-
High Performance Spaces: concert halls and opera houses that hit the right note
If music be the food of love, then where better to dine out than a world-class concert hall or opera house? Here, Architonic examines a number of recently completed architectural projects that perform as hard as the artists who take to their stages. Play on.
Lire
-
Spectacular Vernacular: contemporary applications of craft-based building methods
There was a time when context was everything in construction. Local materials were transformed by the ambition and skill of the builder into a functional, stylistically appropriate structure. In the face of an, at times seemingly inexorable, movement towards a homogenous, global design language in architecture, a number of architects have recently completed projects that embrace low-tech, craft-based building methods to add real environmental and cultural value.
Lire
-
Support Structures: architecture's role in the healing process
Good architecture creates environments that are, among other things, enjoyable to spend time in and practical to use, and in no scenario is this more important than the provision of treatment or support for those dealing with illness or trauma. Architonic examines some of the ways in which intelligent architecture and design can help to ensure a positive prognosis for the future of healthcare by creating buildings that are good for body and mind.
Lire
-
Real Terms: the authentic approach of architects Carmody Groarke
'Emerging', 'the ones to watch' and 'the stars of tomorrow' are just some of the labels that have been applied of late to young London-based architectural practice Carmody Groarke. Founded just four years ago, the studio has more than proved its creative credentials by delivering a series of high-profile, conceptually strong projects, which serve to question as much as they resolve. As nice as it is to have one's work recognised, Kevin Carmody and Andy Groarke maintain that 'staying close to the projects in hand are the things which we concern ourselves with. Not what people are saying about us.' Here, Architonic invites them to speak for themselves.
Lire
-
The Presence of Absence: Detroit's haunting architectural relics
There's faded grandeur. And then there's Detroit. Once the fourth-largest city in the US, its spectacular economic and social decline is writ large in the disintegration of its architectural fabric. With its former manufacturing industries decimated and parts of downtown Detroit becoming a depopulated wasteland, leading American photographer Sean Hemmerle has created 'Rust Belt' a series of compelling images – at times poetic, at others unnverving – of the city's former urban glory, both industrial and residential. His striking work serves as both architectural record and effective social commentary.
Lire
-
Hole Lot of Sense: smart uses for perforated façades and partitions
Perforated walls, panels and screens have been used for centuries as a way to control the level of light entering a building or to offer privacy to the occupants. The functions of perforations have remained largely the same, but the materials and methods of manufacture have altered considerably. No longer cut or carved by hand, developments in computer-controlled technologies mean that detailed patterns can now be quickly and easily etched into various materials for interior or exterior use. Architonic looks at some recent projects demonstrating the contemporary effects that can be achieved using perforated materials.
Lire
-
Neo Geo: geodesic construction in contemporary architecture
The principles of geodesic construction were developed by the pioneering American architect and engineer R Buckminster Fuller in the middle of the last century as part of his efforts to use science and technology to address universal issues. His vision has inspired successive generations of architects and geodesic designs have played a fundamental role in defining the architectural landscape of the past few decades. Architonic takes a look at some recent projects that combine the brilliance of Buckyʼs ideas with twenty-first century technology, resulting in complex yet efficient structures with a futuristic aesthetic.
Lire
-
New Éire: Ireland's modernist self-fashioning revisited
Ireland is in a reflective mood these days. With the island nation on the edge of Europe facing up to the reality of a severely damaged economy and a decimated construction industry, nostalgia is doing what it's wont to do...
Lire
-
Quiet Musings: Andres Lepik
A series of new architecture commissions and exhibitions suggests that museums might no longer be in the business of pageantry. In this first part of a short series examining post-spectacle museums, Museum of Modern Art contemporary architecture curator Andres Lepik discusses his new show 'Small Scale, Big Change', and how its earnest perspective aligns with his department’s vision.
Lire
-
Viaducts: new urban encounters
An intelligent approach to repurposing disused viaducts is providing a number of cities with new public spaces that delight users with fresh and intriguing perspectives of familiar urban landscapes. Architonic examines how such projects, in turning us into contemporary flaneurs, make us rethink our relationship with the city.
Lire
-
Bricking It: innovative applications of man’s most trusted material
Brick is one of the most ancient and familiar building materials known to man, and its strength, character and flexibility of use continue to attract architects working on innovative contemporary buildings. Architonic examines some key projects that demonstrate the benefits of building with brick.
Lire
-
Death by Architecture
Shuffling off this mortal coil is something we all, sadly, have to do. There's no opting out. But while mortality might be a great leveller, a number of architects have shown recently how designing environments that process death – be it in practical or psychological terms – can be elevated above the uninspired builds that we've been used to, which have all to easily embraced historicism or, perhaps worse, anonymity. Architonic presents a selection of projects that put some life back into designing for the dead.
Lire
-
Help the Aged: innovative adaptive reuse in architecture
'Waste not, want not' is an expression that has become increasingly pertinent in recent years as economic conditions have forced many of us to tighten our belts and make the most of what we have, rather than constantly replacing old with new. This attitude of thrift extends to architecture in the form of adaptive reuse – the conversion of an old building into something better suited to contemporary requirements. Here, we examine some recently completed, ongoing and future projects that show how imagination and intelligent design can deliver striking transformative effects.
Lire
-
Erst Moskau, dann die Welt: Corporate Architecture der neuen Yandex Büros
Google sucht zur Abwechslung einmal selbst: Nach mehr Usern, denn im Gegensatz zu Googles Vorherrschaft in anderen Ländern ist der Marktanteil in Russland bei ca. 20 % stagniert.
Die russische Suchmaschine Yandex hingegen hat einen Marktanteil von 62%. Den neuen Yandex Firmensitz in Jekaterinenburg entwarfen za bor architects aus Moskau.
Lire
-
Right on So Many Levels: innovative car-park design
When Joni Mitchell sang that 'they paved paradise and put up a parking lot', she neatly expressed our none-too-positive relationship with that most modern of building types, the car park. Architonic invites you to pull up to the bumper and take a look at a number of recent parking-garage projects that attempt to put a bit of love back into it all.
Lire
-
Sporting Chance?: the challenge of legacy-building in international stadium design
As the cost of hosting major sporting events continues to rise, the need for something positive to be left behind once the fun and games are over becomes ever more vital. Architonic examines past and future events and the differing approaches to planning, designing, adapting and repurposing venues and infrastructure in order to create a medal-winning sporting legacy.
Lire
-
Quiet Musings: Brad Cloepfil
A series of new architecture commissions and exhibitions suggests that museums are no longer in the business of pageantry. In this second part of a series examining post-spectacle museums, architect Brad Cloepfil talks about the phenomenon of 'collecting' cultural architecture, and how his own museum designs aim both for spectacle and counterpoint with it.
Lire
-
Bucharest: The 2010 Mix
In the world of design, China's rapid-manufacturing prowess and the oil-fuelled 'tabula rasa' urban developments of countries such as the UAE and Kazakhstan have given cause for thought in a typically Western-dominated field. But what of the countries bridging East and West? What of their design credentials? Turkey may grab the headlines for its EU tug-of-war and glossy design events, but it is the independent, cut-and-paste eclecticism of one of its Black Sea neighbours – Romania – that is capturing the imagination of those interested in grassroots design with a soul.
Lire
-
Picnic, plants, architecture - the fascinating world of Junya Ishigami
One of today's most outstanding architects has been selected as the guest of honour at this year's "Interieur" trade fair in Kortrijk (Belgium). Junya Ishigami, a pupil of Kazuyo Sejima, is the founder of junya.ishigami+associates, lecturer at the Tokyo University of Science, publisher of a number of books and creator of artistic marvels which fascinate with their wealth of fantasy and devotion to detail...
Lire
-
A Size Issue
Architonic reviews '1:1 – Architects Build Small Spaces', the latest exhibition at London's Victoria & Albert Museum
Lire
