Community & Content Editor at ArchDaily. Bachelor of Arts in Interior Architecture & Master's in Product & Business Development. Born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon.
As with any industry, most skills are acquired through years of hands-on working and problem solving, and not just what's taught at school. For fresh architecture graduates, engaging with general contractors, engineers, and builders during their first site visits might feel overwhelming, especially since they are exploring the practical side of the practice.
Among the many things acquired on site are the terminologies used by construction workers that may not have been necessarily taught at school. And while an architecture dictionary might seem like the most suitable solution, carrying around a book with over 25,000 terms such as Cyril M Harris' Dictionary of Architecture and Construction wouldn't be the most convenient on a construction site. This is why we have put together list of 50 construction terms and concepts that every architect will come across at least once during their practice.
Rendering of the Colburn Center at the Colburn School. View from Hill Street West towards dance school entrance, adjacent park, and stairs leading up to Olive Street and public plaza.. Image Courtesy of Gehry Partners
The Colburn School, Los Angeles' renowned school for music and dance, has unveiled architectural designs by Frank Gehry for the Colburn Center, a 100,000 square-foot campus expansion that aims to inspire and promote the region’s young performing artists and organizations. The center will serve as a cultural and civic hub in the heart of Downtown LA through public programs, as well as performance and educational collaborations with local and touring artists.
Despite being the smallest rooms of houses, bathrooms have always been one of the most challenging and critical to design, which often left them fairly simplified. The past few years, however, saw these spaces undergo significant change; what was once only limited to functionality, ease of maintenance, and privacy, is now being given a strong character with pops of color, classic fixtures, and patterned surfaces. Similarly for public bathrooms, where "functionality" and "ease of maintenance" are now complimented with aesthetics, technology, and high quality finishing. In this interior focus, we explore the three main bathroom typologies used in residential projects, and look at how architects have employed them through 12 examples.
Architecture firm HKS and landscape designer Hood Design Studio have been selected by global entertainment and media company CMNTY Culture to design a new creative campus in the heart of Hollywood. Dubbed CMNTY Culture Campus, the project will feature production spaces, offices, performance venues, bringing together creative industries in a 500,000-square-foot development.
Under the latest round of NYC's Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Project Excellence Program, Commissioner Thomas Foley has announced that the agency has selected 20 firms to provide architectural design services for New York City’s future public buildings project. 10 of the selected firms are certified Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprises (M/WBEs), meeting the city’s ambitious goals of supporting M/WBEs and increasing its ability to generate culturally competent designs.
The 60th edition of Salone del Mobile.Milano 2022, which will take place from the 7th till the 12th of June 2022 at the Fiera Milano Rho, is reflecting on the ongoing ecological transition of the design world, with a mission to "demonstrate that it is both possible and crucial to start embedding sustainability and environmental awareness into furniture production". More than 2,000 exhibitors, including over 600 young designers under the age of 35, will express their own identities and creative freedom, using the exhibition space as both an architectural and communication element with sustainability and ecology as main criteria.
Australian architecture firm Angelo Candalepas and Associates has been selected by the Victorian Government and the National Gallery of Victoria to design NGV Contemporary, Australia’s largest gallery dedicated to contemporary art and design. The 30,000 sqm Victorian landmark will feature dramatic arched entries, a 40-metres-high spherical hall, more than 13,000 sqm of exhibition galleries, and an expansive rooftop terrace and sculpture garden overlooking Melbourne.
Bjarke Ingels Group has unveiled the design of a new Neuroscience Center building that will bring together psychiatry and neuroscience under one roof, combining research and treatment of physical and mental brain diseases, spinal cord, and nervous systems. The 20,000 sqm facility, which will be a part of the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark, translates the "gyrification of the human brain" in a spatially-efficient structure that creates synergies between the different disciplines within the hospital.
David Chipperfield Architects Berlin and Arup have unveiled the design of the 2026 Winter Olympic Games arena. The structure will sit in the core of Milano Santa Giulia, a new urban district currently under redevelopment in the south-east of Milan. The new arena will house sports and cultural events with up to 16,000 visitors, and offer individuals of all demographics a vast outdoor area that promotes social gatherings and recreational activities.
Bohem Project by Team Group. Image Courtesy of Team Group
This week’s curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights private residential projects submitted by the ArchDaily community. From a residential quarter comprising eight urban villas, to private getaways in the suburbs of Hyderabad, India, this round up of unbuilt projects showcases how architects design private spaces that combine locality and functionality in structures that cater to the residents’ lifestyles and behaviors. The article also includes projects from Iran, the United States, Thailand, and Greece.
Zaha Hadid Architects - ZHA has unveiled a virtual "libertarian micro-nation" in the metaverse titled The Liberland Metaverse, where residents can buy vacant plots centered around a curated urban core, and access them as avatars. The community features hyper-realistic districts that encourage urban self-governance and zones where the absence of urban planning "allows for a spontaneous order via a free-wheeling discovery process".
Aedas has won an international competition to design Shenzhen's new Qingshuihe Comprehensive Transportation Hub in a joint venture with China Railway Siyuan Survey and Design Group Co., LTD and Shenzhen Urban Transport Planning Center Co., LTD. The master plan draws inspiration from the natural environment of the area, integrating nature and water elements into the high-density city to build a unique new emblem for Qingshuihe. The underground compact hub releases large above-ground spaces which will feature urban terraces, offices, five-star hotels, first-rate apartments, science and technology exhibition halls, and other facilities.
American architect Gyo Obata, FAIA, co-founder of renowned architecture firm HOK, has passed away on March 8 at the age of 99. The news was announced by the office through a statement, honoring the architect's legacy and highlighting his holistic approach which "helped drive HOK’s ongoing expansion into new specialty practices, market sectors and geographic regions".
With over 3,000 categories and entertainment genres in the span of 25 years, Netflix has offered its users an array of content, ranging from feature films and sitcoms to documentaries and competition shows. Among these numerous genres is a selection dedicated to architecture and design enthusiasts, one that gives them access to the minds of the world's greatest designers and highlights unique projects from across the world. Whether you're looking for design inspiration or searching for something new to watch, we have selected 10 must-see architecture and design-related documentaries, TV shows, and films currently streaming on Netflix.
Moving forward with his "ultra-marathon of photoshoots", architectural photographer Marc Goodwin is putting together an Atlas of Architectural Atmospheres by Arcmospheres, a project that seeks to document diverse architecture and design studios from around the world. Since 2016, the architectural photographer has been traveling "far and wide to capture the atmospheres of architecture studios in order to produce an online and print resource for the architecture community", and after a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic, Goodwin resumed his project with an exploration of Berlin's architecture offices, capturing the work environment of renowned firms such as Hesse, LAVA, JWA, and FAR frohn&rojas, to name a few.
The culturally-significant town of Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, is an area of rich history and religion, preserving traces of walls, moats, and temples from a past that dates back to the 13th century. Between its lush trees and scenic landscapes sits architectural design studioSher Maker's workshop and office, a locally-sourced space that accentuates the process and meaning behind building construction. Their workspace is no different than their portfolio; having an interest in the origins of architectural formations, the context of local materials and technologies, as well as the atmosphere that surrounds the building both physically and atmospherically, the team translated their design approach to create their own working space.
Foster + Partners has been chosen by Masterise Homes to serve as Architectural Advisors for the development of The Global City, an all-inclusive neighborhood in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam and the first of its kind in the country for the architecture office. The practice will provide innovative and sustainable design solutions for a fully-integrated master plan that features a full range of facilities, residential units, and connections to highways, major roads, and metro lines.
Pictured (from left) are: Joseph Henry, Meneesha Kaur Kellay, Sumitra Upham, Jayden Ali and Sevra Davis (Director of Architecture Design Fashion at the British Council). Image Courtesy of British Council