This thesis by Brandon Clifford posits that our conventional understanding of domesticity is in direct relation to a cultural assumption about property ownership – permanence, prosperity, growth – and, in turn, claims that this relationship is currently in a state of crisis (we move now more than ever and foreclosure rates are through the roof).  This assumption of permanence has served as the foundation for a variety of disciplines – architecture, urban planning, real-estate, the building industry – but our increasing condition of impermanence forces us to reexamine how these disciplines respond.  This project proposes a method of making that operates in direct correspondence with the ebb and flow of property fluctuations, and is demonstrated through multiple scales of architectural design. Read the rest of this entry »

A proposed environmentally friendly housing development for marginalized communities located in the foothills of Betim MC, Brazil by Architect João Diniz solves multiple design issues with a basic structure. Modular in nature the housing stacks on each other to provide improved lateral egress to the outdoors while adapting to the variations of hilly terrain. The CASEXP ecological space unit is a 12×3 meter modular which can be secured to four posts and has a front and back wall section which folds down. The units are designed to stack, providing vertical densities which also allows for the green roof to act as living space. The post foundations minimize ground disturbance and protects against storm water. Placed in a series of clusters to promote community interaction east-west orientation is emphasized to reduce solar heat gain. Read the rest of this entry »

Apavisa, one of the world’s finest high-technical porcelain manufacturers for the architectural market, recently unveiled a new concept to showcase their products at the company’s showroom in SoHo, New York City. The main concept is to show all the possibilities that the Apavisa porcelain range can offer to the current home and to customers who want to personalize their space.

Apavisa celebrated the event with distinguished guests, which included official public organizations, media, existing customers, and the general public. The attendees were delighted with the new concept and the wide range of products and architectural possibilities. Read the rest of this entry »

Elevated Brood by Paul D Nicholls is a masterful display of the application of nature inspired architecture. The structure is situated in London’s Hyde Park, on the bank of Serpentine Lake. Its combination of steel and polycarbonate support elements creates a striking architectural imagery.

The project was shortlisted in the 2007 Riba Student Awards. The Brood is the attachment, shelter and protection of a mother’s young. The Paper Nautilus was the main inspiration for the aquarium. It imitates the way it hangs its eggs from the strongest part of its shell by the placement of exhibit displays. The elevated, shell-like structure is a “brood” for the display chandeliers that can be lowered independently via remote control by the visitor. The maintenance of the fish decreases the further out onto the water they are, inside the linear repetition of the chandeliers themselves, coupled with the solar lilies, the further structures become almost completely independent. Elevated Brood also encourages a graceful use of water by forming a strong relationship with the Serpentine Lake. Read the rest of this entry »

The project for Milan’s new Museum of Contemporary Art is designed by Daniel Libeskind in cooperation with his Italian partner CityEdge. It features a vertical structure of five floors which twists from its square base and forms a circular terrace at the top. Its design references Da Vinci’s golden section, transforming in accordance to principles of self-evolution and spherical astronomy.

The most important design objective sought by city authorities and the designers was the greatest possible flexibility in order to respond to all of the, nowadays often unpredictable, needs of a space dedicated to contemporary art. This is why the five galleries of the new building are presented as stand-alone units, with a minimum height of 5.5m and equipped with complex lighting and air conditioning systems that make it possible to stage any type of exhibition while at the same time keeping the dominant line of the structure visible to the visitor, the square that becomes a circle, as it moves from the ground to the sky. Read the rest of this entry »

DSSH Bridge is designed by sanzpont [arquitectura] for the Building to Building Pedestrian Bridge International Challenge.

Dynamic Reaction: Being a flexible tensile structure, by applying more tension to different points, a technological dynamic deformation can be achieved in response to the people crossing the bridge. It becomes a living element that responds to its use.

Sustainable Design: The tensile skin incorporates Foldable Photovoltaic Solar Panels capturing energy from the sun to generate and supply electricity from a clean and sustainable energy. This makes the bridge self-sustainable. To go beyond green, the design includes Plants that clean and purify the air, transforming the pollution of the city in pure oxygen. Plants and the Breathable Membrane make a greener environment and a clean pedestrian tunnel. Read the rest of this entry »

Various Architects‘ project “Yorkshire Diamond” was a finalist in the open international competition for a mobile pavilion for Yorkshire Forward. The Yorkshire Diamond Pavilion is a unique and iconic venue that is designed to represent Yorkshire Forward at events around Yorkshire and Humber or further abroad.

The project is an attraction in itself with a striking exterior in the form of inflatable tubes arranged in the atomic structure of diamonds. The 20 x 26 x 10 meter diamond grid volume is mined out to form a cavernous interior space reminiscent of the coal mines of Yorkshire. Light and air shafts pierce the structure providing natural light and ventilation. At night the translucent shafts and outer skin radiate light in all colors and directions like a diamond twinkling in the sunlight. Read the rest of this entry »

Terreform ONE was pleased to announce the semifinalists of: Water as the 6th Borough: Open International Design Competition to Envision the Sixth Borough of New York City. The competition called for ideas for the NYC Blue Network and E3NYC, The World Largest Clean Tech Expo. The propositions ranged from: expanding waterborne transportation, linking the five boroughs with transit hubs, incorporating ferries, water taxis, bike shares, electric car-shares, and electric shuttle buses, as well as providing in-water recreation, educational events, cultural activities, pavilion halls, and climate resilience. Read the rest of this entry »

Mexico’s National Council for Culture and the Arts (CONACULTA) has announced that the “Cineteca Nacional del Siglo XXI” (National Film Archive) project has been awarded to Rojkind Arquitectos.

“To intervene and expand the National Film Archive involves understanding a substantial change in film, as suggested in the term “moving pictures”.Today, images move not only on a screen, the screens move with us; they go where we go, and the movies, have gone from being a gathering space for the masses, to also reaching us wherever we might be.

The new National Film Archive and Film Institute must understand this condition, both to ensure and protect the wealth of our country’s moving pictures as well as those of the rest of the world and to make them accessible, in all their various forms, to the general public. A place which will have movies, but which will also offer other recreational spaces, taking advantage of the latest technologies. Common spaces and spaces to promote communication. The idea is in part to remove film from its classic exhibition site: movies in the park, in the café, in the square, to transform those spaces to become more than just services related to the experience of the movies, but rather to become part of the experience itself: the park itself as a movie, or the café, or the square.

In this way, the National Film Archive becomes a space of physical and virtual connections between media and people. An interface with two key elements: the continuous ground that connects the different elements that make up the National Film Archive and the roof, that connects them in its own way.” – Alejandro Hernández Read the rest of this entry »

The recent “ArchiSUR” competition was held among the architect and designer members of the Russian social network, Vkontakte. Supported by GRAPHISOFT Russia, the objective of the “Architectural design in ArchiCAD” contest was to implement fresh visions in architecture and design using ArchiCAD. The contestants were not limited to traditional notions of reality and were free to implement the most fantastic architectural design ideas, inspired by the works of surrealistic masterpieces.

The contest received more than 100 projects by architects and designers from across Russia, Belorussia, and Ukraine. The participants competed in three categories: SUR interior, SUR exterior, and SUR idea. Voters identified three of the winning projects in each of the categories; six projects were awarded incentive prizes. Read the rest of this entry »