Articles by Niall Patrick Walsh

Barcelona’s Deputy Mayor for Ecology, Urbanism and Mobility has announced that La Sagrada Familia has finally been issued with a building permit; 137 years after the building began construction. The license means that the iconic structure, designed by Antoni Gaudí, will be allowed to continue building work until 2026.

SO-IL has released details of their Las Americas social housing project in León, one of Mexico’s fastest-growing cities. Seeking to establish a solution to the nation’s housing crisis, SO-IL collaborated with the Instituto Municipal de Vivienda de León (IMUVI) in the development of the prototype development.

Oppenheim Architecture has completed the Ayla Golf Academy and Clubhouse in Aqaba, Jordan, taking inspiration from the natural dunescapes and mountains of the surrounding desert as well as the architectural heritage of the ancient Bedouin. The 1,200-square-meter building forms part of a 44-square-kilometer leisure development, containing residential, commercial, and hotel space centered on the 18-hole golf course.

The island of Manhattan is one of the most recognizable urban centers in the world. For the past four hundred years, the island that so many New Yorkers call home has changed and evolved depending on the needs of its inhabitants – today totaling over 8 million.

Barreca & La Varra has won the “C40 Reinventing Cities” competition with their proposal for a zero carbon “Housing Sociale” scheme in Milan titled INNESTO. Working in collaboration with Arup Italia, the team saw off strong competition from contestants including Carlo Ratti Associati, who proposed a linear urban vineyard.

The Bjarke Ingels Group-designed MÉCA – Maison de l’Économie Créative et de la Culture en Nouvelle-Aquitaine is set to open in Bordeaux, France on June 28th, 2019. The design team, comprising BIG, FREAKS freearchitects, dUCKS scéno, Khephren Ingénierie, VPEAS, ALTO Ingénierie, Vincent Hedont, PBNL, Mryk & Moriceau, and Ph.A won the competition to design the new 12 000 m2 cultural center on the riverfront of Bordeaux in 2012, merging three cultural institutions into one single building.

Munich-based photographer Tom Hegen has published a set of aerial images capturing the beauty of sea salt production seen from above. The images, shot from a small airplane in Western Australia, demonstrate the impact of human intervention on natural environments, and depict how even seemingly rural landscapes are alive with the hyper-globalized demands of humankind.

Carlo Ratti Associati has unveiled their vision for the urban highways of Paris in 2050. Reinventing the city’s infamous Boulevard Périphérique ring road, the firm’s “New Deal” explores the potential for urban highways to be flexible spaces for living, playing and farming.

The Studio Gang-designed 11 Hoyt has topped out in Brooklyn to its full height of 620 feet. Offering 481 luxury residential condominiums, with interiors by Michaelis Boyd Associates, 11 Hoyt features a scalloped façade comprised of exquisitely crafted, shimmering cast concrete and glass, animated by bays that appear to peel away from the building and change as sunlight moves across them throughout the day.

Dubai Based architects Islam El Mashtooly and Mouaz Abouzaid along with Steven Velegrinis, Drew Gilbert & Abdelrahman Magdy have unveiled “LifeLines,” their vision for the future of Cairo. Centered on the idea of connecting people with water, a series of lines and paths are laid over the city to serve as a catalyst for development.