Articles by Niall Patrick Walsh

Kapsimalis Architects has published details of their proposed Vineyard House on the Greek island of Santorini. The design concept was for a main housing space under a roof of artificial earth, with a perimeter-free view of the landscape. To achieve this, a piece of land is elevated by 2.6 meters to form a living space below and progressively sculpted in the spirit of the natural erosion of volcanic rocks and caves.

Benthem Crouwel Architects has been announced as the winner of a competition to design a new residential district in Prague, presented in collaboration with local firm RA15. The competition, organized by Penta Real Estate, saw 160 entries distilled down to 44, and then 5 finalists. In a unanimous verdict, the jury praised Benthem Crouwel’s decision to integrate a large, publically-accessible park into the project.

Hey5 has unveiled its design for the National Museum of Finland, an entry for a recent international design competition. The scheme is titled “Suppa,” inspired by the typical Finnish landform where a hollow is created by the melting of buried blocks of glacial ice. The ambition behind the proposal was to create a bold object containing a flexible organizational system to host the museum’s demanding international exhibitions.

For those around the world unable to attend the opening of Junya Ishigami’s Serpentine Pavilion in London, photographer Nikhilesh Haval of nikreations has published a virtual tour of the structure. Similar to previous productions of Frida Escobedo’s 2018 Pavilion, BIG’s 2016 Pavilion, and SelgasCano’s 2015 Pavilion, the virtual tour allows viewers to experience the “free space” philosophy that defines the pavilion, playing with our perspectives of the built environment against the backdrop of a natural landscape.

Uber Elevate and Related Companies have unveiled their Foster + Partners-designed vision for a future Skyport in Santa Carla. The 240-acre site illustrates the benefits aerial ridesharing could provide for the Bay Area and other cities in the future.

EID Architecture has revealed their design for OCT’s Second Headquarters in Kunming, China. One of three winning schemes selected from a shortlist of six international firms, the EID proposal aims to create a headquarters that responds to the cultural and natural characteristics of the city, while reflecting the ethos of OCT’s commitment to innovation in technology, art, and cultural tourism.

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), Architectus, and Dexus Property Group have celebrated the completion and opening of 100 Mount Street, a 39-story mixed-use tower in North Sydney’s Central Business District. Inspired by the city’s rich architectural landscape, and shaped by SOM’s legacy of innovation in architecture and engineering, the scheme features a cross-braced exoskeleton structure surrounding a glass-enclosed interior.

XTU architects have published their competition entry for the Founder’s Memorial in Singapore’s Bay East Garden. Inspired by the mangroves and banyans of Singapore which stand tall along the coastal regions of tropical areas, the memorial dives its routes into the ground, before shooting skywards.

Bjarke Ingels has featured in a new documentary about BIG’s Amager Bakke waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen. Known for its iconic ski slope, the hybrid plant produces district heating for 60,000 households annually from waste generated in Copenhagen, and electricity for 30,000 houses.

Squint/Opera, BIG, and UNStudio have collaborated in the design of Hyperform, a revolutionary data-driven design tool that allows architects across the world to collaborate in augmented reality. The tool allows designers to immerse themselves in a virtual 3D environment, where site images, maps, data, and 3D models can be uploaded, viewed and altered through collaboration.