Inspiration

Anssi Lassila has been a busy man, of late. The Finnish architect has scarcely had a chance to enjoy the all-too-short Finnish summer — the weather finally turned at the beginning of the month — as the long days can also mean longer hours in the office. As the chair of the most recent Alvar…

Few places on Earth are as beautiful and remote as Iceland. The country’s architecture is equally un ique, both formally and spatially, but also in terms of the context and communities from which buildings emerge. Both contemporary and pragmatic, the following projects stemmed from careful problem solving and thoughtful response to extreme environmental conditions. This gives…

Brooklyn-based studio Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu, otherwise known as SO – IL, is coming home. T hey have designed a new hybrid space for exhibiting and creating art in a nearby neighborhood, blending their idiosyncratic style with the urban fabric of New York City’s most populous borough. The Artes Amant Gallery will house “the production,…

The term “wireless” can be a bit misleading when describing lighting-control products: oftentimes th ey still require tinkering with wires, albeit existing ones. But electronics and lighting giant Philips has just unveiled a true, straight-out-of-the-box wireless dimmer-switch system that doesn’t require installation of any kind. Giving “The Clapper” a run for its money, the user-friendly Philips…

When William Morris completed the Red House in 19th-century London, he may not have realized the inf luence it would have on Arts and Crafts architecture across Britain, let all alone the rest of the world. However, the ideals associated with that movement have traversed the globe in the succeeding decades, and this is no more…

Building on our previous article representing the best residential projects in the Pacific Northwest , the following collection examines other landmark designs across various typologies. Whether commercial, religious, or educational in nature, each project embodies the dynamic emerging design culture found in this region. Cities like Seattle, Portland, and Vancouver have made great strides in advocating…

When New York City’s Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum underwent its redesign and renovation, it took the opportunity to address a major necessity: a substantial freight elevator for transporting monumental works. But the firms leading the project — Gluckman Mayner and Beyer Blinder Bell — needed to make the new lift accessible while preserving the…

With the recent announcement that the U.S. and Cuba have agreed to reopen their embassies, we’ve rou nded up modern designs for diplomatic architecture from around the world. Carefully straddling the line between openness and utility, these structures each try to embody a welcoming and stately architecture while remaining secure and protected. Located in both rural…

We’ve gotten used to lofty infinity pools and some pretty astonishing cantilevered baths, but aqueou s ideas are being taken to a whole new level in London courtesy of Arup Associates. In collaboration with HAL Architects, the global design and engineering firm has taken on one of its most challenging structural challenges yet: the Sky Pool,…