Articles by Eduardo Souza

Kengo Kuma and Associates, in collaboration with OODA, have won a competition for the redevelopment of an old industrial slaughterhouse in Porto. The competition was launched in 2017 to transform the building, now abandoned for 20 years, into an anchor for social interaction, while maintaining the memory of the early 20th-century building. 

A few weeks ago we published an article on a recent sustainability crisis that often goes unnoticed. The construction industry has been consuming an exorbitant amount of sand, and it’s gradually depleting. When used for manufacturing concrete, glass, and other materials, it is a matter that should concern us. Construction is one of the largest producers of solid waste in the world. For instance, Brazil represents about 50% to 70% of the total solid waste produced. But how can we change this situation if most of the materials we use are not renewable, and therefore, finite?

A pure volume, slightly lit, sits in the middle of a garden. It is a private chapel in Quinta de St. Ovídio in Lousada, built between 1989 and 2001 and designed by Álvaro Siza Vieira. The project starts from a path, where you can see the prismatic white volume from afar. As you pass through the building and some steps, you arrive at the entrance square. Here you will notice that Siza differentiated the main facade, in stone, from the other three, in white painted concrete, giving it importance.

The idea of becoming an architect and working in the field can seem to go against notions of a good work-life balance. With long journeys, pressing deadlines and the need to make informed decisions quickly, combined with potentially low wages and a quagmire of tricky working relationships and red-tape, architecture is conceived to be one of the most stressful professions.

When we say “most” architects, we’re basing our conclusion on the responses to our first AD Discussion of 2018. Even though Tim Harford, author of the book Messy, contends that disorder and a bit of confusion can be linked to spaces that inspire more creativity, our readers tend to disagree. In our review of comments on our article, the majority of respondents explained that workspaces with out-of-place objects negatively affected their ability to concentrate. Many responses alluded to their more efficient and prolific results gained by working in an organized space. But that doesn’t mean that all ArchDaily readers agreed; there are still ardent defenders of “control chaos” who insist that their best work emerges from working beneath piles of papers or supplies. 

When we say “most” architects, we’re basing our conclusion on the responses to our first AD Discussion of 2018. Even though Tim Harford, author of the book Messy, contends that disorder and a bit of confusion can be linked to spaces that inspire more creativity, our readers tend to disagree. In our review of comments on our article, the majority of respondents explained that workspaces with out-of-place objects negatively affected their ability to concentrate. Many responses alluded to their more efficient and prolific results gained by working in an organized space. But that doesn’t mean that all ArchDaily readers agreed; there are still ardent defenders of “control chaos” who insist that their best work emerges from working beneath piles of papers or supplies. 

Sangkep is a multipurpose event space at the Green School, which hosts presentations and events, with a capacity of about 300 people. I Gusti Ngurah Ketut Putra Wiarsa, architect and bamboo model specialist in IBUKU, points out that Sangkep impresses by its structural boldness.  Its arches reach large spans, while being a lightweight structure visually. These arches reach a span of 15 meters, with 4 points of support, in a structural reasoning similar to the Bamboo Bridge. Between the 4 support points there are 19-20 meters (distant supports) and 9-10 meters (close supports). An oval stone ring receives the supports, also being used as a grandstand.

Aldo’s Kitchen was one of the first bamboo buildings in the area, imagined by Aldo Landwher, a former sculptor and jewelry designer who conceived the original buildings of the Green School, for John Hardy. The building also strongly inspired the design of the Heart of School at Green Schoo Bali, where the form was repeated 3 times, maintaining proportions and similar ideas.

The new year is here! And with it, a new slate of documentaries we’re dying to see.

Of all the media forms, film seems to be the most adept at making a personal connection with viewers, offering a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of a great architect, the construction, and performance of a project or an issue that is confronting the entire architecture community. This year’s films are no exception, as we get the chance to learn about the daily routines of Bjarke Ingels and Paulo Mendes da Rocha, projects by Tadao Ando and Glenn Murcutt, and the troubles of urbanization and gentrification.

Check out this year’s list below, and find more great architecture documentaries with our Architecture Documentaries to Watch in 2017, Architecture Documentaries to Watch in 2015, our top 40 Architecture Docs to Watch in 2014, and our 30 Architecture Docs to Watch in 2013.

“Bamboo is too close to an ideal structural material.” This statement by Neil Thomas during his talk at Bamboo U, which took place in November 2017 in Bali, really caught my attention. Neil is the director of atelier one, a London office of structural engineering, whose outstanding projects include stage and scenography for the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, and U2; art installations by Anish Kapoor and Marc Quinn; the Gardens by the Bay, in Singapore, among many others. From a few years to now, the engineer has exhaustive study about bamboo, its structural properties and its most diverse potentialities.