Frederico Babina is an Italian architect and graphic designer who creates artwork that focuses on the abstract replications of famous imagery and buildings. Through a strong focus on geometry and form his work represents a sense of innocence, inexperience and spontaneity throughout.
This article was originally published on Common Edge.
Conversations around resiliency today seem to imply that planners and designers might be capable of—might even be expected to—save every building and public space at risk. The sad truth is, however, that we cannot, and perhaps we should not. Climate change and its attendant sea level rise will radically redraw urban edges, forcing us to make difficult decisions. Even if we had the vast sums of money required to protect the precarious status quo, that might not be enough to stave off the inevitable.
So, then: What are our priorities? How do we choose what to save? How do we responsibly chart this uncertain future? I believe the answers to these and similar questions should begin with an honest assessment of three essential considerations:
Designed by Arquitectonica, Miami’s most anticipated landmark dubbed Elysee has topped-off construction at 57 stories. Upon its completion in 2020, the 649-foot-tall glass tower will become the tallest residential building in the Edgewater district.
Two Trees Management Company, a New York-based real estate development firm, has presented a master plan for the Northern Brooklyn waterfront, a new approach to urban resiliency. Designed by BIG and Field Operations, the project puts in place a mixed-use development and a resilient park.
Architects and developers have always been on opposite ends of the construction world. While the first wanted to create dreamy spaces, the latter just wanted to cater to the basic needs. In these past few years, the world has witnessed significant changes, with the aggravation of climate-related issues, the evolution of technological solutions, and the newly acquired awareness and growth of the population.
While everything is transforming, building trends also evolved, mainly due to an alteration in people’s perceptions and priorities. However, one question remains unanswered: Could all these changes mean that the never-ending conflict between architects and developers reached some sort of common grounds? And could they finally be seeking one same goal, of a sustainable, resilient and inclusive future?
The new museum by BIG for Swiss luxury watchmaker Audemars Piguet is set to open to the public next May. As featured in WSJ. Magazine, the project was designed as an extension to their headquarters in Le Brassus, near Le Chenit. Conceived as a spiraling glass pavilion in the landscape, the design will take visitors on a narrative journey through the company's 139-year history.
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Weiss/Manfredi have been selected to lead the new La Brea Tar Pits master planning in Los Angeles. The team's ‘Loops and Lenses’ concept was developed to create new connections between "the museum and the Park, between science and culture, and envisions the entire site as an unfolding place of discovery." The team will work with NHMLAC on a multi-year process of public engagement, master planning, design and construction on the Tar Pits’ 13-acre campus.
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Archinfo Finland has announced the theme and curatorial team for the Pavilion of Finland at the 17th International Architecture Exhibition of the 2020 Venice Biennale. Entitled New Standards, the exhibition conceived by Laura Berger, Philip Tidwell, and Kristo Vesikansa will explore Finland’s timber industry.
The Board of Directors and the Strategic Council of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) have awarded renowned architect Marlon Blackwell, FAIA, with the 2020 Gold Medal. This prize credits an individual that had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.
This year showcased how landscape architecture is shaping public life in the built environment. In the first two decades of the 21st century, landscape architects created vibrant resiliency plans, rehabilitation projects, and new urban parks. As these twenty years come to a close, 2019 embodied many larger ideas and trends that will continue to influence the next decade of landscape design.
Bauhaus: a school, a design discipline, and a movement that has been influencing generations of architects and designers for 100 years.
The school was a lot more than modernist designs and primary colors, it was a movement with a political, social, and cultural impact, led by some of the most notable figures in the field. Since its inauguration in 1919, the school has defined its own style through the intersection of architecture, art, industrial design, typography, graphic design, and interior design. When the school was forced to close its doors in the face of political pressure, its professors and students dispersed, spreading its teachings across the world.
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Open More Doors is a section by ArchDaily and the MINI Clubman that takes you behind the scenes of the world’s most innovative offices through exciting video interviews and an exclusive photo gallery featuring each studio’s workspace.
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Sky Green, WOHA’s first project in Taichung, Taiwan has just been completed. Commissioned by the developer Golden Jade, with Feng Chia University as an advisor, the project is the first green and sustainable mixed-use development in the city.
MVRDV has won the competition to redesign the Tancheon Valley and Seoul’s waterfront. Called “The Weaves”, the design was made to knit together pedestrian and bicycle paths, the natural landscapes, and public amenities. Commissioned by the government of Seoul, the design introduces a combination of natural and human activity in the midst of the city.
Use the term ‘volume builder’ in front of an architect, and there’s a fair chance they’ll shudder. Conjuring a vision of homogenous, mass-produced boxes squished together, ruining the look of leafy suburbs traditionally populated by impeccably designed homes, volume building is often seen as the poor cousin.
However, not all volume builders are cut from the same cloth.
More than 5.000 architecture projects were published in ArchDaily this year. Year after year, we curate hundreds of residential projects, and as we know our readers love houses, we compiled a selection of the most visited residential projects published on the site.
Set in various locations around the world, in urban, rural, mountain and beach landscapes; a variety of structural designs, from traditional masonry to the most technological prefabricated systems; from small dwellings to large houses and materials such as concrete, wood, and bricks as the most used. We also found their design and typology solutions were very much aligned with their specific settings and all of them share a strong dialogue between the house and nature, whether it is its direct surroundings or the introduction of green into a more condensed urban setting.
This selection of 50 houses highlights the most visited examples during these twelve months and, according to our readers, were the most attractive in innovation, construction techniques, and design challenges. Check them out below:
Qatar has been radically reshaped by growth and development. The sovereign state transformed since the second half of the twentieth century after the discovery of the Dukhan oil field in 1940. Capitalizing on over 70 years of economic development, Qatar now has the highest per capita income in the world. Reflecting the country’s wealth, its modern architectural projects are being built at a monumental scale.
Sasaki has been selected by the government of Ho Chi Minh City to conceive the innovation district in the eastern part of the city, in collaboration with enCity, an international planning practice based in Singapore and Vietnam.
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The Royal Institute of British Architects has released the names of the 2019 winners of the President’s Medals, the annual awards for the world’s best student architecture projects. To showcase these achievements, an exhibition will be held in London, from the 4th of December 2019 till the 1st of February 2020, before touring throughout the UK and internationally.
Relatively unknown outside his home country, Clorindo Testa (December 10, 1923 – April 11, 2013) was one of Argentina’s most important 20th-century architects. Consistently defying categorization, Testa had a hand in two of Buenos Aires’ most iconic buildings, the Bank of London and South America, and the National Library, as well as many others throughout his long career. Characteristically enigmatic, Testa would only ever acknowledge Le Corbusier as an influence, saying, “I never paid attention to other architects.” As a former colleague Juan Fontana described, Testa spoke the language of brutalism with an Argentine accent.
Kansas City has become the first major city in the United States to approve free public transit. Last week, the City Council voted unanimously to make the city’s bus system fare-free alongside the existing streetcar system that was launch in 2016. The Zero Fare Transit proposal aims to be a universal and system-wide fare-free scheme.
Seeking international projects that combine sustainable construction practices with architectural excellence, the LafargeHolcim Awards are open for entries to their 6th cycle through February 25, 2020. The Awards offers a total of $2 million USD in prize money to projects and concepts from architecture, engineering, urban planning, materials and construction technology, and related fields.
At the beginning of 2019, we identified 3D printing as a trend that would influence architecture in 2019. This was not a difficult prediction to make. Aside from noting a 70% increase in reader interest in 3D printing throughout the previous year, we saw how the architectural community has had a long-running engagement with 3D printing, from using the technology to tackle homelessness, to creating affordable yet complex structural connections.
This does not mean that 2019 was a "boring" year in the 3D printing world. In fact, while the influence of the technology in the architecture of 2019 was predictable, the various ways in which this influence manifested was not. Throughout the year, 3D printing seemed to appear everywhere, from spanning a canal to replicating timber, and imagining neighborhoods for Texas and Mars.
ELKA.jpg?1576139754 "Workmen carry a frame panel for a Puutalo house in northern Colombia where some 1,500 houses were constructed from 1955 to 1957 as dwellings for workers. These Puutalo homes can still be found throughout the Simón Bolívar neighborhood of Barranquilla today. Photo from 1956.. Image © ELKA")
ELKA.jpg?1576139683 "Stacks of pre-cut material stand ready and waiting for assembly in northern Colombia in 1956. Some 1,500 houses were constructed in the town of Barranquilla from 1955 to 1957 as dwellings for workers. These Puutalo homes can still be found throughout the Simón Bolívar neighborhood today.. Image © ELKA")
ELKA.jpg?1576140648 "A Puutalo house in Australia sits among a group of tall palm trees in the early 1950s.. Image © ELKA")
ELKA.jpg?1576139623 "A draughtsman finishes work on a sheet of drawings in the early 1950s at the Helsinki office of the Puutalo company.. Image © ELKA")
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.jpg?1576138345 "Fulbright Building Addition. Image © Timothy Hursley")
.jpg?1576138429 "Srygley Office Building . Image © Tim Hursley")
.jpg?1576138391 "St Nicholas Church. Image Courtesy of Marlon Blackwell Architect")
.jpg?1576138404 "The Ruth Lilly Visitors Pavilion . Image © Timothy Hursley")
_0193.jpg?1575596907 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu")
_0118.jpg?1575596723 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu")
_0109.jpg?1575596632 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu")
_0296.jpg?1575597214 "© Laurian Ghinitoiu")
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.jpg?1576051840 "© Kuomin Lee")
.jpg?1576051957 "© Kuomin Lee")
.jpg?1576052609 "© Kuomin Lee")
.jpg?1576052676 "© Kuomin Lee")
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.jpg?1575645638 "Rachel Wakelin (University of Westminster) - Avian Air – A Tropospheric Bird Sanctuary. Image Courtesy of Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)")
.jpg?1575884201 "Finbar Charleson (Bartlett School of Architecture, UCL) - London Euston. Image Courtesy of Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)")
.jpg?1575646547 "SOM foundation fellowship at part II. Image Courtesy of Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA)")
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