Archinect - News

What is World Architecture Day doing for architecture?

2019-10-07T12:45:00-04:00

Every year the International Union of Architects (UIA) reminds the globe to celebrate World Architecture Day (WAD). However, like most annual holidays that generate a large amount of interest within a 24-hour period, but quickly fade away as the day ends, there's hope that this year's festivities will be longer-lived. Which makes sense: With the profession's laundry list of existential concerns—climate change, equity in practice, and goals for decarbonizing the built environment—seemingly never-ending, how can one day address its theme in addition to these other issues?

Commonly celebrated every first Monday in October, WAD also coincides with United Nations World Habitat Day, a revealing detail that perhaps puts the day into a more significant context. According to the UIA's site, the day helps address one of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals, "to make cities and human settlements safe, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable."It is with this idea in mind that this year's theme ...

MVRDV makes 5 proposals for resiliency in San Francisco Bay Area

2018-09-13T19:00:00-04:00

At San Francisco's Global Climate Action Summit yesterday, MVRDV presented a report offering 5 recommendations to Bay Area officials on the region’s plans for a resilient future. Their report, titled Too Much + Too Little, was created as part of the NL Resilience Collective. Below are the firm's 5 proposals for the city:

1. Update long-term plans to include water management and climate adaptation
2. Install a Bay Area Resiliency Commissioner
3. Understand your system
4. Develop a set of design principles for local communities across the bay
5. Start both big and small

Read the full descriptions for each recommendation here.

Projected statistics on building for massive urban density in 2050

2018-08-27T13:28:00-04:00

If you live or work in a city, then you probably see the impact of growing urbanization every day—gridlock traffic, construction cranes peppering the skyline, soaring housing costs. Sure, these are major challenges and annoyances for city dwellers, but they also represent a huge opportunity for the global architecture, engineering, and construction industry: one that requires building the future for a 10-billion-person planet.

According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 68% of the world population are projected to live in urban areas by 2050. Autodesk explores the implications for architectural growth in this timeframe with market research firm Statista. Take a look at the projected statistics on building for this massive upcoming urban density.

3 Canadian mayors join global leaders in signing net zero carbon buildings pledge

2018-08-24T14:46:00-04:00

Today, 3 Canadian mayors, alongside 16 mayors from around the world, representing 130 million urban citizens, committed to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions from their cities by ensuring that new buildings operate at net zero carbon by 2030 [...] Buildings in urban areas are one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions, and typically account for over half of a total city’s emissions on average. I

Mayors from 19 cities around the world have now signed the Net Zero Buildings Declaration, which also pledges to ensure all buildings will meet net-zero carbon standards by 2050. A net zero building uses energy efficient design by drawing from renewable sources to meet performance needs. These commitments are an essential goal of the Paris Agreement and controlling global temperature rise.

Cities pledged include: Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Copenhagen, Johannesburg, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Newburyport, Paris, Portland, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Monica, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Tshwane & Washington D.C.

Affordable 3D-printed housing model debuts at SXSW

2018-03-12T18:56:00-04:00

ICON has developed a method for printing a single-story 650-square-foot house out of cement in only 12 to 24 hours, a fraction of the time it takes for new construction. If all goes according to plan, a community made up of about 100 homes will be constructed for residents in El Salvador next year. The company has partnered with New Story, a nonprofit that is vested in international housing solutions.

Today at SXSW, The first model is scheduled to be unveiled by Austin-based startup ICON. The company uses the Vulcan 3D printer in order to generate an entire home for $10,000 with plans to bring costs down to $4,000 per house. Using concrete rather than plastic, the model features a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and a curved porch.

Detail of concrete layers on 3D printed house by ICON, in Austin, TX. Image: Icon.

Once testing is complete on their model, the Vulcan printer will be moved to El Salvador to begin construction. ICON also intends to build homes in the US.

Rendering of 3D-printing houses using the Vulcan 3D printer. Image: ICON.

Architecture as forensic evidence in global crimes against humanity

2018-02-26T15:22:00-05:00

Forensic Architecture [...] is an agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London. The organisation’s founder and director is Eyal Weizman, a British-Israeli architect. Its primary mission is research, to “develop evidentiary systems in relation to specific cases”; in so doing, it acts as “an architectural detective agency”, working with NGOs and human rights lawyers to uncover facts that confound the stories told by police, military, states and corporations.

Weizman conceives of his work as an alternative practice, aiming to create a sub-discipline of architecture using architectural evidence in cases of war crimes or other human rights violations. Calling their activity "counter-forensics", the organization does not take commissions from governments or corporations and does not take political sides leaving them with many enemies.

“We think that architects need to be public figures [...] They should take positions, whatever they do. We map the most extreme and violent forms" explains Weizman.

Reconstruction by Forensic Architecture of the bombing of Rafah, Gaza, 1 August 2014. Image: Forensic Architecture.

Originally focused in Israel and Palestine, Forensic Architecture has taken their practice global to wherever their services are needed such as Kassel, Syria, the disappearance of a student in Mexico, a lethal factory fire in Karachi, and a detention center in Cameroon.

We live in a world where almost everything is exposed to view a...

Can Cleveland combat climate change with compact communities?

2016-10-18T12:54:00-04:00

Although Cleveland often serves more as a punchline than a solution (the Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969 due to pollution), a climate change conference convened by the United Nations and currently being held in Quito, Ecuador sees new potential in the city. As StreetsBlog reports, if Cleveland can transform its current suburbia into denser neighborhoods, the metropolis could serve as a model for numerous water and climate-challenged cities in how to adapt to the demands of an increasingly populated globe. As a paper entitled "Where to put the next billion people" states:

"Cleveland could play a significant role in the fight against climate change by developing a strategy for more compact communities and with a more open and encouraging immigration policy, the report concludes.

The influx of immigrants should probably be planned better.

Cleveland’s outer suburbs and nearby rural towns hold the key. If the suburbs can figure out strategies to retrofit themselves as dense, walkable com...

When the next disaster strikes, how resilient would future-proof cities in the U.S. be?

2015-08-14T14:45:00-04:00

'There is no one size fits all approach — every region is completely different...' Hurricane Sandy underlined the urgency by ruthlessly exposing New York's structural weaknesses...California also suffered as historic droughts settled in, and the 2014 wave of winter storms terrorized the North, emphasizing that extreme conditions were here to stay and could strike anywhere. This bought the U.S. into line with the global situation.

The 2014 Buckminster Fuller Challenge semi-finalists

2014-08-27T21:14:00-04:00

The next edition of the prestigious Buckminster Fuller Challenge has already begun! Every year, the highly competitive international challenge searches for the most inventive -- and effective -- holistic solution strategies to the world's most pressing problems. The Challenge Review Committee selected 20 semi-finalist initiatives out of 450 proposals worldwide. Each project went through three rounds of rigorous evaluations.

See the rest of the projects and other details on Bustler.

11 Reasons the UN Should Make Cities the Focus of Its Forthcoming Sustainable Development Goals

2014-04-17T13:44:00-04:00

Last week I attended the seventh World Urban Forum in Medellín, Colombia, where more than 20,000 city leaders, urbanists, and planners from more than 160 countries met to discuss the future of cities across the globe. [...] Unfortunately, a number of important countries, the U.S. and Canada among them, remain worryingly undecided about joining this widespread call for a city-specific SDG from countries as diverse as Germany, Colombia, and Ghana.

Autodesk Foundation established to further support impact-design organizations

2014-03-07T18:16:00-05:00

Major 3D design software company Autodesk recently announced the launch of the Autodesk Foundation to further invest in influential individuals and non-profit organizations who use impactful design to find solutions for various pressing global issues. And to increase contribution to the Foundation's goals, Autodesk will encourage their more than 7,000 employees worldwide to volunteer with or donate to their organizations of choice.

Through the Impact Design Program, the Foundation will collaborate and provide select design-oriented non-profit groups with software, training, and funding to support the group's causes. Some of the Foundation's first grantees include initiatives like KickStart International, MASS Design Group, D-Rev, and the 20K House project from Auburn University's Rural Studio.

The Foundation will also incorporate Autodesk's Technology Impact program. Established during the 2013 Clinton Global Initiative, the Technology Impact program committed to donating $7.5 million...