesis of This Is Architecture, from the voices included in its pages to the materiality and layout of the same: the glossy This Is Architecture has a staid, consistent format from piece to piece, while the various chapters of Future Book(s) were laid out by different graphic designers, limited only by the monochrome palette of the lightweight matte paper. If This Is Architecture's random order makes flipping through the book one of surprising adjacencies, Future Book(s) is the same times ten. Each thematic chapter may be united by a single graphic designer, but each contribution is treated singularly, meaning they are visually unique but often wholly unexpected takes on the subject at hand. A fairly academic text with footnotes but sans illustrations may be followed by a two-page spread that is entirely illustrated content, followed by six pages of artworks, followed by a personal anecdote, and so on. The themes that structure the book (Personal Threads, Histories Unfolding, Digital Realms, Shaping Future Form, etc.) are vague enough that contributions could fit in just about any of them; in fact, the editors admit the dozen themes were came later, meaning the contributors were not beholden to any themes in speculating on future books. Still, the editors give some hints in their introduction: "By definition, books are made for the future. They solidify knowledge while at the same time generating new ideas. They make sure that the now finds a place where it is accessible to the future." While the comments of Vorstermans and Pol make it seem that threats to the future of the book are hyperbolic, there is no shortage of contributors imagining distant futures where books take on forms different than the bound books we are familiar with. Books 200 years in the future, as seen in Elisabeth Klement and Pieter Verbeke's contribution, look like books, but they are made underwater, celebrated at the New York Art Book Fair Under Water 2223, and read by dogs, who have evolved considerably in the ensuing two centuries. In Tricia Treacy's piece, "What If?," shortages of paper are addressed through algorithms that "design and print several different texts of interest, overlapping on individual sheets of paper throughout a custom book..." More than one contribution examines how AI will be involved in the making of books, but nobody denies that ChatGPT and other will be involved to some degree. Uniting the texts, as I mentioned, are the nearly dozen designers, whose treatment of the contributions illustrates the importance of graphic design and the inadequate nature of web pages and other digital media by comparison. My reading through of This is Architecture and Future Book(s) coincided with me visiting The Book in the Age of ... exhibition at Harvard GSD's Loeb Library, which I reviewed for World-Architects a couple of weeks ago. Curated by Rem Koolhaas, Irma Boom, and Phillip Denny, among other elements the exhibition had (it ended yesterday after six weeks) a large three-part "book" on a table near the entrance to the library. Across the three parts, it moved from books in the age of "the hand" to the age of "press" to the age of "machine." One page in the last included this statement relevant to the blog post you're reading: "The future book is local. It is made from locally produced materials, printed nearby, and delivered to homegrown readership. Hyper-local publishing will lead to a renaissance of book innovation." Positioned beneath an image of the cover of Elements of Architecture, the massive book by Rem Koolhaas and Irma Boom that came out of Koolhaas's 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, but not attributed to anyone, the statement (image above) comes across to me as Boom's, given how she has spoken about the appeal of books from the 1500s, the 1600s, and the 1960s: "periods [that] demonstrate freedom and creativity in the use of materials, typography, sizes of the books, and structure of the texts" (source). An example from the 1960s is Art of the Sixties, published by the Wallraf-Richartz Museum with plastic covers, a plexiglass spine, metal screws, color photos pasted on brown paper, and portraits of the artists on transparent foils (take a look). The 1500s and 1600s follow the invention of the Gutenberg press, while the sixties came after the war and coincided with great social change. Similarly, the digital software and other tools that led to e-ink, ebooks, and other potential book-busting technologies will most likely herald this "renaissance of book innovation." The statement from the exhibition also indicates that bookmaking will have to respond to climate change, dwindling resources, and other things that will (continue to) impact our globalized world. Books tend to be produced in one place (unknown for This Is Architecture, Netherlands for Future Book(s)) and then are shipped around the world from there; "hyper-local publishing" would reduce the need for books to be loaded on container ships and sent halfway around the world, using digital technologies and local printers to create variations on a book based on papers, inks, bindings, etc. It would also lead to more variations on subjects, as seen in these two books, considering the UK-centric nature of This Is Architecture and the numerous Dutch voices in Future Book(s). Actually, the UK- and NL-focus of these two books are what made me think of the statement from The Book in the Age of ... exhibition. If the future book is hyper-local, not just national or local, dramatic changes in production and distribution should lead to changes in content and design. Who knows, maybe the 2030s will be as exciting as the 1500s, 1600s, and 1960s?

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, the English architect who was born in 1869 and died in 1944, that is. Although a famous name, Lutyens was not an architect I had much familiarity with before I received a review copy of the first volume of The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens. Flipping through it prompted me to do a little digging on Lutyens in other publications. Racking my brain, it seems my classmates and I learned very little about him in architecture school a few decades ago. As a traditionalist with buildings in Arts and Crafts, Edwardian, and neoclassical garb, Lutyens was far removed from the concerns of postmodernism, deconstructivism, and any other –isms in vogue a half-century after his death. If we had heard his name, it was most likely in regards to what's referred to as Lutyens’ Delhi in New Delhi, the British colonial capital in India that he laid out and designed buildings for between 1912 and 1931. The Beaux-Arts plan culminated in the Viceroy's House (now Rashtrapati Bhavan), the grandiose domed presidential residence, inaugurated in 1931, that is arguably his greatest building. Yet, when I dig into my library to find some mention of Lutyens, the few titles I can find emphasize his country houses rather than his work in India. The trusty Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture (2004), for instance, devotes one short paragraph to New Delhi, it coming after a handful of paragraphs listing his many notable country houses. In her entry on Lutyens, Hilary J. Grainger calls him "one of the most noteworthy English architects of his generation," one who was "above all, a domestic architect." In another instance, the first US edition of Nikolaus Pevsner's A Dictionary of Architecture (1976) praises the "genuine monumentality" of the Viceroy's House but goes further in describing his early Arts and Crafts houses as "excellent" and his later Edwardian houses as "really spectacular." Although Lutyens is nowhere to be found in Pevsner's An Outline of European Architecture (1943) or in his influential genealogical history of modernism, Pioneers of Modern Design (1949; originally published as Pioneers of the Modern Movement in 1936), Pevsner did write a lengthy reassessment of Lutyens for Architectural Review in 1951. The occasion was the then-recent publication of the three-volume The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens by A.S.G. Butler and The Life of Sir Edwin Lutyens by Christopher Hussey. Pevsner admits he did not find Lutyens as important in the development of European architecture as C.F.A. Voysey and Charles Renee Mackintosh, two contemporaries both in Pioneers, but given that Lutyens built more than them and his "success was so much bigger and maintained over so much longer a period," Pevsner found the large three-volume monograph and 600-page biography sufficiently warranted. What stands out to me are how Pevsner praises Lutyens' "immense care over details," which is paralleled by the many exquisite detail drawings in the three volumes by Butler, and "the fun he had with space," a bit of a surprise given the traditional nature of the plans he developed. Pevsner's statement that "Lutyens’ handling of space has not in the past been sufficiently appreciated," says to me why this noteworthy English architect failed to impact the architects who overlapped with him chronologically but went down different avenues in the 20th century: with modernism's focus on space, especially open and flowing space, Lutyens offered little overt inspiration. Similar sentiments to Pevsner's are explored in Architectural Monographs No. 6, published by Andreas Papadakis in 1979. The foreword to the monograph edited by David Dunster and featuring a lengthy essay by Peter Inskip starts: "This issue of Architectural Monographs is something of a departure" from previous issues, among them Michael Graves and Alvar Aalto, because Lutyens "has never been canonized by architectural historians as a predecessor of the Modern Movement." It continues: "His vast output of over 300 buildings and projects shows a continuing fascination with traditional construction techniques and borrowing from the past," as evident in "the scale and detailing of the functionally distinct rooms." No new technologies and no open plans — no wonder Lutyens has remained influential with classically trained architects but not with modernists (not that there are just the two camps, of course). While Inskip looks at Lutyens' houses from a "modernist point of view," he was not the first to do so. A decade earlier, in the pages of Perspecta 12: The Yale Architectural Journal, architect Allan Greenberg explored architectural similarities between Lutyens and Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier. Greenberg's 1969 essay, "Lutyens' Architecture Restudied," was later put into book form, in 2007, as Lutyens and the Modern Movement. In the earlier essay he presents numerous floor plans of Lutyens' houses from the first decade of the 1900s and points out a few characteristics common to them: a symmetrical disposition of rooms; a solid mass (or void) at the crossing of the main axes; an independent circulation pattern overlaid on the first two; and an intricate plan hidden by the formal, symmetrical massing and elevations. It is in the plan where he links Lutyens and Wright, finding the same four characteristics in Wright's Ward Willits House from 1901. The departure in the two architects' contemporaneous plans are rooted in space: "Wright's space is continuous and flowing," Greenberg writes, while "Lutyens seldom planned continuous spaces [...] but he was aware of the potential." Greenberg finds some of the same with Corbusier's houses of the 1920s, though he also discusses the similarities between New Delhi and Chandigarh at length. Which brings me to the impetus for this post: The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens, Volume 1: Country Houses by A.S.G. Butler with George Stewart and Christopher Hussey, published by ACC Art Books, April 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) As mentioned above, The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens — aka the Lutyens Memorial Series, given that it was published six years after his death — was first published in 1950 in three volumes, the first on "Country Houses"; the second on "Gardens, Delhi, and Washington"; and the third on "Public Buildings, Etc." The originals (now fetching thousands of dollars) were published by Country Life, the British magazine founded by Edward Hudson in 1897. (Country Life also published the Lutyens biography by Christopher Hussey mentioned above.) Not only did Hudson commission Lutyens for several houses, most notably Deanery Gardens (1901) and Lindisfarne Castle (1903), and the magazine's offices, he regularly published the architect's buildings in his magazine. The photos, drawings, and text from the magazine are what became the three-part Memorial. The large-format books (12x16"!) were reprinted by the Antique Collectors Club at least twice that I gather, in 1984 and 2002, each in limited print runs. The new reprints are being published by ACC Art Books, the successor to the Antique Collectors Club, which was bought by The Images Publishing Group in 2016. The first volume, featured here, was published in spring of this year, the second volume came just last month, and the third volume is forthcoming. Around the time of the 2002 reprint, Gavin Stamp wrote an extensive introduction for Edwin Lutyens: Country Houses (From the Archives of Country Life), published by Aurum Press and The Monacelli Press. Although Stamp was, from the best of my limited knowledge of him, an architectural historian more interested in Greek, Victorian, and other architectures predating modernism, he also felt the need to align Lutyens with modern architecture, specifically Wright. His introduction quotes a review of the Memorial series by Wright himself, from a 1951 issue of Building magazine: "[I] voice admiration of the love, loyalty, and art with which this cultured architect, in love with Architecture, shaped his buildings. To him the English chimney, the Gable, the Gatepost monumentalized in good brickwork and cut-stone were motifs to be dramatized with great skill. He was able to idealize them with a success unequaled." So, basically, in the 20th century, the relevance of Lutyens relied on his architecture being influential on younger generations of architects who were trained in modernism or, in later decades, were dabbling in postmodernism. Even A.S.G. Butler and his collaborators wrote in Country Houses that, while "Sir Edwin was not a notable exponent of the slick modern mode," they did not believe "the architecture of Lutyens was outside the main stream [sic] of modern work." Does the same striving to align Lutyens with modern architecture apply today, in the third decade of the 21st century, more than 150 years after the birth of Lutyens and more than 75 years after his death? My opinion, and it is just that, is no, the archive of Lutyens' architecture can stand on its own without the need for it to be aligned with more forward-thinking contemporaries. If anything, the opposite of previous attempts is most valid today: his work is an inspiration for architects more inclined to vernacular, classical, and other traditional styles of architecture. While I'm not a proponent of 21st-century classicism, I'm all for a plurality of architectural expressions — if they're done intelligently, capably, and, dare I say, beautifully. And with the superrich getting superricher, our current age isn't too far off from the late 1800s, when Lutyens started designing country houses for people of means. Put another way, large houses on par with those in Country Houses are being made today, unfortunately as lousy McMansions rather than tasteful and complex compositions rooted in architects like Lutyens. I'm generalizing, to be sure, but the audience for this book is both well-defined and likely to buy it. The series, it should be noted, is the winner of the inaugural ICAA Book of the Year from the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art. With all that said, is The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens, Volume 1: Country Houses, keeping in mind that it is a reprint of a nearly 75-year-old book, good? The quality of the reprint is nearly perfect, with a good selection of papers for the three sequential parts of the book: the texts, the drawings, and the black-and-white photographs. Text and drawings are on matte heavyweight pages, while the photos are on glossy paper. The inks make everything read well; in particular, the drawing reproductions are exquisite. The book is big and apparently well-built, but a tear at the hinge of the paste-down endpaper and free endpaper indicates it might not be strong enough. Hence, not quite perfect. My main frustrations are with the format of the book, which obviously goes back to the original. The text is page after page of wide justified columns — four to a spread, roughly fifty pages without a single illustration; it's a bit of a slog. Houses in the roughly chronological text are keyed to the drawings, which are numbered I to CX and logically follow the text. I often appreciate properly keyed texts, like here, but without any inline images this format requires a lot of flipping back-and-forth in a very big book. And the photos that come third and last in the book? They are numbered, 1 to 271, but they not keyed to the texts or the drawings. What is the result of this three-part structure? Unless you follow the text closely, dutifully flipping to the drawings and searching for the related photographs, forming a mental image of each house (and there are many) based on description, drawing, and photographs is difficult. The Papadakis and Monacelli books mentioned above use project structures more common in architectural monographs, with text descriptions alongside photographs and drawings; these make knowing Castle Drogo, Grey Walls, The Salutation, Tigbourne, and other houses by name that much easier. Familiarity in The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens comes with a bit more effort, but it's an effort architects interested in Lutyens will find rewarding. Spread from The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens, Volume 1: Country Houses Spread from The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens, Volume 1: Country Houses Spread from The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens, Volume 1: Country Houses

Blue Dream is a house designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro for Julia "Julie" Reyes Taubman and her husband Robert "Bobby" Taubman. The house, located in East Hampton, on the South Fork of Long Island, was completed in 2017, nearly 30 years after the architects were commissioned to design their first house on Long Island, the Slow House. A book devoted to Blue Dream, written by Paul Goldberger, was released last month by DelMonico Books. Blue Dream and the Legacy of Modernism in the Hamptons: A House by Diller Scofidio + Renfro by Paul Goldberger, photography by Iwan Baan, published by DelMonico Books, September 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Like other architects educated in the United States in the early 1990s, the architecture of Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio was an inspiration to me. Diller + Scofidio had built very little then, but their beautiful drawings and means of presenting them exhibited a clear desire to build. The only constructing they did then was temporary, almost exclusively in theaters and galleries. Even without a building to their name, their first monograph, Flesh: Architectural Probes, was published in 1994 (the butt cheeks on the front and back covers and butt-crack binding set it apart from every other architecture book). A standout project, coming near at the end of the monograph, is the Slow House, which had already brought D+R attention when it won a P/A Award and graced the cover of Progressive Architecture's January 1991 issue (PDF link). Model of Slow House from DS+R website. The Slow House arcs and expands in plan from a single front door to a two-story picture window facing the water (locals referred to it as a banana). Of relevance here is the house's site in North Haven, Long Island, and the view through the picture window of Long Island Sound. The view's importance is accentuated by a second chimney, opposite a functioning chimney, that would have held a video camera framing the water view for the owners to look at while in the house or back in Manhattan. Page 229 in Flesh shows a photograph of the Slow House taking shape, the formwork for its foundation walls and columns ready to be filled with concrete. Alas, that photo captured the furthest extent of construction: the house was a victim of insufficient assets and the early 90s recession, never to be completed. L: Slow House drawing in the collection of MoMA. R: Slow House under construction in 1991. I never knew exactly why the Slow House wasn't completed, but Paul Goldberger reveals some of the story in Blue Dream, writing that "the house was to be funded by the sale of two Cy Twombly drawings." The collapse of the art market kept that from happening, but the importance of Slow House can be found in the Museum of Modern Art's acquisition of the project's drawings and models for its permanent collection. The most iconic piece is a floor plan and series of building sections drawn on a transparent sheet over wood with what appears to be a schmear of joint compound. Moving from the view in the rearview mirror to the view through the picture window, the sections radiate from the floor plan, in a sequence that is logical yet confounding, given how the sections overlap as they increase in height. Most remarkable is the way the drawing implements remain part of the presentation, and how the compass armature is a custom creation, what I see as a clear extension of Diller's education and Scofidio's teaching at Cooper Union. Needless to say, I was chuffed to see the drawing in person back in 2013, when Pedro Gadanho pulled it out of the MoMA archives for Cut 'n' Paste: From Architectural Assemblage to Collage City. Goldberger mentions Slow House in a chapter of Blue Dream that finds Julie and Bobby considering Diller Scofidio + Renfro for their East Hampton house. Charles Renfro, who joined Diller + Scofidio in 1997 and became a name partner in 2004, recounts to Goldberger their initial meeting with Julie at their office, in 2010, when they showed her Slow House "and our small residential oeuvre of mostly unbuilt houses." While hearing "unbuilt" would push most clients to look for another architect, Julie was not a typical client. A few years before the meeting, the Taubmans held an invited design competition, with Thomas Phifer standing out above Shigeru Ban, whose design was "remarkable" but impractical and "more suited to a house in the tropics," and Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, whose design was "more restrained and perhaps less daring than what [Julie] wanted." Phifer sensed that Julie wanted something more sculptural than his first scheme, with three linear pavilions connected by glass-enclosed walkways, so over time it morphed into striking sail-like forms appropriate to its site on the dunes facing the Atlantic. But designing and building a house, architecturally daring or not, is as much about personal relationships as it is about architectural design. Phifer and Julie Taubman "had not connected as closely as [Phifer] wanted his clients to connect," Goldberger explains, and "the immaculate quality of Phifer's architecture was never the right match for Julie's taste." Blue Dream as captured by Iwan Baan. Who was the right architect for Julie's tastes? It was Charles Renfro, who "seemed to connect easily with Julie Taubman in a way that Phifer had not," Goldberger writes. Another reason DS+R got the job was their ability to connect with the precedents Julie was drawn to, namely the houses of John Lautner, Kendrick Bangs Kellogg, and Jacques Couëlle, as well as Frederick Kiesler's iconic, site-less, unbuilt Endless House (also in MoMA's collection). The cave-like qualities of the houses designed by Couëlle and Kiesler appear to have inspired Renfro the most, as Julie selected the "Ravioli" scheme from the four initial concepts the studio generated after their meeting. The others were the "Mobius," the "Roof," and the "Dunes." Any of them would have led to statement house dramatically different from the Hamptons norm, but continuing on the path started by the Ravioli scheme led to the built Blue Dream, a sculptural house unlike another DS+R project, yet one that is hard to see coming from another contemporary architect. Spread from Blue Dream in "Where Modernism Flourished" chapter. By the time we read about the Taubmans selecting DS+R for the commission, we have absorbed much of the house through the numerous full-bleed color photographs by Iwan Baan that sit between early chapters about the Taubman's background and wishes, about the history of modernism on Long Island (this chapter echoes Goldberger's essay in Houses of the Hamptons from 1986), and about the aborted project with Phifer. The chapters that follow move forward in time, tracing the development of its formal design; documenting the efforts to engineer the design and turn it into an actual building; presenting the interior contributions that turned the house into a Gesamtkunstwerk; and revealing the personal issues that make the house as melancholy as it is exuberant. The book has a clear narrative sweep, one that is aided by the coffee table format, with its large paper size, large photos, and the easy integration of images with Goldberger's text. The format, I feel, is appropriate to the house and its circumstances. Even if you're not a fan of Blue Dream (I'm still more partial to the Slow House), it's hard not to get pulled along on the ride of its realization as recounted in these pages. The view from the picture window at Blue Dream, photographed by Iwan Baan.

(Covers of some of the books discussed in this post) If your first reaction to the title of this post is something along the lines of, "Wait, isn't critical regionalism just 40 years old?," then everything you think know about critical regionalism is partial, in both senses of the term: incomplete and biased. Yes, Kenneth Frampton's "Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance" was published in Hal Foster's The Anti-Aesthetic: Essays on Postmodern Culture in 1983, exactly 40 years ago, but the term "critical regionalism" was coined two years earlier by Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre in their article "The Grid and the Pathway: An Introduction to the Work of Dimitris and Susana Antonakakis" in Architecture in Greece. But as the term took hold in architectural circles that decade, and to a lesser but still lasting degree in the decades since, it has more often been associated with Frampton's essay, even though he acknowledged the earlier essay at the time and that acknowledgment brought Tzonis and Lefaivre a good deal of attention beyond their native Greece. Yet, if critical regionalism is some sort of –ism, then should it be defined by just one critic? Is it unfair, in other words, that Frampton's take should take precedence over Tzonis and Lefaivre's? First thing's first: what is critical regionalism? If we take a step back and look at the more general term "regionalism," the entry for it in the three-volume Encyclopedia of 20th-Century Architecture (2004, edited by R. Stephen Sennott) describes regionalism in architecture as "the desire to shape buildings according to the particular characteristics of a specific place." Further describing it as "the oldest and most pervasive of all building ideas," the entry omits mention of critical regionalism but includes Frampton's essay in its bibliography. Richard Weston, in his excellent introduction to architecture from 2011, 100 Ideas that Changed Architecture, while he doesn't include critical regionalism among the hundred, he describes it in the entry for regionalism like so: "Attempting to come to terms with the ethical dilemmas of practicing in a globalized world, [... Tzonis and Lefaivre] argued that while welcoming the benefits of interaction and exchange, designers should think critically about their impact and value the uniqueness of the local/regional culture, environment, and resources." Furthermore, they "hoped to avoid both the commercialization of 'folk' traditions and their political use — as in Hitler's promotion of volkisch culture — as a means of excluding others." Weston goes on to describe how Frampton took up the couple's approach but "argued for an emphasis on topography, climate, light, and the tactile rather than the visual [...] advocating tectonic rather than scenographic form as exemplary of the approach," as found in the work of Alvar Aalto and Jørn Utzon. In just a few sentences, Weston draws a basic distinction between the concepts of critical regionalism proffered by Tzonis, Lefaivre, and Frampton, namely that the social and political implications of regionalism nullified the concept for Tzonis and Lefaivre, thereby requiring a critical approach to regionalism, while Frampton saw critical regionalism as a valid response to "scenographic form," by which he means the postmodern architecture that was taking hold of the American architecture profession at the time. Although the architecture and ideas influencing Frampton's "Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance" date back to at least the mid-1960s, the direct impetus for his essay was the 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale, curated by Paolo Portoghesi with its famous "street," the Strada Novissima. Frampton was invited by Portoghesi, alongside fellow critics Charles Jencks, Christian Norberg-Schultz, and Vincent Scully, to contribute to the inaugural architecture biennale in Venice, but he stepped down, writing in a letter to Robert A. M. Stern (a page of it is shown in OASE #103: Critical Regionalism Revisited) that the exhibition "seems to represent the triumph of Post-Modernism" and that he had already "written a text which is categorically critical of this position." Frampton's letter to Stern was dated May 13, 1980, but the text he mentions he had already written was not "Towards a Critical Regionalism" as it would be found in The Anti-Aesthetic. Most likely it was "The Need for Roots: Venice 1980," which was published in the winter 1981 issue of GA Document. (I have not seen that essay so can't comment on it.) Between the Biennale in 1980 and the release of Foster's collection of postmodern essays, Frampton worked out his concept of critical regionalism, or at least the seeds of the concept can be seen in those years. Modern Architecture and the Critical Present, published by AD in 1982, was basically devoted to his 1980 book Modern Architecture: A Critical History (the fifth edition arrived in 2020), so alongside its other contents it included "Place, Production and Architecture: Towards a Critical Theory of Building," an excerpt of the book's last chapter. It also included "The Isms of Contemporary Architecture," revised to add "Regionalism" as one of the –isms. Although Frampton mentions the thesis of a "hybrid 'world culture'" advanced by philosopher Paul Ricoeur, whose words preface his Anti-Aesthetic essay, and he discusses the work of Aalto, Mario Botta, Alvaro Siza, Gino Valle, and other architects who fit the mold of critical regionalism, the –ism was not yet explicitly "critical." That same year, 1982, Frampton contributed "Proposals for a Critical Regionalism" to Perspecta 20: The Journal of the Yale School of Architecture. Similarities to the essay that will follow in 1983 are found in the Ricoeur quote prefacing the article and a mention of "The Grid and the Pathway." While the "Six Points" essay is abstract, with mention of just two or three architects, the Perspecta article is loaded with buildings and projects that illustrate Frampton's concept. Tadao Ando, J. A. Coderch, Ricardo Bofill, Raimund Abraham, Botta, Valle, and others serve as examples of "recent regional 'schools' whose aim has been to represent and serve, in a critical sense, the limited constituencies in which they are grounded." The essay concludes with mention of "The Grid and the Pathway," but Frampton does not give credit to the authors for coining "critical regionalism," instead using their subjects, Dimitris and Susana Antonakakis, as exemplars of the regional "school" in Greece. Curiously, even though the Perspecta editors give full credit to Tzonis and Lefaivre in the citation to their text, Frampton only mentions Tzonis, referring to "The Grid and the Pathway" as "his article"; this is indicative of the sexism still entrenched at the time but also a lack of understanding of Tzonis and Lefaivre's concept for critical regionalism beyond their 1981 essay. The information described above can be cobbled together from various sources, as cited, as well as from the recently published Kenneth Frampton: Conversations with Daniel Talesnik, in which Frampton is forthcoming about the origins of "Towards a Critical Regionalism" and the debt it owed to Tzonis and Lefaivre. (His recital of the facts to Talesnik makes it seem that it is a story he has told numerous times in the decades since his essay.) But to gain a considerably deeper understanding of the overlapping theories of critical regionalism and their origins, one recently published book is extremely valuable and highly recommended: Resisting Postmodern Architecture: Critical Regionalism before Globalisation by Stylianos Giamarelos, published by UCL Press, 2022 (Amazon / Bookshop) There are too many revelations in Giamarelos's history/historiography of critical regionalism, but only enough space here to mention three. First is the role of Robert A. M. Stern in the 1980 Venice Architecture Biennale, The Presence of the Past. Giamarelos describes Stern as "the show's overlooked protagonist [...] historically overshadowed by Portoghesi." Frampton, remember, was invited to participate, but by the time he and the other critics went to Venice, in November 1979, the direction of the exhibition was already determined during a September 1979 meeting where Stern presented his detailed proposal that "practically formed the backbone of the exhibition," per Giamarelos. No wonder most of the architects contributing to the Strada Novissima were from North America rather than Europe or Asia, and no wonder Frampton addressed his resignation letter to Stern. A second revelation is the contribution of Anthony Alofsin, who was a student of Tzonis's in the 1970s, when he was teaching at Ivy League schools in the US. Alofsin is known now for numerous books on Frank Lloyd Wright, but in the 1970s his work as a sculptor and architect in New Mexico "stimulated his interest in the historic processes that lay beneath" the area's historic buildings. He brought this interest in regionalism to Harvard GSD in 1978, where he took courses from Tzonis that "familiarized him with critical theory," per Giamarelos. Alofsin ended up joining Tzonis and Lefaivre on a paper, "The Question of Regionalism," for a conference in 1980 organized by Swiss sociologist Lucius Burckhardt. Alofsin's text submitted to Tzonis, "Constructive Regionalism," served as the basis for the paper, but Tzonis and Lefaivre modified Alofsin's conclusion, introducing the critical regionalism they would expand upon for the Architecture in Greece esssay. (Vincent B. Canizaro's excellent Architectural Regionalism: Collected Writings on Place, Identity, Modernity and Tradition includes Alofsin's original text.) So, while "The Question of Regionalism," when published in 1981, was the first appearance of critical regionalism in print, it was only in German and therefore not cited by Frampton, unlike the bilingual "The Grid and the Pathway." A third illuminating thread of information from the book involves Frampton's proposed 18-book series of "monographs on critical architecture practices of 'unsentimental regionality'" for Rizzoli, who would have published them over a period of two to four years. First proposed at the end of 1981, Frampton moved forward with two titles — on Tadao Ando and Atelier 66, the practice of Dimitris and Susana Antonakakis, published in 1984 and 85, respectively — before Rizzoli discontinued the series. (Such an ambitious, audacious proposal no doubt stemmed from Frampton serving as an acquisitions and editorial consultant at Rizzoli from 1979 to 1988.) Outside of Vittorio Gregotti, whom Frampton would have written about on his own, each book would have been edited by Frampton, included a short introduction by him, and featured a longer essay by an author familiar with their work; naturally, then, Tzonis and Lefaivre contributed to the book on Atelier 66. Giamarelos also discusses the book Frampton started to work about critical regionalism, given that his essay made such an impact in the 1980s that it warranted a book-length exposition. That never happened, but Frampton rolled some of his version of critical regionalism into Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture, an excellent and well-respected book but not one with the lasting impact of the 1983 essay. So, if Frampton did not write the book on critical regionalism, who did, assuming one exists? The first architecture book bearing the critical regionalism moniker was written by none other than Tzonis and Lefaivre. Critical Regionalism: Architecture and Identity in a Globalized World was published in 2003, the third in Prestel's "Architecture in Focus" series, which also included books on "Minimal Architecture" and "Light, Mobile and Floating Architecture." The authors used the book to provide a deeper history of regionalism, tracing it from Ancient Greece to ca. World War II in an essay by Tzonis, and delving into the ideas of Lewis Mumford in an essay by Lefaivre that looked at the three decades after the war. The other half of the book has twenty examples of critical regionalism, mainly in photos, making it as much a picture book as a text of history and theory. Given the impact of critical regionalism on architects — it is one of the few architectural concepts/theories with direct application to professional practice — I wanted to include something on it in Buildings in Print: 100 Influential and Inspiring Illustrated Architecture Books. Although Critical Regionalism is the book I chose, Giamarelos describes their later book, Architecture of Regionalism in the Age of Globalization: Peaks and Valleys in the Flat World (first published in 2011 and expanded in 2020) as the couple's definitive statement on critical regionalism, signaling its greater importance. While this review can only touch on a few points in Resisting Postmodern Architecture: Critical Regionalism Before Globalisation, Giamarelos's goals are two-fold: articulating the formulation of critical regionalism by Tzonis and Lefaivre, since it has long been overshadowed by Frampton's concept; and, in the book's second half, exploring the cross-cultural roots of critical regionalism in Greece, the home of Tzonis, Lefaivre, and their original subjects, Dimitris and Susana Antonakakis. Giamarelos wraps up the book by arguing for the continued relevance of critical regionalism today, shifting it from "an architectural theory of the 1980s into a manifesto for architectural historiography in the 21st century." If architectural historians embrace the seven points of Giamarelos's manifesto remains to be seen, but the value of the history the book tells is abundantly clear, given the lack of a history of critical regionalism before it.

Like many people with a lot of books, I keep track of my library with an app/website, tagging books with keywords to better filter and find them. The tags I use move from general terms like "architecture" (the most) and "fiction" (the least) to specific terms that reflect a high number of books by a particular author ("frampton," as in Kenneth) or maybe about a certain architect ("wright," Frank Lloyd). One of the oft-used tags on the specific end of the spectrum is "moma," which includes books published by the Museum of Modern Art, be it Robert Venturi's Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture or exhibition catalogs, as well as books actually about MoMA, like Terence Riley's The International Style: Exhibition 15 and The Museum of Modern Art. As of today, I have 34 books tagged "moma" in my library, spanning from The International Style in 1932 (the 1990s reprint, mind you, not the first edition) to Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism, the catalog to the exhibition of the same name that opened yesterday at MoMA. In between the books from 1932 and 2023 are catalogs for MoMA exhibitions I attended and wrote about; exhibitions I wish I would have seen in person; and exhibitions, many of them seminal, held well before my time. The value of exhibition catalogs is evident in the latter two: they enable people who did not see an exhibition to be exposed to what the curators put together, often with the added input of scholars on the subject. One could even go further and say the catalogs are more important than the exhibitions themselves, since they have longevity, serving as archives of the exhibitions well after they've been demounted and destroyed. While I don't fully agree with such a statement, since exhibitions benefit from being spatial experiences and often — and increasingly — feature films and other media that can't be replicated in books, the value of catalogs is undeniable. Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism edited by Carson Chan and Matthew Wagstaffe, published by the Museum of Modern Art, September 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) How does Emerging Ecologies compare to previous catalogs from MoMA exhibitions on architecture? Based on my exposure to them, I would group MoMA's architecture catalogs into two broad types: printed companions to the drawings, models, and other artifacts on display in the galleries; and scholarly essays on the exhibition's subject. Often these two strands are combined, with essays prefacing plates of the works on display. But if we go all the way back to MoMA's first architecture exhibition — Modern Architecture: International Exhibition, curated by Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcok in 1932 — we find these two types in two separate publications: a companion catalog (PDF link) and the more familiar, polemical book by Johnson and Hitchcock (sans Lewis Mumford's contribution on housing from the exhibition/catalog) that "defined 'the International Style'" at the time and in the decades to come. Emerging Ecologies, as edited by Carson Chan and Matthew Wagstaffe, falls into the "printed companion" camp. Visitors to Emerging Ecologies between now and its closing on January 24, 2023, will approach the third-floor architecture galleries in one of two ways. Stepping out of an elevator, they will be confronted by a timeline of relevant events and dates for the artifacts in the exhibition, while those arriving via escalators and the bridge next to the atrium will see the yellow wall pictured at the top of this post and then go either left or right into the exhibition's two galleries. The various exhibits are laid out thematically, but when I previewed the exhibition last week, I found the layout and presentation fairly laid back, conducive to a leisurely stroll through the numerous colorful projects comprising "the first expansive survey of the history of environmental thinking in architecture," spanning primarily the 1960s and 70s. The exhibition is also the first from MoMA's Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment, which was created in 2020 and helmed by Chan the following year. In lieu of a thematic organization following from the layout of the exhibition (e.g., "Prehistory of Environmental Architecture," "Enclosed Ecologies," "Life Forms," etc.) or one following the timeline visitors see by the elevators, the book is in alphabetical order by the names of the architects or other authors of the works in the exhibition (there is an expanded timeline in the back matter). While this results in putting Emilio Ambasz first among the more than thirty names, it more broadly puts an emphasis on the personalities behind environmental thinking, rather than the works themselves. Like other surveys, be they exhibitions or not, the structure allows comparisons to be made based on quantities: the number of pages given to each name helps signal their importance. So who is most important in Emerging Ecologies? No contest it's R. Buckminster Fuller, not only because he earns sixteen pages while most others have four or six, but because the "pathbreaking architect, writer, designer, inventor, and philosopher" (per the book) infiltrates other names in the book. Cambridge Seven Associates built one of Fuller's geodesic domes for Expo 67 and Murphy & Mackey built one at Missouri Botanical Garden; these are just the most direct permutations of Fuller elsewhere in the book. Architecture exhibitions at MoMA are, by virtue of their setting, geared to general audiences. As such, the catalogs are where the curators expend the effort in digging deeper, usually in more scholarly ways. That isn't the case with this "field guide," as Chan and Wagstaffe label it, but that doesn't mean architects and others with prior knowledge of environmentalism in the 1960s and 70s will not find something new, or new perspectives on the subject, in the book. Beyond names like Fuller, there are such groups as the Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation and Warren County Citizens Concerned about PCB that capture today's emphasis on equity and citizen engagement. It's not all hero worship, in other words. For me, a big fan of buildings merging with landscapes, I was pleased to learn about Malcolm Wells, who pivoted his practice from "conventional" to "earth-sheltered," sticking to his beliefs from the mid-1906s to his death in 2009. I was also surprised that I hadn't known about him earlier. Surely, I won't be alone in making such discoveries in Emerging Ecologies, a rich survey of a period with obvious relevance today.

Last week dose explored three "places in time": St. Louis in the early decades of the 20th century; Detroit between 1935 and 1985; and Chicago suburb Oak Park ca. 1906, when Frank Lloyd Wright completed Unity Temple. Those three US-centric books were split between two historical surveys and one case study. The same applies to the European/Asian books here, with a survey of brutalist architecture in Paris followed by a survey of Indonesian architecture trained in Germany around 1960 and a case study of a care center for people with mental disabilities in Belgium. Brutalist Paris: Post-War Brutalist Architecture in Paris and Environs by Nigel Green and Robin Wilson, published by Blue Crow Media, July 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Dipl.-Ing. Arsitek: German-trained Indonesian Architects from the 1960s edited by Moritz Henning and Eduard Kögel, published by DOM Publishers, July 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Living in Monnikenheide: Care, Inclusion and Architecture edited by Gideon Boie, published by Flanders Architecture Institute, April 2023 Before receiving Brutalist Paris from the folks at Blue Crow Media, I thought of the UK company simply as a maker of maps. I reviewed Concrete Map Chicago back in 2018 and since then have noticed them putting out maps of modern architecture, brutalist architecture, public transit — even trees. If the Chicago map is any indication, the others put out by Blue Crow Media excel at assembling a mix of quality buildings and presenting them in a way that allows people to orient themselves to the locations of the selected buildings in a particular city; that's the power of maps: orienting oneself physically, in place, and mentally, at a distance. So I was a bit surprised to find the maps on the inside front and back covers of Brutalist Paris to be, frankly, practically useless. Their scale is too small; the contrast between streets and blocks is too low; it's not clear how the four maps join up; the lists of buildings keyed to the maps do not extend to the book's pages. I could go on, but that's not necessary because this book is not about the maps. Rather it is about the words of Robin Wilson and the photographs of Nigel Green. The maps give some cursory, almost ghostly, geographic information, but they are not there to structure the book. Brutalist Paris features seven essays by Wilson and four geographical sections with Green's photos inserted between the essays. Although the duo collaborates as Photolanguage, words and images are distinct. "Whilst the photographic component provides an extensive, general survey of the production of the period as a whole," Wilson explains in the first essay, "the text necessarily develops a more selective interpretation of a smaller range of key works." Paris does not spring immediately to my mind as the city of brutalist architecture par excellence (that would be London or Boston), but Wilson's words and Green's images do a good job of arguing for the importance of Paris as a brutalist city. Jumping to the fore are, not the famous examples (Breuer's UNESCO, Niemeyer's Communist Party HQ, Corbu's Maisons Jaoul), but the complex, fractal-like constructions of Jean Renaudie and Nina Susch, Renée Gailhoustet, and others. Wilson describes "a properly oblique and combinatory architecture" and Green captures the light, scale, and in some cases decay of the complexes. The photos may be just a couple of years old, but the choice of presenting them as duotones helps transport readers to the sixties, seventies, and eighties, when parts of Paris really embraced creative concrete architecture. The next book covers roughly the same timeframe as Brutalist Paris — the few decades following the year 1960 — but in two locales thousands of miles and two continents apart: Indonesia and Germany. The two places don't immediately strike me as intertwined, but editors Moritz Henning and Eduardo Kögel discovered a link between them that is quite interesting: a dozen architecture students from Indonesia who studied at TU Berlin and other schools in West Germany in 1960/61. The editors found out about them while working with the curators of Occupying Modernism, the Indonesian contribution to Encounters with Southeast Asian Modernism, an ambitious, multifaceted program directed by Henning and Kögel with Sally Below and Christian Hiller. (Out of the same program came Contested Modernities: Postcolonial Architecture and the Construction of Identities in Southeast Asia, a publication I "briefed" last year.) Like other parts of Encounters, Dipl.–Ing. Arsitek focuses on cross-cultural cooperation between Southeast Asia and Western Europe, and it even comes across subtly in the book's title, words that are probably enigmatic to English speakers: Dipl.–Ing. Arsitek is the Indonesian equivalent of the German Diplom–Ingenieur Architektur. Dipl.–Ing. Arsitek is number 171 in DOM Publishers' longstanding "Basics" series as evidenced by the square format and orange, geometric cover (like this one). While the subject seems too niche to me to be a "basics" book, the structure and presentation of the book are very clear and well done, aiding in one's understanding of the subject and recognizing its importance. Following spreads of period photographs in West Berlin, Hannover, Aachen, and Jakarta, the book's contents are fitted into five parts: "Context," with a handful of essays give relevant background on Germany and Indonesia in the period of the book; "Diplomas," a presentation of ten of the students' final projects; in-depth "Biographies" of eight of the architects; "Positions," excerpts of a few texts by some of the architects; and contemporary "Photographs" of buildings in Indonesia the architects designed after returning there to practice. So, who are these architects that studied in Germany but took their knowledge back home to Indonesia? Soejoedi Wirjoatmodjo and Han Awal were known by the editors beforehand, but the rest (Herianto Sulindro, Jan Beng Oei, Mustafa Pamuntjak, Bianpoen, Suwondo Bismo Sutedjo, Yusuf Bilyarta Mangunwijaya) were primarily discovered in the archives of TU Berlin, which kept their drawings, model photographs, and even some of the models. I can't think of a better arguments for architecture schools — and the future architects attending them — to carefully document their thesis projects and maintain them in archives. The third place-in-time book, Living in Monnikenheide, heads to Zoersel, in Belgium, and jumps forward in time to near the present. The book's subject, Monnikenheide, is a residential care center for people with mental disabilities that was created around 1973 and has seen more than a dozen buildings added to its "campus" in the half-century since. I had never heard of the place — neither Monnikenheide nor Zoersel, the Flemish village now home to around 22,000 people — so reading some of the essays and perusing the case studies of the buildings were acts of discovery. Gideon Boie, the book's editor and instigator of the book project, describes Monnikenheide as "an unprecedented housing project" that "searched for the normalization of housing for people with mental disabilities" and, in wording that echoes recent trends in architectural culture, "a testing ground for care architecture." The book's subtitle, Care, Inclusion and Architecture, sets up the half-dozen essays that carry the titles "Living with Disability," "At Home in the Care Centre," and "Caring for the Landscape of Care," among others. The essays capably address the myriad issues around the place, from its niche typology to the politics of "inclusion" and the important role of the beautiful wooded landscape connecting the various buildings. The bulk of the book — 70 of its 160 pages — is devoted to the case studies of the buildings, primarily the ones built between 1997 and 2021; the early, "first-period" (of three periods, per Boie) buildings are just described briefly at the beginning of this long section. Architecturally, the buildings range from somewhat typical modern Belgian brick dwellings to low-slung glass-walled updates to older buildings, pitched-roof care homes clad in corrugated metal, and a three-story care home covered in blackened wood. While each building is pleasing in one way or another, Monnikenheide is not about any individual building: it is about the interaction of the buildings with each other and the landscapes between them and, in the case of the brick dwellings in the village, the logical extension of "inclusion" to a context more urban than pastoral. Full-bleed photographs between the different sections of the book do a decent job in capturing the character of the landscape and the village; I say "decent" because their silver duotones, akin to the cover, are more aesthetic than informative. But in concert with the essays, case studies, and the book's design, the photos contribute well to a beautiful document of a special place that architects interested in this facet of care will find valuable.

Like most human beings, I can be contradictory at times. One area where this manifests is architectural surveys: books that usually collect buildings of a certain typology, but also ones spanning a particular timeframe or through some other theme. I've written a few of them myself, so I don't inherently hate them. But I tend to pass on them when it comes to new books, which most likely boils down to the fact I'm not a practicing architect and therefore don't need to look at, say, a roundup of libraries when I'm designing one. Yet, when it comes to old surveys — as in my latest #archidosereads — I have a hard time saying no to them after spotting them in used bookstores. I think part of their appeal is the way they capture the character of a certain time, and often, with the occasional geographical focus of surveys, a particular place in time. Being seen decades after they were made, the best ones manage to transport me back to a certain place in time — something I find irresistible, even if subconsciously, before putting it down in words here. A book need not be old to do such a thing, so this week and next week I'm featuring books that manage to capture certain places at certain times. The six books aren't all surveys, but the majority of them do fall into that subcategory of architectural books. Following the three US-central books here, next week's installment will head to Europe and Asia. Detroit Modern: 1935–1985 by Peter Forguson, photography by Amy Claeys, published by Visual Profile Books, November 2022 (Amazon / Bookshop) Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple: A Good Time Place Reborn by Pat Cannon, photography by James Caulfield, published by Unity Temple Restoration Foundation, December 2022 (Amazon / Bookshop) A. A. Fischer's St. Louis Streetscapes by Nancy Moore Hamilton, published by Missouri Historical Society, June 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) In its geography and name, Detroit Modern sounds like a sequel to Michigan Modern: An Architectural Legacy, the 2018 book written by preservationist Brian D. Conway with photographs by James Haefner, also published by Visual Profile Books. But they are two different beasts, given that the earlier book was the product of the Michigan State Historic Preservation Office, which received a grant from the National Park Service for the project, while the nearly one-year-old Detroit Modern was written by Peter Forguson, a landscape designer and landscaping contractor who has worked on the grounds of some of the 70 houses collected in his book. Forguson's book, in turn, is a labor of love, one that draws attention to an overlooked geographical subset of mid-20th-century modern residential architecture, something Michigan Modern similarly did for a wider array of building typologies on a larger geographical scale. The 70 houses spanning 50 years were designed by names both familiar and lesser known: from Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Minoru Yamasaki, Edward Durell Stone, and Gunnar Birkets among the former, to Irving Tobocman, Don Paul Young, Louis DesRosiers, and Robert L. Ziegelman in the latter. While those last four names, among numerous others in the book, are new to me, they may be fairly well-known names in the larger Detroit area (the book is more Grosse Pointe Farms and Bloomfield Hills that Detroit proper, it should be noted), given that they designed roughly 20 of the book's 70 houses. This book will no doubt appeal to locals interested in mid-20th-century houses, but it should also appeal to people living outside the Detroit area who like the same. It should be pointed out that although photographer Amy Claeys is billed as photographer, many of the houses feature photographs by others, including Haefner and occasional period photographs by the great Balthazar Korab. As such, the book doesn't have the visual consistency of Michigan Modern (it's also lacking in floor plans, valuable elements in any good book on residential architecture), but the book's ability to capture the high-quality architecture created in a place over a fairly long time period makes it a valuable document. The buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright, unlike the houses of suburban Detroit, don't need to worry about being overlooked. There are more than 400 extant buildings designed by Wright, and although only a small number of them are considered masterpieces, that number is higher than most — save perhaps Le Corbusier. One way of quantifying greatness is via UNESCO, which put 17 Corbu sites on its 2016 list but only eight Wright buildings on a similar list a few years later. One of those eight is Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois, the Chicago suburb home to Wright at the time; ground broke on the building in 1906 and it was dedicated in 1909, the same year Wright left for Europe to work on the Wasmuth Portfolio. Given the importance of Unity Temple in Wright's oeuvre, it made sense that Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple: A Good Time Place, a celebration of the edifice, was released in 2009. Although restoration plans, led by T. Gunny Harboe, began around 2006, the "award-winning transformative restoration" would not be complete until 2017, twelve years after the building celebrated its centennial. With Unity Temple carefully restored and open to the public for about five years, the time was right to update the 2009 book by Patrick F. Cannon with photographer James Caulfield. I have not seen the earlier book, but it appears to be a square book of approximately nine inches, whereas the newly "reborn" book taking on a larger page size — nearly 10 x 12 inches. The slim, 120-page book has a brief history of the commission, its design and its construction, at the beginning, with a text by Harboe on the restoration, a selective bibliography (including Robert McCarter's 1997 case study from the "Architecture in Detail" series), and some texts from ca. 1909 in the back matter. In between are approximately 75 pages of photographs by Caulfield. Unfortunately, what should be the best part of the book — post-restoration photographs of Unity Temple's exterior and interior — is the most disappointing. Without knowing the details, Caulfield appears to have a preference for HDR photography, which makes the concrete building look like a computer model on the outside and too evenly illuminated on the inside. Only in the photos where Caulfield lets shadows be dark (the cover photo being one of those) can readers fully appreciate what Wright accomplished more than a century ago. I'm from suburban Chicago so am quite familiar with the numerous Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in Oak Park. But even though my wife hails from St. Louis, and therefore I've been there quite a few times and have seen firsthand various parts of the city and county, I was not previously familiar with Alexander August Fischer, the subject of this hefty book by his inadvertent biographer, Nancy Moore Hamilton. I say inadvertent because in retirement Hamilton, a longtime resident of Kalamazoo, Michigan, and former geographer and data analyst who had spent just one year of her life in St. Louis, found herself drawn to St. Louis and the streetscapes built by A. A. Fischer. As the photos on the cover of the book (some of many in the book shot by photographer Reed R. Ratcliffe in 2022) attest, the streetscapes of Fischer are a pleasing lot — or, at least the ones that have survived intact to 2022, a century or more after they were created, are. After all, when I think of the streetscapes of St. Louis, what comes to mind are vacant lots and vacant or condemned buildings being just as numerous on any block as extant and/or occupied buildings, such is the unfortunate present of the Midwestern city. Hamilton's large book published by the Missouri Historical Society is like two books in one: a biography of Fischer and a directory of the many buildings by Fischer's company. Following Hamilton's semi-autobiographical introduction, which goes into some detail on how she ended up spending close to two decades focused on the subject of Fischer and his buildings, is the biography: four chronological chapters on Fischer's life, from his German ancestors to his death (in 1936 at the age of 70) and legacy. The subject may only seem appealing to residents of St. Louis, but it is a lavishly illustrated biography, with numerous large photographs by Ratcliffe as well as archival photographs and other documents. At just 120 pages and accompanied by the illustrations, the biography is a fairly quick read. The bulk of the book follows: the 340-page "Directory of A. A. Fischer Builds" that methodically presents one building per page with data and illustrations. It doesn't matter if a building was razed, it is given a page and indicated as such. While extant buildings receive photos by Radcliffe, buildings long-gone have older photographs or just maps. And speaking of maps, the book is accompanied by a foldout poster that locates every building in the book — very helpful. The pros of the book are obvious, mainly that Hamilton fills a void in the scholarship of the built environment in St. Louis. A. A. Fischer was a prolific builder of residential buildings across the city in the first decades of the 20th century, though his impact was basically unheralded. In this sense, the book is more than welcome. My only con with the book is its hefty format. With a 10 x 12" paper size and nearly 2" thick, it is a large, unwieldy book. The pages are nearly full in the biography, but the photos in the directly are small and the margins across those same pages are large. With the layout of the directory apparently sized to entries with the most available information, most of the these pages are therefore empty space. I feel that either the photos should have been larger across the directory pages, or the whole book should have opted for a smaller page size. Of course, the latter would make the book a less impressive object — one that wouldn't have immediately conveyed the size of Fischer's contributions to St. Louis.

Of the numerous books publishers send me for review — be they requested by me, pitched by them, or arriving at my doorstep unsolicited — the highest percentage of them are monographs. This fact goes against the occasional sirens over the irrelevance and anachronistic nature of monographs in our digital age, with free access (for now) to voluminous amounts of information on buildings and architects readily available online. But books, in my opinion, are better archives than websites, offering architects a further level of control over the finished product compared to websites. It's not uncommon today to find architecture firms, no doubt driven by savvy marketing departments and PR firms, merging their brands across platforms, such that their monographs resemble their websites. But in five or ten years time, only the books will retain that expression, thereby making them important archives of architects' work and the means of presenting it. The four recently published monographs that follow provide four diverse expressions for architectural monographs today. Speculative Coolness: Architecture, Media, the Real, and the Virtual by Bryan Cantley, edited by Peter J. Baldwin, published by Routledge, April 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Merging City and Nature: 30 Commitments to Combat Climate Change by Batlleiroig, published by Actar Publishers, March 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) I'm not sure when I came across the architecture of Bryan Cantley, but for sure it was through his popular Instagram account — with nearly 30,000 followers now, at least it is popular by architecture standards. The images saturating his account transport me to my undergrad days in the early 1990s, when Neil Denari, Peter Pfau and Wes Jones, and other machine-minded architects were in vogue. Building; Machines, the twelfth issue of Pamphlet Architecture, was the bible of this strain of contemporary architecture, where structure and services were exposed, elements moved (or at least appeared to do so), and surfaces (almost always metallic) featured curves that echoed the form of concrete mixer trucks. I figured I wasn't alone in connecting those aesthetic dots, but I also assumed such a reading was overly superficial and potentially unfair toward whatever Cantley is doing through his designs and illustrations. Neil Spiller actually mentions Neil Denari and Wes Jones in his introductory essay to Speculative Coolness, but only briefly, lumping them with a wider swath of visionaries ("the Wright brothers, Barnes Wallace, Archigram, Norman Foster and Richard Rogers") and stating that "nowadays these preoccupations have their epicenter in SoCaL." Cantley is a professor at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) and has taught at SCI-Arc and Woodbury University, all SoCal schools, though his bio at the start of the book also points out that "his work is in the permanent collection at SFMOMA, as well as in the personal collection of Thom Mayne." If such "preoccupations" have their epicenter in and around Los Angeles now, they did so thirty years ago, too, when Denari, Jones, etc. taught and practiced there. This network with shared interests and formal similarities is accentuated by Wes Jones's essay in the pages of Speculative Coolness and Mayne's afterword in the same. A major thing separating the work of Denari and Jones with that of Cantley is the brief, or program, or whatever one wants to call it. Although much of the machine-inspired architecture of the nineties remained on paper or in model form, the projects were clearly proposals to be built, be it an unlikely monastery, a more reasonable house or apartment building, or most obviously an industrial structure (an example of the last, by Holt Hinshaw Jones, was built at UCLA in 1994). But it's difficult to grasp what Cantley's projects might function as if they are considered as models for actual buildings, or if they were designed in response to particular briefs, for instance in the way Brodsky and Utkin created designs for competitions but hardly ever had them approach being recognizable buildings. But do I care if Cantley's designs are speculative, self-generated programs rather than proposals for specific briefs from others? Do I care if I grasp his intentions, further obscured by the texts accompanying the images? Well, frankly, no. His projects, as rendered in sketches, drawings, models, perspectives, and collages, are just too beautiful. No wonder his website sells prints of his architectural imagery — and no wonder this monograph is saturated with the same, sure to woo architects and architecture students too young to remember the nineties. Half a world away from Southern California is the equally warm-and-dry region of Catalonia and the metropolis of Barcelona, where the multi-disciplinary firm Batlleiroig, founded by Enric Batlle and Joan Roig in 1981, is located. Forty years is a long time for an architecture firm, and across those years Batlleiroig has realized many projects spanning multiple disciplines: architecture, landscape, and planning. Those same disciplines structure the book, which features ten chapters with three projects per chapter — one planning project, one landscape, and one building per chapter. But let's not call them chapters: Batlle describes them as "ten concepts that we believe must be incorporated into our daily lives to combat the climate emergency and improve living conditions on the planet." 10 x 3 = 30, hence the thirty projects presented in Merging City and Nature are also "30 commitments to combat climate change." Over Batlleiroig's 40-plus years, the firm has grown to 140 people, making them a large firm in any of their three disciplines. Such size often means, at least in terms of architectural monographs, a business-like approach over an artistic one. This approach is definitely on display in Merging City and Nature, from the 10x3 structure and the descriptions of the projects/commitments (more bullet points than narratives) to the design and layout of the book, which resembles a textbook at times. Structure trumps reality, such that even though the firm has fifteen times more architects than planners and twice as many architects as landscape architects (as expressed in a bubble diagram at the back of the book), there are ten projects presented for each discipline. I would have loved to see more landscapes, which are the strongest parts of Batlleiroig's output (the Garraf Controlled Waste Landfill project is one of many highlights). As is, the book's rigid structure enables the firm to show how each of their disciplines addresses each of the ten concepts: commendable from a marketing perspective but dry and fatiguing for anyone looking for inspiration. So, if you're looking for a practical book loaded with well-designed examples of how architects and planners can address the climate emergency, Merging City and Nature is the book for you. Allied Works Architecture 2003- 2022 (TC 156) by Brad Cloepfil and Allied Works, published by TC Cuadernos, July 2022 (Amazon) Skylab: The Nature of Buildings by Skylab and Jeff Kovel, published by Thames & Hudson, June 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Often my excitement with learning about an architectural imprint is tempered by the fact I didn't know about it sooner. How did Valencia's TC Cuadernos put out dozens and dozens of monographic issues on contemporary architects in and beyond Spain before Allied Works sent me number 156 without me knowing about them? Am I that out of touch with European architectural publications? Or are there just too many to keep track of? The quality of the issue devoted to about twenty years of Allied Works' buildings is exemplary, indicating that the wider TC Cuadernos oeuvre melds the qualities of, say, El Croquis with Detail: offering color photographs on high-quality paper accompanied by detailed architectural drawings. (That said, I do wish the font for the project descriptions and essays was easier to read and that all the drawings were labeled, not just the wall sections — reading floor plans without labels is not very helpful.) Allied Works Architecture 2003- 2022 is the first expansive monograph on Allied Works since Occupation, the 2011 release covering the first sixteen years of the studio founded by Brad Cloepfil in Portland, Oregon, in 1994. I have not seen that earlier monograph, but the level of control I mentioned in the prologue to this post is naturally eschewed in the new book (essentially a periodical), in terms of page design and the couple of things I quibbled about above. Still, for the most part it is an Allied Works product, with the drawings, models, photographs, and text provided by the studio. Most refreshing is the span of the book, with fourteen completed buildings over nearly twenty years presented; it even includes Cloepfil's fairly well-known early essay/project "Sitings: Five Reflections on Architectural Domain" (PDF link), which functioned as a statement of intent when he founded his firm now nearly thirty years ago. Back in 2017, I attended the Vectorworks Design Summit in Baltimore, where Cloepfil gave the keynote and I was able to speak with him one-on-one after his presentation for an article at World-Architects. Before that talk, the projects I was most familiar with were the Maryhill Overlook (1998), the Wieden+Kennedy Headquarters (2000), the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (2003), and the Clyfford Still Museum (2011). These four projects are thoroughly orthogonal buildings, but the projects he presented in Baltimore, such as the National Music Centre of Canada (2016) and National Veterans Memorial and Museum (2018), are dramatic departures from the apparent norm: curved and spatially complex constructions that see Cloepfil and Allied Works apparently striving to create architectural icons. Not surprisingly, these last two projects are found at the beginning of TC 156, signaling their importance in this phase of Cloepfil's career and the output of his studio. The diversity of Allied Works' designs can be seen in the other cultural, residential, and commercial projects that fill the monograph, including the issue's closer: Providence Park Stadium Expansion (2019), a project that hardly screams "Allied Works" but exhibits the studio's attentiveness to form, material, and structure — especially as presented in the pages of TC 156. Also based in Portland, Skylab was founded by Jeff Koval in 2000 — more than twenty years ago, meaning it was about time for the firm to produce its first monograph. Although Skylab is best known for a series of projects with Nike — especially the Serena Williams Building (2021) and a temporary installation for the shoe brand at the 2012 United States Olympic Trials for Track & Field — the format of the book reflects the music business: The square book features foldout cover boards, a circular cutout and "parental advisory" sticker on the cover, multiple large double-fold gatefolds, and "sides" rather than chapters (Side-A, Side-B, etc.). There isn't even a table of contents, something that makes flipping through the book a voyage of discovery, much like dropping a needle on an album, putting on headphones, and listening deeply. From the photographs of the ten presented buildings under construction to photographs of them completed and everything in between, there is an almost rock n' roll aesthetic suffusing Skylab — a certain coolness that makes the LP format appropriate, if a bit quizzical at times. (If taken to its logical conclusion, wouldn't each "side" be the same length, instead of just 12 pages for Side A, for instance, versus 130 pages for Side B?) One can easily flip through The Nature of Buildings without any awareness of the LP metaphor and gain just as much understanding of Skylab's work: digesting the projects through images layered with green text and drawings; relishing the surprise each gatefold elicits; and reading the trio of conversations between Kovel and others, including clients. The latter are presented sideways on the page, a bit like liner notes, I assume, though they can also be seen just as readily as print elements meant to stand out from the projects that are right side up throughout the book. Like fellow Portlanders Allied Works, the portfolio of Skylab is formally and typologically diverse. Kovel and company's projects might not be as geographically widespread as Cloepfil's, with most of Skylab projects keeping Portland weird, but with commissions in Utah and Idaho they're gaining in popularity beyond their local following.

From the middle of March, when a family emergency put this blog on hiatus, until the middle of July, when a funeral mass was held for my dad, my life was split almost evenly between my home in New York City and my parent's home in Central Florida. The emergency in March was an incident putting my father in the hospital, and it was followed by numerous diagnoses, the need for him to go into assisted living, and eventually him going back into the hospital, where he died — peacefully, with me, my mother, and my sister at his bedside. Back in March I anticipated, even with his diagnoses, to be helping him in various capacities for a few years, not just a few months. They were difficult and taxing months that found me as relieved as saddened when he passed; the obvious pain and frustration he felt are gone, but memories of him remain and in some ways are stronger and more prevalent now than before. Over those three months, I managed to eke out a half-dozen posts on this blog: a roundup of some books published during the first part of this year; some thoughts on the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair, which I managed to attend between trips; a couple work-related posts, one on self-publishing by architecture firms and the other featuring books from my trip to the Venice Architecture Biennale; a "cheater" revisiting an old post as an excuse to explore ChatGPT; and my first installment of "Book Briefs" this calendar year. That sporadic frequency will continue for the rest of the summer, as I take time to do things with my wife and daughter and just generally decompress. But one thing the last three months did, in the context of this first blog post in six weeks, was push me toward a local focus. So here I present two books on the phenomenon of supertall residential towers, the most high-profile ones found along 57th Street, aka "Billionaires' Row." Billionaires’ Row: Tycoons, High Rollers, and the Epic Race To Build the World’s Most Exclusive Skyscrapers by Katherine Clarke, published by Currency, June 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Sky-High: A Critique of NYC's Supertall Towers from Top to Bottom by Eric P. Nash, photography by Bruce Katz, published by Princeton Architectural Press, June 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) In the prologue to Billionaires' Row, Wall Street Journal reporter Katherine Clarke describes the construction of 40 Wall Street, the Chrysler Building, and the Empire State Building nearly a full century ago as "a veritable race to the sky as wealthy titans of industry vied to build a succession of towers, each taller than the last." (It's a race recounted by Neal Bascomb in Higher: A Historic Race to the Sky and the Making of a City back in 2003.) The brief historical anecdote gives the new book an angle, one expressed clearly in its subtitle. Yet I have a hard time buying that the developers of One57 (Gary Barnett/Extell), 432 Park Avenue (Harry Macklowe and CIM Group), 111 West 57th Street (Michael Stern/JDS), 220 Central Park South (Steve Roth/Vornado), and Central Park Tower (also Barnett/Extell) were involved in any sort of race, figurative or otherwise. I've been paying attention to this handful of buildings along Billionaires' Row as long as Clarke has, though not nearly to the same in-depth and insider degree as her, I'll admit, yet I still struggle to find a correlation between these towers and the Manhattan office buildings from the 1920s and 30s. Yes, there is synergy in that each grouping was born from the circumstances of the time (architectural, technological, economic, etc.), but the only "race" I find now is not between the developers themselves, but between the developers and the market — the developers had to quickly sell their eight- and nine-digit aeries before the market for them dried up. If anything, the assemblage of these five towers sitting mainly along 57th Street, a wide street they exploited for unused FAR (floor-area ratio) and reshaped in the process, are less an example of competition and more so an instance of geographical synergy, like a row of car dealers along a busy thoroughfare. People looking for a behind-the-scenes look at the development of these Billionaires' Row towers will be very happy with Clarke's book. The focus is squarely on the four men listed above, the developers behind the five towers. Readers will learn a little bit about the architecture, interior design, engineering and other physical attributes of the towers, but they will learn a lot more about the legal and economic means of how each individual tower happened, as well as the personalities of those men and the people they had relationships with, both business and personal. I have given walking tours of 57th Street and other parts of the city where luxury residential towers are in abundance, and while I tend to focus on aspects of architecture, engineering, and zoning, I never forget to mention how much celebrities and other high-worth people pay for the units; slenderness ratio is exciting to some, but the most audible gasps come from patrons hearing about condos selling for tens or hundreds of millions of dollars. Similarly, Clarke knows her audience; she is attuned to the public's interest in money — plus how much people love to hear about bad things happening to rich people. So the book, a chronological account spanning just over a decade, has plenty of information on the money problems, leaks and creaks, lawsuits, and personal squabbles playing out over that time. If you like hearing that sort of thing, you'll love this book. Although I found Billionaires' Row at a used bookstore a few weeks ago, it was released just last month, exactly two weeks before Sky-High, by former New York Times writer Eric P. Nash. Was there a publishing race to get the first book about Manhattan's supertall towers for the super rich in print? I doubt it, especially since Nash's book has a wider scope than Clarke's, and his book is as much about the photographs by Bruce Katz as it is Nash's critical takes on a dozen 300-meter-plus towers, residential and otherwise, in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Also, the two books lag two years behind Andi Schmied's wonderful and artsy Private Views: A High-Rise Panorama of Manhattan (VI PER Gallery, 2021), arguably the first book on the phenomenon. Last year, well before it was published, an editor at Princeton Architecture Press sent me a preview of Sky-High for a potential blurb on the cover. It wasn't used (the book ended up without any blurbs), but this is what I wrote: "I don't know whether to join Eric P. Nash's fact-filled, opinion-laden chorus and decry some of the dozen supertalls that have reconfigured New York City’s skyline this century, or adore them all through Bruce Katz's loving wide-angle lens. All I know for sure is that this is a much-needed book." Now seeing the book in print, sent to me recently by the publisher, I stand by my statement and its implication that it's nigh impossible to reach any conclusions on the phenomenon of NYC skyscrapers this century when imbibing critical takes, mainly of the aesthetic variety, joined by architectural photography presenting the buildings in the best possible manner. No wonder the back-cover description calls it "part architectural guidebook and part critique." Nash's thirteen numbered chapters are grouped in three parts — "A Short History of the Tall Building in New York City," "Supertalls," and "Is Bigger Better?" — with Katz's documentation of the dozen towers inserted as project spreads with black backgrounds. The latter would seem to demarcate photo contributions from text, but more of Katz's photographs are provided alongside Nash's text, making the book more visual than textual. As such, the tug of war between verbal critique and visual praise is near constant. Unfortunately, in the last part of the book, when Nash states that "the real question skyscrapers of any height pose is [...] how they impact the quality of street life," very few photos of that condition, where a skyscraper meets the sidewalk, are provided — and we only see the good examples, including the pedestrian plaza next to One Vanderbilt. Perhaps this dearth is due to timing (the retail at the base of 111 West 57th is still empty, for instance, while its residential entrance on 58th Street sits behind scaffolding), but perhaps it's an inadvertent commentary on the fact these towers contribute very little to the quality of street life. Yes, 432 Park Avenue has a nice POPS between the tower and its detached retail component, but 220 Central Park South puts a private drop-off along 58th Street, opposite where Central Park Tower has an entrance to the pricey Nordstrom department store. Most of these Billionaires' Row towers put their loading docks along narrow 58th Street, but photos similar to those I captured recently would stand out like proverbial sore thumbs in this book. Instead, Nash references Edward Soja, Rebecca Solnit, Shoshna Zuboff, and Henri Lefebvre in a chapter in part three, when he quotes Elizabeth Diller, architect of the near-supertall at 15 Hudson Yards, as saying skyscrapers like 432 Park Avenue and 111 West 57th Street "damage the city fabric." If they do, visual evidence of it is hard to find in Sky-High.

The most recent numbered installment of "Book Briefs," the series of occasional posts featuring short first-hand descriptions of some of the numerous books that publishers send to me for consideration on this blog, was #48, back in December. I wasn't planning on continuing the series this year-of-doing-things-differently (or so I thought), but a couple of weeks ago I brought back the "Briefs" to play around with ChatGPT, which I had been hesitant to dive into but was told by numerous people that I MUST try it. At that time I also mentioned an in-progress "Brief" with eight books — here they are. Concrete in Switzerland: Histories from the Recent Past edited by Salvatore Aprea, Nicola Navone, Laurent Stalder and Sarah Nichols, published by EPFL Press in May 2022 (Amazon / Bookshop) Concrete in Switzerland is a companion publication to Beton, the exhibition held at S AM (Swiss Architecture Museum) in Basel from November 2021 to April 2022. In addition to the involvement of S AM, both the exhibition and the book boast three partners: the gta Archiv, ETH Zürich; the Archives de la construction moderne, EPF Lausanne (EPFL); and Archivio del Moderno dell’Academia di Architettura, Università della Svizzera italiana (USI). The editors from each of these three institutions — Salvatore Aprea (ETH), Nicola Navone (USI), and Laurent Stalder (EPFL) — also contributed one essay each among the book's thirteen essays: Aprea's contribution is about the famous Hennebique System; Navone's focuses, appropriately, on reinforced concrete architecture in Ticino; and Stalder traces about a century of technology's role in the Swiss pastoral, moving from Bruno Taut's Alpine Architecture to near the present day. Appropriately, Stalder's essay is first in the book, effectively serving as an overview or appetizer, if you will, for the essays that take deeper dives into individual subjects. Some standouts include: Silvia Berger Ziauddin's take on concrete bunkers, reminding me of my visit to Sasso San Gottardo; Lorenzo Stieger's essay on terraced hillside housing; Giulia Marino's presentation of the IGECO heavy prefabrication system; and Roberto Gargiani's piece on concrete in the early works of Herzog & de Meuron. This being a companion to an exhibition, the essays comprise about two-thirds of the book, the remainder filled by a lengthy visual essay, "Concrete Stories," by Sarah Nichols, curator of Beton. Her nearly 100-page contribution is broken down into shorter sections with such names as "Concrete is Rock," "Concrete is Energy," and "Concrete is Immaterial." The last shows how ideas around concrete are as important as the physical material itself. Urban Design in the 20th Century: A History by Tom Avermaete and Janina Gosseye, published by gta Verlag in January 2021 (Amazon) In its selection of Urban Design in the 20th Century as one of the ten recipients of a 2022 DAM Architectural Book Award, the jury described the book as "a handy and extensive" publication that is "an exciting, informative, and likewise uncluttered read, giving the complex mass of material a good structure and making it easy to consume." That is an apt description for the 100-plus urban design projects described through hundreds of illustrations across nine chapters spanning 440 pages. Organization is paramount, from the chronological-thematic structure of the chapters to the layout of said images (on black pages) and text (on white). Born from a course in urban design history taught by the authors at ETH Zurich, the book traces a history along the lines of what has been covered before (e.g., the books of Peter Hall and David Grahame Shane) but occasionally broadens the scope beyond a European center, and does it in a way that is appealing for students today: lots of images, large text, and bite-sized (sub)chapters. Today, one might expect a more culturally relevant take on the subject, but the authors point out in the book's coda that most developments in urban design the 20th century were "informed by a European point of view" and that telling a more global history would "undermine current attempts to decolonize history." The last point hints at some forthcoming scholarship that should flesh out histories like this one, presenting alternatives to familiar European perspectives. Modern Architecture in Japan by Manfredo Tafuri, edited by Mohsen Mostafavi, published by MACK in October 2022 (Amazon) Even though, as my collection of books has grown, my appetite for first editions has increased, I still have a soft spot for reprints. (It was one of the likes in my Valentine to architecture books, after all.) They allow hard-to-find, often prohibitively expensive books to be readily available once again and appreciated by new generations of audiences. Even if the ideas in an old book are dated, decisions regarding what merits reprinting point to some renewed interest in a subject or an author's take on a subject, among other things. A few months ago I happened upon a 1982 reprint of Ralph Adams Cram's Impressions of Japanese Architecture and the Allied Arts, first published in 1905 then revised in 1930; I had never heard of the book, but the fact it was reprinted and was relatively cheap led me to buy it. It has a little bit of overlap with one of the fall 2022 books MACK sent me, a handsome reprint of Manfredo Tafuri's Modern Architecture in Japan from 1964. The differences between the two books are as great as their similarities: Both are outsiders' views of Japan (Cram from the US, Tafuri from Italy), but the ensuing changes in the half-century between books meant Tafuri focused on modern architecture over Cram's exploration of temples, shrines, and other creations from previous centuries. (Only in the brief conclusion does Cram jump to the present and Frank Lloyd Wright's Imperial Hotel and the influence of European architecture on Japan.) Although Cram based his book, as the name indicates, on travels to Japan, curiously, when Tafuri wrote his guide to the country's modern architecture at the age of just 29, he had never even been to Japan! But the biggest difference, at least in terms of the reprints themselves, is that Tafuri's book was originally released in Italian, so the book put out by MACK is notable as the first English translation of his armchair guidebook. The nearly 60-year lag between original and translation means its importance is minor relative to Architecture and Utopia (just six years between the 1973 Italian original and English translation in 1979) or even Theories and History of Architecture (twelve years: 1968 and 1980). Still, Mohsen Mostafavi's preface argues for the relevance of Tafuri's book today "despite its reliance on secondary sources and its occasional inaccuracies," while a handful of essays following Tafuri's text put it in a greater context. A most interesting take is Tafuri writing the book as much to influence contemporary architecture in Italy as to understand it in Japan. Modern Architecture in Japan was part of a series edited by Leonardo Benevolo, in which other architects and writers wrote about the Soviet Union, Great Britain, Brazil, and a few European countries. I can't help but wonder if those books will find their way into English, or if Tafuri's book, thanks to the longevity of his name, will be the only one meriting a reprint. The Pliable Plane: The Wall as Surface in Sculpture and Architecture, 1945–75 by Penelope Curtis, published by MACK in October 2022 (Amazon) Just as MACK's translated reprint of Tafuri's book reminded me of an older book on Japan, the subject of Penelope Curtis's The Pliable Plane — the manipulation of the wall surface bridging art and architecture in the decades after WWII — made me think of another old book: Paul F. Damaz's Art in Latin American Architecture. I became aware of the 1963 book when writing 100 Years, 100 Buildings, using it as a reference on two of the buildings: Oscar Niemeyer's Saint Francis of Assisi Church at Pampulha (1947) and University City of Caracas by Carlos Raúl Villanueva (1953). Niemeyer actually wrote a preface for Damaz's book, and no wonder, considering the author called his church "the best instance of collaboration between an architect and artists"; the expressive azulejo artwork on the street facade is the most famous instance of many artistic contributions integrated with the church, outside and in. Are these or other examples of wall-heavy art in Damaz's survey also found in Curtis's book? Not that I could see. Her short yet very interesting book is limited to European and US examples, with an abundance of Henry Moore — no surprise, given her former role as director of the Henry Moore Institute. While some of the projects are very well known, Curtis examines them in atypical ways. Paul Rudolph's A&A Building at Yale (now Rudolph Hall), for instance, is bound to come to any architect's mind when considering wall surfaces, but Curtis focuses on the lesser-known sculptural plaster casts from classical architecture integrated into the hammered corduroy concrete walls. Part of the joy in the book, at least for me, was discovering previously unknown projects, a standout being the Mausoleum Fosse Ardeatine (1949) in Rome. Foundations of Urban Design by Marcel Smets, published by Actar Publishers in January 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) The latest by Marcel Smets, whom I know of as the author, with Kelly Shannon, of the excellent The Landscape of Contemporary Infrastructure, is a short book with short texts that aim to "open up the core ideas of urban design to the wider public." The Foundations of the title are 29 numbered chapters (F01–F29) that consist of apparently oppositional yet complementary pairs that touch on organizational strategies (Ribbon/Cluster, Ladder/Star), urban spaces (Market Square/Parade Ground, Hole/Void), circulation corridors (Street/Road, Path/Avenue), waterways (Brook/Detch, River, Canal), and other less formal aspects of urban design (Use/Morphology, Creator/Curator), among other things. The short texts (none appeared to be more than four pages) are accompanied by pairs of images that capture the essence of Smets's lessons. Given the intended audience, the text is far from challenging and is further leavened by the illustrations, though I wouldn't go so far to say it's a stimulating read. Still, the book is a good introduction to urban design for students — and that wider public curious about the field. Spatial Infrastructure: Essays on Architectural Thinking as a Form of Knowledge by José Aragüez, published by Actar Publishers and Public Space in January 2023 (Amazon / Bookshop) Back in 2016, José Aragüez's The Building was released. I never saw the book back then, but I recently picked it up and, despite its occasional academic abstruseness, really like the collection of 43 brief, three-page theoretical takes on what the title indicates: buildings. Born from symposia at the Architectural Association in 2014, it reads a bit like TED Talks for architectural educators and theoreticians. Clearly not a followup, even though it does include the introductory essay from the earlier book, Aragüez's second book, Spatial Infrastructure, takes a different, longform approach, featuring just eight essays across roughly 150 pages (that's nearly 20 pages per essay, on average). The topics in the essays spanning from 2010 to 2022 are very much aligned with The Building, with heady theoretical takes grounded in discussions of real-world examples, such as Toyo Ito's Taichung Metropolitan Opera House in Taiwan (the subject of "Sponge Territory") and FOA's Yokohama Ferry Terminal among other buildings in the essay that lends the book its title. Em obras: história do vazio em Belo Horizonte (Under Construction: History of the Void in Belo Horizonte) by Carlos M. Teixeira, published by Romano Guerra Editora in 2022 (Amazon) Think of cities in Brazil and most likely the three most-populous ones spring to mind: Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Brasilia. Sixth on the list of Brazilian cities by population, though right up top in the life of architect Carlos M. Teixeira, is Belo Horizonte, a not-too-small city of 2.5 million in Minas Gerais. The name of Teixeira's studio, Vazio S/A, translates as "empty" but refers to the voids in Belo Horizonte that have preoccupied him for decades. In my review of his 2012 monograph, Entre, I wrote how "the stagings and sets [of his performance-based projects] attempt to activate the leftover voids of his home city," using the second Topographical Amnesia as an example. For his latest, more thematically ambitious and chronologically sweeping book, Teixeira presents the 100-plus-year history of Belo Horizonte (it was founded in 1897) with a focus on everything that has not been built: "The city, fragmented and prosaic, accepted with no nostalgic sentiment and exalted as what is most important in the city." This atypical history is told through photographs — "anti-postcards" — and numbered texts (001–122) that are interspersed with the photos. (The English translation placed at the end of the book means some back-and-forth flipping is needed to see any relationships between image and text.) Architects outside Brazil will see something familiar when they reach number 82, circa 1947: Oscar Niemeyer's buildings at Pampulha, what Teixeira calls "the occupation of a suburban void." In 1994, Teixeira writes, when residents were give a referendum to select a symbol of the city, Niemeyer's Pampulha Church was in the running but, in the end, the Serra do Curral — a sprawling natural void at the southern boundary of the municipality — won with 270,000 votes. With that "victory," I can't think of a stronger argument for Teixeira's ongoing infatuation with the void in the city where he lives and works. Lina Bo Bardi: Material Ideologies edited by Monica Ponce de Leon, published by Princeton University School of Architecture in October 2022 (Amazon / Bookshop) The Womxn in Design and Architecture (WDA) formed at Princeton University School of Architecture in 2014, and three years later the graduate student group held its first annual conference, commemorating the one-year anniversary of Zaha Hadid’s passing. But it would be the second conference, Lina Bo Bardi: Material Ecologies, that became the first in WDA's Publication Series, published as a beautiful linen flexicover with numerous gatefolds among the numerous contributions coming out of the March 2018 conference. The conference had a three-part thematic structure (Concrete Brut, Natura, Material Re-Use) stemming from the "Material Ecologies" subtitle, and while the contents of the book follow the schedule of the conference's keynotes and panels, with two notable additions (Beatriz Colomina and Mario Gandelsonas), the book does not belabor the three themes, instead letting the essays stand out on their own merits. An obvious highlight is "Betwixt and Between" by Zeuler R. M. de A. Lima, author of an excellent 2013 monograph on Bo Bardi. Photo contributions by Veronika Kellndorfer ("Sprawling Nature") and Joana França ("Lina, In Situ") are stunning. Mike Cooter's "Artifacts of Work" is an unanticipated standout, one that translates a piece of one of Bo Bardi's buildings into an installation in an architecture exhibition. Kudos to CLANADA (Lana Cavar and Natasha Chandani) for the lovely design of the highly tactile book.

Last week I cobbled together eight books, some of which publishers had sent me more than a year ago, in an effort to write a "Better Late Than Never" installment of "Book Briefs," something I had done back in April 2018 with Book Briefs #35. But, sensing I would not be able to absorb the books quickly enough to get the post done in less than a week, I thought that revisiting that five-year-old post would be a great way of (finally) dipping into the timesaver that is AI, asking OpenAI's ChatGPT to write similar one-paragraph reviews and see what it came up with. So that's what I did. Specifically, I told ChatGPT to "Give a short, one-paragraph review of 'X Book' by Y author." Its output is featured below, in four of the six books that were part of Book Briefs #35, accompanied by my own "briefs" from 2018 and blurbs from the publishers. How do the reviews compare, my own vs. OpenAI? My takes are certainly more personal, with first-person commentary that isn't always germane to the book at hand but indicates where I'm coming from and what I find of interest and/or value. ChatGPT is, on the other hand, formulaic, with four sentences in a clearly repetitive structure for each review: statement of importance; two descriptive sentences; a closing statement indicating relevance to a particular audience. The AI "reviews" read well and have a clear position, but they are prescriptive, repetitive, and boring (so many rules of three!), especially when read in multiples, as here. I included the blurbs to see if OpenAI was drawing any phrases from them in shaping the reviews; that does not appear to be the case, nor does it appear that it used my "briefs" to formulate its speedy takes (each one took about five seconds to generate) on the books I gave it. Maybe ChatGPT is more effective in longer reviews, but this exercise does not lend any urgency to such an attempt on my part. African Modernism: The Architecture of Independence. Ghana, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Zambia edited by Manuel Herz, published by Park Books in 2015 (reprinted in 2023) (Amazon | Bookshop) Blurb: "In the 1950s and 1960s, most African countries gained independence from their respective colonial power. Architecture became one of the principal means by which the newly formed countries expressed their national identity. African Modernism investigates the close relationship between architecture and nation-building in Ghana, Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, and Zambia. It features one hundred buildings with brief descriptive texts, images, site plans, and selected floor plans and sections. The vast majority of images were newly taken by Iwan Baan and Alexia Webster for the book’s first edition. Their photographs document the buildings in their present state. Each country is portrayed in an introductory text and a timeline of historic events. Further essays on postcolonial Africa and specific aspects and topics, also illustrated with images and documents, round out this outstanding volume." JohnHILL: Although the size of a coffee table book and graced by full-page Iwan Baan photographs, African Modernism is a deep, scholarly work, not just something to flip through. Focused on the five subtitled African countries that gained their independence in the late 1950s and early 1960s (5 of 32 countries on the continent that did so), the book examines how architecture played a role in expressing their independence and modernity. Each country is given an introduction, a timeline, a photo spread by Baan, documentation of important buildings in photos (most by Baan) and words, and an in-depth academic essay. Though many buildings show signs of wear (not surprising, given the time between their realization and today), the architectural quality is astounding. That the buildings in the book are largely unknown points to a deficit in architectural education and publishing — and the need for more books like this one and Adjaye Africa Architecture. ChatGPT: "'African Modernism: The Architecture of Independence. Ghana, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Kenya, Zambia' edited by Manuel Herz is a groundbreaking book that sheds light on the architectural legacy of African modernism. With a focus on five countries, the book explores the post-independence era and the architectural projects that emerged during this period of political and cultural transformation. The book's rich collection of photographs, plans, and essays provides valuable insight into the unique blend of local and international influences that shaped African modernist architecture. It is an essential resource for anyone interested in the intersection of architecture, history, and cultural identity in Africa." The Architecture of Paul Rudolph by Timothy M. Rohan, published by Yale University Press in 2014 (Amazon | Bookshop) Blurb (excerpt): "Based on extensive archival research and unpublished materials, The Architecture of Paul Rudolph is the first in-depth study of the architect, neglected since his postwar zenith. Author Timothy M. Rohan unearths the ideas that informed Rudolph’s architecture, from his Florida beach houses of the 1940s to his concrete buildings of the 1960s to his lesser-known East Asian skyscrapers of the 1990s. Situating Rudolph within the architectural discourse of his day, Rohan shows how Rudolph countered the perceived monotony of mid-century modernism with a dramatically expressive architecture for postwar America, exemplified by his Yale Art and Architecture Building of 1963, famously clad in corrugated concrete. The fascinating story of Rudolph’s spectacular rise and fall considerably deepens longstanding conceptions about postwar architecture: Rudolph emerges as a pivotal figure who anticipated new directions for architecture, ranging from postmodernism to sustainability." JohnHILL: A lot has happened in the four years since this book's publication [between 2014 and 2018]: Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago was demolished, Paul Rudolph's own Orange County Government Center was maligned through a partial demolition and insensitive addition, and the famed Robin Hood Gardens was demolished. A new exhibition, in fact, hones in on the demolition of Brutalist structures, something that books like Rohan's haven't been able to reverse. This isn't to say that saving Rudolph's buildings and others like it was Rohan's goal, but as Alexandra Lange points out in her 2014 review of The Architecture of Paul Rudolph, "it's a timely publication." That time seems to have slid by rapidly, but given that 2018 is the centennial of Rudolph's birth, we might just see a renewed appreciation in his work. If so, Rohan's thorough, well-researched book will surely play a part. ChatGPT: "'The Architecture of Paul Rudolph' by Timothy M. Rohan is a comprehensive and insightful exploration of the influential architect's work. Rohan delves into Rudolph's distinctive design language, innovative use of materials, and his significant contributions to modern architecture. Through detailed analysis and stunning visuals, the book captures the complexity and dynamism of Rudolph's buildings, showcasing his mastery of space, form, and light. This book serves as an invaluable resource for architects, students, and enthusiasts seeking a deeper understanding of Rudolph's architectural legacy and his lasting impact on the field." Brodsky & Utkin by Alexander Brodsky and Ilya Utkin, published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2015 (Amazon) Blurb: "From 1978 to 1993, the renowned Soviet 'paper architects' Alexander Brodsky and Ilya Utkin created an incredible collection of elaborate etchings depicting outlandish, often impossible, buildings and cityscapes. Funny, cerebral, and deeply human, their obsessively detailed work layers elements borrowed from Egyptian tombs, Ledoux's visionary architecture, Le Corbusier's urban master plans, and other historical precedents in etchings of breathtaking complexity and beauty. Back by popular demand following the sold-out original 1991 edition and 2003 reprint, Brodsky & Utkin presents the sum of the architects' collaborative prints and adds new material, including an updated preface by the artists' gallery representative, Ron Feldman, a new introductory essay by architect Aleksandr Mergold, visual documentation of the duo's installation work, and rare personal photographs." JohnHILL: I'm not certain when I first learned about Russian Architects Alexander Brodsky and Ilya Utkin. Maybe it was in a 2005 blog post at Pruned. For sure it was well after the title Princeton Architectural Press put out on the duo in the early 1990s, as well as the 2003 first edition they put out and then printed again (with new preface) in 2015. The duo's intricate etchings are more art than architecture (they're represented by Feldman Gallery, after all), though many were submissions for architectural competitions hosted by Shinkenchiku and others in the 1980s. At 9x12 inches, the book isn't small, but with so many layers of information in their images it could easily be twice as large. ChatGPT: "'Brodsky & Utkin' by Alexander Brodsky and Ilya Utkin, published by Princeton Architectural Press, is a captivating and visually stunning retrospective of the renowned Russian architectural duo. The book showcases the imaginative and whimsical architectural drawings and etchings that Brodsky and Utkin are known for. With their unique blend of historical references, surrealism, and social commentary, their works transport readers to a dreamlike world of fantastical structures. This publication serves as a valuable tribute to their distinctive artistic vision and is a must-have for architecture enthusiasts, artists, and anyone captivated by the power of architectural illustration." Le Corbusier, Homme de Lettres by M. Christine Boyer, published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2010 (Amazon) Blurb (excerpt): "On his French identity card, legendary architect Le Corbusier listed his profession as 'Homme de Lettres' (Man of Letters). Celebrated for his architecture, which numbers fewer than sixty buildings, Le Corbusier also wrote more than fifty books, hundreds of articles, and thousands of letters. Le Corbusier, Homme de Lettres is the first in-depth study of Le Corbusier as a writer as well as an architect. [...] In Le Corbusier, Homme de Lettres author M. Christine Boyer focuses on the development of his writing style as it morphed from romantic prose to aphorisms and telegraphic bulletins. [...] Le Corbusier, Homme de Lettres shows for the first time how his voluminous output — books, diaries, letters, sketchbooks, travel notebooks, lecture transcriptions, exposition catalogs, journal articles — reflects not just a compulsion to write, but a passion for advancing his ideas about the relationship between architecture, urbanism, and society in a new machine age." JohnHILL: When I received this book way back in 2010, I had every intention of reading the whole thing — all 702 pages (780 pages with notes and index). Well, life got in the way and I only got through two of the book's twelve chapters before putting it down and, unfortunately, not returning to it again. I recall those hundred or so pages being, though not an easy read, certainly an enjoyable one. Boyer managed to mine Le Corbusier's original documents and discuss them in a way that pulls the reader along. A strong interest in Le Corbusier and his writings (the book focuses on 1907-1947) helps greatly; though there are plenty of architects out there meeting that criteria. ChatGPT: "'Le Corbusier, Homme de Lettres' by M. Christine Boyer is a compelling exploration of Le Corbusier's lesser-known role as a man of letters. Boyer sheds light on the prolific writings of the renowned architect, showcasing his literary talents and intellectual pursuits. Through a meticulous examination of his letters, essays, and manifestos, the book reveals the breadth and depth of Le Corbusier's ideas on architecture, urbanism, and society. This book is a valuable resource for scholars and enthusiasts seeking a deeper understanding of Le Corbusier's multifaceted contributions to the fields of architecture and literature." As an expansion of my partial revisiting of Book Briefs #35, below are catalogs of two exhibitions I wrote about for World-Architects back in 2022 (MoMA's The Project of Independence in February of that year, The Met's Bernd & Hilla Becher in July) but never got around to reviewing here. These are books I consulted after my initial visits and while writing my exhibition reviews, so I have some familiarity with them, albeit now from a distance of roughly a year or more. But given that I'd yet to articulate my thoughts on them, I decided to write "briefs" on them after inputting the same prompt into ChatGPT — a reverse of the reviews above. Will the AI-generated affect how I write about them? Should I adopt the style of ChatGPT in my one-paragraph reviews? Read on to see... The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985 edited by Martino Stierli, Anoma Pieris and Sean Anderson, published by the Museum of Modern Art in March 2022 (Amazon | Bookshop) Blurb (excerpt): "Anchored by a newly commissioned portfolio of images from architectural photographer Randhir Singh, this richly illustrated and meticulously researched catalogue features essays by the curators and leading scholars in the field on subjects such as the politics of concrete, institution-building, higher education, housing, infrastructure and industry, landscape, and design, as well as presentations of seventeen transformative projects from around the subcontinent. While several of the architects appearing in these pages have in recent years received monographic exhibitions, The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985 marks the first attempt to consider their work within the ideological frameworks of its creation and the political context of the region as a whole." ChatGPT: "'The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985' edited by Martino Stierli, Anoma Pieris, and Sean Anderson is a thought-provoking and enlightening anthology that explores the architectural landscape of South Asia during the post-independence era. Through a collection of essays, case studies, and visual documentation, the book examines the complex interplay between politics, identity, and architectural production in the region. It sheds light on the diverse range of architectural projects that emerged during this transformative period, offering valuable insights into the decolonization process and its impact on the built environment. This book is an essential resource for architects, historians, and anyone interested in the intersection of architecture, history, and postcolonial studies." JohnHILL: Museum of Modern Art curator Martino Stierli, in an interview at World-Architects that I edited ahead of the opening of The Project of Independence: Architectures of Decolonization in South Asia, 1947–1985, described that exhibition as "a continuation of the 2018 exhibition, Toward A Concrete Utopia," subtitled Architecture in Yugoslavia, 1948–1980 and notably his first major show at MoMA. Stierli actually proposed the exhibition on India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Sri Lanka in his 2014 interview for the MoMA post, a clear sign that he sees the contemporary importance in "destabilizing the Western-centric canon of modern architectural history," one notably fostered by MoMA for decades. The catalog is as good as the exhibition was, with a portfolio of contemporary photographs by Randhir Singh, essays by architects and scholars (on cities, housing, infrastructure, education, and other subjects), and case studies on more than a dozen buildings, from Antonin Raymond' s Golconde dormitory in Pondicherry, India, to Yasmeen Lari's Anguri Bagh Housing in Lahore, Pakistan. As befits Stierli, an architectural historian, the catalog is more thorough and wide-ranging than the exhibition it accompanied. Bernd & Hilla Becher by Jeff L. Rosenheim, published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in August 2022 (Amazon / Bookshop) Blurb: "For more than five decades, Bernd (1931–2007) and Hilla (1934–2015) Becher collaborated on photographs of industrial architecture in Germany, France, Belgium, Holland, Great Britain, and the United States. This sweeping monograph features the Bechers’ quintessential pictures, which present water towers, gas tanks, blast furnaces, and more as sculptural objects. Beyond the Bechers’ iconic Typologies, the book includes Bernd’s early drawings, Hilla’s independent photographs, and excerpts from their notes, sketchbooks, and journals. The book’s authors offer new insights into the development of the artists’ process, their work’s conceptual underpinnings, the photographers’ relationship to deindustrialization, and the artists’ legacy. An essay by award-winning cultural historian Lucy Sante and an interview with Max Becher, the artists’ son, make this volume an unrivaled look into the Bechers’ art alongside their career, life, and subjects." ChatGPT: "'Bernd & Hilla Becher' by Jeff L. Rosenheim is a captivating tribute to the renowned German photographic duo known for their systematic documentation of industrial architecture. The book delves into the Bechers' distinctive approach to capturing the beauty and functionality of industrial structures, presenting their work as a unique blend of art and documentary photography. With insightful essays, stunning reproductions of their iconic images, and a comprehensive overview of their artistic journey, this book is an essential resource for photography enthusiasts, art historians, and anyone fascinated by the power of visual storytelling." JohnHILL: In the last of six numbered galleries of the Bernd & Hilla Becher exhibition at The Met last year, a glass vitrine displayed a selection of books published by the photographers in their lifetime. I wrote in my review of the exhibition that "books [were] an integral part of their career — the primary means of making their work accessible to artists, architects, historians, and the general public." Their books, furthermore, are highly prized — expensive even as reprints, and somewhat scarce — so any book on the Bechers, in my mind, is welcome, especially this one by Met curator Jeff L. Rosenheim. Highlights of the beautifully produced catalog include Gabrielle Conrath-Scholl's essay on the Bechers' documentation of Zeche Concordia between 1967 and 1970; Rosenheim's interview with Max, the Bechers' son; and 120 pages of plates that include a couple gatefolds. The plates may not be a substitute for seeing the Bechers' photographs — larger — in a gallery setting, but their accompaniments make them that as valuable here.

Two weeks ago I was in Venice for the Biennale, covering the 18th International Architecture Exhibition curated by Lesley Lokko for World-Architects. It was my first trip back to Venice since the 2018 Biennale, which was the 16th edition and was curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara of Grafton Architects. Like other writers outside of Europe, the interim edition, though delayed from 2020 to 2021 due the pandemic, still opened at a time when international travel was difficult. I passed on it, as many others did. My 2018 trip yielded a pair of "book briefs" on this blog with two handfuls of catalogs from the main exhibition, some from the national pavilions, and some on collateral events. Although a similar number of books from the current Biennale is featured below, it felt this year that print catalogs were slimmer than in years past. For instance, the national pavilions were focused more on digital than print publications, making them available via QR codes and offering to ship print versions later. And only one pavilion, Bahrain, had a large stack of books that whittled down over the course of the two-day vernissage. The FOODSCAPES book in the Spanish Pavilion I have a hard time passing up any printed catalog, but I could only carry so much with me, so the below list is limited to the ones I felt were important enough to bring home with me. What's missing? The most exceptional printed catalog I came across was for the Spanish Pavilion, FOODSCAPES, whose website indicates part of the exhibition includes "an archive in the form of a recipe book." The book I flipped through on the large table in the middle of the venue (photo above) was large, the size of an atlas; its large pages were full of essays, images, architectural projects, and other content related to the theme. But only a newsprint was distributed during the vernissage and, while the Biennale bookshop was selling catalogs to other pavilions, Spain was not one of them. For now, this book remains a mystery. The days leading up to the opening of the Biennale on May 20 were also packed with book launches, some that I signed up for ahead of time but, for one reason or another, didn't make it to, and others that I happened upon as I trekked the Biennale grounds or ventured around Venice. These books I missed include: Sketches on Everlasting Plastics, the first iteration of an ongoing editorial intervention around the US Pavilion exhibition Everlasting Plastics; Architecture in Islamic Countries: Selections from the Catalogue for the Second International Exhibition of Architecture Venice 1982/83, the first English translation of the Italian catalog for the second Venice Architecture Biennale, directed by Paolo Portoghesi; and the launch of the first volume of Khōrein: Journal for Architecture and Philosophy. Main Exhibition: Biennale Architettura 2023: The Laboratory of the Future edited by Lesley Lokko, published by Silvana Editoriale (Amazon / Bookshop) As seems to be the norm in Biennales this century, the catalog for the International Architecture Exhibition is published in two sizes (small and large) and, at least in the large size, in two volumes: one volume devoted to the main exhibition and one volume cataloging the dozens of national pavilions. The latter for this year is the slimmer volume (176 pages) and is basically unnecessary, given the numerous standalone catalogs for the national pavilions and the only cursory, preliminary content available for each contribution. The volume basically serves as a reference, with two-page spreads providing a curatorial statement, list of contributors, and an image giving a sense of the theme for each pavilion and collateral event. On the other hand, the longer, 440-page volume devoted to Lesley Lokko's exhibition, The Laboratory of the Future, is more than necessary. Not only does it provide similar statements, team information, and images on the 89 contributors to the exhibition, it helpfully presents them in the multifaceted structure Lokko set up for the exhibition. Within the theme are a handful of sections (Force Majeure, Dangerous Liaisons, Curator's Special Projects, etc.) that are split between the Giardini and Arsenale venues but also intertwined. The catalog presents the contributions within this thematic structure and in alphabetical order; plans of the venues with numbered keys indicate their physical location. Short essays and images inserted between the color-coded sections round out the beautifully produced volume. National Pavilions: Cloud-to-ground edited by Oren Eldar, Edith Kofsky and Hadas Maor, published by Park Books (Amazon / Bookshop) Open for Maintenance – Wegen Umbau geöffnet edited by Anh-Linh Ngo, published by ARCH+ / Spector Books (Amazon / Bookshop) Partecipazione / Beteiligung edited by AKT and Hermann Czech, published by Luftschacht Verlag (Amazon / Bookshop) Walkers in Amazonia: The Calendar Project edited by Alexia León and Lucho Marcial, published by Patronato Cultural del Peru (PDF download) With just two days of the vernissage to take in the large main exhibition, dozens of national pavilions, and even more collateral events and other exhibitions around the city — and with most visitors to the Biennale spending a day or two there anyways — catalogs are valuable for allowing visitors to devote more time to exhibits of interest. They're particularly valuable for the national pavilions, which are major efforts that often treat the catalogs as extensions of the materials on display. A case in point is Israel's pavilion, cloud-to-ground, which is empty this year and just consists of a few models of buildings on stands in the adjacent courtyard. The concrete models depict old telephone exchanges that are, in reality like the Israel Pavilion, closed off, symbols of how technological change leads to a residue of "black boxes" and provoke the obvious question: What will happen to today's server farms tomorrow, when their technology is obsolete? If the pavilion is slim on information, the book is thorough — and lovely, in its own way — overloaded with essays, interviews, a 112-page "telephone exchanges index," an index of data centers, and much more content. Brazil and Great Britain won the jury's awards for national pavilions, but two of my favorites didn't: Austria and Germany. Though markedly different in content, each pavilion is about connecting to the Venetian context; Austria does it through a proposal to physically link its pavilion to the Sant'Elena neighborhood just beyond its walls, and Germany does it by turning its pavilion into a materials depot and workshop for Venetian students and craftspeople to use scrap from the 2022 Venice Art Biennale for school and building projects. Austria's bilingual catalog gives a background on the Biennale's gradual encroachment into Sant'Elena as the reasoning behind the temporary footbridge the curators wanted to build for this year's exhibition; the book also catalogs the expansion of the Biennale this century into the rest of the city via small venues and has essays on the right to the city and other relevant topics. It's a strong, politically charged idea — no wonder the Biennale and other authorities shot down the proposed temporary bridge. The German Pavilion is curated in part by the editors of ARCH+, so logically the catalog to Open for Maintenance – Wegen Umbau geöffnet is published by the German architecture magazine; it has been released in separate German and English issues, the latter done with Spector Books. The 208-page matte-paper issue, number 252, comes with a 24-page glossy insert that explains the premise of the pavilion and documents its realization through color photographs. The various pieces of the pavilion — exterior ramp, material repository, workshop, kitchenette, waterless toilet, and meeting space — are both illustrative and functioning parts of the circular economy promoted by the curators. The numerous contributions to the issue proper address everything from maintenance and care to race and gender, from the politics of disability to squatting and the right to the city. The issue even has built projects, set off from the rest on gray pages, that follow from the pavilion's theme. Last of the national pavilion catalogs I brought home is Walkers in Amazonia: The Calendar Project, Peru's contribution to the Biennale. Housed in a smallish building at the Arsenale alongside a few other nations that don't have their own pavilions in the Giardini, Walkers in Amazonia is structured as an A-frame displaying colorful calendars created by indigenous communities in the Peruvian jungle. The catalog contains all of those calendars on glossy pages, but at a smaller size that means many of the words accompanying the drawings are too small to read (they're all in Spanish, obviously, but still). The calendars clearly express a circular understanding of time that is rooted in natural cycles, of reciprocally living in and caring for the jungle. Coincidentally, I met architect Marta Maccaglia, who was in town to accept the inaugural divia award (see below) for the work she's been doing in Peru for about a decade; she told me how happy she was to see the Peruvian jungle as the subject of the pavilion, especially its expression in the colorful circular calendars. Elsewhere in Venice: divia award 2023: Diversity in Architecture edited by Ursula Schwitalla and Christiane Fath, published by Hatje Cantz (Amazon) Kengo Kuma: Onomatopoeia Architecture edited by Elena Caldara, published by Dario Cimorelli Editore Quaderns Biennale, 2023: Following the Fish edited by Daniel Cid, Francesc Pla and Eva Serrats, published by Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC) Zero Gravity Urbanism: Principles for a New Livability published by NEOM La Biennale di Venezia has a structure that is clear but can be confusing for people visiting Venice during the Biennale — which is about half of every year, when considered between the alternating art and architecture exhibitions. The official exhibitions and events for the Venice Architecture Biennale consist of the International Architecture Exhibition (the one curated by Lesley Lokko this year), the national pavilions (in the Giardini, traditionally, but also in the Arsenale), special projects like V&A's Applied Arts Pavilion, and collateral events that are distributed around the city. But many unofficial exhibitions and events overlap with the Biennale, taking advantage of the people visiting the city to look at architecture exhibitions but also giving the impression that any exhibition in Venice in that time is part of the Biennale. Of these four books, only one is for an official Biennale event. One of the just nine collateral events in this year's Biennale is Catalonia in Venice_ Following the Fish, which is strongly aligned with Lesley Lokko's exhibition. (National pavilions, or in this case a regional collateral event, don't need to follow the theme of the main exhibition, but they have every right to — and often they do.) It looks at the community of vendors ("manters") in Barcelona who traveled there from Senegal for better opportunities, but instead of being able to ply their trades they are left to hustle cheap wares on the sidewalks, always on the lookout for police ready to arrest them. The story is more complicated than this description, but the exhibition bravely addresses the racism the manters confront on a daily basis; and it reveals to visitors the unseen or ignored community that the curators have formed an alliance with, one aimed at much-needed reparations. Architecturally, the pavilion includes some small-scale solutions for community places in Barcelona, but the catalog focuses on texts that contextualize the complex issue. Want an experience that is the near-opposite of Following the Fish? Head to Abbazia di San Gregorio and the over-the-top, non-Biennale exhibition of The Line and other NEOM projects. Zero Gravity Urbanism—Principles for a New Livability is, I wrote, more marketing than culture: numerous models of various scales for The Line, the inane — or it it insane? — proposal for a 170-km-long "city" in the Saudi Arabian desert that would house 9 million people and somehow be a model for sustainable living. I'll admit that the models on display are impressive, and the architect in me who was educated in the early 1990s liked seeing designs that were almost plucked from the decade ... but this is irresponsible planning, to say the least. Yet, with the country's deep pockets and architects willing to go along with it, at least a portion of it is being realized: The Hidden Marina, clearly catering to the super rich and their vessels. The catalog I was able to get a hold of is "not for sale," per its insides, but like the exhibition it's more marketing than anything else of value. Not far from the NEOM exhibition, at the Berührungspunkte venue along the Grand Canal, the inaugural divia award was celebrated the Friday of the vernissage. The event was not the unveiling of the winner, Marta Maccaglia, which had taken place a couple weeks prior in Berlin, but a celebration of the award taking place during the Biennale and the distribution of a few copies of the book on the award. (World-Architects is a media partner for divia, which is short of Diversity in Architecture, so I was able to get a copy.) The book is slim, at less than 100 pages, but is very well done, from its red cover boards to the color photos with projects of the winner and finalists, and interviews with the same. While the inaugural award created by Ursula Schwitalla and Christiane Fath is focused on women in architecture, future iterations of the award are supposed to branch out to encompass other areas of diversity within the profession. Directly across the Grand Canal from Berührungspunkte is Palazzo Franchetti, a venue for Portugal's national pavilion but also host to an exhibition of cultural projects underway in Qatar (almost as questionable as NEOM) and a sizable monographic exhibition on Kengo Kuma. Onomatopoeia Architecture, which I'll be reviewing for World-Architects in the coming weeks, is a pleasing show, with beautiful models of Kuma's buildings sitting in the palazzo's lushly appointed rooms. The displays are accompanied by two installations: a wooden structure at the entrance to the exhibition on the piano nobile and a larger aluminum piece in the garden overlooking the Grand Canal and the Accademia Bridge. The catalog isn't a particularly deep exploration of Kuma's buildings, but it does a good job of articulating the ideas behind the Japanese architect's "onomatopoeia architecture."

Over at World-Architects I wrote about two self-published books recently published by BNIM and KPF: ALL - The Tom and Ruth Harkin Center by BNIM Design in Detail by Kohn Pedersen Fox The "Found" feature also includes responses to a few questions on why the firms opted to self-publish rather than work with publishers on these books.

This year's New York International Antiquarian Book Fair is my third, following the 2022 book fair and, just days before lockdown, the 2020 book fair. Three hardly makes me an expert, even in my specialization of architecture books, but it does help with gauging the value given to books on the subject and getting a sense of how architecture books are seen within the wider rare books market. Generally, "rare" equates with "old" first editions that have signatures and, in some cases, limited print runs. The last, in the realm of architecture, points to anything pre-capital-M-modern but also, ironically, architecture books in general, since they tend to have limited print runs compared to fiction — compared to anything but artist books, really — and usually just one printing. But the small print runs of architecture books do not equate to high asking prices, as could be grasped by the smattering of architecture books that I came across at the 2023 edition of the New York International Antiquarian Book Fair — at the Park Avenue Armory until Sunday. The ones on display are a narrow bunch, tending almost exclusively toward big-name architects from the 20th century (Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Venturi Scott Brown) and old Europeans (Alberti, Palladio, Vitrivius, Piranesi). Along these lines, below are some things I learned while browsing the booths at this year's book fair trying to find some architectural gems. Lesson 1: Corbu is (still) king. If one architect appeared more than any other in my quick scan of the booksellers' offerings yesterday afternoon, it was definitely Le Corbusier; he made roughly fifty books in his lifetime, so that's hardly a surprise. It also helps that it's been a half-century since his death and, even with a lot of criticism of his legacy in recent years, he seems more popular than ever in rare book circles. A few of the Corbu books I came across: Johnson Rare Books & Archives has a first edition of Des Canons, Des Munitions? Merci! Des Logis... S.V.P. from 1937, complete with a typed signed letter by Corbu. It is going for $7,500. Ursus Books is selling an "incredibly rare first edition of Le Corbusier's legendary Farbenklaviatur [Color Keyboards ...] the first of the two collections of colors which he designed for the Salubra wallpaper company" in 1931. Birkhäuser did a reproduction about 25 years ago that can be found for a few hundred dollars, but a first edition at Ursus will put you back $22,500. Those offerings pale in comparison to one of the 250 copies of La Poème de l'Angle Droit from 1955; Bernett Penka Rare Books on the Arts and Visual Culture has it, complete with an original case, for $50,000. Lesson 2: Old + European = Rare + Valuable. While walking the aisles of the fair, it felt at times that "architecture" was limited to old treatises, pattern books, etchings, and the like, all coming from Europe centuries ago. Large folios opened to drawings were in many glass cases, standing out as skilled and (once) influential creations but also anachronistic images of what many people think buildings should be: classical. Traditionally, architecture libraries — be they institutional, professional, or private — have been practical: providing guidance and inspiration for architects. Outside of a few architectural historians, that's not the case with books like these, which are prized for their age, scarcity, and beauty, not their practicality to architects. And even if architects still used them, such as those at the Institute of Classical Architecture & Art, they'd probably use reprints rather than valuable 500-year-old originals. Ursus Books makes another appearance here, this time with a portfolio (ca. 1810) of 24 plates by Antoine Joseph Gaitte of Claude Nicholas Ledoux's 18th-century toll-gates in Paris. Price: $8,500. Books — or, more accurately, scrolls — of Vitruvius's foundational text on architecture, De architectura, don't exist, so later Renaissance versions of it are prized, such as this one edited by Fra Giovanni Tacuino in 1511. Erasmushaus is selling it for $65,000. (The Basel-based bookseller also has a first edition of Palladio's Quattro Libri for $66,000.) The enduring legacy of Giovanni Battista Piranesi is evident in "The Grand Tour" booth of Mayfair Rare Books & Manuscripts, which has a folio with 20 etched plates of Paestum (ca. 1778) going for €25,000. Lesson 3: Architects love certain artists and designers. Audience is always important when it comes to book sales. If we lump architects together as one audience, I'd argue that they purchase books outside of architecture as often as they amass books on architecture. Books on art and design are high among the former, with very particular artists and designers — ones with shared affinities for form, space, texture, etc. — standing out over others. A couple are below, plus one surprise (to me). In his lifetime Massimo Vignelli designed many architecture books, though in NYC he is known for his redesign of the MTA subway map in the 1970s. Never widely implemented, the Vignelli Map made a comeback this century for the MTA's Weekender website, and in recent years I've seen it popping up in stations. Still, seeing an original map from 1978 at Geographicus Rare Antique Maps made me stop in my tracks (no pun intended). How much? $7,500. Architects love artists who trained as architects, and right up top is Gordon Matta-Clark, who sliced and cut open buildings, documenting the transient (de)constructions in photographs. A book of his I'd heard about but hadn't seen in person is Walls Paper, which the artist made from photographs of partially demolished buildings in the Bronx in the early 1970s (he died in 1978 at just 35 years old). He colored the b/w photos and then cut the pages in the middle so juxtapositions are created as one flips through it. Two copies were on display at the fair: at Sims Reed Ltd. ($5,000) and Jeff Hirsch Books ($3,000). Who is this Utopian architectural designer that Vivien Greene supposedly called the "Edgar Allan Poe of Architecture"? I'd never heard of Albert Trachsel before coming across this signed copy of Les Fêtes réelles, an "architectural poem" he made in 1897. Martyan Lan is selling it for $9,500. Lesson 4: Learning from Las Vegas is the architect's "one book." If there is one book today that every architect should have, it's not Le Corbusier's Vers une architecture or Koolhaas and company's S,M,L,XL or even Christopher Alexander's A Pattern Language. It's Learning from Las Vegas by Robert Venturi, Denise Scott Brown, and Steven Izenour. (No explanation needed on its importance and influence, I hope, but here's something I wrote about it five years ago.) Heck, most architects already have the book, but I'm referring to the 1972 first edition, not the 1977 paperback. It's big, expensive (even the facsimile edition put out by MIT Press in 2017 is $100), and rare. I'm lucky enough to have a first edition, but mine is lacking the glassine jacket that Johnson Rare Books & Archives has on display next to Corbusier's Munitions. That's not an original box at right, but inside the book are the authors' signatures, which brings the price to $3,000.

Woods Bagot has shared a video from the recent overnight installation of its Midfield Satellite Concourse South (or MSC South) project at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The project adds around 146,000 square feet of space and eight gates designed to hold narrowbody aircraft. Video courtesy Woods Bagot Its realization was made possible by an innovative new process called Offsite Construction and Relocation (or OCR), which calls for an in-situ delivery staged in nine segments in order to avoid costly disruptions to air traffic operations after the process began earlier this year just north of the airport's northernmost runways. Buro Happold (structural engineering, sustainability, lighting, and acoustical design) was able to ensure its delivery in partnership with RAW International. Image: Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) The next step after this major hurdle will be to assemble each of the segments through 2025. Image: Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) Woods Bagot’s Ian Lo...

The winners of this year’s Tree House 2024 competition have been named by its organizers at Volume Zero. Participants in this competition were given a brief that asked them to imagine a coastal, riverbank, forest, backyard, urban, or even mountainous site and create designs tailored to offer unique solutions to spatial challenges. Of the 37 countries represented by the 11-person jury panel which included Sigurd Larsen and a slate of international architects, a group of three received cash prizes worth $4,000 each. Another ten received Honorable Mention designations. Designs from India were particularly well-represented. Many offer scrupulous and creative approaches to the inherently playful typology defined by their use of biomimetic, multi-functional, and even mythological design considerations or inspiration. First Place: THET(h)REE Leaves by Karan Bhambhani, Ishika Soni & Aaryan Soni (India)

Images of BIG’s newly opened waterfront headquarters in Copenhagen have been made public after the relocation was completed earlier this spring. The office known for its familial atmosphere and daily team meals worked on the project collaboratively through its proprietary integrated LEAPP approach (short for internal Landscape, Engineering, Architecture, Planning, and Product Design). Image copyright Laurian Ghinitoiu BIG founder Bjarke Ingels shared: "The idea behind LEAPP is an architecture practice as a renaissance, interdisciplinary body of people and knowledge. [...] Every single aspect of LEAPP has been involved in our HQ, including the planning, the product design, the very complex stacking of the concrete elements." Image copyright Laurian Ghinitoiu Inside the Piranesian-inspired minimal concrete structure that's located at the tip of a pier in Nordhavn, a sole rotated totem pole-like column made from six types of stone supports a stacked pastiche of open and solid architectu...

Following our previous visit to nARCHITECTS, we are keeping our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York City this week to explore the work of Michael K. Chen Architecture. Led by Michael K. Chen, the firm describes its mission as to provide “innovative and superbly crafted work for clients seeking thoughtful and well-considered design.” In 2021, Chen spoke with Archinect as part of our Studio Snapshot series, offering readers an insight into how the firm playfully blends the boundaries between architecture, interior, and product design. Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Junior Architect / Designer to join their New York City team. For candidates interested in applying for a position or anybody interested in learning more about the firm’s output, we have rounded up three creative interiors by Michael K. Chen Architecture that exemplify the firm’s ethos. Park Avenue Apartment. Image courtesy of MKCA Park Avenue Apartment, New York, NY In a prestigious Carneg...

In 2021, the Google Research Africa team launched Open Buildings, an open-source dataset of building footprints across the Global South produced using AI and high-resolution satellite imagery. The team had a simple vision: to fill a major gap in data for population and density in the developing world. Now in its third version, their dataset contains polygons for 1.8 billion buildings over an area of 58 million km² in Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The data is useful in determining population size and other factors to solve urban density problems. Google's Research product manager Olivia Graham says: "About 2.5 billion more people could move to cities by 2050, most of them in the Global South — this could be a real step change for governments and organizations working through that growth. If a city is planning where to put essential services like healthcare and education, or where to develop infrastructure like water and energy supplies, this dataset shows the areas that are actively growing." The data can be explored via a searchable map using that's accessed here.

This year’s Architecture MasterPrize Architecture Photography winners showcase a diverse range of disciplines and building types, all working as a showcase of the technical skill and brilliant artistry that is required for the difficult art of architectural photography. Designs from Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Tadao Ando, SOM, and KieranTimberlake were all featured as part of the 2024 edition, combining the success of their architects with the work of talented photographers to capture the "soul of architectural and interior spaces" while also "bringing unique perspectives and communicating the essence" of their designs to the public in an engaging and artistic way. Photographers Albrecht Voss (Exterior Architecture) and Franco Casaccia (Interior Architecture) led the field with superlative shots in either category. They were joined by the select 95th percentile grouping, which constituted the Best of Best Award, which are listed below. Those photos, along with the other 2024 AMP...

The German far-right AfD party has attacked the original Bauhaus as a pernicious example of design, saying it led the project of modernism in the "wrong direction." Their statement, which echoes the disdain put forth by Hitler and the Nazi party, comes from an official motion in front of the country’s parliament asking for an official reappraisal of its legacy in advance of the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus Dessau in 2025/26. They say: "The emphasis on sobriety and minimalism often led to impersonal architecture that is perceived as cold, unwelcoming and unattractive." (h/t ARTnews) The episode brings to mind the outrage of the architecture community in response to then-President Donald Trump's planned executive order in favor of classical architecture, the tenor of which (e.g., that it restores America's grandeur) is akin to the views advanced by Viktor Orban and many other modern adherents to a more discreet form of fascism.

In hermetically sealed buildings, less fresh air gets in. [...] Eventually, this polluted indoor air – which is making more than a third of the planet sick – is expelled into the surrounding environment. This raises the question of how buildings pollute the air around them, what pollutants they produce, and whether this expelled air is sufficiently diluted once outdoors. As the article mentions, the World Health Organization had previously pointed to a "lack of monitoring of air pollution levels, sources and consequences on public health" as a present danger for cities. To fix it, authors César Martín-Gómez and Arturo H. Ariño of the Universidad de Navarra say: "A detailed understanding of how buildings contribute to pollution in cities is essential. This will give public authorities, decision-makers and managers the tools to establish strategies to, for example, minimise pollution through devices similar to the catalytic converters required on all combustion-powered vehicles. Eventually, we may even be able to recover useful components of domestic air, such as waste methane, which could be redirected to energy generation." You can read more about the compounding effects of poor indoor air quality via our 2021 feature on urban air pollution here.

SCAPE founder Kate Orff has been named as the Tau Sigma Delta 2025 Gold Medal winner by the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). Orff, who in April of last year was named as a 'TIME 100' honoree, was described as a "leading voice in landscape architecture." She will next deliver the closing keynote address at the ACSA’s 113th annual conference, which takes place from March 20-22, 2025 in New Orleans. The firm has recently been announced as the lead for a major adaptive reuse redevelopment project in Connecticut in addition to landing two Honor Awards selection at the 2024 ASLA Professional Awards in September.

A new design from BIG made using 3D printing and mycelium additives is being showcase at a manufacturing summit for industry stakeholders in Scandinavia. The firm says it is "aimed at exploring new ways to reduce spatial and material waste through additive manufacturing and bio-based materials." I AM MSHRM came together as part of a collaborative effort between the Danish AM Hub , MDT A/S, Naturpladen. The result, they say, is a rapidly deployable and can be assembled in modular components made from recycled plastic and then filled in with the mycelium additive. This element makes their erection possible without the need for scaffolding. This method likewise reduces the overall volume of printed material, replacing it instead with the mycelium composite in such a way that "significantly lower[s] the overall carbon footprint" according to the firm.

The design details for RIOS and Foster + Partners’ upcoming One Beverly Hills development have been updated in Los Angeles. What are going to be the two tallest structures in the neighborhood (at 32 and 26 stories apiece) will be joined by a new two-story conference center located on the site’s northern side adjacent to the new Wilshire Building. Image: Foster + Partners The presentation also details the inclusion of a landscaped component between the new Santa Monica & Garden Residences. That joins another 8-acre botanical garden included as part of the plan’s 10-acre open space design. The landscaping follows a "California Drape" pattern that will envelop the site, connecting the built forms with nature in an "ecological celebration" of the Golden State's natural beauty. Image: Foster + Partners Finally, the existing historic Beverly Hilton will receive a three-story enhancement that includes 17 new hotel rooms with shops and restaurants surrounding a pool. Image: Foster + Partners...

Snøhetta will follow up on its recent Joslyn Art Museum project with the design for the new Omaha Children's Museum in Nebraska. The project was updated this week and includes a 175-seat performance room, a cafe, and a play-workshop. Rubberized mounds placed in its forecourt will activate additional space, "inviting visitors to climb and play before experiencing everything the museum has to offer inside." Snøhetta also recently completed the 70,000-square-foot El Paso Children's Museum (aka La Nube) and Far Rockaway Library in Queens. Image: Tegmark

Looking for attractive architectural career opportunities in Washington, D.C.? Our latest weekly curated jobs roundup from Archinect Jobs highlights seven architecture firms and institutions currently hiring architects, designers, and managers in the capital. Be sure to follow our Archinect Tips series to improve your portfolio, resume, and interviewing skills and increase your chances of getting that next job. The American Institute of Architects seeks a Manager, Climate Action & Design Excellence (remote possible) "Reporting to the Sr. Director, Climate Action and Design Excellence, the manager is responsible for equipping AIA members with the tools necessary to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the public amid challenges for design to mitigate and adapt to climate change and address social inequity in the built environment." Colleen Healey Architecture seeks a Staff Designer "Colleen Healey Architecture is a national award-winning design firm that is seeking a full-time St...

Columbia GSAPP has shared details of its new student-led, temporary inflatable Cloud structure in Avery Plaza. The installation culminates a two-semester seminar led by GSAPP faculty members Laurie Hawkinson and Galia Solomonoff. Photo: Nicholas Knight/Columbia GSAPP The temporary pavilion structure, which is made out of metallic foam fabricated by a Spanish manufacturer called Àrea Cúbica, "envisions a participatory experience that emphasizes the interconnectedness of peoples’ actions in shared spaces." Photo: Nicholas Knight/Columbia GSAPP Inside, seating is anchored by a cascading series of nets. The pavilion is 66 feet wide and suspended by 25 cables, emerging from a fourth-floor classroom window. Columbia says its appearance works to reframe "the relationship between Avery Hall and Avery Plaza, questioning notions of connectivity between interior and exterior spaces" while also "challenging boundaries of conditioned space." Photo: Nicholas Knight/Columbia GSAPP Beyond this good ...

The [Chicago] Tribune, which had been reducing staff and budgets for years before Alden Global Capital accelerated the process with its May 2021 purchase of Tribune Publishing, did not replace Kamin, just as it did not replace several other culture writers who left the paper. So the retired critic took matters into his own hands. We covered the debut of the Windy City’s newest critic Edward Keegan back in August along with the restart of work on 400 Lake Shore Drive. His position is being funded by Blair Kamin after Kamin stepped aside in January 2021. He explains the situation to Northwestern's vaunted J-school's Local News Initiative blog. "I decided that if initially they weren’t going to make a grant, that I would make a grant myself to do this," he tells of his personal philanthropy. "But it’s complicated, because when you have a so-called donor-advised fund, you can’t give money legally to a for-profit enterprise. So you need to find a nonprofit to give the money to, and they, in turn, will give the money to the for-profit. So it took forever going through a variety of possibilities."

A unique new residential skyscraper in Dubai from RCR Arquitectes will be built to the width of just a single 22.5 meter (almost 74 feet) apartment unit in what could come as a shock to even the most ardent fans of contemporary luxury high-rise design. The fifth collaboration between the 2017 Pritzker Prize winner and developer Muraba, the Muraba Veil, was announced this month for a site overlooking the canal in the city of 3.6 million. Its design is shaped also by endemic cultural and climate conditions, reaching a total height of 1,247 feet and 73 stories. The apartments are being offered between two and five bedrooms. Some unique features include a cavern-like indoor spa and oasis located in the crawl space underneath its datum. Image: courtesy RCR Arquitectes//Muraba The building’s 'super-thin' appearance is meant to evoke traditional Arabian domestic architecture, revealing itself from behind a series of 'veils' comprising stainless steel mesh that helps to dematerialize its sil...

This post is brought to you by Tulane School of Architecture Next week in New Orleans, the Tulane University School of Architecture will be hosting the two-day Gulf Coast Climate Futures Symposium in collaboration with the School of Engineering and supported by the National Academies of Sciences Engineering and Medicine Gulf Research Program. Kate Orff, writer Nathaniel Rich, and David Waggonner will be among the invited speakers spread across three moderated panels, each bringing their own perspective on climate adaptation and decarbonizing the built environment. The school says the symposium aims to consider the visions and tools that advance toward the targets set forth by the 2015 Paris Agreement. It will also serve as context and grounding for the basis of Tulane’s brand new cross-disciplinary Master of Landscape + Engineering (MLA-MS RCSE) program from Tulane's School of Architecture and School of Science and Engineering. Two others — the newly launched Center on Climate Cha...

The latest addition to Airbnb’s icon series is now offering guests the unique chance to sleep in a replica of the Maitland home from Tim Burton's recent update to the 1988 classic Beetlejuice. The fictional future stay isn’t too far away from the real-life literary haunt of West Cornwall, Connecticut, that was imitated for the movies (though fans will know they were both filmed in Vermont). Delia Deetz is listed as its host. She says: "Although shrouded in black to mourn Charles’ passing, the interior is unparalleled, curated by none other than yours truly, rescued from the pedestrian eye of its previous owners. And, in return for your undying support, I will teach you to Create with a capital C in the first-ever art class from beyond the grave." (Please note: their rules require a six-guest maximum) Image courtesy Airbnb Image courtesy Airbnb Image courtesy Airbnb Image courtesy Airbnb

As Archinect reported earlier this week, the latest AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index shows that U.S. architectural business conditions remain turbulent. Billings have declined at firms for over one and a half years, according to the index, while our monthly Archinect State of AEC series has noted that the challenging conditions are spread across all U.S. geographical regions. To find out how architects, particularly firm owners, can navigate the current downturn, we recently spoke with former HOK CEO and Chairman Patrick MacLeamy on the subject. Through his long career at HOK, and his book Designing a World-Class Architecture Firm: The People, Stories, and Strategies Behind HOK, MacLeamy has accumulated a wealth of knowledge on how firms can survive poor economic conditions. As our feature article shows, a majority of MacLeamy’s advice for firms take place long before a downturn hits, underscoring the need for architects to adhere to healthy practice management principles so t...

Here’s a brief construction update on the BIG-led new KING Toronto development with Diamond Schmitt Architects. The design pays homage to the definitive modularity of Moshe Safdie’s seminal Habitat 67, with 514 units rotated on a 45-degree angle and arranged as through a canyon overlooking the nightlife-centric King Street West corridor. Ingels says it will top out soon at 16 stories after beginning construction in mid-2020. This "experimental" addition will be the Danish firm’s third project for developer Westbank, following Vancouver House and the Telus Sky tower in Calgary.

Several local New York outlets have reported an update on the financial dispute between the Chrysler Building’s owner-operator RFR and The Cooper Union, which has held the land use rights to its lot since 1902. The Austrian-based developer purchased William Van Alen’s landmarked design for $150 million in 2019 and is now being threatened with eviction by the college after reportedly not paying rent since May. RFR in turn filed a lawsuit last month, claiming "an improper and fatally defective eviction proceeding" on the part of Cooper Union. The ground rent is now expected to increase to $41 million by 2028, adding to the challenges posed by its inability to retain tenants because of poor cell phone reception and unsanitary taps. The suit also claims Cooper Union's reaction to student-led anti-war protests this past year has led others to withdraw. The college has since called these claims "irrelevant, scandalous, and prejudicial.”

Preliminary construction work on the mind-boggling Mukaab tower scheme has been reported in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The cube-like structure, whose volume is equivalent to 64 million cubic meters (more than 2.2 billion cubic feet), is apparently large enough to contain 20 Empire State Buildings. It will become the centerpiece of a new downtown core for the city called ‘New Murabba’ once completed. Image courtesy New Murabba At its core, another tower-like structure anchors over 21.5 million square feet of floor space dedicated to shopping and inspired by traditional Islamic architecture. Montreal-based AtkinsRéalis has been named as the designer. Promotional video for the Mukaab tower scheme. Via Public Investment Fund/YouTube Its stated dimensions mean it would surpass the Boeing Everett Factory in Washington State to become the world's largest building upon completion. Construction is said to require some 900 workers on-site daily and will likely wrap up by the end of 2030. ...

Johnston Marklee founders Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee are curating a new exhibition at the L.A. branch of the Sean Kelly Gallery this fall that will showcase the brilliant building photography of Candida Höfer, the German-born winner of the 2024 Käthe Kollwitz Prize.

The embattled owner of Frank Lloyd Wright’s landmark Price Tower in Bartlesville Oklahoma has filed suit against The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy in order to void liens which have been placed on the property, the New York Times is reporting. The nonprofit had previously taken action against the Copper Tree Group, which is managed by investor Cynthia Blanchard, in order to prevent sales of original furniture from the building that were under the protection of a preservation easement dating to 2011. Blanchard's attorneys are repeating their original claims that the orders no longer pertain post-sale. The company is now seeking $75,000 in damages in addition to an injunction against the Conservancy for "interfering" with the sale of the building or furniture. In yet another complication, the Times reports its previously scheduled October 7th auction has been pushed back to November 18th in response to a separate lawsuit from a Tulsa-based developer who claims to have signed ...

The latest AIA/Deltek Architecture Billings Index has shown a continued decline in billings through last month. The September ABI remains at 45.7, where it also sat in August. Any score below 50.0 indicates a decline. The findings mark the twentieth consecutive month of declines in the ABI index. “Despite recently announced rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, clients are still cautious about future projects,” the AIA notes about the latest figures. “Inquiries into potential new projects continued to increase, but the pace has slowed since the beginning of the year. And the value of newly signed design contracts at firms decreased for the sixth consecutive month in September, although the pace of that decline has moderated somewhat over the last few months.” “However, firms continue to report average backlogs of 6.4 months, which remains above pre-pandemic historical averages and is a good indicator of existing work in the pipeline, even if new work coming in has slowed,” the AIA adds...

Meier Partners has shared the latest images of their completed Sorol Art Museum project in Gangneung, South Korea. The update follows the February debut of the 336,500-square-foot museum, which is dedicated to Korean artists and designed to elicit the aesthetic tenets of Confucian philosophy. The firm’s first completed work since restructuring in 2021 matches the site’s topographical conditions while arranging galleries in a T-shaped circulatory route that enables a "personal journey of discovery." Dukho Yeon, the Partner-in-Charge for the project, described at its opening as a "modest but lyrical composition incised into this spectacular landscape that would become the perfect backdrop for art and remain forever memorable to all who visit." You can see for yourself in Roland Halbe’s photos below. Three other projects, including a new children’s museum and the Kiwoom Finance Square tower, will follow in Seoul. Image: © Roland Halbe Image: © Roland Halbe Image: © Roland Halbe Image: © R...

Following our previous look at an opening for a Capital Projects Manager at the DC Public Library, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for an Art Director at the University of Southern California. The role, based in Los Angeles, calls for an individual to “lead the direction of all materials and visual media produced by the school.” Among the responsibilities for the role will be overseeing the school’s visual brand identity across media and publications, as well as leading creative design projects according to the school’s brand. The school hopes to attract applicants from those with a “thorough understanding of digital media and evolving online platforms” as well as expertise in photography, typography, and printing. USC studio environment. Image courtesy of USC School of Architecture Why the role interests us The open role at USC comes only weeks after Archinect interviewed the new Dean of the institution’s schoo...

HOK’s Anica Landreneau, the chair of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Steering Committee, has sat down for an in-house interview published by the firm in a preview of the changes contained in the LEED v5 update. The new changes align with the Paris Agreement, AIA 2030, MEP 2040, SE 2050 and ASLA 2040 plans. "The top priority is rapid decarbonization to address the urgency of the climate crisis. Approximately half of the 110 points for achieving LEED v5 certification is based on decarbonization," she explained. "That represents a much greater emphasis on decarbonization than ever before. Then a quarter of the points focus on biodiversity, ecology and the natural world, which promotes resilience but also the survival of all species on the planet. Another quarter of the points focus on human health and well-being—the quality of life and the human experience." The LEED v5 is designed for use between 2025 and 2030. You can learn more about the most common environmental certificatio...

The State of California has announced a new wave of grants through its Earthquake Soft-Story (ESS) program that will offer homeowners small $13,000 grants to be used in seismic retrofits. The grants apply to qualified homeowners in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles and could be a potential windfall for architects with expertise in such projects. Only one- and two-story homes with dwelling space above a garage are eligible, according to MSN. Seismic events in L.A. County in 2024 recently surpassed numbers that haven't been seen in decades.

A new study funded by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) using climate data to predict the cost of maintenance for military facilities threatened by extreme weather events has outlined new approaches for estimating condition loss and reduction of services. The findings, which can be applied to civilian organizations with similarly large building portfolios, aim to "understand the risks that may be present in certain buildings and building systems" with the aid of a specially-developed damage matrix (or DAM). The risk calculations from the DAM are then applied to specific facilities to compute potential damages. Related on Archinect: Department of Defense plans climate adaptation strategies for military bases Iowa State University associate professor Christina Patricola, who led the team national researchers, explains: "We calculate future changes in extreme weather based on climate model simulations and translate it to estimate how much certain components of a building are expecte...

Inspiration and Tools for Architects

These award-winning case studies in spectacular settings prove that architecture can be truly one with its environment.

The post Blending Architecture and Nature: Meet the 2024 Best of LaCantina Winners! appeared first on Journal.

Architizer is thrilled to unveil the winners of one of this year’s most exciting architectural design contests! Now in its seventh year, the Best of LaCantina design competition attracted outstanding submissions from leading architecture and design firms across the United States. This year’s winning projects showcase the extraordinary versatility of LaCantina’s door and window systems with more originality than ever, highlighting a multitude ways that their products can be harnessed to create seamless indoor-outdoor connections for clients. Located in diverse geographies across the country, these award-winning designs highlight the transformative impact that LaCantina Doors can have on spaces, whether in rural, suburban, or urban settings. The winner of the coveted Best in Show prize is Colorado-based firm KA Designworks, which scooped the top accolade for Cortina 10, a stunning mountain residence with breathtaking views perfectly framed by LaCantina bifold doors. KA Designworks wins two tickets plus travel and accommodation to the 2025 AIA Conference in Boston, as well as a special editorial feature on Architizer, to be published in the coming weeks. Without further ado, let’s explore the 2024 Best of LaCantina winners, each of which forms a compelling case study illustrating how — with the right windows and doors — architecture can be truly one with its environment. Best in Show: Cortina 10 by KA Designworks, Mountain Village, Colorado Collaborators: Aceto Landscape Architects Photo by Dallas and Harris Photography Photo by Dallas and Harris Photography Nestled in the breathtaking San Juan Mountains of Colorado, Cortina 10 is a ski-in/ski-out residence that harmonizes luxurious indoor living with the rugged beauty of its surroundings. The home’s open design invites guests to take in nearly 180-degree views of the landscape through vast glass elements that allow natural light to flood the interior. Key to this design are the folding doors by LaCantina, which open up the great room to an expansive deck equipped with seating, a fire-pit, outdoor kitchen and hot tub. KA Designworks praised LaCantina for their ability to “open entire walls,” transforming decks into vibrant outdoor living spaces. These folding doors blur the line between indoors and outdoors, allowing residents to enjoy the beauty of the mountains without leaving the comfort of the home. “It’s not just about creating a space; it’s about crafting an experience that celebrates the interplay between architecture and nature,” the firm explained. In addition to enhancing the home’s visual appeal, LaCantina’s folding doors excel in thermal performance, ensuring that the home remains energy efficient despite its large glass openings. “We were able to bask in those breathtaking views without compromising on energy efficiency or overall building performance,” says the firm, underscoring the perfect balance of style and function that LaCantina brings to this remarkable mountain residence. Most Innovative & Best Compact Project: Portage Bay Float Home by Studio DIAA, Seattle, Washington Photo by Kevin Scott Photo by Kevin Scott The Portage Bay Float Home, a 650-square-foot floating residence on Seattle’s Lake Union, exemplifies how thoughtful design can expand small spaces. This high-craft home uses LaCantina doors — including dual inswing kitchen doors, multislide doors for the living room and sliding pocket doors for the bedrooms — to create a fluid connection between the interior and the surrounding deck. These carefully chosen elements allow the home to gather and reflect light, fostering a sense of spaciousness and making the outdoor deck feel like an integral part of the living area. Studio DIAA emphasized their design philosophy, saying: “We chose LaCantina doors as a key element of our design [because they] facilitate an uninterrupted connection between the indoors and outdoors.” They explained that LaCantina doors “played a pivotal role in redefining the spatial dynamics of the home,” by “allowing us to expand the living area beyond its physical confines” and creating a harmonious flow between indoor and outdoor spaces. This intentional design approach dissolved traditional boundaries, making the deck feel like an extension of the home’s total square footage. Best Urban Residential Project: Modern Mediterranean by BBA Architects, Chicago, Illinois Collaborators: Bigane Construction, Dawn Reeves Interior Design Photo by Mike Schwartz The Modern Mediterranean home blends classic Mediterranean architecture with a modern twist, creating a bright and airy space that maximizes its double lot in the city. The design strategically places floor-to-ceiling windows and generous openings to bring in natural light while maintaining privacy. One of the key features is a custom LaCantina servery window which BBA Architects explains “functions as a pocketing window, opening completely to the covered terrace as the panels stack and tuck into the wall,” transforming the kitchen into a seamless indoor-outdoor space. BBA Architects highlighted how the LaCantina doors seamlessly connect the interior to the exterior. This thoughtful design creates an ideal space for entertaining, with the firm noting that the bi-parting door “allows for a continuous entertaining space between the kitchen and back terrace,” blending style and function to enhance the overall experience of the home. Best Suburban Residential Project: The Trailblazer by Citizen.Design, Renton, Washington Photo by Andrew Storey Photo by Andrew Storey Situated on an 18-acre wooded site in Maple Valley, Washington, the Trailblazer is a contemporary home that smoothly blends with the natural landscape. The house is composed of four rotated gabled volumes, connected by light-filled breezeways that invite nature into the circulation spaces. At the heart of the design, a 20-foot-wide by 10-foot-tall LaCantina sliding door connects the main living room and the family room to an outdoor living area, offering expansive views of the nearby creek and creating a strong indoor-outdoor connection. The architecture firm chose LaCantina for its contemporary look and praised the doors’ “thin stiles and rails and the flush stacking feature,” which were key factors in specifying the system. The doors helped overcome the challenge of creating a large opening, and the firm noted that they were able to “utilize a nearly flush sill between the interior concrete floors and the exterior concrete patio,” ensuring a subtle transition between indoor and outdoor spaces. The result is a home that flows naturally, with LaCantina doors enhancing both the aesthetics and functionality of the design. Best Rural Residential: Little House/Big Shed by David Van Galen Architecture, Langley, Washington Contractor: Jade Craftsman Builders; Supplier: Island Sash and Door, Inc. Photo by Lara Swimmer Photo by Lara Swimmer Set within a second-growth forest, Little House/Big Shed is a tranquil retreat designed to blend harmoniously with its natural surroundings. The home’s connection to the landscape is enhanced through thoughtful siting, large expanses of glass, and the use of LaCantina folding doors, which open the interior to the surrounding fir trees. These doors provide access to a spacious deck, creating a continuous relationship between internal and external living spaces. The architects noted that the doors “played a significant role in the primary goal of the project: to insert the house as seamlessly as possible into the ecology of the site.” The expansive scale of the doors and their ease of use were key to achieving the design’s success, allowing the home to intimately connect with the forest while maintaining a sense of openness and light. Best Commercial Project: Ponzi Vineyards – Laurelwood Event Space by Fogelstrom Design Build Co., Sherwood, Oregon Photo by Cheryl Juetten and William James Photo by Cheryl Juetten and William James This carefully detailed addition to the Ponzi Vineyards Tasting Room was designed to create delicately subtle transitions between the interior event space and the private outdoor terraces overlooking the vineyards. Central to this design are the LaCantina bi-parting multislide doors, which span an impressive 10-foot by 20-foot opening from floor to ceiling. These large glass doors allow visitors to experience uninterrupted views of the vineyard while enjoying the event space indoors. The architecture firm highlighted the doors’ “perfectly clean detailing” and how they “allow the space to gracefully flow to the outside terrace and to the surrounding landscape.” They noted that, when stacked, “it’s as though there are only two doors instead of four,” creating a sleek, unobstructed connection to the outdoors. Best Renovation Project: Bel Air by Matic Design and Build, Santa Barbara, California Photo by Eric Foote Photo by Eric Foote The redevelopment of this Bel Air residence nimbly merges indoor and outdoor living through the use of custom LaCantina folding doors. Spanning 14, 12, and 10 feet respectively, these floor-to-ceiling doors open up the home to expansive views of the surrounding landscape. By connecting the main living areas and bedrooms to outdoor terraces, the LaCantina doors create a natural flow between the interior and exterior spaces, offering a luxurious, open feel. Matic Design and Build emphasized how the doors’ custom sizes and 84-inch height were crucial to achieving the desired effect, as they needed something beyond the standard 80 inches. The firm also noted how the doors integrate flawlessly into the wood interior frames, providing both aesthetic appeal and functional performance. The result is a home that feels effortlessly connected to its stunning outdoor surroundings. Best Unbuilt/Planned Concept: Desert Pearl Residence by Flynn Architecture & Design, Phoenix, Arizona Rendering by Flynn A&D/Matt Flynn Rendering by Flynn A&D/Matt Flynn The Desert Pearl Residence, set against desert mountains, was designed for an artist and astronomer, with LaCantina’s thermally-controlled folding and sliding doors central to the design. The living-kitchen space features six bays of three-panel folding doors that open fully to the mountains to the south and the shaded courtyard to the north, creating a seamless connection between the interior and the surrounding landscape. The architecture firm explained that the thermally-broken aluminum frames were “key to making the main living space of the house a success,” providing essential protection from the Arizona heat. The open doors “allow free movement between mountains, water, food, and shade,” pulling the center of the home outdoors during cooler months. Matching aluminum frames throughout ensured a cohesive, streamlined look. These projects demonstrate the versatility and impact of LaCantina’s products in creating beautiful, functional spaces that connect seamlessly with their surroundings. Each of the 2024 winners has used LaCantina doors and windows to redefine how their buildings engage with the outdoors, offering spaces that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also practical and inviting. Explore more case studies and learn about the systems behind these winning designs at LaCantinaDoors.com. The post Blending Architecture and Nature: Meet the 2024 Best of LaCantina Winners! appeared first on Journal.

In celebration of the accolade, Mecanoo's Nuno Fontarra discusses everything from the Dutch firm's trajectory to the beauty of architecture.

The post Cultivating Connection: Mecanoo Is Architizer’s 2024 Firm of the Year appeared first on Journal.

For centuries, the Netherlands has been a global design innovator; Dutch architects have long pushed the rest of the world to rethink what architecture can and should do. Holland’s contemporary building culture is no different, exemplified by the Delft-based design powerhouse Mecanoo. With its earliest projects focusing on social housing and urban renewal, the firm built its foundation with a strong user focus. They have made their name by designing buildings that are inextricable from their surroundings and demonstrating the power of design to open new possibilities for society. The key to Mecanoo’s change-making designs is a strong interdisciplinary approach — architecture, urban planning, landscape architecture and interior design — applied across typologies. Founded in 1984, this year marked 40 change-making years for the firm. And now, with an impressive list of recently completed projects and construction underway on a bevy of ambitious new designs, Mecanoo has been named Architizer’s Firm of the Year for the 12th Annual A+Awards. The firm will officially receive its prestigious prize at Architizer’s A+Awards Gala in Chengdu this November. Stay tuned for more coverage! More About A+Awards If Mecanoo’s work were encapsulated by a single word, it would be “connection.” Their structures are not only conceived to connect with a larger urban or environmental context, but they are also bridges from our contemporary moment to a better future; they also cultivate links between users and communities and the firm’s collaborative spirit — now across borders as they tackle global projects — connects cultures. Indeed, their projects are remarkable in how they distill the global nature of contemporary building culture down to a contextually local level, always bringing something new to the table. In the following interview, we sat down with Nuno Fontarra, an Associate Partner who has been with Mecanoo for over twenty years, to reflect on the firm’s past, present and future achievements. Macau Central Library by Mecanoo, Macao Tell us a little about your story — how did you get started? How did your firm grow? It all started from Mecanoo’s journey started in 1984 with a group of passionate students driven by creativity and the ambition to make a difference. 40 years later, while the firm has evolved, its mission remains unwavering: to design inspiring spaces that connect communities, adapt to future needs and remain socially relevant. Guided by our core philosophy of People, Place, Purpose, and Poetry. From the beginning, our focus has been on creating architecture that not only stands out for its beauty and functionality but also connects deeply with its surroundings and the communities it serves. This philosophy has guided us as we’ve continued to explore new ideas and embrace a multidisciplinary approach. Over the years, our team has expanded to include talented professionals from over 25 different nationalities. This diversity has been at the core of our success, bringing a rich variety of perspectives to every project we undertake and allowing us to design with a global mindset. Today, Mecanoo has a strong global presence, working on projects that span continents, yet we remain true to our Dutch roots. Our ability to adapt, innovate and engage with the unique cultural and social contexts of each location has been central to our evolution. This blend of local insight and global perspective has transformed Mecanoo from a Dutch firm into an internationally recognized architectural practice. National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts (Wei-Wu-Ying) by Mecanoo, Kaohsiung, Taiwan Looking back, which of your projects do you feel was the most significant to the firm’s development and why? Looking back, I would say the Library Delft University of Technology, completed in 1998, stands out as one of the most significant projects in Mecanoo’s oeuvre. At the time, there wasn’t as much emphasis on sustainable architecture as there is today, but with this project, we were able to push boundaries and set a precedent for integrating sustainable design into large-scale public buildings. The library’s green roof was truly innovative for its time. Back in the time, the concept of green integration wasn’t new, however, how we executed it with a fully accessible, sloping grass roof that not only insulated the building but also created a recreational space for students and the public was unprecedented. Library Delft University of Technology by Mecanoo, Delft, The Netherlands This combination of landscape, architecture and sustainability, all within an educational environment, was one of the first of its kind. The project also marked a shift for Mecanoo in terms of how we approached design. It wasn’t just about creating a building, but about merging the building with its environment and making sustainability a core element of the architecture. The Library Delft University of Technology became the foundation for many of our later works, influencing how we think about sustainable design and the integration of green spaces into our buildings. Ultimately, the Library Delft University of Technology allowed Mecanoo to showcase our ability to innovate and think ahead, and it remains a milestone in our journey as a firm committed to creating spaces that are both visionary and sustainable. Tainan Public Library by Mecanoo, Tainan, Taiwan How do you feel your firm’s unique cultural and environmental context has shaped its evolution, particularly as it has expanded to design and build in countries outside of the Netherlands? A significant part of our success today is undeniably tied to the diversity within our team. While our roots are Dutch, the broad range of cultures, experiences and perspectives from our diverse architects have shaped a unique company culture that drives our ability to expand globally. This variety of cultural backgrounds enables us to approach each project with insights that go beyond merely addressing the physical environment. It’s about truly engaging with the social fabric and communities we design for, ensuring that our work resonates on a local level. This dynamic mix of global perspectives, combined with the Dutch spirit of innovation, allows us to create design solutions that are not only forward-thinking but also tailored to the specific needs and narratives of each location. It is this blend of local engagement and diverse viewpoints that has truly driven Mecanoo’s growth and evolution on the international stage. Perth Museum by Mecanoo, Perth, United Kingdom What does winning Architizer’s Firm of the Year Award mean to you and the firm? This recognition is a tremendous honour for all of us at Mecanoo. It is a celebration of our journey as a firm, as we have committed for over 40 years, from our early days in the Netherlands to becoming a truly global practice. This award acknowledges our years of dedication and inspires us to continue our mission of designing with purpose, always seeking to connect people, place, and culture through our work. It fuels our passion for innovation and reinforces our commitment to creating architecture that leaves a lasting, positive impact on the world. Shenzhen Guangming Scientist Valley by Mecanoo, Shenzhen, China If you had one piece of advice to offer the next generation of architects, what would it be? At Mecanoo, one of our greatest strengths is the diversity within our team, and this has shaped the way we approach architecture. For the younger generation, I would encourage you to embrace your individuality and unique experiences. It’s easy to fall into the idea that there is a “normal” path to follow in design, but in reality, it’s the differences in who we are, where we come from, and how we see the world that add richness and depth to architecture. Every architect brings their own story, background, culture and personal experiences. At Mecanoo, we’ve learned that it’s these personal nuances, these diverse perspectives, that create the poetry and soul in architecture. The beauty of architecture lies in its ability to be different, to reflect the people it serves and the context it belongs to. So, I would say to the next generation: find your voice, celebrate what makes you different, and apply that uniqueness in your designs. It’s those small, personal touches that make architecture not just functional, but truly meaningful and special. Top image: Villa BW by Mecanoo, Schoorl, Netherlands The post Cultivating Connection: Mecanoo Is Architizer’s 2024 Firm of the Year appeared first on Journal.

Fashion and architecture may seem like separate worlds, but they are deeply connected — and here's why that matters.

The post The Role of Geometry: How Fashion and Architecture Share a Common Language appeared first on Journal.

Ema is a trained architect, writer and photographer who works as a Junior Architect at REX in NYC. Inspired by her global experiences, she shares captivating insights into the world’s most extraordinary cities and buildings and provides travel tips on her blog, The Travel Album. Fashion and architecture may appear to belong to entirely different creative worlds, but beneath the surface, they share a deep connection rooted in geometry. Both disciplines rely on shapes, patterns and proportions to give form to their designs, creating structures — whether wearable or habitable — that are deeply informed by geometry. The language of geometry allows architects and fashion designers alike to explore space, materiality, and form in ways that transform their respective fields. I wanted to write an article that could provide a unique perspective on a topic that people don’t often consider. Join me as I explore how geometry serves as a foundational element for both architecture and fashion, examine key examples from both worlds and analyze how these forms continue to influence and inspire creativity across both disciplines. Geometry as a Universal Design Language Issey Miyake by AEDS | Ammar Eloueini Digit-all Studio Geometry, by its very nature, is universal — it provides an essential framework through which designers can communicate form, structure and proportions. Whether it’s the shape of a building or the cut of a garment, geometry helps to establish order and balance in design. In both architecture and fashion, geometry is a tool for innovation, allowing designers to create objects that are visually compelling, functional and aesthetically aligned with mathematical principles. In architecture, geometry helps shape entire buildings and their spatial layouts. Architects employ geometric principles to design everything from building façades to interior spaces. In classical architecture, symmetry and proportion were paramount, with designs often based on mathematical ratios like the Golden Ratio to ensure balance and harmony. In modern architecture, geometry continues to play a crucial role, with more experimental forms emerging through the use of complex shapes, tessellations and non-Euclidean geometry. Similarly, fashion designers use geometry to develop patterns, cuts and silhouettes, using shapes to enhance the movement, structure and visual impact of their garments. Geometry in Fashion: From Silhouette to Structure Issey Miyake Marunouchi, Tokyo, Japan by TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA DESIGN Issey Miyake Pleats Please by Clouds Architecture Office, New York City, New York In fashion, geometry begins with pattern-making — the process of creating two-dimensional templates that are then sewn together to create three-dimensional garments. Every piece of clothing starts with basic geometric shapes — rectangles, circles, triangles or trapezoids — that are combined and manipulated to shape the human body. Designers use geometry to tailor garments to fit the body in specific ways, creating shapes that are both flattering and functional. For instance, Japanese designer Issey Miyake is known for his revolutionary use of geometric shapes in fashion. His collections often include garments made from simple yet precise geometric forms that fold, pleat or expand to create intricate designs. Miyake’s use of geometry is not just about aesthetics; it’s about engineering movement and flexibility into the fabric, allowing the garments to transform as the wearer moves. His iconic “Pleats Please” collection, for example, uses geometric pleating to create garments that change in shape and volume, emphasizing the relationship between fabric, form and motion. Another fashion house that has embraced geometry is Balenciaga. Known for its sculptural silhouettes, Balenciaga’s designs frequently feature bold, geometric shapes that exaggerate proportions — whether through boxy jackets, sharply angled shoulders or trapezoidal dresses. This architectural approach to fashion design illustrates how geometry can be used to create striking visual effects and push the boundaries of conventional garment construction. Geometry in Architecture: From Façades to Spatial Layouts Heydar Aliyev Centre by Zaha Hadid Architects, Baku, Azerbaijan | Photo by Sharon Tzarfati Photography In architecture, geometry is not just a tool for designing individual elements but for orchestrating the entire spatial experience of a building. From ancient pyramids and Gothic cathedrals to modern skyscrapers, geometry has always been integral to architectural form. Architects use geometric patterns to create rhythm and harmony in their designs, often drawing inspiration from natural forms or mathematical concepts like symmetry, tessellation, and fractals. A powerful example of geometry in modern architecture is the work of Zaha Hadid. Known for her fluid, organic designs, Hadid frequently used non-Euclidean geometry to create futuristic buildings that challenge traditional architectural forms. Buildings like the Heydar Aliyev Center in Azerbaijan feature sweeping curves and complex geometries that seem to defy gravity, creating spaces that feel both otherworldly and deeply connected to natural forms. Hadid’s work illustrates how geometry can be used to push the boundaries of architectural form, creating spaces that are as visually dynamic as they are functional. In contrast, architects like Tadao Ando and Mies van der Rohe have used more rectilinear, grid-based geometries to create clean, minimalist spaces. Ando’s use of simple geometric forms — squares, circles and triangles — helps create a sense of order and tranquility in his work, often enhancing the interaction between light and shadow. Mies van der Rohe, on the other hand, famously used the grid as a geometric organizing principle in his designs, creating buildings like the Barcelona Pavilion and the Farnsworth House that celebrate the purity of geometry through their clean lines and open, transparent spaces. The Intersection of Geometry in Fashion and Architecture BEYOND THE CATWALK, 2003 The relationship between fashion and architecture is perhaps most evident in the way both disciplines use geometry to explore the interplay between structure and fluidity. For both fashion designers and architects, geometry offers a way to break free from traditional forms and create something new — whether it’s a garment that transforms with movement or a building that challenges conventional ideas of space. One of the most striking intersections between fashion and architecture comes from collaborations between architects and fashion designers. Architect Hussein Chalayan, for instance, has seamlessly merged the two disciplines by creating fashion pieces that are both architectural and transformative. In his 2007 collection, Chalayan unveiled garments that could transform from one shape into another, using motors and mechanics to physically alter the structure of the clothing in real-time. This exploration of geometry and movement demonstrates how fashion can borrow from architecture’s principles of form and structure to create innovative designs. Similarly, fashion designer Iris van Herpen is known for her architectural approach to fashion design. By incorporating 3D printing and laser cutting into her work, van Herpen creates garments that are not only sculptural but also deeply rooted in geometric principles. Her designs often feature intricate, repeating patterns reminiscent of architectural facades, illustrating how geometry can be used to blur the boundaries between the body and the environment. Geometry’s Future in Fashion and Architecture CHRISTOPHER MACSURAK, Iris van Herpen – Haute Couture Spring Summer 2012 (51), CC BY 2.0 As technology advances, the use of geometry in both fashion and architecture is likely to become even more innovative. New tools like 3D printing, parametric design, and algorithmic modeling allow designers in both fields to explore complex geometries that were once impossible to achieve. These technologies open up new possibilities for creating structures—whether wearable or habitable—that are more responsive, adaptive, and sustainable. In fashion, 3D printing has already begun to revolutionize how designers think about geometry and form. Designers can now create garments with intricate, customized geometric patterns that are printed directly onto the fabric, allowing for a level of precision and complexity that was previously unattainable. In architecture, parametric design allows architects to use algorithms to generate complex geometric forms that respond to environmental conditions, creating buildings that are not only aesthetically striking but also highly functional. Fashion and Architecture, A Common Language Issey Miyake London by TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA DESIGN, London, United Kingdom In both fashion and architecture, geometry serves as a common language that allows designers to explore new forms, create structure, and push the boundaries of creativity. Whether through the precise tailoring of a garment or the innovative design of a building, geometry offers a way to blend aesthetics with functionality, creating designs that are as visually captivating as they are purposeful. As technology continues to evolve, the use of geometry in both fields will undoubtedly lead to even more exciting possibilities, allowing designers to create ever-more innovative and boundary-breaking designs. The 13th A+Awards invites firms to submit a range of timely new categories, emphasizing architecture that balances local innovation with global vision. Your projects deserve the spotlight, so start your submission today! The post The Role of Geometry: How Fashion and Architecture Share a Common Language appeared first on Journal.

From podcasts to online courses and everything in between, this year’s A+Awards jury features some of the industry's most influential voices.

The post A+Awards Jury Welcomes 8 Creators Leading the Architectural Knowledge-Sharing Revolution appeared first on Journal.

With a diverse jury of global experts and a global voting public, Architizer's A+Awards champions firms around the world. Get your work in front of the industry's best by starting your submission today. The A+Awards are back, and with the Main Entry Deadline on December 6th, this is your chance to get your work in front of the biggest names in architecture and beyond. With over 250 distinguished members, our diverse jury represents a global mix of experts from across architecture, design, publishing, technology and more. Each year, we invite new leaders who are pushing boundaries and shaping the future of the built environment in many different ways. Enter the 13th Annual A+Awards Among this year’s new additions, eight standout voices are making waves in the knowledge-sharing revolution, from online educators and content creators to pioneers redefining how architecture is learned and shared. These well-known figures are transforming the industry through podcasts, online courses and free educational resources that inspire the next generation of architects and designers. As jurors, they reflect the A+Awards’ commitment to fresh, diverse perspectives that are shaping the future of architecture. Learn more about each juror and how they’re influencing architecture’s future through their unique approaches to knowledge-sharing: Caitlin Brady Host, Architectette Podcast & Project Architect, Ayers Saint Gross Caitlin is an architect, creative problem solver and community builder. She is a Project Architect and Associate at Ayers Saint Gross. Professionally and personally, she is dedicated to the advancement of emerging professionals, focusing volunteer efforts largely with organizations such as her bi-weekly podcast for women+ in architecture, Architectette; ACE Mentors; and AIA/ Emerging Architect Committees that empower students, upcoming professionals, and less represented populations in architecture. She has been recognized for her dedication to the profession with the Alpha Chi Rho Medal for Leadership and Service, 2023 AIA|DC Emerging Architect Award, and 2021 Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation Emerging Leader Award. David Drazil Founder of Sketch Like an Architect; Published Author; Teacher David Drazil is an architect who loves to sketch. He’s the founder of the SketchLikeAnArchitect.com and a teacher with more than 15,000 online students in his courses. David is also an author of three books on architectural sketching. He is focused on helping architects and designers to improve their clarity of visual communication through his educational resources on both analog and digital sketching and drawing. Evelyn Lee Founder and CEO, Practice of Architecture Evelyn M. Lee, FAIA, is an architect turned tech entrepreneur who blends her design background with a passion for innovation. As an angel investor, startup advisor and fractional COO, she helps drive growth for architecture firms, embracing new ways of practicing. Lee is the founder of Practice of Architecture and hosts the Practice Disrupted podcast with over 50,000 listeners globally. A sought-after speaker and Architizer columnist, she provides insights on integrating technology, leadership development, and better business operations within the architecture practice. Lee also champions inclusivity as an advisor for Women Defining AI, inspiring women to close the gender gap within the tech industry. Filip Kurasz Founding Partner, ELEMENT Filip Kurasz is a dynamic creative, juggling roles as an artist, art director, and architect. Inspired by childhood passions and fueled by an entrepreneurial spirit, has co-guided ELEMENT Studio to the forefront of Archviz over the past decade and now became a proud co-founder of the World Visualization Festival – WVF. His knack for pushing boundaries earned him titles like Architectural Visualizer of the Year 2023 and nods from the Architizer A+Awards. When he’s not crafting masterpieces, Filip enjoys tackling obstacle races and finding joy in family adventures. Always striving for the next creative challenge, he brings a touch of lightheartedness to everything he does. Jakub Figel Founding Partner, ELEMENT and Founder, World Visualization Festival (WVF) Jakub Figel is a powerhouse connecting the worlds of art and architecture. His entrepreneurial drive leads him down unconventional paths, co-founding the World Visualization Festival (WVF) and spearheading ELEMENT Visualization Studio to become a recognizable figure in Archviz for over a decade. Jakub’s achievements include prestigious titles like Architectural Visualization Studio and Visualization of the Year 2023 and a Special Mention at the Architizer A+Awards. Georgina Wilson Principal, Georgina Wilson Associates Georgina Wilson is the founder and principal of Georgina Wilson Associates, bringing with her over 20 years’ experience designing award-winning homes and commercial spaces. As the creative director and principal architect Georgina’s designs offer both beauty and practicality, with each project facilitated by her talented team, under her expert instruction. Georgina takes great pride in translating the all-important client/designer conversation into spaces and structures that are illustrative of the way each of her clients want to uniquely live, work and play. In 2023, Georgina launched ‘Ask an Architect’, a digital platform of resources and practical tools for people undertaking home renovations anywhere in the world! The platform offers recommended room layouts, budgeting and project management templates. Kevin Hui Director, Archimarathon One half of the Archimarathon duo, Kevin Hui is an architecture educator for over two decades at various universities. Kevin is an architecture tour curator and leader who has been on many incredible architecture tours around the world. Archimarathon’s video content creation on YouTube, Instagram and TikTok focuses on communicating and educating the public about the importance of good design in architecture. Rachael Bernstone Business Development and Marketing Adviser to Architects, Sounds Like Design Rachael Bernstone is a journalist-turned-business advisor to architects and an advocate for good design more broadly. She strongly believes that access to good design is an equity issue, and that only architects have the requisite skills to respond to some of the great challenges of our time, such as climate emergency and affordable housing shortages. Straddling the intersection of architecture and communications, Rachael holds a Bachelor of Arts (in Journalism, from RMIT) and a Masters in Architecture (History and Theory, from UNSW). In 2003, she was awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship to study sustainable and affordable housing, in the UK, Sweden, Finland and five cities across the United States. After interviewing more than 2000 practitioners globally as a journalist and researcher, Rachael observed a gap in their formal education around business development and marketing. To plug that gap, she founded a specialist communications consultancy – Sounds Like Design – in 2016. Today, her consulting services and online course simplify modern business development and marketing for architects, and she works with practice owners, directors and principals to create a reliable pipeline of new work and clients, leading to enhanced creativity, better wellbeing, more money, and a bigger impact. In addition, Rachael continues to work as a journalist – contributing to international publications such as Architectural Review and Design Anthology, and HOUSES, Habitus and Sanctuary magazines in Australia– to communicate the value of good design to a wider audience. With a diverse jury of global experts and a global voting public, Architizer's A+Awards champions firms around the world. Get your work in front of the industry's best by starting your submission today. The post A+Awards Jury Welcomes 8 Creators Leading the Architectural Knowledge-Sharing Revolution appeared first on Journal.

New technologies capable of replicating our architectural heritage raise questions about authenticity, cultural identity and ethics.

The post What if Architects Could Replicate Historic Buildings? appeared first on Journal.

Architizer's 13th A+Awards features a suite of sustainability-focused categories that recognizing designers that are building a green industry — and a better future. Start your entry to receive global recognition for your work! Architectural heritage has always been romanticized. Large conservation sites, cultural landmarks and even smaller historic buildings offer a gateway to the past, which admittedly cannot be reproduced through contemporary architecture. Mass production, quick and cheap construction and the need to cope with urban expansion and population growth have removed one key ingredient that heritage structures have: craftsmanship. Handcrafted elements, the attention to detail, and the slow process of constructing these buildings and sites have almost entirely faded in today’s (on-demand) architectural practice. Still, technological advancements such as 3d scanning and augmented reality, along with advanced 3d printing building techniques, make a different type of “promise” for the preservation of architectural heritage. They hold the capacity to replicate parts of historical structures with a level of precision that was previously unimaginable, with the most recent example being the Notre Dame de Paris restoration after the devastating fire in 2019. The Press by Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects, Costa Mesa, California | Jury and Popular Choice Winner, Commercial Renovations & Additions, 12th Annual A+Awards Amongst the architectural community, there have been countless discussions on heritage conservation. These technological advancements, however, also open up the question of heritage replication. What if these new recording and building practices could provide the blueprint for not only restoring but actually replicating the detail and craftsmanship of historic buildings? Could this technology (re)construct cities of the past and situate them in the present — literally? More importantly: What would the public perception of this be and would architects approve of such a gesture? Adaptive Reuse near Brooklyn Navy Yard by Worrell Yeung, New York City, New York Let’s start with authenticity. The biggest challenge to technological replication lies in the question of the authentic. What is the significance of a replica when it is indistinguishable from the original? Often, the value of original work lies in its history, not just through its physical form but also because of events, people and cultures they are associated with. Replicating a building perfectly may copy its physical form, but it cannot replicate its history or spirit. Places “stuck in time” such as Edinburgh’s old town or Rome’s historic centre, maintain their romanticised charm due to their “cultural baggage”. If we were to replicate the Royal Mile for example, on an empty piece of land located somewhere in south America, would it hold the same allure to the original one? Taoxichuan Ceramic Culture Industrial Park by Beijing AN-Design Architects, Jingdezhen, China This brings me to my next point: ethics. One significant concern is that of cultural appropriation. Advanced technology could enable nations or corporations to “copy” the heritage of other cultures without their consent or participation, bringing up issues of ownership, cultural respect, and historical context. Without careful consideration, this practice could strip heritage structures of their cultural significance and eventually commodify them. In parallel, technological replication greatly diminishes the impact of traditional craftsmanship, which in turn greatly influences the buildings themselves. By using 3D printers and robotic arms instead of the skilled hands and knowledge tied to ancient building techniques, historic structures may lose their cultural value as well as the human ingenuity responsible for their creation, not to mention the traces of erosion through time that make each building unique. Geneva Car Barn & Powerhouse by Aidlin Darling Design, San Francisco, California In theory, the idea of living in historic structures seems like an alluring option. The UK is currently selling churches for the mere amount of 50,000 pounds, ready to become occupied. It would be quite breathtaking to live in a city, where for instance, each individual house has the same charm and spatial complexity of a church. On the other hand, recreating polished, physical copies — even if they are considered historically and culturally significant — is essentially a different way of using mass production to satisfy a reminiscence of past eras, romantic ways of living and worlds of heritage, that are ultimately stripped of their cultural gravitas. Finally, what do architects have to say about replicating architectural heritage or more extensively creating cities made from history? The most conventional approach to architectural conservation, apart from restoring structures that serve as uninhabitable monuments, would be adaptive reuse, where old buildings are preserved, refurbished and updated to serve the needs of contemporary society, without however losing their character and historic charm. At the same time, some forward-thinking architects might embrace the possibilities of technology, seeing it as an opportunity to experiment with history, blending old and new elements that allow for creative reinterpretations that unlock new modes of making architectural heritage. Amherst College Powerhouse Student Event Space by Bruner/Cott & Associates, Inc., Amherst, Massachusetts Ultimately, the desirability of using technology in this way depends on how we balance the desire to preserve the past with the need to respect its inherent value and history. For some, a perfect replica may be a triumph of human achievement and technology. For others, it could represent a loss of something irreplaceable. Nevertheless, it is important to start such conversations, raising complex questions about authenticity, cultural identity and ethics in relation to technological advancements, especially when these are capable of altering not only the digital but more importantly the physical world. Architizer's 13th A+Awards features a suite of sustainability-focused categories that recognizing designers that are building a green industry — and a better future. Start your entry to receive global recognition for your work! Featured Image: Taoxichuan Ceramic Culture Industrial Park by Beijing AN-Design Architects, Jingdezhen, China The post What if Architects Could Replicate Historic Buildings? appeared first on Journal.

Seoul is a vibrant stage for global architectural discourse, featuring towering skyscrapers, historic conservation and futuristic complexes.

The post 30 Best Architecture and Design Firms in Seoul appeared first on Journal.

Rooted in the principles of Confucianism and harmony with nature, structures like Gyeongbokgung Palace reflect the Seoul’s ancient past. Fast forward to the 20th century, and modernist influences emerge, through buildings such as Kim Swoo Geun’s Space Group Building completed in 1971, which merges traditional Korean aesthetics with modernist principles. More recently projects such as Zaha Hadid’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza, the Seoullo 7017 Skygarden by MVRDV as well as the Amorepacific Headquarters by David Chipperfield Architects have provided the blueprint for the city’s contemporary architectural direction, where modern practices emphasize sustainability, smart technology integration and eco-friendly designs. Contemporary architecture firms in Seoul now focus on smart cities and create buildings that not only stand out visually but also address environmental concerns. This evolution makes Seoul a vibrant stage for global architectural discourse, acting as a design fusion that features towering skyscrapers along with historic conservation buildings and futuristic complexes. With so many architecture firms to choose from, it’s challenging for clients to identify the industry leaders that will be an ideal fit for their project needs. Fortunately, Architizer is able to provide guidance on the top design firms in Seoul, South Korea based on more than a decade of data and industry knowledge. How are these architecture firms ranked? The following ranking has been created according to key statistics that demonstrate each firm’s level of architectural excellence. The following metrics have been accumulated to establish each architecture firm’s ranking, in order of priority: The number of A+Awards won (2013 to 2024) The number of A+Awards finalists (2013 to 2024) The number of projects selected as “Project of the Day” (2009 to 2024) The number of projects selected as “Featured Project” (2009 to 2024) The number of projects uploaded to Architizer (2009 to 2024) Each of these metrics is explained in more detail at the foot of this article. This ranking list will be updated annually, taking into account new achievements of Seoul architecture firms throughout the year. Without further ado, here are the 30 best architecture firms in Seoul: 30. Leehong Kim Architects © Leehong Kim Architects Leehong Kim lives in Korea and operates Leehong Kim Architects in both Seoul and New York City. Work focuses on both architectural and conceptual works integrated to the given spatial condition. Some of Leehong Kim Architects’ most prominent projects include: 47 Modules, Seoul, South Korea The following statistics helped Leehong Kim Architects achieve 30th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Winner 2 Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 1 29. D Werker Architects © D Werker Architects D Werker Architects is an architectural practice based in Seoul, centered around residential as well as commercial architecture. Some of D Werker Architects’ most prominent projects include: Unicity, Seoul, South Korea Carver Global, Daeheung-dong, Seoul, South Korea EMK Musical Company, Seoul, South Korea Simon House, Paju-si, South Korea The following statistics helped D Werker Architects achieve 29th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 4 28. JK-AR © JK-AR JK-AR is an agenda-based architecture practice founded in 2017 by Jae K. Kim. JK-AR is a platform for design experiments. We create space and form to yield new experiences. We think of visions for human life through architecture. At JK-AR, we believe that the spirit of exceptional architecture can be felt through persistent design investigations that implement state-of-the-art techniques. For these aims, JK-AR develops new means of design, construction, and structural engineering by using today’s advanced technology. Working seamlessly with the studies of design computation, digital fabrication, and material application, the office challenges current practice to transform the building industry. Recently, JK-AR is inventing new applications of conventional materials, focusing on wood and concrete. Some of JK-AR’s most prominent projects include: The House of Three Trees, Sangju-si, South Korea Pavilion of Floating Lights, Jinju-si, South Korea Tree IV, Seoul, South Korea Tree VI, Seoul, South Korea The following statistics helped JK-AR achieve 28th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 4 27. Heesoo Kwak + IDMM Architects © Heesoo Kwak + IDMM Architects Kwak, Heesoo graduated from Hongik University and opened the IDMM Architects Office based in Seoul in 2003. He has served as a columnist for the JoongAng Ilbo ‘Architect Kwak Heesoo’s Short City’ and is attempting to decipher architecture based on constantly occurring urban phenomenons. Some of Heesoo Kwak + IDMM Architects’ most prominent projects include: Gijang Waveon, Busan, South Korea FORT & PORT, Yeosu-si, South Korea The Closest Church, Gimpo-si, South Korea Guesthouse Rivendell, Gapyeong-gun, South Korea U RETREAT, Hongcheon-gun, South Korea The following statistics helped Heesoo Kwak + IDMM Architects achieve 27th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 7 26. Seoinn Design Group © Seoinn Design Group Established 1978, Seoinn Design Group has been dedicated to provide the high quality design works to the worship places. Some of Seoinn Design Group’s most prominent projects include: Saemoonan Church, Seoul, South Korea Shinchon Church, Seoul, South Korea Changshin Church 창신교회 – Church for the Blind, Seoul, South Korea Dorim Church Cultural Center/ 도림교회, Seoul, South Korea Manrihyun Church, Seoul, South Korea The following statistics helped Seoinn Design Group achieve 26th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Winner 1 Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 15 25. Joongwon Architects © Joongwon Architects Jungwon Architecture was founded in 1985 and is a group of architects who have been engaged in architecture for the second generation. It makes results in the present, but respects the accumulated experience of the field, which has gone through numerous trials and errors and repetitions from the past, and strives to continue and embody the inspiration of the sparkling desk as a sense of continuity. Unlike inventors, for architects, a creative moment is a small moment that discovers our indifferent value in life through continuous observation. Jungwon Architecture is steadily creating a healthy place in our city based on a delicate understanding of life and creating spaces that can last for a long time based on a serious interest in architecture. Some of Joongwon Architects’ most prominent projects include: Lightus Retreat, South Lake Tahoe, California Forest Edge, Hongcheon-gun, South Korea The following statistics helped Joongwon Architects achieve 25th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Winner 1 A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 2 Total Projects 2 24. UTAA © UTAA Architecture is a series of cooperative work that does not end with one person’s thought. I want to be a small but strong experimental organization, and an office that creates a fun space. I am convinced that the most ordinary thing makes the most extraordinary results rather than the unique design of the display style. We configure the space as honestly and clearly as possible within the given different conditions and value the jointing and touching of each material. Differentiated and leading designs begin with very ordinary buildings that exist around us and in our cities. In the past, Utah Architecture will continue to contribute to creating buildings in the city with healthy homes and warm spaces with the architect. And internally, the long-term goal is to create soil where junior architects can grow and do good work, beyond the current barren architecture. Some of UTAA’s most prominent projects include: Rest Hole in the University of Seoul, Seoul, South Korea Black Box, Seongnam-si, South Korea Boseong House, Boseong-gun, South Korea Pinocchio, Pocheon-si, South Korea Cinema House, Paju-si, South Korea The following statistics helped UTAA achieve 24th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 5 23. Z_Lab © KIM Jae Kyeong Z_Lab is a design group to create a place and space based communication with region and reflects the individual’s desire and will. We must achieve a balance of individual aspirations and regional universality in terms of the design and regional identity. In this instance we create a new experience for staying out through space and personalized lifestyle brand. We would like to contribute to give a new experience for many people beyond the geographic boundaries based on the place and space. So that our results can be created with a private transfer to local and sustainable value for the future to create a positive business model based on the person and region. Some of Z_Lab’s most prominent projects include: Zer0place, Seosan-si, South Korea Creativehouse, Seoul, South Korea Pyeongdae Panorama, Jeju-si, South Korea Yuwolbyulchae, Jeju-si, South Korea blindwhales, Jeju-si, South Korea The following statistics helped Z_Lab achieve 23rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 5 22. 2m2 architects © 2m2 architects 2m2 architects was founded in Seoul by architect Junghee Lee. The firm suggests new cultural and social possibility in old-fashioned, conventional existing Korean architecture and aims to produce high quality designs so that the architect, client and constructor can all be satisfied. Based on differentiated design, the company specializes in detailed construction accumulated in the field for several years on design. In addition, while having interest in various fields such as design, music, image and street culture other than architecture, the company plans, designs and constructs the projects through broad collaborations. Some of 2m2 architects’ most prominent projects include: Geoje house_Younghaeawon(迎海雅院), Geoje-si, South Korea Boombox House, South Korea Apple Farm House, Pohang-si, South Korea Sista House, Seoul, South Korea Daebong-dong Commercial_skipfloor, Daegu, South Korea The following statistics helped 2m2 architects achieve 22nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 6 21. ANM © ANM ANM is an architecture design studio that emphasizes diversity and differentiation as well as to technical and methodological relationships. The office explores the balance between the architect’s intention and the needs of the client. Some of ANM’s most prominent projects include: Monk’s Cabin (Zen Room for a Buddhist Monk), Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea House in Jeju, Jeju-do, South Korea D Church, Yeoju-gun, South Korea Yangpyeong House, Yangpyeong-gun, South Korea Coffee House_Dong am, Yangpyeong-gun, South Korea The following statistics helped ANM achieve 21st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 6 20. WISE Architecture © Kim Yongkwan Young Jang and Sook Hee Chun jointly established WISE Architecture in 2008. The two completed several small but meaningful projects focusing on materiality of everydayness in Seoul. Some of WISE Architecture’s most prominent projects include: BOX MOBILE GALLERY, Seoul, South Korea ABC Building, Seoul, South Korea Dialogue in the Dark Bukchon, Seoul, South Korea Red Mirror Strips, Seoul, South Korea Mu;M Building, Korea The following statistics helped WISE Architecture achieve 20th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 6 19. HyunjoonYoo Architects © HyunjoonYoo Architects For us, architecture is to design relationships. We seek to create harmony among people and with nature through new architectural visions. Some of HyunjoonYoo Architects’ most prominent projects include: The Void, Korea Ssangdalri House, Chungcheongnam-do, South Korea HUB, Eunpyeong-gu, Seoul, South Korea Mug Hakdong Hanok 3.0, Daejeon, South Korea The following statistics helped HyunjoonYoo Architects achieve 19th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 3 Total Projects 6 18. BCHO Architects Associates © BCHO Architects Associates Founded in Seoul, Korea in 1994, BCHO Architects started as a design build office with a focus on simple structures and strong regard for nature. Since 1998 the practice focus is architecture and furniture, however we work very closely with contractors and multiple fabrication specialists in various disciplines; including stone masons, product designers, wood workers, potters, lighting engineers, furniture and graphic designers and artists. We also have multiple professional collaborators in Montana, Massachusetts, California, Hawaii and Peru. BCHO Architects believe that buildings, furniture and art are made, not created. Each architectural project, encompassing various scales and programs, explores the phenomenon of light and space, fabrication and construction methods , recycling and reusing, and a broad sense of sustainability (social/cultural/physical), which uses our collective creative energy to reduce our buildings demand for grid energy. Some of BCHO Architects Associates’ most prominent projects include: Namhae Southcape Linear Suite Hotel, Namhae-gun, South Korea Twin Tree Towers, Seoul, South Korea L House Hanil Cement Information Center and Guesthouse, Danyang-gun, South Korea Camerata Music Space The following statistics helped BCHO Architects Associates achieve 18th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 11 17. DIOINNO ARCHITECTURE © DIOINNO ARCHITECTURE PLLC Cities need more accessible and reconfigurable construction strategies to foster the culture of dynamic placemaking in the context of ephemeral and transitory programs in our contemporary city. Stick Snap Stack is an alternative construction system to offer such a resilient construction framework. The system utilizes the simplicity of ‘stacking’ inspired by the traditional wood joinery method. Without bonding agents, the system uses a ‘snapping’ induced interlocking system for the unique stacking mechanism. The geometry of the centerpiece can be fabricated to shift the stacking angle, while modularized three legs of the assembled unit block interlock with other blocks to complete a rhombohedral unit cell acting as a self-supporting structural ‘module.’ Some of DIOINNO ARCHITECTURE’s most prominent projects include: HIGH LIVING STICK SNAP STACK, Seoul, South Korea Hotel Solitaire, Seoul, South Korea Unduk-Naru, Seoul, South Korea SLANTED MEMORIAL, Seoul, South Korea The following statistics helped DIOINNO ARCHITECTURE PLLC achieve 17th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Winner 1 A+Awards Finalist 2 Featured Projects 1 Total Projects 25 16. D.LIM Architects © D.LIM Architects D·LIM is an architectural group ledby its two principals, Yeonghwan Lim and Sunhyun Kim. Lim, a professor at Hongik University and a registered architect in Pennsylvania, is responsible for creative design. Kim holds a master’s degree in project management from Harvard University and is responsible for the execution of projects. She is a registered architect in Korea. Some of D.LIM Architects’ most prominent projects include: Ahn Jung-geun Memorial Hall, Seoul, South Korea H&M Seoul Hongdae Store, Seoul, South Korea Stardom Entertainment Office, Seoul, South Korea Coconut house, Seongnam-si, South Korea CJ Nine Bridges “The Forum”, Seogwipo-si, South Korea The following statistics helped D.LIM Architects achieve 16th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 5 15. YounghanChung Architects © YounghanChung Architects Younghan Chung architects, the architectural studio based on Seoul, seeks for new typology of living in the dense and uniform picture of the city and studies experimental and creative design processes through the relationship of various phenomena of the city. Some of YounghanChung Architects’ most prominent projects include: Floating Cubes, Cheongwon-gun, South Korea POROSCAPE, Seoul, South Korea 9X9 EXPERIMENTAL HOUSE, Yangju, South Korea Five Trees, Busan, South Korea 6X6 HOUSE The following statistics helped YounghanChung Architects achieve 15th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 5 14. SsD © SsD SsD is an architecture firm that approaches design as a convergent, interdisciplinary venture. Minimum form takes maximum effect with the goal to bridge the utopian and the pragmatic. Instead of separating aspects of architecture, landscape, history, social systems, and codes into their constituent disciplines, these agendas are simultaneously explored so that each discipline symbiotically gains from the other. In this way sustainability emerges as an integrated rather than additive result. Some of SsD’s most prominent projects include: Simgok, Seongnam-si, South Korea Sundial House, Incheon, South Korea Songpa Micro-Housing, Seoul, South Korea Oasis Place Big Dig House, Lexington, Massachusetts The following statistics helped SsD achieve 14th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Finalist 3 Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 12 13. Archium © Archium Archium is a architecture design firm based in Seoul, with projects centered around large-scale residential architecture. Some of Archium’s most prominent projects include: Persona, Seoul, South Korea Bauzium Sculpture Gallery, Gangwon-do, South Korea Gilmosery, Seoul, South Korea Khmeresque, Battambang, Cambodia Himalesque, Jomsom, Nepal The following statistics helped Archium achieve 13th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 7 12. EHLA © Archium Architecture is nothing. However, architecture is more significant than any others like air in our life. Architecture is not a hero. Architecture is just a stage of our living. We do not want architecture to say a lot of showing language to come forward from the surroundings. As people live healthier within clean air, we want architecture to be a clean, pure and honest artifact that holds human life silently. We do not believe architecture will change the world and we do not work in order to change the world through architecture. For now, we are about to construct the architecture with architecture itself without a metadiscourse beyond architecture. Some of EHLA’s most prominent projects include: ㄷHouse (digeut-jip), Eumseong-gun, South Korea Chubby Cat House, Seoul, South Korea villa mangwon – stacked house, Seoul, South Korea Malefemale House, Seoul, South Korea villa Jeju, Seogwipo-si, South Korea The following statistics helped EHLA achieve 12th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 7 11. Mass Studies Photography (C) Yong-Kwan Kim - © Mass Studies Mass Studies was founded in 2003 by Minsuk Cho in Seoul, Korea, as a critical investigation of architecture in the context of mass production, intensely over-populated urban conditions, and other emergent cultural niches that define contemporary society. Amid the many frictions defining spatial conditions in the twenty-first century, namely past vs. future, local vs. global, utopia vs. reality, and individual vs. collective, Mass Studies focuses on the operative complexity of these multiple conditions instead of striving for a singular, unified perspective. For each architectural project, which exist across a wide range of scales, Mass Studies explores issues such as spatial systems/matrixes, building materials/techniques, and typological divergences to foster a vision that allows the discovery of new socio/cultural potential. Some of Mass Studies’ most prominent projects include: Daum Space.1 Southcape Owner’s Club – Clubhouse, Yeosu, South Korea Bundle Matrix: S-Trenue, Seoul, South Korea Missing Matrix Building: Boutique Monaco, Seoul, South Korea Ann Demeulemeester Shop, Seoul, South Korea The following statistics helped Mass Studies achieve 11th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Winner 1 Featured Projects 4 Total Projects 9 10. ArchiWorkshop © ArchiWorkshop We are architects, who think, create, enjoy and share everyday architecture. Some of ArchiWorkshop’s most prominent projects include: White Cube Mangwoo, Seoul, South Korea ArchiGlam_Glamping, South Korea Mobile Library, Seoul, South Korea Glamping on the Rock, South Korea Red Square House, South Korea The following statistics helped ArchiWorkshop achieve 10th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 7 Total Projects 15 9. HAEAHN Architecture © Namsun Lee HAEAHN Architecture, marking its 34th anniversary this year, has been continuously striving to design valuable urban environmental projects based on creativity and innovation since its establishment in 1990. HAEAHN has been in alliance with H Architecture, New York, USA since 2011 and established several overseas offices which have greatly contributed to its extensive growth in becoming a world standard architectural design firm. Overseas offices such as, Baghdad Branch Office, Republic of Iraq in 2014, Ho Chi Minh City Branch Office, Socialist Republic of Vietnam in 2018. Some of HAEAHN Architecture’s most prominent projects include: National Assembly Communication Building, Seoul, South Korea Hwaseong Hambaeksan Memorial Park, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Incheon Children Science Museum, South Korea Baseball Dream Park, Daejeon, South Korea National Aviation Museum of Korea, Seoul, South Korea The following statistics helped HAEAHN Architecture achieve 9th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Winner 1 Featured Projects 6 Total Projects 23 8. OBBA © OBBA OBBA, Office for Beyond Boundaries Architecture, is an international architecture studio founded in May 2012, by Sojung Lee and Sangjoon Kwak, in Seoul, Korea, committed to multiple options and blended solutions in the context of a fast changing society and emerging issues, with an integral vision not apiecemeal cognition. OBBA’s design approach starts from a critical survey of the surrounding environment – urban conditions, existing architecture and a spectrum of elements of daily life. Rather than chase a utopian thought, it is a process of investigating the social issues of today and proposing realistic solutions through design. OBBA’s focus is on the synergistic boundaries where different fields intersect and form relationships, widening and developing their expertise through various disciplines and multiple spheres. As aboundary crosser, OBBA seeks new challenges, welcoming the symbiosis of fluctuating boundaries rather than following conventional ways. Some of OBBA’s most prominent projects include: The Vault House, Hadong-gun, South Korea Beyond the Screen, Seoul, South Korea The Floating Island, Bruges, Belgium The Oasis, Yongin-si, South Korea The Illusion, Seoul, South Korea The following statistics helped OBBA achieve 8th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 7 Total Projects 7 7. Yong Ju Lee Architecture © Yong Ju Lee Architecture Yong Ju Lee, AIA is principal of Seoul-based Yong Ju Lee Architecture. He has been working for stimulating design for everyday life in multiple scales and media. His works are presented worldwide such as National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (Seoul), Museum of Modern Art (New York) and Venice Biennale. He also received world-renowned awards including Korean Public Architecture Award, iF Design Award and Design Vanguard. Some of Yong Ju Lee Architecture’s most prominent projects include: Myeonmok Fire Station, Seoul, South Korea Root Bench, Seoul, South Korea Hoehyeon Community, Seoul, South Korea Dispersion, Suwon, South Korea Wing Tower, Seoul, South Korea The following statistics helped Yong Ju Lee Architecture achieve 7th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 6 Total Projects 10 6. L’EAU design © Kyungsub Shin L’EAU Design is a group seeking after such environment as falling under comprehensive sense and attempt the relationship with architectural design. ‘Environment’ includes meanings of social and cultural conditions that influence in human lifestyle as well as ecological and build environment. L’EAU Design, since its establishment in 2000, has been pursuing a total design focused on ‘architecture and urbanism;’ ‘renovation and interior design;’ ‘enviroment design’ in order to architecturally design diverse concerns amid the better ‘human environment,’ which is based on our research about social and cultural background of human. Some of L’EAU design’s most prominent projects include: Matryoshka, Korea Tropism of wild flower, Seoul, South Korea Song-chu Bending Band, Yangju-si, South Korea Jeju BAYHILL POOL & VILLA _ EGOISTIC CROPPING, Seogwipo-si, South Korea Cosmos Intime, Gwangju, South Korea The following statistics helped L'EAU design Co.,Ltd. achieve 6th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 8 Total Projects 22 5. stpmj © stpmj stpmj is an award winning design practice based in New York and Seoul. The office is founded by Seung Teak Lee and Mi Jung Lim with the agenda of “provocative realism.” It is a series of synergetic explorations that occur on the boundary between the ideal and the real, based on simplicity of form and detail, clarity of structure, excellence in environmental function, use of new materials and rational management of budget. To these we add ideas generated from curiosity in everyday life as we pursue a methodology for dramatically exploiting the limitations of reality. Resulting from new perspectives, our work is nuanced yet bold and represents a reaction against architectural clichés. Some of stpmj’s most prominent projects include: Invisible Barn,Truckee, California Shear House, Yecheon-gun, South Korea Stratum House, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea The Surface, Gwacheon-si, South Korea Dissolving Arch, Jeju-do, South Korea The following statistics helped stpmj achieve 5th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Finalist 1 Featured Projects 7 Total Projects 10 4. Suh Architects © Suh Architects With every project, Suh Architects is defined by the marriage of function and verve. It does not adhere to a predetermined style and expects its architecture to outlast current trends. Buildings must not only make sense spatially and in an intangible way, but also keep the rain out, heat in and stay within budget. The firm is well-aware that this sort of harmony is only made possible by maintaining consistent standards and fully understanding its clients’ needs. Its founder, Eulho Suh, is directly involved in the design and execution of each project from its initial conception, through planning, construction and completion. With every project, spatial clarity and human scale are foremost; subsequent details are held to the highest standard of execution. Some of Suh Architects’ most prominent projects include: HYUNDAI SONGPA, Seoul, South Korea JEONBUK HYUNDAI MOTORS FC CLUBHOUSE, Wanju-gun, South Korea GENESIS SUJI, Yongin-si, South Korea GENESIS STUDIO, Hanam-si, South Korea HYUNDAI MOTORSTUDIO, Seoul, South Korea The following statistics helped Suh Architects achieve 4th place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: A+Awards Winner 4 A+Awards Finalist 3 Featured Projects 5 Total Projects 8 3. Moon Hoon © Namgoong Sun Moon Hoon is a practice located in Seoul, South Korea. The design philosophy behind its architecture lies in movies, comics and graffiti and advocates a playful design attitude towards architecture. Some of Moon Hoon’s most prominent projects include: Two Moon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Vi-sang House, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea Busan Times, Busan, South Korea Simple House, Jeju-si, South Korea Wind House, Jeju-si, South Korea The following statistics helped Moon Hoon achieve 3rd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 7 Total Projects 12 2. IROJE KHM Architects © IROJE KHM Architects IROJE KHM Architects is many kinds of award-winning architect’s office in Seoul, Korea. Kim Hyo Man, the principal of IROJE KHM Architects is architect, concurrent professor of graduate school of architecture and editorial adviser of architectural magazine. Some of IROJE KHM Architects’ most prominent projects include: Top image: Ga On Jai, Kwangmyŏng, South Korea HWA HUN, South Korea Kyeong Dok Jai, Goyang-si, South Korea Tetris Nursery, Dobong-gu, Seoul, South Korea STELLA FIORE, Ilsandong-gu, Goyang-si, South Korea The following statistics helped IROJE KHM Architects achieve 2nd place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 10 Total Projects 21 1. Studio Gaon © Studio Gaon Completed by time, an architecture with moving spaces. Studio_Gaon was founded in 1998 and is represented by Lim Hyoung-nam and Roh Eun-joo. Gaon means ‘center’ in Korean. We carries out various urban and architectural projects. The architecture we pursue harmonizes with nature and contemplates the locality of Korea and the present nature of architecture. We are particularly interested in traditional architecture featuring the locality of Korea and Seoul, where we are mainly active. From our point of view, the biggest feature of Korean architecture is the movement of space, compared to other oriental architectures such as that of Japan and China. Some of Studio Gaon’s most prominent projects include: Jetavana Buddhist Temple, Chuncheon-si, South Korea Casa Gaia, Jeju-si, South Korea Labyrinthos, South Korea The House With Four Wings, Incheon, South Korea House of January, House on the Demarcation, Jeonju-si, South Korea The following statistics helped Studio Gaon achieve 1st place in the 30 Best Architecture Firms in Seoul: Featured Projects 29 Total Projects 46 Why Should I Trust Architizer’s Ranking? With more than 30,000 architecture firms and over 130,000 projects within its database, Architizer is proud to host the world’s largest online community of architects and building product manufacturers. Its celebrated A+Awards program is also the largest celebration of architecture and building products, with more than 400 jurors and hundreds of thousands of public votes helping to recognize the world’s best architecture each year. Architizer also powers firm directories for a number of AIA (American Institute of Architects) Chapters nationwide, including the official directory of architecture firms for AIA New York. An example of a project page on Architizer with Project Award Badges highlighted A Guide to Project Awards The blue “+” badge denotes that a project has won a prestigious A+Award as described above. Hovering over the badge reveals details of the award, including award category, year, and whether the project won the jury or popular choice award. The orange Project of the Day and yellow Featured Project badges are awarded by Architizer’s Editorial team, and are selected based on a number of factors. The following factors increase a project’s likelihood of being featured or awarded Project of the Day status: Project completed within the last 3 years A well written, concise project description of at least 3 paragraphs Architectural design with a high level of both functional and aesthetic value High quality, in focus photographs At least 8 photographs of both the interior and exterior of the building Inclusion of architectural drawings and renderings Inclusion of construction photographs There are 7 Projects of the Day each week and a further 31 Featured Projects. Each Project of the Day is published on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram Stories, while each Featured Project is published on Facebook. Each Project of the Day also features in Architizer’s Weekly Projects Newsletter and shared with 170,000 subscribers. We’re constantly look for the world’s best architects to join our community. If you would like to understand more about this ranking list and learn how your firm can achieve a presence on it, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at editorial@architizer.com. The post 30 Best Architecture and Design Firms in Seoul appeared first on Journal.

Battling sensory bombardment is a fight architects are winning by repositioning design's stance on the frontlines.

The post Ambient Architecture: Designing for Tranquility in a Over Stimulated World appeared first on Journal.

Calling all architects, landscape architects and interior designers: Architizer's A+Awards allows firms of all sizes to showcase their practice and vie for the title of “World’s Best Architecture Firm.” Start an A+Firm Award Application today. Pop over to Spotify, or any other music streaming platform, and type the word “Ambient” into your search bar. What you’ll find is thousands of playlists, all containing ambient music tracks. One of the first to be listed, “Ambient Relaxation”, is 232 songs, eleven hours and has over 1.25 million saves (for context “This is Taylor Swift” has 6 million). Head on over to YouTube, and the story is much the same, “Ambient Study Music To Concentrate” by Quiet Quest has 475,000 subscribers and has been viewed 43 million times. Ok, so it might not be Despacito at 8.48 billion, but with thousands upon thousands of these types of ambient videos, theres is definitely something going on. So, what is ambient music, and what does it have to do with architecture? Compared to other music genres, ambient music is a bit of an outlier. That’s because, unlike almost all other types of music you can think of, we can trace ambient music to its origin — back to one individual, an artist named Brian Eno of Roxy Music fame. In the mid-1970s, after an accident left him bedridden, Eno experienced a moment that would change how he thought about music. A friend had gifted him a 17th-century harp record, but with one busted speaker, the volume too low, rain pattering outside, and no ability to move from the spot he was in, Eno discovered that the music blended with the ambient sounds of his environment. The delicate fusion of sound and silence sparked an idea, music that was “as ignorable as it was interesting.” With that, ambient music was born. Ambient music is all about creating an aural landscape. It features gentle, evolving textures and seemingly random subtle layers of sound that ebb and flow without a dominant note, rhythm or melody. It’s designed to evoke a sense of calm and contemplation, allowing listeners to fully lose themselves in the moment, which goes a long way in explaining why it’s so popular as music to aid concentration. As fascinating as that is, you may be asking yourselves, again, what does that have to do with architecture? Uniview Headquarters by GOA (Group of Architects), Zhejiang, China | Popular Choice Winner, Office – High Rise (16+ Floors), 12th Annual A+Awards | Photograph by Rudy Ku Well, you see, societal trends are more often than not reflected in our architecture, and over the last decade, overstimulation has become a serious problem. As our cities become denser, our urban landscapes have fast become sensory battlegrounds — bright lights, blaring sirens, buzzing smartphones and the never-ending barrage of data we are confronted with every day — all play a part in stretching-thin our shortening attention spans and negatively affecting our mental well being. It is true that people living in cities have a 40% higher risk of depression and a 20% increased risk of anxiety compared to those in rural areas. Burnout has become so prevalent that the World Health Organization now recognizes it as an occupational phenomenon, and the fact is, we need to do something about it. We need clarity and calm. Like the Garden City movement that followed the poisonous polluting Industrial Revolution or the Modernism that brought structure and simplicity after the war, ambient architecture is a response to what is happening around us as architects and designers strive to create buildings that whisper instead of shout to bring much-needed tranquillity to our concrete jungles. École de l’Étincelle (Lab-école) by BGLA architecture | urban design, Agence Spatiale inc., APPAREIL Architecture, Chicoutimi, Canada | Popular Choice Winner, Primary and High Schools, 12th Annual A+Awards | Photograph by Maxime Brouilette Firstly, architects and designers are dialing back the visual chaos. While flamboyant façades and awe-inspiring angels are far from a thing of the past, there’s a noticeable shift towards simplicity and authenticity that favors cohesion, clean lines, and a sense of unclutteredness inside and out. Many of these ambient buildings blend in with their terrain, amplifying what already exists or integrating within the landscape instead of fighting for the front seat. By stripping away unnecessary ornamentation and focusing on essential forms that protect and preserve their surroundings, architects are creating buildings that give our eyes a much-needed break. Designing monuments that soothe rather than stimulate, allowing us to enjoy our towns and cities without relentless visual assault. Novonesis Innovation Campus by Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects, Hørsholm, Denmark | Popular Choice Winner, Factories and Warehouses, 12th Annual A+Awards | Photograph by Rasmus Hjortshøj. Similarly, there’s a renewed focus on materiality and tactile simplicity. By returning to natural materials — timber, stone, and earth — architects can appease our inherent need for nature and biophilic properties, counteracting the feelings of abnormality that arise when human beings are solely surrounded by glass and concrete. In other ways, architects are choosing to include variations of texture to evoke visual interest rather than a broad material pallet, simplifying their scheme without losing impact with techniques like stone carving, plaster moulding, and perforations. Ergonomic simplicity also plays a part here. Choosing products, fittings and furnishings that feel intuitive and comfortable to use, they are well designed, and engaging with them is subtly reassuring. Like Eno’s music, our surroundings become a background, not demanding our attention, simply there. Bike Parking IJboulevard by VenhoevenCS architecture+urbanism, Amsterdam, Netherlands | Jury Winner, Transport Interiors, 12th Annual A+Awards | Photo by Ossip van Duivenbode. Perhaps the most groundbreaking and necessary shift is towards cognitive simplicity. As cities and our lives grow more complex, so does our mental load. Architects are now designing spaces that can help alleviate cognitive strain by simplifying the way we engage with our environments. This can mean a few things. Firstly, designing layouts that are easy to navigate and prioritize the user over the perceived spatial value to reduce the mental effort needed to find our way. In the instance of urban planning, wayfinding becomes more natural and intuitive, with clear sightlines and logical progression from one place to another, returning to basic principles like hierarchies and module repetition. By minimizing decision fatigue and reducing environmental complexities, architects are designing spaces that don’t just look and feel simple but are actually simple to inhabit. Cognitive simplicity doesn’t stop there, either. Despite technology being much of the problem with sensory overload, in the modern world, technology can be a force for good, not evil. Intuitive technology is a fancy but easy way to lighten our mental load. Adjustable lighting, automatic temperatures, and sound level alteration all exist and can be incorporated to create spaces and places that are comfortable without the user having to think about them. Smart systems make navigating streets and buildings intuitive. By allowing technology to work seamlessly in the background, we remove much of the everyday mundane thinking required by each individual, leaving space to think. Like ambient music, cognitive simplicity and ambient architecture aim to declutter the mind at every opportunity, creating buildings and even whole cities that one day will hopefully be “as ignorable as it was interesting.” Calling all architects, landscape architects and interior designers: Architizer's A+Awards allows firms of all sizes to showcase their practice and vie for the title of “World’s Best Architecture Firm.” Start an A+Firm Award Application today. The post Ambient Architecture: Designing for Tranquility in a Over Stimulated World appeared first on Journal.

This autumn, these five exceptional firms will be awarded special recognition for their unparalleled contributions to the field. 

The post Revealed: Architizer’s Firm of the Year and 4 More Special Honorees Named for the 12th Annual A+Awards appeared first on Journal.

Inviting designers to rethink the possibilities of the built environment, the 12th Annual A+Awards marked a pivotal moment for the global architecture community. Under the banner of “Rethinking Architecture,” Architizer encouraged architects and designers to explore transformative solutions that meet the demands of our changing world. While the annual category winners comprise outstanding projects in areas such as sustainable adaptive reuse, new materials and typological innovations, this autumn, five exceptional firms will be awarded special recognition for their unparalleled contributions to the field. The following five honorees embody the essence of reimagining architecture, showcasing projects that push boundaries and set new standards for creativity, sustainability and impact. Through their work, these firms demonstrate the power of architecture to not only solve today’s pressing challenges but also to shape a future where design serves as a catalyst for renewal and regeneration. The honorees will accept their awards on stage at the 12th Annual A+Awards Gala, hosted by Architizer and A8 Design Center. This year’s greatly anticipated gala will take place at the iconic LUXELAKES The Water Theater, designed by Antoine Predock and located in China’s up-and-coming architecture and design hub, Chengdu. By honoring these five firms, Architizer’s A+Awards continues its tradition of recognizing visionary leaders whose portfolios inspire architects everywhere to rethink what architecture can achieve. As the world’s largest and most prestigious architectural awards program, the A+Awards celebrates not just the aesthetic beauty of design, but its capacity to create lasting, meaningful change. Learn More About Architizer’s A+Awards Firm of the Year Award: Mecanoo Delft, Netherlands Tainan Public Library by Mecanoo, Tainan City, Taiwan Founded in Delft in 1984, Mecanoo has grown into a global architectural powerhouse, bringing together a multidisciplinary team of architects, interior designers, urban planners and landscape architects from 25 countries. The firm’s approach is rooted in the philosophy of “People, Place and Purpose,” ensuring that each project responds to the needs of its users, the context of its environment, and its long-term adaptability. This aproach is exemplified in projects ranging from their iconic Library for UT Delft to the soaring National Kaohsiung Centre for the Arts to the verdant Shenzhen Guangming Scientist Valley. With a rigorous focus on how architecture integrates with its urban context and an eye toward the future, Mecanoo creates buildings that are not only beautiful but also socially relevant, integrating sustainable design strategies that allow for both aesthetic and functional longevity. Mecanoo’s exceptional projects reflect a mastery of combining architecture, urban planning, and landscape into cohesive designs that foster a sense of identity and community. Their global perspective is always grounded in local context, resulting in culturally significant works that push the boundaries of innovation while maintaining a human touch. For their extraordinary architectural achievements and their ability to inspire architects worldwide to rethink the role of design in shaping communities, we are proud to honor Mecanoo as the 12th Annual A+Awards Firm of the Year. Emerging Firm of the Year Award: MUDA Beijing, China | Boston, Massachusetts | Chengdu, China Tianfu Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine by MUDA Architects, Sichuan, China Founded in 2015, MUDA Architects is a rising star in the global architectural landscape. Led by founder Lu Yun, the firm is known for its forward-thinking approach and diverse, culturally resonant design solutions. MUDA’s work spans public, cultural and commercial architecture, as well as urban, landscape and interior design. The firm’s commitment to exploring diverse design expressions within unique cultural contexts is reflected in its ability to balance the oriental spirit with a future-oriented mindset, producing projects that are both innovative and deeply rooted in their environments, such as the Garden Hotpot Restaurant and the Xinglong Lake CITIC Bookstore. MUDA Architects’ impressive portfolio showcases a remarkable ability to merge global and local influences, producing projects that are both conceptually and stylistically forward-thinking. The extraordinary diversity of their built work is united by its beauty and innovative spirit. For their impressive blend of modernity and tradition, and their achievements in merging global and local perspectives, from both conceptual and stylistic standpoints, Architizer is proud to present MUDA Architect with this year’s Emerging Firm of the Year Award. Leadership in Design Award: Vector Architects Beijing, China Yangshuo Sugarhouse Hotel by Vector Architects and Horizontal Space Design, Guilin Shi, China Founded in 2008 in Beijing, Vector Architects has developed a reputation for its thoughtful, problem-solving approach to design. Under the leadership of Dong Gong, the firm has consistently emphasized the importance of respecting the existing environment and addressing each project’s specific challenges with logic and reason. In the face of rapid development and a focus on grandiose forms, Vector Architects has carved a name for itself through their dedication to discovering the unique interrelationships within each program and site, as revealed through spatial structure. Their work is known for its ability to poetically enhance the perception of light, breeze and material, offering tranquil spaces that allow users to connect with their surroundings and reflect on their own existence within the physical world. Through projects such as the Seashore Chapel and the Renovation of the Captain’s House, Vector Architects’ luminous yet grounded work has helped to define a new school of contemporary Chinese architecture while inspiring architects globally to rethink the way buildings engage with local context and culture with a future-oriented relationship to tradition. This design philosophy and commitment to the fundamentals of architecture have made them leaders not only through their built work, but also through Dong Gong’s speaking and teaching. For their profound contributions to architectural discourse and their ability to forge future paths, reminding architects of the power of architecture itself, we are proud to present Vector Architects with this year’s Leadership in Design Award. Sustainability in Design Award: Sanjay Puri Architects Mumbai, India The Street by Sanjay Puri Architects, Mathura, India Sanjay Puri Architects has garnered global acclaim for its innovative, climate-responsive architecture, winning over 360 awards. Led by Sanjay Puri, who has been a prominent jury member for international architecture awards, the firm continues to exemplify how sustainability principles can be cohesively integrated into design approaches, with a particular emphasis on energy efficiency and passive cooling in extreme climates. With a team of 90, they are currently working on projects in 36 cities across India and in four countries worldwide, including Australia and Oman. From The Rajasthan School to MIRAI HOUSE OF ARCHES, their portfolio is characterized by a commitment to contextual and exploratory design solutions. Notably, Sanjay Puri Architects is known for enhancing energy efficiency through innovative architectural techniques that harness natural resources like light and air, in particular through unconventional plans, careful siting and innovative massing. Their designs stand out not only for their radical sensitivity to environmental considerations, but also for its high aesthetic quality. For their exceptional contributions to sustainable architecture and their commitment to creating stunning, energy-efficient buildings that address the challenges of climate change, particularly in the face of extreme heat, we are proud to present Sanjay Puri Architects with this year’s Sustainability in Design Award. Innovation in Design Award: MAD Architects Beijing, China | Rome, Italy | Los Angeles, California Chaoyang Park Plaza by MAD Architects, Beijing, China Founded in 2004 by Ma Yansong, MAD Architects has become a global leader in futuristic architecture with a distinct focus on integrating nature and community into every design. The firm’s work is driven by a contemporary interpretation of the eastern spirit of nature, offering spaces that create a symbiotic relationship between people and their environment. From residential complexes to cultural centers, MAD’s projects span the globe, including the iconic Absolute Towers in Toronto and the Clover House in Japan. Each project reflects the firm’s commitment to fluid, organic forms that enhance user experience by encouraging exploration and offering users the freedom to develop their own experience. MAD works in forward-looking environments developing futuristic architecture based on a contemporary interpretation of the eastern spirit of nature. From residential complexes to offices to cultural centers, MAD has been commissioned by clients of all backgrounds, leading to an intriguing combination of diverse project designs that consistently challenge conventional norms. For their forward-thinking architectural approach, unique interpretation of futurism, and commitment to creating spaces that foster community and connection with nature, we are honored to present MAD Architects with this year’s Innovation in Design Award. Want to follow in the footsteps of Mecanoo, MUDA, Vector Architects, Sanjay Puri Architects and MAD? If so, enter the 13th A+Awards for a shot at global recognition and international publication. Start Submission The post Revealed: Architizer’s Firm of the Year and 4 More Special Honorees Named for the 12th Annual A+Awards appeared first on Journal.

When it comes to photographing buildings, two heads are better than one — just ask renowned architectural photographer Ema Peter.

The post “The World Sees the Architect’s Work Through the Eyes of the Photographer.” appeared first on Journal.

The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today. At Future Fest 2024, renowned photographer Ema Peter and Deepak Gugarii of Studio VDGA shared their experiences working together on The House of Courtyards, a project that landed on the cover of the Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture book this year. Their collaboration exemplifies the importance of architects and photographers working closely together, ensuring that the heart of the design is captured and communicated. In today’s world, where architecture is often first experienced through photography, how a building is portrayed has never been more important. So hearing directly from Ema on this was especially valuable for architects looking to tell their story through imagery. Throughout her talk, Ema drew on her many years of collaborating with architects, sharing insightful and elegant nuggets of wisdom that ask everyone in the industry to think a little deeper about the term ‘photograph’ — as a verb that can and should be a collaborative endeavor and as a noun, capable of communicating not only a constructed reality but also design philosophies, atmospheric power and more. Without further ado, we want to share a few key lessons from Ema’s talk — (of course, you can watch the full talk too!). Register to View 1. On ego and letting go: BlackCliff House by Mcleod Bovell Modern Houses, West Vancouver, Canada | Photo by Ema Peter Photography “What I learned recently is the moment you forget about your own ego, your own sense of rightfulness, you can really explore the world through the eyes of someone else. For many years I felt that my goal was to capture the light the way I see it, I thought I was always right in my approaches. “But, in the last little while, I have learned that in my collaboration with architects, I can actually allow myself to see through other people’s eyes. I used to get quite frustrated when someone touched my camera and directed me. I would get really upset when someone touched my camera! Now, I’ve started welcoming it, which is a huge change.” 2. On the thought process of architectural photographers: “ [When shooting] I want to tell the story but also I see the business side… what is the target market, what publications the project will eventually end up in, what is the best approach to tell the story, how to make impactful images, what can make a good cover. But, the key is to create impactful image and, most importantly, images that can stop people for a second, because this is what we need at the moment in this visually changing environment where we are bored of the constant flow of images, almost desensitized.” 3. On famous architect-photographer duos: Lucien Hervé / Le Corbusier, marked as public domain, on Wikimedia Commons. “I often think about great love stories or collaborations between artists and writers. How much did Fitzgerald learn being around Gertrude Stein or through his close relationship with Hemingway? What was Rodin’s influence on Camille Claudel? How did the presence of Giulietta Masina, the muse of Fellini, change the way he saw the world? The collaboration I would really want to talk about is Le Corbusier’s and his photographer Lucien Hervé. In 1949, the self-taught photographer went and did 650 photographs in Marseille at Unité d’Habitation, a housing complex by Corbusier and sent them to him. He said, ‘For 40 years I’ve been looking for a photographer able to express architecture.’ He had finally found him in Hervé. The two men worked together for the next 16 years — some of Le Corbusier’s most fruitful — until the architect’s death in 1965.” 4. On photography in the past and taking it slow: “What I love about those days, when life moved so much slower, is that they couldn’t review the images immediately like we do today. Hervé did contact sheets, narrowed them down, put them in an album and then they sat down and reviewed the album together. It wasn’t just their collaboration and travels together that were interesting, but also their editorial choices. How did they select an image? Why that image? It really reminded me of the times I had to go through Bresson’s contact sheets to see how he found the decisive moment. It is simple — it’s about choosing the moments in time that speak visually to both the architect and the photographer.” 5. On why architects need to be present during the shoot: Camera House by Leckie Studio Architecture + Design, Pemberton, Canada | Photo by Ema Peter Photography “A good friend and architect I’ve worked with for years, Michael Leckie, told me something that was very impactful for me. He said, ‘The world sees my work through your eyes.’ I want to repeat this because it has a big impact — the world sees the architect’s work through the eyes of the photographer. This is why collaboration is so important and time has to be spent to understand the direction, the story, the concept and how to capture it in shots. So much of this is lost when we go and photograph on our own, sent by marketing teams, without the chance to communicate with the person who put their life and soul into the project.” 6. On building long-term partnerships: “One of our most well-known Canadian architects, John Patkau, works with his photographer James Dow for 40 years. They sit and wait for the light together. He told me that sometimes they sit for hours to capture one shot… If you ask me, I would love to grow old with the people I work with and be able to understand their world so well that we do not need to talk. Just with one look, with one movement, we can achieve symbiosis and still find things to challenge each other.” 7. On creative differences and leaving the comfort zone: University of British Columbia Arts Student Center by Leckie Studio Architecture + Design, Pemberton, Canada | Photo by Ema Peter Photography “Some of the strongest collaborations I have had are with people that really push me, people that we do not see eye to eye with in the beginning… but they are the people that drive you forward. I feel these are the collaborations that give you knowledge you did not have.” “Michael Leckie made me realize that I can absolutely photograph no matter how pouring rain it is. Prior to working with him, everyone I worked with in Canada wanted the perfect sky and sunny day, but that’s hardly achievable in Vancouver with 6 months of rain. I absolutely opposed it in the beginning… but the moment when you are driving towards a shoot and wondering, ‘What am I doing?’ is also a pivotal moment. It’s when you realize you have not reached even 1% of your creative potential.” 8. On how photography reveals a building’s true voice: Shor House by Measured Architecture Inc., Mayne Island, Canada | Photo by Ema Peter Photography “Recently, I was sitting on the terrace of this amazing project by Measured Architecture with one of their principals, Clinton Cuddington. We discussed photography, art, music and philosophy after a very long day of shooting. I asked him about the importance of the collaboration between the photographer and the architect and he told me this: ‘If an architect can surrender to the photographer and allow her (he said her, just saying) to find the space through the lens, then an architect can learn how the building speaks without their voice present.” 9. On books about architectural photography: “One book that he [Clinton Cuddington] recommended to me was Judith Turner’s Photographing Five Architects. She saw architecture in a completely different way. Her focus on details—shadow and light—makes you question: What is the reality of architecture? What dialogue happens between the observer and the subject? It’s art. I always try to capture reality, but there is room for both, though deadlines today leave less time for this artistic approach.” 10. On finding the key shots: The House of Courtyards by VDGA – Varsha and Deepak Guggari Architects, Dubai, UAE | Photo by Ema Peter Photography “At this stage of my career, I’ve gotten to the point where I can clearly see where the key shots of a project could be, and once you find those, it’s important to keep exploring them in different light. For me, architecture speaks in completely divergent ways depending on the light. These are the moments where you need to make sure the architect understands what you’re doing.” 11. On architects, photographers and the public’s eye: “We create stories, and we follow the light. What people really want is to have the sensation of being there, to feel transported into the space and want to spend time there. This is often a challenge with architects, as they want to show their clean lines and specific architectural elements, but the way architecture speaks to the public is something very different.” 12. On the architect’s role in capturing the soul of their projects: The House of Courtyards by VDGA – Varsha and Deepak Guggari Architects, Dubai, UAE | Photo by Ema Peter Photography “Deepak had spent years studying the light and shapes of this house, so he found moments I couldn’t in the short three days I was there. This is, I feel, the level of engagement we need from architects or whoever is representing the team at the shoot — two sets of eyes, two people passionate about capturing the soul of the project in a series of moments. All these moments you see here, we experienced them together.” 13. On why collaboration matters so much: “If there is anything that I want to take out of this talk, it is that we are all creatives and have our own visions, but we are happier as artists when we collaborate. The true freedom of expression comes from the curiosity of exploring other worlds, the fascinating worlds of our imagination.” The latest edition of “Architizer: The World’s Best Architecture” — a stunning, hardbound book celebrating the most inspiring contemporary architecture from around the globe — is now available. Order your copy today. Top image: South Haven Centre for Remembrance by Group 2 Architecture Interior Design, Edmonton, Canada | Photo by Ema Peter Photography The post “The World Sees the Architect’s Work Through the Eyes of the Photographer.” appeared first on Journal.

The architectural heavyweight's fluid, signature aesthetics combine with the Japanese manufacturer's expertise in wood and sustainable design.

The post Sculptural Forms and Functional Elegance: Zaha Hadid Design and Karimoku’s Fusion Furniture appeared first on Journal.

The Main Entry Deadline for Architizer's 2025 A+Product Awards is Friday, December 6. Get your brand in front of the AEC industry’s most renowned designers by submitting today. Zaha Hadid Design’s collaboration with Japanese furniture manufacturer Karimoku marks a beautiful fusion of craftsmanship, technology and bold design vision. In the Seyun Collection, Lead Designer Johanna Huang explains, that the partnership aimed to marry the fluid, signature aesthetics of Zaha Hadid with Karimoku’s expertise in wood and sustainable design. The Jury Winner for Residential Furniture in this year’s A+Product Awards, the project combines digital tools with centuries-old craftsmanship to create furniture that feels both timeless and progressive. The Seyun Collection, characterized by its convergence of sculptural forms and functional elegance, represents more than just furniture. Huang emphasizes that the modularity of the tables, the fluidity of the chairs, and the seamlessness of the entire collection are results of thoughtful engineering, meticulous craftsmanship, and a commitment to precision. In this Q&A, Huang shares insights into the creative and technical journey behind Seyun, illustrating how Zaha Hadid Design and Karimoku pushed the boundaries of furniture design while maintaining a deep respect for craftsmanship. A+Product Awards Seyun Collection, Photography by Masaaki Inoue, Bouillon How did the Seyun collection come about? How did the collaboration with the manufacturer start? The relationship between our two companies started a long time ago with some of our colleagues who knew people from Karimoku, and they felt our values aligned. That’s how the collaboration began — our companies were introduced and things developed from there. Could you talk about the design process between Zaha Hadid Design and Karimoku? What was that like during the pandemic? The project took off at the beginning of the pandemic, so we were in lockdown and met frequently over a long period of time. That constant interaction built a strong connection between the two teams, and we became fond of both the collaboration and the collection itself. It was a very intimate collaboration. We developed the project together, agreed on who the collection was for, and decided to reflect Zaha Hadid’s formal language while making the pieces suitable for mass production. One of the key challenges was maintaining structural integrity with separate pieces while achieving a seamless, elegant look. The craftsmanship and ingenuity of Karimoku were instrumental in overcoming those challenges and making the final pieces appear effortless. Seyun Collection, Photography by Masaaki Inoue, Bouillon Where did the initial inspiration for the Seyun collection come from, and the idea of multiple pieces coming together? Initially, we approached it from a formal perspective, focusing on the convergence of different tectonics. We explored patterns and forms that would arise from those studies. Interestingly, Karimoku named the collection — they saw our explorations and felt they resembled the cosmos. For instance, Seiun is a play on a Japanese word meaning “nebula.” So, it became a blend of our design thinking with their cultural perspective. Could you talk about the modular aspect, particularly with the tables? The modularity of the tables is a detail that can be overlooked, but it’s an essential feature. At Zaha Hadid, we always look at modularity beyond just simple forms. For the tables, we wanted to create a design where rotating the table could result in various different table configurations. It’s about creating multiplicity using patterns and plan, which is part of a recursive theme in our work. Seyun Collection, Photography by Masaaki Inoue, Bouillon The material — wood — feels both solid and light in the collection. Could you elaborate on that contrast? Wood is indeed solid, but lightness and fluidity are key elements in our designs. It ties back to our architectural background, where we often lift structures off the ground to create space and motion, making things appear as though they’re floating. For the Seyun collection, we worked closely with Karimoku to find the balance between maintaining the structural integrity of the wood while creating that sense of lightness. The collection started with the chairs, which we knew would interact closely with the human body. So, roundness and softness were important. When we extended the collection, we took those distinctive elements — like the rounded corners — and applied them to other pieces, ensuring continuity across the design. Karimoku values sustainability. Did that influence the Seyun collection? Yes, sustainability is a shared value between our two brands. For us, sustainability also means longevity and durability. We’re focused on creating high-quality pieces that stand the test of time and can be passed down through generations. Karimoku, being a four-generation family-owned business, understands this mindset deeply. They’re also very careful about sourcing high-quality wood to ensure endurance. The Seyun Collection Milan 2024, Photography by DSL Studio How was the Seyun collection manufactured, and what role did digital tools play in the design? At Zaha Hadid Design we use digital tools exclusively, from concept to fabrication. Karimoku’s ability to work with file-to-factory technology was crucial because we strive for precision. They also have a state-of-the-art digital program to analyze the structural integrity of our designs. They would test our 3D models in their program and then create prototypes to ensure everything was safe and met high standards. How do you hope users will experience the Seyun collection? What are your aspirations for how people interact with the pieces? We hope people find joy in using these beautiful pieces. Our aspiration is for the collection to be timeless, relevant for years to come, and something people would want to keep and use over time. And there’s more to come! Besides the table and chairs, we have a few more items coming to market by the end of this year and early next year. We’ve extended the concept to include bar stools and smaller accessories, like trays, to complement the collection. The Main Entry Deadline for Architizer's 2025 A+Product Awards is Friday, December 6. Get your brand in front of the AEC industry’s most renowned designers by submitting today. The post Sculptural Forms and Functional Elegance: Zaha Hadid Design and Karimoku’s Fusion Furniture appeared first on Journal.

Dedicated to modern design

Set in the hills of Echo Park, a bungalow, designed by OWIU, is a serene yet versatile space that integrates natural beauty with modern living.

Nestled on a scenic hilltop in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles, Sue Chan’s residence is a blend of function and serenity, offering a zen escape while maintaining a dynamic space for entertaining. Designed by OWIU Design, the Echo Park Hillhouse home is a testament to thoughtful design that draws upon the beauty of its natural surroundings while maximizing functionality and comfort. The home’s layout emphasizes a fluid connection between indoor and outdoor spaces, reflecting its elevated vantage point with sweeping views of East Los Angeles. OWIU integrated the natural landscape into the architecture, with large windows and an expansive deck seamlessly extending the living space outdoors. The open-plan design encourages easy movement between the newly renovated kitchen and living room, making it ideal for both quiet relaxation and hosting guests. Throughout the home, lighting choices by iconic designers like Noguchi and Mario Bellini add character and elegance, while vintage furniture pieces, such as a Hans Wegner dining table and Eames chairs, infuse the rooms with timeless style. In the living room, handcrafted pieces like a custom carpentry bench and American White Oak bookshelves reinforce the home’s unique, artisanal quality. A notable feature of the home is the raised platform in the bedroom, a subtle yet effective way of delineating the private space without the need for walls. This design element, which has become a signature of OWIU’s projects, promotes a sense of retreat and calm, perfect for Chan’s busy bicoastal lifestyle. The bedroom is also complemented by custom-made Japanese shoji doors that provide both aesthetic appeal and practical privacy. The kitchen, co-designed with Reform, showcases an earthy warmth through its cedar and oak finishes, similar to that of a cabin while incorporating contemporary elements. Thoughtfully placed skylights flood the space with natural light, enhancing the home’s organic feel. Despite its modest size, the kitchen offers ample storage thanks to hidden compartments and floating shelves, demonstrating OWIU’s commitment to maximizing space without sacrificing design. The exterior continues the theme of blending functionality with nature. OWIU carefully designed the fencing to accommodate existing trees, creating a fluid relationship between the built environment and the landscape. Outdoor spaces, including a custom patio and furniture from the HAY Balcony Collection, offer additional areas to enjoy the tranquil surroundings. In addition to the main residence, OWIU designed a separate office unit on the property. Clad in cedar and oak, similar to the main house, the detached structure offers a quieter, more secluded atmosphere, ideal for focused work or retreat. The office features a large picture window framing the surrounding trees, keeping the occupant connected to the outdoors. For more information on OWIU Design, visit owiu-design.com. Photography by Justin Chung.

Richard Parr, founder of Richard Parr Associates, shares his favorite bag, a beloved clothing line, inspiring art, a beloved gallery, and more.

It was clear that Richard Parr was destined to be an architect, putting his visions to paper early on. In elementary school, the left side of his English lesson book was filled with his stories – and a low mark for his less than stellar spelling. On the right side, however, were meticulous drawings of structures, just one example of his love of the built environment. “I drew buildings everywhere, and made them out of LEGO and clay,” Parr says. “I always enjoyed playing with and making spaces.” His self-education included visits to places in Italy and England steeped in history. When Parr stepped into Basil Spence’s Coventry Cathedral, it was a seminal moment, and he still has the guidebook from that day. Completed in 1962, the new cathedral was built to replace the 14th-century St. Michael’s Cathedral, destroyed in an air raid during World War II. Spence took elements of the past to reinvent the future. For Parr, it represents what he constantly strives to achieve. Richard Parr \ Photo: Mark Cocksedge The architect founded Richard Parr Associates three decades ago, with an emphasis on timeless spaces, created by merging craft traditions and technology. He also appreciates hospitality, and can often be found cooking and entertaining. In the London studio, dubbed the People’s Space, there’s even a bar and a main kitchen. The staff regularly share meals and conversation because they consider breaking bread the ultimate act of giving. Parr divides his time between two locations where his life and studios are. While he’s energized when working in the city, he disconnects as soon as he arrives at his farm in the Cotswolds. He takes every opportunity to enjoy nature and tend to his kitchen garden. Parr regrets that he missed out on both A-level art and a foundation year, and he would like to explore different mediums, particularly painting. He’s content though, and like all exceptional leaders, he knows which role each person will thrive in, himself included. “I like to think that I have tapped into most of my usable talents, and seasoned enough to recognize where I am not going to flourish,” Parr notes. “Even within the practice, I am happy to delegate where others can do better than me.” Today, Richard Parr joins us for Friday Five! República Dominicana, Facultad de Ingeniería y Arquitectura (FIA), 2022, oil, beeswax, and powdered gold pigment on canvas 1. Rogelio Báez Vega’s Art Rogelio Báez Vega, whose work I encountered in NADA in Miami in 2022. The pieces are depictions of modernist buildings. The modernist movement is an area of fascination and interest to me. The impact of the ‘International Style’ and its application across the world is a theme that I engaged with when discovering Rogelio’s work. I enjoy seeing the artist exploring the relationship this architecture has in different geographies and politics and I have several works in my collection from diverse areas of the world, exploring the societal dialogue with a built environment that has become universal. As with anything the universality becomes local and it’s the conversation in specific context that interests me. Mandarin-Collar Diamond Weave Linen and Cotton-Blend Jacket 2. Massimo Alba’s Clothing Designs Many years ago, I encountered the designer Massimo Alba from Milan. His annual collections are a treat and his approach to fashion… the fabrics, colors, texture and cut marries with my own love of comfortable and understated ‘sprezzatura.’ His mandarin collared jackets, which are as European as anything else have become the core of my wardrobe. They are more than they seem, with (like everything he designs) an understated quirkiness that combines the relaxed style of Italian tailoring with interesting and clever fabrics. I wear his linens in summer and his tweeds in winter, velvets, and cord as well. Every year I visit his Brera showroom and make an annual addition. Photo: Courtesy of The Modern House 3. Gallery BR in Tetbury Pep and Cuca’s gallery embodies and combines everything I love. Firstly, the very existence of this gallery in Tetbury is a joy and 10 minutes’ drive from home. The combination of contemporary art, 20th century furniture, some extraordinary antiques from both Spain and the British Arts and Crafts movement means I could happily own most of what they have in the gallery! I spent many years living in Spain and the fusion of contemporary architecture with history is something I learnt there and why their choices resonate and works so well for me. Among a number of pieces I have acquired from them are works by Chillida, the Mallorcan artist Guillem Nadal, and a number of pieces of furniture. I bought an Eames coffee table from the 1940s, which is one of the most enjoyable pieces I own and used daily. 4. Porter-Yoshida Bag My Porter-Yoshida bag goes with me everywhere. It’s the perfect design and could have been tailored for me. I never lose anything into it yet I throw my life into it! It holds everything from my laptop to crayons and is a smart but relaxed non statement piece. 5. Vital Seeds I have chosen something garden related. Gardening or my garden is my escape and where hours of time are expended. My kitchen garden at home fills what was once a concrete yard between my house and my studio. I can find something to eat in it on every day of the year. Spring time seed buying is a ritual and I discovered Vital seeds a few years ago. They sell organic seed and I have a great success rate with everything that I have bought from them. Works by Richard Parr: Modern Rural Retreat \\\ Photo: Brotherton-Lock Easter Park Farm Studio \\\ Photo: Gilbert McCarragher Easter Park Farm Studio \\\ Photo: Gilbert McCarragher Photo: Gilbert McCarragher Medieval Modern – The 21st Century Country House \\\ Photo: Rich Stapleton Medieval Modern – The 21st Century Country House \\\ Photo: Rich Stapleton

The Office National des Forêts expansion by Atelier Delalande Tabourin in Versailles blends architecture with the surrounding forest environment.

Thoughtful architecture has the power to reflect and reinforce the natural or urban environment of which it exists. Design, materials, and spatial planning come together to create buildings that harmonize with the landscape rather than dominate it. Whether seen in small projects such as Fallingwater or an extension to a public structure such as the Oslo Opera House, there will always be opportunity for architectural integration. In the case of the Office National des Forêts, designed by Atelier Delalande Tabourin, in Versailles, the expansion takes this concept to new heights. Positioned near a railway and bordering forest, the building embraces its setting, seamlessly connecting the built and natural worlds. The structure reflects the activities of the forestry office, with its form and materials carefully chosen to blend into the forest context. The space invites both employees and passersby to engage with the building in an immersive way, with each element designed to highlight the craftsmanship involved in forest management. The roof and facade are constructed from locally sourced wood, specifically chestnut, which has been carefully processed to fit the project’s needs. The wood comes directly from the Versailles forest, and its preparation involved a meticulous timeline to accommodate the drying period required for the material. Inside, the pavilion is organized clearly, with spaces defined by solid wood blocks, guiding movement through darkened corridors that contrast with the natural light flooding the office areas. Custom-designed furniture and signage, made from wood, further connect the space to the forest environment, referencing the markings traditionally used by foresters. The pavilion’s recessed position, combined with an extended wooden canopy, helps protect the interior from summer heat, while bio-sourced insulation and natural ventilation eliminate the need for artificial cooling. In the winter, a biomass heating system ensures energy-efficient thermal comfort. For more information on Atelier Delalande Tabourin, visit atelierdelalandetabourin.com. Photography by Maxime Delvaux.

The Seventies House by AR Design Studio blends 1970s charm with modern design in Winchester, UK, creating a seamless indoor-outdoor experience.

AR Design Studio has brought new life to a mid-century home in Winchester, United Kingdom, creating a seamless blend of the original 1970s design with a fresh contemporary extension. Known as The Seventies House, this project involved both restoring the house and garden, which had fallen into neglect, and adding a 1,012-square-foot addition designed to celebrate the lush landscape that surrounds the property. Originally, the home’s garden was a defining feature, developed by the previous owner, a local horticulturalist, and brimming with mature trees and dense shrubs. However, years of neglect had left it overgrown. AR Design Studio was tasked with rejuvenating the garden, trimming back the foliage and reintroducing new plantings, while relocating elements like the home’s original 70s rockery, or rock garden, to make room for the new extension. The architectural intervention on the house itself introduces a striking contrast. While the original structure showcases the vibrant colors and furniture typical of mid-century design, the extension presents a clean, minimalist approach. A long, asymmetric form stretches along the northern side of the house, with an elegant wooden canopy extending to the west. This overhang not only adds architectural interest but also provides shade and protection from the elements. Inside, the extension prioritizes openness and flexibility. The new space features an expansive kitchen, living, and dining area, making it ideal for both everyday family life and hosting larger gatherings. The use of sliding glass walls creates a strong connection between the interior and the garden, flooding the space with natural light and enhancing the sense of openness. The minimalist interior design allows the garden to take center stage. A neutral palette and sleek, clean lines give the space a calming, contemporary feel. White pocket doors allow flexible partitioning between the kitchen and living areas, offering privacy when needed but opening the house up to light during the day. The furnishings pay homage to the home’s original mid-century character, creating a balance between old and new. A light wood is used throughout the kitchen, offering a textured and warm contrast to the large gray tiles on the floor. The tiles extend out to the wraparound patio further enhancing the seamless indoor/outdoor connection. Even in the bathrooms, the mid-century spirit persists, with modern interpretations of the bold colors and design elements that defined the era. Overall, the The Seventies House transformation carefully maintains its mid-century charm while offering a new, spacious environment that draws the beauty of the garden indoors. Original house: For more projects from AR Design Studio, visit ardesignstudio.co.uk. Photography by Martin Gardner.

Pocket Passiv by Anderson Architecture is a net-zero tiny house in Australia showcasing innovative design and sustainability in a limited urban space.

Nestled in the dense urban suburb of Glebe, New South Wales, Australia, Pocket Passiv presents a unique solution to the housing challenges of inner-city living. Designed by Anderson Architecture, this tiny house project is a compact, sustainable residence that reimagines space utilization and energy efficiency. With a total area of just 366 square feet, the project makes ingenious use of a previously unused corner of a terrace house block, illustrating how even the smallest of spaces can be transformed into a functional, sustainable living environment. Pocket Passiv embodies creativity in its compact design. Occupying a footprint of only 290 square feet, the two-story structure integrates a well-thought-out living arrangement. The lower floor combines a study and bedroom, while the upper floor houses a kitchen, dining, and living area, all within a minimalist framework. Despite its small size, the house manages to feel spacious, partly thanks to an impressive double-height bathroom and a clever use of vertical space. Submerged slightly below ground level, the design maintains privacy and ensures sunlight continues to reach neighboring courtyards. The building’s asymmetrical roof allows for hidden solar panels, balancing aesthetic considerations with energy generation needs. Pocket Passiv’s greatest achievement lies in its commitment to sustainability. The house meets the stringent Passivhaus Plus standard, a benchmark for energy-efficient construction originating in Germany. This means the house not only consumes minimal energy but also generates as much power as it uses, making it a net-zero energy building. The thoughtful design, including high-performance insulation and airtight construction, ensures thermal efficiency and comfort for its occupants. The use of solar panels on the roof and other green technologies enables the building to remain largely self-sufficient in energy needs. The project had to balance various constraints, including the demands of an inner-city location and the potential future needs of its occupants. From the outset, Pocket Passiv was designed with flexibility in mind. Its layout allows it to function as either a standalone residence or an extension of the larger terrace house on the property, opening up options for multigenerational living or rental opportunities. It even has the potential to serve as short-term accommodation with its own private street entrance. The split-level design offers a clear separation between living and private spaces, avoiding the cramped feeling of many studio apartments. One of the key challenges in designing Pocket Passiv was making efficient use of the tight space while adhering to the client’s diverse needs. Originally envisioned as part of a broader renovation plan for the adjacent terrace house, the studio evolved into a standalone structure. This presented its own set of architectural hurdles, from maintaining privacy and access to natural light, to blending the new build harmoniously into its historic surroundings. The project’s success can largely be attributed to the collaborative efforts between the client, architect, and builder, who worked together to achieve the ambitious sustainability goals. The use of wood shingles, which will weather over time, ensures that the building will age gracefully, adding to the architectural fabric of the Glebe neighborhood. For more information on the Pocket Passiv house or Anderson Architecture, visit andersonarchitecture.com.au. Photography by Tom Ferguson.

Creatives Marina Braginskaya and Marina Baisel unite on a Dubai home full of calm, neutral hues and graphic, energetic elements.

Situated in the emerald terrain of Meadows – an Emirates Hills locale in Dubai, United Arab Emirates – is a property that beckons those who visit to linger betwixt its luscious greenery. And postured upon that plot within the long-developed residential community is a recently reconstructed home whose contemporary expression is underlined by traditional Arabic stylings. Its updated concept is friendship-borne, conceived by creatives Marina Braginskaya, founder of Braginskaya & Architects, and homeowner Marina Baisel, interior designer and owner of RARARES Gallery. While collaborations are typical to the trade, this project is undoubtedly a joint effort. Braginskaya’s architectural expertise echoes through the structure and programming, with its influence extending into the selection of furniture. And Baisel brought the walls from bare to beautiful with an informed curation of furniture, art, and handcrafted objects including a few of her own original pieces. “We have known each other for quite some time, since design school, where Marina Braginskaya was giving lectures while I was finishing my studies,” Baisel recalls. “When I moved to Dubai, I asked for her help as she already had her own company.” Together, with a shared mission and mutual understanding of one another’s practice, the duo reconciled a modern desire for breathier spaces with the family-of-five’s need for technical rooms and storage – all within the 2,500 square feet parsed between two floors. The ground level comprises public areas including a generous living room, modest lounge, kitchen, dining room, guest bedroom, and the supporting utility rooms. Of note are the various passages that allow for easy access to picturesque outdoors where vistas are reflected from the pool’s glistening surface onto the garden enclosure. The second floor is reserved for private rituals as family members may retire to their respective bedrooms, of which there are four, for moments of respite. Every liminal space along the way, however, is thoughtfully considered as residents and guests alike are able to appreciate the awe-inspiring, double-height upper hallway that boasts a glass ceiling. This unique feature allows for the construct to tap into the sky’s temporal qualities for walls awash in sunlight as much as they are bathed in moonlight. Baisel also borrows earthen hues from the city’s surrounding sand dunes implemented as calming interior colors and material finishes in an amalgam of stone, wood, linen, silk, and wool – all of which are pleasant to the touch. Complemented by a wealth of natural light, serene room dressings encourage the mind to wander as the body meanders about. Many a nook, niche, and corner regale visitors with the gallerist and homeowner’s artistic narrative. Painting and sculpture, as well as statement lighting and eclectic fixtures, contribute to a shared dialogue with architecture. “We wanted to give the feeling that time slows down and create a desire to contemplate,” Baisel says. Those willing to suspend reality for just a moment are invited to find introspection while gazing upon the handmade, personally selected works. “But we also have some contrast and graphic elements especially in the public areas,” Braginskaya adds. “That energizes the space.” Marina Baisel and Marina Braginskaya To learn more about creatives Marina Braginskaya and Marina Baisel visit braginskaya-architects.com and rararesgallery.com, respectively. Photography by Sergey Krasyuk.

Aline Asmar d'Amman, founder of Culture in Architecture, tells us about her favorite landscape, inspiring art, a cathedral of books, and more.

Born In Lebanon, Aline Asmar d’Amman was surrounded by the restoration and reconstruction in her homeland. The dialogue between heritage and modernity struck a chord with this creative, who had already decided to become an architect when she was a teen. “I learned to find beauty in ruins and cherish the sense of perfect imperfections,” says d’Amman. Contemporary buildings are just as impressive to her, particularly the Vitra Fire Station by Zaha Hadid. Located in Weil am Rhein, Germany, this sharp structure stands in total opposition to antiquity. For d’Amman, it is a powerful work because it’s essentially timeless and could exist in any place – without a date or style. Aline Asmar d’Amman \ Photo: Chloé Le Reste A true Parisian at heart, d’Amman cites her upbringing in a Francophile environment in Beirut, where refinement coexists amidst chaos, as the greatest influence on her life and work. The City of Lights inspired her love of interior design, and is a central facet of the projects her cross-disciplinary firm, Culture in Architecture, is known for. While d’Amman’s world revolves around evocative visual elements, the designer is an avid reader fascinated by the power of words. Books have always been a means of escape for her, and they serve as both armor and a shield. When d’Amman was a child, she would sit and hide with a tome under the table when faced with a difficult situation. She knew that the volumes would not save her or change her circumstances, but they were a way to travel and, for a moment, forget everything else. Books, ink, and paper were the threads of the first conversations she had with legendary fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld. The duo collaborated on two memorable projects, the Hôtel de Crillon’s Les Grands Appartements, and “Architectures,” Lagerfeld’s collection of functional sculptures. It’s a cherished time that made a lasting impact. “Being Karl’s architect will always be one of the most incredible thrills of my adult working life,” notes d’Amman. “The level of one’s expectations suddenly shifts to higher levels when we’re lucky to find an inspirational mentor and character to challenge our imagination.” Today, Aline Asmar d’Amman joins us for Friday Five! Photo: Qatar Museums 1. East-West/West-East by Richard Serra I first visited Richard Serra’s ”East-West/West-East” in the Qatari desert in November 2021. Powerful and mesmerizing, it has infused me with a mystical feeling ever since. I often find myself returning to this sublime discovery, in search of the raw sense of elevation and suspension that only true art can provoke. Mind-blowing. Sacred space. Open to all: the sand, the wind, the moon, and the people, day and night. The extraordinary encounter of Richard Serra’s steel sheets emerging from prehistoric rock formations, in a blue night where the sky turns from pink to purple, is an unmatched dose of beauty and emotion. The powerful vision that Sheikha Al-Mayassa and Qatar Museums are weaving is inspiring beyond words—just like this eternal gesture in the middle of the Qatari desert. Photo: Aline Asmar d’Amman 2. The Mountains and Valleys of Engadin, Switzerland I owe much of my sense of beauty and inspiration to the sumptuous mountains, lakes, walks, and ever-changing skies of Engadin. This is where I spend Christmas and start every new year with my family and loved ones. I associate this ever-changing scenery and light that happens within the same day with Joan Didion’s quote from her cherished book: “Life changes fast. Life changes in the instant. You sit down to dinner and life as you know it ends.” I start every year with these powerful words. Photo: Mathieu Zazzo 3. The 7L Library The 7L, the sacred, ultra-vibrant cathedral of books, houses Karl Lagerfeld’s collection of 33,000 volumes, in what was once his photo studio. This is where I met Karl for the first time and often joined him for our work sessions. Today, the place has been given a new lease of life, thanks to its acquisition by CHANEL and the vision of Laurence Delamare, who, together with a passionate team, brings together a circle of Friends of 7L for creative and cultural events. I start my projects by accumulating inspiring books and visiting soulful places. This one definitely nourished my soul with knowledge and wit, specially the conversations with the spirited librarians of this magic house! French antique market Paul Bert Serpette in Saint-Ouen \ Photo: Aline Asmar d’Amman 4. Treasurable Hunts Treasure hunting for our projects is an emotional adventure filled with surprises and stories of serendipity. More than the finds themselves, I love the layered stories behind each piece shared by the antique dealers, brimming with enthusiasm and culture. This head of David and the remains of the Roman goddess next to it are heading straight into one of our projects. I visited them like old friends many times and couldn’t let go of the attachment to their scars. I know they will delight all the visitors who stumble upon them soon in a fantastic garden to come. Stella Tennant in John Galliano’s 1998 Marchesa Casati collection for Christian Dior Haute Couture, Vogue, May 2006 \ Photo: Mario Testino 5. Fashion Photography of La Casati, Reinterpreted by John Galliano Women are heroes! Legendary characters and fashion’s ability to capture a certain state of mind nurture the storytelling in my projects. When working on the epic renovation of Palazzo Dona Giovannelli, I imagine Marchesa Luisa Casati, the extravagant figure known for her femme fatale looks and allure, walking into the room. I love John Galliano’s take on this iconic legend in the 21st century, dressed to seduce with audacity and irreverence. Works by Aline Asmar d’Amman: Photo: Stephan Julliard Le Jules Verne restaurant by Frederic Anton \\\ The Eiffel Tower is the rebellious sentinel of Paris, an architectural fantasy that spreads its magic across the world. High engineering, audacity, lighting, modernity, femininity… these elements inspired the interiors I imagined for Le Jules Verne restaurant during its complete renovation. Le Jules Verne offers a unique encounter between the culinary and decorative arts, high in the clouds of the Parisian sky. It is a delicate equation, blending the raw and the precious, the hand of man and the lace of the Iron Lady, with reflections and connections between the exterior and new interior perspectives. Photo: Stephan Julliard “Les Grands Appartements” by Karl Lagerfeld at Hôtel de Crillon, a Rosewood Hotel \\\ My collaboration on Karl Lagerfeld’s ‘Les Grands Appartements’ at the Hôtel de Crillon is a defining moment in my career as an architect. The interiors of ‘Les Grands Appartements’ encapsulate the best of what Paris has to offer in terms of 18th-century French heritage, modernized by one of the greatest geniuses of our time. Uncompromising elegance and a timeless classic feel permeate this space, marked by the indelible signature of Karl’s knowledge and impeccable taste. Photo: Matthieu Salvaing My Parisian Home \\\ A sense of celebration and the magic of unexpected encounters define the spirit of my Parisian home. The celebration of love, family, and diversity is infused into every room, with a confident freedom in blending old soul with contemporary creativity through the power of art. With my Lebanese roots and Parisian heart, a connection to my hometown, and a magnetic bond with my husband’s Swiss heritage, life is divided between three cities I call home and numerous destinations, following the flow of my design studio projects, Culture in Architecture. Home is a feeling—a celebration of life and love, a nest for dreams and memories shared with family and friends. Photo: Jean-Pierre Vaillancourt Culture in Architecture Studio, Paris \\\ My design studio in Paris is nestled in an atelier that has witnessed decades of design practice before us. A century of French architects from the Blavette-Gelis family have worked here since 1889. Once filled with vintage drawing tables and the first printed plans of Paris, it is now brimming with books, boards, and materials that fuel imagination and open us to the world. This is where my team and I meet with collaborators, friends, gallerists, artists, and artisans who inspire us, leaving energized by the unique perspective and mesmerizing views of Paris.

The modern JF Apartment in São Paulo, Brazil, by Zalc Arquitetura, merges the rawness of brutalism with the elegance of minimalism.

The JF apartment in São Paulo, Brazil, reimagined by Zalc Arquitetura, represents an inspired blend of brutalist architecture and minimalist design, creating a home that is as much a gallery of art and ideas as it is a living space. Located in the Higienópolis neighborhood, known for its modernist architectural landmarks and cultural vibrancy, the 1,959-square-foot apartment transformation is more than just a renovation – it’s a statement of aesthetic and functional innovation tailored to meet the unique needs of the homeowners, an art-collecting couple with a passion for design. The concept behind the JF apartment was to craft a space that merges the raw, monolithic nature of brutalism with the clean, uncluttered lines of minimalism. Brutalism, with its emphasis on unadorned concrete and stark geometric forms, is often considered austere, even imposing. However, in the hands of Zalc Arquitetura, the brutalist elements serve as the foundation of the apartment’s identity, while minimalist details elevate the atmosphere, making the space feel open, airy, and welcoming. The marriage of architectural styles creates a sense of balance, where the rawness of exposed concrete slabs and beams is offset by the deliberate simplicity of the design. By stripping the apartment of unnecessary ornamentation, the architecture itself becomes the art, allowing the natural textures of the materials and furnishings to take center stage. Every element, from the materials to the layout, contributes to an environment that feels both powerful and serene. One of the most significant changes in the redesign was the apartment’s reconfiguration, which reflects the studio’s commitment to creating a space that is both beautiful and functional. Originally, the apartment had a small service bedroom adjacent to the kitchen – a common feature in older Brazilian apartments. By removing this room, the architects were able to expand both the kitchen and laundry areas, making them more practical for modern living. The layout now features an open plan that connects the social areas – such as the living room, dining space, and kitchen – while maintaining the privacy of the bedrooms and the suite. This sense of fluidity is enhanced by sliding steel doors that can be closed to delineate the different zones when needed, allowing the homeowners flexibility without sacrificing the overall sense of openness. The integrated design promotes interaction between spaces, making the apartment ideal for hosting gatherings and displaying the couple’s extensive art collection. At the same time, the private areas of the apartment remain secluded, offering a retreat from the more public zones of the home. One of the standout features of the renovation is the restoration of the original marquetry wood floor. In its previous state, the intricate wooden flooring was hidden beneath layers of epoxy paint, a remnant of the apartment’s earlier design. Zalc Arquitetura saw the potential in this historical element and made it a priority to bring it back to life. The painstaking process of stripping the floor and restoring it to its original condition was not just a design choice but an environmental one. By preserving and revitalizing existing materials, the architects demonstrated a commitment to sustainability, reducing waste while honoring the apartment’s architectural history. The reconditioned flooring now serves as a warm, organic counterpoint to the otherwise industrial and minimalist surroundings, grounding the apartment in its historical roots. The visual language of the JF apartment is defined by its use of a neutral, largely monochromatic color palette, which allows the natural textures of the materials to speak for themselves. Concrete is a dominant feature, forming the backbone of the apartment’s aesthetic. Exposed concrete slabs and beams lend the space an industrial quality, creating a striking visual contrast with the smooth, clean lines of the minimalist furnishings. Another highlight of the new design is the incorporation of a curved steel and glass wall, which separates the bedrooms from the social areas. This gentle curve contrasts beautifully with the sharp, linear forms typical of brutalist architecture, softening the space and introducing a dynamic interplay between geometry and fluidity. The curved wall not only adds a sculptural element to the apartment but also redefines the spatial experience. It introduces a sense of movement, guiding the eye and creating a flow that counterbalances the otherwise rigid forms. The apartment’s subdued color scheme is punctuated by bold accent colors found in carefully selected pieces of furniture, art, and decor. These vibrant elements inject energy into the space, offering moments of surprise and contrast without overwhelming the overall minimalist tone. The thoughtful curation of artwork adds further depth to the design, as each piece is chosen not only for its aesthetic value but also for how it interacts with the space. Rafael Zalc To see more projects from Zalc Arquitetura, visit zalc.arq.br. Photography by André Mortatti.

CHOP+ARCHI’s Kumagaya House redefines traditional family living in Japan with an innovative design that balances openness and privacy.

In the aftermath of World War II, Japan embraced the nuclear family as its predominant household structure, echoing anthropologist George Murdock’s assertion of its universality. However, in recent years, the prevalence of nuclear-family households has declined – a shift reflective of a desire to escape the pressures of conforming to the tightly-knit nucleus of the family unit. In response to these evolving dynamics, architects in Japan are rethinking the design of the home itself, aiming to alleviate the demands for constant cohesion within families. In Saitama, Japan, the Kumagaya House, designed by CHOP+ARCHI, is one such example of space redefined by this cultural shift. This design approach breaks up the traditional nucleus by introducing a central cruciform void that divides the home into four distinct spaces. The concept draws inspiration from the “ta-no-ji” layout, named after the Chinese character for rice field, which features a grid-like arrangement. Unlike the traditional configuration, where spaces overlap, the void acts as a buffer, creating separation between the rooms while still maintaining a subtle connection between them. Each space remains linked to the outdoors, ensuring a sense of openness and fluidity. This design approach introduces air as a key element in the home. The central void acts as a buffer, reducing tension between family members and easing the pressure to function as a single unit. By using open space instead of solid walls to divide areas, the design creates a calm and flexible environment. This allows modern families to adapt to changing needs while maintaining a sense of stability and connection, as well as respecting traditional Japanese design principles. This balance results in a living space that feels both fresh and familiar. For more information on CHOP+ARCHI, visit choparchi.com. Photography by Masao Nishikawa.

The indoor/outdoor Bay Area Home, by Olson Kundig with NICOLEHOLLIS, showcases an art collection and lush natural surroundings.

The Bay Area Home, designed by the Olson Kundig architecture firm with interiors by Nicole Hollis of NICOLEHOLLIS, stands as an elevated display of modern architecture and curated interiors, carefully crafted to promote the family’s active and art-filled life. Situated in an established San Francisco Bay Area neighborhood, the house is a relaxing haven amid city life, blending indoor and outdoor living with the help of mature oak trees, reflective water features, and expansive views of curated gardens. Architect Tom Kundig’s design is a study in contrasts, balancing formal and casual spaces within a single structure. The home, which spans multiple zones, includes an area for entertaining guests and a more intimate section dedicated to family life. These distinct zones not only give the house a sense of openness but also foster a feeling of closeness and warmth. As Kundig explains, “This project organizes a pretty big home around two very different functions: formal spaces for hosting and entertaining, and much more casual family spaces.” This dual-purpose design is bolstered by the home’s close connection to nature, achieved through expansive glass walls and kinetic elements that blur the lines between the indoors and outdoors. The entrance of the home begins with a dramatic statement: a black steel bridge suspended over a lightwell, leading to a bronze pivoting front door that opens onto an art-filled entryway. Large walls throughout the house showcase the family’s impressive art collection, featuring works from artists such as Oscar Murillo and Alma Allen, while oversized glass windows offer uninterrupted views of the lush surrounding landscape. An Olympic-sized swimming pool lays along the axis of the hovering primary suite, an extension of the covered outdoor living space. On the opposite side of the pool is a cabana, which features a sauna, cold plunge, and outdoor gym. Inside, the formal wing is punctuated by reflecting pools and framed with black steel columns. A pair of 13-foot pivoting glass doors anchor the space, allowing light to flow freely. Custom elements like a botanical bronze screen by artist David Wiseman add further layers of texture and artistry. As Nicole Hollis describes, “A screen by David Wiseman was a custom commission with the artist, and one of the most distinctive choices we made.” In contrast to the formal living areas, the family zones are designed to feel casual yet luxurious. The kitchen, centered around a 28-foot-long Titiano marble island, opens onto a terrace, extending into the outdoors with dedicated spaces for cooking and dining under the shelter of the primary suite’s cantilevered volume. The outdoor kitchen, pool, and sports facilities encourage an active lifestyle, a design decision Kundig highlights: “The outdoor kitchen literally extends the energy from the main kitchen inside out into the landscape. The pool creates a link between the low-key activity of the house and the more intense recreational activity of the sauna, outdoor gym, and sport court beyond.” A downstairs powder room houses a sculptural black marble sink surrounded by black wood walls embedded with veins of bronze inlay. The home’s upper level is equally considered, featuring a serene primary suite that includes a marble bathtub, placed to create a peaceful connection with the surrounding tree canopy. A separate children’s wing adds functionality, providing privacy and play spaces, while at the basement level, a gym and recreation room open into the landscaped lightwell, ensuring natural light flows through even the most secluded parts of the home. The interiors, masterminded by Nicole Hollis, create a serene and inviting atmosphere, contrasting soft furnishings with the bold architectural lines of the house. “Working with the architectural palette, we selected materials and finishes to contrast against the lush exterior landscape, creating a calming environment,” Hollis explains. The careful interplay between the rigorous architecture and playful interior details softens the space, making it both livable and refined. For more information on Olson Kundig, visit olsonkundig.com, and for more information on NICOLEHOLLIS, visit nicolehollis.com. Photography by Douglas Friedman.

Hillcrest House by Marc Thorpe's Edifice Upstate offers an affordable solar-powered home that blends modern design with nature in the Western Catskills.

Edifice Upstate is redefining sustainable living in the Western Catskills with its latest architectural venture, Hillcrest House. Specializing in the design and development of eco-conscious, solar-powered homes, Edifice Upstate merges modern design with cutting-edge green technology, offering residents a unique opportunity to live in harmony with nature. The company, led by Marc Thorpe, an award-winning architect, and Claire Pijoulat, co-founder of WantedDesign, aims to provide affordable, self-sufficient housing solutions for those looking to reduce their environmental footprint without sacrificing comfort or style. The heart of Edifice Upstate’s vision is the belief in self-reliance and a lifestyle integrated with the environment. This ethos is embodied in Hillcrest House, a solar-powered home perched on a secluded hilltop, surrounded by forest while still being conveniently close to the upstate hamlet of North Branch. Designed with simplicity and balance in mind, the home, which is just two hours northwest of New York City, offers a tranquil escape, with modern conveniences and sustainable features seamlessly woven into its architecture. Hillcrest House is powered by an impressive solar array, boasting sixteen panels that ensure the house operates independently of the grid. With a battery storage system that can sustain the home for up to five days, residents can rely entirely on solar energy without needing backup generators. This commitment to sustainability doesn’t stop at power generation – the home’s design incorporates efficient use of space, with features like polished concrete floors, high ceilings, and open-plan living areas that create a feeling of spaciousness within a modest footprint. The property, which spans five acres, offers more than just a place to live – it provides a gateway to the surrounding natural beauty of the Catskills. From the expansive sundeck, residents can soak in the sweeping views of the forested landscape, or venture further into the wild to discover apple trees and a tranquil creek nearby. The home’s location serves as a perfect launchpad for outdoor activities like hiking, fishing, and biking, while remaining close to local dining, shopping, and cultural attractions. The open interior is centered around a wood stove, which heats the entire home. Framed views of the lush trees can be seen whether sitting on the sofa in front of the fire or around the dining table during a meal. Just outside the series of sliding glass doors, a wraparound wooden deck extends the usable square footage during warmer months. Polished concrete floors unify the interior, while select wood clad walls warm the mostly white space. A short hallway leads to three bedrooms, a full bathroom with walk-in shower, a powder room, and a pantry/storage space. A separate utility room holds the home’s utilities needed to keep it running, like the solar battery bank, water heater, electric panel, and pressure tank. To see more projects by Marc Thorpe and Edifice Upstate, visit marcthorpedesign.com and edificeupstate.com. Photography by Steph Mossey.

The Red Rock house in Nevada by Faulkner Architects embraces the constraints of the desert climate while staying connected to its surroundings.

In the heart of Summerlin, Nevada, Faulkner Architects has designed the Red Rock residence in collaboration with Concept Lighting Lab as an extension of its natural environment. The home responds to the dramatic contrasts of its surroundings with views of the Las Vegas Strip to the east and the rugged Red Rock Canyon to the west. The scenic location, combined with the unforgiving climate of the Nevada desert, posed unique challenges and opportunities that shaped the design of the home. The result is a residence that reflects the desert’s stark beauty while offering refuge from its extreme conditions. Situated on a three-quarter-acre lot, the house is designed to endure the punishing desert climate. The winds that sweep through the area are relentless, winters are cold and dry, and summers are blisteringly hot, punctuated by monsoon storms. These environmental factors necessitated a design approach that prioritizes protection from the elements while embracing the beauty of the landscape. At the same time, privacy and durability were key concerns, leading to a structure that is both robust and refined, minimalist yet deeply expressive. The house embraces a minimalistic design philosophy that echoes the simplicity of the desert. The layout utilizes a subtractive approach, carving out a wind-sheltered courtyard on the eastern side of the property. Here, an elevated basin of water reflects the architecture, offering a mirror image of the living space and subtly referencing the distant skyline of Las Vegas. This integration of water contrasts with the arid desert, symbolizing the fragile relationship between nature and urban development. The entryway to the home is designed to be an experience in itself. Visitors pass through a narrow opening in the massive concrete walls, which, at eye level with the basin, draws the eye to the reflection of the distant city. This threshold leads to a shaded and closed corridor that ramps up to a private entry courtyard. Open to the sky, this space is softened by a vertical garden of native desert plants, offering a serene transition from the outside world into the interior of the home. The architecture performs as a mediation between the rugged desert landscape and the more refined and controlled environment of the house. The material palette of the Red Rock House is intentionally restrained, relying on local materials that connect the building to its surroundings. The use of locally sourced sand, gravel, and fly ash to create concrete for the floors and walls gives the structure a natural buff hue that resonates with the distant mountains. These materials were chosen not just for their aesthetic qualities but also for their ability to endure the desert conditions. In the intense desert light, the concrete takes on a warm, sunlit tone that changes throughout the day. The upper-level sleeping areas are housed within a framework of perforated weathering steel. This screen not only protects the interior from the sun but also provides a measure of privacy while allowing for natural ventilation. The perforations in the steel create a dappled effect of light and shadow, adding a dynamic quality to the interior spaces as the sun moves across the sky. In a gesture that further integrates the house with its surroundings, over half of the built structure is located below ground level. This not only reduces the building’s visual impact on the site but also provides natural insulation from the extreme temperatures. Sunlight is introduced into these subterranean spaces through carefully placed openings, some of which are submerged below the water level of the basin, creating a dramatic interplay of light, shadow, and reflection throughout the day. The house is equipped with a range of energy-efficient systems, including a 45-kilowatt photovoltaic array that powers the home, high-efficiency glazing to reduce heat gain, and mechanical and lighting systems designed to minimize energy use. The roof, which is highly reflective, helps to mitigate the intense desert heat, while the design of the building itself maximizes natural ventilation and shading. On the south side of the house, a shaded deck extends out from the structure, offering a place to relax while being shielded from the intense heat of the desert sun. The deck, which is screened with perforated mesh, also serves to protect the house and the cars parked below from the elements. This thoughtful integration of shading devices and natural ventilation systems ensures that the house remains cool and comfortable even during the hottest days of summer. For more information on Faulkner Architects, click here, and for more from Concept Lighting Lab, click here. Photography by Joe Fletcher.

Green design & innovation for a better world

The latest from www.architecturaldigest.com

From cameras to cookware, these budget-friendly picks are sure to impress

Skip the gift cards and get them something they’ll actually love

Check out the best places to buy art and liven up bare walls

Twenty-five top designers from the Lone Star State and beyond transform a vacant office building once intended to be the city’s first Mandarin Oriental hotel

Searching for builders and contractors in the Southeast to hire? Look no further than our AD-approved list

These ingeniously designed hotels are as beautiful as the cities, towns, and regions they’re in, from Mexico City to Paris and beyond

Here’s what you need to know now

Here’s what you need to know now

Architect Benjamin Godiniaux created a compact, practical Parisian space without compromising on aesthetics or style

Light up your life

The actor has an affinity for waterfalls and outdoor kitchens

The best latex mattresses are naturally hypoallergenic, cool, and supportive. Here are our favorite latex beds after extensive testing

Find out where to buy wallpaper that will surprise and delight

We picked 12 of the very best mattresses as tested by our sleep experts to determine which beds ultimately rank supreme

The best innerspring mattress offers excellent support and value. We deemed these beds our favorites in the innerspring category

The Pacific Palisades residence was the site of the actor’s death in 2023

The icon’s French residences doubled as studios for his sculptures and paintings

Three paranormal investigators and six people who have dealt with supernatural activity firsthand offer advice on dealing with housemates from the other side

The founders of OWIU Design created their own serene world in a 1970s house in the foothills of LA

Jannah and Kiyanna Handy tell all in their new book, BLK MKT Vintage: Reclaiming Objects and Curiosities That Tell Black Stories

From cookie dough to cookware, the gourmand on your gift list will love it all

You may love how your bed looks, but if back pain is keeping you up at night, it may be time to invest in a new mattress

Among the streetwear-ish t-shirts and faux-leather mini skirts — SSENSE’s home section is packed with end-of-season deals as much as 70% off.

Space-saving solutions to the rescue

A Guinness World Record was broken with this mind-boggling vacuum that is the width of a shoelace

Behold the lore of Middle Ages Modern

When conceived, the style was meant to be heavenly and transcendent—so how did it become the vision of a haunted house?

A-listers from Frank Sinatra to Britney Spears to Bennifer have fallen for Little White Wedding Chapel—but how did the Sin City spot establish such outsized cultural cache?

Jeffrey Renz hangs his creations all over his Brooklyn home

Before Robin Standefer and Stephen Alesch formed Roman and Williams, the legendary duo created a cozy whimsigoth wonderland for this 1998 film that would become a modern classic

Contemporist features great ideas from the world of design, architecture, interior design, furniture, lighting, and art

ARRCC has shared photos of a remodel they recently completed for a home in Cape Town, South Africa, that retained the original footprint, and received a contemporary update with a new undulating cast in-place concrete roof lined with wood on the inside. A large wood front door that blends into the surrounding wall, pivots open […]

continue reading

ID Architecture has shared photos of a house extension they designed that has been thoughtfully integrated into the existing property in the small village of South Kelsey, England. Originally built in the early 19th century, the property named ‘The Old Rectory’ has undergone numerous alterations over the decades, many of which obscured its historic charm […]

continue reading

Architecture firm Prentiss + Balance + Wickline has shared photos of a home they completed in Alaska, that overlooks inlet waters and is balanced on the edge of a rock wall. The home’s geometry is defined by two tall shed roof structures with a connector between them. Along the west side of the home, the […]

continue reading

Photography by Koen Mol NEXT Architects has shared photos of Watchtower Einderheide, a lookout in The Netherlands, that also doubles as a shelter for bats. Photography by Koen Mol At a height of 85 feet (26m), there’s a view of the Brabantse Kempen’s wooded area surrounding it. Photography by Koen Mol Notches, at different heights […]

continue reading

Design firm llLab., has shared photos of a sculptural bamboo installation they recently completed as part of the Element pop-up store at HKRI Taikoo Hui in Shanghai, China. Aligned with Element’s sustainable branding philosophy, this project embraces bamboo to explore a spatial practice that tests the practicality and sustainability of materials. The Element Bloom pop-up […]

continue reading

This article has been brought to you by A’ Design Award and Competition. A’ Design Award & Competition is the Worlds’ leading design accolade reaching design enthusiasts around the world, and showcasing award winners from 114 different design disciplines. A’ Design Award winning works are translated to all major languages in order to connect design […]

continue reading

Architecture firm Side Angle Side, has shared photos of a 1970s ranch home they renovated in Austin, Texas, for their clients that wanted a home for entertaining. The transformation involved converting a four-bedroom floor plan into a spacious, open, one bedroom home. A long screened-in porch runs along the back of the house and expands […]

continue reading

Australian-based Studio Minosa has shared photos of a kitchen and laundry renovation they completed for a home in Sydney, that includes hidden storage elements. In the laundry, wood paneling covers the lower section of the walls and hides a collection of laundry baskets from view. Additional storage can be found above the wood paneling in […]

continue reading

Office of Ordinary Architecture has shared photos of two backyard getaways they designed for a home in Seattle, Washington, that created space for a yoga studio and an office. The two cottages are located behind the main house and positioned around a new backyard with a fire pit, hot tub, and outdoor dining. Each cottage […]

continue reading

AODA Interior Design Co. has shared photos of an apartment interior in Taiwan they recently completed, that includes a variety of design elements specifically for the home owners cats. The clients are a couple with four cats and two medium-to-large dogs. Previously, they lived in a rental property where all the animals shared the same […]

continue reading

designboom magazine | your first source for architecture, design & art news

designboom visits the albany resort in the bahamas, which redefines elite living with tailored architecture, privacy, and tropical beauty.

The post albany private resort tailors luxury architecture paradise in the bahamas appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

after closing in 2021 due to four suicides, the vessel will reopen in new york, this time with steel mesh safety barriers.

The post in pictures: paul clemence photographs heatherwick’s vessel as it reopens with steel net appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

EHKA studio draws on classic library spaces to create a four-story central atrium filled with light and books.

The post sweeping staircase wrapped in books punctuates library house’s atrium in singapore appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

together with archdaily, we gather a curated selection of timeless and present-day projects, highlight athens' role as a hub of design innovation.

The post athens architecture guide: 23 highlights from historical landmarks to contemporary works appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

a grid layout divides the plan of the residence into squares based on the japanese measuring system.

The post silver panels mirror japanese cityscape on goya schröder’s wooden-framed residence appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

cplus architects encloses the hotel in zigzagging courtyard walls, connecting KALHA with its surrounding landscape.

The post geometric house sculptures emerge from earth for CPLUS’ village renewal project in china appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

following his talk at the ellinikon experience centre in athens, kengo kuma talks to designboom about his designs for the urban regeneration project.

The post kengo kuma on reconnecting architecture with nature through his projects at the ellinikon appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

ota archistudio realizes a 3D roof by adjusting the angles of the wooden beams, a technique expertly executed by local craftsmen.

The post curved roof follows ridgeline of japanese mountains in weekend home by OTA archistudio appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

the semi-open zone between the building’s layers blends functional and aesthetic purposes.

The post vertically laid wooden blinds screen sarv office building’s interiors in tehran appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

through subtle shifts in form, roof structure, and volume density, the design 'defamiliarizes' itself from the rest.

The post 09A’s white gabled house shifts perceptions of the familiar in south korean neighborhood appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

architecture and design magazine

Mexican studio Elías Rizo Arquitectos has balanced a concrete house with a steep gabled roof on a hillside in Tapalpa, Mexico near Guadalajara. Known as El Mirador, the 2023 house measures 230 square metres (2475 square feet) and serves as an "ode" to the site's preexisting landscape. "We wanted to design a house that became

The post Elías Rizo reinterprets vernacular Mexican cabin in concrete appeared first on Dezeen.

Mexican studio Elías Rizo Arquitectos has balanced a concrete house with a steep gabled roof on a hillside in Tapalpa, Mexico near Guadalajara. Known as El Mirador, the 2023 house measures 230 square metres (2475 square feet) and serves as an "ode" to the site's preexisting landscape. Elías Rizo Arquitectos has created a concrete cabin outside of Guadalajara "We wanted to design a house that became one with the landscape over time and allow time to erase the line between nature and architecture," Elías Rizo told Dezeen. The house was placed on the most accessible point of a sloped terrain near a pool fed by mountain runoff. It is oriented towards a valley and the Colmia volcano. A stone retaining wall creates patios and support on the steep site With a rectangular form, the home is composed of smooth concrete with a small overlap that creates a datum line between the two storeys. Under the angle of the standing seam metal roof, which stretches outward along the ridgeline to form an oblong diamond in plan, the concrete transitions to black wood. Concrete was used widely on the lower level "Gabled roofs are used all over the region's vernacular architecture – we only changed its inclination and materials to lower the roof's maintenance because of the difficult accessibility of the site," the team said. The window frames are made of weathering steel, which will oxidize and stain the exterior walls with an ochre patina – much like the colours of the house's surrounding stone. A wooden module holds many of the service areas and bedrooms and forms a wall for the staircase The long front side of the house is entirely glass, with a series of sliding doors on the ground level. Meanwhile, each of the short sides is punctured by a single door and a small square window on the upper level. The back of the house is solid concrete. Two terrace spaces – a flat entry platform and a front patio that steps down into a series of benches – are composed of stone slates that were found on site. Concrete was left exposed in the living areas On the interior, a module made of solid Rosa Morada wood begins on the ground floor and extends up, housing all the serving spaces on the ground floor and all of the bedrooms on the top floor. It divides the living spaces from the darkened staircase, which runs along the back of the plan as a "mysterious threshold inside the house". Read: Ludwig Godefroy creates brutalist cube-shaped home in Mexico Upstairs, a moveable wooden box houses the shower and can be opened on three sides to coexist with the bedroom and views of the landscape or can be closed off for privacy. "The project is a daring reinterpretation of the region's architecture," The team said. "We used many of its elements but we transformed them into a different language." "Our project could be understood as a reinterpretation of the Mexican vernacular woods cabin or as its antithesis and we are aware and happy with this duality." It was designed as a reinterpretation of the area's vernacular architecture Other concrete houses recently designed near Guadalajara include a pared-back forest retreat by René Pérez Gómez and an inward-focused house with a steel framework by Arqueodigma Studio. The photography is by Fabian Martinez. The post Elías Rizo reinterprets vernacular Mexican cabin in concrete appeared first on Dezeen.

British studio John Puttick Associates has refurbished a Grade II-listed church in Hove, East Sussex, introducing a 4.5-metre-tall timber extension that acts as an entrance porch. St Leonard's Church has also been updated to provide flexible space for family- and community-focused activities while maintaining the building's historic character. According to John Puttick Associates, the goal

The post John Puttick Associates expands St Leonard's Church with glulam porch appeared first on Dezeen.

British studio John Puttick Associates has refurbished a Grade II-listed church in Hove, East Sussex, introducing a 4.5-metre-tall timber extension that acts as an entrance porch. St Leonard's Church has also been updated to provide flexible space for family- and community-focused activities while maintaining the building's historic character. According to John Puttick Associates, the goal was to establish the church as an "open and welcoming place", after its congregation had started to dwindle and its facilities were deteriorating. John Puttick Associates has refurbished St Leonard's Church in East Sussex John Puttick Associates relocated the church's entrance from behind a gated porch on the south elevation into the slatted glued-laminated timber (glulam) extension, which has been added to the west. Topped by a standing seam zinc roof, the 4.5-metre-tall porch is designed to echo the architecture of the existing building while acting as a contemporary counterpart. It features two sets of timber doors that open towards the street and the rear of the site, as well as festoon lights that have led St Leonard's Church to be known locally as the "bright and light church". A 4.5-metre-tall glulam extension has been added "There was a perception that the building looked 'closed' which the church team wanted to overcome," studio director John Puttick told Dezeen. "They were very keen to use the building in a more multi-functional way, to host more community-focused activities alongside worship," Puttick continued. "The new porch is deliberately designed to echo traditional forms and the geometry of the existing building, while its contemporary expression signals a new start and welcomes people in." The structure acts as an entrance porch Visitors are welcomed through the timber extension into a community cafe with a counter crafted from repurposed choir stalls. Complementary joinery follows the original herringbone patterns found in the church's tiling. The original singular, open-plan congregation space has been transformed with glazed screens installed along the central row of arches to offer two congregation spaces. These are designed to operate simultaneously, with the larger northern nave for main worship services and the southern nave for intimate gatherings. Read: Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios restores and refurbishes historic Brighton Dome venues To address the lack of heating at St Leonard's Church, the studio installed an air source heat pump and raised the floor by 15 centimetres to incorporate an underfloor heating system. This is laid on top of the existing original parquet floor to avoid disturbing historic material. Ramps in the timber extension and southern entrance ensure accessibility, leading out into the church's landscaped pathways and outdoor seating area. A community cafe is provided within the church As part of the project, John Puttick Associates has also introduced a creche area and a kitchen for the community cafe. "We very much appreciated the architectural heritage of St Leonard's and wanted to respond positively to it," Puttick commented. "Inside, we've picked up on details from the original building in the new interventions, relating them to their setting," he continued. "Actual reuse of existing fabric – such as the choir stalls, which now form the counter of the cafe survey – make both creative use of the church's heritage and reduce the amount of new material needed for construction, minimising environmental impact," added Puttick. Glazed screens have been added to create two congregation spaces "St Leonard's Church is now very busy throughout the week – not only on Sundays," added Puttick. "With the pews removed from the larger nave in favour of flexible seating and the under-floor heating installed, the space is often used for very lively children's groups." John Puttick Associates is a London-based architectural studio founded in 2014. Its best-known project is the refurbishment of Preston's brutalist bus station, which reopened to the public in 2018. Other churches recently featured on Dezeen include the Lighthouse Church in Merseyside that is designed as a "physical and metaphorical beacon" and a curved concrete church located on the outskirts of Roskilde. The photography is by Gareth Gardner. The post John Puttick Associates expands St Leonard's Church with glulam porch appeared first on Dezeen.

Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces is a book of "landmark architecture" built around the world between the 1950s and 70s. For our mid-century modern series, its author Dominic Bradbury picks out eight lesser-known buildings that encapsulate the era. Published by Phaidon, the encyclopedic book features 450 modernist buildings across all continents, many created by the

The post Eight lesser-known examples of mid-century modern architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces is a book of "landmark architecture" built around the world between the 1950s and 70s. For our mid-century modern series, its author Dominic Bradbury picks out eight lesser-known buildings that encapsulate the era. Published by Phaidon, the encyclopedic book features 450 modernist buildings across all continents, many created by the period's trailblazers and others by more under-represented architects. "We definitely felt that there was an important gap to be filled in terms of a comprehensive survey of the landmark architecture of the period and that this was the perfect moment for the new atlas," Bradbury told Dezeen. Atlas of Mid-Century Modern Masterpieces curates "landmark architecture" from the 1950s to 70s While there are many well-known edifices in the book, there are some that remain more obscure. In this roundup, author Bradbury turns our focus to eight of these lesser-known buildings. His selection aims to act as a representation of the era's architecture but also offer an insight into its "nuances" and how the style varied across continents, he said. "One of the most important ambitions of the project was suggesting that mid-century modernism was a truly global movement that spread all around the world," Bradbury explained. "There were many regional variations and nuances that evolved over time, especially during the late fifties and sixties as the International Style increasingly gave way to a more experimental and sculptural approach, while adopting certain vernacular elements, as seen in Nordic mid-century modernism or tropical modernism." According to Bradbury, among the most interesting observations that can be made from the book are how architecture became closely tied with engineering during the era and also the "dynamic" designs of religious buildings that emerged. Read: "There was a profound belief in the power of the polymath during the mid-century period" "There were many discoveries, but one of them was realising how dynamic ecclesiastical architecture was during this period, which I had not fully appreciated before," Bradbury said. "Another fascinating aspect was seeing the Space Age and Jet Age imagery coming in during the sixties, as well as gaining a fuller understanding of the important relationship between architecture and innovative structural engineering during the mid-century era." Read on for Bradbury's selection of eight lesser-known examples of mid-century modern architecture. St Rochus Church, Germany, 1954, by Aul Schneider-Esleben "One of the most fascinating themes explored in the new atlas is that of the evolving form of the mid-century church. During the fifties and sixties, the Catholic church – among others – relaxed the guidelines on the design of sacred spaces, while encouraging worship in the round. "The result was a fresh wave of churches enriched by their sculptural, abstract forms and soaring interior halls. Paul Schneider-Esbleben's eye-catching St Rochus Church in Düsseldorf offers an early and highly original example of this new generation of sacred spaces. "The architect created a trefoil-shaped plan, topped with a soaring concrete dome coated in copper plates. Internally, seating is arranged within the three segments facing a central altar, placed underneath the summit of the dome." Louisiana Museum Of Modern Art, Denmark, 1958, by Jørgen Bo and Vilhelm Wohlert "I went to visit the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art for the first time just last year and instantly fell in love with the place. The coastal setting is sublime but so is the architecture and, of course, the art collection. "This is Jørgen Bo and Vilhelm Wohlert's masterpiece, where they managed to fuse architecture and landscape within a building that carries you right through the hillside site from one space to the next, with multiple shifts in volume, height and scale. "One of my favourite spaces here is the Alberto Giacometti gallery, where the artist's sculptures are expertly displayed yet there's also the treat of a vast floor-to-ceiling window framing the beautiful surroundings. Somehow you feel as though you are sharing space both with Giacometti's wonderful work and nature itself at the same time." Space Needle, 1962, US, by John Graham and Victor Steinbrueck "The Seattle Space Needle is one of a loosely related sequence of buildings within the book that helps to encapsulate the influence of the Space Race upon mid-century architecture, both thematically and formally. "The Space Needle has the epic, gravity-defying beauty of a rocket about to take flight or even a flying saucer coming in to dock over the city on its elevated landing pad. As well as being a prime example of mid-century astro architecture, this was also a key exemplar of the many observation towers that sprang up around the world during the fifties and sixties. "Built to coincide with the 1962 World's Fair, hosted by Seattle, Space Needle was designed with a revolving, circular restaurant that might be compared with the one at the Post Office Tower in London, which was completed just a few years later in 1965." Parco Dei Principi Hotel, Italy, 1962, by Gio Ponti "The Italian architect, designer and educator Gio Ponti offers one of the greatest examples of the mid-century modern polymath. His work encompassed not only architecture, but interiors, furniture, glassware and ceramics as well as magazine editing, curating and teaching. "The majestic Parco dei Principi Hotel in Sorrento offers a prime example of a project where so many of Ponti's talents converged and coalesced. He designed the building itself, perched on a clifftop overlooking the Gulf of Naples, yet also embraced the opportunity to design the interiors and much of the furniture. "He embraced a maritime colour palette of blue and white both outside and inside, including the use of graphic blue and white floor tiles, as well as colourful pebble mosaics for the walls of the entrance hall and other parts of the hotel. The Parco dei Principi, which has recently been restored, is therefore one of Ponti's most playful projects, as well as one of the most cohesive and rounded." Los Angeles Department Of Water and Power, US, 1965, by AC Martin & Associates "It's Julius Shulman's wonderful photograph as much as the building itself that captivates me about this entry on AC Martin & Associates in Los Angeles. "This is certainly a very clever and influential building architecturally, where the projecting floor plates help to create a kind of sunscreen that shades the office spaces within. "Yet it's also the setting and framing of the building on Bunker Hill that are so seductive, adding to the mid-century grandeur of the building, which is given space to breathe and can be appreciated as a sculptural object in the urban landscape. "The building is often seen in black and white, yet this rare colour image by Shulman is totally arresting." Addis Ababa City Hall, Ethiopia, 1965, by Arturo Mezzedimi "During the fifties and sixties, the post-colonial era saw an important wave of independence architecture and tropical modernism. This was true of countries such as Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana, Zambia and particularly Ethiopia, where emperor Haile Selassie initiated an extraordinary collection of mid-century landmarks focused in Addis Ababa. "One of Selassie's favoured architects was the Italian Arturo Mezzedimi, who was commissioned to design – among other epic projects – Africa Hall, completed in 1961, and then Addis Ababa City Hall, which opened just a few years later, holding not just the local government headquarters but also communal amenities such as a library and cinema. "Here, Mezzedimi opted for a vast and sculptural A-shaped plan, while partly raising the building above the ground plane on a series of piloti. As seen here, two wings project outwards like open arms while helping to frame the main entrance area towards the centre of the building, while a clock tower forms a kind of beacon floating above the entire structure." The Gateway Arch, US, 1968, by Eero Saarinen "For some, Eero Saarinen is one of the great corporate architects of mid-century America, turning his many talents to the service of giants such as TWA, Bell and General Motors. For others, his greatest gift was his furniture, which was always innovative and sculptural. "For the residents of St Louis, Saarinen's greatest achievement was their epic Gateway Arch. This hugely ambitious project spanned much of Saarinen's career and was only fully completed after his death. "Saarinen's 'catenary curve' is certainly a wonder to behold, all the more so given that it contains an observation platform at its summit and a museum at its base. Even within a career defined by a truly original approach to shape-shifting and dynamic forms, Saarinen's Arch is a startling accomplishment." Attatürk Library, Turkey, 1975, by Sedad Hakki Eldem "The celebrated Turkish architect Sedad Hakki Eldem was much respected for the way that he sought to fuse traditional Ottoman ideals with mid-century modernism. "One of Eldem's most important and influential buildings was the Attatürk Library in Istanbul, built between 1966 and 1975. Here, Eldem embraced hexagonal forms within a modern and original building, placing a series of seven geometric modules above a ground-level administration floor, which also holds the main entrance and book depositories. "These elevated hexagonal structures host the reading rooms and exhibition spaces, topped by matching skylights set into geometrical peaks. The resulting building is seen as Eldem's masterpiece and forms one of the great mid-century libraries, comparable to, among others, Bunshaft's Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University." Illustration by Jack Bedford Mid-century modern This article is part of Dezeen's mid-century modern design series, which looks at the enduring presence of mid-century modern design, profiles its most iconic architects and designers, and explores how the style is developing in the 21st century. This series was created in partnership with Made – a UK furniture retailer that aims to bring aspirational design at affordable prices, with a goal to make every home as original as the people inside it. Elevate the everyday with collections that are made to last, available to shop now at made.com. The post Eight lesser-known examples of mid-century modern architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

Sindalah, an island resort in the Red Sea designed by Italian studio Luca Dini Design and Architecture, has become the first Neom region to be completed in Saudi Arabia. The resort, which is described as a "luxury island destination" located five kilometres off the Neom coastline in the Red Sea, has opened to a number

The post First Neom region completes as "luxury island" Sindalah opens in Saudi Arabia appeared first on Dezeen.

Sindalah, an island resort in the Red Sea designed by Italian studio Luca Dini Design and Architecture, has become the first Neom region to be completed in Saudi Arabia. The resort, which is described as a "luxury island destination" located five kilometres off the Neom coastline in the Red Sea, has opened to a number of invited guests. This makes the 840,000 square-metre project the first part of Neom, a mega-development in north-eastern Saudi Arabia, to be completed. Sindalah is a resort island focused on luxury tourism "NEOM is committed to supporting the Kingdom's new era of luxury tourism, with the opening of Sindalah," Neom CEO Nadhmi Al-Nasr said. "The realization of this landmark destination, the gateway to the Red Sea, is due to the visionary leadership of His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman and Saudi Vision 2030," Al-Nasr added. Sindalah was designed by Luca Dini Design and Architecture, which is best known for designing superyachts, and built around an 86-berth marina and yacht club. According to Neom, it will serve as the project's "gateway to the Red Sea." The development is located in the Red Sea The island features hotels, restaurants and venues including the Sindalah Yacht Club, which features interiors by Italian fashion brand Stefano Ricci. It also has a beach club and a golf club, as well as retail outlets and yacht management services. Visitors to the island, which was described by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman as the "future of luxury travel", can choose from 440 rooms, 88 villas and over 200 serviced apartments. Read: Is it time for architecture studios to walk away from Neom? "This is a proud chapter in the NEOM story and we are excited to achieve more of our ambitious goals, with the continued support of His Royal Highness," Al-Nasr said. "NEOM's inaugural destination offers visitors a 'first glimpse' of what the future holds for our extensive portfolio of destinations and developments." It was designed by Luca Dini Design and Architecture for Neom Sindalah expects to host 2,400 visitors per day by 2028. It is the first of the 10 regions created for the Neom project, which includes mega city The Line, to open. The controversial project has been heavily criticised. In 2022, human rights organisation ALQST reported that three members of the Huwaitat tribe who are believed to have criticised displacements connected to Neom had been sentenced to death. Human rights campaigner Lina Alhathloul earlier this year told Dezeen that Neom is being "built on the blood of Saudis" and Dezeen editor Tom Ravenscroft asked if it's "time for architecture studios to walk away from Neom?". In April of this year, it was revealed that Saudi Arabia was scaling back plans for its The Line megacity and in June, we unveiled the architecture studios working on the Neom megaproject. The photography is courtesy of Neom. The post First Neom region completes as "luxury island" Sindalah opens in Saudi Arabia appeared first on Dezeen.

Canadian studio MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects has expanded a thermal spa and baths complex in Quebec, adding a concrete plinth that houses an outdoor swimming pool and a hidden relaxation room. The Balnea Spa and Thermal Reserve is tucked away close to the ski town of Bromont in the Appalachian Mountains, southeast of Montreal and north

The post MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects adds concrete extension to Quebec spa appeared first on Dezeen.

Canadian studio MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects has expanded a thermal spa and baths complex in Quebec, adding a concrete plinth that houses an outdoor swimming pool and a hidden relaxation room. The Balnea Spa and Thermal Reserve is tucked away close to the ski town of Bromont in the Appalachian Mountains, southeast of Montreal and north of Vermont, USA. Balnea Spa's new concrete volume extends the sun terrace and creates a swimming pool on its roof As part of a significant expansion project initiated in spring 2023, MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects has added several facilities within a concrete volume that faces the spa's picturesque view of Lake Gale. "The generous new thermal bath and spa terrace grounds the scheme within the landscape," said studio co-founder Brian MacKay-Lyons, who led the design team on the project. The pool is designed to have an infinite edge, with a view of Lake Gale beyond "The use of natural materials enhances the reading of the 'spa in nature' while offering a wide range of haptic user experiences," he added. The new plinth extends a gently stepped terrace with levels populated by seats and loungers facing the lake and mountains beyond. Wildflower beds add hints of colour and Corten steel sunshades cast shadows between the decked and paved areas Between areas of timber decking and flagstone paths, wildflower beds add hints of colour and Corten steel sunshades cast shadows. At the end of the terrace, the new concrete volume juts out so that the water contained within it acts as an infinity pool. A relaxation room below the pool is enveloped in a curvilinear wood volume "The project references the surrounding natural environment through its materiality and form," said the studio. "The concrete volume of the spa emerges from the landscape, referencing the texture and natural rock of the Appalachians." The heated U-shaped pool can be accessed via steps down from both sides, and a submerged bench is provided for swimmers to sit and take in the view. Wood-lined changing facilities are also housed within the new volume On one side of the structure, a section cut out of the concrete wall is filled in with glass – allowing a view of the lake from underwater. Below the pool is a relaxation room, enveloped in a curvilinear wood volume that swoops down from the ceiling and folds to form tiered benches. Read: Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion informs minimal Quebec pool house Sand is laid across the floor and a series of sliding glass panels fully retract to open the room to the outdoors. "The relaxation room invites guests to unwind and disconnect, while sinking their feet into fine sand and an atmosphere reminiscent of a beach," the studio said. The heated U-shaped pool is accessed via steps at both ends From the exterior, the warmth of the dark wood inside contrasts with the cold board-marked concrete. The lower level also includes wood-lined changing areas and mechanical services, which include a heat recovery system and an optimised filtration system. The spa is located in the Appalachian Mountains, southeast of Montreal and north of Vermont Based in Halifax, Nova Scotia, MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects is perhaps best known for its remote private houses and cabins, which range from a "village" of coastal Corten-clad buildings to a holiday home topped with massive hip roofs. Closer in function and style to this project, the studio previously completed a pool house in Quebec that references Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion. The photography is by Maxime Brouillet. Project credits: Design lead: Brian MacKay-Lyons Architect/project manager: Tyler Reynolds Project team: Talbot Sweetapple, Paryse Beatty, Ryan DeWolde, Andrew Tomchyshyn, Matthew MacKay-Lyons, Ryhland Taylor Ecological architecture: Étienne Lemay Construction contractor: Maurice David & Filles Panoramic lift and slide: Bachand & Bosquet Exterior door: Bachand & Bosquet The post MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects adds concrete extension to Quebec spa appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio IARA has reinvigorated an abandoned aqueduct in Huangshan, China, by attaching a sheltered timber bridge on top of its stone structure. Named FW JI Covered Bridge on Aqueduct, the project in Fengwu Village is shortlisted in the infrastructure and transport project category of Dezeen Awards 2024. The narrow stone aqueduct, which crosses over

The post IARA piggybacks stone aqueduct with sheltered timber bridge in China appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio IARA has reinvigorated an abandoned aqueduct in Huangshan, China, by attaching a sheltered timber bridge on top of its stone structure. Named FW JI Covered Bridge on Aqueduct, the project in Fengwu Village is shortlisted in the infrastructure and transport project category of Dezeen Awards 2024. IARA has added a covered bridge to a stone aqueduct in China The narrow stone aqueduct, which crosses over the Fengxi River in the north of the village, dates back to the 1960s and is a well-loved local landmark. Its revamp by Beijing-based IARA is part of a broader revitalisation programme for the area, which responds to its ageing demographic and insufficient public facilities. FW JI Covered Bridge on Aqueduct is built from cross-laminated timber IARA looked to both preserve the aqueduct and celebrate its place in the community with the cross-laminated timber (CLT) bridge, which doubles as a sheltered community space for gathering. "During the initial design phase, we conducted surveys with the villagers, and 'memory' was the most frequently mentioned word," IARA's founders Jingqiu Zhang and Lubin Liu told Dezeen. The roof is formed of corrugated aluminium "To honour the collective memory of the village, we preserved the original aqueduct, not only maintaining its structural integrity but also retaining the traces of time imprinted on its surface, such as the perennial moss and vegetation," the duo explained. "Villagers also expressed the need for a space to gather, eat, and seek shade during the summer. As a result, we decided to transform this aqueduct into a comfortable public covered bridge for daily use." Read: Line+ Studio floats doughnut-shaped weather balloon above rural Chinese landscape Budget constraints and limited site access informed IARA's use of prefabricated CLT for the bridge structure, which hugs the existing aqueduct with a series of pentagonal frames. Affixed to this framework are two long benches that run along the aqueduct's entire length – one for sitting and one for leaning – and provide additional bracing for the structure. FW JI Covered Bridge on Aqueduct doubles as a sheltered community space "Inside the bridge, seating areas and two rows of reclining chairs offer villagers various options for rest and taking in the view," Zhang and Liu told Dezeen. "These elements also serve as natural safety barriers," they added. "Moreover, the benches are designed to integrate with the X-shaped columns, making the furniture an essential part of the structure's stability." Benches run along the length of the aqueduct Crowning FW JI Covered Bridge on Aqueduct, two overlapping angled sections form a lightweight roof, which is topped with wooden rafters and sheets of corrugated aluminium. At either end of the bridge, the original stone water channels of the aqueduct have been connected to the village by paths paved with stones from the Fengxi River below. Other covered bridges in China include a structure by LUO Studio that is formed of hundreds of wooden elements and a crossing by Atelier FCJZ that doubles as an art gallery. The photography is by Huien Song. The post IARA piggybacks stone aqueduct with sheltered timber bridge in China appeared first on Dezeen.

Brussels-based architecture duo Brasebin-Terrisse have erected a bus shelter made using waste materials as part of this year's Tallinn Architecture Biennale. Titled No Time to Waste, the pavilion at the Balti Jaam transit hub was mostly made from offcuts sourced from suppliers around Tallinn and includes discarded concrete paving slabs from a construction site, chunks

The post Tallinn bus shelter "an experimental fragment" built from reclaimed materials appeared first on Dezeen.

Brussels-based architecture duo Brasebin-Terrisse have erected a bus shelter made using waste materials as part of this year's Tallinn Architecture Biennale. Titled No Time to Waste, the pavilion at the Balti Jaam transit hub was mostly made from offcuts sourced from suppliers around Tallinn and includes discarded concrete paving slabs from a construction site, chunks of stone from a local manufacturer and pieces of brick from a waste-management company. The pavilion's design was led by what materials could be locally sourced Brasebin-Terrisse, which is made up of Matthieu Brasebin and Elisabeth Terrisse de Botton, conceived the project as a reversal of the conventional architecture process – one where the design is determined by the materials available, rather than the other way around. As a result of being dependent on what waste materials could be sourced locally, the architects were not able to confirm how the finished shelter would look during the initial design phases. Everything apart from the steel gabion cages, screws and two glulam beams were reclaimed or sourced second hand "Instead of proposing a finite design with speculated materials, we defined a set of principles that could be adapted afterward based on the available resources," Brasebin and Terrisse de Botton told Dezeen. "Actions like filling – with building waste, assembling – network of primary and secondary beams, or cladding – roofing material, became more important in the design than the resource itself," they continued. "In the end, the pavilion turned out to be very close to the image we projected in the competition, which showcased one of many possible scenarios." The pavilion will stand for two years and may be extended to 45 metres in length if successful The unusual nature of the project meant that it faced challenges in getting final building approval from Tallinn's municipal authority, compounded by the fact that the site is publicly owned. After long delays, permission was eventually granted only the day before the biennale officially opened on 9 October, with construction starting immediately and completing towards the end of last week. Competition head judge Anhelina L Starkova praised the project's "open end" approach The pavilion is composed of two walls made from steel gabion caging filled with rubble, with a single-pitch roof made from corrugated metal sheeting laid across wooden beams held up by steel posts. Simple wooden seating is stationed under the roof and adjacent to the shelter. Only the gabion cages, screws and two glulam beams were newly purchased for the project, with the roof cladding, steel posts and secondary timber beams sourced second-hand. Read: Measured Architecture designs Shor House to be a "test bed of recycling" Per the competition instructions, Brasebin-Terrisse's design is for a 45-metre-long shelter. What has been built is a six-metre prototype section that will remain in place for a minimum of two years. If deemed a success, the full-length shelter may be constructed. The architects hope that the pavilion will be appropriated by the people of Tallinn for a range of uses beyond a bus shelter – as a pop-up bar during events in the plaza on which it stands, for example. If built, the full design would extend this idea, taking the form of a line of open-sided "rooms" that could be adapted to different purposes. The architects are hopeful that the pavilion will be appropriated by the people of Tallinn "The pavilion is an experimental fragment, a prototype, of a future 45 metre-long canopy, providing a waiting area for bus stops on Balti Jaam's square," said the architects. "We hope it will draw curiosity and awareness from the inhabitants, shifting perception about building waste and its aesthetics and nourishing ongoing debates about re-use." Its main function is as a bus shelter No Time to Waste was selected as the winning design by a team of judges led by the chief curator of this year's biennale, Anhelina L Starkova. In an interview with Dezeen, Starkova explained that she felt Brasebin-Terrisse's proposition fitted best with the festival's overarching theme of Resources for a Future, which looks at innovative approaches to reusing existing building resources. "This was the only project who said that we have an open end – we do not propose [a] form of the installation, we prepare that we come to Tallinn, we test a local situation and after we will develop a form given when doing the work on it," she said. More than 80 designs were entered in the competition, with finalists' work now on display in an exhibition Proposals from the competition finalists are being exhibited at the Museum of Estonian Architecture in Tallinn for the remainder of the biennale, next to the main Resources for a Future exhibition. Entrants to the competition were tasked with designing a sturdy piece of public infrastructure that would repurpose materials, including from local timber manufacturer Thermory, a sponsor of this year's biennale. Tallinn Architecture Biennale is in its seventh edition this year, having first been held in 2011. Previous pavilions at the biennale have included a non-fungible-token-funded structure by UK studio Iheartblob and a project that combined traditional wood-bending methods with digital modelling. The pavilion photography is by Gregor Jürna. Tallinn Architecture Biennale 2024 opened on 9 October 2024 and will take place in various locations across Tallinn, Estonia until 1 December 2024. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world. The post Tallinn bus shelter "an experimental fragment" built from reclaimed materials appeared first on Dezeen.

Belgian studio Van Laethem Architecten used natural materials including hempcrete and cedar shingles to create this small garden studio for its staff in Alken. Located in the rear garden of founder Chris Van Laethem's home, the building acts as both a workspace for up to three people and a demonstration of the studio's approach to

The post Van Laethem Architecten uses hempcrete for own garden studio in Belgium appeared first on Dezeen.

Belgian studio Van Laethem Architecten used natural materials including hempcrete and cedar shingles to create this small garden studio for its staff in Alken. Located in the rear garden of founder Chris Van Laethem's home, the building acts as both a workspace for up to three people and a demonstration of the studio's approach to using bio-based materials. Van Laethem Architecten has created its own studio in Belgium "Van Laethem Architecten specialises in natural building, so the office would have to reflect that," Van Laethem told Dezeen. "It would have to be like a showroom for sustainable building," he continued. It is clad in red brick and cedar shingles To provide separation from the home, the office is situated next to a side road at the end of the garden, where a separate entrance and parking space have been provided for clients. Vegetation on either side of the studio helps provide a feeling of being amongst nature, while its position on the plot also helps to shelter the main home from the road. It is built from hempcrete For the structure, Van Laethem Architecten used hempcrete, with the project providing an opportunity for the studio to learn more about working with the material. "To get a feeling with the hempcrete, I knew I had to work with it myself," said Van Laethem. "Organising a hempcrete workshop helped me to start off. This was an ideal way of cutting costs, but also for other self-builders to get to know the material." Read: Commonbond Architects self-builds Gardenhide Studio using hempcrete and timber Externally, the lower section of the walls is clad with red brick, creating the impression of a plinth that references the adjacent house, while above cedar shingles protect the walls from rain. Inside, the hempcrete walls and timber roof have been left exposed, complemented by a floor of recycled foam glass granules. The hempcrete is left exposed inside "Except for the foundation of the outer walls, no concrete was used," said Van Laethem. "The chosen materials for the floor, walls and ceiling make the structure and finishing at the same time," he added. "There is no intention of hiding, disguising or enhancing them. Natural materials therefore create a natural atmosphere. There is no need to add anything." Wooden details complement the exposed hempcrete surfaces A built-in desk runs along one wall of the office beneath three large windows overlooking the garden. Opposite, a small meeting area sits alongside the bathroom pod, with a kitchenette and closet lining the adjacent wall. Elsewhere in Belgium, local studio Atelier Janda Vanderghote recently completed a garden office in Ghent with a full-height glass facade, while in London, Commonbond Architects also used hempcrete to build its own garden studio. The photography is by Tom Frederix. The post Van Laethem Architecten uses hempcrete for own garden studio in Belgium appeared first on Dezeen.

This month's Dezeen In Depth newsletter reports on the developing field of space architecture and features an interview with Stirling shortlisted Clementine Blakemore. Subscribe to Dezeen in Depth today! This month, leading figures in space architecture convened in Milan to formally establish the discipline for the first time. Ellen Eberhardt reports on what's at stake. In

The post Dezeen In Depth probes the developing field of space architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

This month's Dezeen In Depth newsletter reports on the developing field of space architecture and features an interview with Stirling shortlisted Clementine Blakemore. Subscribe to Dezeen in Depth today! This month, leading figures in space architecture convened in Milan to formally establish the discipline for the first time. Ellen Eberhardt reports on what's at stake. In recent years, space-related architecture has surged, marked by advancements in off-Earth construction methods, zero-gravity interior design and the launch of a dedicated master's program. Stirling shortlisting shows "even modest buildings can be really good" says Clementine Blakemore The latest edition of Dezeen in Depth also features an interview with Clementine Blakemore Architects' founder following her firm's shortlisting for this year's Stirling Prize and an opinion piece by John Jervis as part of our mid-century modern design series. Dezeen In Depth Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design. Each edition includes an original feature article on a key topic or trend, an interview with a prominent industry figure and an opinion piece from a leading critic. Read the latest edition of Dezeen In Depth or subscribe here. You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Thursday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Debate is sent every Tuesday featuring a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories and Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours on Dezeen. The post Dezeen In Depth probes the developing field of space architecture appeared first on Dezeen.

This week on Dezeen, work started on the 400-metre-high cube-shaped Mukaab skyscraper in Riyadh, which is set to be the world's largest building. Designed by architecture studio AtkinsRéalis, the cuboid skyscraper is being built as part of a new downtown district in the northwest of the Saudi capital. When completed, it will overtake the Boeing Everett Factory

The post This week construction began on the world's largest building appeared first on Dezeen.

This week on Dezeen, work started on the 400-metre-high cube-shaped Mukaab skyscraper in Riyadh, which is set to be the world's largest building. Designed by architecture studio AtkinsRéalis, the cuboid skyscraper is being built as part of a new downtown district in the northwest of the Saudi capital. When completed, it will overtake the Boeing Everett Factory in the USA, which has held the title of the world's largest building since it opened in 1967. RCR Arquitectes designed an "unusually narrow" skyscraper in Dubai Elsewhere, Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning studio RCR Arquitectes revealed its design for a 380-metre-high skyscraper in Dubai, which it described as "unusually narrow". Named Muraba Veil, the tower will have a long main facade but will only be 22.5 metres wide. The Vessel reopened in New York In other architecture news, the Vessel in New York designed by Heatherwick Studio reopened after a three-year closure with a steel mesh added to the exterior as a safety measure. It closed in 2021 following the fourth suicide at the viewpoint. "We are pleased that the structure is now reopening," Heatherwick Studio told Dezeen. "We hope that it will continue to deliver the experience we originally envisioned as a unique place for exploration and a one-of-a-kind take on the city of New York." We profiled Ray and Charles Eames We continued our mid-century modern series with profiles of Florence Knoll Bassett and Ray and Charles Eames that consider their impact on the design movement. We also spoke to conservation experts about the challenges of preserving and maintaining mid-century modern homes. "Mid-century homes are a labour of love," they said. Kunrui Peng designed an inflatable toilet In other news, the Dezeen team reported live from Dutch Design Week and rounded up six key trends from northern Europe's largest design event. Highlights from the festival included an inflatable toilet for hikers, designed by Kunrui Peng as an alternative to burying faeces in the ground, which leaves lasting impacts on the environment. The designer hopes that the toilet, weighing less than one kilogram, will be used for "convenient and responsible" pooing in the wild. A doughnut-shaped weather balloon was one of this week's most-read projects Popular projects featured on Dezeen this week included a doughnut-shaped weather balloon in China by Line+ Studio, a "low-key" rural retreat in the Greek countryside by Piers Taylor and the conversion of a brutalist printworks in Slovenia into offices. This week's lookbooks featured bathrooms with see-through walls and house extensions that maximise space and light. This week on Dezeen This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week's top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don't miss anything. The post This week construction began on the world's largest building appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio Fernanda Canales has created a semi-open community centre for the elderly in Mexico, using a circular form and simple materials The House for the Elderly is located in Neco, in the border state of Sonora, an arid environment with social and economic problems related to cross-border smuggling. It has been shortlisted in the

The post Fernanda Canales creates perforated-brick circular community centre appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio Fernanda Canales has created a semi-open community centre for the elderly in Mexico, using a circular form and simple materials The House for the Elderly is located in Neco, in the border state of Sonora, an arid environment with social and economic problems related to cross-border smuggling. It has been shortlisted in the health and wellbeing category of the 2024 Dezeen Awards. Fernanda Canales has designed a circular community centre in Sonora The federal government initiated the 450-square-foot (42-square-metre) structure, which was designed to be welcoming for elderly community members who can access various health and social services there. Because of limited local resources, the Fernanda Canales team opted to use simple materials with minimal finishes to create an economical project that can be maintained easily and locally. It was built using simple, local materials Located on a small, angular plot, the project consists of two primary structures – one circular and one rectangular. "This responds to the desire to make the most of the plot's angular geometry and avoid residual spaces," said the team. "Thus, the centerpiece is the circular building, located in the widest part of the plot, and the small rectangular block serves as a second access and transition zone to generate different gradients between the public, semi-public, and private." A series of oculi bring light to the outdoor circulation spaces The circular structure has a concrete slab and column structure, with minimum spacing to allow for easy construction. A main pathway leads to the centre of the structure, a courtyard that allows for circulation to different points in the single-storey structure. The interior spaces are wider towards the back, where the studio includes spaces for gathering. Perforated bricks on the facade facilitate ventilation Brick walls line the facade and were given perforations to allow for natural ventilation, while three oculi were placed in the circular concrete slab that acts as a ceiling to bring light into the outdoor circulation areas. At the back of the site is a smaller rectangular building dedicated to the health functions of the facility. It has similar concrete beams and brick walls. It provides space for community and centre for elderly locals Where the site tapers to a point, a series of adobe-clad columns with semi-circular cut-outs at the top hold metal rods to provide visual interest and shelter from the street. According to the studio, the basic materials were chosen to make the structure fit in with the surroundings, a mix of residential and industrial structures. Every element of the structure, from the doors to the light fixtures, was designed to be easily and locally replaceable. Read: Architecture a "powerful tool" for easing strains of migration says Gabriela Carrillo A series of natural stone walls were placed on the site, sheltering gardens that create additional spaces for gathering. "It is a domestic-scale building designed with accessibility and a sense of shelter in mind," said the studio. "Developed on a single level, it centers around a patio and perimeter gardens to achieve cross-ventilation and natural lighting in all spaces." A smaller rectangular building houses the health facilities Fernanda Canales founded her eponymous studio in 2002. Since then, she has created residential projects such as a black concrete house with green roofs in a Mexican forest. She also took part, alongside fellow Mexicans Tatiana Bilbao and Frida Escobedo, in completing an experimental social housing community in Hidalgo. The photography is by Rafael Gamo. Project credits: Architects: Fernanda Canales; Ángela Vizcarra, Alberto García Valladares, Rodrigo Ducoing, Yazmin Hernández, Tania Sánchez, Christian Ortega, Julio Romero Consultants: Patio Taller de Arquitectura y Paisaje (landscape); NSA Lighting (lighting); FVS ingeniería (structural engineering). Contractor: ICCARSON Desarrollos The post Fernanda Canales creates perforated-brick circular community centre appeared first on Dezeen.

Textured plaster intended to mimic nearby rocky outcrops coats the thick walls of Hytte Riverview, a house overlooking an estuary in South Africa by local studio KLG Architects. The 110-square-metre home is nestled into the rocky, sloping landscape of Rooi Els in the Western Cape, enjoying views of the Rooi Els River flowing into False

The post KLG Architects uses thick walls for coastal "sanctuary" in South Africa appeared first on Dezeen.

Textured plaster intended to mimic nearby rocky outcrops coats the thick walls of Hytte Riverview, a house overlooking an estuary in South Africa by local studio KLG Architects. The 110-square-metre home is nestled into the rocky, sloping landscape of Rooi Els in the Western Cape, enjoying views of the Rooi Els River flowing into False Bay and the sea beyond. Responding to this setting, KLG Architects combined thick, rough walls that shelter from the weather with expanses of full-height glazing, "striking a delicate balance between refuge and prospect", the studio said. KLG Architects has completed house overlooking an estuary in South Africa "The design's dual nature – open and outward-facing on one side, solid and sheltered on the other – ensures that the home provides comfort, serenity, and a deep connection to the distinctive environment," director Jan Douglas told Dezeen. "It offers a sanctuary where residents can feel both protected and connected to the landscape," he added. The compact, single-storey home is organised based on this "dual nature", with a large living area projecting out northwards towards the sea with full-height sliding glass doors and decked wooden terraces including a swimming pool on either side. The home's central space is flanked by a pair of bedroom wings This central space is flanked by a pair of bedroom wings overlooking an enclosed, stone-paved entrance courtyard to the south, which is sheltered by a wooden pergola. The different areas of Hytte Riverview are connected by a central spine, along which runs a narrow kitchen that steps up from the living area. Read: Chris van Niekerk installs minimalist house in Cape Town's Steenberg mountains "The solid southern facade encloses the entrance courtyard, creating a sheltered space for enjoying cold winter evenings around an open central fire," explained Douglas. "The northern facade is predominantly glazed to maximise the spectacular view and enhance solar gain during winter," he continued. The living area faces out towards the sea The mono-pitched roof of Hytte Riverview slopes upwards towards the rocky rear of the site. This creates space for clerestory windows that illuminate the bedrooms without disrupting the feeling of "sanctuary" created by their white-rendered and bagged-brick walls. KLG Architects described the interior palette as one of "durability and economy", with dark slate flooring, pale timber ceilings and plywood carpentry. Slate flooring and timber ceilings feature inside Based in Cape Town, KLG Architects is led by Douglas alongside co-directors Geoff George and Tyrone Block. It was founded out of the Köper Levin George architectural practice originally established in the 1930s. Other homes in South Africa recently featured on Dezeen include a dwelling in Johannesburg by Gregory Katz that is defined by its clashing geometric forms and a minimalist retreat by Chris van Niekerk in Cape Town's Steenberg mountains. The photography is by Paris Brummer. The post KLG Architects uses thick walls for coastal "sanctuary" in South Africa appeared first on Dezeen.

Following the news that construction has begun on the world's largest building in Saudi Arabia, we have rounded up 10 record-breaking structures, including the tallest, the narrowest and the heaviest. Largest building: Boeing Everett Factory (1967) Although the Mukaab in Saudi Arabia is set to become the world's largest building, the current record-holder is the

The post Ten record-breaking buildings from the skinniest to the heaviest appeared first on Dezeen.

Following the news that construction has begun on the world's largest building in Saudi Arabia, we have rounded up 10 record-breaking structures, including the tallest, the narrowest and the heaviest. Photo by Maurice King Largest building: Boeing Everett Factory (1967) Although the Mukaab in Saudi Arabia is set to become the world's largest building, the current record-holder is the Boeing Everett Factory in the USA, which was built in 1967. With a volume of 13,400,000 cubic metres, the building was built for the construction of Boeing 747 planes and has been expanded several times since. Around 5,000 aircraft have been built at the facility. Photo by Donaldytong Tallest building: Burj Khalifa (2009) Rising 828 metres above Dubai, the Burj Khalifa skyscraper became the tallest building in the world by a huge margin when it was completed in 2009. Designed by architect Adrian Smith while at SOM, the landmark structure is now the centrepiece of a large shopping development in the city's downtown area. Fifteen years after the building was completed it is still close to 200 metres taller than any other building in the world. Photo by Polish Modern Art Foundation Narrowest house: Keret House (2012) The world's narrowest house is squeezed into a gap between two buildings in the centre of Warsaw. Named Keret House, the unique building was designed by Polish architect Jakub Szczesny as a temporary home for travelling writers. Raised on stilts, the steel-framed, two-storey house is just 122 centimetres across at its widest point. Photo by A Savin Tallest home: Antilia (2010) At 173 metres high, the 27-storey Antilia building is the world's tallest single residence. The 6,070-square-metre home was designed by architecture studio Perkins & Will for Indian billionaire Mukesh Ambani, although shortly after completion it was reported that he had chosen not to live in it full time. The building contains nine high-speed lifts, a 50-seat theatre, several terrace gardens, swimming pools, a spa and health centre, temple, three helipads and a garage for 168 cars. Photo by Dennis Jarvis Heaviest building: the Palace of the Parliament (1997) Designed by architect Anca Petrescu for Romanian president Nicolae Ceaușescu, the vast Palace of the Parliament in Bucharest, Romania, is believed to be the world's heaviest building. Weighing just over four million tons, the building opened in 1997 and now contains the Romanian Parliament. Its huge weight is causing the building to sink by around six millimetres per year. Photography by Hufton + Crow. Biggest cantilever: One Za'abeel (2024) Earlier this year the mixed-use One Za'abeel skyscrapers by Japanese studio Nikken Sekkei completed in Dubai. The development includes two skyscrapers connected by a horizontal structure called The Link. This structure, which is dramatically suspended 100 metres above a highway and topped by a pool, projects out 67.5 metres to create the world's longest cantilever. Photo by Edmund Sumner Largest office building: Surat Diamond Bourse (2023) Recently overtaking the Pentagon near Washington DC, which had held the title since it was completed in 1943, the Surat Diamond Bourse is now officially the world's largest office. The 660,000-square-metre office building on the outskirts of Surat in India was designed by architecture studio Morphogenesis to be a "city within a city". It holds the world's largest community of diamond traders. Photo by David Sundberg Skinniest skyscraper: Steinway Tower (2022) Over the past decade a series of super skinny skyscrapers have appeared on the New York skyline, and the skinniest of them all is the Steinway Tower, also known as 111 West 57th Street, by SHoP Architects. With a height-to-width ratio of 24:1, the 435-metre-high residential tower is the world's skinniest skyscraper. The building contains 60 apartments that each occupy an entire floor. Photo by A Cricket Premi Largest stadium: Narendra Modi Stadium (2020) With a capacity of 132,000, the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, India, has the largest capacity of any stadium in the world. Opened in 2020 and designed by architecture studio Populous, the giant stadium was designed to host domestic and international cricket matches and has two distinct tiers that encircle the whole ground. Photo courtesy of Korb + Associates Architects Tallest timber building: Ascent (2022) The 25-storey Ascent tower in Milwaukee, USA, officially became the world's tallest timber building when it completed in 2022. The 86.6-metre-tall mass-timber tower was designed by Korb + Associates Architects. It has a concrete base and lift core, with the main structure made from glulam and cross-laminated timber. However, with Michael Green Architecture, Icon Architects, Schmidt Hammer Lassen and Fraser & Partners all working on plans for taller mass-timber structures, it may not hold the title for long. The post Ten record-breaking buildings from the skinniest to the heaviest appeared first on Dezeen.

This film produced by Jim Stephenson spotlights the North Gate social housing project in Glasgow by Page\Park Architects, which has been shortlisted for the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award. The video forms part of a series being published by Dezeen in collaboration with the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) to

The post North Gate social housing by Page\Park designed for residents to "embrace as their own" appeared first on Dezeen.

This film produced by Jim Stephenson spotlights the North Gate social housing project in Glasgow by Page\Park Architects, which has been shortlisted for the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award. The video forms part of a series being published by Dezeen in collaboration with the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) to highlight the award's five-strong 2024 shortlist. In the film, viewers are given an insight into the brick housing development for the New Gorbals Housing Association, which contains 31 apartments that have been designed to encourage its elder residents to lead active and independent lives. North Gate social housing project has been shortlisted for the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award Commentary throughout the video by architect at Page\Park Architects James Brimble and resident Andrew Fairfield emphasises the influence of the community on the building's design. "As it's a housing association and it's also ran by the community, a lot of the local issues [and] challenges are fed back into the design and the briefing," Brimble explained. "The tenants now have taken ownership of it in the way that I think we always hoped would happen," he added. "The idea that they can then embrace it as their own, I think, is really important that you can do that in a building." Read: Fruitmarket Gallery renovation by Reiach and Hall Architects draws on "its previous histories" The Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award is an annual award running since 2002 that highlights Scottish projects. This year's winner is set to be announced on 22 November. Other projects shortlisted for the prize include The Burrell Collection by John McAslan + Partners and Ardoch by Moxon Architects, along with the The University of Aberdeen Science and Teaching Hub and Fruitmarket Gallery – both by Reiach and Hall Architects. The film and photography is courtesy of Jim Stephenson. The post North Gate social housing by Page\Park designed for residents to "embrace as their own" appeared first on Dezeen.

BDNY and The Delaware Contemporary Fall 2024: Design are among current and upcoming architecture and design events taking place on the East Coast of the US that are featured in Dezeen Events Guide. Other events taking place during the month include the exhibitions Caroline Monnet: River Flows Through Bent Trees, Ghost Projects and Umbau Nonstop

The post Five events on America's East Coast from Dezeen Events Guide appeared first on Dezeen.

BDNY and The Delaware Contemporary Fall 2024: Design are among current and upcoming architecture and design events taking place on the East Coast of the US that are featured in Dezeen Events Guide. Other events taking place during the month include the exhibitions Caroline Monnet: River Flows Through Bent Trees, Ghost Projects and Umbau Nonstop Transformation. The Delaware Contemporary Fall 2024: Design 6 September to 29 December 2024, Wilmington, Delaware The Fall 2024 exhibition hosted by The Delaware Contemporary explores the intersections between art and design, addressing the importance of form, functionality and purpose. The exhibition presents the work of 17 global multidisciplinary artists and designers, including paintings, sculptures and design objects. The GMP Architekten exhibition explores conversion projects, including Dresden Philharmonic. Photo courtesy of Umbau Nonstop Transformation Umbau Nonstop Transformation 10 October to 6 November 2024, New York City, New York Umbau Nonstop Transformation is an exhibition showcasing conversion projects by German architecture firm GMP Architekten. Located in both New York City and Berlin, the US exhibition offers an insight into the contemporary global issues practices face when working with conversions. The showcase spotlights conversions in high-rise buildings, sports facilities and cultural centres at the Goethe-Institut New York. Ghosts Projects presents models, drawings and renders. Graphic courtesy of Ryall Sheridan Carroll Architects Ghost Projects 31 October 2024, New York City, New York Ryall Sheridan Carroll Architects will host the Ghosts Projects exhibition, displaying the studio's renders, drawings and models. Taking place on Halloween, the exhibition highlights projects by Ryall Sheridan Carroll Architects that were never executed, exploring the importance of tangible outcomes in the architecture industry. The exhibition takes place at New York City's Picture Theory Gallery. The trade show displays furniture, lighting and textiles. Photo courtesy of BDNY BDNY 10 to 11 November 2024, New York City, New York Boutique Design New York (BDNY) is a design trade show for the hospitality industry, spotlighting products for the restaurant and bar, hotel, club, spa and cruise ship industries. The trade show's programme includes an exhibition of over 700 brands across furniture, lighting and textiles, a series of talks and networking opportunities. Dezeen is a media partner of BDNY 2024. Caroline Monnet: River Flows Through Bent Trees 12 May to 1 December 2024, Baltimore, Maryland River Flows Through Bent Trees is an installation by artist Caroline Monnet, created especially for the Baltimore Museum of Art. Monnet took inspiration from Anishinaabe longhouses and eel trap pots used by Indigenous people in Chesapeake Bay when designing the installation, which also responds to the architecture of the museum's Contemporary Wing. About Dezeen Events Guide Dezeen Events Guide is our guide to the best architecture and design events taking place across the world each year. The guide is updated weekly and includes virtual events, conferences, trade fairs, major exhibitions and design weeks. Inclusion in the guide is free for basic listings, with events selected at Dezeen's discretion. Organisers can get standard, enhanced or featured listings for their events, including images, additional text and links, by paying a modest fee. In addition, events can ensure inclusion by partnering with Dezeen. For more details on inclusion in Dezeen Events Guide and media partnerships with Dezeen, email eventsguide@dezeen.com. The post Five events on America's East Coast from Dezeen Events Guide appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Agenda newsletter features the reopening of the Thomas Heatherwick-designed Vessel viewpoint. Subscribe to Dezeen Agenda now. The Vessel in New York has reopened, with a steel mesh added to the exterior to prevent people from jumping from its platforms after four people died of suicide at the viewpoint. The

The post Dezeen Agenda features the reopening of Heatherwick's Vessel in New York appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Agenda newsletter features the reopening of the Thomas Heatherwick-designed Vessel viewpoint. Subscribe to Dezeen Agenda now. The Vessel in New York has reopened, with a steel mesh added to the exterior to prevent people from jumping from its platforms after four people died of suicide at the viewpoint. The mesh surrounds the exterior of the viewing platforms while still providing views of the surroundings. Construction starts on the world's largest building in Saudi Arabia This week's newsletter also featured the commencement of construction on the world's largest building in Saudi Arabia, the passing of Moody Nolan co-founder Curtis Jerome Moody and the news that Al-Jawad Pike has been awarded this year's Neave Brown Award. Dezeen Agenda Dezeen Agenda is a curated newsletter sent every Thursday containing the most important news highlights from Dezeen. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Agenda or subscribe here. You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features the hottest reader comments and most-debated stories, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design. The post Dezeen Agenda features the reopening of Heatherwick's Vessel in New York appeared first on Dezeen.

Extreme site conditions drove the design of House at 9,000 Feet, a rounded dwelling by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects in the American West supported by stilts and accessed via a bridge. The ski dwelling is located in an undisclosed spot in the Intermountain Region in the western US. The project's name – House at 9,000 Feet

The post MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple creates elliptical house for mountainous site appeared first on Dezeen.

Extreme site conditions drove the design of House at 9,000 Feet, a rounded dwelling by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects in the American West supported by stilts and accessed via a bridge. The ski dwelling is located in an undisclosed spot in the Intermountain Region in the western US. The project's name – House at 9,000 Feet – stems from the home's perch on a mountaintop at 9,000 feet (2,743 metres) above sea level. House at 9,000 Feet is supported by stilts Designed by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects, which is based in Nova Scotia, the house responds to the "extreme" site conditions and climate. "A 30 per cent slope across the site combined with an annual snowfall of 40 feet, resulted in a strategy of ‘floating' the building on stilts and accessing it via a bridge," the team said. The elliptical home is accessed via a bridge In form, the building's shape is an "extruded ellipse" that sits atop stilts and a concrete box. Along the entrance elevation, the long, rounded mass – which stretches 100 feet in length (30 metres) – is conjoined with a box angling downward. White ash flooring can be found throughout the dwelling The house is mostly framed with steel. "Given the site access constraints, the amount of concrete was kept to a minimum," the team said. "Except for the concrete core, this is a steel-framed, bridge-like structure, supported by steel columns." A skylit staircase descends to the main level For cladding, the team chose warm-toned red cedar. Along the southern elevation, a horizontal cut in the curved enclosure makes way for an 88-foot-long (27-metre) window. "The southern exposure provides spectacular views of the valley below and nearby mountaintops, as well as a passive solar strategy," the team said. The home features sweeping views of the surrounding mountains The road leading to the site is higher than the house, so that upon arrival, visitors look over the roof to the rugged landscape. The bridge, made of perforated steel, allows both pedestrians and cars to access the three-level house, which encompasses 5,500 square feet (511 square metres). There is also a "ski-in, ski-out" area The top level of the home contains the garage and mechanical space. A skylit staircase descends to the main level, where one enters a low foyer. One side of the main floor holds the public zone – a kitchen, dining area and living room, which connect to a covered deck that looks west, offering striking sunset views. The great room features a soaring, curved ceiling wrapped in cedar The great room features a soaring, curved ceiling wrapped in cedar, along with a divider element made of soapstone, which serves as a kitchen island and also incorporates a fireplace and log store. The flooring is white ash, which is found throughout the dwelling. Wood features throughout the home The other side of the main level contains the primary bedroom and a media room. Below the main floor is a partial floor, enclosed within the concrete box. This area contains two bedrooms and a "ski-in, ski-out" area, where visitors can take off their gear and store it. Read: Cabins in Ontario by MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple topped with massive hip roofs Overall, the house is meant to minimise disturbance to the landscape. "The environmental ethic which drives this minimalist project is to touch the land lightly," the team said. The house is meant to minimise disturbance to the landscape MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects has completed a number of dwellings in spectacular natural settings, including a gabled cabin in Nova Scotia that is elevated off the ground to protect it from tidal surges and a series of cedar-clad ski cabins in Utah that form a retreat for creative entrepreneurs. The photography is by Nic Lehoux. Project credits: Architect: Mackay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects Architectural team: Brian Mackay-Lyons (design lead), Matthew Bishop (project manager), Izak Bridgman, Alastair Bird, Isaac Fresia, Ben Fuglevand, Sawa Rostkowska, Diana Carl, Jesse Martyn, Lucas McDowell, Jennifer Esposito Structural engineer: Blackwell Structural Engineers Mechanical engineer: Harris Dudley Co Electrical engineer: BNA Consulting Civil engineer: Talisman Civil Consultants Geotech: Intermountain Geoenvironmental Services Inc Contractor: Edge Builders Sketches: Brian Mackay-Lyons Artworks: Matthew Bishop The post MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple creates elliptical house for mountainous site appeared first on Dezeen.

The founder of British practice Invisible Studio, architect Piers Taylor, has created the concrete House in an Olive Grove for his family in Corfu, Greece. Set amid a rural olive grove, the minimalist structure has been designed to accommodate the basic needs of shelter, shade and sleep, while offering flexibility for future modifications. It was

The post Piers Taylor completes "low-key" rural retreat in Greek countryside appeared first on Dezeen.

The founder of British practice Invisible Studio, architect Piers Taylor, has created the concrete House in an Olive Grove for his family in Corfu, Greece. Set amid a rural olive grove, the minimalist structure has been designed to accommodate the basic needs of shelter, shade and sleep, while offering flexibility for future modifications. It was conceived by Taylor as a "campsite" for his family, drawing on his personal connection to the area, which is one he has visited since the 1970s when he was a child. Piers Taylor has created House in an Olive Grove "I feel deeply connected to this place, the people, the culture and the landscape," said the Invisible Studio founder. "The house is low-key, rooted in the ordinary and the everyday world of the surrounding shepherd's huts and unfinished concrete and reinforcement bar buildings that evolve slowly over many years," he told Dezeen. "I use the campsite metaphor as this landscape encourages a completely different way of being that is very seasonal," Taylor continued. "The house gets packed away in winter, and set up again in spring." The home is designed to accommodate the basic needs of shelter, shade and sleep As House in an Olive Grove is located in both an earthquake and a fire danger zone, its structure is built from reinforced concrete. This is formed from local limestone aggregate and topped with a corrugated roof, supported by red oxide reinforcement bar trusses. Inside House in an Olive Grove's main volume are four bedrooms and two shower rooms, spread over two floors. Above, a shaded roof terrace serves as the primary communal living area that can be adapted into a bunkhouse for additional guests. The terrace is shaded by a corrugated roof House in the Olive Grove is notably devoid of glass to maintain an "immersive" experience of camping and sleeping outside, exposed to the elements during the hot summer months. Instead, the home features sliding screens of galvanised mesh, insect screens and plastic curtains for protection and ventilation. Read: Invisible Studio revamps "poky cottage" with tactile double-pitched extension Concrete forms the home's walls, floors, ceilings, kitchen and even some furniture, constructed by local builders. To emphasise their involvement, evidence of their construction "processes" is visible and embraced throughout, Taylor said. "I wanted to create a building whereby all of the 'mistakes' are made evident or rather, the processes and decisions made by the locals who built the house," Taylor explained. Exposed concrete features throughout "The organisation of the formwork is eccentric but has a logic and a language based around the materials they had to hand, and the sequence in which they worked," Taylor continued. "Sometimes the formwork is horizontal, sometimes vertical, sometimes rough-hewn board that has been used many times, occasionally ply. None of this has been set out on a controlling drawing: I wanted to see evidence of their process, not mine." Sliding mesh screens provide protection and ventilation Taylor founded his practice Invisible Studio in 2010. Its other recent projects include a woodworking shelter with an aluminium shingle roof and a "poky cottage" extension with a double-pitched roof. Other Greek homes recently featured on Dezeen include a tactile residence built from local stone in Thessaloniki and a monolithic concrete dwelling in Athens. The photography is by Jim Stephenson. The post Piers Taylor completes "low-key" rural retreat in Greek countryside appeared first on Dezeen.

As part of our mid-century modern series, we portray Florence Knoll Bassett, who transformed how we think of office design with her streamlined furniture and leadership of design brand Knoll. Under Knoll, Florence Knoll, as she was then called, brought modern lines and a human-centric design ethos to the American office environment. As well as

The post Florence Knoll Bassett "led an office revolution" appeared first on Dezeen.

As part of our mid-century modern series, we portray Florence Knoll Bassett, who transformed how we think of office design with her streamlined furniture and leadership of design brand Knoll. Under Knoll, Florence Knoll, as she was then called, brought modern lines and a human-centric design ethos to the American office environment. As well as leading the company's interior design arm, the Planning Unit, she designed furniture for its collections and developed its aesthetic identity. She was also known for professionalising the mid-century interior design industry, combining her extensive architectural training with an eye for form and combatting the notion that interior design was the same as decorating. Florence Knoll (left) worked with designers and architects including Eero Saarinen. Photo courtesy of Knoll In a 1964 New York Times article about her, titled "Woman Who Led an Office Revolution Rules an Empire of Modern Design; Florence Knoll Gave Business 'Living' a New Look", she said that offices had changed from being 'decorated' to being designed. "I am not a decorator," she said in the article. "The only place I decorate is my own house." Knoll was founded by Florence Knoll's husband Hans Knoll, who was in the process of developing the company in New York City when the pair met in 1941. In 1943, Florence Knoll joined the burgeoning company as a designer and soon after became a full business partner upon the couple's marriage in 1944. Read: Office design pioneer Florence Knoll Bassett dies aged 101 Today, Knoll is known for its portfolio of office furniture, including notable designs such as the Barcelona Chair by Mies van der Rohe, the Wassily Lounge Chair by Marcel Breuer, and the Womb Chair by Eero Saarinen – three pieces Florence Knoll commissioned herself through her many long-standing connections in the architecture world. She also created seating, tables, and storage systems for office interiors that were meant as "fill-in" pieces – uncomplicated designs that complemented the more flashy products by her peers. "People ask me if I am a furniture designer," she said. "I am not. I never really sat down and designed furniture. I designed the fill-in pieces that no one else was doing. I designed sofas because no one was designing sofas." Among her best-known pieces are the T Angle series of tables, which were constructed from a steel base and have laminate tops. These include a dining table, coffee tables and numerous other versions. Her Executive Desk, part of her Executive series and also known as the Partner's Desk, with its rosewood top and splayed chrome-plated steel base, still looks modern today and is still produced by Knoll. Planning Unit specialised in corporate office interiors Her Lounge Collection, created in 1954, also epitomizes her approach. It encompassed a tufted lounge chair, sofa, settee, and bench that sat upon geometric, metal frames. Today, these pieces are treasured additions to household or corporate spaces, but Florence Knoll originally created them as a backdrop for the office interiors she designed while she led the Knoll Planning Unit. Founded by Florence Knoll in 1946, the Planning Unit consisted of a small group of Knoll designers that created corporate office interiors for prominent companies such as the Connecticut General Life Insurance Company, Cowles Publications and CBS. Led by Florence Knoll's exacting eye, the small team was tasked with designing furniture, textiles and objects for a space. Florence Knoll designed the interiors for the CBS building in New York In the 1960s, Florence Knoll designed the interiors of a new CBS headquarters in New York City, housed in a black-clad skyscraper by friend Eero Saarinen. "Her job embraces everything from the choice of wall coverings – sometimes felt or tweed for the sake of acoustics – to ashtrays, pictures and door handles," the New York Times said of her involvement in the project. "She has led people to see that texture in fabrics can be as interesting as a print (she dislikes prints) and that steel legs on tables, chairs and sofas can have grace and elegance." Bespoke pieces usually custom-made for interior projects The bespoke furniture that Florence Knoll designed for projects such as the CBS headquarters would then be folded into the Knoll catalogue. "The spaces suggest the furniture, and sometimes that furniture was not in our catalog," Vincent Cafiero, an early member of the Planning Unit, said. During this period, Florence Knoll also started a textile program at the company, which would become Knoll Textiles. This saw her develop a "tagged sample and display system", a technique used industry-wide today. As Knoll grew, Florence Knoll would also shape much of the company's identity and practices. She worked with designer Herbert Matter to create branding for Knoll, including its advertisements, stationary and logo, imbuing its branding with the same straightforward style as her personal work. Florence Knoll also filled the company's catalogue with commissions from her many connections, gathered during her architectural training at schools including he Cranbrook Academy of Art, Columbia University, Architectural Association and Illinois Institute of Technology. Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona chair is among the pieces commissioned by Florence Knoll. Photo by Adrià Goula Born and raised in Michigan, her training began in earnest at age 12, when Florence was orphaned after the death of her father at age 5 and mother at 12. Her guardian encouraged her to choose a boarding school, where the young Florence chose the Kingswood School for Girls, a school on the same grounds as Cranbrook Academy of Art. Eilel Saarinen, Cranbrook's then headmaster and designer of both schools, noticed Florence's interest in architecture and eventually "virtually adopted" Florence into the Saarinen family, according to Knoll. Mies van der Rohe was "teacher and friend" She would go on to befriend his son, Eero, and other prominent designers during her studies and beyond including Charles Eames, Harry Bertoia, Isamu Noguchi and George Nakashima. Florence was also mentored by architects Alvar Aalto, Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer. Designer Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who she studied under at the Illinois Institute of Technology, had perhaps the most lasting influence on her style, as seen in her methodical, detail-oriented approach. "Like her teacher and friend Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Ms Knoll Bassett's attention to detail was all-encompassing, relentless, and, over time, the stuff of legend," said Knoll. Read: The organic designs of Eero Saarinen went "beyond the measly ABC" of modernism Her colleagues held her "unerring" taste in high regard. "Each time I go East I see something you have done," wrote Charles Eames in a 1957 letter to Florence Knoll. "It is always good, and I feel grateful to you for doing such work in a world where mediocrity is the norm." Upon Hans Knoll's sudden death in 1955, Florence Knoll took over leadership of the company as president until 1960, when she switched back into a design and development role and moved to Florida with her second husband Henry Hood Bassett. She officially retired from the company in 1965 at age 48. Under her five years as president Knoll doubled in size, cementing its status as a leader in the design industry. "[Florence Knoll] probably did more than any other single figure to create the modern, sleek, postwar American office, introducing contemporary furniture and a sense of open planning into the work environment," wrote The Times architecture critic Paul Goldberger in 1984. In 1961, Florence Knoll became the first woman to receive the Gold Medal for Industrial Design from the American Institute of Architects, and in 2003 she was presented with the National Medal of Arts. "We have lost one of the great design forces of the 20th century," Goldberger said when Florence Knoll died in 2019. "Florence Knoll Bassett may have done more than anyone else to create what we think of as the 'Mad Men' design of the midcentury modern workspace." Illustration by Jack Bedford Mid-century modern This article is part of Dezeen's mid-century modern design series, which looks at the enduring presence of mid-century modern design, profiles its most iconic architects and designers, and explores how the style is developing in the 21st century. This series was created in partnership with Made – a UK furniture retailer that aims to bring aspirational design at affordable prices, with a goal to make every home as original as the people inside it. Elevate the everyday with collections that are made to last, available to shop now at made.com. The post Florence Knoll Bassett "led an office revolution" appeared first on Dezeen.

British architectural photographer Marc Goodwin has unveiled behind the scenes images of 19 architecture studios in Taiwan. Goodwin, who is the founder of photography studio Archmospheres, completed the project as part of his latest photography series that documents architecture workspaces, most recently spanning Japan, Vienna and Munich. Focused primarily on landscape architects in Taiwan, this

The post Nineteen Taiwanese architecture studios photographed by Marc Goodwin appeared first on Dezeen.

British architectural photographer Marc Goodwin has unveiled behind the scenes images of 19 architecture studios in Taiwan. Goodwin, who is the founder of photography studio Archmospheres, completed the project as part of his latest photography series that documents architecture workspaces, most recently spanning Japan, Vienna and Munich. Focused primarily on landscape architects in Taiwan, this latest series encompasses an "immense" variety of workspaces, featuring the architecture studios of Kris Yao Artech, Bio-architecture Formosana and Divooe Zein Architects. For this series, Goodwin collaborated with dean of the department of architecture at Shih Chien University Chun-Hsiung Wang and associate professor at the Chinese Culture University Alessandro Martinelli. Analysing the project, Goodwin reflected on how the studio spaces across Taiwan differ greatly from those featured in his previous series, and reflected on the it's cultural dynamics in relation to the spaces. Read: Sixteen Japanese architecture studios photographed by Marc Goodwin "[An] important thing to mention is the cultural shift, rather than culture wars, occurring across generations which plays out in the design ethos of the country," Goodwin told Dezeen. "It was explained to me that for two generations uncertainty played a key role hence things were built with a provisional attitude," he added. "That resulted in fast, cheap, practical construction." "But Taipei is now one of the most expensive cities in the world and this creates a new attitude towards investment and development," he continued. "Everywhere I went I was shown projects where public space was being created through the adaptive reuse of tunnels, empty lots and the like to produce gardens, cycle paths and new kinds of hospitality." Read on for a look inside 19 architecture studios across Taiwan: Kris Yao Artech In this space since: 2020 Number of members of staff: 100 Size: 1,140 square metres Building's history: office Fieldoffice Architects In this space since: 2011 Number of members of staff: 30 Size: 350 square metres Building's history: accommodation Bio-architecture Formosana In this space since: 2017 Number of members of staff: 75 Size: 465 square metres Xrange Architects In this space since: 2014 Number of members of staff: 15 Size: 530 square metres Building's history: office Wen-Sheng Lee Architects & Planners In this space since: 2015 Number of members of staff: 40 Size: 510 square metres Architerior In this space since: 2007 Number of members of staff: 12 Size: 135 square metres Building's history: office CNHW Planning & Design Consultants In this space since: 2012 Number of members of staff: 36 Size: 600 square metres Building's history: commercial Atelier Or In this space since: 2010 Number of members of staff: 15 Size: 100 square metres Building's history: office Divooe Zein Architects In this space since: 2010 Number of members of staff: 10 Size: 300 square metres Building's history: residential Chien Architects & Associates In this space since: 2008 Number of members of staff: 19 Size: 740 square metres Building's history: office BIAS Architects & Associates In this space since: 2015 Number of members of staff: 10 Size: 120 square metres Building's history: residential B+P Architects & Planners In this space since: 2018 Number of members of staff: 6 Size: 80 square metres Building's history: residential Da Vision Design In this space since: 2008 Number of members of staff: 12 Size: 200 square metres Building's history: industrial Hii Architects In this space since: 2014 Number of members of staff: 12 Size: 85 square metres Building's history: residential Jay Chiu Architects & Associates / AxB Architecture Studio In this space since: 2006 Number of members of staff: 15 Size: 180 square metres Building's history: residential Kuo + Huang and Associates In this space since: 1998 Number of members of staff: 20-30 Size: 210 square metres Building's history: residential Motif Planning & Design Consultants In this space since: 2016 Number of members of staff: 11 Size: 100 square metres Building's history: office Studiolin In this space since: 2023 Number of members of staff: 3 Size: 85 square metres Building's history: residential Environmental Arts Design Number of members of staff: 15 Size: 100 square metres Building's history: residential The post Nineteen Taiwanese architecture studios photographed by Marc Goodwin appeared first on Dezeen.

Turkish studio Melike Altınışık Architects has unveiled the Seoul Robot & AI Museum in South Korea, where visitors can "explore the endless possibilities of robotics and AI". Located in the north of the city, the 7,400-square-metre museum dedicated to robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) opened to the public earlier this month. The Seoul Robot &

The post Melike Altınışık Architects unveils spaceship-like robot museum in Seoul appeared first on Dezeen.

Turkish studio Melike Altınışık Architects has unveiled the Seoul Robot & AI Museum in South Korea, where visitors can "explore the endless possibilities of robotics and AI". Located in the north of the city, the 7,400-square-metre museum dedicated to robotics and artificial intelligence (AI) opened to the public earlier this month. The Seoul Robot & AI Museum (RAIM) has a distinctive form that the studio believes could have passersby asking "is that a spaceship". The Seoul Robot & AI Museum recently opened "RAIM is designed to stir up all kinds of emotions – wonder, curiosity, reflection, and maybe even a bit of 'Whoa, what is that?!'" Melike Altınışık Architects founder Melike Altınışık told Dezeen. "The museum isn't just a place to look at cool tech; it's all about building deeper connections between people and the technology shaping our future, offering experiences that are as exciting as they are meaningful," she continued. "When RAIM appears on Seoul's skyline, some folks might do a double take: Wait… is that a spaceship?' And just like that, the adventure begins! Its bold, dynamic design beckons you inside, inviting you to explore the endless possibilities of robotics and AI." The museum is located in the north of Seoul The museum's organic, spherical form, described as "non-directional" by the studio, was designed by Melike Altınışık Architects to reflect the technology-driven content. Supported on a steel frame, its metal-panel facade was created using laser-CNC machining and robot welding. Read: Supertall Camlica TV and Radio Tower nears completion in Istanbul "The museum sports a sleek, spherical design that flows like the ever-evolving world of robotics and AI," said Altınışık. "RAIM's non-linear architecture isn't just a fancy outer shell – it's part of the story, mirroring the fluidity and dynamism of the technologies inside." The museum has a distinctive appearance The four-storey building is almost entirely enclosed, with only a strip of windows surrounding the entrance space, cafe, shop and library on the ground floor. From the entrance space, which includes "welcoming robots", a tunnelled escalator takes visitors up to the main exhibition spaces on the upper floors. It bypasses the first floor which contains office and administration spaces. The ground floor contains the entrance space According to the studios, the interiors were designed to evoke "a sense of exploration and discovery", while showcasing modern technology. Along with the robots on display, the studio describes the building itself as a "living exhibition", as it includes numerous examples of smart technology. Permanent and temporary exhibition spaces are located on the upper floors "At RAIM, the architecture isn't just sitting there looking pretty – it's part of the action!" said Altınışık. "This museum doesn't merely house technology; it is technology." "From the foundation to the finishing touches, smart systems are woven into every aspect of the building's design and operation," she continued. "It's like the building itself is alive, interacting with visitors to enhance their experience at every turn." The museum is focused on robotics and AI According to Altınışık, RAIM could be the first of a series of robot and AI museums spread across the city. "RAIM isn't just a static showcase of today's coolest robotics and AI – it's built to grow, evolve, and keep pace with the future," she said. "This dynamic institution aims to lead the charge in tech education and innovation, all while fostering community engagement and collaboration throughout Seoul's vibrant cultural scene," she continued. "Now, picture this: one day, RAIM will have siblings! Imagine RAIMs popping up all over the city, chatting with each other like nodes in a futuristic network. And it all starts here –with our design serving as the mothership, the original monitoring centre that kicks off a new era of connected, interactive museums." Istanbul-based Melike Altınışık Architects previously completed the 369-metre-high Çamlıca TV and Radio Tower in the city. The photograph is by Namsun Lee. Project credits: Design Architect: Melike Altınışık Architects Architect of Record: Melike Altınışık Architects + Withworks Structural engineer: Dongyang, MetalYapı ENG MEP engineer: Hanil MEC Civil engineer: NOW GIO Landscape architect: Green Culture, AU Landscape Landscape lighting consultant: Meitech Signage & wayfinding design: MAA Exhibition planner: XOBIS Certification: SB Environment General contractor: LC Construction Facade contractor: Dongyang GTS, Facade Tech The post Melike Altınışık Architects unveils spaceship-like robot museum in Seoul appeared first on Dezeen.

The challenges of preserving and upkeeping mid-century modern homes mean many are at risk of demolition, conservation experts tell Dezeen as part of our mid-century modern series. Open-plan layouts, large windows and aesthetically on-trend fitted furniture are among the attributes found in many mid-century modern houses built from the mid-1940s to the early 1970s that

The post "Mid-century homes are a labour of love" say conservation experts appeared first on Dezeen.

The challenges of preserving and upkeeping mid-century modern homes mean many are at risk of demolition, conservation experts tell Dezeen as part of our mid-century modern series. Open-plan layouts, large windows and aesthetically on-trend fitted furniture are among the attributes found in many mid-century modern houses built from the mid-1940s to the early 1970s that make them sought-after today. However, experts say that difficulties in maintaining the original building fabric and the challenges of fittings that aren't compatible with modern technology mean mid-century modern homes are especially vulnerable to demolition. Many mid-century modern homes are at risk of demolition. Above and top: photos of High Sunderland by Dapple Photography courtesy of Loader Monteith "Mid-century homes are a labour of love," said Liz Waytkus, director of conservation group Docomomo US. "Most people who own them put most of their time into them." "Mid-century modernism was when we came up with the idea of open concept between the kitchen, the living room and dining room, so they're absolutely what people still want," she told Dezeen. "Maybe the bathrooms and closets were smaller, but maybe we can learn something about our consumerism and our spending habits." Mid-century modern houses "underbuilt for the land" Although many mid-century modern homes have qualities that people today consider desirable, in some cases, they are torn down to make way for larger developments. A number of notable mid-century modern homes have been razed recently. These include Marcel Breuer's Geller I house in Long Island, demolished to make way for a tennis court, and Craig Ellwood's Zimmerman House in Los Angeles, which was torn down by actor Chris Pratt to build a mansion. "There are realtors in all 50 US states who specialise in mid-century because there is such a demand," said Waytkus. "It gets trickier when you have a house in a desirable area – the mid-century homes are then considered underbuilt for the land." Experts say mid-century homes and interiors are desirable today. Photo of Farnsworth House by William Zbaren Waytkus aims to offer guidance to homeowners navigating the challenges of maintaining mid-century modern homes in the hopes that more of the homes will be well preserved. One of the ways she does this is by connecting them with contractors who have experience working with mid-century materials. "The earlier examples of modern homes were often made of wood, and wood will last you longer than any of the plastic garbage that you get on the market now," she said. "With a little bit of TLC, that wood could be restored." "Later, in the 60s and 70s, the materials were more experimental and it takes more time to find the right contractor who understands mid-century homes. Having a knowledgable community is really important to point people in the right direction." Read: Chris Pratt's destruction of Ellwood house in LA symptom of "systemic problems" Jon Wright, who is the 20th-century heritage lead at architecture studio Purcell, agreed with Waytkus that mid-century modern interiors are popular are highly sought after today. "Mid-century modern is really quite desirable now, and it fits very well into modern lifestyles," he said. "The key thing for that is the open-plan nature of it." "If we were having this conversation 20 years ago, nobody would have been interested in G plan furniture, fitted teak sideboards, open plan living, or anything from the 50s or 60s," he continued. Lack of mid-century modern conservation reference material However, he argued that fixtures and fittings from the period are a challenging aspect of home preservation and that there are not enough previous examples for people to reference. "The fixtures and fittings are not compatible with new technology and new ways of living, particularly in the kitchen," Wright said. "That includes completely new pieces of utility that would not been there before, like dishwashers." "There's also an issue of knowing how to look after it," he continued. "If one were dealing with the fixtures and fittings of a Victorian or Georgian house, there is a long track record of textbook cases that you could go to – you know what to do because it's been done in another 100 places." "But there isn't that track record for post-war building conservation. Very often, you're doing things for the first time." Purcell worked on the conservation of the 1961 Ahm House in Hertfordshire. Photo by James O Davies Wright emphasised the importance of distinguishing between original features and later alterations when conserving a building. For mid-century homes, he argues that the most significant features are the building materials, the arrangement of internal spaces and how the project relates to the surrounding landscape. "Making changes is what conservation is really about – what can I do to this building without messing up what's truly important about it?" he said. Balance between preservation and future suitability is necessary UK conservation group Twentieth Century Society director Catherine Croft believes that some alterations are necessary to make mid-century modern homes liveable and long-lasting. She explained that in some cases, homeowners are told by authorities to preserve impractical home fittings that are sometimes later additions to the house. "With housing more than anything else, we're sometimes asked to intervene on behalf of owners who feel that they're being given too hard a time by local authority planners and conservation officers – particularly about retention of kitchen fittings that aren't necessarily original," she said. "It's the sort of cases where we end up saying, maybe back off a little bit. Let's get a balance between preserving the historic fabric and making sure these buildings have a future." Hassrick House is a mid-century home maintained by Thomas Jefferson University. Photo by Hussain Aljoher Suzanne Singletary – director of The Center for the Preservation of Modernism and architecture professor at Thomas Jefferson University – hopes to spread awareness of the significant design aspects of mid-century modern homes by using Hassrick House as an example. Designed by modernist architect Richard Neutra in 1958, the Philadelphia home was sold to Thomas Jefferson University to be used for educational purposes. Singletary has analysed Hassrick House with her students, documenting how the building's condition declines without proper maintenance. "The reason why many buildings from this period are being demolished is because it's easier to get rid of it and start all over with newer materials, even though the notion that the greenest building is one already built is true," said Singletary. "Within the five years since we've purchased Hassrick House, we can see already how quickly the building deteriorates," she continued. "They used novel materials that are often hard to replace and hard to get to a state of equilibrium where they're not decaying any further." Read: "Mid-century modern is classic, it's never going away" says Cara Greenberg Croft argued that allowing buildings to be listed before they are at risk of being torn down would help protect more mid-century modern houses and would mean they are purchased by people with a desire to maintain them. "Buildings are only being added to the list if they are threatened with demolition, but it would be infinitely better if a broader upgrading of the listing system was happening on a regular basis," she said. "It's not really fair that people might buy a property and then subsequently have restrictions placed on it that they weren't anticipating." There is more of an interest in preserving these types of homes now than ever before, according to experts. "There's more of an outcry when something from this period is threatened than there ever has been before," added Wright. "That's entirely due to listing and organisations like the 20th Century Society putting their head above the parapet, saying, actually, this stuff is really great." Illustration by Jack Bedford Mid-century modern This article is part of Dezeen's mid-century modern design series, which looks at the enduring presence of mid-century modern design, profiles its most iconic architects and designers, and explores how the style is developing in the 21st century. This series was created in partnership with Made – a UK furniture retailer that aims to bring aspirational design at affordable prices, with a goal to make every home as original as the people inside it. Elevate the everyday with collections that are made to last, available to shop now at made.com. The post "Mid-century homes are a labour of love" say conservation experts appeared first on Dezeen.

Mid-century modern design may meet our needs even more now than when it first appeared, but that doesn't mean we should idolise the style, writes John Jervis. I love mid-century modern, but it makes me sad. In its beauty and simplicity, it speaks of postwar optimism, and a belief in a better world – one

The post "I love mid-century modern but it makes me sad" appeared first on Dezeen.

Mid-century modern design may meet our needs even more now than when it first appeared, but that doesn't mean we should idolise the style, writes John Jervis. I love mid-century modern, but it makes me sad. In its beauty and simplicity, it speaks of postwar optimism, and a belief in a better world – one of prosperity and peace, with large homes and larger pay packets. It's not the fault of a bunch of attractive designs that this proved to be a mirage, even a fraud. But mid-century modern was wrapped up in that delusion, even contributed to it. And the design industry enjoyed, and continues to enjoy, the ride just a little too much. In the 1950s, mid-century modern design promised a lifestyle free from markers of wealth and privilege, free of decorative excess, of clutter and dirt, free from the past. In reality, there were few progressive ideals involved. Before the war, modernist designers had struggled to bring their ideas to mass production, but still sought to raise living standards in cities, designing 'minimum dwellings' with floorplans, kitchens and furnishings calculated to maximize space and improve lives. Their postwar successors – all those heroic, big-name designers we celebrate as prophets of a modern, democratic future – turned out to be less public-spirited. When mass production of modernist designs became a reality, they chose lucrative careers working, almost exclusively, for high-end manufacturers. Then, as now, class was deeply embedded in design's power And those manufacturers rarely considered, pursued or achieved affordability or accessibility, and still don't. There may well be perfectly justifiable arguments – and realities – around balancing profitability, quality and investment, and achieving sustainability. Yet it is fair to say that most such companies have never sought a mass consumer market – the sort of market that would erode the cachet and returns of their intellectual property. Then, as now, class was deeply embedded in design's power, even as its pioneers proclaimed the advent of a classless era. To be fair, that worked both ways. The golden age of mid-century modern design barely stretches a couple of decades, partly because it was never that popular. Even when incomes grew, and aspirational furnishings became just about affordable, most consumers turned not to sanctioned 'good design', but to products with other, perhaps more important, meanings – nostalgia, craft, ornament, community, warmth. To the despair of critics, heavy 'baroque' furniture remained the preferred choice of consumers during the German economic miracle, while Americans showed a similar predilection for colonial styles. In the heyday of the Italian furniture industry, many manufacturers stuck to an aesthetic decried by Domus editor Ernesto Rogers as 'Cantu Chippendale'. Read: "There was a profound belief in the power of the polymath during the mid-century period" Just as tellingly, when the wider population of mid-century modern poster child Finland was finally able to afford the country's furniture, the new 'Tower' suite was the immediate bestseller. Released in 1971, this three-piece sofa-armchair combo – a typology anathema in design circles – adopted a traditional 'English style', with comfortable upholstery and oak veneer over foam and chipboard. It turned out that imported British TV shows were more influential than lecturing from design's great and good about a modernist canon. In the postwar era, that great and good – a pale, male and privileged elite – secured its status rapidly, with a raft of government- and industry-backed organizations such as Britain's Council of Industrial Design and the Industrial Designers Society of America, all dedicated to imposing universal standards of 'good design'. Soon, even receptive audiences – including many young designers – began to find both the discourse and the results tedious, turning to Victoriana, pop and eventually postmodernism as the 1960s progressed. Some rejected 'design' in its entirety, looking to alternative culture instead, epitomised by the success of the Whole Earth Catalog. Why has mid-century modern now become the default style for contemporary interiors? The reasons behind changes in taste are always hard to pinpoint, but in this instance, it seems many were looking for a richness, diversity, vibrancy and meaning in their lives that mid-century modern was failing to provide – an opportunity to express their personality and creativity through their home decor. So why has mid-century modern now become the default style for contemporary interiors? As with Victorian design's comeback in the 1960s, or art deco in the 1980s and brutalism in the 2000s, such revivals are far from unusual, but it's still curious that mid-century modern meets our needs more than during its heyday. Some of that may be practical. As more and more of us are crammed into ever smaller homes, squeezing a spindly faux-mid-century modern desk into a bedroom is more realistic than some glorious art deco behemoth. And, as we constantly move from space to space, its lightness and modularity make perfect sense. Other reasons are less tangible, less knowable – perhaps mid-century modern offers a clarity, calm and sense of control that is hard to find in the rest of our lives. Read: Mid-century modern design "embraced a more human aesthetic while remaining aggressively forward-looking" The financial equation hasn't changed over the decades, though. Manufacturers still have a tight grip on their 'originals', leaving the vast majority of us buying knock-offs, or flat-packed imitations, as we attempt to Marie Kondo our existence. But how long will everyone want to live in these ranks of pristine waiting rooms? My aspirations for a mid-century modern bachelor pad – a Julius Shulman photo on the cheap – have long since fallen away. Leaving behind that quest for a lifestyle that never existed in the first place has improved my lot considerably. It is the (slightly mannered) accumulation of battered paperbacks in the Penguin donkey and the coffee stain on the Aalto stool that give them their charm. And their submersion in the general detritus of life gives them context and meaning. Maybe we just don't need another generation of Eames loungers And there is another thing that might speed up a mid-century modern rethink. In promotional literature, its timelessness and durability have long been trumpeted as the route to a sustainable future. Perhaps this claim is no longer quite so convincing. Regenerative and circular design requires us to instead embrace age, imperfection, decay, decomposition, even odour – to view products as a passing moment in the life of a material, with longevity as a potential drawback. So maybe we just don't need another generation of Eames loungers. In this context, mid-century modern's 'timeless perfection' can seem a cold quality, one throwing a harsh light on our own imperfections and frailties – our human nature – while overlooking our concern with and capacity for joy. The obsessive repetition of this mantra, and of outdated concepts of 'good design', invites the backlash that brought mid-century modern design to a shuddering halt last time round, viewed as sterile, inflexible, lifeless. Certainly, like so many others, I will always find mid-century modern beautiful, even sublime, and I've got my eyes on a few more alluring examples. But I wouldn't want too much of it in my life. Main photography by Joe Fletcher. John Jervis is a writer, editor, project manager and ghost writer across a range of media, including Icon, Frame, RIBA Journal, Apollo, ArtAsiaPacific, Thames & Hudson, ACC, WePresent, Laurence King and others. He has just published his first book, 50 Design Ideas You Really Need to Know, with Greenfinch Books. Illustration by Jack Bedford Mid-century modern This article is part of Dezeen's mid-century modern design series, which looks at the enduring presence of mid-century modern design, profiles its most iconic architects and designers, and explores how the style is developing in the 21st century. This series was created in partnership with Made – a UK furniture retailer that aims to bring aspirational design at affordable prices, with a goal to make every home as original as the people inside it. Elevate the everyday with collections that are made to last, available to shop now at made.com. The post "I love mid-century modern but it makes me sad" appeared first on Dezeen.

Following the completion of One River North in Denver, we've rounded up 10 recently completed buildings by MAD that are defined by their bold, sculptural forms. From undulating, mirrored facades to swooping, "bird-like" roofs, this collection of projects comprises some of the most curvaceous projects designed and built by the studio. Founded by architect Ma

The post Ten projects by MAD Architects with distinctive sculptural forms appeared first on Dezeen.

Following the completion of One River North in Denver, we've rounded up 10 recently completed buildings by MAD that are defined by their bold, sculptural forms. From undulating, mirrored facades to swooping, "bird-like" roofs, this collection of projects comprises some of the most curvaceous projects designed and built by the studio. Founded by architect Ma Yansong in 2004, MAD Architects has become renowned for its developments of various scales and typologies across China and beyond, encompassing museums, concert halls, urban complexes, and housing developments. Included among this list of projects by the studio is the "clover-like" ZGC International Innovation Center, which reached completion in Beijing earlier this year, and the Cloudscape of Haikou library, which features a sinuous structure cast from white concrete and punctuated by curved openings. Read on for 10 recently completed buildings by MAD: Photo by Iwan Baan One River North, US, 2024 Last week, MAD Architects unveiled an apartment block in Denver, Colorado, which features a crack-like opening across its curved glass facade. Named One River North, the 15-storey residential project was designed as a nod to geographic formations of the nearby Rocky Mountains. Find out more about One River North › Photo by Arch Exist Cloudscape of Haikou, China, 2021 The Cloudscape of Haikou library features a sinuous structure cast from white concrete on the coast of the Hainan island in China. Spread across 1,000-square-metres, the structure is complete with large curved cut-outs that immerse visitors into the surrounding coastal landscape. Find out more about Cloudscape of Haikou › Photo by Aogvision Train Station in the Forest, China, 2024 This 354,000-square-metre development by MAD encompassed the rebuilding and expansion of a historic train station in central Jiaxing, China. Named Train Station in the Forest, the structure's dynamic form was extended to house an underground terminal topped with a public park at ground level. Find out more about Train Station in the Forest › Photo by Hufton + Crow YueCheng Courtyard Kindergarten, China, 2020 Converted from an 18th-century courtyard building in Beijing, MAD Architects created the YueCheng Courtyard Kindergarten which is topped by a rooftop playground. The rooftop playground is defined by brightly-coloured, weaving walkways that contrast with the area's existing buildings. Find out more about YueCheng Courtyard Kindergarten › Photo by Tian Fangfang Hutong Bubble 218, China, 2019 Situated in one of Beijing's ancient hutongs, MAD transformed this vacant courtyard house with the addition of two bubble-like workspaces. The two sculptural forms are wrapped in mirrored stainless steel chosen to blend them into the setting by reflecting their surroundings. Find out more about Hutong Bubble 218 › Photo by CreatAR Images Quzhou Stadium, China, 2022 Defined by its sinuous, concrete structure, the Quzhou Stadium completed by MAD was conceived as "a piece of land art". Located in Quzhou, China, the stadium can seat 30,000 people and has undulating seating designed to follow the hills of the surrounding landscape. Find out more about Quzhou Stadium › The photography is by Zhu Yumeng and Osamu Nakamura Ephemeral Bubble, Japan, 2024 An installation resembling a bubble being blown by a wooden house was created by MAD for the Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale in Japan. Hosting a space for performances and ceremonies, the Ephemeral Bubble installation was built from a PVC membrane designed to mimic the "lightness and translucence of breathing air". Find out more about Ephemeral Bubble › Photo by Arch Exist ZGC International Innovation Center, China, 2024 A curving green roof complete with rippled overhangs tops the ZGC International Innovation Center in Beijing by MAD Architects. The 65,000-square-metre conference centre is defined by a "clover-like form", which hosts event spaces, meeting rooms and lounges as well as sheltered outdoor public space. Find out more about ZGC International Innovation Center › Photo by Jared Chulski UNIC, France, 2022 White, curved balconies wrap around the 13-storey UNIC residential tower completed by MAD in Paris, France. The development forms the studio's first completed project in Europe and was designed alongside French studio Biecher Architectes to be a landmark within the wider Clichy-Batignolles development in northern Paris. Find out more about UNIC › Photo by ArchExist Yabuli Entrepreneurs' Congress Center, China, 2020 Completed in 2020, the Yabuli Entrepreneurs' Congress Center encompasses a dynamic conference centre nested among mountains in northeast China. Located within the Yabuli ski resort near the city of Harbin, the building was designed to be a landmark created for the Yabuli China Entrepreneurs Forum. Find out more about Yabuli Entrepreneurs' Congress Center › The post Ten projects by MAD Architects with distinctive sculptural forms appeared first on Dezeen.

US studio Schwartz and Architecture has completed a courtyard-style house in California that is closed off to the street yet opens up in the rear, allowing for ample natural light and a connection to the outdoors. Located near downtown Menlo Park, the Modal Home sits at a busy intersection and across the street from a

The post Tall "acoustic wall" buffers noise at Modal Home in Silicon Valley appeared first on Dezeen.

US studio Schwartz and Architecture has completed a courtyard-style house in California that is closed off to the street yet opens up in the rear, allowing for ample natural light and a connection to the outdoors. Located near downtown Menlo Park, the Modal Home sits at a busy intersection and across the street from a high school. It was designed by San Francisco-based Schwartz and Architecture, or S^A, for a family of four. One of the main concerns was to block out noise coming from the street and the school. In turn, the team took an unconventional approach and created a single-storey, courtyard-style house with a solid exterior and no front yard. Schwartz and Architecture has completed a single-storey home in Menlo Park for a family of four "The siting of the home at the front edge of the corner lot is somewhat counter-intuitive," the team said. "Instead of shirking from the noise to the farther reaches of the site – de facto creating a large front yard of limited value – the architects sidle the structure up to the street and turn its back to it." The elevations facing the street were envisioned as a 14-foot-high (4.3-metre) "acoustic wall." Its facade is fronted by a massive concrete wall The height and length of the wall – along with the board-formed concrete used to build it – were informed by a study of what decibel levels would be acceptable for the clients. The concrete facades have limited openings. Along the western side, the team incorporated several rectangular breaks in the wall that are filled with frosted glass. "This new home turns inward to create an urban cloister buffered from the surrounding city," the team said. The "acoustic wall" was made from board-formed concrete The entrance to the house is found on the southeast, where in addition to the tall concrete facade, there is a lower perimeter wall made of wood slats set within a metal frame. Upon passing through a gate, one finds an entry space lined with a patterned metal screen, which shields views of the courtyard. The courtyard is covered from the entry program by a metal screen The inner facades feature a mix of charred wood, stained cedar siding, blue stucco and board-formed concrete. From glazed doors to roof cutouts, openings were carefully placed to maximise passive cooling during the year's hottest months and to provide a connection to the outdoors. Skylights and clerestory windows were included in the interiors The openings also usher in daylight. "To compensate for the loss of sound and view inherent in the architect's strategy, they focused every element of the design to intensify the ephemeral nuances of natural light over the course of the day," the team said. To further strengthen the visual qualities, the team implemented a layering effect to create a sense of depth and scale on the relatively small site. Read: 3R Studio creates Bay Area ADU as a "backyard retreat" for living and working "For the architects, the leitmotif of the project was the commitment that the loss of one sense should always be balanced out with heightening the perceptions of another," the team said. In terms of the layout, public and private areas are separated within the dwelling. The architecture studio wanted to "layer" the facades to create depth The southern half of the plan contains the communal spaces – a sitting area, dining space and an open-concept kitchen and living room. The other side holds bedrooms. Finishes include concrete and white oak flooring, wooden millwork and quartzite countertops. A bathroom features large-format reddish tile flooring and walls clad in porcelain tiles that look intentionally cracked. The backyard is open with a firepit and a pool Throughout the dwelling, the exterior concrete wall is "ever-present", as is the courtyard and backyard, where one finds greenery, a fire pit and a swimming pool. Other California projects by Schwartz and Architecture include an accessory dwelling unit at a Sonoma house with cedar cladding and a faceted roof, and a home studio for the firm's founder that has built-in nesting boxes for birds. The photography is by Bruce Damonte. Project credits: Architecture and interior design: S^A (Schwartz and Architecture) S^A team: Christopher Baile, Wyatt Arnold, Laura Huylebroeck Contractor: Webb Construction Structural engineer: iAssociates Lighting design: Pritchard Peck Lighting Landscape design: Studio Green The post Tall "acoustic wall" buffers noise at Modal Home in Silicon Valley appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features a pair of landmarks in China designed by Line + Studio. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now. Architecture firm Line + Studio introduced a doughnut-shaped meteorological balloon and a woven timber tunnel to rural Zhejiang. Commenters debated the project, with one calling it "sheer genius". Another thought it

The post Dezeen Debate features doughnut-shaped weather balloon praised as "sheer genius" appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest edition of our Dezeen Debate newsletter features a pair of landmarks in China designed by Line + Studio. Subscribe to Dezeen Debate now. Architecture firm Line + Studio introduced a doughnut-shaped meteorological balloon and a woven timber tunnel to rural Zhejiang. Commenters debated the project, with one calling it "sheer genius". Another thought it was "fun, smart, and quite an interesting feature as a landscaping architectural statement". RCR Arquitectes unveils plans for "unusually narrow" skyscraper in Dubai Other stories in this week's newsletter that fired up the comments section included RCR Arquitectes' plans for an "unusually narrow" skyscraper in Dubai, earplugs made out of mycelium by product company Gob and the Museum of Shakespeare in London, designed by Perkins&Will. Dezeen Debate Dezeen Debate is sent every Tuesday and features a selection of the best reader comments and most talked-about stories. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Debate or subscribe here. You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Agenda is sent every Tuesday containing a selection of the most important news highlights from the week, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design. The post Dezeen Debate features doughnut-shaped weather balloon praised as "sheer genius" appeared first on Dezeen.

Arched openings animate the red-brick facades of Fillome Building, a mixed-use tower in Seoul by local studio Sosu Architects. Located in Seongsu-dong, the building combines three floors of commercial space with three floors of apartments, elevated above a ground-floor parking area on brick piloti. Sosu Architects' use of red brickwork references Seongsu-dong's history as a

The post Arched brick openings enliven mixed-use block in Seoul by Sosu Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Arched openings animate the red-brick facades of Fillome Building, a mixed-use tower in Seoul by local studio Sosu Architects. Located in Seongsu-dong, the building combines three floors of commercial space with three floors of apartments, elevated above a ground-floor parking area on brick piloti. Sosu Architects' use of red brickwork references Seongsu-dong's history as a semi-industrial site, characterised by former factory and warehouse buildings. Sosu Architects has completed a mixed-use tower in Seoul "Seongsu-dong is one of the few remaining heavy industrial areas in Seoul – there are many red-brick buildings that were once used as factories," the studio told Dezeen. "The red bricks of Seongsu-dong are an important element that reminds us of its past, and the Fillome Building uses red brick to continue this past identity into the future," it added. At the base of the building, parking spaces sit beneath a vaulted ceiling of exposed brick. A large silver door leads into a circulation core at the back of the site containing a staircase and lift. The use of red bricks is informed by the area's factory buildings This core connects each of the building's floors, of which the first three contain open commercial spaces with full-height arched windows. On the fourth floor are three studio flats, while the two floors above contain larger one-bed apartments, the uppermost benefitting from an additional attic space. Read: Sosu Architects completes brick-clad multi-generational house in Seoul In each of these larger apartments, a bedroom to the west and a living, dining and kitchen space to the east are connected by a short corridor lined with utility spaces. On the top floor, a staircase leads into the attic and an additional bathroom. A pattern of smaller arches wraps the upper three levels of the block, disrupted by irregularly placed rectilinear windows that frame areas of brickwork in the apartments behind. Arched windows draw light into the interior "We wanted to simplify the complexity created by the area's diverseness to create an empty space among the overcrowded city scenery," said Sosu Architects. "The arch-style theme was coordinated to make sure that the building has its own character," it continued. Wooden floors and exposed concrete add texture to the apartments On the office floors, the concrete of the structure and pipework has been left exposed to create open and flexible spaces for tenants. The apartment interiors are similarly minimal, with white walls, wooden floors and concealed light fittings. Previous projects by Sosu Architects include a multigenerational housing block in Seoul's Mok 2-dong, finished with textured and perforated grey brickwork. Elsewhere in Seoul, Heatherwick Studio is currently designing a rippled-glass shopping centre and an island park with "floating islets". The photography is by Roh Kyung. The post Arched brick openings enliven mixed-use block in Seoul by Sosu Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

We continue our series on mid-century modern design with a profile of Ray and Charles Eames, the duo that championed a functional and democratic approach to design. Their iterative, materials-focused approach saw the designers harness mass-production techniques in an attempt to create what would be enshrined in their motto as "the best for the most

The post Charles and Ray Eames changed the landscape of design with "just a few chairs and a house" appeared first on Dezeen.

We continue our series on mid-century modern design with a profile of Ray and Charles Eames, the duo that championed a functional and democratic approach to design. Their iterative, materials-focused approach saw the designers harness mass-production techniques in an attempt to create what would be enshrined in their motto as "the best for the most for the least" – including the world's first moulded plastic chair, the Shell chair. The designers created the world's first moulded plastic chair. Photo courtesy of Eames Office The Eameses were not interested in innovation for innovation's sake, but as a means of problem-solving, and making the solutions available to all. As Ray Eames herself would put it, "what works is better than what looks good. The looks good can change, but what works, works." This perhaps explains how their studio Eames Office achieved a remarkable impact with a comparatively modest output. As architect Peter Smithson would remark to the magazine Architectural Design in 1966, it was with "just a few chairs and a house" that Charles and Ray Eames were able to profoundly impact the landscape of design. The Eames Elephant was designed as part of a group of animal stools for children. Photo courtesy of Vitra Charles Eames and Bernice Alexandra "Ray" Kaiser met at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan in 1940. Charles was already an architect who had joined an industrial design fellowship recommended by architect Eliel Saarinen, and Ray was an abstract painter who joined the academy looking to expand her artistic practice. The two married in 1941 and relocated to Los Angeles to establish their studio Eames Office, initially working out of their apartment in the Westwood neighbourhood. Early work explored moulded-plywood designs The early work of the Eameses focused on experimenting with moulded plywood. This had been initiated by a chair they had designed with Finnish architect Eero Saarinen while at Cranbrook, which won first prize in the 1940 Organic Design in Home Furnishings competition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York. Plywood bent along a single curve had long had applications in furniture, but the Eameses were drawn to the possibility of moulding it across three dimensions in order to better contour to the shapes of the human body. The Eameses wrote in 1953 how "the problem of designing anything is in a sense the problem of designing a tool," and for their furniture, their tools were the patented "Eames process" and a homemade device they called the Kazaam! Machine. Named after the fact that it worked "like magic", the Kazaam! Machine worked by bonding multiple sheets of thin veneer with thermosetting resin around a mould, originally inflatable balloons. The LCW chair was made from moulded plywood. Photo by Hiart via Wikimedia Commons While their competition design in 1940 had not been deemed mass produceable, by 1945, the Eameses had developed a range of furniture known as the Plywood Group, most significantly the Lounge Chair Wood or LCW. This low chair featured an angled, curved seat and a small curved back connected with rubber shock mounts, designed to be comfortable even without the addition of upholstery. Along the way, these experiments led to what would become other products – the Eames Elephant, for example, was designed in 1945 as part of a group of animal stools for children, and has today been reproduced in plastic. Read: Eames Shell chair aims to get "the best to the greatest number of people for the least" These same plywood-moulding techniques were also used, as Ray put it, "to aid in the war efforts without hurting anyone", creating wooden splints and prototyping a stretcher for use by the military. Despite the successes of the Plywood Group, the need for low-cost furniture that could be mass-produced after the end of the second world war meant there was still a problem for the Eameses to solve. In 1948, they proposed a fully moulded shell chair in their entry into the International Competition for Low-Cost Furniture Design, also sponsored by MoMA. This was intended to push the organic forms of the Plywood Group even further, creating a singular, curving shape that comprised the seat, back and – for certain models – arms, and could be mass-produced to a consistently high quality and fitted to a variety of different bases. Fibreglass used for both furniture and architecture True to form, the Eameses did not want to develop a new material but rather apply an existing one, and the second world war had led to the development glass-fibre reinforced polyester resin, originally used for aircraft radomes and cockpit covers. The Eameses entry suggested the use of stamped steel, but subsequent iterations saw them arrive at the material of fibreglass via a boat manufacturer, leading to the Fibreglass Chair, the world's first mass-produced plastic chair. Available both with and without arms, the Fibreglass Chair was lightweight, robust and easy to clean. Colour was a particularly important factor, and initially three were three neutral tones available: greige, elephant hide grey and parchment, soon to be joined by a wide variety of colours. The Eameses worked in fibreglass to create screens for Eames House. Photography by Leslie Schwartz and Joshua White, courtesy of Eames Office The Eameses had in fact first used this fibreglass resin in their architectural work, sourcing it from army surplus stores to create screens for their own home, Case Study House 8, also known as the Eames House, in the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood of Los Angeles. The home was commissioned by John Entenza, the owner and editor of Art & Architecture magazine, who in the 1940s initiated the Case Study House programme. Read: Mid-century modern design "embraced a more human aesthetic while remaining aggressively forward-looking" This programme tasked the major architects of the day with creating efficient and cheap prototypes for housing that could meet the housing boom following the end of the second world war – a brief very much in line with the ethos of the Eameses. Charles had again collaborated with Eero Saarinen on the early design for Case Study House 8 in 1945, which used off-the-shelf materials and components ordered from catalogues. The Shell chairs are often used in interiors today, like here in Slot House in the UK Steel shortages, however, meant that the materials were not available for several years, by which time Charles and Ray had re-designed the home to sit more harmoniously on its meadow site. "The house would make no demands for itself and would serve as a background for life in work, with nature as a shock absorber," described the Eamses. The finished home was a simple steel-framed rectilinear box, with a Mondrian-like gridded facade of opaque white and coloured panels and large windows. Inside, the double-height living area was filled with furniture prototypes by the Eameses themselves as well as works by the designers they admired and folk art they had collected on their travels. For Entenza himself, the Eameses and Saarinen would design Case Study House 9, also known as the Entenza House, in a similar style. Eames' Case Study Houses were a precursor to high-tech architecture While few of the Eameses architectural designs made it past the drawing board, their use of standardised materials in the Case Study Houses proved hugely influential, and a precursor to the high-tech style of architecture that would become popular in the UK a decade later. The Eameses were also interested in photography and film as a means of communicating their work, and the studio would create nearly 200 films. Some demonstrated their products, such as Fibreglass Chairs – Something of How They Get the Way They Are, and others were more educational, such as Powers of Ten, a short film depicting the scale of the universe in factors of ten – from outer space to a molecule in a man's hand. After Charles' death in 1978, Ray would continue to run the office and lay the foundations for their legacy until her own death 10 years later (to the day) in 1988. Main illustration by Vesa S. Illustration by Jack Bedford Mid-century modern This article is part of Dezeen's mid-century modern design series, which looks at the enduring presence of mid-century modern design, profiles its most iconic architects and designers, and explores how the style is developing in the 21st century. This series was created in partnership with Made – a UK furniture retailer that aims to bring aspirational design at affordable prices, with a goal to make every home as original as the people inside it. Elevate the everyday with collections that are made to last, available to shop now at made.com. The post Charles and Ray Eames changed the landscape of design with "just a few chairs and a house" appeared first on Dezeen.

The Thomas Heatherwick-designed Vessel viewpoint in New York has reopened with steel mesh added to the exterior as a safety measure to prevent people from jumping from its platforms. The reopening of the attraction at Hudson Yards follows a three-year closure after a 14-year-old boy became the fourth person to die of suicide at the viewpoint. Videos and

The post Heatherwick's Vessel reopens with steel safety mesh wrapping its exterior appeared first on Dezeen.

The Thomas Heatherwick-designed Vessel viewpoint in New York has reopened with steel mesh added to the exterior as a safety measure to prevent people from jumping from its platforms. The reopening of the attraction at Hudson Yards follows a three-year closure after a 14-year-old boy became the fourth person to die of suicide at the viewpoint. Videos and photos of the structure shared by the public on X (formerly Twitter) show wire netting in a pattern that mirrors the Vessel's honeycomb shape. The mesh encloses the outside of the viewing platforms while still allowing views of the surroundings. However, the entire top level and some of the walkways have remained closed, according to US broadcaster CBS News. The Vessel at @_HudsonYardsNYC reopened this morning with new safety netting after 4 people took their lives there three years ago. @1010WINS #thevesselnyc pic.twitter.com/7rEFygoWCt — Marla Diamond (@MDiamond8) October 21, 2024 The Vessel has reopened in New York's Hudson Yards "Vessel has attracted over three million visitors since it opened in 2019," Heatherwick's eponymous architecture practice, Heatherwick Studio, told Dezeen. "We are pleased that the structure is now reopening." "We hope that it will continue to deliver the experience we originally envisioned as a unique place for exploration and a one-of-a-kind take on the city of New York." A long-awaited return for a New York City attraction: the Vessel at Hudson Yards reopens TODAY after more than three years. pic.twitter.com/gOiPI7Sl4N — NewYorkCityKopp (@newyorkcitykopp) October 21, 2024 X users shared videos of steel mesh wrapping the exterior of the Vessel Completed in 2019, Heatherwick designed the Vessel for developer Related Companies as the centrepiece of the Hudson Yards development. Its 46-metre-high honeycomb shape is made up of 154 staircases that meet at 80 platforms. Prior to its most recent closure in August 2021, the structure also closed earlier that year in January after a 21-year-old man jumped from it and died by suicide. Two other suicides had previously occurred at the Vessel – a 24-year-old woman in December 2020 and a 19-year-old man in February 2019. Read: "The Vessel shows us how bad the vampiric ultra-wealthy are at making public space" The viewpoint briefly reopened in May 2021 with a buddy system to prevent people from entering the attraction alone. Last year, after two years of closure, author Matt Shaw criticised the Vessel as representing "how bad the vampiric ultra-wealthy are at making public space" in an opinion piece for Dezeen. The top photo is by Michael Moran for Related Companies. International helplines can be found at www.befrienders.org. In the USA, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 800-273-8255, while in the UK the Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123. The post Heatherwick's Vessel reopens with steel safety mesh wrapping its exterior appeared first on Dezeen.

Construction has begun on the 400-metre-high, cube-shaped Mukaab supertall skyscraper in Riyadh designed by AtkinsRéalis, which will be the world's largest building when it completes. Designed as the centrepiece of the 19-square-kilometre New Murabba development in northwest Riyadh, Mukaab is now officially under construction with excavations underway, according to its development company. The developer, named

The post Construction starts on world's largest building in Saudi Arabia appeared first on Dezeen.

Construction has begun on the 400-metre-high, cube-shaped Mukaab supertall skyscraper in Riyadh designed by AtkinsRéalis, which will be the world's largest building when it completes. Designed as the centrepiece of the 19-square-kilometre New Murabba development in northwest Riyadh, Mukaab is now officially under construction with excavations underway, according to its development company. The developer, named New Murabba Development Company and funded by Saudi Arabia's central Public Investment Fund (PIF), said groundworks at the site are now 86 per cent complete. Construction of the Mukaab skyscraper has begun Designed by AtkinsRéalis, the Mukaab skyscraper will be cube-shaped with 400-metre-long edges. At 400 metres tall it will be a supertall skyscraper – a building over 300 metres in height – and become the tallest in the city. It will also be the largest building ever built, with news site Bloomberg calling it the "largest built structure in the world". It will take the title of the world's current largest building from the Boeing Everett Factory in the USA. The skyscraper will be the world's largest building Inside the cube will contain a giant, almost full-height atrium with a spiralling tower at its centre. Surrounding the tower will be two million square metres of shops, cultural and tourist attractions. The cube will be enclosed in a distinctive facade made of overlapping triangular forms referencing the modern Najdi architectural style. When complete, Mukaab will sit at the centre of the New Murabba development, which is being created as a new downtown for Saudi Arabia's capital city. Read: Everything you need to know about Saudi Arabia's 14 "giga projects" According to its developers, New Murabba will contain over 100,000 homes, 980,000 square metres of shops, 1.4 million square metres of office space along with hotels, culture venues, a university, an immersive theatre and an "iconic" museum. The project is planned to be completed by 2030 as part of the country's Vision 2030 strategy to diversify its economy, which is being funded by its Public Investment Fund. It is one of 14 giga projects currently being developed in Saudi Arabia, with the best-known and most controversial being Neom. The images are courtesy of New Murabba Development Company. The post Construction starts on world's largest building in Saudi Arabia appeared first on Dezeen.

Architectural historian Joseph Rykwert, a recipient of the prestigious RIBA Royal Gold Medal, has passed away at the age of 98. Rykwert, also a well-known critic and writer known for seminal books such as The Idea of a Town, died on 18 October 2024. Born in Warsaw in 1926, Rykwert began his career as an

The post "World-leading" architectural historian Joseph Rykwert dies aged 98 appeared first on Dezeen.

Architectural historian Joseph Rykwert, a recipient of the prestigious RIBA Royal Gold Medal, has passed away at the age of 98. Rykwert, also a well-known critic and writer known for seminal books such as The Idea of a Town, died on 18 October 2024. Born in Warsaw in 1926, Rykwert began his career as an architect, educated at the Bartlett, the University of Cambridge and later at the Architectural Association. On completing his studies he worked under architects including Maxwell Fry, Jane Drew and Richard Sheppard, as well as engineer Ove Arup. However, his focus gradually turned to teaching and writing, leading him to take up academic posts at institutions including Hammersmith School of Arts & Crafts and the Royal College of Art. He then went on to teach at some of the world's most prestigious architecture schools, including the Cooper Union, Harvard Graduate School of Design, the University of Sydney and the Institut d'Urbanisme. Rykwert's works explored our sense of place As a writer, Rykwert published several influential titles, with one of his best-known being The Idea of a Town, published in 1963. The Idea of a Town explores the anthropology of ancient towns and how this relates to modern urban design. It reflects a common theme throughout his work – the concept of creating a sense of place, which often drew on his own experiences of displacement at the age of 13, when he and his parents escaped from Warsaw to London on the eve of the second world war. Read: Joseph Rykwert to receive the Royal Gold Medal for architecture Rykwert's other influential works include On Adam's House in Paradise published in 1972, The Necessity of Artifice in 1982 and The Seduction of Place in 2002. His work had influence far and wide, with his publications translated into several languages. Rykwert celebrated for "groundbreaking ideas" In 2014, Rykwert was awarded the Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), which described him as "a world-leading authority on the history of art and architecture". He is one of four critics to have won the prestigious prize since its creation in 1848. "His groundbreaking ideas and work have had a major impact on the thinking of architects and designers since the 1960s and continue to do so to this day," RIBA said at the time. Read: Property prices are "castrating the whole notion of city life" Rykwert was also the recipient of the Bruno Zevi prize in architectural history at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2000, the Gold Medal Bellas Artes in 2009 and a CBE in 2014. In 1984, he was appointed The Order of Arts and Letters in France and he also held honorary degrees from institutions including the University of Edinburgh and the University of Bath. The main photo is by Paweł Mazur via Wikimedia Commons. The post "World-leading" architectural historian Joseph Rykwert dies aged 98 appeared first on Dezeen.

Global design studio Populous has unveiled renderings for an NBA training centre with metal panels and a roof terrace in Charlotte, North Carolina. Slated to break ground in early 2025, the state-of-the-art practice facility will serve the Charlotte Hornets and will be adjacent to the Spectrum Center, the team's home arena. "We're thrilled to partner

The post Populous designs Charlotte Hornets facility clad in "swarm" of panels appeared first on Dezeen.

Global design studio Populous has unveiled renderings for an NBA training centre with metal panels and a roof terrace in Charlotte, North Carolina. Slated to break ground in early 2025, the state-of-the-art practice facility will serve the Charlotte Hornets and will be adjacent to the Spectrum Center, the team's home arena. "We're thrilled to partner with the Charlotte Hornets to design their state-of-the-art practice facility, elevating the organization and strengthening their position to become one of the premier teams in the NBA," said Populous senior principal and global director Jonathan Mallie. "The team's presence in Uptown Charlotte will serve as a beacon of player performance, designed to attract the league's greatest athletes." Populous has designed a training facility for the Charlotte Hornets As part of the Hornets' Re!magine Spectrum Center project, the centre will feature over 160,000 square feet (14,864 square metres) of training, administrative, and retail space. The linear building will be composed of bands of metal panels and glass, forming horizontal lines that will be broken by wedge-shaped angled panels. "A dynamic swarm" "Elevated above the city streets of downtown Charlotte, the training floors are clad in a dynamic swarm of articulated metal panels – the composition highlighted by an array of sloped iridescent accent panels," Mallie told Dezeen. "We incorporated the Hornets' coloration and branding into our design thinking, uniquely tying the architecture to the team and the city." Read: Official images of world's largest football stadium in Morocco revealed Apt for a venue in a place nicknamed Buzz City, the bee-themed branding will continue in the main double-court gymnasium with hexagon-tiled panels between glassed offices where spectators can watch practice. The space will be decked out in the Hornets' signature teal and dark purple and is lit by a clerestory window that wraps around the space and draws light across the trussed ceiling. Kitty-corner to the Spectrum Center – on the corner of Caldwell and 5th Streets – the performance centre will have a public plaza on the ground floor that will filter into an atrium-like gathering space directly above it inside the building. The remainder of the ground floor includes 2,500 square feet (232 square metres) of retail space that allows the public to engage with the building. The design includes courts as well as orthopedic areas In addition to the 100,000 square feet (9,290 square metres) of practice space, the centre will also have 35,000 square feet (3,250 square metres) of administrative offices for the team's business operations and a 25,000-square-foot (2,320 square metre) orthopedic recovery centre. "Thoughtful and functional design is imperative for both player development and recovery, whether for seasoned veterans or the newest rookies," Populous principal David Hodge said. "Charlotte's new, world-class training facility will usher in a new era for the team and its ownership." The performance centre – funded in part by the City of Charlotte with other costs covered by the franchise – is expected to open by the 2026-2027 NBA season. Populous is also currently working on a sports performance centre for the Cleveland Cavaliers, slated to be "one of the world's largest training facilities." Additionally, the NBA recently opened the doors for the LA Clippers' new Intuit Dome with a basketball net-like roof designed by AECOM. The renderings are courtesy of Populous. Project credits: Architecture: Populous Construction: Gilbane Building Company, R.J. Leeper Consulting: CAA Icon The post Populous designs Charlotte Hornets facility clad in "swarm" of panels appeared first on Dezeen.

Horizontal larch planks clad the exterior of Brampton, a house on a steeply sloping site in Cumbria by Scottish studio Mary Arnold-Forster Architects. Named after the nearby town of Brampton, the home replaces a former stable and workshop that was originally constructed in the 1960s and had fallen into disrepair. Mary Arnold-Forster Architects took advantage

The post Mary Arnold-Forster Architects creates "modern agricultural aesthetic" for Cumbrian home appeared first on Dezeen.

Horizontal larch planks clad the exterior of Brampton, a house on a steeply sloping site in Cumbria by Scottish studio Mary Arnold-Forster Architects. Named after the nearby town of Brampton, the home replaces a former stable and workshop that was originally constructed in the 1960s and had fallen into disrepair. Mary Arnold-Forster Architects took advantage of the site's slope to create a low single-storey profile facing the nearby street that expands to two storeys facing out over the landscape. Mary Arnold-Forster Architects has completed a home in Cumbria. Photo by David Barbour "A previous planning application by a different architect had been rejected because the massing was too prominent from the street," explained the studio. "The house nestles into the very steep existing slope so that it is single-storey to the street but two storeys to the view of the rolling landscape," it added. Brampton comprises two gabled volumes, one large and one small, which sit on either side of a central courtyard and are connected by a glazed entrance corridor. Facing the street, the gable ends of each volume are left windowless for privacy. The home comprises two gabled volumes clad in larch In the larger volume, a bedroom faces the street in the single-storey portion of the home, while the living, kitchen and dining area overlooks the landscape. Opposite, the smaller volume contains a secondary lounge space, with sliding glass doors providing access across the courtyard into the main home. A living, kitchen and dining area is contained in the larger volume. Photo by David Barbour Brampton's gravel driveway is wrapped by an existing sandstone wall and an external stair to the north provides an alternative access route. Below, further bedrooms have been created in the home's lower ground floor, partially dug into the sloping site and illuminated by a skylit staircase. Read: Mary Arnold-Forster Architects extends Applecross Schoolhouse in Scotland "The steeply sloping site was a huge technical and construction challenge," explains project architect Douglas McCorkell "We used physical and digital models with the contours carefully mapped to make sure the levels matched at all the critical points – level access from all external doors and sliding doors onto the central courtyard, the external stair and the lower ground bedroom window sills," he added. Skylights illuminate the home's staircase Mary Arnold-Forster Architects looked to "preserve the memory" of the agricultural structure formerly on the site, which informed the home's barn-like volumes and simple larch plank cladding. Internally, this is complemented by minimal, white-walled interiors with exposed timber roof beams in another reference to barn structures. "The house is finished in horizontal larch rainscreen cladding to the walls with all gutters and down pipes concealed creating a modern agricultural aesthetic," explains McCorkell. The lower ground floor is partially dug into the sloping site Elsewhere in Cumbria, Hayatsu Architects recently completed a cold food store for Grizedale Arts using local materials and Japanese Shikkui-style plaster and MawsonKerr created a music centre with oak, cedar and slate. Other recent projects by Mary Arnold-Forster Architects include the renovation of an old schoolhouse and its own office and home, both located in rural Scotland. The photography is courtesy of Mary Arnold-Forster Architects unless otherwise stated. The post Mary Arnold-Forster Architects creates "modern agricultural aesthetic" for Cumbrian home appeared first on Dezeen.

A doughnut-shaped meteorological balloon and woven timber tunnel have been completed by architecture practice Line+ Studio in rural area in Zhejiang, China. Named Woven Gateway and Sky Ring, the two structures were commissioned as part of the enhancement of the Chuan Yan Nineteen Peaks Scenic Area. Line+ Studio designed the  structures to be minimal but

The post Line+ Studio floats doughnut-shaped weather balloon above rural Chinese landscape appeared first on Dezeen.

A doughnut-shaped meteorological balloon and woven timber tunnel have been completed by architecture practice Line+ Studio in rural area in Zhejiang, China. Named Woven Gateway and Sky Ring, the two structures were commissioned as part of the enhancement of the Chuan Yan Nineteen Peaks Scenic Area. Line+ Studio designed the structures to be minimal but impactful, seeking to improve the visitor experience through simple gestures that would not detract from the natural setting. Line+ Studio has added two new landmarks in Zhejiang "Xiayanbei Village, located on a Ridgeline in eastern Zhejiang, is surrounded by misty mountains and scenic views, making it a popular destination for outdoor activities," explained the studio. "However, the village faces challenges like limited infrastructure and carrying capacity," it continued. "The design strategy tackles these by reusing existing land and introducing new experiences without consuming additional land." The tunnel is clad in locally-sourced black slate tiles The Woven Passage is a 20-metre-long tunnel that frames the main entrance road leading into the village. Made from a curved structure of interlocking timber elements, it was informed by the area's history of bamboo weaving. As well as framing the landscape, this tunnel was also designed to protect the road from further erosion that had been occurring during heavy rains. The roof of the tunnel has been clad in locally-sourced black slate tiles, intended to appear as what the practice term a "natural extension of the landscape". Read: Nelson Byrd Woltz covers six-lane highway with land bridge in Houston "This design evokes a spatial experience similar to discovering a hidden mountain passage, where a confined space suddenly opens up, creating a sense of surprise and clarity," said the studio. "The passage design aims not only to create an iconic entrance but also to restore the landscape." Interlocking timber elements form the tunnel's structure Located in a nearby field is the Sky Ring, a donut-shaped balloon tethered above an outdoor gathering area that was designed to be a "public symbol" and is illuminated at night by colour-changing lights. It also functions as a meteorological balloon, informed by the fact that many of the activities that take place in the scenic area – such as hiking, camping and farming – are highly dependant on the weather. A donut-shaped structure functions as a meteorological balloon "When wind speeds are below eight metres-per-second, it ascends to 25 meters, tethered by 16 evenly distributed cables," explained the studio. "In harsh weather, it retracts and anchors securely to the ground using six inner and eight outer cables." "This approach brings visual and experiential novelty to visitors while offering new development opportunities for the village, making Xiayanbei a distinctive and memorable addition to the increasingly standardised rural tourism landscape," it added. The balloon is illuminated at night by colour-changing lights Line+ Studio, formerly known as Gad Line+ Studio, is an architecture firm based in Hangzhou, China, founded by Meng Fanhao and Zhu Peidong. The studio recently completed another landscape-focused project in Shenzhen, where it perched curvaceous viewpoint atop Maluan Mountain. The photography is courtesy of Line+ Studio. The post Line+ Studio floats doughnut-shaped weather balloon above rural Chinese landscape appeared first on Dezeen.

Timber pillars and PVC pipes were left bare to blur the boundaries between the interior and exterior of this cafe and sweet shop in Funamachi, Japan, designed by Schemata Architects. Named Funamachi Base, the combined sweet store and cafe is located next to a park in the centre of Funamachi, a riverport town in central Japan.

The post Funamachi Base cafe and sweet shop designed as "extension of the park" appeared first on Dezeen.

Timber pillars and PVC pipes were left bare to blur the boundaries between the interior and exterior of this cafe and sweet shop in Funamachi, Japan, designed by Schemata Architects. Named Funamachi Base, the combined sweet store and cafe is located next to a park in the centre of Funamachi, a riverport town in central Japan. The cafe is located close to a river This location inspired the design of its three buildings, which house a restaurant, sweetshop and a structurewith an office, kitchen and workshop. "We envisioned the facility as an extension of the park, including the courtyard connected via flowerpots, so that the boundary between the inside and outside of the site would disappear and one would be gradually drawn inside," the studio said. Part of the foundation of the building forms a counter Schemata Architects' founder Jo Nagasaka told Dezeen that the aim was also for people to wander into the space as they walk along the river. "The main idea was to incorporate the greenway along the river into the facility," he said. "The design is based on the expectation that people will find themselves entering into the shop as they walk along." Schemata Architects designed the cafe and sweet shop with large overhanging roofs Large roofs extend out from the buildings of the 326-square-metre Funamachi Base, creating sheltered spaces where visitors can sit and enjoy the cafe's bean buns. "The distance between each building is taken and a roof is placed between them to create a semi-outdoor space, but to avoid clear boundaries between the inside and outside, the idea was to use the same materials inside and out," Nagasaka said. The same materials were used for the interior and exterior of Funamachi Base Made from concrete and Douglas fir wood, Funamachi Base also features visible PVC pipes, a design choice that Schemata Architects made to underline the interaction between the interior and the exterior. "The same materials were used inside and outside: calcium silicate board and putty coating, PVC pipes generally used for outdoor gutters were sandblasted and placed across the inside and outside of the building, and the eaves extended to create a space where the inside and outside are interchangeable," the studio said. Read: Schemata Architects transforms 145-year-old townhouse into Le Labo flagship The foundation of the building was designed to bulge out, forming a counter from which to sell the sweets. It was also used to create a bench for visitors to rest on and a well, as water is needed to create Japanese sweets. A light-brown pattern decorates the facades The facades of the buildings have a light-brown pattern, adding to their industrial feel. "White walls would make it look like a stylised Japanese building, so we dared to deviate from that," Nagasaka explained. "We have chosen this so that the construction process is reduced and the finish is unusual." Schemata Architects recently designed the Komaeyu bathhouse in Tokyo, which was shortlisted for a Dezeen Award 2024 in the interiors category. The photography is by Yurika Kono. Project credits: Architect: Jo Nagasaka / Schemata Architects Project team: Yuko Yamashita Construction: Giken Collaboration: Monochrome (solar panel integrated roof), Fukushima Galilei (kitchen) The post Funamachi Base cafe and sweet shop designed as "extension of the park" appeared first on Dezeen.

Slovenian studio OFIS Arhitekti has transformed the brutalist structure of a former Ljubljana printing house into a block of offices that "preserves the memory of its former use". The studio renovated the Mladinska Knjiga Printing House, which was originally designed in 1966 by Slovenian modernist Savin Sever and is considered an important example of post-war

The post OFIS Arhitekti converts brutalist printworks in Slovenia into offices appeared first on Dezeen.

Slovenian studio OFIS Arhitekti has transformed the brutalist structure of a former Ljubljana printing house into a block of offices that "preserves the memory of its former use". The studio renovated the Mladinska Knjiga Printing House, which was originally designed in 1966 by Slovenian modernist Savin Sever and is considered an important example of post-war Slovenian architecture, after it had fallen into a state of disrepair. OFIS Arhitekti has transformed a former printing house into offices in Slovenia Despite being architecturally significant, the building was little used after printing operations ceased in 2009. Following a series of meanwhile uses, OFIS turned the structure into offices for creative enterprises. Recognising its importance as a piece of both architectural and industrial heritage, OFIS Arhitekti sought to sensitively retrofit and upgrade the concrete building in a way that honoured Sever's original plans. The concrete structure is an example of post-war Slovenian architecture "In recent decades, several buildings in Sever's opus have been demolished," the studio told Dezeen. "Despite the fact that Sever himself advocated the principles of functionalism and the notion that, once a building no longer serves its function, it should be replaced by a new one, these demolitions were tragically unnecessary and mostly the result of economic interests," it continued. "In contrast, the Old Printing House has been respectfully renovated and given a new lease on life." Open-plan offices are housed in the existing print halls The large print halls of the structure were well-suited to housing open-plan offices, so OFIS kept alterations minimal, save for the introduction of additional thermal insulation. Part of this was achieved by altering the exterior to reflect Sever's original plans for it to be clad in cement panels, which were changed to brickwork in order to save costs at the time of construction. Read: BVN tops Sydney's brutalist Sirius building with copper-pod extensions A series of distinctive angled skylights that cut through each module of the building were also upgraded with additional glazing to improve their thermal performance. "The thin structure, full of thermal bridges, had originally served to remove excess heat generated by the printing presses," explained the studio. "Now the principle had to be reversed." "We addressed this challenge with thermal insulation inside the building and additional glazing, which allowed the original glass prisms on the roof to remain intact," it added. A piece of old printing machinery features in the foyer The largest alteration made was the introduction of a new entrance on the building's southern side, which leads into a large foyer centred around a "monumental" staircase and a retained piece of old printing machinery. Inside, three distinct sections that originally divided plan lengthways have been maintained, with the outer two areas used to house open-plan offices with large windows and the central area converted into a fitness club. OFIS Arhitekti improved the building's thermal performance "The amphitheatrical staircase creates a sort of urban square within the building, welcoming people who enter, and serving as a meeting point," explained OFIS Arhitekti. "It also provides a venue where events and performances can take place, and contains a segment of the printing machinery from the original building that preserves the memory of its former use," it added. OFIS Arhitekti is led by Rok Oman and Spela Videcnik. Other works recently completed by the studio include a looping extension to a 1930s villa in the city's suburbs and a geometric home clad with red-brick tiles. The photography is by Janez Martincic. The post OFIS Arhitekti converts brutalist printworks in Slovenia into offices appeared first on Dezeen.

This week on Dezeen, the Elizabeth Line in London designed by architecture studios Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation and AtkinsRéalis won the RIBA Stirling Prize for the UK's best new building. The largest expansion to London's underground railway network for more than a century was described as "a flawless, efficient, beautifully choreographed solution", by the award jury. Also

The post This week the Elizabeth Line was named the UK's best new building appeared first on Dezeen.

This week on Dezeen, the Elizabeth Line in London designed by architecture studios Grimshaw, Maynard, Equation and AtkinsRéalis won the RIBA Stirling Prize for the UK's best new building. The largest expansion to London's underground railway network for more than a century was described as "a flawless, efficient, beautifully choreographed solution", by the award jury. Also at the awards ceremony, a group of five accessible holiday homes by London-based studio Clementine Blakemore Architects won the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize, while Al-Jawad Pike won the Neave Brown Award for Housing for the Chowdury Walk affordable housing. We profiled Danish architect Arne Jacobsen We continued our mid century modern series with a profile of Danish architect Arne Jacobsen, who was a key figure in the movement and whose ethos saw him craft buildings down to the smallest details. In an opinion piece as part of the series, Dominic Bradbury argued that we should aim to bring back the interdisciplinary ethos embraced by mid-century modern designers. "There was a profound belief in the power of the polymath during the mid-century period," he wrote. MAD Architects unveiled a distinctive apartment block In architecture news, MAD Architects unveiled an apartment block in Denver, Colorado, which has a facade that was described as "cracked open". Named One River North, the building's canyon-like opening was designed as a nod to geographic formations found in the nearby Rocky Mountains. Prada revealed its spacesuit for NASA This week we also turned our attention to space, with fashion house Prada and aerospace company Axiom Space revealing their design for a NASA spacesuit that will be worn when the first astronauts to return to the surface of the moon. In a feature, Dezeen's US reporter Ellen Eberhardt explored how architects and designers will be involved in the future of space travel. Tesla unveiled a prototype Robovan Also in design news, Tesla unveiled the brand's prototype Robovan along with the design of its long-awaited driverless Robotaxi. The vehicles were unveiled by Tesla CEO Elon Musk at the company'sWe, Robot event in Los Angeles, USA. "One of the things we want to do, and we've seen this with the Cybertruck, is we want to change the look of the roads," said Musk at the event. "The future should look like the future." Herzog & de Meuron's children's hospital was one of this week's most viewed projects Popular projects featured on Dezeen this week included a children's' hospital designed by Herzog & de Meuron, the Museum of Shakespeare in London and a Chinese arts centre wrapped in a translucent mesh. This week's lookbooks featured eclectic pizzerias and living rooms with warming fireplaces. This week on Dezeen This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week's top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don't miss anything. The post This week the Elizabeth Line was named the UK's best new building appeared first on Dezeen.

Swiss architecture studio Emergentes Architectures Sàrl designed a linear beach house with angled concrete columns and wood cladding on the coast of Chile. Completed in 2024, the 220-square metre (2,370-square foot) Dreal House is located on a gently sloping, 0.25 acre lot in Playa Hermosa. Emergentes Architectures Sàrl, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, designed the trapezoidal

The post Emergentes Architectures Sàrl creates trapezoidal beach house on Chilean coast appeared first on Dezeen.

Swiss architecture studio Emergentes Architectures Sàrl designed a linear beach house with angled concrete columns and wood cladding on the coast of Chile. Completed in 2024, the 220-square metre (2,370-square foot) Dreal House is located on a gently sloping, 0.25 acre lot in Playa Hermosa. Emergentes Architectures Sàrl has completed a beach house in Chile Emergentes Architectures Sàrl, based in Lausanne, Switzerland, designed the trapezoidal house to shelter from its neighbours on three sides and be entirely open to the Pacific Ocean on the other. The load-bearing structure, with its vertical square columns rotated 45 degrees and diagonal reinforced concrete pillars, "is the house's identifying expression and at the same time the one that organizes it spatially," the team told Dezeen. The trapezoidal house is wrapped in a solid facade on three sides The exterior columns and four central braces support a reinforced concrete slab that serves as the roof and the upper terrace, while leaving the main level open and flexible. The sea-facing facade is composed of floor-to-ceiling sliding glass doors in thin white frames. In contrast, the eastern facade is a dense barrier to the neighbours with dark wooden boards closing most of the wall, save a linear clerestory window that runs the length of the house and a light wood door set into the centre of the plan. The house is supported by vertical square columns A charcoal grey wooden parapet runs down the long facades forming an apron around the terrace that turns out to an awning along both sides. The locally sourced wood was selected after "considering the climatic inclemencies of the area." Meanwhile, the house's shorter sides "present a composition of 'blind facades,' in order to protect themselves from the winds and rains of the area." The roof contains a terrace They are clad in dark wooden boards in multiple dimensions, but each block out a narrow window, and are cut with a butterfly profile in the parapet. Inside, the spaces form a series of trapezoids that accommodate the slated eastern facade, which is thickened to accommodate storage down the length of the plan, and are oriented toward the ocean-facing glazed wall. Concrete floors and light wood walls were used for the interior A pair of bedrooms is located at one end of the plan with a third at the other end, while the shared kitchen, dining, and living areas were placed at the centre. "The sliding doors and movable panels allow us to configure the space according to the needs and activities, creating flexible and modular spaces, allowing simultaneous activities within the house, but with their own independence," the team said. Bedrooms are located towards the ends of the house, while the living space is at the centre The interior features a polished concrete floor for durability and easy maintenance, light wood walls with boards oriented diagonally, and pale grey matte cabinetry with washable surfaces. A single diamond-shaped column in the centre of the plan was wrapped in mirrors. Read: Guillermo Acuña Arquitectos Asociados creates bird cage-like house on Chilean coast A narrow, white-washed staircase provides access to an upper terrace with views of the sea and a protected place for meals and relaxing. The home's compact volume and materials control solar radiation, reduce thermal bridging and promote natural ventilation and lighting. Biomass heating and solar panels are used to power the house "On the outside, in the same way as on the inside, a new floor is built with a continuous path, which projects from the street and then encircles the entire house," the team said. Meanwhile, biomass heating, photovoltaic panels, low-consumption lighting and a water recovery system contribute to the house's Swiss MINERGIE certification. Other recently completed houses along the Chilean coast include a wooden truss house balanced on a cliffside by WMR Arquitectos and a blocky black wood house with a cargo net that serves as the second floor by Stanaćev Granados. The photography is by Marcos Zegers. Project credits: Architecture: Emergentes Architectures Sàrl Energy certification: Claudio Riquelme, Architecte EPF – REG A - MINERGIE expert Drawings: Emergentes Architectures Sàrl Interior and lighting design: Emergentes Architectures Sàrl Structural engineer: Tomas Yañez Construction: Laarq Arquitectos The post Emergentes Architectures Sàrl creates trapezoidal beach house on Chilean coast appeared first on Dezeen.

Architect Curtis Jerome Moody, co-founder of the largest African-American-owned architecture firm in the US, has passed away aged 73. Curtis Jerome Moody passed away last week on 13 October, Columbus-based architecture firm Moody Nolan announced on its website. The architect was best known as the co-founder of Moody Nolan, which he established with the late engineer

The post Moody Nolan co-founder Curtis Jerome Moody dies aged 73 appeared first on Dezeen.

Architect Curtis Jerome Moody, co-founder of the largest African-American-owned architecture firm in the US, has passed away aged 73. Curtis Jerome Moody passed away last week on 13 October, Columbus-based architecture firm Moody Nolan announced on its website. The architect was best known as the co-founder of Moody Nolan, which he established with the late engineer Howard E Nolan in 1982 and grew to be largest African-American-owned architecture firm in the US. The studio has compleetd numerous high profile projects including the International African American Museum (IAAM) in South Carolina and the ongoing Home Court arena on the Obama Presidential Center. The studio's projects include the International African American Museum Curtis Jerome Moody was born in 1950 and raised in Columbus, Ohio. He studied architecture at Ohio State University. Faced with discriminatory behaviour throughout his schooling and beyond, Moody founded his firm based on ethics of diversity, inclusion, and representation and pushed back against beliefs that minority-owned firms could not deliver larger projects. The studio now has 350 employees across 12 different locations including its Columbus home base, New York City, Chicago, Philadelphia and Houston. Moody received a number of awards throughout his career, including the Distinguished Service Award from Ohio State University in 2002 and the AIA Ohio Gold Medal Award in 2007. His firm was awarded the AIA Firm of The Year Award in 2021, as well AIA Chicago's 2024 Firm Award. Read: Moody Nolan unveils design of athletic facility at Obama presidential campus In 2020, Curtis Jerome Moody's son Jonathan Moody became CEO of the firm. "I was fortunate to share the stage with him at the 2022 NOMA Conference," said Jonathan Moody upon his passing. "Jason Pugh asked him what was his favorite project and he said, 'the next one'. He paved the way from our past, he's shown us that we're presently ready for this moment, and he would want us focused on 'the next one' that is ahead of us in the future." Other projects recently completed by the studio include a number of libraries, healthcare and university buildings such as the Martin Luther King branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library and the Schottenstein Center at The Ohio State University, which Moody noted was a personal favourite in a 2020 Archinect interview. In 2022, it was announced the firm was selected to work on the upcoming Center for Fine Arts and Communications at Howard University, which will house the Chadwick A Boseman College of Fine Arts in honour of the late actor. The photography is courtesy of Moody Nolan unless otherwise stated The post Moody Nolan co-founder Curtis Jerome Moody dies aged 73 appeared first on Dezeen.

Chinese studio Atelier Xi has completed a visitor centre for Qiaochengbei Park in Shenzhen, using weathering steel and grass roofs to blend two pavilion-like structures into the landscape. Atelier Xi created the visitor centre in Qiaochenbei North Park, a newly-created area of woodland in Shenzhen's Nanshan District that was opened to the public in 2024.

The post Atelier Xi designs weathering steel pavilions that "elegantly meander" through Shenzhen park appeared first on Dezeen.

Chinese studio Atelier Xi has completed a visitor centre for Qiaochengbei Park in Shenzhen, using weathering steel and grass roofs to blend two pavilion-like structures into the landscape. Atelier Xi created the visitor centre in Qiaochenbei North Park, a newly-created area of woodland in Shenzhen's Nanshan District that was opened to the public in 2024. Atelier Xi has completed a visitor centre for Qiaochengbei Park in Shenzhen Atelier Xi aimed to have a minimal impact on this landscape, arranging the visitor centre's two structures around the park's trees and using material finishes that would blend in with the natural setting over time. "We hope to create a dialogue between the architectural space and the natural woodland environment, preserving all native trees by strategically interweaving two service buildings among them with minimal disturbance to the site," Atelier Xi founding principal Chen Xi told Dezeen. The two structures were organised around the park's trees The two buildings sit at either end of the park. To the west, three angled blocks contain toilets and a vending machine around a paved terrace sheltered by freestanding sections of wall. To the east, two curved structures wind between the trees to provide further toilets alongside a visitor centre, which contains a covered public space, rest area and office. Read: Mur Mur Lab creates glazed pavilions overlooking "mysterious" landscape in China "The curvilinear east building is shaped by invisible arcs centred on the trees, allowing its winding form to elegantly meander among the trunks and bushes," explained Xi. "The west building features a series of trapezoidal structures that are either cantilevered, embedded, or placed on the ground," he added. Weathering steel was used for the structures' exteriors Looking to blend the pavilions in with the surrounding tree trunks, Atelier Xi clad both in weathering steel - installed as solid panels for the orthogonal buildings and as vertical, angled slats at the curvilinear eastern building. These slats help to naturally ventilate the visitor centre's public areas, along with large, unglazed openings that offer views out over the surrounding park. This weathered steel finish has been carried through to the interior of the bathrooms, while in the visitor centre areas white walls and wooden fittings create a warmer feel. Large openings look out to the surrounding park "In this pristine forest, we hope to create a situation where the building materials can breathe and grow in harmony with nature," explained Xi. "Therefore, weathering steel, which ages gracefully over time, was selected as the primary material. Initially, its colour resembles the dark trunks of the native trees in the forest, but it will gradually transform into a warmer, deep brown hue as time goes on." Weathered steel also features on the interior Previous projects in China by Atelier Xi include an angular library and tea tasting room on an ice-chrysanthemum plantation and a curved concrete library created by extending the structure of a derelict house. The photography is by Zhang Chao. The post Atelier Xi designs weathering steel pavilions that "elegantly meander" through Shenzhen park appeared first on Dezeen.

Anhelina L Starkova explains how her experience of living through the Ukraine war has shaped her approach to curating the 2024 Tallinn Architecture Biennale in this interview. Starkova, who was chief curator of this year's biennale, is from Kharkiv in north-east Ukraine – a city that has suffered heavy bombardment since Russia launched its invasion in

The post Trauma of Ukraine war "was crucial for me as an architect" says Tallinn Architecture Biennale curator Anhelina Starkova appeared first on Dezeen.

Anhelina L Starkova explains how her experience of living through the Ukraine war has shaped her approach to curating the 2024 Tallinn Architecture Biennale in this interview. Starkova, who was chief curator of this year's biennale, is from Kharkiv in north-east Ukraine – a city that has suffered heavy bombardment since Russia launched its invasion in February 2022, coming close to being captured early on in the conflict. According to the curator, she experienced something close to an epiphany not long after the war began, while taking refuge in the bunker in her house as bombs fell around it Anhelina L Starkova is chief curator of this year's Tallinn Architecture Biennale. Photo by Helen Shets "I remember that planes were flying around, and the building was shaking, and it was really the moment when you understand that it's probably your last minutes," she recalled. "I was standing with this wall, and I was thinking that this wall was a continuation of my body – this is me," she continued. "It was, for an architect, [a] very interesting feeling. Because I finished university, I had my 10 years in practice, and I still was not really immersed in architecture." "You always think it intellectually, but when I was in this bunker I started [to] think, 'oh my god, this is the only one thing that can really save me – this wall is the only one thing that I need'. It was a very existential experience." Titled "Resources for a Future", the exhibition explores innovative ways of using materials in architecture Later, while spending some time in Bucharest, visiting a shopping mall made her reconsider the value of architecture. "There's all this commercial architecture, and I feel such a disgust," she told Dezeen. "Like it's a cartoon, it's not real. I felt it not with my brain but with all my body: we live in a world of complete illusion." In other words, Starkova said, the traumatic experience of the war has given her a new sense of clarity about what really matters in architecture. "When the war started in the Ukraine, that was crucial for me as an architect," she explained. "I didn't expect that it would influence me so much personally." "Everything kind of started to be very clear: many, many things that we add to architecture – these addictive visions – are extra things, and they are not making buildings in a total way." "If I would like to continue [in architecture] then I would need to isolate myself from all this gallery of thinking, which I can't stand anymore." Read: Eight highlights from Dundee Design Festival 2024 Instead, Starkova, who as well as running her own studio lectures at the University of Applied Sciences of the Grisons and Kharkiv School of Architecture, has become more interested in the bare essentials of architecture. "Really great architecture, it's about durability factors, the functionality, but also giving people a kind of stability and safety," she said. "In the end, it's mostly about our immersion." Starkova has applied this back-to-basics philosophy to her curation of the seventh Tallinn Architecture Biennale, which opened in the Estonian capital last week. Pihlmann Architects presented a proposition for changing the function of a building by changing parts of its floorplates into ramps At the centre of this year's biennale is an exhibition exploring the theme of Resources for a Future, hosted by the Estonian Centre for Architecture. Featuring 14 exhibits from studios including Gus Wüstemann Architects, KAMP Arhitektid, Déchelette Architecture and Pihlmann Architects, it examines different approaches to using local resources for creating new buildings and prolonging the life of existing ones. "I had conversations with each architect that you have to look at the basics and the fundamental, real feel of what you are doing," Starkova said. "And even asked each architect, when you're talking about resources, what really fosters you to do architecture, what supports you? And each installation showed the answers." For instance, Denmark-based Pihlmann Architects created a large model of a stripped-back building shell where part of each floor had been cut out and sloped downwards to form a ramp up from the floor below. "It was really about this idea of purification," said Starkova. "You see an old building and you just do not add anything. You see the nature of the building and you're trying to heal it or to reformulate its elements." Déchelette Architecture's exhibit showcased rammed-earth pillars using material dug locally to Tallinn That, she said, is a lesson she learned while working on repairs to damaged buildings in Kharkiv during the war. "You're trying to compose it again, to heal it, and then it gets another conceptual environment – another feeling, and it's already architecture." "Architecture is the constant process of thinking of your relation to materials, different elements, and assemblage of them in a holistic way." At the centre of the exhibition are a series of pillars erected by rammed-earth specialist Emmanuelle Déchelette of Paris studio Déchelette Architecture, with the material dug locally to Tallinn. "It's about doing a lot with nothing, that complete purification," said Starkova. "To avoid this ideological or even social architecture." Read: Cobe set to transform "treasure box" steelworks site into Tallinn neighbourhood The participating architects were given a deliberately open brief, because Starkova felt the exhibition was "not about dogmas". As a result, the exhibits are highly varied in form and approach. They range from a huge chunk of a restored traditional Estonian log house by Apex Arhitektuuribüroo (pictured top) to an abstract proposal for a public space created only by digging by Romanian architect Laura Cristea and Swiss architect Raphael Zuber. In another, Estonian studio KAMP Arhitektid presented research on the surprising breadth of potential building materials that can be found on one specific 15 square-kilometre piece of land in the country. "Each project was a surprise because I didn't know them personally before the exhibition, none of them," said Starkova. A research project by KAMP Arhitektid demonstrated potential building materials found on a single plot of land That effect was only heightened by the fact that Starkova managed the whole project remotely, only arriving in Tallinn a few days before the exhibition opened. She began with a list of more than 500 architects whose work she admires, eventually selecting those who she felt "were the most radical in their thinking". The Ukraine war is referenced in one installation, produced by Elina Liiva and Helena Manna in collaboration with PAKK, composed of a series of images of apartment living rooms printed on translucent fabric and placed in a line, with chunk of concrete lying nearby that corresponds with a hole cut into the scene. But beyond that, Starkova deliberately avoided making the conflict a direct focus of the exhibition, believing that it may detract from a sense of immediacy. "During the war, it's not a place for architecture – mostly a place for thinking," she said. "And yes, architects are trying to think, with the support of international world architecture, what could be done [after the war]. But I just wanted to stay honest and not be futuristic." The only exhibit to directly reference the Ukraine war looked at approaches to changing buildings damaged in the conflict Overall, Starkova hopes the exhibition will enable visitors "to learn from architects that architecture is simple to do, and that the formulas are quite simple". As well as leading curation of the exhibition, Starkova was also head judge for the biennale's customary pavilion commission competition, this time for a bus shelter at Tallinn's Balti Jaam transit hub. Out of more than 80 entries, the winner was No Time to Waste by Belgian architecture duo Brasebin Terrisse. The central concept of the pavilion, which is still completing construction, was that the design would be led by whatever construction off-cut materials could be sourced in Tallinn. "This was the only project who said that we have an open end – we do not propose [a] form of the installation, we prepare that we come to Tallinn, we test a local situation and after we will develop a form given when doing the work on it," said Starkova. A competition to design a pavilion for the biennale was won by Brasebin Terrisse's project No Time to Waste (front) "So the rendering of the project itself is just a library of technology that they would like to use, but the form must be made later during the working process," she added. "It followed the course of the biennale." With the biennale's opening-week programme complete, Starkova has now returned to Kharkiv, where many buildings lie in ruins in a city that was previously celebrated for its rich and varied architectural heritage. "It's all so difficult," she reflected. "Kharkiv is changing, it is in constant change." "It's absolutely impossible to live, because you live in that mode of always existential crisis – on the edge, always. You go to bed, you don't know you're going to wake up. You go outside, you don't know you're coming back." "Maybe it brings some beauty, because we actually live in this way, all of us – right on the edge." The photography is by Tõnu Tunnel unless stated otherwise. Resources For A Future will run until 1 December 2024 at the Museum of Estonian Architecture, Ahtri tn 2, 10151 Tallinn, Estonia. See Dezeen Events Guide for an up-to-date list of architecture and design events taking place around the world. The post Trauma of Ukraine war "was crucial for me as an architect" says Tallinn Architecture Biennale curator Anhelina Starkova appeared first on Dezeen.

This video produced by Jim Stephenson features a renovated gallery in Edinburgh by Reiach and Hall Architects, which has been shortlisted for this year's RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award. The film forms the first in a series of videos being published by Dezeen this month in collaboration with the Royal Incorporation of

The post Fruitmarket Gallery renovation by Reiach and Hall Architects draws on "its previous histories" appeared first on Dezeen.

This video produced by Jim Stephenson features a renovated gallery in Edinburgh by Reiach and Hall Architects, which has been shortlisted for this year's RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award. The film forms the first in a series of videos being published by Dezeen this month in collaboration with the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) to spotlight the annual award's 2024 shortlist. In the video, viewers are introduced to the refurbishment and extension of the industrial-style Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh's city's centre, which was previously renovated by Richard Murphy Architects. Fruitmarket Gallery has been shortlisted for the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award Comments by director at Reiach and Hall Architects Neil Gillespie and gallery director Fiona Bradley discuss the project's emphasis on the site's heritage and it's continued role in being a "place of vibrancy" for the local community. "The project is really derived very much from its previous histories, and I think what happens is that the thing that you're left with, it feels more essential," Gillespie said. "It feels connected to the place and to the previous lives of the building so I think it's quite a powerful approach." Read: RIAS unveils five-strong shortlist for Scotland's best building The Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award is an annual award that highlights projects by Scottish architects, with this year's winner set to be announced on 22 November. This year's five-strong shortlist emphasises the re-use of existing buildings, with other renovation projects shortlisted for the prize including The Burrell Collection by John McAslan + Partners and Ardoch by Moxon Architects. Other projects vying for the title include The University of Aberdeen Science and Teaching Hub, which was also completed by Reiach and Hall Architects, alongside the residential North Gate Social Housing by Page\Park Architects. The film and photography is courtesy of Jim Stephenson. The post Fruitmarket Gallery renovation by Reiach and Hall Architects draws on "its previous histories" appeared first on Dezeen.

A rugged stone wall lines the front of a long, linear house in Québec, Canada, by architectural studio LAMAS, which was designed to capitalise on views while minimising disruption to the landscape. Located in the small village of North Hatley within the Eastern Townships region, the house is nestled between a logging road and a

The post Rural structures in Québec inform Virgin Vineyard House by LAMAS appeared first on Dezeen.

A rugged stone wall lines the front of a long, linear house in Québec, Canada, by architectural studio LAMAS, which was designed to capitalise on views while minimising disruption to the landscape. Located in the small village of North Hatley within the Eastern Townships region, the house is nestled between a logging road and a working vineyard. It sits on a sloped site overlooking Lake Massawippi. A rugged stone wall lines the front of the house The home was designed for a client who wanted to age in place and accommodate her daughter's growing family. Capturing lake vistas and minimising disturbance to the vineyard were key concerns, as was connecting to the site through "materials and craft, as well as traditional forms of Quebec architecture" said LAMAS, which is based in Toronto. LAMAS looked to the area's vernacular structures The team looked to the area's vernacular structures, including fieldstone walls, to conceive a long, low-lying house that is tucked into the gently sloping terrain. In plan, the home is a long bar with a sawtooth formation along one side. Walls were clad in stone and hemlock wood, and the house was topped with a metal gabled roof. Communal areas convene in the central portion of the plan Along the front elevation, which looks north, the team used gathered stones to form a wall that separates the house from the road. The wall extends across the face of the house, helping the home feel integrated into the landscape. "The architectural element is but a secondary feature clipped on to this stone wall, sheltering the living spaces from the road, the northerly winds, and discreetly tucking them into the hillside," the team said. A semi-circle window features on the northern facade The northern facade has several creative elements, such as a semi-circle window in the stone cladding, which accentuates a chimney that seems to swoop upward. There also is a large, angled roof cutout that demarcates a front courtyard. While the front facade has limited transparency, the rear elevation has large amounts of glazing, offering views of the lake and beyond. One finds a primary bedroom at both ends Inside the dwelling, a primary bedroom was placed at each end of the house, along with an additional bedroom in the eastern side. Communal areas convene in the central portion of the plan. There also is a roof deck. Walls dividing each room are purposefully rotated to optimise views Walls dividing each room were purposefully rotated to optimise views. Along the south, the sawtooth layout results in sheltered, semi-private spaces where occupants can take in the surroundings. "This simple, geometrical twist creates an oblique relationship between the rooms and the roof ridge line, making the rooms feel like private sheds, each with its unique volume directed towards the lake," the team said. Much of the material used in the project was sourced locally The team prioritised the use of wood in the project, and it is found throughout. "Wood construction was of interest in order to keep the embodied energy and carbon footprint down, but also to allow for a well-insulated envelope," the team said. Read: Lemay creates mass-timber chalet with sloped green roof in Quebec Much of the material used in the project was sourced locally, from the wood cladding to the high-performance glazing systems. To add to the project's eco-friendly attributes, the team incorporated a geothermal ground-source heating system, which is powered by carbon-free municipal electricity. Wood and stone feature heavily throughout As for the landscape, the owner is currently working a local horticulturalist to plant indigenous flora that will support the natural habitat. Other projects by LAMAS include a modern farmhouse near Montreal, which includes steeply pitched roofs and walls clad in reclaimed wood. The photography is by Felix Michaud. Project credits: Architect and interior design: LAMAS Architecture Project team: Vivian Lee (architect), James Macgillivray (architect), Andrea Rodriguez Fos (project manager) Landscape: Paysage Lambert and Oscar Hache Structural and civil engineer: Eric St George Structures and Civile Mechanical engineer: Genecor Contractor: Construction Yves Lessard The post Rural structures in Québec inform Virgin Vineyard House by LAMAS appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Agenda newsletter features a mirrored apartment block in Colorado by MAD Architects. Subscribe to Dezeen Agenda now. Architecture studio MAD Architects has completed a residential block in Denver, Colorado, named One River North. The building's main facade was "cracked open" with a large, canyon-like opening, inspired by the

The post Dezeen Agenda features a "cracked open" apartment block by MAD Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

The latest edition of our weekly Dezeen Agenda newsletter features a mirrored apartment block in Colorado by MAD Architects. Subscribe to Dezeen Agenda now. Architecture studio MAD Architects has completed a residential block in Denver, Colorado, named One River North. The building's main facade was "cracked open" with a large, canyon-like opening, inspired by the nearby Rocky Mountains. OMI designed an autonomous "multi-person scooter platform" This week's newsletter also featured plans for a multi-person scooter by design studio Of My Imagination, an interview with Clementine Blakemore Architects' founder following her firm's shortlisting for this year's Stirling Prize and the announcement of the Sphere in Abu Dhabi. Dezeen Agenda Dezeen Agenda is a curated newsletter sent every Thursday containing the most important news highlights from Dezeen. Read the latest edition of Dezeen Agenda or subscribe here. You can also subscribe to our other newsletters; Dezeen Debate is sent every Thursday and features the hottest reader comments and most-debated stories, Dezeen Daily is our daily bulletin that contains every story published in the preceding 24 hours and Dezeen In Depth is sent on the last Friday of every month and delves deeper into the major stories shaping architecture and design. The post Dezeen Agenda features a "cracked open" apartment block by MAD Architects appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture practice Studio Gang has completed the Populus hotel in Denver, which its developer claims is the "first carbon-positive hotel" in the US. Located in downtown Denver, the 13-storey hotel has a distinct facade with elliptical windows of varying sizes, designed to reflect the "Aspen eyes" of Colorado's native Aspen tree, also known as Populus

The post Studio Gang wraps hotel in perforated facade informed by Aspen trees appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture practice Studio Gang has completed the Populus hotel in Denver, which its developer claims is the "first carbon-positive hotel" in the US. Located in downtown Denver, the 13-storey hotel has a distinct facade with elliptical windows of varying sizes, designed to reflect the "Aspen eyes" of Colorado's native Aspen tree, also known as Populus Tremuloides. Studio Gang has completed the Populus hotel in Denver "Denver strikes a unique balance between being a vibrant city and a gateway to some of the country's most awe-inspiring natural landscapes," said Studio Gang founding partner Jeanne Gang. "Our goal was to draw from this distinct urban character and rich ecology to create a building that would help define the skyline of this thriving city." Its facade pays homage to the "eyes" of Aspen trees Triangular in form, Populus contains 265 guestrooms, event and public spaces and a 135,000-square-foot (12,542-square-metre) rooftop garden. Studio Gang's design includes several techniques to reduce energy usage including the green roof – designed with local landscape studio Superbloom – and "lids" that protrude over the windows to shade the interior. The building is the first "carbon-positive" hotel in the US according to the team The hotel's facade was made using a low-carbon concrete mix that produces 30 per cent lower emissions than standard concrete. Its final embodied carbon footprint, including the "creation, transportation, installation, maintenance, and disposal of materials" was reduced to 6,675 metric tons carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e), according to the team. Developer Urban Villages offset these emissions by acquiring 7,000 metric tons worth of carbon credits. Read: MAD "cracks open" facade of Denver residential building The company said it partnered with organizations including Grassroots Carbon, OneTreePlanted and Terrapass to "acquire a balanced mix of high integrity, certified forest and soil carbon credits" and the US Forest Service, through which it planted 70,000 trees. By offsetting more than the hotel's embodied carbon footprint, the developer claims that this makes Populus "the country's first carbon-positive hotel". "Populus goes beyond net zero to help the planet regenerate and thrive," said the developer. Its eye-shaped windows shade the interior "Already, the hotel's embodied carbon footprint has been reduced through a combination of sustainable design and construction techniques – including the use of low-carbon concrete, an insulated facade system and glass-fibre reinforced concrete rainscreen and intentionally not having onsite parking," the team explained. However, this equation does not consider the hotel's operational emissions, meaning the considerable energy needed to heat, cool and power the building over its lifetime. Recycled materials were used on the interior. Photo by Yoshihiro Makino The project is also targeting LEED Gold Certified certification. While some of the interior structure was left exposed to reduce the need for cladding, "highly recycled" materials were used elsewhere including reclaimed Wyoming snow fencing, recycled leather veneer and reclaimed wood. The interiors by Pennsylvania studio Wildman Chalmers Design also pay homage to the Mountain West region and display a warm natural palette. A warm and natural palette was used throughout the hotel. Photo by Yoshihiro Makino Populus forms part of a wider redevelopment of Denver's downtown area led by Studio Gang, which will also see the studio make improvements to a local park. Elsewhere in Denver, MAD Architects recently completed a residential building with a "crack" down the centre. The photography is by Jason O'Rear unless otherwise stated Project credits: Developer: Urban Villages Management: Aparium Hotel Group Design architect: Studio Gang Interior designer: Wildman Chalmers Design Interior architects of record: Fowler Architecture and Design Art curator: Katherine Homes Contractor: The Beck Group Landscape architect: Superbloom The post Studio Gang wraps hotel in perforated facade informed by Aspen trees appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio Mur Mur Lab has designed the Dongdan Grassland Sea Ruins Station in eastern China, creating two wave-topped glass pavilions that offer passers-by a "moment to connect with nature". Located in the Dongshen Township in Zhejiang province, the structure overlooks an area of mudflat pasture spanning nearly 1,000 acres (405 hectares), that was created

The post Mur Mur Lab creates glazed pavilions overlooking "mysterious" landscape in China appeared first on Dezeen.

Architecture studio Mur Mur Lab has designed the Dongdan Grassland Sea Ruins Station in eastern China, creating two wave-topped glass pavilions that offer passers-by a "moment to connect with nature". Located in the Dongshen Township in Zhejiang province, the structure overlooks an area of mudflat pasture spanning nearly 1,000 acres (405 hectares), that was created during a land reclamation project two decades ago. Providing a stopping point directly alongside the adjacent road, Mur Mur Lab designed the rest stop to be a new "gateway "onto this landscape. Mur Mur Lab has completed a public stopping point in eastern China "The station will serve as a transit hub connecting the southern coastal highway and the Damuyang coastal area, and a vital gateway for exploring this mysterious coastal prairie landscape," explained the studio. "[It is] a container to let people to talk with themselves; to have a moment to connect with nature," it added. The two buildings house a reception and toilets level with the road to the west, and a cafe with a viewing terrace slightly elevated above the landscape on a stone base to the east. The space comprises two wave-topped glass pavilions These two structures are connected by a paved patio that sits directly off the road, finished with small areas of planting and concrete benches. Almost the entire exterior of each building has been finished with full-height glass walls, sheltered by the overhanging, wave-shaped corrugated metal roofs that are supported by slender steel columns. Metal roofs are supported by thin steel columns "Faced with a vast wilderness, 'viewing' is not a challenge," said the studio. "The core design consideration is how the scenery, filtered through the 'architectural container', presents itself as a unique experience – it first appears as a screen, then a window, followed by a corridor, and finally a high platform," it added. Read: Atelier l'Abri embraces "expressive potential of construction" with Quebec shed Throughout, the material finishes have been kept pale and minimal to provide a calm backdrop to the landscape views, with white metal columns and window frames. The walls of the rest stop were clad with timber. On the small circular terrace overlooking the landscape, an umbrella-like canopy finished in pale blue provides additional shelter, while the upper-level terrace is accessed via a metal spiral staircase. White metal and timber feature on the interior "The exposed aggregate concrete is rough and primitive, like an extension of the rocky landscape, while the terrazzo is calm and smooth, shimmering in sunlight, echoing the distant Damuyang," the studio said. "We selected Siberian larch as the primary wall material, with a mottled texture and gentle touch to offset the traces of new construction," it added. An upper-level terrace is accessed via a metal spiral staircase. Photo by Mei Kejia Elsewhere in China, architecture practice Line+ Studio recently completed the Yunhai Forest Service Station in Shenzhen, creating a curvaceous viewpoint over the city with full-height glass walls and Wutopia Lab wrapped an arts centre in translucent mesh. The photography is by WDi unless otherwise stated. The post Mur Mur Lab creates glazed pavilions overlooking "mysterious" landscape in China appeared first on Dezeen.

Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning studio RCR Arquitectes has revealed its design for the 380-metre-high Muraba Veil skyscraper in downtown Dubai, which will only be one apartment wide. Set to be built alongside Dubai's main highway and the Dubai Canal, the skyscraper will have a unique form with a wide main facade and only a 22.5-metre width.

The post RCR Arquitectes unveils plans for "unusually narrow" skyscraper in Dubai appeared first on Dezeen.

Pritzker Architecture Prize-winning studio RCR Arquitectes has revealed its design for the 380-metre-high Muraba Veil skyscraper in downtown Dubai, which will only be one apartment wide. Set to be built alongside Dubai's main highway and the Dubai Canal, the skyscraper will have a unique form with a wide main facade and only a 22.5-metre width. Described as "unusually narrow" by the team, the skyscraper's form was designed to grab people's attention. The Muraba Veil skyscraper has been unveiled in Dubai "Awe-inspiring yet understated, Muraba Veil rises from the dunes above the UAE's most cosmopolitan and future-facing city, presenting a daring, stop-you-in-your tracks spectacle, even in Dubai's supercharged architectural vista," said the team. "The structure, whose unusually narrow profile and appearance could only be achieved by the very latest design and engineering, is inspired by a domestic architecture that is centuries old, traditionally seeking to meet basic human needs for refuge, security, privacy and a close connection to nature." The apartments will be arranged around courtyards Designed by Spanish studio RCR Arquitectes for Dubai-based developer Muraba, the 73-storey skyscraper will contain 131 apartments that all span the width of the building, giving them views in both directions. Alongside the apartments, the tower will contain a spa, restaurant, art gallery, padel court, meeting rooms, a private cinema and a "dune-like" communal space at its base. Read: One Za'abeel voted best skyscraper of the past year by Dezeen readers The entire building will be wrapped in a stainless steel mesh, or veil, which gives the development its name. According to the team, the design of the apartment was informed by typical local houses, each arranged around an "Arab courtyard reimagined". A "dune-like" communal space will be located at the base "We are passionate about ensuring our buildings are responsive to the place, that they belong to the site and the native landscape where they are situated," said RCR Arquitectes founder Rafael Aranda. "They must communicate with nature and be infused with the atmosphere of the local culture." The skyscraper includes a spa The Muraba Veil will add to the collection of unique skyscrapers in Dubai. Earlier this year Japanese studio Nikken Sekkei's skyscraper with a 230-metre-long skybridge was named Dezeen readers' favourite new skyscraper. Other recently completed skyscrapers in the city include a pair of residential towers overlooking Dubai Bay by Foster + Partners, while Mercedes-Benz recently unveiled its first branded residential skyscraper in the city. The post RCR Arquitectes unveils plans for "unusually narrow" skyscraper in Dubai appeared first on Dezeen.

Grimshaw partner Neill McClements has praised infrastructure projects for their role in addressing "big challenges", following the Elizabeth Line winning this year's RIBA Stirling Prize. Commenting on the win, McClements emphasised the role of infrastructure projects in addressing both pressing social and environmental concerns. The Elizabeth Line, which was designed by Grimshaw with Maynard, Equation

The post Winning the Stirling Prize "an endorsement of the importance of infrastructure" appeared first on Dezeen.

Grimshaw partner Neill McClements has praised infrastructure projects for their role in addressing "big challenges", following the Elizabeth Line winning this year's RIBA Stirling Prize. Commenting on the win, McClements emphasised the role of infrastructure projects in addressing both pressing social and environmental concerns. The Elizabeth Line, which was designed by Grimshaw with Maynard, Equation and AtkinsRéalis, was awarded the prestigious architecture award last night. McClements praised infrastructure projects for addressing social and environmental challenges "We're at a kind of pivotal time in terms of some of the big challenges around the climate emergency, but also with inequality and some of the other issues that we're dealing with at the moment," McClements told Dezeen. "I think hopefully getting this accolade is an endorsement of the importance of infrastructure and dealing with some of these challenges moving forward," he added. "And I think it would be great if we're able to prioritise more investment within infrastructure in the coming years." The projects aims to improve the lives of its users Running from Reading to Essex via central London, The Elizabeth Line is the largest extension to London's underground railway network for more than a century. Used by 700,000 passengers every weekday, McClements highlighted the role of such infrastructure in improving the lives of its users. "Ultimately, a project like this is about connectivity and improving lives by giving people better access to jobs and housing and education and these types of things," he said. "But it's also about the environment," McClements continued. "It's about taking cars off the road [and] improving air quality and also encouraging healthy, active travel [and] lifestyle benefits that come from that." "So there's a number of social benefits which are way beyond architecture." Read: London's Elizabeth Line wins 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize For McClements, he suspects that the win may ignite similar infrastructure projects both across the UK and globally for their role in tackling transport-related climate challenges. "I think British architects are respected around the world," McClements said. "And actually, I think there are many governments around the world that see the importance of transport in infrastructure to transitioning towards net zero." "And I think it would just be great if we could create a pipeline of these types of projects within the UK, while we've got so much talent in the country." Other awards announced last night included the RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize 2024, which awarded Clementine Blakemore Architects for its Wraxall Yard holiday accommodation, and the Neave Brown Award, for which the Chowdury Walk housing project by Al-Jawad Pike was announced winner. The photography is by Hufton + Crow. The post Winning the Stirling Prize "an endorsement of the importance of infrastructure" appeared first on Dezeen.

A 19th-century dairy farm ruin converted into holiday accommodation by London-based studio Clementine Blakemore Architects has been awarded this year's RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize. Located in Dorset, the Wraxall Yard complex contains "highly accessible" holiday lets alongside an educational space and community space integrated with inclusive design strategies to create spaces for "people of all

The post Wraxall Yard by Clementine Blakemore Architects wins Stephen Lawrence Prize 2024 appeared first on Dezeen.

A 19th-century dairy farm ruin converted into holiday accommodation by London-based studio Clementine Blakemore Architects has been awarded this year's RIBA Stephen Lawrence Prize. Located in Dorset, the Wraxall Yard complex contains "highly accessible" holiday lets alongside an educational space and community space integrated with inclusive design strategies to create spaces for "people of all abilities". The jury praised the project by Clementine Blakemore Architects for its "sensitivity and ingenuity" and were impressed by both the client and architect's commitment to the project. Clementine Blakemore Architects has been awarded the Stephen Lawrence Prize 2024 "Sensitivity and ingenuity are evident in every detail of the transformation of Wraxall Yard," jury chair Matthew Goldschmied said. "Inclusive and accessible design so often implies special treatment for one group or another, but this project appears to transcend all points of differentiation." "The fundamental narrative for all who visit is a warm welcome to a nurturing place where a shared garden protects, comforts, and unites in equal measure," he added. "Relentless design consistency has delivered spaces that feel appropriate in scale, form and materiality – all of which are perfectly balanced throughout." Wraxall Yard was praised by the jury for its "sensitivity and ingenuity" Clementine Blakemore Architects retained much of the existing, historical ruin, with effort put into restoring the existing stone and roof trusses, as well as reusing the original clay tiles. Newly added elements such as lime mortar stonework and Douglas Fir screens were chosen to draw on the area's local vernacular. Read: Wraxall Yard designed as "attractive, comfortable, fully inclusive holiday accommodation" Integral to the design was the inclusion of accessible features, which include landscaping strategies that remove the need for ramps and obvious handrails, along with polished concrete floors that reduce drag and mitigate bumps for wheelchairs. Other features include vast open spaces designed to enhance accessibility. The project provides accessible holiday homes for all Founded by Doreen Lawrence and the Marco Goldschmied Foundation, the annually-awarded prize was established in 1998 in memory of Stephen Lawrence, a teenager and aspiring architect who was the victim of a fatal racist attack in 1993. The award exclusively recognises projects led by early career project architects, who have typically qualified within five years prior to the project completion. Alongside winning the 2024 Stephen Lawrence Prize, the project was also among the six projects shortlisted for this year's RIBA Stirling Prize, which was won by the Elizabeth Line. Also at the awards ceremony last night, Chowdhury Walk by Al-Jawad Pike was named as winner of this year's Neave Brown Award for Housing. The photography is by Lorenzo Zandri unless otherwise stated. The post Wraxall Yard by Clementine Blakemore Architects wins Stephen Lawrence Prize 2024 appeared first on Dezeen.

British architecture studio Al-Jawad Pike has won this year's Neave Brown Award for Housing for Chowdury Walk, a council housing development in Hackney, London. Comprised of 11 terraced houses, seven of which are available for social rent, the development was built between two existing terraces on a plot that previously used as garages. The houses,

The post "Modest and pioneering" Hackney council housing wins 2024 Neave Brown Award appeared first on Dezeen.

British architecture studio Al-Jawad Pike has won this year's Neave Brown Award for Housing for Chowdury Walk, a council housing development in Hackney, London. Comprised of 11 terraced houses, seven of which are available for social rent, the development was built between two existing terraces on a plot that previously used as garages. The houses, which sit on granite plinths and were constructed from cross-laminated timber, have a staggered design to create more privacy for residents and aid passive solar gain. Chowdhury Walk was built on a plot that previously held garages The Neave Brown Award for Housing is given in honour of Neave Brown, a modernist architect who was a pioneer in social housing, and recognises the best new affordable housing in the UK. This year's jury applauded Chowdhury Walk's attention to detail, calling the development by Al-Jawad Pike "uplifting". "Chowdhury Walk is part of Hackney Council’s programme to build new council homes on small sites, providing eleven two-storey terraced houses on a former garage site," said Astrid Smitham, jury chair and 2023 Neave Brown Award for Housing winner. "Creative solutions can produce social housing that offers moments of joy" architect Jessam Al-Jawad said "A new public mews provides both informal space to play and a well-used new public route. The homes feel uplifting upon entering, with the simple intuitive floor plan making efficient use of space while supporting the busyness of family life," she added. "Attention to detailing and quality of materials and finishes runs through every aspect of the project both internally and externally." The staggered houses are clad in red brick To help minimise energy use, Chowdhury Walk – named after doctor Abdul Chowdhury who campaigned for additional PPE for frontline workers during the coronavirus pandemic – features built-in solar panels on the homes' mono-pitched roofs and triple-glazed windows. The 11 houses are divided into two-, three- and four-bedroom homes that sit next to a new public route for pedestrians and cyclists. Read: London's Elizabeth Line wins 2024 RIBA Stirling Prize "Chowdhury Walk, an infill housing scheme in Hackney, London is both modest and pioneering," Al-Jawad Pike founding partner Jessam Al-Jawad said. "It demonstrates what is possible when a local authority elects to develop its own brownfield sites to address housing need and enhance the local neighbourhood," he added. "The design shows that even with a limited budget, creative solutions can produce social housing that offers moments of joy. It's a clear commitment to tackling the housing crisis by employing young local architects to deliver innovative solutions for the community." Previous winners of the Neave Brown Award, which is sponsored by UK company VM Zinc, include architect Peter Barber's McGrath Road. In 2017, Brown was awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal. Exterior photography is by Rory Gardiner and interior photography by Ståle Eriksen. The film was produced by the Royal Institute of British Architects. The post "Modest and pioneering" Hackney council housing wins 2024 Neave Brown Award appeared first on Dezeen.

A community for students, professionals, and lovers of architecture.

Welcome to the What Style Is This? / What Is This Thing ? megathread, an opportunity to ask about the history and design of individual buildings and their elements, including details and materials. Top-level posts to this thread should include at least one image and the following information if known: name of designer(s), date(s) of construction, building location, and building function (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial, religious). In this thread, less is NOT more. Providing the requested information will give you a better chance of receiving a complete and accurate response. Further discussion of architectural styles is permitted as a response to top-level posts. submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

Please use this stickied megathread to post all your questions related to computer hardware and software. This includes asking about products and system requirements (e.g., what laptop should I buy for architecture school?) as well as issues related to drafting, modeling, and rendering software (e.g., how do I do this in Revit?) submitted by /u/AutoModerator [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/This_time_is_great [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/-Eliass [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/lemark1408 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Such_Reputation_3325 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Every_Fisherman_3890 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Lil_Simp9000 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/_JosefoStalon_ [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Every_Fisherman_3890 [link] [comments]

Washing away the dubious reputation of these new buildings (especially billionaires row) I do think they are all engineering and architectural marvels. For me personally it’s 270 park avenue. I love how intimidating it is and how it just dominates most of the skyline now. submitted by /u/thewholesomeredditG [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Mac_R_Driden [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/martinschultzz [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Daveisst [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/ZachNuerge [link] [comments]

Aside from basic software and computer skills. submitted by /u/Ok_Bake5007 [link] [comments]

submitted by /u/Al-dutaur-balanzan [link] [comments]

I haven't seen these depicted in plans, does someone have a favorite or easily intelligible method they can suggest? The components that would make clear a hanging panel moves and is a door seem to be out of the cut plane for plans, so I'm not clear what should be depicted to be clear. All ideas welcome! submitted by /u/C_Dragons [link] [comments]

Why do places like London, New Zealand, Australia, and the United States, the Victorian houses, have 1 over 1 sash windows with horns? I've noticed that with a lot of Victorian houses. Why is this? submitted by /u/Nice_Property_4360 [link] [comments]

Glorious. submitted by /u/Rodin_IV [link] [comments]

Not sure when it was built (guessing mid 1990s) but I like the building submitted by /u/simulation_goer [link] [comments]

Hi all, I am curious what tools, if any, people in architecture use in their project planning stages. If there are any that you use, which ones do you like and why? submitted by /u/hunterstokes [link] [comments]

so I have a midterm tomorrow and hate how my board is looking due to the representation on my views such as my iso and interior collages, they are all different styles and not cohesive whats so ever. so my question is how do you guys produce cohesive boards and match styles. do you guys have a inspiration and try to copy it? submitted by /u/Andreu10 [link] [comments]

Specifically, where does the garbage truck collect all the trash in urban areas? And in an apartment community with multiple buildings, is there one centralized area, or does the truck go to each building? submitted by /u/ESO_Anomaly04 [link] [comments]

I feel like i need to give context to my situation so im sorry for the book lol. I dropped out of school over 5 years ago to pursue a flight attendant career. I love it but i would like the stability that having a degree gives as a back up considering what we all went through during covid. Ive always enjoying building 3d models by hand and being able to see architecture from around the world has always fascinated me. It never occurred to me that it could be a career i like until, randomly enough, i watched a chinese home renovation show called Dream Home. I loved how the interior designers were able to solve the problems in peoples lives while having respect for traditional building and meeting each families unique needs. I mean i LOVED it. So now im interested in maybe getting a degree related to digital 3d modeling (specifically for architecture) or interior design but is it too late? I never even completed enough school for an associates degree let alone trying to be accepted into an architecture program i just dont know if i have to start completely over or if its just too late in the game. Some advice would really be appreciated submitted by /u/howdy_merlun [link] [comments]

https://preview.redd.it/ogv4fg5fijxd1.jpg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17b40bdb8c9330bb4084abe9d79867dd2837bb22 I've read a lot of things about this saying that it's a good solution to urban sprawl, in a way that also allows for the benefits of suburban living due to privacy and greenery. I like the concept, but I kind of don't understand how it solves that problem. This honestly just looks very spatially inefficient. submitted by /u/Squidmaster129 [link] [comments]

2nd tallest building I believe. Reading up on this building exposed me to Tuned Mass Damper. Another reason to admire the human mind and our ability to solve big problems. submitted by /u/Rodin_IV [link] [comments]

From The Shining to Psycho, haunted houses often have very deep, high roofs, alluding to something scary lurking inside. Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

The Bates house in Alfred Hitchcock's iconic 1960s horror movie Psycho set a precedent for the future of haunted houses on the big screen. Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Today Michael Wyetzner of Michielli + Wyetzner Architects joins AD in New York for an in-depth walking tour of the United Nations. Founded in 1945, the UN now comprises 193 member states, all of whom assemble at their modernist headquarters on the bank of the East River in NYC. The birthplace of international diplomacy, the United Nations became the first major building in New York to represent International Style architecture. Director: Hiatt Woods Director of Photography: Ben Dewey Editor: Ron Douglas Host: Michael Wyetzner Producer: Skylar Economy Line Producer: Joe Buscemi Associate Producer: Brandon Fuhr Production Manager: Melissa Heber Talent Booker: Tracy Shaffer Audio Engineer: Michael Guggino Production Assistant: Noah Bierbrier; Ryan Coppola Post Production Supervisor: Andrew Montague Post Production Coordinator: Holly Frew Supervising Editor: Christina Mankellow Assistant Editor: Fynn Lithgow Colorist: Oliver Eid Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Like Seneca Village, Mount St Vincent's convent was claimed by eminent domain before the construction of Central Park and only a few rocks remain. Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Today, AD joins David Henrie to tour the ‘Wizards Beyond Waverly Place’ set. After over a decade, Henrie and Selena Gomez are returning as The Russo’s for a magical new chapter. From recreating the original wizard’s lair to designing Justin Russo’s new home, take an exclusive look at the sets for the highly anticipated ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ reboot. Wizards Beyond Waverly Place premieres October 29 on Disney Channel and next day on Disney+ 00:00 Intro 00:20 The Wizard’s Lair 02:26 The Living Room 05:01 The Porch 05:46 The Kitchen 07:33 The Backyard 08:36 Highschool Hallway 09:48 The Principal’s Office 11:06 Roman & Milo’s Room 12:18 Billie’s Bedroom 14:59 Live Audience Stands Featuring: David Henrie; Janice LeAnn Brow; Glenda Rovello; Kelly Hogan Director: Meg Sutton Director of Photography: AJ Young Editor: Daniel Finn Producer: Skylar Economy Line Producer: Joe Buscemi Associate Producer: Joe Walsh; Noah Bierbrier Production Manager: Melissa Heber Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila; Tania Jones Camera Operator: Josh Andersen Audio Engineer: Mike Robertson Production Assistant: Fernando Barajas Global Entertainment Director: Dana Mathews Entertainment Editor: Jenna Caldwell Entertainment Editor (On-Site): Tracy Shaffer Director of Creative Development: Morgan Crossley Director of Content: Keleigh Nealon Senior Producer: Alyssa Marino Associate Director, Post Production: Nicholas Ascanio Post Production Supervisor: Andrew Montague Post Production Coordinator: Holly Frew Supervising Editor: Christina Mankellow Additional Editor: William Long Assistant Editor: Billy Ward Colorist: Oliver Eid Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Central Park is meant for the whole of New York to enjoy, no matter who you are. Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Jimmy Butler's expensive designer chairs are not safe from his daughter's crayons! Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Today, AD joins architect Masato Igarashi of IGArchitects to see how he makes the most of his small Tokyo home. Tokyo has the highest population concentration in all of Japan, so large plots of land have been divided into two or three across the city, making tiny living the reality for many residents. While his home is technically only two floors, Igarashi fits an impressive seven staggered levels into the home with no walls, creating an open space where the seventh floor feels like the same room as the first. 00:00 Intro 01:00 Design Idea 02:52 Entrance & Workspace 04:50 Kitchen 07:02 Living Space 09:23 Bathroom 10:41 Design Philosophy Architect: Masato Igarashi Director: Skylar Economy Director of Photography: Yohei Kashiwada Editor: Estan Esparza Field Director: Ryotaro Matsuda Producer: Skylar Economy Field Producer: Jin Kameno Coordinating Producer: Brandon Fuhr Line Producer: Joe Buscemi Production Manager: Melissa Heber Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila Audio Engineer: Yusuke Mikado Production Assistant: Kazuhiro Funazaki Director of Creative Development: Morgan Crossley Director of Content: Keleigh Nealon Senior Producer: Alyssa Marino Associate Director, Post Production: Nicholas Asciano Post Production Supervisor: Andrew Montague Post Production Coordinator: Holly Frew Supervising Editor: CHristina Mankellow Additional Editor: JC Scruggs Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds VFX: Sam Fuller Colorist: Oliver Eid Special Thanks: Tomoko Igarashi Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

So far Jimmy Butler has filled his 20,000-capacity wine cellar with 6,000 bottles of wine. Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Jimmy Butler opened his first Big Face coffee shop, and he doesn't have to go far because it's in his own house. Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Jimmy Butler's wine cellar feels like you're in a medieval castle drinking the king's wine. Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Michael Wyetzner of Michielli + Wyetzner Architects returns to AD to break down the secret to good airport design. Most people don’t want to spend more time in an airport than they have to but the time spent there should be pleasant and comfortable. Join Michael as he breaks down how some of the world’s most famous architects, like Zaha Hadid, have balanced efficiency and aesthetics when designing the perfect airport. 00:00 Intro 00:27 Airport Efficiency 02:24 TWA Flight Center, JFK 06:54 Daxing Intl Aiport, Beijing 13:00 Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Intl Aiport Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Jimmy Butler loves a karaoke session, but what song will he be belting out each time? Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Jimmy Butler makes coffee using his Big Face beans and custom La Marzocco machine. Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

Today, AD is welcomed by NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler to tour his epic mansion in Southern California. When the Miami Heat star moved into his complex he wanted to create a bright space full of natural light and pretty furniture. To make his vision a reality, Butler teamed up with Tiffany Brooks Interior and told her to go wild and do her thing in the space. From the medieval vibes of his seriously impressive wine cellar to a fully decked out Big Face coffee shop, Butler and Brooks designed a slam dunk of home. See more of the NBA star's Southern California home here: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/inside-nba-sensation-jimmy-butlers-southern-california-oasis Shop products inspired by the basketball star’s home: https://www.architecturaldigest.com/shopping/jimmy-butler-open-door See more of @Jimmy Butler on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/jimmybutler 00:00 Intro 00:16 Foyer 00:39 Live Music Room 01:57 Kitchen 02:50 Conservatory 03:35 Wine Cellar 07:00 Backyard 08:35 Big Face Coffee Shop 09:56 Dining Room 10:48 Upstairs Landing 11:22 Primary Bedroom 12:55 Primary Bathroom Serenity Print by Aadil Abedi Talent: Jimmy Butler Director: Meg Sutton Director of Photography: Grant Bell Editor: William Long Interior Designer: Tiffany Brooks Producer: Eliza Laycock Line Producer: Joe Buscemi Associate Producer: Noah Bierbrier Production Manager: Melissa Heber Production Coordinator: Fernando Davila; Tania Jones Camera Operator: Josh Andersen Production Assistant: Andrew Patterson Interior Stylist: Lisa Rowe Groomer: Hee Soo Kwon Global Entertainment Director: Dana Mathews Entertainment Editor: Ernesto Macias Entertainment Editor (On-Site): Lauren Mendoza Director of Creative Development: Morgan Crossley Director of Content: Keleigh Nealon Senior Producer: Alyssa Marino Associate Director, Post Production: Nicholas Ascanio Post Production Supervisor: Andrew Montague Post Production Coordinator: Holly Frew Supervising Editor: Christina Mankellow Additional Editor: Estan Esparza Assistant Editor: Justin Symonds Colorist: Oliver Eid #JimmyButler Want even more AD? Subscribe to the magazine and get a free tote ►► https://bit.ly/3Oh8McU Still haven’t subscribed to Architectural Digest on YouTube? ►► http://bit.ly/2zl7s34 ABOUT ARCHITECTURAL DIGEST The leading international design authority, Architectural Digest features articles and videos of the best in architecture, style, culture, travel, and shopping.

👟 Embrace your daily life adventure with Vessi! Visit https://vessi.com/livingbig for an automatic 15% off your first purchase at checkout! - In this weeks episode, we visit a family of four who are living in an absolutely stunning tiny home. With the help of some great design ideas, they have crafted a compact home that works like a dream for their young family. There are a lot of young families out there who love the idea of moving into a tiny house but aren’t sure they could make it work. This is a great example of how with the help of some good design, you can build a tiny house that enables a family to thrive! We hope you enjoy the full tour of this wonderful tiny home! You can follow this families inspiring adventures via their instagram: https://www.instagram.com/julia.grace.price/ If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #tinyhouse #tinyhousefamily #hometour

We have never seen anything quite like this before. Situated in the idyllic French countryside is a self-resilient homestead that's in a league of it's own. Built for an incredible budget, this home and the woman who constructed it are nothing short of incredible. Marie is a geo-biologist and animal therapist, but that doesn't even come close to describing this remarkable woman. Her talents have extended into all kinds of experimental building and amazing homesteading innovations on her journey to self-sufficiency and a life of freedom. There is so much to say about her astonishing home that I'm not even going to try. You'll have to watch the video and find out for yourself. This is definitely one you don't want to miss! We hope you enjoy the video. A huge thank-you to our French videographer Gabrielle for seeking out this amazing story for us to share with you and thank-you to Marie for inviting us into her one-of-a-kind home. You can find out more about Marie's work here: https://comanimalier.com/ If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented by: Bryce Langston Filmed bv: Gabrielle Vnd (https://www.instagram.com/gabrielle.vnd/) Editing by: Gabrielle Vnd & Rasa Pescud Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #tinyhouse #homestead #alternativeliving

This tiny home is something very special indeed. Situated on an idyllic small farm and surrounded by animals and a beautiful rural landscape, this off-the-grid tiny house homestead is a dream come true for it’s owner Louise. After purchasing the shell of the home from a local builder, Louise, together with her father fit out the home as a DIY project. Working together, they created a home which was not only functional, but also beautiful, filled with character and art. Sadly, Louise's father passed away several years after the home was completed, but his memory is kept alive, built into the walls of the home and helping Louise to still feel very connected to him. With the home now complete, Louise enjoys a simple life of art and quiet comfort, surrounded by the animals that she cares for. Living with zero debt and very low cost of living thanks to her off-the-grid tiny home, she is also able to spend a lot of time traveling and has already visited an impressive number of countries all over the globe. We hope you enjoy the tour of this very special tiny home. If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #tinyhouse #offgrid #homestead

Now here is a tiny house to take your breath away. Beautifully situated amongst the park-like gardens of a mini family-compound, Lee’s tiny home is absolutely stunning. Here in her tiny house, she has been able to build each and every aspect of the home to her specific tastes and desires. And the result is spectacular. Her home has a an open a spacious design which is made to feel cosy by the clever use of dark forest colours. The walls are adorned with trinkets and memories collected from family, friends and travel over the years. Sitting next to the home is a sleepout, where her now-grown-up children stay during their frequent visits. It’s impossible to focus on this home and ignore the gardens though. You can see the countless hours that both Lee and her parents have poured into making their backyard a marvel. One of my favourite tiny home generalisations is that living in a smaller home encourages us to think of the outdoors more as an extension of our home. I can honestly say that I have met very few tiny home dwellers who don’t also dabble in gardening. This is a beautiful home. I wouldn’t say this one is tiny. I’d say this one fits just right. We hope you enjoy the full video tour of this fits-just-right home. If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #tinyhouse #tinyhome #hometour

We are so excited to share the finished result of our brand new tiny home with you all. In our last episode, we showed the full design and build of this beautiful home, you can check out that video here: https://youtu.be/taccd4Kjq-I In this video, together with Joe from LJM Tiny Homes on the Sunshine Coast, we take a look over the finished home and talk about all of our favourite features. You can find LJM Tiny Homes here: https://ljmtinyhomes.com.au/ We want to say a huge thank-you to Joe and the team from LJM tiny homes for working together with us on this very special project. To find a complete list of sponsors and suppliers for this build, you can find them on our website here: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/episodes/start-to-finish-build-of-our-new-tiny-home/ This was an exceptionally fun project for us. We had a great time experimenting with some unique deign ideas for this home and there are many things about this design that I’m especially proud of! We were very fortunate to collaborate with such an amazing build team to bring this home to life. Enjoy the full tour of our brand new tiny home, the Rasa Mahal! If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #tinyhouse #tinyhome # hometour

In this very special episode we join forces with the incredible team at LJM Tiny Homes in Queensland to design and build a BRAND NEW tiny home for ourselves! This video showcases the full build from start to finish! If you're thinking of building your own Tiny Home in Australia, make sure you check out LJM: https://ljmtinyhomes.com.au/ Over the past months we have been hard at work designing a new dream tiny home for ourselves. In this video, we show the whole process of this build from the design, all the way through to the finished result. We couldn’t be happier with this home and we really hope that you enjoy watching the Rasa Mahal come to life! This project was made possible thanks to LJM and their wonderful partners and suppliers. To find out more about the suppliers and sponsors for this project, you can find our full list on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/episodes/start-to-finish-build-of-our-new-tiny-home/ If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud Thanks to Gus Cardoso from Renderly for the 3D Renders used in this video: https://www.renderly.design/ Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #tinyhouse #tinyhousebuild #tinyhome

This spectacular treehouse-style cabin sits high on a mountain with panoramic views. It’s modern charm somehow perfectly blending into the imposing surrounding landscape. This is a cabin that sits on top of the world, and yet for owners / builders John and Sharon, getting here was a hard mountain to climb. The couple suffered a bankruptcy, where they lost everything with the exception of a bit of forested land which sat on a steep section on a mountain side. The land, declared worthless by the bank was where they made a new home for themselves, living in a tiny caravan while they began to rebuild their lives. Their adversity didn’t stop there however, as John suffered a major heart attack that very nearly cost him his life. For many people, the story would have ended there, but for this resilient couple it just became a new beginning. Here on their mountainside they rebuilt their life, living in their caravan while building a small home. Once the first small home was complete, they moved into that while building another tiny abode. They then moved into that one while renting out the first and so on until they had constructed three incredible dwellings on their property which also turned into a small business in the form of a BnB. Sharing their home with others provided cashflow and helped them to financially recover and now, their thriving BnB business provides them a wonderful, peaceful lifestyle on their mountain. Building these tiny homes was really all about getting back to health, both physically and financially. In this episode, we explore their tree-house inspired cabin. This clever construction is an architectural marvel, elevated with the most awe-inspiring views that carry the eye across the valley and out towards the tremendous mountain ranges in the distance. This one-of-a-kind cabin stands not only as a brilliant bit of engineering and construction, but also as a monument to human perseverance and power of will. We hope you enjoy the tour of this stunning cabin. If you would like to visit John and Sharon (and we highly recommend you do, because as hosts, they are second to none) you can find them here: http://www.thejardincollective.com.au/ If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #smallhouse #treehouse #cabin

The idea of never needing to pay another utility bill again is the stuff dreams are made of, but for Perlin, that’s his new reality after building himself an impressive off-the-grid tiny house compound. I say compound because after completing his original tiny house he didn’t stop there. He has since expanded with a second tiny home which functions as an office / sleep out for guests, a workshop with car-port, and a storage container which is now used for storing materials for the further tiny homes he plans to construct in the future! As an off-the-grid paradise, this place is set up exceptionally well. The abundant solar system provides enough energy to not only power his home and workshop, but also enables him to charge his electric vehicle. Rainwater collection from the tiny house and also the extended shed and carport space gives him abundant rainwater. He even has a bio-digesting toilet which provides his cooking gas. This 100% off grid set-up is very impressive. Getting to this point wasn’t easy though and he had some trials and tribulations along the way. Wait until you see the damage done by the 2022 floods! EEK! All is well that ends well though, and now, his set-up has fully recovered and is running better than ever! We hope you enjoy the tour. Perlin has some big plans for his tiny endeavours in the future! You can follow his journey and find out more about what he is up to here on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@UCBY6RoYV_966rbMSfe0Cgfw If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #tinyhouse #tinyhousetour #offgrid

A big thanks to Klook for sponsoring this video! To get started on your next adventure, visit https://www.klook.com and remember to use our promo code LIVINGBIG for a discount when booking your experience. It's been five years since we last visited Paul and Annett in their incredible off-the-grid tiny house on the Gold Coast and a lot has changed over the years. It's not often that we get to interview people who have been living in their tiny homes for this long and so it's wonderful to be able to share their inspiring story and see how off-grid tiny house living works in the long-term! You can see the first tour we filmed of their home here: https://youtu.be/83vzo2J09VM And our first revisit here: https://youtu.be/ZJ7ZihueEe0 Their home is looking wonderful and enjoys some new features and developments since we were last here. From the expanded solar system which now charges an EV, through to the now much-more established fruit trees, there is still a lot to love about this place. But what's even more special is the life-style and freedom that this home has provided Paul and Annett. With energy from solar (which now also powers their electric vehicle), rainwater collection, gas created by a bio-gas digester, and much of their food coming from the garden, their only real outgoings are modest rent and their food budget. The rest of their income (both of them now work from home) can go towards travel, their hobbies and has also allowed them to do something very cool! You'll have to watch the video to find out about that though! It was such a pleasure for us to visit this tiny home once again. We hope you enjoy the tour! You can follow along with Paul and Annett here: https://www.instagram.com/livingtinyandgreen/ If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #tinyhouse #hometour #offgrid #offgridliving

This stunning, modern tiny home is designed like no other. Cleverly thought out in all three dimensions the interlocking spaces make it seem as though the rooms are Tetris blocks, fitting perfectly together to form a home. Alan and Emily are newly-weds who have just moved into their dream tiny home. It’s a big tiny house at just over 10 meters (33ft) in length, and boasts a strikingly modern design. The matt black steel exterior of the home gives it an almost imposing look, as if it’s a monument on the landscape. This is a space which has been brilliantly designed for the couples current needs while also giving them plenty of room to grow. Beyond the cleverness of the house, the living space is further accentuated by the wonderful parking spot the couple have found. Here, they can enjoy complete privacy, immersed in nature with a picturesque pond right outside their front door. Who could ask for more? We hope you enjoy the full tour of this wonderful tiny home! To follow Alan and Emily's tiny house adventures, you can find their socials here: https://www.instagram.com/head_and_heart_club/ and here: https://www.instagram.com/emily_4eva_restored/ If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #tinyhouse #tinyhousetour #hometour

This is a tiny house like no other we have seen before. An old bus, no longer drivable, has been transported onto a beautiful section and given new life as an artists tiny home amongst the trees. The bus sits in place almost as if a forgotten relic, slowly being overtaken by the beauty of nature and the surrounding flora. The first signs of habitation shimmer from the spectacular outdoor living area, glistening with thousands of fairy lights which surround the place and add to an otherworldly feeling. Upon entering the bus, there is a distinct feeling as though you’ve been transported to another world. Beautifully styled in a whimsical fashion, the tiny house is immediately warm and welcoming. The large windows help to retain the impression of being surrounded by nature while remaining protected inside the structure. Chelsea, an artist, created this space not only as a place to live, but also a place to create and to be inspired. The result, simply magical. We hope you enjoy the tour of this unusual and beautiful tiny home. You can follow Chelsea and her artistic adventures via her socials here: https://linktr.ee/studiolomandra If you enjoy our show and would like to help support our work, please consider supporting us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/livingbig Our Socials and Links: https://linktr.ee/livingbig Find out more about this tiny house and others on our website: https://www.livingbiginatinyhouse.com/ Please subscribe for more videos on tiny houses, architecture, DIY, design, and sustainable, off-grid living. Presented and Produced by: Bryce Langston Camera: Rasa Pescud & Bryce Langston Editing: Sarah Binder & Rasa Pescud Title music in this video by Bryce Langston: http://www.youtube.com/brycelangston 'Living Big in a Tiny House' © 2024 Zyia Pictures Ltd #tinyhouse #tinyhousetour #hometour