Guangzhou Yunxi Botanical Garden / AECOM + Architectural Design & Research Institute of SCUT + Guangzhou Landscape Architectural Design & Research Institute . Image Courtesy of AECOM
When architects are still students, a moment often marks a turning point: their first encounter with software. It's not just about learning a tool but discovering a space where ideas transcend physical models, taking shape in a digital environment and beginning a relationship many will carry throughout their careers. What happens next? Software keeps evolving, and with it, the design experience. In recent years, this evolution has accelerated—machine learning, AI, prompts, and integrated workflows have moved from the periphery to the core of design practice, becoming part of the shared language between software and users. As these tools take hold, a key question emerges: How will this reshape our experience of designing architecture in the future?
Amidst global economic adjustments and a domestic focus on high-quality development, Shanghai has implemented a strategic shift in its urban development approach—moving from 'incremental expansion' to 'connotative enhancement.' Guided by the concept of a "people-oriented city", Shanghai has elevated urban construction from mere physical space aggregation to a comprehensive endeavor aimed at optimizing functional quality, revitalizing spatial vitality, and boosting residential resilience through urban renewal initiatives. This transformation is framed not merely as a response to resource constraints but also as an intentional approach to urban development principles. Its core proposition lies in: under the policy framework of strictly controlling incremental land use, how to unleash development potential through the "reproduction" of existing spaces.
Shanghai, as one of China's most representative global cities, features an architectural vocabulary that seamlessly blends its distinctive "Haipai" (Shanghai style) urban character with an international perspective. The city boasts a rich spatial hierarchy, ranging from the micro-level of alleyways and neighborhoods to the macro-scale of urban planning. From the Suzhou Creek to the Huangpu River, every architectural landmark embodies Shanghai's unique history, culture, and vision for the future.
Throughout the year, ArchDaily's team of curators works on expanding and populating our project library. Located all around the world, each curator carefully considers the best works emanating from their respective regions in an effort to have a diverse representation of the most inspiring and innovative built works. The team looks to new rising practices, new technologies, and the vernacular revival of traditional construction techniques. Seeking socially driven initiatives, as well as major works by renowned architects, the overall offers a holistic view of the built world today and is relayed through the yearly project review.
THE LINE, Phase One Strategic Partners. Image Courtesy of NEOM
NEOM has announced the appointment of new partners to advance the city planning, design, and engineering for the initial phase of THE LINE, a core component of its region in northwest Saudi Arabia. The collaboration brings together Delugan Meissl Associate Architects (DMAA), Gensler, and Mott MacDonald, who will work alongside THE LINE's design and development teams to shape the urban landscape, offering expertise in urban design, planning consultancy, and infrastructure development.
Amsterdam is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. Its origins lie in the 12th century when fishermen living along the banks of the River Amstel built a bridge across the waterway near the IJ, then a large saltwater inlet. Most of the city’s territory is below sea level and therefore it lies on land that has been reclaimed from the water.
Amsterdam is all about practical urban planning, amazing cycling infrastructure, tulip-lined canal bridges, and old merchant houses that tilt at impossible angles. I visited Amsterdam again last year and discovered some new places.
This week's curated selection of Best Unbuilt Architecture highlights designs submitted by established architecture practices, featuring conceptual works, competition entries and projects in different stages of development. From a pollinator park designed for an EU initiative to a greenhouse residential project in Germany, to a museum in the Arctics or an innovative proposal for harvesting renewable energy in the Netherlands, the following showcases a variety of design approaches, programs and scales.
Featuring firms like Vincent Callebaut Architectures, 10 Design, Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel, or Sweco, this week's selection of unbuilt projects highlights worldwide interventions that illustrate a variety of ideas, from new models for collective housing and community-living, to design for ecology and sustainability, to community-oriented cultural architecture.
Architecture is defined by its context. This holds especially true when buildings are located in harsh climates and must respond to natural conditions. This week’s curated selection of the Best Unbuilt Architecture focuses on designs located at the intersection of nature and the built environment. Drawn from all over the world, they represent proposals submitted by our readers.
The article features a range of building types and locations, including many coastal proposals, from a regeneration plan on the South Coast of England and a proposal to link the famous Turku archipelago, to a dockside timber tower in Dublin. Also included are more extreme ideas, from an overlook on the Algarve coast to a vertical city with greenhouses located along a cliff on Mars.
Book cover, Form Follows Energy, Photo: Hatice Cody
Architecture is energy. Lines drawn on paper to represent architectural intentions also imply decades and sometimes centuries of associated energy and material flows. “Form Follows Energy” is about the relationship between energy and the form of our built environment. It examines the optimisation of energy flows in building and urban design and the implications for form and configuration. It speaks to both architectural and engineering audiences and offers for the first time a truly interdisciplinary overview on the subject, explaining the complex relationships between energy and architecture in an easy to follow manner and using simple diagrams to show how energy design strategies can be used to maximize the energy performance of our built environment, while at the same time leading to new aesthetic qualities and radically new forms in architecture and urban design. After building an understanding of the physical laws of nature underlying energy use in buildings and urban design in the initial chapters, ways and means of allowing the consideration, analysis and manipulation of natural forces in the field of design in the built environment are explored. Strategies for maximizing energy performance in the design and construction of buildings and cities are then expanded upon. The text is illustrated with many examples from research and practice, in which Brian Cody draws on 30 years of experience as an engineer and university professor. His designs have been developed in collaboration with many well-known international architectural firms, including Coop Himmelb(l)au, OMA, DMAA, David Chipperfield, MVRDV and Zaha Hadid.
In this video, Jesús Granada takes us inside the Austrian Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale. The exhibition, titled Orte Für Menschen (Places for People), focuses on the creation of innovative housing solutions required to handle Austria’s current refugee crisis. The pavilion displays three projects currently underway in Vienna, where three architect teams have been paired with NGOs to convert abandoned buildings into temporary accommodation for asylum seekers, and later, into long-term residences.
Ajman University of Science & Technology will hosting a four-day workshop by architects Mrs. Elke Delugan-Meissl and Mr. Roman Delugan of Delugan Meissl Associated Architects – DMAA February 18-22. DMAA is known for their works involving urban development and interior and industrial design. Their most recent award was for the IF Product Design Award 2012 for their IYON LED Spotlight Series for Zumtobel. In addition, Delugan Meissl will hold a public lecture and open an exhibition for their work during the period of the workshop at the university. For more information and registration, please contact workshop coordinator Dr. Jihad Awad: dr_jihadaa@yahoo.com; j.awad@ajman.ac.ae.
Two overarching factors feed into the overarching principle of urban design: the vicinity of the terrain to a traffic-intensive street axis and the western railway line and the requirement for a high density of the resulting building. In response, Delugan Meissl Associated Architects, which won the competition for this urban master plan, characterized the new interpretation of the historic district as a compact block structure, which will enter into a dialogue with their environment and be well-connected with the surrounding urban fabric and its functional characteristics. More images and architects’ description after the break.
When coming across Delugan Meissl Associated Architects’s newest book I first noticed its sheer weight and size. The second thing I noticed were the words Vol. I. Most architects would be happy/lucky enough to fill a book a quarter the size with their work. The projects range from chairs and small houses to the Porsche Museum and master planning of healthcare campuses. The introduction by Karl Jormakka gives a nice lens in which to view their work. Their work is constantly trying to elicit physiological responses “from a visceral juxtaposition of the human body with the architectural setting,” says Jormakka. In this way their work differs from many of the avant-garde architects who tie their work to French philosophers or abstract ideas from the natural sciences. Viewing DMAA’s work in this light, readers can easily explore how each project attempts to physiologically engage its users.
https://www.archdaily.com/129595/delugan-meissl-associated-architects-vol-1-delugan-meissl-associated-architectsChristopher Henry
Architecture photographer Michael Schnell shared with us his interior photos of the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart, Germany, designed by Austrian architects Delugan Meissl. The project was completed in 2008, after being awarded with the 1st prize in a 2-stage competition back in 2005.
The exhibition space we see on these photos in contained by a monolothic volume supported by a steel structure, which spans 5,600sqm to a dramatic effect as you can see on the above photo.
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.jpg?1605991377 "Nüwa City on Mars. Image Courtesy of ABIBOO Studio")
