Architect, Urban Designer, and Editor-in-Chief of ArchDaily.com. Based in Beirut, Lebanon, Covering the World.
Brooks + Scarpa along with PCL and BEA, design/build team is one of three finalists selected for a new community mixed-use complex. Located in the heart of Miami Beach, just one block west of the beach, the structure that replaces a municipal surface parking lot, will include pools, libraries, retail, a community center, and a 3-acre park. Designed as a resiliency hub, the building can accommodate future residential and office use when less parking is needed.
Dorte Mandrup has imagined ‘The Hinge’, a landmark transition between the new urban area Aarhus Ø and the historic town of Denmark’s second-largest city. The new city gate will put in place an innovative and sustainable urban focal point. Expected to open in 2026, The Hinge was designed in collaboration with landscape architect Kristine Jensen and Søren Jensen Consulting Engineers.
The Flanders Architecture Institute has been working to bring “women who have left their mark on Belgium's design heritage out of the shadows”, through Wiki Women Design. Using Wikipedia as a platform, the initiative aims to organize edit-a-thons or writing sessions, to make up for this backlog.
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The Un-Habitat or the United Nations agency for human settlements and sustainable urban development, whose primary focus is to deal with the challenges of rapid urbanization, has been developing innovative approaches in the urban design field, centered on the active participation of the community. ArchDaily has teamed up with UN-Habitat to bring you weekly news, article, and interviews that highlight this work, with content straight from the source, developed by our editors.
“During this pandemic, public spaces have played a vital role in the health and sustainability of urban communities around the world” states James Delaney, Block by Block chair. In fact, people need to go outside, now more than ever. In order to equip these public spaces to face the challenges of Covid-19, UN-Habitat with the Block by Block Foundation has been supporting ten cities, throughout this past year. With the help of local governments and the community, the initiatives helped covid-proof open urban entities, especially in poor neighborhoods, where there are few shared and green spaces. From creating mobile pop-up playgrounds for children in Hanoi, Vietnam, improving livelihood for street vendors in Dhaka and Khulna, Bangladesh to Covid Proofing of Public Spaces in Bhopal informal settlements, India, these responses have provided help to those who need it the most.
Morpholio has just released “Smart Hatch”, a new addition featured in its Trace app, famous for sketching and drafting, as well as storing and organizing ideas by layers. Making drawing details, elevations, plans, and sections by hand way easier, Smart Hatch calculates the areas for the user and fills their drawings with the sketch style hatch they desire.
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The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) and the Danish Arts Foundation (DAF) have selected Soil Lab as the winning project of a DAF Open Call for a major new commission in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. Responding to the biennial’s 2021 edition theme The Available City, led by Artistic Director David Brown, the proposal, chosen to represent Denmark at the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial, was imagined by an international design team that includes Eibhlín Ní Chathasaigh (Dublin), James Albert Martin (Dublin), Anne Dorthe Vester (Copenhagen), Maria Bruun (Copenhagen) and Chicago residents.
Arthaus, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates' first residential tower in Philadelphia has just topped out. The 47-story development with 108 residences, slated for occupancy in early 2022, is located along the famed Avenue of the Arts directly across the street from the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
Local Collective has designed a seating made of clay for the London Festival of Architecture and Network Rail. Unveiled at London Bridge Station, the urban furniture is a result of a “competition organized by the LFA and Network Rail to create public installations that celebrate London’s shared spaces and connect people with playful encounters”.
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Construction has begun on MVRDV’s project for the Pyramid of Tirana in Albania, as of February 4th, 2021. Rehabilitating what was once a communist monument, the proposal transforms the brutalist structure into a new hub for Tirana's cultural life. Preserving the concrete shell, the intervention will open the atrium and the surroundings, while a small village of cafes, studios, workshops, and classrooms will permeate the site.
The world is constantly changing, and our built environment is continuously evolving and adapting. As we find ourselves immersed with challenges, experts and thinkers are re-examining the approaches humanity has adopted so far, in order to set new ideas for a better tomorrow.
“Cities are at the heart of the problem, and therefore also at the heart of the solution." Space 10, a research and design lab centered on people and the planet, has just released its latest publication, The Ideal City, in collaboration with gestalten. Gathering insights from around the globe, the book rethinks cities, investigating how to create spaces that support the well-being of the residents and contribute to a better world. Compiling projects and expert opinions, it highlights 5 main pillars that help in shaping the future of the urban realm.
Mad Arkitekter and Mud Landscape Architects, have won the international competition to design a vertical city quarter in Kreuzberg, Berlin. Selected from 14 submissions of well-known European architecture firms taking part in the contest, the proposal re-interprets the district in a vertical configuration. Set to be 98 meters high, with 29 floors, the Woho project will become Germany's tallest three-hybrid construction, once completed.
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After MAD’s Wormhole Library, the city of Haikou revealed a pavilion by Sou Fujimoto Architects. Scheduled for the end of spring, the ribbon-like white pavilion with an accessible roof will be one of the first public waterfront interventions to be completed in the spring of 2021. Shaping the future of Haikou city and Hainan Free Trade Port, the master plan of 16 permanent destinations re-imagines the future of coastal living.
New images highlight a refined design of Frank Gehry's latest landmark, a two-tower project in the skyline of the city of Toronto. Unveiled by Great Gulf, Westdale Properties, and Dream Unlimited, the intervention is part of the King Street West Project, an ensemble of mixed-use buildings.
UNStudio and Bauwerk have created a new ‘analog smart’ urban living concept for the Van B residences in Munich, Germany. The completely new form of housing reimagines the future of city living, catering to changing demographics and multiple family constellations. Through adaptable partitions and a system of plugin furniture, the project allows an easy change of configuration. “Quality meters over square meters”.
Kéré Architecture has unveiled first images of its proposal for the Benin National Assembly. Located in Porto-Novo, in the Republic of Benin, the Parliament House has been commissioned by the Ministry of Living Environment and Sustainable Development, and has been in the design phase from 2018 till 2020. Portraying the values of democracy and the cultural identity of the citizens, the project is set for construction in March 2021.
Looking at the urban environment, this week’s curated selection of the Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights interventions in public spaces, submitted by the ArchDaily Community. Suitable for this monthly topic, the article underlines worldwide approaches that tackle the challenges of these areas through the introduction of innovative solutions.
Exploring a multitude of methods fitting for different contexts, this feature presents a tactical urban strategy implemented in a neighborhood in Kosovo and micro-mobility measures in Italy. Other projects evoke public approaches in private developments and enhanced historical and cultural connections between parks, buildings, and cities. In addition, this roundup showcases conceptual interventions that tackle social distancing and the challenges of the pandemic, in order to allow people to move freely and safely across space.
MAD Architects has unveiled that the Wormhole Library, had topped-out in the city of Haikou, China at the end of January 2021. The curved multi-functional structure, cast of white concrete, is scheduled to be completed and operational in the Spring of 2021. Once ready, the project will allow visitors to read, enjoy the sea views and attend open-air performances.
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American-Brazilian photo-artist Paul Clemence has just released the first images of the completed renovation and expansion works of Martin Luther King’s Memorial Library, originally designed by Mies van der Rohe in Washington D.C. Hoping to create a modern library that focuses on people while celebrating the exchange of knowledge, ideas and culture, Dutch design practice Mecanoo was commissioned the modernization of the structure back in 2014.
.jpg?1614161736 "Mobile playground in Vietnam. Image Courtesy of UN-Habitat, Global Public Space Programme")
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.jpg?1613644756 "Courtesy of MVRDV")
.jpg?1613644713 "Courtesy of MVRDV")
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.jpg?1613464615 "Sou Fujimoto. Image Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects")
.jpg?1613464611 "Sou Fujimoto. Image Courtesy of Sou Fujimoto Architects")
.jpg?1613465267 "MAD- Wormhole Library. Image © SAN")
.jpg?1613465249 "MAD- Wormhole Library. Image © SAN")
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(%C2%A9minorormajor).jpg?1612954566 "Oasis-Playground. Image Courtesy of Studio Minorormajor")
--.jpg?1612774451 "© Paul Clemence")
.jpg?1612774430 "© Paul Clemence")
.jpg?1612774307 "© Paul Clemence")
.jpg?1612774284 "© Paul Clemence")
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