Architectural case studies and material exemplars to spark your creativity and inspire your next project.
Formal gimmicks in architecture are a fact of life. Many are incidental; no one set out to build a s ky-high pickle, a can of ham, a drunkard’s gaping mouth, or a pair of boxer shorts. But recent trends seem to favor imbuing buildings with regionalist clichés as a form of deeper meaning. These projects aim…
rom enduring ancient monuments to a tradition of excellent products, no country in the world can boa st artisans with a deeper historical connection to fine stoneware than Italy. Within Italy, however, no one can beat the quality and innovations of manufacturer Casalgrande Padana. To celebrate their commitment to exceptional stoneware and its uses in contemporary architecture, they are now accepting entries for their 10th Grand Prix, recognizing the most technically accomplished and expressive uses of their materials in projects from 2012 to 2015.
Inflatable bouncy castles (and their adult analogs) notwithstanding, temporary structures are often an ugly, vinyl-awning / aluminum-leg affair. But pop-up or otherwise ephemeral architecture can also present an opportunity for designers to get creative. Here are some examples, culled from Marc Kushner’s The Future of Architecture in 100 Buildings, that prove that architecture doesn’t need…
It’s one thing when a work of fiction is so immersive that it’s billed as a “time machine,” but even better when going behind the scenes actually makes it more magical. Starting this weekend, “Mad Men” fans will have the opportunity set foot in the office of Don Draper. Dripping in Herman Miller, the Museum…
When the Dubai Government recently unveiled the grandly titled Museum of the Future, the building lo oked like it was missing something: A vast void pierces the center of the oval structure, designed by an unnamed architecture firm and set for construction in 2017. The distinctive shape of the building forms the latest attempt by the…
In conjunction with Bjarke Ingels / BIG’s widely praised exhibition at the National Building M useum, “HOT TO COLD. An Odyssey of Architectural Adaptation,” the New-York- and Copenhagen-based firm is pleased to release an exhibition catalog of the same name. Like the built environment, climate change affects each and every one of us, and both the…
“In this age of possibility, we can ask more from our buildings than ever before.” This is the thesis of Marc Kushner’s new book, The Future of Architecture in 100 Buildings, released yesterday, concurrently with his TED Talk. Published by Simon & Schuster, the compact book covers 100 different structures are designed to be more…
The next building you build may contain sources of fungus, invasive alien plant species, mutant frui t, or weeds. But in a good way. These materials and more are some of the main ingredients in the new generation of biopolymers and biocomposites, products that mainly comprise plant, animal, fungal, and bacterial sources that can now be…
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…