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Architects' Guide To Midjourney: An Adventure in AI-Generated Imagery for Concept Development
CategoriesArchitecture

Architects’ Guide To Midjourney: An Adventure in AI-Generated Imagery for Concept Development

By Zarkon Group,

Architizer’s Vision Awards is celebrating the innovative minds propelling architectural visualization forward with a special AI-Generated Visualization Category. Learn more and start your submission before the Early Entry Deadline on May 5th.  

You’ve probably heard by now: the AI revolution is well and truly upon us. And while it doesn’t quite resemble Spielberg and Haley Joel Osment’s 2001 vision, it’s clear that AI is moving in, and its moving in faster than your first love into that studio apartment you used to have.

While some industries rush to bolster their roles and justify their positions as AI proves that, in many instances, it can comfortably complete tasks to the same and often higher standards than its human counterparts, architects and the design industry as a whole are pondering with enthusiasm, how we can most effectively adopt this groundbreaking technology to explore, enhance, and streamline our practice.

Prompt: /imagine Architecture, concept sketch and plan, residential, modern, contemporary, handdrawn, in the style of Alvar Aalto

Change is daunting, and it’s safe to say we’re on the cusp of one of the most significant workflow conversions many of us have ever experienced, perhaps since the transition from drafting to CAD. So, in case you feel like you’re out of your depth or just haven’t yet had the time to explore the wonders of Midjourney, we thought it was important to show you why and how AI can be used to support your creative vision.

Let us start at the beginning. Midjourney is the brainchild of David Holz, the visionary mind behind Leap Motion. The company is a pioneering research lab that specializes in text-to-image AI technology. It offers a refreshingly simple and user-friendly interface through a platform named Discord. Users can seamlessly communicate with the AI “bot” using elementary commands without any coding experience whatsoever (phew!). The mission is to “expand the imaginative powers of the human species.” To say this tool has been popular is an understatement: The new company is making an indelible mark in the AI realm and proudly announced its profitability within a month of its open beta release in 2022.

Prompt: /Imagine Contemporary architecture, treehouse hotel, luxury, tropical jungle, hyperrealism, hyperrealistic, photorealistic, daylight, 8K Ultra HD

Now, where does architecture come into all this? Well, as we all know, as architects and designers, we regularly use imagery to express our vision, harnessing photographs, sketches and all sorts of visual aids to interpret and represent our ambitions. Yet, it can be tricky when the thing in your head doesn’t exist yet; how can you show what you mean using vague and abstract similarities, especially if your vision is unique? It’s the skill that has separated the good designers from the great designers, and Midjourney is here to make you even better.

Prompt: /imagine Hotel lobby, Moroccan, luxury, serene, wellness, airy, bright, hyperrealism, hyperrealistic, photorealistic, cinematic lighting, 8K Ultra HD

Midjourney offers a groundbreaking solution to some of these challenges by incorporating AI-generated images into our design process, we can dictate our thoughts using descriptive language to generate images that can loosely interpret our ideas. I say loosely because, understandably and thankfully, in my opinion — AI can’t read your mind. Your images are only as good as your descriptions, and even then, often, the results are far from what you imagined. However, we’re still in the early stages and with time, practice and further technological development, these things will surely improve rapidly.

So down to the fun part, how do we actually use it? Honestly, it’s pretty simple once you’ve gone over it a couple of times. Midjourney has been designed to be user-friendly, and it takes only a few steps to create your first image.

To begin your adventure with Midjourney, simply follow these steps:

1. Install Discord and create a free account.

You can use a desktop or a mobile device. I’ve found the mobile interface a little more comprehensive for novices, but both work equally as well.

2. Visit Midjourney’s website and click on the “Join the Beta” to be given access to their Discord channel.


Once you’re all set up, head back to Discord and from the list on the left-hand side, locate the Midjourney Channel (a white icon with a sailboat) and select a Room in the Newcomer Rooms section within the channel.

These channels are available to use without any sort of subscription while your first getting started. Your free trial gives you about 25 image creations to start out. Subscriptions start at $10 a month, depending on your requirements.

Be aware that these rooms are public, so everyone else in the room can see your creations.

3. Activate the AI bot

Prompt: /imagine In the style of Rennie Mackintosh, architecture, office building, skyscraper, New York City, summers day, Hyperrealism, hyperrealistic, photorealistic, cinematic lighting, 8K Ultra HD

Once you’re all set up and settled in, you can get started by typing “/imagine” into the messaging bar at the bottom of the conversation window, followed by a spacebar. This starts your “prompt” and you can let your imagination go wild from here. Enter any descriptive words that come to mind, and let the magic unfold as the program renders an image based on your input.

4. Select your preferred image

Image 3 – Upscaled

Midjourney will give you a grid of four images with several commands beneath it. U means “upscale,” and V means “Variation.” Upscale will provide you with a better quality and larger image. Variation will give you an additional four images similar to your chosen one. The numbers correspond from left to right. The top left is U1, and the bottom right is U4.

5. Keep track of your image in the constantly evolving message

With all the users on Midjourney it’s really easy to lose track of your message. If this happens, just head to the top right corner of your window, look for your inbox and hit mentions. Here you’ll see all the messages you have been tagged in, including your images, variations and upscales.

6. Integrate Midjourney into your creative process

From this point on, you’re free to develop and adjust to your heart’s content. Simply open up you upscaled image into a browser window, copy the URL, start a new /imagine prompt and post the URL followed by any adjustments.

Prompt: /imagine (ORIGINAL IMAGE URL) Black facade, biophilia, sustainable architecture, drone view, Hyperrealism, hyperrealistic, photorealistic, cinematic lighting, 8K Ultra HD

It’s that simple. As you hone your prompts, you can develop your technique to get the desired image style you are looking for. A single change of word can create an entirely new set of images.

As the AI-generated images from Midjourney continue to inspire architects worldwide, real-world applications are becoming more common. From initial mood boards to fully realized designs, architects have found new ways to incorporate AI-generated visuals into their creative processes. The innovative approach pushes the boundaries of conventional architectural design, allowing architects to explore ideas faster and more effectively, bypassing the need for exhaustive online image searches.

As we become more familiar with the software, daring architects are venturing even further by crafting AI-encouraged designs, generating photorealistic renderings of architectural structures using Midjourney, and creating 3D models based on the AI-generated concepts. With the development of these models in familiar architectural software, AI generated concepts can quickly become reality. Watch this space!

Architizer’s Vision Awards is celebrating the innovative minds propelling architectural visualization forward with a special AI-Generated Visualization Category. Learn more and start your submission before the Early Entry Deadline on May 5th.  

The images used are all author’s own.

Reference

Cranes in mist
CategoriesSustainable News

“The hollowness of Architects Declare should serve as a warning”

By Zarkon Group,

Climate network Architects Declare has failed to live up to its ambitions and now represents a cautionary tale about setting sustainability commitments, writes Chris Hocknell.

After all the press releases, announcements, and LinkedIn posts it has become clear that four years on from its launch, Architects Declare is collecting dust. Speaking from experience of working with hundreds of architecture firms, I can tell you that the number that have loudly signed up to the climate network and yet are demonstrably not implementing or even properly advocating its agenda on live projects is startlingly high.

The so-called green transition is the most important industrial issue of our generation. When crucial climate-target commitments slowly die, so do our chances of decarbonising our economies. The failure of Architects Declare shows us that for true progress to be made we need realistic, achievable and accountable target-setting processes that cut across industries.

What emerged as a positive movement appears to have become a damp squib

Architects Declare certainly made waves when it was established as the UK architecture industry’s response to the climate crisis in May 2019. Among many similar networks emerging across sectors, it was particularly high-profile and ambitious. Sustainability specialists were impressed, if a little sceptical at its scale and boldness.

Its lofty aims included commitments to “establish climate and biodiversity mitigation principles as the key measure of our industry’s success: demonstrated through awards, prizes, and listings” and to “advocate for faster change in the industry towards regenerative design practices and a higher government funding priority to support this”.

The movement received more than 1,274 signatories from firms in the UK, and has now hit 7,000 signatories in 23 countries across the globe.

We were embedded in Architects Declare from the beginning, hosting an event where we encouraged studios to get involved and offering surgeries for technical queries about achieving the aims. But after that much-heralded birth, what emerged as a positive movement combining some of the key players in the industry appears to have become a damp squib.

Some saw the high-profile departures of Zaha Hadid Architects and Foster + Partners from Architects Declare amid a row over their work on airports as evidence of signatories failing to honour their commitments.

But I believe that for true progress to be made in decarbonising the entire economy, companies need to collaborate across sectors instead of refusing to work on airports and other infrastructure projects haphazardly deemed to be high carbon. Practices like Zaha and Fosters should proudly work with these projects. Airports aren’t going away, so we need architecture firms to work alongside them and get them ready for low- or zero-carbon operation in the coming years.

Far more concerning are the countless firms that have waxed lyrical about their “bold new ambitions” and commitment to Architects Declare online while quietly continuing with business as usual.

Many of the commitments included within declarations often simply fall outside of an architecture firm’s direct control, dependent on clients further up the food chain. Architects know this well, as it’s the first reason they give you if you ask them whether they’re honouring their Architects Declare commitment (try it at your next design team meeting).

Failing to meet targets undermines faith and discourages others from taking collective action

For example, the ambition to “include life-cycle costing, whole-life carbon modelling, and post-occupancy evaluation as part of the basic scope of work, to reduce both embodied and operational resource use” requires a specialist appointment and the inclination to utilise these disciplines into the project.

Especially for post-occupancy evaluation, which occurs after the development has been completed and potentially sold, and there will be no architecture firm involved. Achieving these commitments requires the engagement of developers, specialist designers and managers.

Similar is the commitment to “accelerate the shift to low embodied carbon materials in all work”. It is certainly true that progressively shifting specifications towards lower embodied carbon materials can reduce the carbon footprint of the construction industry significantly over time, as well as driving desperately needed innovation in the development of new, low-carbon materials and processes.

However, a non-trivial number of material specifications and construction systems are not made by architectural companies, and architects make that point abundantly clear when asked about the low-carbon material commitment.

Signatories may well argue that government inaction is the root cause for the programme’s stalling. Architects Declare sought government funding to support the shift to “regenerative design practices”. Yet we must understand that ultimately it is developers who build, not governments.

Governments simply cannot regulate net-zero into existence. While next-generation, low-carbon materials are in development, they are not yet commercially available. Many developed nations still suffer from a housing and infrastructure shortage, and mandating low-carbon buildings without the supply side of the equation would only exacerbate this crisis. It is not reasonable to simultaneously masquerade as an agent of change whilst passing the buck to the government. Decarbonisation is, and will always be, a symbiotic effort between the public and private sector with each actor playing their own part.

Here lies a cautionary tale for climate commitments, especially in the run-up to the controversial COP28 conference. While bold and splashy commitments may make for impressive LinkedIn posts, failing to meet those targets undermines faith in the power of commitments and discourages others from taking the collective action required to effect real change.

My lessons would be as follows: climate commitments must be realistic and actionable. Honest introspection about one’s capacities should be a precursor to setting bold targets. Many of the ambitions set out by Architects Declare are simply too big for architects alone to achieve. If Architects Declare was really intended to be a lobbying group or awareness-raising campaign with actions optional, then that should have been made clear from the off.

The architecture profession now stands out by the breadth of the shortfall between its words and its actions

As it is, the architecture profession now stands out by the breadth of the shortfall between its words and its actions. From my experience the average company in other construction professions are also only partially active in terms of sustainability, but they have not set out such ambitious targets and been so vocal about their commitment and devotion to the cause. This is not necessarily a question of the level of action per se, it’s about making big claims and failing to live up to them.

When it comes to climate-target setting, no commitment is often better than a failed one. Every empty climate pledge only erodes public trust in commitments, adding to a growing sense of fatigue, apathy, and helplessness in achieving a sustainable future. Sustainability is a marathon, not a sprint. It’s better to repeatedly achieve small carbon reductions from multiple compounding, unsexy, and hard-won optimisations than to make lofty promises that rely on the good graces of an aloof and unknown party.

The hollowness of Architects Declare should serve as a warning to the industry. To avoid eroding public trust and accusations of greenwashing, bold promises require concrete action. Otherwise, we may soon find ourselves asking: “what’s the point?”.

Chris Hocknell is director of UK sustainability consultancy Eight Versa.

Reference

Norm Architects creates minimalist HQ for children's brand Liewood
CategoriesInterior Design

Norm Architects devises understated HQ for kids’ lifestyle brand Liewood

By Zarkon Group,

A refined palette of oak, plaster and steel defines the interior of the Liewood headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, designed by local practice Norm Architects.

The pared-back 2,200-square-metre office was conceived to give prominence to Liewood‘s colourful, Scandi-style children’s clothes, toys and homeware.

Norm Architects creates minimalist HQ for children's brand Liewood
Norm Architects has completed Liewood’s Copenhagen headquarters

“With the ambition to create a comfortable space with a somewhat understated character, we worked to let the space obtain its significance through the thoughtful use of tactile elements such as textured plaster walls and contrasting elements like oakwood and steel,” explained Sofie Bak, an architect at the practice.

Staff enter the five-floor office via an airy light-filled lobby that is anchored by a rounded counter, roughly washed with sandy-beige plaster.

Norm Architects creates minimalist HQ for children's brand Liewood
Plaster podiums provide display space on the first floor

Cone-shaped pendant lights are strung along the ceiling while oversized stone tiles are laid across the floor, helping to “emphasise the grandeur” of the space.

A pre-existing staircase curves up to the first floor, which accommodates a showroom. This part of the building formerly served as a production hall, with a vast scale that could easily feel empty and unwelcoming, according to Norm Architects.

Norm Architects creates minimalist HQ for children's brand Liewood
At mealtimes, staff can gather in The Parlour

To counter this, the practice constructed what it describes as a “warm wooden core” – a house-shaped oakwood volume with built-in shelves for showcasing Liewood’s products.

Large, plaster-coated display plinths are dotted across the rest of the room. At the back is a short flight of wide, wooden stairs where staff can sit and chat throughout the day.

More products can also be presented here on bespoke podiums that, thanks to cut-outs at their base, are able to slot onto the steps.

The building’s first floor also contains The Parlour – a kitchen and dining area where Liewood employees can enjoy meals together. It features a large travertine table, a series of plump grey sofas and graphic art pieces by the Danish designer Sara Martinsen.

Norm Architects creates minimalist HQ for children's brand Liewood
Traditional work areas can be found across the rest of the HQ

Work areas throughout the rest of the HQ are furnished with practical desks and storage units that match the off-white walls, while meeting rooms are fronted with panes of glass to foster a sense of openness.

As the building’s original staircase didn’t extend all the way to the fifth floor, Norm Architects installed a spiralling set of white-steel steps.

These grant access to a space the practice refers to as The Apartment: a secondary showroom designed to have a more intimate, homely feel.

Norm Architects creates minimalist HQ for children's brand Liewood
The top floor accommodates The Apartment, a more intimate showroom

Elsewhere, Norm Architects recently took its minimalist aesthetic off-shore when designing the interiors of the Y9 sailing yacht, decked out with supple suede furnishings and wood-panelled surfaces.

The photography is by Jonas Bjerre Poulsen of Norm Architects.

Reference

Dear Architects: If You Really Want to Be More Sustainable, Start Prioritizing Reuse Projects
CategoriesArchitecture

Dear Architects: If You Really Want to Be More Sustainable, Start Prioritizing Reuse Projects

By Zarkon Group,

Architecture 2030’s mission is to rapidly transform the built environment from a major emitter of greenhouse gases to a central source of solutions to the climate crisis. For 20 years, the nonprofit has provided leadership and designed actions toward this shift and a healthy future for all. This article was written by Erin McDade and Lori Ferriss. 

The latest reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are in, and the findings are clear: reusing and retrofitting our existing building stock is critical climate action. The Sixth Assessment Report names building reuse as one of the top strategies to mitigate climate change, stating that places with developed existing built environments will achieve “the largest GHG emissions savings by replacing, repurposing, or retrofitting the building stock.”

According to the IPCC, to have the best possible chance of meeting global climate targets, we must limit our remaining carbon budget to 340-400 gigatons of CO2 emissions. At a current average global emissions rate of approximately 40 gigatons per year, staying within this budget would require rapid decarbonization of every carbon-emitting sector, including the built environment, by 2040. This means achieving net zero across both operational emissions from using buildings and embodied emissions from constructing and maintaining them. Given such a short timeline, when assessing the best way to cut emissions in the building sector, we are compelled to think not just about how much carbon we reduce but when those reductions happen.

Pingtung Public Library by MAYU architects, Pingtung County, Taiwan Popular Choice, 10th Annual A+Awards, Architecture +Adaptive Reuse

While substantial new construction will be required to support a growing global population, and efforts are underway to deploy net zero operations and adopt low/zero embodied carbon materials and construction practices, most new buildings today come with a significant embodied carbon penalty as well as added operational emissions.

On the other hand, renovating an existing building typically saves 50% to 75% of the embodied carbon that would be emitted by constructing a similar new building, especially when the most carbon-intensive parts of the building, the structure and envelope, are reused. When coupled with critical operational decarbonization strategies such as improved energy efficiency, electrification, and on-/off-site renewable energy, building reuse represents the biggest bang for our carbon buck, especially in parts of the world with significant and/or underutilized existing building stocks.

Unfortunately, renovation rates lag behind IPCC-estimated requirements. Current global building stock renovation rates hover around 1% annually, but the IPCC estimates that decarbonizing the built environment in time to meet climate deadlines will require retrofit rates to increase to 2.5 to 5%, and perhaps as much as 10%, annually.

Pingtung Public Library by MAYU architects, Pingtung County, Taiwan Popular Choice, 10th Annual A+Awards, Architecture +Adaptive Reuse

The good news is that there are positive trends to accelerate building reuse on many fronts. To name a few: For the first time in the United States, AIA reported that architectural billings from reuse outpaced those from ground up construction. Funding opportunities are expanding from many sources, including the White House’s Inflation Reduction Act. The Pritzker Prize has recognized architects for exemplary stewardship of existing buildings in two of the past three years. David Chipperfield, this year’s laureate, states “Retrofit is not only the right thing to do, it’s the more interesting thing to do.”

Contributing to this trend is the expansion of tools and resources to support the planning, design and policymaking communities in assigning a value to the carbon-savings potential of building reuse. It has long been a truism in the building industry that “the greenest building is one that’s already built”, but despite this intuitive knowledge, the industry has lacked the ability to easily compare the variables of embodied and operating emissions over specific time frames for reuse and new-construction. This means that the potential avoided emissions associated with reuse are typically unaccounted for in design processes, owner requirements, and climate policies and regulations.

Pingtung Public Library by MAYU architects, Pingtung County, Taiwan Popular Choice, 10th Annual A+Awards, Architecture +Adaptive Reuse

Resources like the CARE Tool are paving the way for a significant uptake in building reuse as a climate solution. The tool, recently released by Architecture 2030, provides a user-friendly platform and easily accessible data to support key decision makers in understanding and quantifying the potential of building reuse to achieve dramatic carbon savings compared to demolition and reconstruction.

The benefits of reusing and improving existing buildings extend well beyond carbon reductions. For example, a strategic investment could leverage the millions of square feet of unoccupied or underutilized buildings to ease the record housing crises in the US and Europe. Investing in communities that have been subjected to historic discrimination in particular has the potential to bring equitable climate solutions that also have meaningful social and economic outcomes.

Carbon smart approaches to reuse will reduce habitat loss, deforestation and pollution, while strengthening neighborhood memory and identity, creating local jobs, building financial equity, increasing neighborhood resilience and empowering communities. The benefits are clear, and the time to act is now! Existing buildings are a key to a climate smart built environment. Let’s untap their potential to transform the existing built environment for a net zero future.

Pingtung Public Library by MAYU architects, Pingtung County, Taiwan Popular Choice, 10th Annual A+Awards, Architecture +Adaptive Reuse | Photo by Yu-Chen Chao

Erin McDade, Associate AIA, is Architecture 2030’s Senior Program Director. She leads the organization’s public policy and building reuse initiatives, focusing on developing data-driven solutions for building sector decarbonization. 

Lori Ferriss, AIA, PE, is Goody Clancy’s Regenerative Renewal Practice Leader and Director of Sustainability and Climate Action, leading architecture projects and research investigations for premier educational institutions that are renewing heritage campuses while advancing climate action goals. 

Reference

Rectilinear brick-clad CLT building on a corner site in Dalston
CategoriesSustainable News

Dalston Works by Waugh Thistleton Architects became world’s biggest CLT building

By Zarkon Group,

Up next in our Timber Revolution series is a look at the Dalston Works apartment complex in London by Waugh Thistleton Architects, which is the world’s largest cross-laminated timber building.

Completed in 2017, Dalston Works is a 10-storey residential development in east London that contains 121 apartments with balconies as well as two ground-level courtyards, retail and restaurant space and an integrated flexible workspace.

Upon its completion, the project became the world’s largest cross-laminated timber (CLT) building, was its uses more of the material by volume – 3,852 cubic metres – than any other building. Dezeen is not aware of any larger CLT buildings constructed since.

Rectilinear brick-clad CLT building on a corner site in Dalston
Dalston Works is a mixed-use development in east London

It was designed by local architecture studio Waugh Thistleton Architects – a Shoreditch-based timber specialist that has been predominantly working with engineered wood since 2003.

Waugh Thistleton Architects also designed Murray Grove, which was previously profiled as part of Dezeen’s Timber Revolution series.

CLT is a panel material made by gluing at least three layers of wood at right angles to each other, which is significantly less carbon-intensive than other structural materials such as concrete or steel.

The panels are characterised by structural rigidity in two directions thanks to the arrangement of the layers and are cut to size before being assembled on-site.

Dalston Works has external, party and core walls as well as flooring and stairs made entirely from pieces of CLT that were delivered to the formerly neglected brownfield site over 374 days.

Brickwork facade of Dalston Works in east London by Waugh Thistleton Architects
It is the world’s largest CLT building

“[CLT] is replenishable, beautiful, healthy, fast and economic,” Andrew Waugh told Dezeen, who co-founded the architecture studio with Anthony Thistleton in 1997.

“Timber is easy to cut and to build with, so the buildings are easy to adapt – so they last longer,” he added.

“This also makes the material easier to use as part of a prefabricated system so that we can make higher quality buildings faster and with better working conditions for those involved.”

Ground-floor courtyard within brick-clad Dalston Works
Two ground-floor courtyards feature in the design

The development is separated into several boxy volumes, while the CLT frame was clad in traditional bricks chosen to reference the Edwardian and Victorian architecture of nearby warehouses and terraced properties.

“[The brickwork] was important to the client and to the planners,” reflected Waugh. “I am happy with the way it looks but would have preferred a lightweight cladding material.”

“We needed to greatly increase the amount of timber in the structure just to hold the bricks up in the air,” Waugh explained.

Brickwork facade on Dalston Works in east London
The CLT structure is clad in traditional bricks

Despite this, Dalston Works weighs a fifth of a concrete building of its size, according to the studio, which reduced the number of deliveries required during construction by 80 per cent.

Creating a lighter core meant that the project could reach much higher than if it had been constructed in concrete, since the development sits above the underground Elizabeth Line railway.

The project’s CLT frame also has 50 per cent less embodied carbon than a traditional concrete one. This refers to the amount of energy required to produce and form a material or object.

Perspective of the sky above the brick-clad Dalston Works building
A timber core means that the building weighs less than a similarly sized concrete structure

“There wasn’t a great deal of client motivation or legislative demand for any measures beyond meeting BREEAM and building regulations,” Waugh recalled, referring to standards that limit operational emissions as opposed to embodied emissions.

“My own view is that building regulations are pretty effective – and if you have an efficient, airtight building which is passively designed to suit its location then the operational carbon demand will be pretty low, and you have to assume that we will generate it from renewable energy in the near future.”

“Lots of stuff and complex gear designed to very slightly reduce the energy demand is a bit of a waste of resources. The real issue here is reducing the use of concrete and steel – the carbon savings from doing that are immense.”

According to project engineer Ramboll, more than 2,600 tonnes of carbon dioxide is stored within Dalston Works’ CLT frame.

Nearly six years on from Dalston Works’ completion, Waugh reflected on the significance of the world’s largest CLT building.

“At the time it was an important milestone – to demonstrate that timber is a viable alternative to concrete and steel – and at scale,” reflected the architect. “But I think it’s dangerous to measure a building’s success by its size,” he warned.

Rectilinear brick-clad residential complex building in Dalston
Andrew Waugh has called for action from the UK government to encourage more mass timber architecture

Known as a long-time campaigner for the use of mass timber in architecture, Waugh said that he recently wrote a “big piece” to the UK government calling for it to invest more in sustainable architecture practices, explaining that the UK has been “left way behind” compared with various mass-timber projects being created in other parts of the world.

“The UK is behind in terms of timber because we have a government that does not prioritise carbon reduction – and is heavily influenced by lobbying from both construction companies and the manufacturing industry,” said the architect.

“Architects need to start driving demand – seeking out opportunities to design in timber and build a market. Designers need to prioritise carbon reduction in their work and start reconsidering how they think about success in the buildings they design.”

The photography is courtesy of Waugh Thistleton Architects.

Timber Revolution logo
Illustration by Yo Hosoyamada

Timber Revolution

This article is part of Dezeen’s Timber Revolution series, which explores the potential of mass timber and asks whether going back to wood as our primary construction material can lead the world to a more sustainable future.

Reference

10 Architects Who Can – and Should – Win the Pritzker Prize
CategoriesArchitecture

10 Architects Who Can – and Should – Win the Pritzker Prize

By Zarkon Group,

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, prepare for the upcoming Architizer Vision Awards, honoring the best architectural photography, film, visualizations, drawings, models and the talented creators behind them. Learn more and register >

The 2023 Pritzker Prize has been announced and the winner’s reveal was met with mixed reactions. While some lauded the timeless elegance and simplicity of Chipperfield’s designs, others questioned why the institution would choose to elevate the “safe choice” and what values that conveys. For those in the latter camp, who met the announcement with a sigh, part of the constructive commentary was brainstorming architects who they’d like to see win.

While the Pritzker’s culture of naming a single figure rather than the teams of professionals who work to produce contemporary architecture remains questionable (the rules explicitly state that the prize must go to “a living architect or architects, but not to an architectural firm”), there are arguments for celebrating industry visionaries whose creative leadership guide the profession. Indeed, the prize is meant to “encourage and stimulate not only a greater public awareness of buildings but also inspire greater creativity within the architectural profession.” That said, the definition of architecture does not simply encompass buildings (scroll to see some landscape architects who have certainly “produced consistent and significant contributions to humanity and the built environment through the art of architecture.”).

Architizer’s A+Awards program was founded with the precise aim of countering the culture of starchitecture, which erases the very foundation of architectural practice: collaboration. However, we also believe in thought leaders, and the following selections exemplify the spirit of what we celebrate: architecture that builds a better future.

Marina Tabassum

Left: Marina Tabassum Kaethe17, Marina-tabassum-pimo-2023 (cropped), CC BY-SA 4.0; Right: Bait Ur Rouf Mosque অজ্ঞাত, বায়তুর রউফ মসজিদ, CC BY-SA 4.0

Climate, materials, site, culture, and local history are hallmarks of Marina Tabassum’s output. Her Dhaka-based studio was founded in 2005, and the Bangladeshi architect’s most famous work, the Bait Ur Rouf Mosque epitomizes the approach that she takes across her diverse oeuvre. There, a symphony of light sings in a rhythm of unexpected beams and bursts against the exposed terracotta walls. It’s pure poetry. But then, there are her more practical designs like Khudi Bari, a modular mobile housing unit that is light weight and easy to assemble and specifically designed for climate victims in her native Bangladesh. Hers is an architecture rooted in the past and built for the future. We need celebrate this type of innovative and humanitarian approach to design over and above the monumental and symbolic.

Tatiana Bilbao

We live in a time of crises. While the term “Housing Crisis” is used universally, the plagues most countries in distinct and different iterations. Mexico City-based architect Tatiana Bilbao has a long history of engaging with this crisis as it manifests in her hometown. Since having worked as an adviser for the Ministry of Urban Development and Housing in Mexico City for two years early in her career, Bilbao has acted as a leader of architectural discussions and research into affordable housing  — and not the anonymous cookie-cutter type that might come to mind. Beyond affordability, her designs consider how to build sustainable communities that are rooted in their locale. Tell me this doesn’t “demonstrates a combination of those qualities of talent, vision, and commitment,” that the Pritzker awards.

Kongjian Yu

While architectural enthusiasts outside of China may be less familiar with landscape architect Kongjian Yu, it’s time they started reading up. The founder of Turenscape has been on the forefront of adapting cities for a changing climate, and a longtime advocate of reversing assumptions about urban and regional development planning. Having coined the term “Sponge City,” his body of work is driven by an ecological approach to recovering the natural landscape of cities, and working with water rather than against it. While these projects may be rooted in ecology, the designer’s touch for adding a flare of tasteful manmade drama in a natural environment underlines the root belief of his studio; indeed, it is embedded in its name. The “Tu” refers to dirt, earth and land. Meanwhile, “Ren” denotes people, man and human beings. Together, “Turen” means earth man. This is the type of thinking all builders today must take.

Jeanne Gang

The world’s tallest woman-designed building, St. Regis Chicago, was constructed by Jeanne Gang and her studio. When it was completed in 2020, the tower that it overtook gain its title was none other the Aqua Tower, which was designed by the same architect. This simple fact speaks volumes about Jeanne Gang’s ambition, which is paired with seemingly limitless creative energy. Her contribution to 21st century skyscraper is undeniable, so it is fitting that she is based in Chicago, where the typology was first invented. Studio Gang’s portfolio is not limited to highrises, however, (although her team has masterminded plenty more innovative towers). For example, their latest adaptive reuse project makes a hopeful statement about the future while their addition to the American Museom of Natural History is an signifiant contribution to museum typology.

MVRDV (Winy Maas, Jacob van Rijs, and Nathalie de Vries)

Market Hall by MVRDV, Rotterdam, Netherlands

Since it was founded in 1993, this Rotterdam-based studio have been challenging public perceptions about what architecture can be and how it can evolve our definition of what a city is. Mixing typologies, upending formal expectations and urban relationships, and pushing the envelop of construction possibility, MVRDV does work that is anything but safe. Each project in their porfolio is delightfully unique, also challenging the traditional notion of an architect or firm developing an identifiable style. Instead, their projects are deeply rooted in an analysis of how buildings can activate (or re-activate) the urban fabric and the public, resulting in architecture that is place-specific, even if not rooted in tradition (subverting a common preconceived notion about contextual design). They also model how urban density does not need to come at the cost of traditional community bonds.

James Corner

As a path breaking landscape architect who has already been the first of his ilk to receive a handful of awards traditionally reserved for building designers, James Corner is well positioned to be the first landscape designer to win a Pritzker. His New York-based firm, which takes his name, crafts urban environments that are more than just green spaces; in addition to ecological benefits, his designs are undergirded by a deep concern with the social and the economic. Cornfield was at the forefront of thinking about post-industrial landscapes, and designs such as his famous High Line (in collaboration with Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Piet Oudolf) positioned him as a leader in the field, and redefined how the broader public view landscape architects and architecture. Since then, his firm has continued to push the bounds of public and industry understanding about urban public space and ecological remediation, reimagining aging infrastructure as “places to enchant.”

Frida Escobedo

Having skyrocketed to global fame in 2018 when she was named the youngest architect ever invited to design the Serpentine Pavilion (and only the second woman to do so), it should come as no surprise that Frida Escobedo is on this list. However, this is not why she deserves to be given the Pritzker. When she was named to takeover the MET wing design from this year’s laureate, the museum director Max Hollein put it best, saying “In her practice, she wields architecture as a way to create powerful spatial and communal experiences, and she has shown dexterity and sensitivity in her elegant use of material while bringing sincere attention to today’s socioeconomic and ecological issues.” Beyond the museum addition, her portfolio ranges from hospitality and hotel restoration to interior commercial projects to residential design — all commissions that are the bread and butter of most architects, making up the fabric of the everyday, as opposed to the big-ticket cultural projects typical of starchitects.

Sir David Adjaye

For many architects and critics, the question is not whether Sir David Adjaye will win the Pritzker, it when. As the best-known Black “starchitect,” the Ghanaian-British designer’s buildings range from the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo, Norway to the A+Awards-winning Winter Park Library and Events Center in Florida. The Pritzker was founded with the aim of celebrating figures who “stimulate a greater public awareness of buildings,” and Adjaye did just that with the design of the ​​National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C. Yet, if Adjaye received the award it wouldn’t be for just one building. In addition to collaborating with numerous artists and the considerable output of community-oriented work in his portfolio, Adjaye’s designs are also materially distinct, representing a visionary way to think about construction.

Toshiko Mori

Left: Image via Toshiko Mori Architect Right: House in Connecticut II, New Canaan, CT Photo by Paul Warchol Photography

The Japanese-born and New York-based architect Toshiko Mori made a name for herself by her poetic takes on modern architectural style, deely rooted in research that produced material innovation and common-sense sustainability. Through her eponymous firm over the past four decades, she has constructed beloved buildings around the world and built a career as an industry leader through her dedication to pedagoy. While the Pritzker recognizes built output, and not thought leadership, from becoming the first female professor given tenure at Harvard to her investigations into sustainability in design on World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Cities to her advocacy for community engagement through Architecture For Humanity, her positive impact on the profession shouldn’t be taken lightly. These research interests are also visible in her built output, including THREAD: Artists’ Residency and Cultural Center where Mori used parametric design to expand the structural possibilities of the vernacular African home. 

Mariam Kamara

Left image: Mariam Kamara, Mariam Kamara OTRS, CC BY-SA 4.0; Right image: HIKMA – A Religious and Secular Complex by atelier masōmī + Yasaman Esmaili, Dandaji, Niger Photo by James Wang 

If Mariam Kamara were to win the Pritzker next year, she wouldn’t be the youngest laureate in the prize’s history (that bar was set by Ryue Nishizawa was aged 44 in 2010), although she’d be damn close. The founder and principal of atelier masōmī, in Niamey Niger and the Seattle-based collective united4design, is known for harnessing low-cost, local materials, including raw earth and recycled metal. One example of this is her Hikma en Dandaji, a building that has been lauded for its sustainability specs and that draws on local construction techniques and evolves them. Bringing three programs—a mosque, a library and a community center—under one roof, the Kamara’s design bringing “secular knowledge and faith” together “without contradiction.” Perhaps she needs time to build out her portfolio before the Pritzker comes her way, it would be thrilling to cast the spotlight on someone “designing culturally, historically and climatically relevant solutions to spatial problems inherent to the developing world.”

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, prepare for the upcoming Architizer Vision Awards, honoring the best architectural photography, film, visualizations, drawings, models and the talented creators behind them. Learn more and register >

Reference

Blue-rimmed doors at ÅBEN brewery designed by Pihlmann Architects
CategoriesInterior Design

Pihlmann Architects creates ÅBEN brewery in former slaughterhouse

By Zarkon Group,

Bulbous steel tanks hang from where carcasses used to be suspended at the ÅBEN brewery in Copenhagen, which local studio Pihlmann Architects transformed from a slaughterhouse into a restaurant and bar.

Located in Copenhagen’s Meatpacking District, the brewery is housed in a 1932 butchery that has been used for various commercial activities since the early 1990s.

Blue-rimmed doors at ÅBEN brewery designed by Pihlmann Architects
Visitors enter ÅBEN through the building’s original blue-rimmed doors

Pihlmann Architects maintained and restored many of the slaughterhouse’s original features as part of the renovation for Danish beer company ÅBEN.

“Turning the space back into a food production facility, with all the pragmatic measures we had to keep in mind, generated our ideas from the very beginning,” studio founder Søren Pihlmann told Dezeen. “Bringing back the authentic character of the space was key.”

Conical steel fermentation tanks within ÅBEN brewery in Copenhagen
Conical steel fermentation vessels were suspended where carcasses used to hang

Arranged across one open-plan level, the brewery features the original gridded rail system from which 980 carcasses used to hang when the space was a slaughterhouse.

Pihlmann Architects replaced the carcasses with conical fermentation tanks that are reached via a low-hanging galvanised steel walkway – also suspended from the listed building’s original sawtooth roof.

White tiles lining the walls of ÅBEN brewery in a former slaughterhouse
Pihlmann Architects was led by the building’s industrial history

Geometric clusters of white wall tiles that have been preserved since the 1930s were also kept in place, echoing the brewery’s original purpose.

“Bringing the key elements back to a worthy condition was more of a task than deciding on which [elements] to keep,” noted Pihlmann.

Semitransparent curtains within brewery designed by Pihlmann Architects
Semitransparent curtains divide spaces and control acoustics

Spaces are delineated by slaughterhouse-style semitransparent curtains, which cloak various dining areas that are positioned around the restaurant’s central open kitchen where visitors can experience the brewing process up close.

Furniture was kept simple and “unfussy” in order to emphasise the restaurant’s industrial elements, including angular chairs and bar stools finished in aluminium and wood.

“The [material and colour] palettes are true to function on the one hand and [true to] history on the other,” said Pihlmann.

Crimson red flooring runs throughout the brewery, which was in place when the building was purchased. It was maintained to add warmth to the otherwise clinical interiors.

At night, the restaurant’s electric light absorbs this colour and reflects from the fermentation tanks, creating a more intimate environment.

Central open kitchen within ÅBEN brewery
A central open kitchen is flanked by bar stools

Making the food production processes visible was at the core of the design concept, according to the architecture studio.

“It’s not only about the preparation of the food, it’s more about the brewing taking place,” continued Pihlmann.

“The space which produces thousands of litres every day is open for everyone to step into, and actually see how and where the product they consume is produced.”

“Today, we are so detached from what we consume, we just go to the supermarket and pick it up from the cold counter having no clue where it’s coming from,” he added.

“I’m not that naive to think that ÅBEN alone will change anything, but I’m convinced that it’s important to change this detachment.”

Steel fermentation tank within brewery in Copenhagen
The slaughterhouse’s original white tiles were preserved

Pihlmann described his favourite aspect of the project as “how the elements we’ve added both submit to and utilise the existing space, not just visually but also through their structural function”.

“The building is built to carry a huge load,” he reflected. “Back then, it was tonnes of dead meat. Today, it’s enormous serving tanks from the ceiling.”

Founded in 2021, Pihlmann Architects was included in our list of 15 up-and-coming Copenhagen architecture studios compiled to mark the city being named UNESCO-UIA World Capital of Architecture for 2023.

Previous slaughterhouse conversions include a training school for chefs in Spain that was once used to butcher meat and a cultural centre in Portugal that is currently being developed by Kengo Kuma and OODA.

The photography is by Hampus Berndtson.



Reference

Interactive LED Media facade
CategoriesArchitecture

Shine On or Lights Out? Architects Are Turning Exterior Walls into Digital Façades

By Zarkon Group,

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, prepare for the upcoming Architizer Vision Awards, honoring the best architectural photography, film, visualizations, drawings, models and the talented creators behind them. Learn more and register >

Light-emitting diode (LED) video displays take architectural design to a new level of brilliance, transforming the city streets and skylines into spectacular sights. Technology meets design and art to cover entire building façades for a high-impact passerby engagement.

Unfortunately, as mesmerizing as this visual spectacle can be, these luminous building skins add to the high amounts of human light pollution. This effect increases the brightness of the sky at an alarming pace.

Building Skins

Digital façades redefine how we think of architecture and, more specifically, building skins. Entire walls become giant canvases with lighting as an artistic form of visual communication. LED technology has reached the point where screens of digitally controlled nodes emitting vivid colors can form an integral part of the architectural expression, adapting to various planes and configurations. The outcome achieves extraordinary visual effects, blending light, media and art. Never have buildings been brighter and more scintillating.

Interactive LED Media facade

Interactive LED Media façade for La Vitrine Culturelle in Montreal’s Cultural district. Photo by Moment Factory via Architizer

Dynamic and Expressive

With free-flowing and vivid colors, buildings become more dynamic and expressive. At dusk, architecture becomes secondary, and the light installations that cover entire building surfaces take centerstage. Then, the urban landscape, as experienced during the daytime, gives way to a transformed setting where light and media become the main attraction. Expansive installations fill the streets with a futuristic flair blending the real and virtual worlds. This fantastic atmosphere captures passersby’s and drivers’ attention, heightening their senses and triggering feelings. The ambient sound intensifies the experience, unsettling yet captivating.

Aura, Toronto, Canada. Photo by Victor Rodriguez on Unsplash

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Photo by Shot by Cerqueira on Unsplash

Design for the Senses

This sensory architecture affects how passersby interact with their immediate surroundings. It influences feelings such as mood, energy levels and appetite. Based on all of these attributes, digital façades serve as powerful marketing tools to attract customers for retail establishments, enhance the fan experience for sports venues and create brand identities for corporate businesses. Digital façades have become an effective communication vehicle that transforms urban centers into a new media form, like print (newspapers), broadcast (television) or the internet (social media). This luminous communication technology allows passersby to interact with the displayed content, whether it is news, advertising, weather forecasts or social media activity.

Interactive digital screens

Interactive digital screens deliver information in real-time. Photo by Cheung Yin via Unsplash

Pros and Cons

Technological advances continuously make LED lighting more affordable and energy-efficient. Light quality is continuously improved. LEDs have a very long life compared to other types of lighting, such as high-pressure sodium lamps traditionally used in street lighting and require virtually no maintenance or replacement. Yet, concerns are growing about the impact of blue emission excess on the one hand and light pollution causing the “skyglow” phenomenon on the other hand. Digital façades put off an incredible amount of light which, to some degree, contributes to light pollution generated by electric lights’ nighttime glow. This effect appears to be intensifying, especially in dense urban areas, with the artificial brightening of the night sky.

Lugard Road, Hong Kong

Sky glow over Hong Kong due to lighting pollution. Photo by Patrick on Unsplash

New Lighting Strategies

Also, environmental studies show that LED lights emit relatively high levels of blue light, a wavelength that negatively impacts human health and wildlife. While new light strategies are explored to mitigate the impact on human well-being and ecological systems, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) promotes the minimization of light pollution by reducing light emissions, especially up to the sky. Perhaps a period of complete night darkness would be beneficial but unrealistic, so finding the most efficient and safe lighting system seems to be a priority. LED technology has the potential for improvement, and city authorities can regulate the amount of light emission per building, a compromise worth exploring.

Digital façades undoubtedly add to the character of buildings while becoming part of the urban landscape, creating exciting environments, attracting visitors and spurring business. Cities like New York, Hong Kong and Dubai exemplify the striking development of buildings incorporating digital façades. These eye-catching buildings shape the skylines of these cities, captivating the mind, rewarding the eye, enhancing the atmosphere and evoking powerful emotions.

Judging for the 11th A+Awards is now underway! While awaiting the Winners, prepare for the upcoming Architizer Vision Awards, honoring the best architectural photography, film, visualizations, drawings, models and the talented creators behind them. Learn more and register >

Reference

From the Ground up
CategoriesArchitecture

Travelling exhibition highlights unsung Black architects

By Zarkon Group,

The racial paradigm in the United States means that Black architects must continue to operate against the grain in order to get projects built, says From the Ground Up exhibition curator Hasaan Kirkland.

Kirkland believes that barriers to entry and recognition continue to disadvantage people of colour in architecture, making it important to highlight the background of architects.

“Extra work is being done to be a Black anything,” said Kirkland, curatorial consultant for the Seattle edition of a travelling exhibition called From the Ground Up: Black Architects and Designers.

“Why can we not just be architects?”

“Why can we not just be architects, why do we have to be Black architects?” he asked.

“Well, it’s because of the paradigm in this country that deals with separation and racism that is originated by a select individual cultural mentality. We will still have to contend with tropes that do no good.”

“There are many unsung heroes, if you will, in the industry of architecture, primarily because they’re African Americans and have to contend with the world and all of the concerns that would prevent African Americans from being able to have a central voice and an opportunity to be recognized.”

From the Ground up
Top: Moody Nolan’s MLK Library Branch in Columbus. Photo by Feinknopf Photography. Above: From the Ground Up held its first regional show in Seattle

Kirkland believes that additional work must be done to shed light on Black architects and their contribution to city skylines as an important part of urban identity, both historically and in the present.

Impressive buildings can often be attributed to white architectural companies by default, which has led to Black architects and studios led by Black architects having less “scope to be recognized”, he argued.

A “feat of courage” for Black architects

“With the history of the country, to be an architectural firm became a feat of courage and of undoing some things that were racially motivated to prevent that from happening,” said Kirkland.

He contends that this context means it is important to have educational programming that informs people about the contributions of Black architects to the built environment.

“Architecture is what creates our skylines for every city, and every state, but it is often unknown how many African Americans are actually contributors to those skylines, to the buildings that we see and drive around every day,” said Kirkland.

“We just assume that they are created by another white architectural company, but there are Black firms.”

Recognising this contribution is part of the work the exhibition is carrying out. Originally conceived via the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, the traveling exhibition zeroes in on the architects of specific regions alongside the core programming.

People should “see themselves” in architecture

However, Kirkland pointed out that just because an architect is Black, it doesn’t mean the spaces are necessarily designed for the community – although Black architects often work in areas like social housing that are traditionally ignored in legacy architecture.

“Just because they’re a Black firm doesn’t mean they make the building specifically for Black people,” he said. “If a Black person was never to set foot in those buildings, that’s not the primary concern. The primary concern is to create the building.”

But when people are shown the origin of the building, he says, that provides an added benefit.

“When you begin to have that context into your understanding, then people of color become inspired and empowered by the industry of architecture because they can begin to see themselves not just on the wall but the wall itself,” Kirkland said.

Read on for a look at five buildings worked on by Black architects highlighted in the exhibition.

Tuskegee Chapel
Photo courtesy of Library of Congress

Butler Chapel Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, by Robert R Taylor

Robert R Taylor was the first Black American to receive a formal architecture degree, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Upon graduating, he was offered a position as the director of the Department of Mechanical Industries at the Tuskegee Institute by founder and activist Dr Booker T Washington.

The first building in the county to have interior lights, the chapel was one among many Gothic-style brick buildings designed by Taylor for the institute.

Completed in 1898, the chapel was eventually destroyed in a fire in 1957. The institute’s new chapel was designed almost 70 years later by Paul Rudolph and the studio of John A Welch and Louis Fry, both graduates of the institute.

Arts complex sarah lawrence
Photo courtesy of Ben Schnall

Arts Complex at Sarah Lawrence College, New York, by Edward Durell Stone and Beverly L Greene

In 1952, Beverly L Greene worked with Edward Durell Stone to complete the brick-and-stone modernist art complex at Sarah Lawrence College.

Greene was the first Black woman to receive a degree in architectural engineering in the United States. Born in Chicago, she went on to work on numerous important modernist projects, including the UNESCO Heritage Headquarters by Marcel Breuer in Paris.

Greene also worked on a number of housing developments in New York City and Chicago, including Stuy Town on Manhattan’s east side. After also earning a masters degree in architecture at Columbia, Greene went on to design a number of buildings for NYU.

Theme building LAX
Photo by Eric Salard

Theme Building at LAX, Los Angeles, by Paul Revere Williams

Completed in 1961, the Theme Building at LAX was hailed as a prime example of late modern architecture. It was designed by Paul Revere Williams, a locally-born architect known for his work on homes for celebrities such as Frank Sinatra.

The Theme Building is a domed restaurant suspended by concrete arches. It was part of a major expansion of the airport during that time period and recently underwent structural stabilisation to maintain it.

US embassy Tokyo
Photo courtesy of Rs1421

US Embassy in Tokyo, Tokyo, by Cesar Pelli and Norma Merrick Sklarek

Completed in 1976, the US Embassy Building in Tokyo displayed the modernist sensibilities of American architecture in an international context. Norma Merrick Sklarek also worked with Argentine architect Cesar Pelli on other projects, including the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles.

Born in Harlem, Sklarek was the first Black woman to be listed as a fellow of the American Institute of Architects. Moving her license from New York to California, Sklarek was also the first Black woman to lead a division of a white-owned architecture studio.

MLK branch library Columbus
Photo by Feinknopf Photography

Martin Luther King Branch, Columbus, by Moody Nolan

A branch of the Columbus Metropolitan Library in Ohio, the Martin Luther King Branch is an example of architecture explicitly dedicated to the African American community.

The first library branch to be named after King, it was completed in 2018 by Moody Nolan, a local, Black-owned studio run by Curtis Moody and Howard E Nolan. The project won the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) Phil Freelon Professional Design Award in 2020.

Founded in 1982, Moody Nolan is now the largest Black-owned architecture studio in the country and has worked on a number of large-scale projects.

From the Ground Up is on show at MOHAI in Seattle from February 4 to April 30. Visit Dezeen’s Event Guide for more events, exhibits and talks about architecture and design.

Reference

Buckle Up: 5 Architects and Firms Are Taking the Driver’s Seat in Vehicular Design
CategoriesArchitecture

Buckle Up: 5 Architects and Firms Are Taking the Driver’s Seat in Vehicular Design

By Zarkon Group,

Browse the Architizer Jobs Board and apply for architecture and design positions at some of the world’s best firms. Click here to sign up for our Jobs Newsletter.

Building design is rarely the sole focus of architecture. Being an architect involves exploring the depths of innovation and pushing the boundaries of human experience. For architects, delving into alternative design fields often promises new challenges, the expansion of knowledge and the further development of an array of skills. There are many fields architects have historically branched into (the first that comes to mind is product design). Yet, in the past decade or so, architects have increasingly turned their attention toward a new field of inquiry. Drawing on a long, symbiotic relationship between architecture and engineering, more and more contemporary architects are dipping their toes into transportation design. 

From the seas to the skies, architects have brought their unique perspectives and innovative ideas to the table, creating iconic transportation designs that will be remembered for years to come. This collection celebrates the art of transportation design by showcasing five firms that have tackled the unique design challenges of vehicles. From Norman Foster and his slight obsession with all things motorcar to Zaha Hadid Architects’ mesmerizing braided exoskeletons, the level of creativity, innovation and technical skills on display is nothing short of inspirational. So buckle up and enjoy these incredible feats of design and engineering. 

McLaren Production Centre by Foster + Partners, Woking, United Kingdom

Foster + Partners have an illustrious relationship with transportation design, having collaborated on many incredible vehicles and vessels over the years, their portfolio is stacked with not only vehicles but airports and stations alike. It’s no surprise really that the team at Foster + Partners has regularly dipped into the motor industry, as founder Norman Foster is well-known for his enthusiasm for cars. Recently the renowned architect put his self-proclaimed obsession on display when curating ‘Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture’ for the Guggenheim Bilbao’s epic exhibition, which linked the history of the automobile with the evolution of modern art.

While the practice have been involved in the design of many yachts, The Alen Yacht in particular is one of Foster + Partners most recent designs. At 68-foot the boat is perhaps not the biggest yacht you’ll ever see but that doesn’t mean it isn’t incredibly lavish, featuring elegant social spaces, a comfortable primary suite, and ample entertaining areas in an open-plan layout allows the luxury vessel to accommodate up to twelve guests. The fast and agile yacht boasts a beautiful interior with a refined palette of materials that emphasize the sense of motion and adventure at the heart of the yacht’s design. The furniture is artfully arranged to follow the curves of the white leather walls making clever use of the space available. It is apparent that throughout the yacht’s design, every detail has been thoughtfully considered and impeccably detailed.

Zaha Hadid Architects have always been known for their relationship with breathtakingly organic forms, and their foray into yacht design is no exception. Before her death, the late Dame Commander, Zaha Hadid, partnered with German shipbuilder Blohm+Vohs for three years, creating a family of seafaring vessels featuring mesmerizing braided exoskeletons. Now, Italian maker Rossinavi is set to celebrate ZHA’s next dive into the industry with its introduction of the electrifying Oneiric.

Oneiric is a 145-foot (44-meter) electric catamaran that is powered through artificial intelligence. Its cutting-edge design, inspired by the rolling waves of the ocean, features a single continuous line that rises from the aluminum hull, spirals up and around three photovoltaic-integrated levels, and undulates into the other hull. The ship’s exterior boasts branching curves that merge and diverge in the hull while the stern slopes down like a giant swimming platform, creating a seamless connection between the water and the yacht edge.

The yacht’s interior is just as fluid, with integrated furnishings blending into adjacent planes and walls, meeting ceilings through uninterrupted coved surfaces. The main cabin offers breathtaking 180-degree views and sunlight is prevalent through the addition of skylights. The interiors are finished with lightweight, eco-friendly materials to reduce drag, and the yacht is powered by photovoltaics during daylight hours. The onboard AI monitors energy consumption and provides navigation recommendations based on environmental impact, allowing Oneiric to complete a day trip on electric power alone with minimal carbon and noise emissions. Rossinavi has calculated that Oneiric can handle over two-thirds of a transatlantic voyage with solar power. The yacht can even charge land-based appliances while docked.

The Moving Kitchen by J.C. Architecture, Taiwan | Photographs by Kuo-Min Lee
Popular Winner, 10th Annual A+Awards, Transport Interiors

The Moving Kitchen is an excellent example of what we can do with our existing or outdated transportation inventory. Designed by the talented architecture firm J C Architects, the restaurant is housed in a semi-retired 70-year-old train that has been salvaged from retirement and transformed into a moving luxury resturant. The dynamic dining experience seats 54 people and takes its guests on a culinary journey both through the culinary delights and through the scenic beauty of Taiwan.

The concept behind the Moving Kitchen was to merge the flavors of traditional Taiwanese cuisine with the breathtaking views of the island. A multidisciplinary team of designers, chefs, and restaurant operations experts worked tirelessly to bring the vision to life and the result is an unforgettable dining experience that seamlessly blends the taste of Taiwan with the scenic beauty of the island.

Bjarke Ingles Group is renowned for their innovative designs and boundary-pushing ideas. From creating the iconic headquarters of Google to the thought-provoking Danish Refugee Museum, the adept team of architects and designers have proven time and time again that they are not afraid to tackle challenging projects in their own unique way.

Often entering the realm of transportation, BIG have brought their skills to bear on several new and exciting modes of transportation. Yet, unlike many of their peers who opt for superyachts and luxury vehicles, the unpredictable BIG took aim at the electric bicycle. The Biomega OKO is a stylish e-bike made up of clean lines and an efficiency to be envied. Designed and developed by KiBiSi, under the leadership of Bjarke Ingles the bike flipped the often over complicated electric bike model and stripped it back to bare essentials, without compromising on function or aesthetics. 

The perfectly balanced, sleek cycle is fitted with a battery in the middle bar and a motor in the front wheel hub. The Biomega OKO is made of carbon fiber and weighs in at a mere 44 pounds, making it one of the lightest electric bicycles on the market at the time. With its energy-efficient operation, the Biomega OKO is not only regarded as a joy to ride, but its eco-friendly design is admirable. The Biomega OKO may be utilitarian in it’s looks but it is truly a seamless example of transportation design.

Germane Barnes

Germane Barnes is an architect and academic whose work explores the intersection of design alongside technology. The groundbreaking architect recently collaborated with motor giant Lexus on a unique project for Design Miami/ that aimed to encapsulate and present the next generation of the automaker’s evolution. The installation, titled “ON/,” is inspired by Lexus’s LF-Z Electrified Concept car and embodies the human-centered, future-oriented approach to design and craftsmanship that the brand and Barnes share.

The immersive installation features a precisely scaled three-dimensional sculptural rendition of the concept car suspended just above the ground and illuminated with embedded LED lighting. The display also includes furniture designed by Barnes and his team specifically for the installation, providing areas for rest and reflection. The entire installation is unified by a unique lighting scheme that allows for engagement from users around the world through an online, interactive virtual model. Participants created their own lighting designs for the display, and Barnes and his team selected a number of the user-generated designs to showcase onsite, encouraging interaction and collaboration while highlighting the creative vision of entries from around the world.

Browse the Architizer Jobs Board and apply for architecture and design positions at some of the world’s best firms. Click here to sign up for our Jobs Newsletter.



Reference