Articles by Andreea Cutieru

Making material recycling commonplace within the architectural field would require a top-down approach in adapting the industry’s processes and standards to create a suitable framework for the task. However, individual endeavours are bringing about change within the profession, pushing for a reconsideration of architecture’s relationship to waste. This article looks at some of the initiatives that are spearheading the transition towards a common practice of material recycling.

The concept of Design for Disassembly (DfD for short) gained increasing traction in recent years, as it addresses the growing concern around the high consumption of resources and low recycling rate within the construction industry. The following article details on the method and features guidelines for a design process that facilitates the dismantlement of future buildings, with the scope of providing a better understanding of this principle within the broader framework of the current practice and circular economy.

Louisiana Channel has recently published a second piece of their interview with Jens Thomas Arnfred and Søren Nielsen co-founders of the award-winning Danish practice Vandkunsten Architects. In this short video, the two architects talk about nurturing the sense of community through design and reflect on the studio’s preoccupation with fostering social encounters within their projects.

The most recent edition of The Cathedrals of England brings to a new generation the classic 1930s Batsford guide to England’s religious architecture. Concisely written and speaking to a broad readership, the book serves as a practical guide today as it did almost a century ago, acting as a reference catalogue for every Church of England cathedral in the country at the time.

As architects rely heavily on imagery to convey abstract information to a broad audience, there is a recurrent conversation on the role of visualizations in architecture and how they impact the general perception of the built environment. 

What makes Denmark a role model, and what are the ingredients of the coveted Danish everyday life? The new exhibition Hello Denmark presented by The Danish Architecture Centre (DAC) in Copenhagen showcases the conditions that contribute to the Nordic country’s high quality of life and this exploration of the mundane creates a new and unique way of understanding architecture and design.

As remnants of the Industrial Age, the London gas holders are a fascinating presence across the urban landscape, one which is on the verge of disappearing. The photographic essay Ruin or Rust portrays the uncanny structures as the backdrop of everyday life, capturing their relationship to the urban context. The result of a two-year-long endeavor, this personal project of London-based photographer Francesco Russo frames the dialogue between these elements of the cityscape and the life going on around them, investigating their role in contemporary society and the urban fabric.

As architecture is increasingly reliant on renderings to convey its message and depict the unbuilt, many practices turn to seasoned 3D artists to help them portray their designs in the most favourable light; thus they externalize visualizations to a handful of firms. 

Taking advantage of a lack of governmental regulations, many Ukrainians turn to their balconies to compensate for the shortage of space in prefab-Soviet housing, rebuilding them in a variety of shapes and sizes. The short documentary Enter Through The Balcony explores this phenomenon in Ukrainian architecture, revealing a compelling image of post-Soviet history through local everyday life and culture.

Over the past few years, a series of exhibitions and monographs have prompted a rediscovery of socialist modernism, its powerful expression and exoticism stirring significant interest. The recently published photo book Concrete Siberia. Soviet Landscapes of the Far North by Zupagrafika casts a new light on this relatively unexplored chapter of architecture history by showcasing the Soviet architecture of Siberia’s major cities while providing an insight into a little-known landscape. The book presents the architecture and urban environment of six Siberian cities: Novosibirsk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Norilsk, Irkutsk and Yakutsk, through the lens of Russian photographer Alexander Veryovkin, bringing about a new-found perspective on post-war architecture.