Month: December 2019

Increasing urbanization, excessive waste production, excessive consumption of material goods, and exploitation of natural resources. There are many factors that contribute to the environmental impact of humans on Planet Earth. Scarcity of raw materials and the use of non-renewable resources is already the reality of some locations, and nature can no longer reclaim renewables at the same pace as it is exploited. The impact of human activities is so remarkable that scientists have pointed out that we are living in the new geological age of the Anthropocene (the Greek word for “the recent age of man”). The construction industry in particular is a major resource consumer and waste generator. In the European Union, the construction and use of buildings represents about 50% of all resource extraction and energy consumption, and about one third of all water consumption. [1] In 2014, 52% of all waste was attributed to the construction sector. [2].

Advancing into the 21st century as architects enables us to explore and deliver an increasing number of sustainable approaches to architecture and the building industry. Whilst previously, concrete and steel have been predominately used throughout the construction industry, architects are now beginning to realise the importance of new technologies, such as timber, and use them for efficient construction, sustainability and cost effective purposes.

The World Architecture Festival invites shortlisted architects from around the world to present their projects in a range of categories, the winners of which are invited to present in front of a Super Jury for final selection.

For the 1957 International Builders Fair, Oscar Niemeyer developed the Interbau Apartment House, a modernist eight-storey building that sits on V-shaped pillars in the city of Berlin. While the building’s facade consists of uniform windows and loggias clad with primary-colored mosaics, it is interrupted by enclosed pathways that connect the structure to the external elevator.

the proposal was selected ahead of 184 other competing schemes.
The post JKMM to extend national museum of finland with circular pavilion-like structure appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Along the energetic Volksfeststraße, a compactly designed building block immerses itself loosely into the existing urban structure. This solid, two-storied edifice is festooned by a construction of a single roof.  The facility imitates a descending slope, where the street, this allowing a complete expansion of its potential, locates the highest point. However, the sauna area located at the end, disrupts this pattern, forcing a slight fall in the height of the building.

Casa V consists on the rehabilitation, adaptation and expansion of an existing house, designed and built in the early 1960’s. The family that inhabits the house has been spending the holidays in it for almost fifty years. In that time, even though the number of family members has increased, the house had remained the same, being unable to fulfill current and future needs.