Inspiration

For centuries, ballet dancers have captivated audiences with their grace, strength, and expressive m ovement. Together with lavish costumes, sets, and music, their carefully choreographed movements tell a story. Ballet training requires tremendous discipline, physical rigor, and years of practice. Like many modern architects, contemporary choreographers pay homage to classical techniques, while infusing their work with…

Cruise ships are a rare spatial typology. Combining transportation with leisure amenities, commercia l spaces, and living quarters, these massive vessels create a unique experiential microcosm. For individuals on these pleasure voyages, ports and maritime architecture are often far from their minds. But it is these structures that must accommodate the cruise ship’s large volume of…

There’s no denying that LED technology has enabled lighting fixture designers to conjure up some inn ovative and intriguing luminaires — particularly for the wall. The slim profile and small package of chip-on-board LEDs, for instance, make for great, flat, light-emitting surfaces that, in turn, can lead to more compact or flat fixtures that don’t awkwardly…

After surviving long, intensive university programs and continuing professional development througho ut their careers, architects understand the importance of education better than anyone. It is no surprise, then, that an international competition to design a major new educational complex in Russia attracted some of the biggest firms in the world, including Dutch studio MVRDV and Japanese…

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.” The words of Vincent Van Gogh must have resonated with Hans van Heeswijk of Amsterdam-based firm Hans Van Heeswijk Architects when he sat down to develop ideas for a new addition to the museum dedicated to the world-renowned Dutch…

Columbia, Md.–based manufacturer SolarWindow Technologies recently unveiled their innovative solar t echnology that could turn every skyscraper into a solar collector.

Behind every great building there lies a story: one of diligence, determination, and creative inspir ation. Telling this story with a visceral flourish can help architects communicate concepts to clients, as well as convincing doubters and inspiring trust in the design process. One of the most powerful ways to do this in recent years has been…

While the practice of drinking tea has a long history in China, the nation’s relatively modern relationship with coffee dates back to the mid-nineteenth century, when China opened to foreign trade and Western missionaries and businessmen brought the bean to treaty ports. Among the industrialized treaty port cities, Shanghai became known as “Paris of the…

Delightful dots and diamonds are among some of the motifs one encounters in this sophisticated cemen t-tile collection from Bisazza. While the Italian company may be best known for its glass mosaics, its foray into cement tiles is proving successful thanks to smart collaborations, such as this one with French architect and designer India Mahdavi. The…