In-depth case studies on amazing architecture and the building-products that helped make it a reality.
OMA’s brand of provocative, program-driven design made a bold mark on their home territory last year as the enormous De Rotterdam complex rose to mixed reviews on the waterfront of Europe’s largest port. The building polarized opinions across the board but has achieved critical acclaim from some of the most influential quarters, garnering nominations for…
Not many parts of the world have yet to be touched by the influential hand of Dame Zaha Hadid, but C entral America had been one of them … until now. Following her first foray into South America — the proposal for a spine-like condominium in Rio de Janeiro was revealed late last year — the…
“Seven is my lucky number; it was on my soapbox derby as a kid,” quipped Joseph Farrell, AIA, during the opening celebration of the Center for Architecture Sarasota (CFAS). This was not just an offhand comment from one of the building’s original designers who was pointing up at the seven-foot sculpted overhangs brightened by a…
There has been much talk recently about the challenges posed by an exploding global population and t he rapid urbanization of precious land all over the world. This situation has raised inevitable questions for architects and urban planners looking for design-led solutions, asking how our cities could evolve: should we build up or build out? Now,…
It is often said that we should learn to appreciate the journey rather than being preoccupied with o ur final destination. With that in mind, Onion Co. Ltd. — the firm behind a new boutique hotel in their native Thailand — appears to have taken this philosophy to heart, creating a retreat in which the interconnecting…
Most everyone is familiar with the standard university typologies — lecture halls, dorms, libraries, gyms, student centers, etc. — but how many campuses can boast a “contemplative center?” San Francisco-based Aidlin Darling Design has recently completed The Windhover Contemplative Center at Stanford University, a uniquely programmed building meant expressly as a spiritual retreat for the…
The best retreats on the planet have the capability to make you feel you have been flung down Alice’ s proverbial rabbit hole, as though you’ve been sucked into another universe entirely. Now, architect Espen Folgerø has taken this sensation to whole new level, compelling anyone who wishes to take in the incredible views from his…
Last week, Copenhagen became the most recent city to experience the damaging effects of a wave of an ti-Semitism that has proliferated across Europe starting last month. Two people were killed and five police officers were injured as a result of an attack that left Denmark in complete shock; one of those killed was a Jewish…
Shopping centers have long been a source of conflict and contradiction for architects. Successful ma lls are celebratory cathedrals of consumerism that, for all their vitality, can suck the lifeblood out of the surrounding cityscape and transform high streets into ghost towns. The functional motivation of malls is at once glamorous and gluttonous, often necessitating aesthetics…