Articles by Niall Patrick Walsh

SEArch+ and Apis Cor have won first place in the Virtual Construction level of NASA’s 3D-Printed Habitat Centennial Challenge, seeking to create sustainable shelters suitable for the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Using resources available on-site in these locations, the female-led, New York-based space research and design practice proposed the MARS X HOUSE, offering a robust, durable 3D-printed habitat using autonomous robotics.

Agustín Ferrer Casas, in collaboration with the Fundacio Mies van der Rohe, has published an illustrated comic book charting the life and work of the renowned architect Mies van der Rohe. Featuring texts by Anatxu Zabalbeascoa and Norman Foster, MIES is a biopic inspired by Ferrer Casas’ reading of Mies van der Rohe: Menos es más by Anatxu Zabalbeascoa.

Volume Zero has announced the results of their RE School architecture competition 2018, which challenged participants to design and innovative school that brings education to children living in the most inaccessible areas of the world. Serving as a hub for interaction between local communities, the winning schemes ranged from a school floating above a shanty area to a transportable building made of hands-on material.

TOPOTEK 1 has won an international competition for the design of the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences. Unanimously selected from a list of 60 first stage entries and 10-second stage finalists, the winning scheme seeks to become “a cosmopolitan institution that promotes excellent and future-orientated science,” situated between a parkland and seaport.

Following a controversy surrounding unpaid internships at the office of Serpentine Pavilion architects Junya Ishigami + Associates, the Serpentine Gallery has ordered the firm to pay all staff who will work on the design of the 2019 pavilion. Criticism of the working conditions of interns at the firm followed an email reportedly seen by The Architects’ Journal, with a prospective intern highlighting a lack of pay, six-day work weeks, and long office hours.

The Foster + Partners-designed Tulip skyscraper in London just took a major step towards realization with an endorsement by planning officials. A report by the City Corporation’s chief planning officer has said that the scheme would give London “a new iconic building” with a “bold and striking” form. The 1000-foot-tall (305-meter-tall) scheme would sit adjacent to The Gherkin: one of Foster’s and London’s most iconic structures.

Flan Studio has created a downloadable library of over 200 free drawings in DWG and PNG format. Established by Cem Ozan Cetintas and Alpkenan Koska, the drawings of people, animals, and nature have been created “to generate free-willed content for architects and designers.” Updated every month, the drawing subjects range from art installations and cooking to movies and vehicles.

OPEN Architecture’s highly-anticipated Tank Shanghai has opened to the public following six years of design and construction. Located on the banks of the Huangpu River in the city’s West Bund, where five abandoned aviation fuel tanks once served the historic Longhua Airport, the scheme gives shape to a new type of contemporary arts center. OPEN’s design features a seamless combination of art, nature, and urban life, “transforming containers of fuel into containers of culture while paying tribute to the site’s industrial past.”

Eike Becker_Architekten and Hadi Teherani Architects have won an architectural competition for the headquarters of the National Iranian Gas Company in Tehran; the first architectural competition in the country held according to international standards since the 1979 revolution. Praised by the jury for their “holistic approach,” the winning scheme is dedicated to the central principles of Iranian architectural history, leading them into modernity.

Gerkan, Marg and Partners (GMP) has won an international competition for the design of a new tower complex in Shenzhen’s “Super Bay City” business district. Consisting of three distinct blocks linked at the base, the primary tower of the Hengli International Building rises 250 meters to become an impressive landmark and a cultural destination for the new business district.