Articles by Megan Schires

Now that we’re all spending much more time inside due to the pandemic, we’ve had a chance to truly understand and appreciate the significant impact that windows can have on a space. Views, sun angles, and orientation of windows are all important considerations when designing a new building – and as pleasant as it is to have a connection to the outdoors, windows can also cause issues like glare and heat gain. Of course no one wants a building with windows only on one side or to have the blinds shut constantly to be able to see their computer screen, so one versatile architectural solution is to shade windows using architectural wire mesh.

A building’s envelope is the first thing you notice – its defining feature, before even setting foot inside. While indisputably important, there’s much more going on than just aesthetics when designing one. There are unseen aspects and qualities that make the interior of the building safe and comfortable, which architects are constantly balancing with the visual appearance of the exterior.

You probably see brick on a daily basis, whether it’s structuring a building, paving the road, or perhaps serving as a fireplace or chimney. But do all these applications use the same type of brick? How are the bricks supporting or being supported? What are these bricks actually made of? Brick’s versatility and ubiquitous nature mean there’s more than one answer to these questions. Even among brick’s most common applications as a building facade and/or structural wall material, there are a variety of types and construction methods employed.

The international A’ Design Award competition was “born out of the desire to underline the best designs and well-designed products” of designers, architects, and innovators from all design fields. Entries each year are judged by A’ Design Award’s jury of hundreds of experts from around the globe including scholars, professionals, and media members. If you are selected as a winner, you’ll receive a host of prizes and benefits, in addition to international prestige and recognition. Entries are being accepted now until February 28th, 2021 and a selection of winners will be featured in a post on ArchDaily after they’re announced on April 15th, so register your design today for a chance to be included.

Among other design competitions and awards, the A’ Design Award stands out for its exceptional scale with over 100 design categories. In addition to these main categories, designs are also sorted into super-categories: Good Industrial Design, Good Product Design, Good Communication Design, Good Service Design, Good Fashion Design, and finally Good Architectural Design. Each super-category includes multiple individual design categories that meet its criteria, entries from any of which are eligible for the title. The Good Architectural Design title is given to spatial design projects which demonstrate a multi-disciplinary approach, including the categories: Architecture, Building and Structure Design; Interior Space and Exhibition Design; Landscape Planning and Garden Design; Urban Planning and Urban Design; and Engineering, Construction and Infrastructure Design. Here is a selection of projects that demonstrates the wide range of Good Architectural Design.

Photorealistic renderings today are the standard. They can be done quickly, cheaply, and clients expect them. But are these renderings truly accomplishing what they set out to do? Those on the forefront of new 3D design techniques argue that, as an industry, we’ve gotten stuck on conveying information, when what we should really bring to the table is emotion. Now that the playing field has evened in terms of technological capability and hyper-realism, what’s the next step? By introducing an emotional layer and creating a sense of place, renderings can provide even more value to a project, firm, client, and community.

Cuisine, culture, sightseeing, and engaging with the locals are all reasons people like to travel. The common factor that draws us to explore new places, however, is simply the chance to experience cities and landscapes unlike our own familiar surroundings. For example, when Chinese tourists can again visit Copenhagen, they may admire the waterside capital’s winding bike paths, lush green parks, and the Scandinavian brick traditions on display in Nyhavn. Likewise, a Danish tourist would surely be blown away by the breathtaking scale of Beijing, with it’s 9 million+ bicycles and the display of ancient Chinese culture juxtaposed with modern society.

The key ingredient at play here is atmosphere: the relationship between individuals and surroundings that creates a certain mood. The German philosopher Hermann Schmitz probably described it best, that atmospheres are emotions poured out spatially. An emotionally driven approach to the forming of spaces, deeper than just materials, is what creates atmosphere. For Randers Tegl, Scandinavian supplier of bricks to the European market, one atmospheric trend has begun to gain a foothold: brick ceilings. In this editorial we’ll explore different brick ceiling applications across Europe and the new architectural possibilities they convey.

Architecture sets the scene and provides the framework, but interior design and furniture can have a strong influence on the vibe and mood of a space. As trends in interior design evolve over time, it’s often expressed in the furniture chosen to fill the room. Interior furniture speaks volumes about our priorities and personalities, as well as the atmosphere we want to convey.

Flexform’s 2020 Indoor Collection brings fresh momentum to their aesthetic, pieces that tell the story of an informal yet elegant lifestyle. While the designs are timeless, nonetheless certain trends emerge that speak to the desire to create a welcoming, comfortable habitat with furniture that enhances the space without drawing too much attention to any one piece. Sofas, armchairs, coffee tables, ottomans, tables, and chairs, all harmoniously mix in the collection featuring natural colors and textures, metal accents, and smoothly contoured silhouettes.

BIM and 3D modeling are essential in today’s architecture field. What they aren’t, however, is static or prescriptive. The way BIM is integrated varies not just by firm, but even by individual project. The size of the building, structure of the project team, or even government mandates can dictate how a firm utilizes their BIM capabilities. Belgian firm Osar Architects found that Vectorworks is the best match for the way they run their office. Specifically, Vectorworks Architect is well-matched for the type and extent of modeling they do because it’s flexible to fit the needs of each project.

The A’ Design Award was “born out of the desire to underline the best designs and well-designed products.” It is an international award whose aim is to provide designers, architects, and innovators from all design fields with a platform to showcase their work and products to a global audience. This year’s edition is now open for entries; designers can register their submissions here.

While there is no shortage of design awards out there, the A’ Design Award stands out for its exceptional scale; with over 100 design categories. Alongside a category for Architecture, Building and Structure Design, the award also includes Interior Space and Exhibition Design, Landscape Planning and Garden Design, Urban Planning and Urban Design and dozens more. You can see all of the categories on the website here.

International architectural practice Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) is constantly striving to improve efficiencies and enable greater creative exploration through the application of the latest technologies. With nine offices worldwide and projects based anywhere from Europe to the US and China, the company takes a global approach to its design process by fostering collaboration; it’s not uncommon for a single project to involve team members based in London, New York, and Singapore, for example, who come together virtually in what Cobus Bothma, Director of Applied Research, calls their “tenth office”.

To enable collaborative remote working, KPF has been exploring real-time collaboration technology for some years, including NVIDIA’s project Holodeck. More recently, the company’s VR specialist Michael Koutsoubis has led the accelerated adoption of Prospect by IrisVR by distributing Oculus Quest headsets to multiple teams in both the US and the UK. The team also bases some of its custom development on the collaborative VR templates inside Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. These efforts enable multiple users, who may be located across the world, to review and edit designs together. In today’s pandemic-imposed work-from-home environment, this becomes particularly relevant. It’s a hot topic at the moment. Bothma recently joined a panel of industry experts in Virtual Spaces and the Future of Collaboration, the debut episode of Epic Games’ new video series, The Pulse, which uncovers emerging trends in interactive technology.