At an event organized by Asia Design Forum, participants talk about the effects of geography on design. With tall buildings screaming for attention, the skylines of fast-growing cities can seem the same. A discussion of design and geography at the Architectural Association in London this spring turned into an examination of difference and uniformity in the work of architects practicing globally. Presented by Asia Design Forum (ADF), a nonprofit think tank, the event was the sixth in a series of Design Roulettes held in different cities since 2010 and the first one outside of Asia. “So many buildings in Asia
Call to Prayer: Using rugged materials and a modern design vocabulary, an architect creates a place of worship that connects the essence of Islam with contemporary life.
The Rising: A museum devoted to a traumatic event provides space for soaring emotions as it descends to bedrock. Slurry wall and “Last Column” on the exhibition level. Fought over, stalled, reconceived, and finally built, the National September 11 Memorial Museum has followed a tortuous path since it was first proposed in Daniel Libeskind’s 2003 master plan for Ground Zero. While nearly every part of the redevelopment effort at the World Trade Center site in lower Manhattan has generated debate, the museum has been a lightning rod for particularly intense criticism and controversy. Its role as the main keeper and
Surrounded by history but bereft of innovative work from the past four decades, Cuban architects hope for the future. National School of Ballet (1961-5), by Vittorio Garatti. Making a living as an architect is tough anywhere. But in Cuba it is essentially impossible. Although Raúl Castro has loosened state control of the economy a bit, the private sector still barely exists. All legally-sanctioned construction is done by the government. And everyone agrees that a government salary doesn’t cover anyone’s monthly expenses. Cubans, though, are resourceful and somehow find ways to make ends meet. Over coffee at the Habana Libre Hotel
Treating an enormous airport in Shenzhen, China, as a cinematic experience, a Rome-based firm designs a series of architectural scenes in which light and space play leading roles.
Museum to add a $40-million Drawing Institute and an energy-efficient power plant to its Houston campus. The Menil Drawing Institute, west façade as seen from the Energy House. At a news conference in New York in mid-February Los Angeles-based architecture firm Johnston Marklee presented its design for the Menil Drawing Institute (MDI), a freestanding addition to the Menil Collection’s 30-acre campus in Houston. The 30,000-square-foot structure will sit south of the Menil’s main museum building from 1987 and its Cy Twombly Gallery from 1995, both designed by Renzo Piano. Johnston Marklee will also design an Energy House, which will serve
Stroke of Genius: Part of a mayor's push to make the Chicago River a public asset, an energetic building turns structure and materials into a graceful expression of the activity it houses.
A rower crouches with her knees tucked below her fists, then dips her oars in the water and pulls back. The lines of the oars sketch an elegant V in the air, which is repeated over and over as the slender boat cuts through the water. Jeanne Gang thought about such movement when she started designing the WMS Boathouse at Clark Park in Chicago.
Herzog & de Meuron’s design for the M+ museum in Hong Kong. An exhibition examining plans for M+, the new visual arts museum scheduled to open in Hong Kong in late 2017, is on display through February 9 at ArtisTree, a multipurpose venue on Hong Kong Island. Curated by Aric Chen, who is the new museum’s curator of design and architecture and an international correspondent for Architectural Record, Building M+: The Museum and Architecture Collection looks at designs for the institution’s building and some of the items that will fill its design and architecture galleries. Last year, an international jury
The fifth edition of the show takes on urban questions against the backdrop of China’s rapidly changing cities. At the entrance to the Value Factory site in Shenzhen, Noreen Heng Liu of Node Architecture designed a restaurant standing on columns above an existing concrete structure.