Curated lists of the best new building-products, materials and design solutions to inspire your next project.
Arctic architecture arises from its constraints. Few places across the world have such extreme envir onmental, socio-political, and material demands. While vernacular projects have been designed throughout the region for centuries, the Artic is currently experiencing intense, newfound attention, especially in architecture, planning, and infrastructure. Increasingly diminishing polar ice levels have opened up the Northern Sea…
Natural elements can wreak havoc on buildings. As architects and designers, we are always fighting w ater, solar heat gain, thermal bridging, and a number of different climatic or environmental conditions. Architecture simply does not exist outside its context; every building is sited among unique, broad systems that constantly challenge our “pure” forms. As architecture has…
Under most circumstances, you’ll find yourself waiting to fill your prescription in the basement of some big-name drugstore. Longing for natural light, you may find yourself wondering why. Perhaps for security purposes? Maybe natural light taints whatever is being dispensed? Whatever the reason, it remains an unsolved mystery. One of the ways architects have fashioned…
Architecture and faith are intimately intertwined. Countless religious structures have been erected the world over, buildings designed to venerate our deepest values and beliefs. Carefully studied by architects and occupied by the masses, these powerful monuments stand as symbols within their communities and surrounding contexts. Ranging from synagogues and mosques to cathedrals and cemeteries, religious…
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, modernism in Mexico was robust with experimentation as well as recon ciliation with the country’s traditions and history that were being endangered in the race towards modernization. Prominent Spanish architects in Mexico sought to embrace the movement and characteristics of European architects such as Le Corbusier, while being conscious of the…
The 20th century saw the birth of modern architecture, when ornate and robust houses were stripped d own to orthogonal lines and simple volumes. A pioneer of this new language was Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier, who leveraged his Five Points of Architecture to create a framework for modernism. One of the most iconic features of the…
Typical to Gothic cathedrals and Byzantine basilicas, vaults provide an open space in the ceiling th at enlarges the volume of the interior while giving resistance and structural support to walls and ceilings. From barrel and groin vaults to rib and fan vaults, each unique structural form provides an interesting variation in building ceilings that is…
Within residential buildings, one typically moves through a space in a linear progression from the m ost public to the most private spaces. In other words, the scheme of a site is generally organized from front to back: entrance, public spaces, semi-public spaces, and finally, the most private areas. This sequential journey begins at the front…
Whether a city is launching a plan to reduce fatigue-related driving accidents, or architecture stud ents decide to design and build experiential park bathrooms for their thesis project, rest stops provide a unique opportunity to design spaces where passing through means more than just a quick trip to le toilette. For drivers, hikers, and cyclists alike,…