Subtractive Manufacturing: The Quiet Machine Revolution that is Reshaping Architecture
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Architecture is defined by materials and construction. In terms of building envelopes, structures, and systems, there are two primary manufacturing methods used. Additive manufacturing processes add material layer-by-layer, while subtractive manufacturing removes material to create building components or parts. Additive manufacturing, usually under the umbrella of 3D printing, is increasingly well-known, but subtractive methods have been used throughout history. In modern architecture, designers, fabricators, and manufacturers are reimagining the possibilities of subtractive manufacturing to create new forms and spaces for contemporary life.
Subtractive manufacturing is an umbrella term for different kinds of controlled machining and material removal processes. These are either performed manually or more commonly, driven by computer numerical control (CNC). Subtractive methods can start with solid blocks or material forms made from metals, plastics, wood, or other materials that are shaped through boring, cutting, drilling, and grinding. This machining process spans from CNC methods to electrical discharge machining in hard metals, as well as laser cutting (for thermoplastics, wood, acrylic, fabrics, metals) and water jet cutting for plastics, hard and soft metals, stone, glass and composites.
A two-part mold tool from MDF being machined with a 1/16″ flat end mill. Courtesy Portland CNC
The key advantage to subtractive manufacturing is that it’s ideal for tight tolerances and geometries that are difficult to mold, cast, or produce with traditional machining. Larger, less complex objects also tend to lend themselves more to subtractive manufacturing. This machining process is also most often the choice for fabricating finished parts. Subtractive manufacturing processes can create parts for prototyping, manufacturing tooling, and end-use parts. The following projects showcase how subtractive manufacturing processes are leading innovations in design and construction, and what the future of these methods might hold.
By Bernard Tschumi Architects, Tianjin, China
The Binhai Science Museum was designed to showcase artifacts from Tianjin’s industrial past through large-scale contemporary technology, including spectacular rockets for space research. The project is part of the city’s Binhai Cultural Center and contains facilities for cultural events and exhibitions as well as galleries, offices, and restaurant and retail spaces. The project was made to relate to the rich industrial history of the area, the site of high-volume manufacturing and research. A series of large-scale cones create major rooms throughout the museum. The central cone, lit from above, connects all three levels of the building.
The exterior of the museum is covered with aluminum rain screen over a sealed aluminum surface, giving the building a unified presence despite its large size and the disparate elements of the structure. Approximately 3,600 copper-colored panels in two sizes (4×7 ft and 4×11.5 ft) make up the flat portions of the building’s façade. The perforated metal panels also help reduce heat gain. The design team developed 52 different sizes of panels with each row of the cones corresponding to a unique width. Each panel is backed by two aluminum U-channels located between the perforations.
By Acton Ostry Architects, Vancouver, Canada
Completed in 2017, Brock Commons Tallwood House is an 18-story, LEED Gold certified, 404-bed student residence building located at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC. It was the world’s tallest mass wood tower at the time of its completion. The timber structure and prefabricated facade also went up in only 66 days.
Key to receiving approvals and achieving economic viability was a “keep it simple” design approach that makes the building appear ordinary through encapsulation of the wood structure with gypsum board. The prefabricated facade, arranged in a pattern of vertical striations, features pre-installed windows and cladding consisting of 70% wood fibers.
A CLT canopy runs the length of a curtain wall base, which reveals the warm wood finishes of amenity spaces within. Elevator lobbies are clad with the same material as the exterior. Hallway finishes include natural wood doors and a palette of rich umber and ochre accent finishes. Living unit interiors are bright white, spare and simple.
CNC machines cut all the mass-timber components, including the penetrations in the CLT panels and the connection holes in both ends of the columns. A unique identifier was assigned to each mass-timber component for quality-assurance and quality-control tracking and on-site measurement of the structural system assembly heights.
By Morphosis Architects, New York, NY, United States
The Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center is the academic hub of the new Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island. With the goal of becoming a net zero building, The Bloomberg Center forms the heart of the campus, bridging academia and industry while pioneering new standards in environmental sustainability through state-of-the-art design. T
he Bloomberg Center is a four-story building set beneath a photovoltaic canopy, with a low and narrow profile framing stunning views across the island. One of the building’s most distinctive features is its façade, optimized to balance transparency —maximizing daylighting and exterior views, and opacity — while ensuring sufficient insulation and reducing thermal bridging.
Designed as a rain screen system, the outermost layer of the façade is composed of aluminum panels surfaced in an iridescent, PPG polymer coating. Designed in collaboration with Zahner, an architectural metal fabricator, the façade utilizes Zahner’s Louvered ZIRA™ system to create the image patterning.
Each pixel of the image is translated into the specific turn-and-tilt of a two-inch circular tab punched into the aluminum paneling; the depth and rotation of each tab determines the amount of light reflected. This pixel map was fed into a repurposed welding robot, which processed the digital information into the mechanical turning-and-tilting of the façade’s 337,500 tabs.
By Partisans, Georgian Bay, Canada
Perched on an island’s edge in Georgian Bay, Ontario, the Grotto Sauna is a feat of old-world craftsmanship and new world sustainability made possible by cutting-edge software and fabrication technology. The selected concept for the Grotto prescribed a solid, simple presence on the exterior, while the interior followed dynamic air movements in curvature forms; requiring design solutions.
As a result, the team proceeded to experiment further with the materials, and selected wood as the primary medium. Importantly, the Grotto established a successful methodology for addressing the challenges of building ambitious architecture in remote and environmentally sensitive regions.
Partisans collaborated directly with their fabrication partner, MCM Inc., to develop new prototyping methods and with engineers and develop novel software patches for the toolpaths. The latter enabled the fabricators to override the automated limitations of the CNC machinery and ultimately use it as a sculpting tool to achieve the aesthetic vision, all the while maximizing the available wood and milling along the grain so that the pieces would match one another. The successful production of the panels also had to anticipate the method by which they would be sequentially assembled. This required the team to develop a sophisticated installation plan in tandem with the fabrication process.
By Bjarke Ingels Group and JDS Architects, København, Denmark
When Bjarke Ingels Group and JDS Architects set out to create The Mountain residential project, it was the 2nd generation of the VM Houses: same client, same size and same street. The program, however, is 2/3 parking and 1/3 living. What if the parking area became the base upon which to place terraced housing, like a concrete hillside covered by a thin layer of housing cascading from the 11th floor to the street edge? Rather than doing two separate buildings next to each other — a parking and a housing block — the team decided to merge the two functions into a symbiotic relationship.
The parking floors are covered with a continuous perforated aluminum surface, folding into four parts from the southern to the eastern facades. This controls sunlight and air circulation. The folded surface makes reference to the name of the project, displaying a realistic image of Mount Everest.
For its aluminum panel facade, each perforation plays a specific part in the composition of the image. In some parts, perforations are so large and dense that there is almost no visual restriction between inside and outside. During the day, the perforation in the aluminum plates appears black on the bright aluminum, and the mountain image resembles a roughly rasterized photo. At night time, the facade is lit from the inside and appears as a photo negative in different colors as each floor in the parking area has different colors.
Courtesy Portland CNC
Today, subtractive manufacturing is being radically reimagined. We are seeing projects where 4D self-transforming materials respond to changes in heat, sound, or moisture levels to change shape. Subtractive manufacturing also offers a variety of material and processing methods for diverse design applications. As the process of building evolves, the convergence of technologies opens new possibilities for architecture, design and machining.
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Compared to its successful contemporaries, the refurbishments of Cumbernauld Town Centre were not critical enough for it to catch up with nowadays standards, either functionally or aesthetically. As one of a few megastructures ever built, is there a historical argument to be made for restoring this rare building? After all, the Cumbernauld Town Centre represents more than just brutalist aesthetics; it is a concrete implementation of innovative urban design concepts from the post-war period. (This is not to mention the environmental argument: it is a waste to demolish the massive concrete structure, which consumed a considerable amount of resources to build. One can only hope that it will be recycled into secondary materials.)
“Depicted in this image is my hometown Wuppertal. The world famous Schwebebahn, which was build over one hundred years ago as a result of advancements in steel production and metal fabrication, still remains to awe visitors when it meanders through narrow streets above the river Wupper. Shown here is a speculative redesign of the city in the spirit of the early Schwebebahn designs and its historic “Kaiserwagen”.
“Memories and dreams sometimes go hand in hand. The combination of reality and fantasy is an intrinsic force that supplies the creative portfolio of an artistic mind with endless possibilities. Nevertheless, even with all the infinite pieces put together sometimes one can’t help but look into triggers of certain spaces that take you back into specific moments of life. This particular studio is a combination of said moments in time; clutter in respective areas, materiality, scale, objects and the conglomeration of mechanical pieces grounds the imagery, which brings a sense of character that many people resonate with. It’s a sense of remembering a space that does not exist. A remembrance.”
“On December 21, 1848, a white plantation owner, traveling with his enslaved servant, passed through the Central of Georgia Railroad terminal in Savannah, seeking medical care in Boston.
“The First Settlement on Mars.
“Located near a highway between two major cities in the north of Mexico, Monterrey and Saltillo, the site generates from the hillside of the mountain chain. A ring with an inner radius of 47m, a section of 18m and an outer radius of 65m. Embedded in the ground giving the appearance of rising or detaching from it. The intention of the project is to guide the farewell process of a loved one through the natural and architectural environment. HALO Funeral Center stands out for its morphology and relationship with the context that generates a farewell process for both the bereaved and the deceased. In this way achieving a liberation and a healthy duel.”
“People is what gives architecture life. With all their different lights and colors, they make the spaces alive. When designing a façade, a lot of effort is put into the relation with the exterior environment. With this rendering I wanted to focus on the role that the interior spaces play in a façade. Each of these windows have a story to tell, a feeling to show, a thought going on.
“A boundless generative study for a spatial understanding of an infinite archive dedicated to letters and stamps in the context of Campo Marzio. Inspired by “The Library of Babel” by Jorge Luis Borgestry, the drawing tries to incorporate the idea of sauntering and browsing through ramps. It explores the layers beneath the Campo Marzio in relation to the accumulation of historical letters and records. This is a result of moving upward and downward into the layers of Campo Marzio imagined by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720- 1778).”
“Overlooking the sky, the water,the mountains and the small houses, they form a long picture that is deeply touching. The combination of a long time and strong strength reveals a solemn scene and makes people linger and forget to return. I suddenly had a strong desire and shouted at the mountain opposite. Bursts of pleasant echoes reverberated in my young heart, and my heart suddenly gushed a kind of magnanimity I had never had before. I felt that I had melted into the mountain.”
“The illustration explores a future in which architectural forms grasp to reach beyond Earth’s gravity. Density and population lead some to choose a nomadic life-style, free to roam the open plains below…”
“What are memories if not frozen fragments of time?
“Faced with the cruel reality everybody witnessed on TV in 2021, we were moved and felt responsible to act.
“Churches are sacred spaces where people unite spiritually with a higher power. We enter churches when faced by pure and meaningful emotions like true love. Churches are therefore unique types of architecture where humans can express their deepest feelings through prayers influencing their psychology, philosophy and lifestyle. Love at first sight usually culminates in a church during the wedding ceremony.
“The sun is warming the air as the market is closing now. My shirt is already sticking to my skin. They advised to avoid going out, but I feel good, I’m only coughing. Uncle Alisha is saying he got sick because it’s not air anymore, he says that before we used to see the sky and it was blue. But I don’t know; maybe he’s just getting old, he’s already 37. The Stack is constantly growing as new people are moving in. Are they coming from Above?”
“Cheese factory. A place that is sure to please guests, especially fans of healthy eating preservation of national traditions, local cuisine. The landscapes there are also quite beautiful – the peaks of the Carpathians are clearly visible. Shepherds work here from spring to autumn. During this time, many sheep can be seen on the slopes. Various cheeses, Budz, Bryndza, Vurda are prepared on the fire. You can see with your own eyes a difficult but pleasant process, the preparation of Hutsul cheeses.
“I dreamed of a circle room with countless thin arkd who fall in the center. At first, I tried to make a subtile natural light like a overcast sky. I worked shaders of walls and arks with dressed stone for remind stuctures like abbayes and churchs. After that I really wanted to make a old dark wood floor with a lot of wear but in the same time I want to make it elegant with strong reflections. I choose a dark Floor because this helped me contrast the image, the room is globally dark except for the center of the image. I placed a tree with a soft shape to stay close to the arks shape. After that I added few artificial lights with warm color to have more reflections on the floor. I tried to make a place which is perceived like sacred and silent.”
“My story depicts a dystopia that is mostly driven by the cold and insensitive brutalism of Orwell’s 1984 novel and the post-soviet era in Middle-Eastern Europe. These types of buildings are called “panel houses” in Hungary, which means houses made of reinforced concrete blocks. Most of these were built right after World War II, when suddenly many people had to be accommodated.
“Day 1947
“This is the story of an old industrial building with a new form of life. One idea was popping in my mind to take the most industrial function and to make it not only a practical source of energy, but also architecturally and publicly friendly. Looking over different dams around the world I realized that’s the perfect ground for the imagination. Brutalist aesthetics, and the almost military look of the dams, made me overthink their use.
“Growing up in urban South-East Asia, I’ve found there’s nothing in comparison to the chaotically beautiful sensory overload.
“The project is an anti-surveillance monastery in the mountains of China named the ‘Blind Spot’. Located more specifically in Fengdu ghost city, Chongqing, the Blind Spot is a retreat/sanctuary where you can escape the pressures of a heavily surveilled society. It is temporary living off the grid and houses sleeping chambers, meditation rooms, learning centres, and is influenced by the design of Buddhist monasteries.
“Saigon has evolved from the ’70s-nowhere else in Vietnam can one experience the quickly changing cultural and economic shift that takes place before our eyes. The 10+ million inhabitants seem to be constantly moving…Locals and foreigners, looks, sounds, smells, tastes all mix, and create something so eclectic and excitingly new that is impossible to capture in words. The city’s constantly buzzing. Moving. People yearn to break the shackles of the past, the shackles of society’s expectations. Poverty, traditional values, and collectivism are quickly shifting to consumerism and individualism.
“We heard the thump of music. A door swung open, LED lights bleeding into the night. The space was packed but it felt familiar, like being reunited for the first time with people you didn’t really know. Some whose first names you know but whose numbers are not in your phone. You have no idea what they do for a living, or where they are from, or how old they are. You see them on the dance floor, where you have been hanging out for years.
“City life can be vibrant, diverse, and dynamic. But it can also be crowded, polluted, and noisy; It is overstimulating which can make people feel stressed and overwhelmed. So the question is what’s the antidote to modern life stress? That is why we in the DD Studio decided to design a cabin in the woods in our style with minimum interference with nature as a building and maximum view. In this image, we are trying to show the communication between nature and humans and how the cabin sits in context.”
“Along the Passaic River from Port Newark through Jersey Turnpike, air pollution caused by toxic factories and transportation leads to increased health concerns and affects families’ health and vulnerable communities in Newark and the entire New York Metropolitan area.
“In 2012, Japanese architect Katsuhiro Miyamoto made the extraordinary proposition to erect giant Shrine-style roofs over the ruined reactors of the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant after the 2011 nuclear disaster. The conceptual idea of using the roofs to signify the presence of a powerful force on site extends to a workable proposition, based on the Japanese culture where shrines are rebuilt every 20 years to ensure that traditional building techniques are passed on generations. Likewise, the upkeep of the reactors’ decommissioning will extend in centuries, therefore the construction of these roofs is chosen as a form of preservation, to transmit the knowledge of Nuclear Waste management to future generations.
“What can we do? What can we create that will last and assist future life?
“Mitoshi Church is located on the hills of Mount Agora, close to the Sagano bamboo forest. In Japanese, Mitoshi means outlook. An Outlook over the Agora heights. The structure is comprised of two local materials, bamboo and rope. Because of this, it is considered a live member of nature in Agora forests.
“2050. After years of violent conflicts and natural cataclysms, the Earth is in short supply. The population has abandoned the destroyed cities and has returned to being nomads and to wander the Earth in communities. In this image, one of these communities is moving. A post-apocalyptic walking city inspired by the work of Archigram, but that also looks at literature, as the book “Mortal Engines”, and cinematography with “Mad Max”.
“The project called “Welcome all Aliens” is inspired by the 2015 migration crisis in Europe.
“The days are spent longboarding down the steep mountain roads of Lesotho. All that can be heard is the rushing of the wind and the sound of skates over the tarred road. For them, it’s a moving meditation of pure muscle memory and physical freedom. After the sun sets, they return to their dwellings. A simple but beautiful stone wall home. The timber roofs create a warm acoustic quality for them to listen to their music and to sit back and relax. They are winding down and settling in for the night as the sun sets on the Lesotho hills. It’s a simple life… But it is so fulfilling.”
“Entrada is in the heart of what is commonly referred to as “Silicon Beach”. This influx of influential companies is no surprise as Southern California boasts a lifestyle that can’t be duplicated anywhere else in the country. This image attempts to capture the mood and atmosphere which is very sacred to the evening time dwellers of the area.
“Art Oculus is an NFT gallery created for the bold creatives in the crypto space. It holds pieces from several artists, both from the physical and the metaworld. All art pieces are carefully curated by our creative team and selected upon the requisite of building for a purpose much greater than themselves.
“Kilograph worked with some of the best in class architects – Gensler, SOM, and RIOS – to bring the design for new LA sound stages to life and show the magic of movies at the same time. Complete with futuristic and wildly imaginative elements of science fiction and technology, the architecture here was to be secondary to the invisible activity within. Given the landscape, there was no way our team would miss out on the chance to work up a sci-fi theme with giant robots.
“Often we are guided by rules, but sometimes when we focus and go deep we perhaps find new paths. It may create so doubts, it’s risky, but the the unexpected result it can be gold. The image portrays a SUV speeding into the snow opening a new path to the MED center.”
“In all countries, paddies are worked by family labor alone and by the same methods that were used 2,000 years ago. We brought the tradition and honored it with a contemporary museum that represents all the families that spend their lives in the fields.”
“When walking in the cold snow, one craves nothing more than a hot and juicy burger. To help customer navigate in the stormy days, McDonald has built its flagship store in Siberia with a huge landmark logo. Somehow in this way the American symbolic consumerism brand adapts to Soviet Union’s brutalism style. It is hard to tell who converted who.”
“The Crystal Palace in London, at an undefined time. The former glory of the World’s Fair or a dystopian future? Light breaks the scene and guides the eye through the vegetation and out of the architecture. The character represents each and every one of us, a human being in search for a place in the world. It is up to the observer to imagine what might lie outside, salvation or perdition?”
“What will happened if humans stopped existing? What will happen to our planet, to our cities, to our industries and to nature if humans disappeared? I think we all know the answers. Nature will always prevail. Earth heals herself and nurtures renewed life forms, no matter the calamity caused by humans.”
“A structure located in the forest, invisible as possible and always lets the landscape speak at its maximum,
“In portraying new flamboyant buildings we usually choose a particular standpoint, trying to twist the reality.
“We created a reality when humans and nature live in union. Without the illusion of separation, we are in fact One. Humans live interwoven with natural surroundings, structures built around the living trees, connected with bridges, working within the environment rather than at its expense. In this place, human action is rooted in a responsible, sustainable existence, each person holding themselves accountable for their own actions. Without waste, without the unnecessary, this is pure, minimalist living. This is not architecture alone, but a way of life.”
“The inspiration for the image is to capture the synergy of existing and new architecture. To give the image a unique quality portraying an exploration of light and tones while capturing the ambiance and atmosphere of the journey.”
“The idea for this image was to create a unique perspective from a best friend’s vantage point. Visual storytelling enhanced and supported by drama and atmosphere.”
“KOLLAGE is a multi-function, multi-disciplinary building. It is part office, part retail, part condo, and part apartment-hotel. The building is designed so that each section speaks about its function. The top section is a large rentable auditorium/meeting/hall room, whereas on the left, the projection is offices. The yellow section is an apartment-hotel, the blue ones are condominiums, and black and bottom are retail.
“The intention to imagine this space coincides with the first quarantine I was subjected to due to Covid, and let’s just say that being confined for weeks in a confined space with a newly purchased computer leaves room for imagination. The idea of designing a light show was always an unrealized dream, but one of those afternoons I came across a painting of St. Peter’s Basilica and realized how much fun I could have.
“This space depicts freedom.
“Human nature tends to associate spatial architectural elements as; walls with rigidity and boundaries in order to define their spatial territory. Mirror of similarity is an installation that attempts to communicate active presence and in so little words some compassion through apartheid walls. Made by stripping individuals from their racial ideology and pre-defined prejudices, mirroring forms and shapes on the wall, done through utilizing motion detection in order to move the adjacent segments and thereby illustrating the actions of the person on the other side of the partied wall.”
“In light of enduring issues we are facing globally, such as a climate and ecological emergency, schools of architecture must nurture a culture of collaboration in architectural education to meaningfully address them. Therefore the drawing speculates on the third iteration of The Bartlett School of Architecture. In contrast to the building’s previous 2 iterations, Wates House (1975) and The Bartlett (2016), this next instalment of the school will be constructed over the course of a 1000 years by the students and tutors themselves.
“War-ravaged by political upheaval and rendered nearly uninhabitable by natural disasters, the earth shuddered, and her refugees became ubiquitous.
“The image captures late afternoon vibes during the peak hours – a laneway with busy restaurants and shops, people catching up after work or going for a lazy stroll downtown. The image strives to create a vibrant yet peaceful feeling of what it would be like to be in a place like that during this exact time.”
Späckhuggaren / House for a drummer by Bornstein Lyckefors Arkitekter, Kärna, Sweden
Tower on the Ting by Wingårdh Arkitektkontor AB, Örnsköldsvik, Sweden
Moderna Museet Malmö by Tham & Videgård Arkitekter, Malmö, Sweden
Fire House by Ulf Mejergren Architects (UMA), Stockholm, Sweden
““Color is a power which directly influences the soul.” — Wassily Kandinsky
“Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is an urban settlement located on San Cristobal Island in Galapagos. Since 1959, any horizontal expansion of the urban areas is not allowed to protect the environment, nowadays is facing serious economic issues.
“This piece is more of a political statement to depict how the built environment can affect nature. The columns represent tall leafless trees in the forest. The concrete floors are dried out soil. The lack of colour represents most architecture today which is very monochromatic and dull without paying homage to the nature around it. The architecture industry needs to embrace nature more by incorporating living walls, green roofs, natural light and colour.”
“”It was a longer winter than usual and time to leave the cabin, snowstorm, and mountains behind. The travel guidebooks were read end-to-end and accommodations booked early, the duffel packed full and ready. Then breaking news…”
“Architecture is in drag when it imitates architecture. It is a performance identifying and innovating upon the architect’s unknown knowns. This is one such performance. Architecture, known as stable, secure and structured is imitated as fluid. Similarly, this dress, or perhaps this building, is a ball house; an imitation of the architectural house. The latter is a place of comfort and shelter but not for all.
“”She has everything she needs inside the duplex cabin. A living area full of light and warm wood, a cozy cave-like bedroom and a bathroom overlooking the mountains. She spends all day outside, taking pictures and enjoying the landscape, happy to come back here for a warm shower and a quiet night.”
“In architecture, we often tend to only depict the beautiful and flawless parts while forgetting that it is the patina of a certain material or the irregularity in a structure that brings out the real beauty of a scene. Therefore, “Nature Takes Over Again” depicts an urban dystopia where nature is slowly but surely taking back what it once lost to humankind.
“I remember the anger when the noise came…where was my forest???
“”Geometric proportions turn into shivers, stone into tears, rituals into revelations, light into grace, space into contemplation, and time into divine presence.” – Julio Bermudez
“This piece was inspired by Villa-Giulia in Rome, a building historically located at the emergence of the Baroque style. Its most interesting feature is the layered garden. Two levels underground is the most sacred area, the “Nymphaeum”, where the residents could rest, dine or meet with guests. A fountain and multiple marble statues enrich this place and create an idyllic atmosphere.
“This piece was inspired by the 20th century photographer Berenice Abbott and her collection about the New-York-City street life. I was fascinated by her dramatic yet melancolic imagery and tried to adapt elements like the strong light-shafts which pierce through the narrow streets and highlight a small, specific area. The surreal coloration of the material and the sometimes weird form language are supposed to strengthen the melancolic and almost dreamlike mood.”
“A powerful and evocative gesture, a reinterpretation of the monument in a modern key.
“A fantastical recreation of the Golden Gallery at Schloss Charlottenburg, a mesmerizing interior space of splendid decoration rich with sculpture, textiles, and mirrors.”
“Mirage, is an illustration for an exhibition space based on a dream I once had, in a time not so distant from ours. Illustrating a post-apocalyptic future, situated in a transitory exhibition space, presenting visitors to the notions of both individuality and conformity. While the focus is primarily on the people who are shaping the architectural outlook according to thier present reality, feelings of fascination and longing for freedom and peace, during uncertain times are also expressed through their disconnect from the brutal nature of thier surroundings.”
“Generally, we tend to admire the most impressive, popular and most commonly knows as “beautiful” buildings and sites in the world. I sometimes try to shift my attention to a different kinds of sites and places. From time to time I find myself falling in love with those dark, shady and almost transparent places on one hand, but at the same time, places that are full of details, mystery, unique textures and life. In my opinion we need to pay attention to those places. Appreciate them, take a closer look at them. I’m positive that we’ll find something new each and every time we do.”
“// The sound of the ocean,
“Set in a post-apocalyptic, dystopian context where people are challenged to ‘Inhabit the Uninhabitable’, this project explores themes of discovery, new beginnings, and a sense of place. Located in the heart of the Patagonian Forest in South America, the project’s landscaping takes inspiration from the 100,000 hectares of land that fosters biological diversity.
“The Japanese hold Mount Fuji in a special place in their hearts respecting the mystical qualities of the cone-shaped mountain for many generations. A long time ago in Japan a belief arose that spirits of the dead climbed up mountains and became gods (kami) at the peak. From al mountains Mount Fuji is sacred in particular. Japanese Buddhists revere the mountain is a gateway to another world.
“Sitting in a big boat, sailing slowly in the river, watching the local fisherman standing with his cormorants on the traditional bamboo raft with lanterns near a small village hiding behind the morning fog and large mountains, and only small ships with candles flutter in the water, luring fish that one of the cormorants is ready to catch right now and bring to his master whose not just smiled, it was as if he was blooming leisurely, surprised himself that he was smiling and blooming…
“The climate and ecological crisis are no longer fringe concerns. From stratospheric ozone depletion, air and water quality degradation to deforestation, they are URGENT EXISTENTIAL THREATS to the human race. We must act to reset our relationship with nature. Rewilding our city restores the area to its centuries-long practice of HUMAN SUPREMACY to ECOLOGICALLY CONSCIOUS CONSUMERISM. Our capitalist culture requires this constant consumption and disposal.
“It’s late afternoon, the sun is setting and the last vestiges of light are streaming through the Tamarack trees. It’s winter and the icy cold river is just starting to thaw at the bank as hope for Spring abounds. The warm glow of the cabins glow against the cool blue landscape as campfire smoke drifts through the larches.”
“Look at the sky; remind yourself of the cosmos. Seek vastness at every opportunity in order to remind yourself that you are a small cog in an enormous machine.
“An ode to minimalism and graphics. We play with shapes and elements of nature. Experimenting with the horse figures, wintery landscape, and minimalist structures gave us what we needed: a balance of sharpness and sinuosity.
“Situated in the middle of Utopia Planitia, a broad plain in the northeast of Mars, Colony III was settled in 2040 and opened to intrepid visitors a few years later. It sits on top of a vast underground ice reserve which contains as much water as the entire Great Lakes system combined. Each structure of the Colony III resort that houses you during your stay is covered by state-of-the-art ceramic-graphene shields to provide the utmost safety from gamma rays while making your stay as comfortable as possible.
“Rainy evening in downtown New York. Wet asphalt, night city lights, and the never-sleeping life in the Big Apple.”