Digital spaces and fabrication technology have become as prominent as ever within the current state of our post-pandemic society, becoming increasingly more accessible and enabling quick and spontaneous acts of iteration and evolution. These technologies have resulted in the ability to mass-produce non-standard, highly differentiated building components within the same facility as their standardized counterpart, transforming how buildings and their respective components are conceived, designed, and represented, and how they are manufactured, assembled, and produced.
The beauty of digital fabrication is its ability to blend aspects of mass and artisanal production to the point where costs nearly disappear. Technology's capacity to fabricate so simply and almost seamlessly raise the issues for its potential to significantly alter our current perception of architecture, thus producing the question: has the influence of mass production in architecture resulted in an impoverishment of design?
What exactly is Architectural Studies ? A controversial method of Architectural study, the subject encompasses every element of architectural education for extensive understanding yet does not comply with RIBA accreditation. This includes elements of design for the understanding of plans/architectural drawings, but it does not continue to prioritize this in later stages of the degree. The rigorous study of every aspect of Architecture within the engineering field, predominantly focused on research rather than design and build.
Architecture is an Art and Science that needs to be addressed in every sense. Its vast history, sociological involvement, creative nature and scientific discourse. Yet why exactly are those who study in this format or those who stray from the design path not regarded as Architects ?
Cedric Price. Potteries Thinkbelt. Cedric Price fonds, Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal. Image Courtesy of CCA
All buildings move — of course, some more than others. There are a host of design considerations that architects keep in mind that allow for, or even promote movement in almost every building. But some architects fall back on their training as broad-based thinkers and problem solvers to devise solutions that literally roam the earth. From tiny homes on wheels, to train-based educational institutions, to design programs in a truck, sometimes buildings and architecture need to travel to the people it serves or to other environments. This video features a few examples on this spectrum, beginning with how architects typically deal with movement in structures and foundations, to Cedric Price's Potteries Thinkbelt, and finally Chicago Mobile Makers, a traveling maker workshop for children founded by Maya Bird Murphy.
While research seems intrinsic to the design process, architectural research is a professional path in itself, whose purpose is to highlight scientific evidence and explore alternatives outside of pre-established norms or empirical considerations. Its purpose is to create a framework of knowledge that can inform the design to reach objectively better outcomes. The following discusses the role and state of research in architecture, some prominent areas of inquiry, and the architects or institutions that dedicate their work to these subjects.
Ennead Architects has been selected to design the new headquarters of electronics designer and manufacturer Xiaomi in Shenzhen. The winning design, which was a competition entry held in celebration of the company's 10th anniversary, reflects the relationship between technology and daily life by integrating a digital interface into the fabric of the building. The structure resembles a Rubik's cube with a 360-degree LED screen surrounding the building's podium, representing Xiaomi's success and aspirations for the future.
As Found Houses: Experiments from Self-builders in Rural China . Image Courtesy of RIBA
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced the winners of the 2021 President's Medal and Awards for Research, highlighting the best research concerning architecture and the built environment. The President's Medal was awarded to John Lin and Sony Devabhaktuni from the University of Hong Kong for their research project As Found Houses, which explores vernacular practices in rural China. Two more awards were granted to the development of an ethics guide for architectural practitioners and a study of thin-tile vaulting in Cuba.
Fotografía base via Wikipedia. Autor: AngMoKio. Licencia bajo CC BY-SA 2.5 . Image Cortesía de 90Grados Arquitectura-Renderings
90Grados specialises in creating high-quality architectural renderings - and this time they present the virtual construction of a skyscraper that was left unfinished in New York after the Great Depression of 1929: the Metropolitan Life North Building.
Captain's House. Image Courtesy of Vector Architects
In 2014, a home reconstruction program called "Dream home" was launched in China, inviting architects and interior designers to redesign some old houses that have problems. Some of these homes are oddly shaped, some are tiny, and yet others have extremely inadequate lighting. The design concepts conveyed by the designers together in this program are respect for people, understanding human relationships, and the definition of home. These renovations or reconstructions are not just home updates for clients, but a reinterpretation of "home" that gives them a new life with dignity.
In terms of Covid, 2022 is more likely to be like 1920 than like 2020 or 2021. "Change or die" is a cliché, but often a true one. The past two years under the pandemic have forced many kinds of changes across society that may have helped prevent a lot of deaths. But many other aspects of our culture had already been changing in ways that predated the pandemic, gradual shifts that, once Covid hit, became instant and ubiquitous: remote work, remote learning, the dominance of online shopping and the death of brick-and-mortar retail, the obsessive focus on health and well-being. All of this, and more, is now a fundamental aspect of our daily lives.
Whether or not architecture is an art, buildings and spaces shape daily life. Pushing the boundaries of architecture and the categorization of art, contemporary investigations between disciplines are rethinking tradition. As transformations grounded in human experience, these installations and structures share qualities of purpose, function and creative expression. At the same time, they reorient the limitations and possibilities of each profession.
Istanbul, Turkey. Image via Shutterstock by kukuruxa
Bloomberg Philanthropies has announced the 15 winning innovations of its 2021-2022 Global Mayors Challenge. Hailing from six continents, the chosen projects "seek improvements in the areas of economic recovery and inclusive growth, health and well-being, climate and environment, and gender and equality". The winning cities include Istanbul, Rotterdam, Butuan, and Wellington, and will all receive $1 million and external support to develop their programs.
Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@eejermaine?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Jermaine Ee</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/central-park?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a> . ImageCentral Park
Earlier this month, a series of cities worldwide have revealed various initiatives that would help them better understand the effects of climate change and shape a more environmentally conscious environment. From several American cities creating digital twins to help curb carbon emissions to the city of Brighton mandating bee bricks to foster biodiversity and Central Park becoming a laboratory for studying climate change adaptation in urban parks, cities take on a multidisciplinary and multi-scalar approach to environmental issues.
Designing houses in tropical climates, as is the case in Brazil, means paying special attention to openings, both in relation to the functioning and conviviality of the house, as well as in relation to issues of environmental comfort. In this article we bring you 16 Brazilian homes that take advantage of their strategic openings to create cozy, stunning, well-lit and ventilated environments.
The United States Artists Fellowship Award is an annual grant that recognizes the "most compelling artists working and living in the United States, in all disciplines, at every stage of their career". Every year, individual artists are anonymously nominated to apply by a diverse group of scholars, critics, producers, and other arts professionals. Among the 63 recipients of 2022, 5 were selected from the fields of architecture and design with the aim of strengthening and enriching the industry and their communities.
Latrinas medievais. Image Cortesia de Geopizza, usada sob os termos de "fair use"
The bathrooms that we usually have in our homes are legacies of European colonization around the world. Its current form, however, dates back millennia and would not have been possible without investments and the evolution of basic sanitation.
The health of a population is directly related to the physical environment it inhabits, as stated by Hippocrates in his text “Ares, waters and places”, written during the 5th century BC, in which the Greek thinker known as the 'father of medicine', states that in order to properly investigate health and the cause of disease it is necessary to observe and understand the inhabited environment from the seasons, the wind, the water, its geographical position, the land and the landscape and also the habits of the people who live there. Each civilization has developed a way of dealing with what we understand by sanitation today, depending on its time and also on its geographical, cultural, political and economic context.
A look inside Plethora Project's Common'hood, an immersive multiplayer game centered on building a new community inside an abandoned factory after an economic collapse.. Image Courtesy of PLETHORA PROJECT
Michael Beneville opened his studio in the Flatiron district of New York City a decade ago. The renovated two-floor office has 20-foot-high ceilings, custom furniture, and a wall of arched windows that look out onto 19th Street. Beneville and his team haven't been inside the studio together on a regular basis for months—at least not physically. The employees of the small creative studio, known for its design work on immersive experiences like Las Vegas's mega–entertainment complex AREA15, are scattered across the country due to the pandemic, but they regularly gather in a virtual replica of the studio for meetings, sitting around a digital table, their avatars carrying digital cups of coffee.
© Anna Beeke 
© João Guimarães 
