As the pandemic sweeps the planet we should not assume that the #ClimateChange is not an emergency anymore. Discover sustainable architecture and design on Archipanic… Because there isn’t a ‘Planet B’!
Material innovation, upcycled furniture and digital exoterism. Dutch Design Week 2021 looks into the future of our homes and cities, challenging contemporary social and environmental issues with a proactive and positive attitude.
Terra – The Sustainability Pavilion by Grimshaw Architects at Expo 2020 Dubai features a forest of giant solar panel-clad e-trees following the sun like sunflowers, a thriving garden challenging desert environment and underground exhibition spaces thermally isolated with a smart earth roof system.
Italy Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai features three boat hulls as the structure’s roof, a multimedia facade made with two million recycled plastic bottles and a natural climate mitigation system that substitutes air conditioning.
Stefan Scholten, Birgitte Due Madsen and Studio Pepe present exquisite design projects challenging unsustainable marble and stone production processes.
With the UNNATURAL PRACTICE solo exhibition, Marcin Rusak explores the decaying, ephemeral and preserved processes through design.
Energy company Eni and CRA-Carlo Ratti Associati present the ‘Natural Capital’ exhibition highlighting the importance of protecting and conserving forests. At the Brera Botanical Garden, a landscape of floating bubbles visualises through data how much CO2 each human produces and how much each tree species can capture and store.
Kengo Kuma’s CLT Park Harumi recreational venue is dressed with a skin of wooden leaves filtering light like trees in a forest.
Curated by Es Devlin, London Design Biennale 2021 takes over Somerset House with 38 exhibitions from six continents and a ‘forest for change’ in the historic building’s courtyard.
A cyclic water system connects visitors, senses and surroundings at CON-NECT-ED-NESS, the biophilic exhibition at the Danish Pavilion.
MCA – Mario Cucinella Architects and WASP, World’s Advanced Saving Project, teamed up to develop and create the TECLA eco-sustainable housing model.
Classic geometries and minimal contemporary aesthetics blend in Richard Yasmine’s ‘Flowing Fragments’ design collection made from upcycled sedimentary and basaltic stones.
‘Architects should not demolish but always add, transform and reuse.’ Lacaton and Vassal win the 2021 Pritzker Prize with a human-based and sustainable vision.
Lacaton and Vassal won the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize. We have rounded up some of the studio’s most notable projects in a dedicated Pinterest gallery.
Gomez Platero designed the World Memorial to the Pandemic in Uruguay to build a collective consciousness reminding us that humankind is not the center of the ecosystem.
Italian designer Tobia Zambotti has filled an iceberg-shaped sofa with face masks collected from the streets to raise awareness of the pollution we created because of Covid-19.
Inspired by sound waves, Sou Fujimoto’s ‘House of Hungarian Music’ is topped by a white roof, punctuated with almost 100 holes for trees to grow through.
Verdant balconies and green canyons define Jean Nouvel’s biophilic high-rise AQUARELA apartment complex near Quito, aiming to combine sustainability with social justice.
Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced THE LINE, a 170km urban belt of hyper-connected future communities, without cars and roads and built around nature. Breaking ground in the first half of 2021, the smart city is a direct response to some of the most pressing challenges such as legacy infrastructure, pollution, traffic, and human congestion.
Top 8 urban stories of 2020: Stockholm’s underground art trail, transparent Tokyo public toilets and a sport campus hidden under a green hilly landscape in China.
2020 Best Architecture: an Arctic whale watching facility, a pitched-roof garden house in Beverly Hills and a sustainable micro-library in Indonesia are among our favourite architectures of the year.
Hand-crafted insects are trapped in the lightbulbs of The Curiosity Cloud chandelier by Austrian duo mischer’traxler who invite to reflect on the relationship between man and nature, the impact of human activity and the importance of biodiversity.
By 2050 mangos and pineapples are likely to ripe in orchards across the UK, say scientists. THE HOTHOUSE conservatory by Studio Weave highlights the reality of Climate Change and rising temperature.
The BIODIVERCITY masterplan for Penang south islands aims to become a sustainable destination where cultural, ecological and economic growth is secured and where people and nature co-exist in one of the most biodiverse places on the planet.
THE WHALE museum and whale-watching facility by Dorte Mandrup Architects grows from the ground dissolving the lines between architecture and Norway’s Arctic wilderness while inviting to discover the fabled creatures through art, science and architecture.
Can a digital architectural platform allow residents to customize their own home while supporting local business in a sustainable way? The Roatán Próspera project by Zaha Hadid Architects features curved roofs and rounded balconies on the Bay Islands in the Caribbeans.
Yves Behar and his team at fuseproject unveiled the design of PROTEUS™, the world’s most advanced underwater scientific research station and habitat conceived as the submarine equivalent of the International Space Station.
35.000 cypresses, as many as the victim of COVID-19 in Italy, stand in the ‘SANSIRO 2.0 – A A MONUMENT FOR LIFE’ memorial envisioned by Angelo Renna. The proposal repurposes Milan’s iconic stadium as a silent place for contemplation, saving it from demolition.
Tucked in the heart of the Norwegian forest, The Plus factory by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group for urban furniture manufacturer Vestre was “envisioned as a village for a community dedicated to the cleanest, carbon neutral fabrication of urban and social furniture.”
Designed as an architectural reaction to changing weather conditions, architecture firm Snøhetta’s Tungestølen hiking cabin in the western part of Norway on a small plateau overlooks the Jostedalen glacier.
Would you take a nap hugging a polar bear or finding a comfy space between a white shark jaws? Probably YES if your cuddling mate is one of Porky Hefer’s creations!