Senior Editor at ArchDaily based in Los Angeles.
Are machines capable of design? Though a persistent question, it is one that increasingly accompanies discussions on architecture and the future of artificial intelligence. But what exactly is AI today? As we discover more about machine learning and generative design, we begin to see that these forms of "intelligence" extend beyond repetitive tasks and simulated operations. They've come to encompass cultural production, and in turn, design itself.
Perkins&Will and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have released a handbook for best practices to create and implement comprehensive diversity programs for U.S. firms. Entitled “Creating a Culture of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Your Architectural Practice,” authors Gabrielle Bullock, FAIA and Bill Schmalz, FAIA outline how firms must uphold J.E.D.I. principles now and into the future.
Zaha Hadid Architects has won the design competition to build Phase II of the International Exhibition Centre in Beijing. Drawing from the cultural, academic and civic center of China, the International Exhibition Centre is located next to the city’s Capital International Airport as a site for conferences, trade fairs and industry expos. Now, Phase II will significantly expand exhibition space for knowledge and exchange.
After 4 years of delay, the groundbreaking of the Obama Presidential Center could happen in August 2021, and preliminary work could start as of April, according to the Chicago Tribune. In fact, former President Barack Obama confirmed yesterday on his Facebook account that "the Obama Presidential Center will break ground in 2021" and construction will most likely take about four years.
Extreme weather and conditions call for contextual architectural approaches. From sandy deserts to cold, icy climates, how we build is intimately tied to location. Drawing from diverse project sites around the world, architects and designers create proposals that construct and organize new ways to live, work and play. These unbuilt projects rethink traditional forms while addressing a wide range of landscape conditions.
This week’s curated selection of the Best Unbuilt Architecture focuses on diverse typologies in hot and cold climates around the world. Drawn from an array of firms and local contexts, they represent proposals submitted by the ArchDaily Community. They explore everything from generative design through a desert shelter in Siwa and a cave dwelling in China to a coastal development in Spain and a series of igloo habitats for penguins in Antarctica.
OMA and GMP have been selected as the winners of the Chengdu Future Science and Technology City Masterplan and Design competition in China. The team will develop the first phase of the overall masterplan, which will include an International Educational Park in the west, and a Transit Oriented Development (TOD) in the southeast led by GMP. The pilot project is one part of the innovation industry driving the development of the city around the new airport east of Chengdu.
The Weyerhaeuser Corporate Headquarters in Federal Way, Washington is one of the most iconic projects bringing architecture and landscape together. The current owners of the site, Los Angeles-based Industrial Realty Group (IRG), have shared plans to clear-cut 132 largely forested acres on the 425-acre campus to build 1.5 million square feet of warehouses. Now the group is facing pushback from architects, preservationists and landscape architects across the country.
Slovak designer Lenka Petráková has won the 2020 Grand Prix Award for an ocean-cleaning research facility in the Pacific. The "8th Continent" project is a floating station that restores the marine environment by collecting plastic debris from the surface and breaking it down to recyclable material. The plastic recycling center connects with a research and education facility to create an interdisciplinary and sustainable platform for the future.
Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Woods Bagot have unveiled their design for the new Aboriginal Art and Cultures Centre (AACC) in Adelaide, Australia. Designed around a "deep Aboriginal connection to Country, place and kin" as the project's foundation, the cultural project aims to become a platform for honoring and developing Australian culture. The AACC concept originates from the Aboriginal conception of the elements linking people to place: earth, land and sky.
Few architectural typologies are as timeless as bakeries. A practice spanning thousands of years, the art of baking has diverse roots. Today, bakeries combine areas to gather, socialize, shop, and work. While industrialization and commercialization transformed the art of baking and baked goods, bakeries remain important community spaces for gathering and defining neighborhood identity.
SPRESSER and Peter Besley have won the Sydney Pier Design Competition and will create a pavilion made of recycled oyster shells. As the team explains, the Pavilion references human gathering by the sea; it is designed as a democratic gathering space under a landscape canopy for meetings and events. The Pavilion aims to celebrate elements that compose the site: land, sea and sky.
The World Architecture Festival has announced the winners of the Architecture Drawing Prize 2020. Entries were chosen in the Digital, Hand-drawn and Hybrid categories. The contest included 165 entries from 30 countries, and the 2020 competition also introduced the ‘Lockdown Prize’ focusing on the global pandemic, awarded to a drawing related to the architectural changes brought by the coronavirus.
Jennifer Luce, principal and founder of LUCE et Studio Architects has shared her vision for the Mingei International Museum renovation in San Diego. The design is featured in a video by Jeff Durkin of Breadtruck Films. The Mingei is a nonprofit that collects, conserves and exhibits folk art, craft, and design objects in Balboa Park. During the building’s centennial, a $55 million campaign began to renovate the structure.
Heatherwick Studio has shared plans for a pair of residential towers in Vancouver, Canada. The "curvaceous" skyscrapers were designed for Kingswood Properties and Bosa Properties in the city's West End neighborhood. Inspired by tree-like forms, the towers aspire to create a "new level of global design excellence" that emerges from a ground level plaza. The two towers would rise between 30 and 34 stories tall in height, and would feature views across the city and Vancouver Harbor.
Architecture practice Bey Arquitectura has shared details of the firm's Punta Cana Bey Garden project in the Dominican Republic. The 28 loft-type villas were designed to connect with the surrounding natural context and support the implementation of renewable energy. Located in the heart of Bávaro, the project is sited near shopping malls, restaurants, schools, the Punta Cana Airport and the beach.
Celebrating community, three interdisciplinary leaders of design firm Sasaki are building space for change. Defining the future through collective, contextual, and values-driven projects, they are showing how working together produces greater impact. Following the belief that better design comes through open exchange and deep engagement, each of these women are creating more sustainable and inclusive futures.
Scott Brownrigg have been appointed to design the 44 hectare masterplan for The Barony, a wellbeing and cultural visitor facility in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Made to transform the site of an ex-coal mine, the project will include 344 villas, a reception, spa and visitor center, as well as ecological sites for produce and research. Led by Board Director Neil MacOmish, the team developed the concept to embrace the site's topography.
Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA) has designed a new, mixed-use office building in Paris called ILOW. Created with property development company Bouygues Immobilier, the project was made to act as a bridge between La Défense and the nearby social housing projects Tours Nuages (Cloud Towers). Designed in collaboration with Agence d'Architecture Willerval et Associés, the building takes on the shape of "open arms" connecting two different socio-economic neighborhoods.
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