AMAZING BUILDINGS
Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Stage Built With Insight) ABBA’s High-Tech Arena
With the internet buzzing about the impending rise of the metaverse and the rapid development of A.I.-generated art, it seems like the distinction between digital and physical creativity could someday seem like an insignificant one. Over a few short decades,...
Building Brand-First: BIG’s Consumer Destinations – San Pellegrino and The Plus
Visitors to Italy have plenty of pilgrimages to choose from. You can tread the cobblestones of Florence to see Botticelli’s “Birth of Venus” at the Uffizi galleries. You can charter a gondola to peep the underside of Venice’s famous Rialto Bridge. And soon, you’ll be...
BURNING ARGUMENTS: THE RESTORATION OF NOTRE DAME DE PARIS
Nearly three years ago, the world watched in stunned disbelief as Notre Dame de Paris burned. To watch one of the world’s most iconic landmarks engulfed in flames was a surreal reminder that nothing can be permanent or certain, no matter how central it is to our...
A STATE-OF-THE-ART RUIN: RESTORING THE COLOSSEUM
IN THE REALM OF historical architecture, perhaps no question is as perplexing as that of restoration. To put it simply: where do you stop? The clichéd goal of restoring a structure to its “former glory” isn’t as straightforward as it may sound. First, you need to...
BUILDINGS CLAD IN STORIES: THE RISE OF STATEMENT FAÇADES
EVERY STRUCTURE TELLS A story. Sometimes, it’s the relatively straightforward story of its function: train terminals, grain silos, and sports arenas generally follow the contours of their purposes. Sometimes, a building’s story is bound to commemoration or dedication....
Correcting the RECORD: NEW YORK GETS A NEW GATEWAY
HISTORY IS NOT ALWAYS kind to great design. What seems like sure-footed progress in one era can often look more like series of missteps with additional hindsight and changing values. We’ve all seen renovations that only made things worse, robbing a property of its...
Gold Medal in Accessibility: the United States Olympic & Paralympic Museum
For decades, Colorado Springs has been a city defined by its prominent institutions. Home to the United States Air Force Academy, the city has seen the proliferation and gradual downsizing of massive industries, including dozens of prominent defense contractors and...
A Modern Home for Ancient Relics: the Grand Egyptian Museum
By most estimates, the Great Pyramid of Giza—one of the most enduring icons of architecture and a pinnacle of human achievement—took between ten and twenty years to build. While the method and circumstances of the pyramid’s construction are still a matter of spirited debate, it seems clear that the structure went up in a flurry, rising taller above Cairo with each passing day.
For Sale: Corporate Headquarters, Never Used
As the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic stretch on, the future of work is feeling less and less certain. Our basic assumptions about the necessity of meeting in person seem to have evaporated, and a sudden shift to digitally enabled, remote productivity has meant...
Net Positive: Norway’s Powerhouse Brattørkaia Turns Energy Consumption Around
ACCORDING TO THE WORLD Green Building Council, construction and buildings currently account for approximately 39% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. However, that figure could (and may well have to) drop precipitously with broader adoption of...
Chelsea’s Latest “What If?” Lantern House Lets The Light In
IN THE 21ST CENTURY, few figures have taken on more high-profile architectural and civic projects than the British designer Thomas Heatherwick. He and his team designed Google’s Mountain View corporate headquarters, conceived of a massive Manhattan tourist attraction...
A New Vancouver: How a Tribal Development Could Transform a City
ANY DECENT STUDENT OF history knows that all across North America, cities and towns sit atop land effectively plundered from its original inhabitants. Many of our continent’s best-loved cities, perched on its prolific rivers and sheltered harbors, were once thriving...