Matt Shaw
There is much debate among architects and theorists about what exactly architecture can do as a poli tical mechanism. Can it change the world? Or is it merely a manifestation of larger political, legal, and economic forces, played out in concrete and glass? Most of it is probably falls squarely in the latter category, but Bolivia’s…
Seasteading is an exciting new vision of building micro-utopias out at sea, leaving the traditional nation-state behind and forming libertarian communities where new economic, legal, and social systems can grow and thrive without governmental constraints. These new places come not only with their own stories about who founded them and what kind of new civilization…
The carbuncle at the World Trade Center site is well-documented and as the Transit Hub inches along, its mid-2000s aesthetic looks more and more ancient everyday. The dinosaur-like structural expressionist sculpture is eight years behind schedule and $2 billion over budget. It is set to become the crown jewel in Santiago Calatrava‘s overbudget and questionably…
Most everyone is familiar with the standard university typologies — lecture halls, dorms, libraries, gyms, student centers, etc. — but how many campuses can boast a “contemplative center?” San Francisco-based Aidlin Darling Design has recently completed The Windhover Contemplative Center at Stanford University, a uniquely programmed building meant expressly as a spiritual retreat for the…
Why is everyone watching and looking at ruin porn these days? Is it because it is so readily availab le on the internet? Is it because it is free? Or is it because it no longer means a shameful trip to the library or bookstore to seek out magazines and books full of abandoned architectural eye…
LEED is great, but the real green fun comes when intricate energy-saving design features are achieve d by committing to some early-process design decisions that make your building more fundamentally eco-friendly. This includes southern orientation, integration of heat stacks, thermal masses, and exterior solar shading that doubles as ornament. Here are some of our favorite passive…
A household name in contemporary architecture circles, Sam Jacob recently sat down to talk with Arch itizer about his ongoing work with students and drawing in the digital age. We mostly discussed his studio at Yale last semester, taught in collaboration with his FAT buddy Sean Griffiths, and how that was informed by broader notions about…
At every point in history, there has been a strong correlation between form and scientific knowledge . During the Renaissance, platonic solids were thought to be the basis of all matter: tetrahedron of fire, octahedron of air, cube of earth, icosahedron of water, dodecahedron of Heaven and the universe. Wenzel Jamnitzer’s 1568 treatise Perspectiva Corporum Regularium…
The Mall of America is home to one of the largest indoor theme parks in the world, and, like any goo d theme park, it has a roller coaster. The tracks swoop and swirl around under an enormous space frame/skylight system that mimics the outdoors without the hassle of the harsh Minnesota winter. The coaster also…