ARCHITECTURE NAUKOGRAD1/8/2014A mysterious client in Kazakhstan, a well-known architectural firm named OMA and a so-called science campus are the protagonists in "Naukograd" - a piece in seven acts on the experiences of an international architectural firm.
ARCHITECTURE Laptops instead of gas heaters1/6/2014Anyone who thinks winter’s too cold to keep the brain working should simply check out life on the ground in Manhattan.
ARCHITECTURE Monomade in Tokyo12/25/2013In Tokyo “urban manufacturing” is not just some post-economic crisis slogan, but lived practice day in day out. In Taitō, one of the oldest districts, furniture, bags, paper lanterns and silver tea-ceremony vessels are being made in tiny workshops – and often by craftsmen seated on the floor in the traditional Japanese style.
ARCHITECTURE Revitalization at the touch of a switch12/13/2013It was not so much aesthetic architectural approaches that were called for as temporary solutions with a socio-cultural touch: For the second time Berlin has challenged Europe’s architects to submit entries for the “Urban Intervention Award”. A prize somewhere between “cute” and “best practice”.
ARCHITECTURE Incompleted: Frankfurt at a glance12/11/2013On behalf of Stylepark, the Director of Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) takes a close look at DOM Publishers’ new “Architectural Guide to Frankfurt/Main”.
ARCHITECTURE On hold – The intangible legacy of the past decade12/4/2013The 2008 crisis resulted in a large number of planning operations being suspended. Will the pre-crisis boom go down in the annals of history as an aberration, or prove only to be a precursor of things to come?
ARCHITECTURE Beautiful homes rising from the dust11/24/2013Neat glossy pictures of gorgeous buildings and smart interiors shape the face of architecture in today’s media age. But if you take the plunge and treat your house or apartment to a makeover, you will soon find yourself confronted with noise, dust, dirt – and those who cause it.
FEATURED Google Docks11/12/2013All the colors of the rainbow – in Google’s new Dublin premises the shades of the familiar logo dominate the interior, which features furniture from Pedrali.
ARCHITECTURE Prêt-à-porter living11/8/2013Turning the crisis into an opportunity: Spain’s architects are discovering prefab homes as a cost-efficient and attractive alternative. With their transportable miniature dwellings Madrid firms “Abaton” and “Sistema Modulab” are spearheading this new trend.
ARCHITECTURE New found design11/6/2013On a rocky outcrop of Newfoundland, where there’s nothing between you and the Artic, the Fogo Island Inn has since May of this year proved that good design can foster tourism and thus create jobs.
ARCHITECTURE MEGALOPOLI(TIC)S11/6/2013Cities are the main arena in which globalization takes physical form. So far the city has failed to register as a political entity in its own right. A pleading for the world as an archipelago of city-states.
FEATURED Banking in South Africa11/5/2013Allen International is the brain behind what could quite easily become the “bank branch of the future”: The planning consultants opted for interactive displays, computer terminals and a meticulously planned lighting concept boasting luminaires from Reggiani.
ARCHITECTURE See you at the bus stop11/3/2013The small village of Krumbach in Austria’s Vorarlberg region provides the stage for seven of architecture’s biggest names, including Wang Shu und Sou Fujimoto, to put their ideas of what goes to make a perfect bus shelter into practice. The first “Wartehüsle”, as the Austrians call it, has already been put up.
ARCHITECTURE Hallingdal and its successors11/1/2013What would Verner Panton’s furniture be like without the bright fabrics from Kvadrat? From the very outset, the Danes collaborated closely with designers to create striking highlights. Now there’s a book describing the company, which is one of the world’s leading makers of home textiles today. A glance behind the scene.
ARCHITECTURE Schoolyard hitting it BIG10/30/2013Bjarke Ingels Group architectural firm (or BIG for a not exactly modest acronym) also succeeds on the small scale. For a school complex in Hellerup nr. Copenhagen the architects dug deep to sink a new gym into the grounds of the old schoolyard. A walkable gigantic sculpture is the result.
ARCHITECTURE Swing to work10/27/2013When “NL Architects” redesigned the “NS Stations” Headquarters in Utrecht then also reinvented the working culture there. The individual office cells morphed into a well-thought out, deadpan and charming office environment.
ARCHITECTURE Making German cities a better place10/18/2013The book “Wir bauen Deutschland” paints the portraits of 40 urban planners in public or political offices. An unusual and long-awaited glance behind the scenes of urban planning institutions.
ARCHITECTURE Rigid pins10/16/2013An office high-rise, built only of wood and glass, no steel used. It was designed by Shigeru Ban for the Tamedia media group in Zurich – and is exemplary, not just in ecological terms.
ARCHITECTURE Divine sense of detail10/11/2013Carsten Krohn’s photographic study of Peter Behrens’ architectural efforts provides a complete overview of his built output as is still in existence today. And bears witness to the photographer’s extraordinary passion for detail. An illustrated book for Behrens enthusiasts. But be advised: Prior knowledge is a must.
ARCHITECTURE Onwards and upwards10/2/2013No “London Design Festival” without a highlight: And this year, an “Endless Stair” was erected outside the Tate Modern, a walk-on, walk-off stair sculpture à la M.C. Escher.
ARCHITECTURE Close, Closer - to what?9/27/2013An architecture triennale in a time of crisis shows how architecture itself is in a time of crisis. In the face of surging financial and social problems in Portugal, the third Lisbon Architecture Triennale under the theme “Close, Closer” aptly proposes to rethink the role of architecture and architects.
ARCHITECTURE Inside the cube can be fun9/20/2013At long last there’s a bit of life in the “Sanaa Cube” in Essen. In the fall, the newly established course offered by Folkwang University will start - there. Entitled “Heterotopia – Summer Workshop 2013”, the designers and students have developed prototypes for the interior – and the results are astonishing.
ARCHITECTURE What can the city do for me? What can I do for the city?5/29/2013Our cities are already bursting at the seams. We need new forms of mobility to shape life in the megacities of tomorrow. In New York experts from Audi teamed up with architects, urban planners and academics to seek answers to one of the most pressing questions of the future.
ARCHITECTURE Bauhaus in Calcutta5/13/2013The title evokes images of gleaming white houses in some far-flung exotic land filled with elegant tubular steel furniture. The first Bauhaus exhibition was certainly quite different in terms of appearance.
ARCHITECTURE Go for it!3/20/2013Great architecture requires great courage on the part of the decision makers. The outcome of the competition to build the new campus for the “Frankfurt School of Finance and Management” provides a striking example of why this is so seldom the case here in Germany.
ARCHITECTURE Hide and seek in Andalucía3/8/2013A new addition to Spain’s Costa Tropical, the “Non Program Pavilion” is the brainchild of architectural firm Jesús Torres García, based on the design philosophy of the famous Oscar Niemeyer. Thanks to its expansive glass front the building blends wonderfully with the surrounding nature.
ARCHITECTURE Witnesses to violence6/18/2012Should architecture serve power, provide a visual representation of it? How do we read traces of destruction that scar the urban space? An ambitious reader by Bechir Kenzari on the relationship between architecture and violence seeks to answer precisely such questions.
ARCHITECTURE Mobility shapes our metropolises5/25/2012About 70 percent of the world’s population will in future live in megacities. For the Audi Urban Future Award 2012 six architectural offices are casting an eye over the metropolitan regions of Boston/Washington, São Paulo, Istanbul, Mumbai, the Pearl River Delta and Tokyo – and coming up with new ideas for developing mobility in urban space.
ARCHITECTURE High-rises from paradise12/29/2011Green design goes really green: Singapore-based Woha architecture office develops visionary high-rises that not only exceed the customary standards for sustainable design, but are completely conquered by nature. At airy heights and well above the clouds of urban smog, they turn residential and office complexes into paradisiacal lagoons.
