Lumion View is a lightweight, always-on visualization tool built directly into SketchUp.

It’s easy to think of Modernism as inseparable from air conditioning, simply because we are surrounded by so much of it that is. A valuable reminder that this wasn’t always the case is provided in University of Pennsylvania architecture professor Daniel A. Barber’s Modern Architecture and Climate: Design Before Air Conditioning (Princeton University Press), which outlines the story of the febrile, flexible, and often-forgotten early experiments in climate control.

With museums in Stockholm, New York, and Tallinn, Fotografiska has announced plans to launch its fourth space in Berlin. Expected in 2022 in the Kunsthaus Tacheles to be renovated by Herzog & de Meuron, the contemporary Swedish photography museum will cover over 59,000 square feet.

The He Art Museum will finally open to the public on October 1^st, after delays due to the coronavirus pandemic. Designed by Pritzker Prize laureate Tadao Ando, the museum located in Guangdong, China will be home to the He family’s art collection, focusing mainly on International Contemporary Art, Chinese Modern Art, and Chinese Contemporary Art.

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Over two decades in the making, Frank Gehry's design for the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington, D.C. will finally open to the public this Friday. A tribute to the 34th President of the United States, the memorial was commissioned by Congress in 1999 to honor the legacy of the World War II Supreme Allied Commander. Eisenhower is well known for leading the invasion of Normandy, a turning point in the war, and for serving two terms as President of United States.

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The notion of “commons” unites open resources of any kind: natural, cultural, spatial, material and immaterial - of which ownership and access is shared. These common resources need to be maintained, as do the collection of practices that govern and preserve them. Yet Georgia‘s rapid shift to a neoliberal political system in the 1990s resulted in a new understanding of these commons - resources that are open for commodification and individualization. As finite resources, these commons need to be sustained, nurtured and managed by communities and professionals. Architects, urbanists and state institutions have a fundamental role to play in the reclamation of the commons - no more so than in Tbilisi.

Architect Jonathan Tate was living and working in Memphis, Tennessee, when Hurricane Katrina ensnared New Orleans in 2005. Instinctively drawn to the Big Easy, he later moved there for the opportunity to observe the reconstruction effort and investigate architecture’s role in it.

Why should any 21^st Century architect bother to draw by hand? There is, after all, an abundance of readily available digital tools that make pens and pencils seem little more than primeval artefacts. Fondly regarded, perhaps, yet as charmingly irrelevant to contemporary architecture as heavy horses are to today’s farmers or typewriters are to newspaper journalists.

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The world’s longest immersed road and rail tunnel design, the Fehmarnbelt link gets a go-ahead. The 18 km infrastructure, the longest of its kind, connecting Denmark’s Lolland Falster region with Germany’s Schleswig Holstein region across the Baltic Sea will shorten the journey between both countries to just 10 minutes by car and seven minutes by train.

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Dutch architectural office VenhoevenCS with its French partner Ateliers 2/3/4/ have won the competition to design the Aquatics Centre for the Olympics Games of 2024 in Paris. The innovative sports center, connected by a new pedestrian bridge to the existing “Stade de France”, will host competitions for water polo, diving, and synchronized swimming. It will also be transformed into a Boccia stadium during the Paralympics. Designed for multifunctional use, the only building to be built for the Games, will remain for the people in Saint-Denis, after the event.

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Design studio Project Room has been announced as the winner of the competition to design and create a new standard streetlight for Los Angeles. Initiated by the City of L.A. and led by the Mayor's Office with the Bureau of Street Lighting, the competition asked designers to create a lighting system that would incorporate new technology, include space for text on each pole, and provide shade to help ease the impacts of the climate crisis.

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The A’ Design Award was "born out of the desire to underline the best designs and well-designed products." It is an international award whose aim is to provide designers, architects, and innovators from all design fields with a platform to showcase their work and products to a global audience. This year's edition is now open for entries; designers can register their submissions here.

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Marking the 80th birthday of architect Ricardo Bofill last December, photographer Sebastian Weiss recently captured the designer's iconic La Muralla Roja in Calp, Spain. The housing project references popular architecture of the Mediterranean and was inspired by the tradition of the casbah. The striking colors that cover the outer and inner facades are selected to both contrast nature and complement its purity.

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After studying architecture at Tsinghua University in Beijing and Miami University in Oxford, Ohio Beijing-born and based architect Wang Hui (b. 1967) co-founded URBANUS in 1999 in Shenzhen with his partners Liu Xiaodu and Meng Yan. After his graduation in 1997, Wang Hui worked in New York until 2002, while also moonlighting for URBANUS remotely. The architect heads the company’s Beijing office, which he set up in 2003, overseeing projects in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan triangle, the Yangtze River Delta region, and other parts of China.

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Corals are fundamental to marine life. Sometimes called tropical sea forests, they form some of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth. They serve as a refuge, breeding, and feeding area for dozens of species in the sea, and their absence can negatively affect local biodiversity to a tremendous degree. Yet just as humanity pollutes and destroys, it can also remedy and encourage the creation of more life. This is why shipwrecks of old vessels or the sinking of concrete structures for the creation of artificial reefs are frequently reported as providing immense potential. In Hong Kong, researchers have been developing 3D printed structures using organic materials that can lead to the creation of new opportunities under the sea.

KAAN Architecten has been investigating methods to ensure that cities continue to flourish. Working closely and experimenting primarily with the city of Amsterdam, the firm’s projects have been focusing on developing a healthy design and finding alternative possibilities to high-density architecture.

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Edoardo Tresoldi has inaugurated a permanent installation on Reggio Calabria’s seafront, in Italy entitled Opera. Commissioned by the local Municipality and the Metropolitan City, the public art intervention “was created to celebrate the contemplative relationship between place and human beings through the language of classical architecture and the transparency of the Absent Matter”.

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Brazilian architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha donated his entire collection to Casa da Arquitectura - Portuguese Centre for Architecture based in Matosinhos, which is dedicated to preserving and sharing architectural documents. Considered to be the world's most renowned living Brazilian architect, he signed the contract with the institution last year in December, one month after being invited to donate the material.

The arrival of the entire Paulo Mendes da Rocha collection follows the donation of the National Coach Museum project in 2015, and of a set of seven projects for the Brazilian Architecture Collection in 2018. The material which now arrives at Casa da Arquitectura will be received by more than 30 employees dedicated to inventorying and organizing the thousands of items produced during his long professional life from the 1950s to the present day.

The Midnight Charette is an explicit podcast about design, architecture, and the everyday. Hosted by architectural designers David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet, it features a variety of creative professionals in unscripted conversations that allow for thoughtful takes and personal discussions. A wide array of subjects are covered with honesty and humor: some episodes provide useful tips for designers, while others are project reviews, interviews, or explorations of everyday life and design. The Midnight Charette is also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube.

This week David and Marina are joined by Jeff Durkin, an architectural designer turned filmmaker, to discuss his transition to filmmaking, working in Hollywood, storytelling, making design films for architects, the importance of marketing, his filmmaking process, and more. Enjoy!

The polished concrete technique is not only suitable for many different environments, but also harmonizes well with various building materials, and has been the material of choice for many Brazilian architects in housing designs in recent years.

The mixture of sand, cement, and water is prepared on-site and the result is a cost-effective and long-lasting alternative when properly and regularly maintained. This finish has become so popular that you can find porcelain tiles and coatings with a similar texture.