Small Cities, Big Challenges
From building in a crowded capital threatened by rising sea levels to creating modern housing alongside historic landmarks, this is how small cities around the world are overcoming some remarkable challenges.
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From building in a crowded capital threatened by rising sea levels to creating modern housing alongside historic landmarks, this is how small cities around the world are overcoming some remarkable challenges.
Landscape architects from the firm H+N+S worked with artist Paul De Court and drew on the work of acoustician Ernst Chladni to create over 100 grassy pyramids. Instead of simply disrupting sound waves, though, the Buitenschot Land Art Park also included paths for cyclists and pedestrians.
Following a period of political instability that affected the progression of infrastructure projects, the country’s government took the decision to construct an entirely new capital in 2015. Located 45 kilometers east of the original Cairo, the as-yet-unnamed city has been under construction ever since.
The Great Wall of China was built 2,200 years ago out of military necessity: to combat the Mongolian ancestors of Genghis Khan. Its construction was a marvel of military engineering.
This Hotel lists hotel, hostel and bed & breakfast recommendations from trusted experts like New York Times, Lonely Planet, Fodor’s, Frommers, CNN and many more.
A new tent-shaped home built in a small agricultural village near Nagoka. Conceived of by Takeru Shoji Architects, the 166.24 square-meter “Hara House” is situated on a larger estate and utilizes a simple A-frame structure made up of 120 millimeter-wide beams.
German photographer David Altrath unveils the majestic underground tunnels and their stunning architectural and artistic detail that feature in Stockholm’s underground in his latest series, simply titled Metro.
The “Wikkelhouse”, or “wrap house”, is a truly customizable home composed of 5-meter-square (53-square-foot) modules that click together to create any-sized structure. Once “printed”, the basic units can be customized: kitted out as a bathroom, a kitchen or combined bunk rooms can create larger rooms.
Designed as an entrant for the 2020 eVolo Skyscraper Competition, the 737 Max Tower turns one of the world’s most controversial aircrafts of modern times into housing.
Compass Pools has unveiled a concept for a four-sided infinity pool atop a London skyscraper, accessed via a submarine-style door. Called Infinity London, the project is described by the swimming pool manufacturer as “only building in the world to incorporate a 360-degree infinity pool”.
Istanbul practice Hayri Atak Architectural Design Studio proposed building the hotel on a site 600-metres-high on Preikestolen – a steep cliff and popular tourist spot in the west of Norway that overhangs the Lysefjorden fjord. It is intended to recreate the thrill of embarking on hiking trails around the cliff.
Salesforce Park, in downtown San Francisco, sits atop the Salesforce Transit Center. It is a lush, five-and-a-half-acre rooftop arcadia of rolling meadows and meticulously landscaped, climatically harmonious, drought-tolerant flora. San Francisco’s newest public space reflects Big Tech’s influence—and a city’s anxieties.
When the Eiffel Tower opened in 1889 to much wonder and acclaim, designer Gustave Eiffel soaked up the praise, but as if that wasn’t enough, it was soon revealed that he had built himself a small apartment near the top of the world wonder.
UNStudio has developed a paint dubbed The Coolest White Paint. By limiting the amount of light and therefore heat a building absorbs, the paint reduces the need for air-conditioning and the impact of urban heat islands.
The unique Arctic Bath hotel, which was first announced in 2018, comprises a floating circular main building designed by architects Bertil Harström and Johan Kauppi to resemble a bird’s nest, accompanied by a series floating and land cabins around it.
With breath-taking views, luxurious interiors, endless amenities and eye-watering price tags, this new wave of properties are strictly for those with a 10-figure bank balance. But how did this area come to be? What sparked its growth in this particular district? How were planning controls addressed?
Tech start-up Higharc aims to “reinvent home design for the digital age.” The company uses iterative design to create “custom” 3D models and plans. Algorithmic design isn’t new to architecture, but it looks like Higharc seeks to do away with “expensive, architect-designed plans that take forever to produce.”
Any building playing host to hundreds of people is going to have a huge climate footprint, but the glass is particularly problematic. The sunlight has unlimited access into the building, but no way to get out. That’s great for tomatoes, but for people it just means more air conditioning.
Few countries in history have experienced as sudden a transformation as Saudi Arabia. The discovery and exploitation of oil brought an unprecedented influx of wealth. Photographer Peter Bogaczewicz captures the past and present of the oil-rich kingdom as it undergoes dramatic transformation.
Cities are a big deal. We pretty much all have to live in them. We should try hard to get them right. So few cities are nice, very few out of many thousands are really beautiful; embarrassingly the more appealing ones tend to be old, which is weird because we’re mostly much better at making things now.
Take a trip back to the mid 80’s when Vancouver hosted a World’s Fair event with one of the most unique fast food restaurants ever constructed. Friendship 500, or better known as The McBarge.
This midcentury-inspired container home is located in Salida, Colorado, on the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. The house was designed to serve as a vacation rental and you can check it out on Airbnb. The eye-catching structure with bright orange exterior contrasts with everything else around it.
In the world of art, architecture, and design, the golden ratio has earned a tremendous reputation. The Parthenon, the Pyramids at Giza, the paintings of Michelangelo, the Mona Lisa, even the Apple logo are all said to incorporate it. The golden ratio’s aesthetic bona fides are an urban legend, a myth, a design unicorn.
Zwentendorf Nuclear Power Plant, in Austria, was ready to go: it just needed starting up. But that never happened, and forty years later, it still sits mothballed. The government eventually held a referendum: “do you want nuclear power?” When everything was counted, 50.5% said…”No”.
The winners of the Art of Building Photographer of the Year 2019 have been announced. The competition celebrates the creativity of the construction industry and the built world around us. The Public Choice Award went to Alexandr Bormotin for his striking image of a metro station in Moscow.
For all his criticisms, America’s most celebrated architect wasn’t intrinsically opposed to cities. Instead, Frank Lloyd Wright urged us to examine what they had become and recognize that none of their failures were inevitable.
The rise of technology is a huge opportunity for the construction industry; enabling it to overcome many of its challenges while broadening its appeal to young talent. From predictive design to 3D printing and even autonomous machines on site, this is what the future could look like if we automated construction.
Designer Antony Gibbon has visualized a conceptual house called Twine, which sits under a wave-like piece of concrete within a landscape of rolling hills. The house’s living spaces are located within a series of arches beneath the upturned concrete reveals.
Hong Kong is the most expensive housing market in the world. It has been ranked as the least affordable housing market on Earth for eight years in a row. The inflated prices are forcing Hongkongers to squeeze into unconventionally small spaces that can affect their quality of life.
Prefab has long been the unattainable unicorn of architecture, the ideal marriage of high design, efficient building, environmental consciousness, and affordability. Designers have long tried and failed to take modular mainstream. Can this Amazon-backed entrepreneur make prefab more than just a fad?
With an increasing focus on sustainable design practices, the smart use of natural daylight in our homes is no longer a luxury — it has become a necessity. At the heart of any good daylighting strategy is a concept of “borrowed” light: the capture of light falling on the exterior of a home and transporting it to the spaces where it’s needed.
What’s in a house? Much of the shock and thrill in Bong Joon Ho’s genre-flexible movie Parasite — nominated for six Oscars including Best Production Design — hinges on the fictional house built by a fictional architect owned by the wealthy Park family.
Habitat 67 was a 1960s experiment in dense, downtown housing that tried to combine the best of urban and suburban living. Architect Moshe Safdie wanted to integrate the qualities of a suburban home- the access to nature and views- into a high-rise.
Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects, the 150,000-square-metre, 40-storey Morpheus hotel is the final chapter of Melco Resorts and Entertainment’s sprawling City of Dreams resort development, combining casino gaming, shopping and four other hotels located on the Cotai Strip.
It seems artists have found a new canvas on the floors and lines of basketball courts. From Modernism inspired graphics to Memphis, Pop, and styles in between, no one can accuse these courts of looking boring.
Doomsday luxury accommodation is a booming business, offering customers a chance to sit out global pandemics and nuclear wars in comfort – as long as they have the money to pay for it.
French company LUMICENE has used their signature windows as the basis for ‘LUMIPOD’ – a prefabricated housing module designed to offer city-dwellers an idyllic cabin retreat amidst nature.
A new generation of architects, designers, and experts is creating infrastructure and buildings that respond to both extreme conditions and ongoing stress. Here’s a look at some of the most innovative approaches to living in a increasingly apocalyptic world.
Memphians have long sought to make symbolic connections to their city’s namesake, that ancient Egyptian capital on the Nile. The Great American Pyramid was supposed to give the Tennessee city an architectural landmark for the ages. Instead, it got a very large sporting goods store.
Nigeria is reclaiming 10 square kilometres of land from the ocean to create “Eko Atlantic” – a vast new city that is set to become the financial heart of Africa. 10 new city districts will then be constructed on this reclaimed land, providing commercial, residential and recreational amenities and homes to more than 250,000 residents.
