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As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage, we present the completed Turkish Pavilion. To read the initial proposal, refer to our previously published posts, "Turkey's Entry to the 2018 Venice Biennale to Offer Space for Creative Encounter" and “Turkish Pavilion at the 2018 Venice Biennale to Host a Series of Student Workshops”

Kerem Piker of the firm Kerem Piker Mimarlık curated this year’s Pavilion of Turkey entitled Vardiya (the Shift), together with associate curators Cansu Cürgen, Yelta Köm, Nizam Onur Sönmez, Yağız Söylev and Erdem Tüzün. Coordinated by the Istanbul Foundation for Culture and Arts (İKSV) and installed at Sale d’Armi, Arsenale, the pavilion functions as a space for gathering, conversation and sharing ideas, with a series of video installations projected on draped fabric screens as well as a lecture and meeting space designed to host the 122 architecture students invited from around the world to participate in workshops, discussions and keynote lectures in the space.

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C.F. Møller Architects has released images its proposed 470-foot-high (144-meter-high) office tower at the Port of Aarhus in Denmark. Intended as a “bright sculptural landmark,” the scheme combines cultural, retail, and business functions to activate the public realm in a former industrial port area.

C.F. Møller’s plans will include the retention of an existing 60,000 square foot (5,600 square meter) industrial complex on the site, which will be opened up to establish a stronger connection between indoor and outdoor spaces. The new tower’s geometry originates from the existing building, forming a dialogue between old and new urban fabric.

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Foster + Partners has released details of their proposed comprehensive refurbishment of the Plaza Colón building in Madrid. Located at a historically significant site in Madrid, the scheme will see the transformation and revitalization of the existing structure to “create a new iconic landmark.”

Located at the junction of Madrid’s main north-south and east-west arteries, the building occupies one of the most important intersections in Madrid and forms a key part of the city’s long-term urban vision. The building also faces the bustling Plaza de Colón, one of the largest public spaces in Madrid, while linking three distinct districts containing luxury shopping, finance, art, and historic tradition.

You can’t define modern civilization without mentioning its cities. These urban settlements vary in culture, size and specialty, with certain areas becoming more significant throughout the development of a region. Historically, the size or population of a settlement was a general indicator of its importance—the bigger city, the more power it yields—however, with the large rural-to-urban migration of the last century, it has become harder to define what makes a city important. There are many types of urban landscapes, and for architects and planners it is vital to efficiently categorize settlement types in order to successfully develop designs and city plans. The following list provides four key definitions that have emerged in the last century.

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There is something about water that continually captures our imagination. Tranquil, dramatic, or ever-changing, the architecture of public baths and swimming pools can enhance the inherent qualities of water. Bathhouses were traditionally meeting-spaces where social differences bled away into skin and steam. Even in contemporary architectural projects, spaces for swimming and bathing often feel like a separate world, therapeutic and intimate.

Below are 12 projects that display stunning spaces for communal bathing and swimming.

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The “London Mastaba” has opened in Hyde Park. A temporary sculpture floating on the Serpentine Lake, the project is the first major public outdoor sculpture in the United Kingdom designed by the artist Christo. The opening comes as new photographs by Wolfgang Volz are released which chart the construction and completion of the striking art piece.

Featuring 7,506 horizontally-stacked barrels floating on the Serpentine Lake, the Mastaba coincides with an exhibition of Christo and Jeanne-Claude’s work at the Serpentine Galleries featuring sculptures, drawings, collages, and photographs spanning more than 60 years.

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Videos

The LEGO House by Bjarke Ingels Group now has its own Netflix documentary. Taking viewers on a journey through the conception, design, construction, and opening of the LEGO House, the documentary offers an insight into the challenges faced throughout the process, and the thoughts and reflections of the project’s key contributors, including Bjarke Ingels.

“LEGO House – Home of the Brick” offers the most thorough insight yet into the scheme’s creation, detailing major early construction issues, delays, and (spoiler alert!) the ultimate successful completion of one of the most iconic pieces of architecture created in recent years. The documentary dives into the history of the LEGO brand, the vision, and importance placed on the LEGO House by the company’s directors, and perhaps most interestingly, a series of interviews with Bjarke Ingels in which he reflects on the role of LEGO in the development of his own career.

Carefully designed or relegated to its mere functionality, lighting can be a determining factor in the quality of a space, influencing the way it is perceived and inhabited by the user.

Although it has been considered an object independent of most architectural elements, lighting often interpenetrates walls, ceilings, and floors, disappearing almost entirely to make its radiance appear only when the user needs it. How do you subtly illuminate a structure, while simultaneously creating an impressive atmosphere?

The downtown skyline of a city is perhaps its most symbolic feature. The iconic cityscapes that we know and love are typically formed by skyscrapers, but much of the surrounding context is made up of other high-rise buildings. Yes, there is a difference between a skyscraper and a high-rise. Research company Emporis defines a high-rise as a building at least 35 meters (115 feet) or 12 stories tall. These high-rise buildings play a major role in the more sprawled urban context of larger cities today.

Read on for Emporis' list of the 20 cities in the world with the most high-rises. You might be surprised by which cities made the cut.

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Sketching is the best way to work through design problems. Since no designer is an island, sometimes sketching collaboratively is the best way of working through design problems together. Other times, you sketch a bit, create a proper drawing, and then present to colleagues, clients or stakeholders.

"Whether you're resolving a challenging condition by yourself, or helping a client to visualize, we all sketch it out first," explained Sophie Amini, Creative Director at Pooky. "With Archisketch, more often than not, even I prefer to put aside my paper and pencil and whip off a sketch on my iPad. At Pooky, we work very closely, both with each other and with the manufacturers. We talk through sketches and ideas at length before deciding which samples to get made up. Sketches are translated into technical drawings, from which the manufacturers can work."

As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage, we present the completed Romania Pavilion. Below, the curatorial team describes the exhibition in their own words.

Mnemonics proposes a contemporary take on the event’s theme and takes an ultimately optimistic snapshot of the public urban space that Romanian society has seen transforming over the past decades. It raises the question of the social and cultural functions of the free public space in Romanian cities.

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YAC – Young Architects Competitions – and the Foundation Fashion Research Italy – in cooperation with the Cineteca di Bologna - launch “Seduction Pavilion”, an architectural competition to design and realize an installation that will became a real landmark of an exhibition that the Foundation is going to dedicate to the endless beauty of aspiring female celebrities and pin-ups. A cash prize of € 10,000 + realization of the 1st prize project will be awarded to winners selected by a well-renowned jury made of, among the others, Patricia Urquiola (Studio Urquiola), Fabio Novembre (Studio Fabio Novembre), Ippolito Pestellini Laparelli (OMA), Claudio Silvestrin (Claudio Silvestrin Architects)

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The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB) has recently released new data surveying the number of licensed architects in the United States. Conducted annually by NCARB, the 2017 Survey of Architectural Registration Boards provides exclusive insight into data from the architectural licensing boards of the 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. At first glance, the numbers reflect promising growth for the architecture profession. The number of architects licensed in the U.S. rose to 113,554, according to the survey, which is a 3% increase from 2016 and a 10% increase from the numbers reported a decade ago.

Even more impressive, when you compare the increase in registered architects to the U.S. population, the number of architects licensed has risen over 10% since 2008; while the total U.S. population has risen 8%, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. That equates to roughly 1 architect for every 2,900 people in the country. To put this into perspective, a medium-sized architecture firm of 50 people would theoretically have the potential to directly impact 145,000 people in the U.S.

Based on these statistics, one might assume that more architects naturally means more architecture, thus more influence from the profession in general. But that might not be the case. Read on for more data from NCARB's report and what it could mean for the profession as a whole.

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Before the monochromatic works of Yves Klein, who created the International Klein Blue (IKB), Frida's 'Kahlo Blue' already existed in Mexico City's core.

Architect Philipp Mohr has led the renovation of an apartment at Le Corbusier’s iconic Unite d’Habitation in Berlin, carried out to the architect’s original design. Over the course of two years, Mohr’s team engaged with archival research, antique shopping, and the surveying of the Unite d’Habitation Marseille in France.

Mohr purchased the apartment in 2016 and embarked on a journey of demolition, measurement, and extensive renovation including lowering ceilings and moving walls in order to recreate the interior likely envisioned by Le Corbusier.

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UNStudio has released images of its design for IJbaan, a green, future-proof cable car linking West and North Amsterdam. The result of a crowdfunding campaign started by founders Bas Dekker and Willem Wessels in 2015, the project is to be implemented by 2025, marking the city's 750th anniversary. The “all electric” transport scheme forms part of Amsterdam’s ambition to be a European center for urban innovation, integrating forward-thinking technology with existing public transport modalities.

Stretching over one mile (1.5 kilometers), the cable car links the two thriving residential districts of Amsterdam-West and Amsterdam-Noord through a system of three slender pylons and two stations. The cable car has been designed to accommodate a future third station depending on the pattern of growth for surrounding districts.

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After conducting a concert at Munich’s Gasteig concert hall, Leonard Bernstein offered a scathing edict for the building: “burn it down.”

The Gasteig’s behemoth structure of brick and mirrored glass never met Bernstein’s decree. Instead, it has stood for decades, garnering vitriol from those who resent its postmodern aesthetic. In a design competition hosted by the Gasteig, seventeen architecture firms have attempted to change the concert hall and cultural center’s public perception with varied renovation schemes.

There is nothing more rational than taking advantage of natural lighting as a guarantee to improve the spatial quality of buildings, as well as saving energy. The awareness of the finitude of natural resources and the demands for reducing energy consumption has increasingly diminished the prominence of artificial lighting systems, forcing architects to seek more efficient design solutions. With this goal in mind, different operations have been adopted to capture natural light.

These systems can also guarantee excellent spatial properties if projected correctly. Below we have gathered five essential systems for zenithal lighting.

Sushi, one of Japan’s most popular and traditional dishes has now established itself as a worldwide favorite for people all around the globe and (indeed) for architects, especially. Many countries have established sushi culture into their menus and restaurants from Spain to Dubai have adapted Japanese architecture to create the perfect space for eating sushi. The key to these serene interiors rely on Japanese interior qualities such as soft illumination, wooden finishings and textures that create the right environment.

Since June 18th is World Sushi Day, we are celebrating with this selection of 10 sushi bars and restaurants from all around the world!

A recent independent survey of more than 2000 architectural visualization professionals revealed an intriguing trend. More than 20% of these designers and architects are using real-time rendering as part of their presentation workflows right now, with another 40% trying it out for adoption.

As part of our 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale coverage, we present the completed Indonesia Pavilion. Below, the curatorial team describes the exhibition in their own words.

What if architecture has no form and shape? It will be freed.

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Even after the death of John Portman & Associates’ namesake architect in January, the firm continues his legacy of innovative and elegant hotel architecture. On Monday, the Atlanta and Shanghai-based firm announced that they had been selected to design a new hotel and residential tower in Xi Shui, China. Portman & Associates’ design, dubbed “Greenland Wuxi 200,” beat out international entries to a design competition hosted by the hotel developer Greenland Hong Kong Wuxi.