architecture

Four Architecural Visions of the Green House of the Future

The Wall Street Journal recently challenged architects to design a green house of the future. This morning, the paper unloaded the designs, that come from four firms: William McDonough, Rios Clemente Hale, Cook + Fox and Mouzon ...READ»

The Coolest Schools in the World

Today, World Architecture News unveiled the finalists for it's Educational Building of the Year, and it's an impressive lot, designed to solve real problems. Here's a round-up of the six competitors: The Australian Technical ...READ»

Nine Ideas to Save the World, Inspired by Buckminster Fuller [UPDATED]

The visionary architect Buckminster Fuller believed that a single design could save the world. That ethos is being carried forward by the Buckminster Fuller Institute, which every year holds a contest to create a design with maximum ...READ»

Bendycrete: Self-Healing Concrete That Could Survive an Earthquake

Concrete is incredibly sturdy when subjected to heavy compression, but suffers catastrophic cracking under strain--that's why it snaps so easily in earthquakes. But a scientist in Michigan has just perfected a new concrete mix that ...READ»

Cave Dwelling in the 21st Century

Humans have lived and worked out of caves since the beginning of civilization. But we haven't left them behind: A new development, bored into the side of a Norwegian cliff, shows what's possible with modern engineering and ...READ»

Viva Le Louvre! At 20, I.M. Pei's Controversial Pyramid Defies Critics

From the moment I.M. Pei's design for the pyramidal addition to the Musee du Louvre was introduced in 1985, it was the subject of controversy and international attention. Critics derided it as a violation of the museum's classical integrity. But two decades later, it is one of the top tourist attractions in Paris.READ»

Designing for Disaster

We live in an age lashed by natural disasters. Katrina obviously looms in the American mind, but the Sichuan Earthquake and the Indian Ocean tsunami have all imprinted themselves on an entire generation, worldwide. What could we ...READ»

David Adjaye Chosen to Design D.C.'s National Museum of African-American History

Tanzanian born architect David Adjaye, working under the lead of Freelon Group, has been chosen to design the upcoming National Museum of African-American History in Washington, D.C. The pick is something of a surprise, since ...READ»

Hybrid House: The Hybrid Car Companion

Now that you've got a hybrid vehicle, how about parking it in an equally efficient house? Konyk's Hybrid House, supposedly inspired by the Toyota Prius (though it's hard to see how), is an off-the-grid electric home that ...READ»

Pritzker Prize - the Nobel of Architecture - Goes to Peter Zumthor

Today, architecture's highest award, the Pritzker Prize, was announced--and you've probably never heard of the the man who won, Peter Zumthor. He prefers it that way. He doesn't have a Web site. He frequently refuses ...READ»

New Acropolis Museum in the Shadow of the Ancients

If you've ever been to the Acropolis in Athens and marveled over the perfectly proportioned design of the Parthenon, you probably also shuffled over to the nearby by Acropolis Museum and were ...READ»

Stuck With an Old Sewage Plant? Remake the Neighborhood

Urban planners in Amsterdam had a problem: What to do with three old silos, from a derelict sewage treatment plant? So they held a competition to re-imagine the site. The winning entry is a multi-story cultural center that ...READ»

Preview: Architecture of the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai

The grand tradition of World Expos may seem a little quaint to Americans--evoking 1950s era images of flying cars and robot butlers. But the Expos still live, and the upcoming Expo 2010 in Shanghai, promises to be worthwhile since ...READ»

Would You Live in a Concert Hall?

Jim Stewart poured $24 million--which he earned writing calculus textbooks (?!)--into building his dream home. It curves at nearly every point, and is nestled on a hill outside Toronto. But that's not what makes the house ...READ»

• Would You Live in a Shipping Container?

Vancouver's Six Acre Garden Rooftop Now Open for Treehugger Conventions

This week, the Vancouver Convention Centre pulls the sheet off it's new, redesigned building, and it's most striking feature is up top: A sprawling, six acre green roof that'll be the largest ever, for a non-industrial ...READ»

How Times Have Changed: the Architecture of John L. Volk

                      by Saxon Henry Though AutoCAD and IntelliCAD have changed how architects work and store their ideas, preserving traditional,unwieldy plans is no small feat when an architect has been blessed with a ...READ»

Shaun White's Dream House: Every Surface Built for Skateboarding

If you're a fan of MTV's Cribs, you've probably seen one of the several episodes featuring skateboarders like Tony Hawk or Steve-O, of Jackass fame. Hawk had a half-pipe built in the backyard; Steve-O settled for a bootleg ...READ»

The Biggest-and Newest-Name in Sports Stadiums: Populous

The sports-architecture titan HOK Sport Venue Event rechristens itself.READ»

• Most Innovative Companies in Sports

6 Scintillating Proposals for the National Museum of African-American History and Culture

It's a plain truth that national museums in the U.S. have been humdrum at best, composed mainly of bricks and compromises. But if the six shortlisted designs for Washington, D.C.'s new National Museum of African-American History ...READ»

Mad about MAD

Edward Durrell Stone's son weighs in on 2 Columbus CircleREAD»

Why Starchitect Skyscrapers like Frank Gehry's Beekman Are Getting Chopped

Will a stunted economy leave us with stunted cities? Reduced building heights have become an unfortunate reality for a faltering construction industry, as architects are seeing their projects slashed in half, some ...READ»

HOK Imagines the Ballpark of the Future

A look at the Yankees' and Mets' pricey new homes -- and the stadium of tomorrow.READ»

• The Stadium of the Future
• The Biggest-and Newest-Name in Sports Stadiums: Populous

Urban Mediaspace: The largest library in Scandinavia

The firm of Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects will build what it calls "the next generation of library design" on the site of the old cargo docks in Aarhus, Denmark. Flexible-use areas will provide ample opportunity for socializing, recreation, contemplation and, yes, reading.READ»

Enough With the Scary Architecture Already!

We scan thousands of headlines each day, and read hundreds of blog posts. And what keeps coming up is that contemporary architecture is very often terrifying. Not just vaguely sinister. But straight-up Darth Vader-would-love-this, ...READ»

Religious Pilgrims Get a Masterfully Simple Rest Stop

It's easy to get overloaded with design candy, and it's just as easy to forget how simple good architecture can be. And it doesn't get any simpler than this sanctuary, which will sit along a path in Mexico that every year, during holy week, sees 2 million religious pilgrims ...READ»