Articles by Niall Patrick Walsh

The 2018 Venice Biennale closed to the public yesterday after six months in operation. Curated by Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara, the Biennale was titled FREESPACE and celebrated “generosity, thoughtfulness, and a desire to engage.”

As architects face up to the need for ethical, sustainable design in the age of climate change awareness, timber architecture is making a comeback in a new, technologically impressive way. Largely overlooked in the age of Modernism, recent years have seen a plethora of advancements related to mass timber across the world. This year alone, Japan announced plans for a supertall wooden skyscraper in Tokyo by 2041, while the European continent has seen plans for the world’s largest timber building in the Netherlands, and the world’s tallest timber tower in Norway.

MAD Architects has unveiled images of their proposed panoramic viewpoint for the Fenix Warehouse in Rotterdam, commissioned by the Droom en Daad Foundation. The scheme represents MAD’s first public cultural project in Europe, which sees them tasked with uncovering the forgotten history of what was once one of the biggest warehouses in the world.

Australia’s largest engineered timber commercial building has opened in Brisbane, designed by Bates Smart. At 10 stories, and 45 meters in height, the “25 King” open plan office complex is the tallest timber structure in Australia, and “establishes new frontiers in the design of commercial buildings.

Grimshaw has unveiled its vision for the Eden Project North, following on from its acclaimed domed megastructure in Cornwall, England. The new scheme is to be located in Morecambe, Lancashire, featuring “a series of pavilions inspired by mussels, which could house a variety of environments.”

The National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Richard H. Driehaus Foundation has announced the winners of the National Preservation Awards, honoring the best projects on 2018 in the field of preservation and adaptive reuse. The three schemes range “from the reimaging of a former asylum to the adaptive reuse of a historic school to the groundbreaking transformation of a 1.5 million square foot mixed-use facility”

Safdie Architects has completed a comprehensive renovation of Moshe Safdie’s unit at the iconic Habitat 67 in Montreal, Canada. The 10th floor unit of the designated monument was restored to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Habitat 67, in conjunction with a 2017 exhibition of Safdie’s work titled “Habitat ‘67 vers l’avenir : The Shape of Things to Come.”

Safdie Architects has completed a comprehensive renovation of Moshe Safdie’s unit at the iconic Habitat 67 in Montreal, Canada. The 10th floor unit of the designated monument was restored to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Habitat 67, in conjunction with a 2017 exhibition of Safdie’s work titled “Habitat ‘67 vers l’avenir : The Shape of Things to Come.”

Safdie Architects has completed a comprehensive renovation of Moshe Safdie’s unit at the iconic Habitat 67 in Montreal, Canada. The 10th floor unit of the designated monument was restored to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Habitat 67, in conjunction with a 2017 exhibition of Safdie’s work titled “Habitat ‘67 vers l’avenir : The Shape of Things to Come.”

The landscape of the United Kingdom is littered with historic castles reaching back centuries. Once proud structures commanding the surrounding countryside, many stately houses, castles, and churches have since collapsed into ruin. While the ruins evoke a sense of magic and curiosity in their own right, a study into how these castles looked in their heyday is a worthy venture.