Archinect - News

An exhibition with over 300 objects designed by architects opens at Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine

2019-06-06T15:53:00-04:00

At the Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine (Architecture and Heritage City), in Paris, France, a new exhibition has opened featuring the designed objects of over 125 architects. According to the museum, which was first established in 1879 by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc, "the exhibition proposes to discover how architects fit into the decorative arts, through the design of furniture, objects and lighting of architects."

Examples of objects on display at Cité de l'Architecture et du Patrimoine.

The exhibition will be on view between until September 30th, and is complimented by several guided tours.

New Zealand photographer Cody Ellingham captures Japan's declining public housing blocks in new Danchi exhibition

2018-05-21T14:47:00-04:00

Danchi—which translates literally to "group land" but has come to refer to Japan's public housing blocks—emerged in the 1960s as the country was faced with rapid modernization and urbanization. A period of high-growth, the government built these apartment complexes in many suburban areas to offset the housing demand of a rapidly growing population.

Modeled after the apartment blocks built by the Soviet government, danchi were made from western materials and western designs; in their time, they were considered the height of modernity. Today, fewer and fewer Japanese live in the gradually aging housing, preferring other models such as single-family homes or condos. Though many of the buildings sit dilapidated and depopulated, they remain tranquil architectural giants of the cityscape.

Hirao Danchi. Photo Credit: Cody Ellingham.

Exploring over 40 of these large sites, New Zealand photographer Cody Ellingham has captured the Tokyo apartments for his new series, Danchi Dreams. While ori...

The Chicago Architecture Biennial announces special projects

2017-07-18T20:01:00-04:00

The 2017 Chicago Architecture Biennial will be open to the public and on view from September 16, 2017, through January 7, 2018 at the Chicago Cultural Center, located in downtown Chicago.

The Chicago Architecture Biennial (CAB) announces special projects, including a SO-IL and Ana Prvački collaboration and a Francois Perrin installation at the Garfield Park Conservatory, a new performance artwork by Gerard & Kelly at the Farnsworth House, and James Welling photographs and Gerard & Kelly videos at the City Gallery in the Historic Water Tower.

The Norman Foster Foundation announces a program of education initiatives

2017-07-12T14:40:00-04:00

Based in Madrid and operating globally, The Norman Foster Foundation is a non-profit promoting holistic education and interdisciplinary thinking and research.

Followed from the Future is Now forum held in Madrid's Royal Theater on the 1st of June, Mayor of Madrid and Lord Foster brought together leading figures in the fields of science, design, architecture, politics, art, economics and history, to a capacity audience of 2,000 and 75,000 online viewers.

With the support of the Rolex Institute, the Foundation will host week-long events in its Madrid Headquarters in November 2017. Grants will be awarded to ten students from around the world for a series of talks, think tanks and workshops led by key individuals, including Norman Foster, on issues such as the city, infrastructure, mobility and technology.

The Norman Foster Foundation. Image courtesy of the NFF

In October 2017 the Foundation will feature an exhibit titled Common Futures in Madrid's Espacio Fundacion Telefonica. Create...

The new exhibition at the National Building Museum, 'Architecture of an Asylum', explores the links between mental health and architecture

2017-07-10T17:58:00-04:00

Dix made sure the hospital that became St. Elizabeths in 1916 had heat, tall arched windows and screened sleeping porches where patients could catch summer breezes. Photos, models and floor plans included in the museum exhibit show handsome brick buildings — with towers, high ceilings, open space and river views.

Washington's National Building Museum features an exhibit that tells the story of architecture of St. Elizabeths or, as originally named upon its opening in 1855, the Government Hospital for the Insane.

Started by Dorothea Dix, the 19th century reformer who fought for the facility to represent healthier standards for mental health treatment, the history of the federally-operated hospital bears traces of America's changing healthcare system, evolving theories of how to care for the mentally ill, as well as the later reconfiguration of the campus as a federal workplace and mixed-use urban development.

The porches of the 1890s Allison Buildings, shown above in 1910, were later enclosed to provide more space for patient beds. Image courtesy of National Building Museum

"Some things cannot be cured," says Denise Everson, an architect in the D.C. area who specializes in design and health. "But I think humane treatment — I think, creative treatment — is where we should go as a community, as...

The New York Times reviews MoMA exhibit, Latin America in Construction: Architecture 1955-1980

2015-05-01T11:12:00-04:00

The exhibition recalls an earlier era when architects there believed that social challenges should be tackled by design, that humane societies deserved beautiful new forms, and progressive development put faith in art, nature and the resilience of ordinary people.

Michael Kimmelman of The New York Times wrote a review on the recent MoMA exhibit, ‘Latin America in Construction: Architecture 1955-1980’. The exhibit highlights the work of Oscar Niemeyer, Lina Bo Bardi, Eladio Dieste, Rogelio Salmona and others who helped define Latin American modern architecture. On display are photographs, videos, drawings, blueprints and models. Some models shown in Kimmelman's article feature the work of University of Miami students who collaborated with MoMA on this exhibit.

Major exhibition on polymath designer Norman Bel Geddes to open at MCNY

2013-09-06T13:38:00-04:00

The "Norman Bel Geddes: I Have Seen the Future" exhibition will open at the Museum of the City of New York starting Oct. 16. Presented by MCNY and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin, it will be the first major exhibition to explore the life and multi-faceted career of the man whose futuristic designs shaped the image of modern America during the early half of the 20th century.

This event is also in promotion through Archtober, a festival of architectural and design programs, exhibitions, and activities happening throughout New York City in the month of October.

Curated by MCNY's Donald Albrecht (Curator of Architecture and Design), the five-part exhibition will begin with Bel Geddes' birth in 1893 and the early stages of his creativity, then delve into his prime decades from the 1920s-1940s, and finally end with his post-war-period works until his death in 1958.

Receiving barely any academic training, Bel Geddes created revolutionary theatrical, indus...

Richard Rogers' Homeshell built in 24 hours at London's Royal Academy

2013-08-20T14:33:00-04:00

The pre-fabricated, flatpack homes of Pritzker laureate Richard Rogers are a centerpiece for his 50-year retrospective, “Richard Rogers: Inside Out”, currently at London's Royal Academy of Arts until Oct. 13. The homes, which are an adaptation of his 2007 Oxley Woods housing development, are described as "stepping away from the traditional mud and mess of the domestic building site" and with a full list of pros: easily adaptable, lightweight, energy-efficient, low-cost, fire- and water-retardant, even earthquake and hurricane-proof, and of course, innovative -- just to name a few.

The pieces of the 3-story technicolor Homeshell arrived at the RA last week. It was fully assembled within 24 hours, making a clear statement in the debate for the wider availability of cost- and energy-efficient, mass-production homes in Britain.

Watch the video below to see a time-lapse of the house's construction.
And click here for another video that gives an exclusive look into Rogers' retrospe...

A. Quincy Jones' LA retrospective at the Hammer Museum

2013-08-16T19:41:00-04:00

"A. Quincy Jones: Building for Better Living" is the LA-based architect's first major museum retrospective happening now until Sept. 8 at the Hammer Museum.

Practicing architecture in Los Angeles from 1939 to his death in 1979, Jones -- or Quincy, as he was known -- is described as a quiet modernist who constantly emphasized the concept of "better living" and collaboration in his work. In addition to Jones' more glamorous projects for higher-status clients like actor Gary Cooper and art collectors Frances and Sidney Brody, Jones also made major contributions to middle-class housing in the post-war period.

A dedicated architecture professor at USC, Jones was just as committed to raising the housing design standards for a growing middle class by implementing cost-effective, sustainable, and inventive methods. He was also the first to see such developments as communal spaces through shared green spaces, non-grid site planning, and various home models.

Jones is credited to ove...

Housing Values: The "Dream House Resource Center" exhibit

2013-08-15T19:37:00-04:00

As for what she wants visitors to get out of the exhibit, Koumoundouros just hopes it will help them think about -- even question -- how much our economy is based on the housing market. 'Ownership and consumption are linked to how much our economy is consumed based," she argues. "[This view of housing] is so specifically American. And I love digging that out, and I think questioning it is part of maybe a shift.'

The phrase "a place to call home" rings loud and clear in the "Dream House Resource Center" exhibit by artist Olga Koumoundouros currently at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles until August 18. Her exhibit focuses on the commodification of the home in America through the context of America's struggling housing industry and its widespread consequences. The idea came from Koumoundouros' own housing hardships, when her partner was laid off from his architecture job right after they purchased a house in the same week.

Visitors are welcomed in by the giant colorful McMansion doors that Koumoundouros refurbished surrounded by transparent walls. A white board on one side displays the latest headlines and stats in housing. A rainbow-colored timeline of 20th-century American housing on the walls wraps around the exhibit, each strand of the rainbow explaining the different factors leading up to the current state of the U.S. housing industry -- from the idealistic outlook of achieving The...

Mathias Klotz: "The Poetics of Boxes" exhibit opens next month

2013-08-13T16:25:00-04:00

"The Poetics of Boxes" is the first monographic exhibit in Europe of the work of Mathias Klotz, currently one of Chile's most acclaimed international architects. The exhibit opens on Sept. 13 at Aedes Berlin.

The upcoming exhibit will reveal the design approaches and methods of Klotz's characteristic works, as described in the press release below.

"The Poetics of Boxes
Mathias Klotz, Chile

Location: Aedes am Pfefferberg, Studio, Christinenstr. 18-19, 10119 Berlin
Exhibition dates: September 13 – October 17, 2013
Opening: Friday, September 13, 2013, 6:30 PM
Opening hours: Tue-Fri 11 AM – 6:30 PM, Sat/Sun, 1 – 5 PM

Klotz’s works are characterised by their structural clarity. The distinct volumes and lines of his buildings correspond with perfect conceptual rigour to the landscape. In the exhibition this cosmopolitan from the Pacific presents his approaches and working methods..."

"Alongside his work as an architect for over thirty years, Mathias Klotz is also active as a ...

The Nocturnal Face of Architecture: AWP's "Vers un climat" exhibit opens this month

2013-08-07T19:37:00-04:00

Cities can transform into an entirely new place once it's nighttime, sometimes to the point of disorientation that you wonder if you're still in the same city. The upcoming "Vers un climat: Building (With) The Unstable" exhibit at Cornell University presented by award-winning interdisciplinary practice AWP explores the alluring atmosphere of the urban nightscape to illustrate how structures can evolve, change, and perform as active participants in our cities.

"Vers un climat" is based on years of in-depth research by AWP founders Marc Armengaud, Matthias Armengaud, and Alessandra Cianchetta, who continuously explore how intangible elements like climate, time, and light affect architectural design.

The exhibit will showcase AWP's realized and proposed designs that convey the practice's recurring themes of impermanence, evolution, and the uncontrollable. Featured projects include The Lantern Pavilion in Norway, the Troll installation pieces, the LAM Museum sculpture park, a...

PLANT ARCHITECT’S EXHIBIT OPENS AT HARBOURFRONT CENTRE

2012-10-04T11:00:00-04:00

On 29 September 2012, the Architecture Exhibition Fall 2012 opened at Harboufront Centre in Toronto. Curated by Patrick Macaulay, BREATHTAKING: Constructed Landscapes features PLANT Architect Inc.’s installation Lenticular Curtain alongside the works of architects Baird Sampson Neuert, Idea Tank Design Collective, and visual artist Vid Ingelevics.

BREATHTAKING: Constructed Landscapes explores the use of architecture in defining and directing how people view and understand nature and landscape. In response to the curatorial question “How can architecture create an awe-inspiring experience through the placement of built form within the landscape?”, PLANT Architect Inc. designed an immersive architecture meant to overwhelm, infuse, inhabit, and amplify the landscape. Lenticular Curtain is a larger-than-life, interactive lantern—a sculptural intervention that, when entered, disturbs and distorts multiple landscapes in order to form new ones. The central role of the visitor, whether ...