March 2018

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 28 mar 2018

Every nation had architects and designers at different periods of time that have influenced these creative fields and inspired the work of others after them. Following is the list of 10 select architets of the modern era - (1) Frank Lloyd Wright (USA): Inspired by buildings in American prairies, he created the simple and practical 'Prairie House' style as a reaction to the over-embellished Victorian aesthetic. (2) Norman Foster (UK): A disciple of both Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier, he worked with Buckminster Fuller and made geodesic designs on his buildings facades as his trademark style. (3) Antoni Gaudi (Spain): Cathedral of La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona (Spain) is his most famous creation. It has a style that is a mix of Baroque, Gothic, Moorish and Victorian elements. He also derived influence from nature. (4) Daniel Libeskind (Poland): Notable works include Berlin's Jewish Museum, Grand Canal Theatre in Dublin and Imperial War Museum in England. (5) Renzo Piano (Italy): Has many unique and varied styles that range from the Neo-Brutalism of his Whitney Museum of American Art in New York's Meatpacking District, to the elegant Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. (6) Ben van Berkel (Netherlands): Notable works include Erasmus Bridge in Rotterdam, Theatre Agora and the Mercedes-Benz Museum. (7) Santiago Calatrava (Spain; Switzerland): Termed as sci-fi baroque architect by some, he has designed buildings that resembled the ribcages of dinosaurs. One of his recent creation is the Transit Hub for the World Trade Center. (8) Philip Johnson (USA): His modern architectural work includes Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut. He is founding director of MoMA's (Museum of Modern Art, New York) Department of Architecture. (9) Eero Sarinen (Finland; USA): He is noted for his neo-futuristic style, later known as the Bauhaus's straight-line philosophy. This became the aesthetic for business and government office buildings around the world. (10) Frank Gehry (Canada; USA): His billowing forms quite literally seem to defy gravity. Design of the Guggenheim Museum branch in Bilbao (Spain) is one of the finest example of his style. Read on...

Architecture & Design: Our top 10 architects of the modern era
Author: Branko Miletic

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 25 mar 2018

Architecture and design of living spaces has to adapt to the changing behaviors and lifestyles of people, changing climate and environmental patterns, evolving social and cultural landscape etc. Following are architectural trends for 2018 - (1) Understanding how millennials occupy and use space (Piedad Rojas): Behavior and habits of millennials point to their inclinations for minimal spaces that are highly flexible. They seek small, modern, multifunctional and minimalist apartments. (2) Architects facing the construction of their own work - the urgency of being on site (José Tomás Franco): To attain knowledge, understanding and training about materials and construction processes is a growing trend. To reconnect with the materialization of projects and work in multidsciplinary collaboration with others is key to better architecture. (3) The challenge of current architecture to approach the rural context (Fernanda Amaro): Rem Koolhaas said in 2016, 'The current challenge of architecture is to understand the rural world'. He appeals to architects that the future is in intervening in 'bare, semi-abandoned, sparsely populated, sometimes badly connected spaces', since this is where architects are seeing accelerated processes of change, and must take the lead. The trend is now emerging that understands the need to go to these areas and get to know these communities in order to incorporate, from a contemporary perspective, their ways of living, materials, traditional techniques and vernacular forms to guide the architect to make friendlier, more respectful and harmonious decisions with the natural and social environment in which they are inserted. (4) Social architecture faces the return of the pendulum (Nicolás Valencia): The trend visualizes and values informal architecture, vernacular techniques and commitment to those who have been left behind in society. The selection of Alejandro Aravena as the Director of the XV Biennial of Architecture of Venice and winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2016, signifies this trend. (5) The post-digital era enters the graphic representation timeline in architecture (Karina Zatarain): By merging the available digital tools with the representative intention of collage, some contemporary architecture firms have chosen to move away from the dominant hyperrealism, instead creating a new trend - post-digital representation. This is just the beginning of a new stage of negotiation between the cold precision of technology and the expressive quality inherent in architecture. (6) Political Architecture - creativity faces the regulations and the future of cities (Fabián Dejtiar): Spanish architect Andrés Jaque mentioned in the XX Biennial of Architecture and Urbanism of Chile 2017, by default 'all architects are politicians' and the real question is what forms of policy architects are willing to defend. In this regard, political action is a tool to enhance, incorporate or transform creativity. The process of balancing creativity in the framework of regulations will influence the future of cities. (7) The revenge of women in architecture (Camila Marín, Pola Mora): This year, the Venice Biennial of Architecture will be directed by two women architects - Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara - and the list of curators in charge of the national pavilions already has a much higher female participation than in previous years. Architectural discipline will see concrete actions taken to empower women and bring them in more powerful and prominent position. (8) Learning from Bamboo to reinforce our sensitivity and efficiency (José Tomás Franco): Bamboo is a multifaceted material and has more than 1500 documented uses. In construction, its current use is related to resistance, versatility and efficiency, and is linked to the beauty of the organic and innate respect for the environment. (9) A glimpse of the direction of post-earthquake architecture (Karina Zatarain): Architecture plays an important role in response to the reconstruction needs after different types of natural disasters. Japanese architect Shigeru Ban received the Pritzker Prize in 2014 and is known for his experimental and innovative use of materials such as paper and cardboard in buildings, and for his efforts to help homeless people after natural disasters or in refugee situations. Team of architects from Hong Kong was awarded in World Architecture Festival (WAF) in Berlin for their post-earthquake reconstruction project. They developed a new and economical compacted earth construction technique that will be more resistant to seismic activity. Topics like seismic resistance of different local materials and self-construction are part of architectural discussions. Read on...

ArchDaily: The 9 Architecture Topics You Need To Know About in 2018
Authors: Marina Gosselin, Piedad Rojas, José Tomás Franco, Fernanda Amaro, Nicolás Valencia, Karina Zatarain, Fabián Dejtiar, Camila Marín, Pola Mora