2022 most popular architecture stories. Dance House Helsinki by JKMM and ILO Architects – Photo by Tuomas Uusheimo.
Architecture – Happy New Year again! Today, we look back to the most popular architecture stories of 2022. From Brazilian residential buildings to a dance house in Helsinki and an extreme mission in Greenland to test lunar living habitats. The top ten includes projects by David Chipperfield Architects, BIG, Heatherwick Studio, JKMM, and more.
THE LINE
NEOM, Saudi Arabia.
Courtesy of Neom.
Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman has announced the design of THE LINE, a 170 km-long metropolis composed of only two parallel mirrored skyscrapers and connected by cutting-edge sustainable technology. The visionary (?) project aims to redefine the concept of urban development and what future cities could look like. But we had some doubts. Read more…
Demolition of Nagakin Capsule Tower
Kisho Kurokawa, 1972 – Tokyo, Japan.
Photo by Jordy Meow, via Wikimedia CC-BY-SA-3.0.
Despite local and international efforts to save it from the wrecking ball, the iconic Nagakin Capsule Tower has been demolished to be replaced by a brand-new building. 144 cubic residential concrete modules stacked onto each other composed the 13-story mixed-use office and residential building designed by Metabolist architect Kisho Kurokawa and completed in 1972. Read more…
Archifont
Federico Babina.
© Federico Babina.
Tell me how you read me, and I’ll tell you who I am. This is the motto behind the Archifont graphic design series by Federico Babina. The Barcelona-based architect and graphic designer has imagined typefaces inspired by some of the most important architects and designers of the 20th century. “I shaped and dressed each letter of architecture, able to tell a part of the aesthetic and artistic personality of the protagonist.” Read more…
LUNARK
SAGA Space Architects – Greenland.
Photo by SAGA Space Architects.
Young Danish studio SAGA Space Architects designed and even spent 100 days in Greenland for an extreme mission to test LUNARK, a lunar habitat showing how we can not only survive but thrive in space. Read more…
Quay Quarter Tower
3XN – Sidney, Australia.
Photo by © Phil Noller.
How do you breathe new life into an old tower? 3XN studio employed a radical sustainability strategy that involved upcycling a former skyscraper to create the 206-meter-high Quay Quarter Tower rising close to the Sydney Opera House. The 49-storey high-rise is composed of stacked and shifted volumes allowing daylight deep into each floor. Read more…
CASAMIRADOR Savassi
Gisele Borges Arquitectura – Belo Horisonte, Brazil.
Photo by Juliana Berzoini.
Gisele Borges’ CASAMIRADOR Savassi residential building might look unexpected within the urban scape of Belo Horizonte. But the complex’ sustainable ‘skin’ recalls the nearby ores’ rusty hues, while its pyramidal architecture comes in the familiar shape of a house. Read more…
Dance House Helsinki
JKMM and ILO architects – Helsinki, Finland.
Photo by Tuomas Uusheimo.
JKMM and ILO architects completed the Dance House Helsinki in a former cable factory in the Finnish capital. “Dancers and performers will complete the architecture. Located within the Cable Factory, Finland’s largest cultural centre in a former 1940s factory building, “the architecture takes its inspiration from dance, playing with illusions of lightness and heaviness.” Read more…
Glass House
Heatherwick Studio – West Sussex, United Kingdom.
©Hufton+Crow, courtesy of Heatherwick Studio.
Heatherwick Studio and the British National Trust unveiled a pyramidal kinetic glasshouse that literally unfolds to reveal an immense space full of sub-tropical vegetation paying tribute to the ancient trading Silk Route. The glass and aluminium façade blossoms with its ten steel ‘sepals’ and takes four long minutes to open, creating an immense 141 sqm space in the shape of a crown. Read more…
Procuratie Vecchie
David Chipperfield Architects – Venice, Italy.
Photo by Richard Davies.
After an extensive five-year restoration carried out by David Chipperfield Architects Milan, the iconic building of the Procuratie Vecchie in St. Mark Square opens up again to the city after 500 years. The biggest renovation can be seen on the third floor, with public access to the exhibition spaces as well as workspaces, event spaces, and an auditorium. Read more…
FLUGT Refugee Museum
BIG, Bjarke Ingels Group – Oksbøl, Denmark.
Photo by Rasmus Hjortshøj, courtesy of BIG.
BIG transformed a former hospital in Denmark’s largest Refugee camp from World War II into the FLUGT Refugee Museum. Two original elongated buildings are connected by a curve-shaped volume that creates a welcoming structure visible from afar. Read more…
Procuratie Vecchie, restauration by David Chipperfield Architects – Photo by Alessandra Chemollo.
