Pat Finn
Earthquakes? No longer a problem for Japanese fabric manufacturer Komatsu Seiren, whose showroom fac ility in Nomi, Japan, has been fitted with a carbon-fiber curtain designed by the architect Kengo Kuma. This innovative reinforcement provides added stability to the building, protecting it from damage wrought by earthquakes. “The fiber rod is said to be seven times…
Le Corbusier may have described houses as “machines for living in,” but most people take a less func tionalist attitude toward the buildings in their lives. Walking around a familiar city, architectural landmarks seem more like old friends than machines. It’s no coincidence that children’s drawings of houses often resemble faces: a door for a mouth…
For over 35 years, Chip Clark worked as the chief photographer of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, DC. Talk about an enviable position! In this role, he documented everything in the museum’s vast collection, of which only a portion is accessible to the public. He was also sent on expeditions to caves…
With Easter having passed quite recently, the idea of resurrection is perhaps on many people’s minds . Nowhere is this more true than Puglia, Italy, where one can now visit a “resurrected” early Christian basilica made of wire mesh that serves as an ethereal reminder of the area’s rich architectural history. The creator of this apparitional…
Flood prevention is a perennial concern for architects, and one that is becoming more relevant each year, as climate change continues to cause sea levels to rise and storms to rage with increasing frequency and intensity. As architects across the globe rack their brains for solutions to this dire problem, few have come up with…
New York City is known for its expansive views: Nothing approaches the modern sublime quite like tak ing in the Manhattan skyline from a Brooklyn rooftop. However, the city does not offer a comparable experience with regard to the natural world. Beautiful as Central Park is, the experience of nature one finds here is cozy and…
The competition to design the First & Broadway Civic Center Park in Downtown Los Angeles has com e down to four finalists: OMA, AECOM, Brooks + Scarpa andEric Owen Moss Architects. From cantilevered restaurants to undulating strips of raised gardens, each of the remaining proposals includes features that would dramatically change the landscape of America’s second-largest…
São Paulo Arquitetura’s recently opened Espaço Cultural Porto Seguro is a building of contrasting ar chitectural qualities. A windowless, concrete monolith, the cultural center nevertheless allows a great deal of natural light due to strategically placed folds in the asymmetrical design. A latticed wood screen on the front of the building lends texture and warmth to…
Plans for Expo 2020 in Dubai are taking shape. Organizers of the event recently announced the design s of the three major pavilions for the exposition, which were chosen from a pool of 13 submissions. The winning firms are Foster + Partners, BIG and Grimshaw, with each design following one of the three themes for the…