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The many faces of MVRDV's shape-shifting Baltyk Tower

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Turning iconicity on its head, MVRDV have designed a striking building that purposefully refuses easy categorization. Depending on the angle from which it is viewed, the Baltyk Tower seems to assume different forms, a look that is achieved by a series of scenic terraces and a rippling glass-fronted concrete facade.

Image: MVRDV

Image: MVRDV


From one angle, the tower appears to be svelte, a compact wedge on Poznan, Poland's streets. However, from another perspective the tower broadens and becomes a kind of gigantic civic staircase. Regardless of where one views the building, the inventive facade gives the structure a dynamic, shifting quality. 


Image: MVRDV

Image: MVRDV


As MVRDV co-founder Nathalie de Vries explains, “When we came to Poznań for the first time, the goal was clear: we were to realize an office building with public functions on the first two layers and at the top. But also that offered a range of amenities for the community and general public. We realised if we could control...


Archinect Sessions & Bureau Spectacular team up at the Arroyo Seco Weekend festival this Saturday in Pasadena

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For those of you in the Los Angeles area, you are already aware of the Arroyo Seco Weekend music festival, taking place in Pasadena this weekend. The festival is a new event hosted by the same people that run Coachella, Desert Trip, and other amazing art/music/culture events. 

For this inaugural festival, Archinect has teamed up with Jimenez Lai/Bureau Spectacular. Hosted by Archinect's Paul Petrunia and Nicholas Korody, we will be running our 5th Next Up podcasting event inside of Bureau Spectacular's project "Field House." 

If you're coming to the festival, come by and say hi, or pull up a blanket and stick around for a few to listen to our conversations. 

Lineup & Schedule
  • Mimi Zeiger: 1 PM
    Mimi Zeiger is a Los Angeles-based critic, editor and curator that has covered art, architecture, urbanism and design for a number of publications including The New York Times, Domus, Architectural Review, and Architect. She is also author of New Museums, Tiny Houses, Micro Green: Tiny Houses i...

Nine historic midcentury buildings recognized in 2017 Modernism in America Awards

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Docomomo US' Modernism in America Awards recently concluded another successful competition for 2017. Established to raise awareness of the importance in preserving America's postwar-era architecture, the awards competition is yet another reminder of the lasting impact that effective architectural preservation has to communities throughout the country. As the only national competition of its kind, the Modernism in America Awards honor exemplary preservation and advocacy projects as well as the individuals behind them.

Out of the nine winning projects, five received Awards of Excellence and four projects were presented with Citations of Merit in preservation. Awards will be presented at the Design Within Reach Third Avenue Studio in New York City on October 6.

Check out this year's winners below.

Awards of Excellence

Screening of "100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright" on June 28th

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Featuring a talk by Dr. Ann Rubbo on the artist and architect Marion Mahony Griffin, this screening of "A Girl is a Fellow Here: 100 Women Architects in the Studio of Frank Lloyd Wright" at the Center for Architecture in New York on June 28th at 6 p.m. investigates Wright's history of working with women, focusing on six ladies who worked with the architect, including Marion Mahony Griffin, Isabel Roberts, Lois Gottlieb, Jane Duncombe, Eleanore Pettersen, and Read Weber. Here's a trailer for the film:

Screen/Print #57: Dora Epstein Jones On Re-centering 'the Building' in Architectural Discourse

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“We forgot about buildings,” claims Dora Epstein Jones in this provocative essay for The Building, a new volume edited by José Aragüez and published by Lars Müller, featured here as part of Archinect’s recurring series Screen/Print.

Judges announced for Archinect UK Portfolio Competition

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We have had so many fantastic applications over the past month we have extended the deadline for entries to June 26th, 2017 at 11:59 pm (BST). Make sure you apply this weekend if you haven't already. 

Portfolios take a lot of effort and can be a hard thing to master so we have gathered a prestigious group of judges with years of industry insight and hiring experience in addition to extensive knowledge in architecture, interiors, landscape and urban designer.

The judges will be choosing the top three entries from each category as well as providing feedback for the final six. Winners will receive a high quality printed copy of their portfolio by Beswick Print Solutions as well as a selection of books from Lawrence King Publishing alongside a personalised digital rosette for their CV, portfolio, and website. 

Keep an eye out for updates and do come along and join us at the awards ceremony on Friday 14th July, at The Old Truman Brewery. Interior Educators and Archinect UK will be hostin...

Initiated by Donald Trump, the Far West Side of Manhattan Development is Almost Finished

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The effort to convert the old Penn Central rail yard on the Far West Side of Manhattan into high-rises has bumped along since being proposed in the mid-1970s by a developer named Donald J. Trump. What was proposed for the area often rankled neighbors, who found the buildings to be too tall, too close together and too pricey. But, after welcoming its first residents in the late 1990s, the controversial mega-project is entering its homestretch.



The site includes buildings by architects like Richard Meier and the soon-too-be-completed Three Waterline Square by Rafael Viñoly.

While Donald Trump is no longer the landlord, his name still appears on façades.

Renzo Piano's new museum in Spain shuns the 'Bilbao Effect'

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Almost 20 years since Frank Gehry’s $100m titanium-clad Guggenheim Bilbao opened, another city on Spain’s north coast is getting a major contemporary art centre designed by an internationally acclaimed “starchitect”.



Renzo Piano's first big commission in Spain, The Centro Botín, is opening today. The architect claims that its comparisons with the museum that became a model for culture-driven regeneration schemes worldwide are too simplistic. According the president of the Fundación Botín’s visual arts committee, Vicente Todolí, the center's primary mission is to serve the local community by providing the city with appropriate cultural infrastructure.

The 10,300 sq. m building is covered in thousands of light-diffusing ceramic tiles, prioritizing "luminosity and lightness" and making it almost invisible from the city center. Split into two, the structure houses 2,500 sq. m of galleries and a 300-seat auditorium respectively. (This compares to around 11,000 sq. m of exhibition space across 19 galleries at the Guggenheim Bilbao.) With vast amount of green space around, the museum is raised on four-meter pillars to preserve the views of the waterfront.

Renzo Piano’s Centro Botín arts centre. Photogr...

Twenty UK homes longlisted for the 2017 RIBA House of the Year Award

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In more RIBA announcements, the longlist for the 2017 House of the Year Award was revealed today. Established in 2001 as the Manser Medal, the UK's most prestigious award for housing design distinguishes a new home or home extension for stellar architectural design. Over the last few years, previous winners include the Murphy House by Richard Murphy Architects (2016), Skene Catling de la Peña's Flint House (2015), Loyn & Co for Stormy Castle (2014), and the Slip House by Carl Turner Architects (2013).

So which projects are still in the competition? From a self-build treehouse in Dorset to a cork-clad vacation home, this year's longlist features 20 stunning abodes throughout the UK. (You may recognize a few of them from the 2017 RIBA National Awards.) Check out the list below.

RIBA will announce the 2017 shortlist and grand prize winner this fall.

Can good design cure LA’s homeless problem? We asked Mike Alvidrez, CEO of Skid Row Housing Trust

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For Skid Row Housing Trust, a nonprofit developer in Los Angeles that builds housing for LA’s homeless population, good design is a basic civil right. Understanding that the environment plays a vital role in their residents’ recovery, the organization consistently teams up with renowned architectural firms such as Michael Maltzan Architecture and Brooks+Scarpa to design buildings for the homeless that stand out.

Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Kids Spaces" Pinterest Board

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In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Kids Spaces.

Burntwood School in London, UK by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM)

Broxholm Road in London, UK by Selencky///Parsons

SANDBOXING in Dallas, TX by DSGN AGNC (Quilian Riano, Designer), New Cities Future Ruins (Gavin Kroeber, Curator), Ash Studio (Fabrication)

Hummingbird House Children's Hospice in Brisbane, Australia by ThomsonAdsett; Photo: Alicia Taylor

The Boa Constrictor in the Children's Grand Park-Touch the Story Project in Seoul, South Korea by studio_GAON

Cheetah Mobile global office headquarters in Beijing, China by IDEAL Design & Construction

Chelsea Eco Duplex in New York, NY by Wunderground a...

Amazon submits patent for a drone tower

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Spotted by The Mercury News, it’s designed for “densely populated” areas. The tower allows drones to fly in and out, acting like a giant beehive, with robotic arms that help snatch them out of the sky. Inside, the core features layers of spokes around one central hub. The spokes are specialized for various purposes, like repairing the drones, or loading them with goods.



Amazon has been experimenting with the use of delivery drones for some time now though this approach to shipping has yet to take off for the e-commerce giant. As they continue testing this prospective delivery method, it is clear the retailer takes the particular vision quite seriously. On Thursday, the company filed a patent with the US Patent and Trademark Office for a drone tower that would essentially be a multi-level fulfillment center for unmanned aerial vehicles.

United States Patent OfficeUnited States Patent Office

Google's infamous 1000 floor elevator design question

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Potential employers don’t pose design challenges with the expectation that you blow them away with your ingenuity or clever solutions. They want to see if you ask probing questions that uncover constraints, or if you rush to the whiteboard without deeper understanding.



Design challenges are often used by companies to asses potential employees’ problem solving skills. This Google interview challenge in particular seems to have captivated the design community

How do you design an interface for a 1000 floor elevator?

Dozens of designers around the world have attempted solving the problem by designing elevator's interface. They've all failed because of presuming too many variables—the user, the environment, the purpose... The answer to the question is that there is simply not enough information provided.

An ongoing iterative adaptation in the theoretical and practical perspective of planning

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Planning practitioners have not always used the planning theory in practice as they have been drawn to the existing conflicting interests and a more practical learning by doing method in relation to the world. The amount of theoretical approaches is wide and is usually reflected by the professional background of thematic specialization. The society is constantly changing and evolving through time depending on several aspects.

It is essential to ask if planners have to stridently follow the norms in the society or if we actively should critically adapt and reinvent planning practice based on experiences evolving along planning process?  

Numerous of understandings and perspectives on best-practice planning

Allmendinger argues for several basic principles on theories. The theories will always be based on a normative adaption related to the values and applied within a social or historical context. He argues furthermore, that the social and historical context cannot remove the princip...

Studio for Two Artists by Delvendahl Martin Architects

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Interior fit-out design of an existing shell for London based artists Ori Gersht and Nogah Engler. It was important for the space to be suitable for both production and presentation of their work. The concept was to contrast the required neutrality of the production spaces, with a richly textured timber staircase that works both as a physical connection and the main hub of the building. Spanning across 3 floors and a basement this element mediates between the use and character of the different spaces that changes gradually from public to private, whilst maintaining a constant visual connection. There is also a gradual manipulation of the amount of daylight that increases as one navigates up through the stair. The staircase itself was designed and constructed in collaboration with Facit Homes using CNC cutting technology to achieve a precise and beautifully crafted system of prefabricated components.


Designing from the land up: an interview with Wittman Estes Architecture + Landscape

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When Matt Wittman and Jody Estes founded their Seattle-based practice, Wittman Estes Architecture + Landscape in 2012, they saw a space in the market for an integrated practice that brought indoor and outdoor space together as one whole. For this Monday's Small Studio Snapshot, we talk with the duo about their love of nature, getting clients to allocate funds for landscape, and their goals for the future.

Medical experts issue warning about street lights

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The American Medical Association (AMA) has just adopted an official policy statement about street lighting: cool it and dim it. The statement, adopted unanimously at the AMA's annual meeting in Chicago on June 14, comes in response to the rise of new LED street lighting sweeping the country. An AMA committee issued guidelines on how communities can choose LED streetlights to "minimize potential harmful human health and environmental effects."



There are two basic issues at hand. First, new, "white" LED lighting, which have a color temperature of between 4000K and 5000K, can cause discomfort and glare. This is because the light is concentrate and has high blue content, which can cause severe glare and force pupillary constriction. Second, these lights can impact human circadian rhythmicity, affecting our sleeping pattern. And, actually, it's not just human sleeping patterns at risk—wildlife migratory patterns are being disrupted as well.

Crowdfunding campaign launched for Camden Highline

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A crowdfunding campaign has been launched for the latest civic development in North London; the Camden Highline. For years, the disused railway has been talked about among local residents, with many wanting to see a little bit of New York in Camden Town. 

Image Courtesy of Camden Town Unlimited

Since 2016, Camden Town Unlimited have been working with Network Rail to secure the 18-metre wide disused railway line, which runs for almost a kilometre between the beloved, vibrant Camden Market and the newly developed Kings Cross area. The initial ambitions for the project include creating a space which is accessible to all and will provide a home for the arts, festivals, and live performance, as well as ecological and educational benefits. 

Image Courtesy of Camden Town Unlimited

Using the famous New York High Line as a precedent, this crowd-funded project will initially work on the existing infrastructure, workshops, events, and feasibility works. The funds raised from the campaign run on ...

34 buildings in London evacuated after failing fire tests in light of Grenfell Tower tragedy

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Britain said 34 high-rise apartment blocks had failed fire safety checks carried out after the deadly Grenfell Tower blaze, including several in north London where residents were forced to evacuate amid chaotic scenes.



Two weeks ago, a low-income residential tower in London tragically caught fire resulting in the death of at least 79 occupants. The incident has sparked a national (and even international) conversation about the safety standards set by London officials for low-income residents as it has been discovered that certain precautions like sprinkler systems were deemed unnecessary in the interest of cutting costs. In addition, a cladding on the exterior of the building has been largely determined as the reason the fire lead to such deadly results. The same material is said to clad tens of thousands of buildings in more than 87 tower blocks across the United Kingdom.

In an attempt to avoid similar failures in the future, British officials have inspected over 600 high-rise buildings across England. From this, the Department for Communities has concluded that 34 apartment blocks across the country fail to meet safety standards. The aluminum cladding that covered Grenfell has begun to be remove...

The Guardian reports on the social housing crisis in the UK

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Now, although the horror is still raw and much about it is still unknown, it has also become clear that Grenfell exposes in the harshest possible way questions of the current state of social housing, about the accessibility, affordability and quality of homes, and their impact on people’s lives.



The Guardian's feature examines the new documentary Dispossession: The New Housing Swindle which addresses the build up anger surrounding the issue of affordable housing and the failed attempts at combatting it, including Margaret Thatcher's right-to-buy policy and the effects of the 60s and 70s estates renewal. Beyond that, the article also offers recent examples of demolition, displacement through opinions of people that have experienced it firsthandformer residents of social or council housing.

"No honest portrayal of the current situation can ignore the fact that the last time government was a major builder of homes it didn’t get it all right. But, as it is now blindingly obvious that the market is not going to provide by itself, active building and planning by the public sector looks inevitable. There are ways to achieve new and affordable homes – by densifying suburbs, encouraging garden cities and, indeed, by renewing council estates – but none of them are easy. The invisib...

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