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When I say “net zero building,” you probably think I mean the store where you procure cut-rate internet service. But alas, they do not have stores, and “net zero building” really means a structure that uses no more energy than it produces, or imports, from renewable energy sources.

A new initiative called the 2050 Imperative was just adopted by The International Union of Architects (UIA), which will aim to eliminate carbon dioxide emissions from the built environment worldwide by 2050. The UIA is like the UN of architecture, and represents 1.3 million architects around the world, including the AIA. This new initiative has a series of comprehensive goals, but the net zero mission is the boldest.

To see what a net zero world might look like in 2050, here are some of our favorite net zero buildings from the Architizer database.

Net Zero Energy House by Klopf Architecture, Cupertino, CA

This refurbishment of an existing single family home is designed to be light and open and airy. The house is net zero via insulated concrete forms, structural insulated panels, high-performance windows, cementitious siding, and a solar photovoltaic system sized to cover all of the energy usage.

Hi’ilani EcoHouse by Studio RMA, Honoka‘a, HI

This home is made of Structural Concrete Insulated Panels, and it produces its own power and water, while meeting seismic requirements. The winged roof contains cooling, water, and electrical systems.

Pasona H.Q. Tokyo by Kono Designs LLC, Tokyo, Japan

This nine-story office building features a double-skin green facade and 43,000 square feet of urban farming facilities with 200 types of fruits, vegetables, and rice that are harvested and served on-site. The main lobby also has a rice paddy and a broccoli field.

weeZero by Alchemy Architects, Moab, UT

This hovering box’s oxidized exterior blends into the surrounding desert landscape, while the bamboo interior provides an elegant escape. Water recycling, solar electric, and solar thermal collectors will make the house net zero.

Phipps Conservatory by Design Alliance Architects, Pittsburgh, PA

The education facility aims to be the first building to meet the Living Building Challenge (net-zero water, net zero energy), LEED Platinum, and Sustainable Sites Initiative certification. It features solar panels, geothermal wells, and a wind turbine, as well as passive cooling, heating, and lighting methods.

Gateway to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve by WEDDLE & GILMORE, Scottsdale, AZ

A vast network of natural landscaping is irrigated by on-site rainwater harvesting that collects 50,000 gallons a year. Solar power provides most of the energy for the building.

Somanath Seniors Apartments by Baskervill, Richmond, VA

This complex features seven net zero energy apartments, powered by rooftop photovoltaic solar thermal panels to produce hot water. High-performance, double-glazed windows and EnergyStar appliances further lower the building’s need for energy consumption.

VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre by Perkins+Will, Vancouver, BC

The curved roof is a metaphor for an orchid and is made of wood, an ambitious material for such a complex form. Net zero energy usage is achieved via systems such as geothermal boreholes, solar photovoltaics, and solar hot water tubes.

Off Grid Island Retreat by Alex Scott Porter Design, Penobscot Bay , ME

This house was built on an island with no road access, and almost all of the materials had to be sent in one shipment. Rainwater harvesting and photovoltaics gather and store solar energy to make this “a little sonnet of a home for the modern day, net zero everyman.”

Find all your architectural inspiration through Architizer: Click here to sign up now. Are you a manufacturer looking to connect with architects? Click here.

The post Net Zero: 9 Buildings That Produce More Energy Than They Consume appeared first on Journal.

Architects: Showcase your work and find the perfect materials for your next project through Architizer. Manufacturers: To connect with the world’s largest architecture firms, sign up now.

Known as a land of endless forests and one of just three Baltic states, Lithuania has gone relatively unnoticed in design circles. While it is a small nation with only about three million inhabitants, the country has one of the fastest growing economies in the European Union and boasts significant works of contemporary architecture. Famous for its landscapes, from lakes and wetlands to the Curonian sand peninsula, Lithuanian designs embrace their surroundings. This is especially true within the country’s residential projects. Sensitively positioned to capture views or maintain privacy, these houses draw inspiration from their idyllic contexts. Crafted with meticulous detailing and modern formal approaches, these designs respect building traditions while reinterpreting them.

Drawing together rural Lithuanian retreats from across the Architizer database, the following collection takes a look at designs that are secluded or remote in nature. Whether they are designed as discrete, quiet retreats or bold, dramatic statements, these residences capitalize on picturesque settings and expansive open spaces. Though a majority of Lithuania’s architecture was historically built with wood, the following projects explore a diverse variety of materials and assemblies. Together, they begin to embody the unique design culture of Lithuania.

Family House in Palanga by Architectural bureau G.Natkevicius and partners, Palanga, Lithuania

Created as a family house in a seaside resort town, this project is located on a narrow site only half a mile from the sea. Surrounded by forest atop a small hill, the house’s living spaces are lifted above street level, while utilitarian functions are placed beneath. The project was divided into three separate volumes with distinct functional zones.

House in Trakai by Aketuri Architektai, Trakai, Lithuania

Embracing the Lithuanian notion of a country house, this carefully detailed residence takes a fresh look at the traditional archetype. A modest, gabled volume was created with large, translucent sliding panels to help connect to the outdoors.

Black House Blues by ARCHISPEKTRAS, Kulautuva, Lithuania

Designed for a couple that loves to listen to the blues, this black volume in the forest is built around a central living space. Conceptualized as the house of blues, the project allows music to reach every room of the house through interstitial space. The home incorporates a glass façade for the summer months and a wooden deck to enjoy the surrounding forest.

Farmstead Family House by Architectural bureau G.Natkevicius and partners, Pociunai, Lithuania

Designed as a linear farmstead in Pociunai, this family house overlooks the nearby waterfront and open landscape. Organized as a single bar that reaches across the property lines, the residence was oriented to views and clad with a minimal material palette.

House in Tarande by 4 Plius, Vilnius, Lithuania

Completed a few years ago near Vilnius, this rural residence includes a multi-story living space and a detached garage. Oriented to embrace light within its main living quarters, the project explores the archetypical house profile and uses careful craft and detailing.

A024. House in Vilnius by Aketuri Architektai, Vilnius, Lithuania

Sited atop a slope in a historic Vilnius suburb, this house was made to contrast with its surroundings. The wooden, rectilinear design is smaller in scale than the typical 20th-century Lithuanian house, while the cube-like structure is integrated into its idyllic landscape.

Utriai by Architectural bureau G.Natkevicius and partners, Vezaiciai, Lithuania

Created for a client in the agricultural production business, this rural house features a large, dramatic cantilever. Built on a slope in the Minija valley, the project was conceived as a kind of Noah’s ship that moved the family, their belongs, and pets from the city.

An Autograph Among The Pine Trees by ARCHISPEKTRAS, Kaunas, Lithuania

This residence was carefully sited along a river shore in Kaunas. Made with vertical rusted steel planes and glass, the project’s envelope was designed to recall the region’s growing pine trees.

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The post Baltic Architecture: 8 Incredible Residences Across Lithuania appeared first on Journal.

We’re excited to announce that the 2019 One Drawing Challenge is officially open for entries! Take advantage of the early entry discount by submitting your entry before Friday, June 28th.

Enter the 2019 One Drawing Challenge

Archive DS’s “Sketch Cube”; image via seeleyarc on Instagram

Your challenge is a simple one: Create a single drawing that tells the story behind a complex piece of architecture. In partnership with Savage Software Group, we’re thrilled to announce the following bumper prize package for the two top winners (one student and one non-student):

• $2,500 prize money
• iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 256GB)
• Apple Pencil (2nd Generation)
• Procreate Software Package

10 commended entries will receive a prize package full of analog and digital drawing tools. Further more the best 100 entries will feature in the first “One Drawing” eBook, to be distributed to thousands of architecture firms via newsletter and social media channels.

A richly detailed section drawing by danvto on Instagram

Your drawing should communicate a new architectural proposal or existing piece of architecture, creatively depicting the experience of those that inhabit it. It can be located anywhere in the world and be at any scale. It can take the form of a plan, section, elevation, perspective or sketch. As long as it portrays part or all of a building or group of buildings, it is eligible.

Remember, your drawing should be square — 2000 pixels by 2000 pixels. If it is not, please add white space at either side or at the top and bottom to make it that way before submitting.

For more information, check out the FAQs, the Jurors Page and the Judging Criteria. We can’t wait to see your submission — good luck from everyone at Architizer!

Enter the 2019 One Drawing Challenge

Top image: Drawing by Aysylu Zaripova, Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering

The post Call for Entries: The One Drawing Challenge is Now Open For Submissions! appeared first on Journal.

Send us a drawing, tell us a story, win $2,500! Call for entries begins June 10th. Register for the One Drawing Challenge today.

Every good architectural drawing has a story. From simple linework to complex colors, vectors and forms, a drawing is a visual record of how we think. A single work can relate the philosophy and ideology of a designer, as architecture and drawings are both shaped by one another. Drawing is intrinsically tied to the art of communicating what we see or what could be, making conceptual ideas tangible and understandable.

How does a drawing tell a story? Central to Architizer’s global ideas competition, the One Drawing Challenge asks designers to see how far they can illustrate their ideas through a single work. The winners will net themselves $2,500 and commended entries will receive a host of drawing-related prizes — register today to get involved.

To inspire your entry, explore the following five drawings, each of which tell their story in different ways. Looking closer, examine how the work communicates the architect’s intent through details, graphic styles and composition. They show a range of work: how drawings are tied to built forms, how a story is told through vectors, or how a drawing can  be architecture in its own right.

Overdrawing, Courtesy LTL Architects

Overdrawing by LTL Architects

As a practice known for bringing out the best qualities of representation and translation, LTL has developed their own drawing technique to illustrate their ideas. Dubbed Overdrawing, the technique aims to resolve the split between proponents of traditional forms of architectural representation (drawing by hand, sketching, and hardline constructions) and generative immersive representations. AS they state, it’s an agile exchange between line and color, between drawing and production, between manual and digital means of working in order to circumvent current frames of thinking.

In this example, you can see how the drawing combines what works best from the overlaps of disparate mediums and methods. Through an exchange between scanners, printers, software, and parallel rules, the team made a rendering that was overdrawn by hand, with detailed development and design alterations to the initial form emerging in the process. The drawing is then scanned and reunited with the original rendering, and this hybrid image is further digitally manipulated to capitalize on the qualities of both media.

Exploded Axon, Parc de la Villette, Courtesy Bernard Tschumi Architects

Exploded Axon, Parc de la Villette by Bernard Tschumi

Bernard Tschumi’s work is about the making of architecture as a series of arguments, ideas, influences, and responses to the contemporary definition of architecture today. Tschumi’s major architectural projects are usually organized around two primary ideas: concept and notation. As the work aspires to illustrate, there is no architecture without an idea or concept, just as there is no architecture without a method of notation to express its content.

In this exploded axon of Parc de la Villette, Tschumi reveals his concept for a system of dispersed “points”—red enameled steel follies that support different cultural and leisure activities. The drawing directly expresses how these are superimposed on a system of lines that emphasizes movement through the park. La Villette has become known as an unprecedented type of park, one based on “culture” rather than “nature.” In addition to the master plan, the project involved the design and construction of over 25 buildings, promenades, covered walkways, bridges, and landscaped gardens over a period of fifteen years.

Insideoutsidebetweenbeyond, Courtesy SFMOMA, Bureau Spectacular

Insideoutsidebetweenbeyond by Bureau Spectacular

Bureau Spectacular imagines other worlds and engages the design of architecture through telling stories. Beautiful stories about character development, relationships, curiosities and attitudes; absurd stories about fake realities that invite enticing possibilities. The stories conflate design, representation, theory, criticism, history and taste into cartoon pages. These cartoon narratives swerve into the physical world through architectural installations, models and small buildings.

These ideas are explored as seen in the drawing insideoutsidebetweenbeyond. The Los Angeles-based studio views architecture as a medium capable of rewriting cultural narratives. Questioning the banality of the existing typical urban environment, Bureau Spectacular suggests that economic efficiency is driving a character-less architecture — and that, as monuments to civilization, modern cities’ ubiquitous skyscrapers reflect a predictable, mono-cultural society. The drawing reconsiders urban architecture inside, outside, between, and beyond the monotonous rectangular buildings seen in most city skylines.

Pompidou Centre by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers

Pompidou Centre by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers

Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers used pencil to draw this 1971 image of the Pompidou Centre. At the center of the cross-sectional drawing is an interactive and layered façade, as illustrated in the work itself. The international competition in 1970 was to design a new, multidisciplinary cultural centre in Paris. Strategically sited between the redeveloped Les Halles markets and the historic Marais district, Piano and Rogers’ rectangular volume was proposed to take up only half the city block of the competition site.

Named after the then-President of France, Georges Pompidou, the project was first conceptualized in 1969 in the wake of the anti-capitalist May 1968 riots. The building itself was immediately embraced as a sensational popular monument, and the drawing begins to tell the story of how Renzo and Rogers conceptualized the building as a new way to exhibit and place for people to gather. By rethinking mechanical systems and standards of circulation, the project told a powerful story and became an icon for the city.

The Ministry of Ocean Wisdom by Victor Moldoveanu

The Ministry of Ocean Wisdom by Victor Moldoveanu

Inspired by Jules Verne’s In Search of the Castaways where heroes travel the oceans of the world to find and save the lost crew, The Ministry of Ocean Wisdom is a conceptual project that was designed to occupy 20,000 square kilometres of the Danish Territorial Waters of the Jutland Peninsula. Taking into account the foreseeable sea-level increase across Denmark, The Ministry of Ocean Wisdom is a project showing a model of embracing ocean level rise and consequently taking up life on water.

In Victor’s project The Ministry has a strategic approach to the foreseeable event of ocean level rise and it operates through a set of components that prepare, protect and provide for the population and the territory under flood threat. These components include habitation, transportation, natural environment, infrastructure, and logistics. As the first in a set of drawings, this particular work utilizes an overlay of pattern, scale and detail to tell a complex story of the ministry and the pieces that make up the project.

Now show us what you can do: Register for the One Drawing Challenge and submit your best architectural drawing for a chance to win $2,500!

Register for the One Drawing Challenge

Top image: Sapphire City by Michael Quach, Bartlett School of Architecture

The post How Does a Drawing Tell a Story? appeared first on Journal.

Architects: Showcase your work and find the perfect materials for your next project through Architizer. Manufacturers: To connect with the world’s largest architecture firms, sign up now.

The staggered mortar joints of most brick walls, although often beautiful, are not just for show. These patterns, known as bonds, are what give brick walls their structural integrity. Each brick is supported by two bricks in the row below which, in turn, are supported by three bricks in the row below them, and so on. They rely on one another for support, ensuring that no single brick bears too much responsibility.

Bricks laid in a stack bond, on the other hand, do not share in this burden. These vertically-aligned facing bricks, used to clad already sound structures, give masonry walls a contemporary flare. To see what these structurally liberated bricks are capable of, check out these eight outstanding examples of stack bond brickwork:

Three Parts House by Architects EAT, Melbourne, Australia

The Three Parts House comprises a 1950s brick home, a contemporary brick addition and a glass-walled courtyard. The new brick facing is laid in a stack bond, differentiating the addition from the original, running bond structure. In the courtyard, a screen of perforated bricks, also in a stack bond, eases the façade’s transition from masonry to glazing. In contrast to the gridded brickwork, the courtyard is paved in irregular slabs of Mintaro slate.

TERMEH Office – Retail Building by Ahmad Bathaei and FMZD, Hamadan, Iran

The TERMEH Office – Retail Building appears to have been sculpted from a monumental stack of bricks. At the ground level, a cave-like storefront has been carved into the brick base. Above, the stack has been sliced vertically by glazing, bringing light to the second floor office space. The remainder of the stack has been shaped into a cascading brick staircase, leading directly from the street to the offices.

Cloaked in Bricks by Admun Studio, Tehran, Iran

Located in a busy Tehran neighborhood, this apartment building features a privacy screen of bricks stacked on metal rods. The mortar-less construction enables bricks to be set at different angles, depending on the amount of light or privacy desired, creating an undulating appearance. The façade was designed with parametric modeling software and assembled by local masons.

Norrtälje Mortuary by LINK arkitektur, Norrtälje, Sweden

The architects of Norrtälje Mortuary, an addition to an austere brick hospital, wanted to create a welcoming space for grieving families. The harshness of the exterior is lessened by large picture frame windows, surrounded in polished concrete, and bricks stacked in a familiar gable formation. On the interior, a wall of brick reliefs, lit from above by a clerestory, can be interpreted as a metaphor for loss.

Primary school ZP by dmvA Architecten, Sint-Agatha-Berchem, Belgium

The primary school in Sint-Agatha-Berchem is clad in bricks of varying hues and textures, laid in a multitude of patterns — stack, solider stack, running and block bond. This playful brickwork results in a façade that fits its urban context without intimidating its young occupants.

Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building by Mecanoo and Sasaki, Dudley, Mass., United States

Mecanoo, an architecture firm based in the Netherlands, brought the rich tradition of Dutch bricklaying to Boston with their design for the new Dudley Municipal Building. The façade is a composition of slender, stack bond piers and curving bands of angled, stacked soldiers. This complex brickwork both complements and contrasts the neighboring brick buildings. You can learn more about the construction of this project in Mecanoo’s short documentary film: Boston Bricks with a Dutch Touch.

Bill and Melinda Gates Computer Science Complex by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, Austin, Texas, United States

The University of Texas’ computer science complex is a modern interpretation of the surrounding Spanish-style buildings. Layers of light-colored bricks, laid in a stack bond, give depth to the façade while metal grates, in the same gridded pattern, shade windows from direct sunlight. These design choices helped the project achieve LEED Silver certification.

1200 Bricks Little Chapel by S-AR, Santiago, Mexico

The 1200 Bricks Little Chapel is, as its name suggests, a small space for meditation, built from 1,200 red bricks. As demonstrated by the clay model above, the bricks are stacked without mortar on steel rods bent around an inner metal frame. “In the same way that meditation requires a certain degree of introspection and solitude … each piece of brick is alone in the structure, immersed between tension and gravity” explains the architects.

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The post 8 Brick Projects With Stunning Stack Bond Façades appeared first on Journal.

The One Drawing Challenge is finally open for entries, and the excitement is building — who will take home the prizes of $2,500 and an iPad Pro? And who will secure a place among the 100 finalists and get themselves featured in the inaugural One Drawing eBook? Only time will tell — to put yourself in the running, submit a drawing to the competition before June 28th to take advantage of the early entry discount.

Enter the One Drawing Challenge

Once you’ve submitted your drawing, you may well be wondering how the winners will be decided, and who will be doing the judging.

First, there will be a public voting period that will help to decide the best 100 drawings. These finalists will then be reviewed by a number of practitioners and thought leaders from the worlds of architecture, design and technology, each with a special connection to drawing. The jury represents those leaders who are actively bringing architecture to the public today, both online and in the built environment. For entrants and winners, this is an opportunity to get their work in front of the people shaping how the world engages with architecture now and in the future.

Here’s a run-down of the One Drawing Challenge jury this year:

Left: Chris Precht; right: Farmhouse vertical farm concept by Precht

Chris Precht

Together with his wife Fei, Chris runs studio Precht in the mountains of Salzburg, working on worldwide projects including ecological High-rises, Farmscrapers and Bamboo-buildings. Chris is a leading voice in the design of a more ecological future. “Architecture is no longer defined by form, styles or eras. The problems that our generation needs to solve are larger than that. For us, climate change is not a theory, but a reality. As architects, we need to find solutions that contribute to the health of our civilisation and of our planet.”

Left: Mónica Ponce de León; right: Banq Restaurant by MPdL Studio, Boston, MA

Mónica Ponce de León

Mónica Ponce de León is the Founding Principal of MPdL Studio and Dean of Princeton University School of Architecture. Among her many prestigious honors, Ponce de León received the National Design Award from the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum. Her highly acclaimed and broadly published work has received 13 Progressive Architecture Awards, 13 awards from the American Institute of Architects, and the Harleston Parker Medal. In 2016 Ponce de León was inducted into the National Academy of Design.

Left: Suchi Reddy; right: X by Reddymade, New York

Suchi Reddy

Suchi Reddy, Founding Principal of Reddymade, established her firm in 2002. “Form follows feeling ” is Reddy’ s mantra, and her primary focus and passion is “neuroaesthetics”, the study of how we respond to aesthetic experience. Suchi Reddy is a member of the Van Alen Institute Leadership Council, and Board Member for the Design Trust for Public Space and Storefront for Art and Architecture.

Left: Amanda Ferber; right: Architecture Hunter on Instagram

Amanda Ferber

Amanda Ferber is the young architect who founded Architecture Hunter, one of the largest architectural Instagram pages in the world, with over 1.8 million followers. She has already worked with Marcio Kogan, one of the greatest Brazilian architects and also with renowned digital platforms. She is the ambassador of Morpholio, the Sketching app for Architects and designers and also one of the partners of Arquiforma, a Brazilian platform for students.

Left: Jing Liu; right: Breathe MINI Living by SO – IL, Milan, Italy

Jing Liu

Jing Liu founded SO – IL with Florian Idenburg in 2008, emphasizing mission-driven cultural projects as an integral part of the urban fabric. Through building practice and interdisciplinary research projects, Jing has led SO – IL to explore new fabrication methods and engage with the sociopolitical issues of contemporary cities. Her perspective extends outside conventional architecture, with artist collaborations, curatorial partnerships, and book projects such as Solid Objectives: Order, Edge, Aura published by Lars Müller.

Left: Bob Borson; right: The Life of an Architect blog

Bob Borson, FAIA

Dallas architect Bob Borson is widely recognized as the blogger behind Life of an Architect — one of the world’s most popular architectural blogs. As an emerging voice within the architectural community, he has bridged the gap and engaged multiple generations of architects and architectural enthusiasts by sharing his personal experiences, professional practice tips, and anecdotes on what it’s like to work with and be an architect.

Left: Pascale Sablan; right: 160 East 22nd Street by S9 ARCHITECTURE

Pascale Sablan, AIA, NOMA, LEED AP

A Senior Associate at S9 ARCHITECTURE, Pascale Sablan is the 315th living African-American female licensed architect in the U.S. She is an architect, mentor, intrapreneur & advocate to advance architecture for the betterment of society, bring visibility and voice to the issues concerning minority architects. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Beyond the Built Environment, organization addressing inequitable disparities in architecture by providing a platform aimed to support numerous stages of the architecture pipeline.

Left: Hilary Sample; right: Krabbesholm Højskole by MOS Architects, Skive, Denmark

Hilary Sample

Hilary Sample is an architect and principal of MOS Architects, which she co-founded with Michael Meredith in 2003. MOS was the recipient of the 2015 Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum National Design Award in Architecture, and the 2010 American Academy of Arts and Letters Architecture Award. Sample is also an Associate Professor at Columbia GSAPP, where she coordinates the Core Architecture Studios.

Left: Lora Teagarden; right: The ARE Sketches book by Lora Teagarden

Lora Teagarden, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

Lora Teagarden is a project architect at RATIO in Indianapolis, IN, a published author, creator of #AREsketches, and business owner. She is a 2017 Young Architect Award winner, one of 25 architects to watch in 2019, and the 2019 Chair of the Young Architects Forum. Her passion for the profession drives her to mentor young professionals and volunteer in her community.

Left: Marc Tsurumaki; right: Section drawing by LTL Architects

Marc Tsurumaki, AIA

Marc Tsurumaki is a Founding Principal of LTL Architects, an award-winning partnership founded in 1997 and located in New York City. LTL Architects was the recipient of the 2007 National Design Award and was recently ranked #3 among design firms in the country by Architect Magazine. Their drawings are featured in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Carnegie Museum of Art. Marc is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia University.

Left: Ciel Hunter; right: Vice Magazine cover, November 2018

Ciel Hunter

Ciel Hunter focuses on supporting creators and artists, and in shaping storytelling of all forms. She was most recently at VICE Media, where she was Global Head of Content, overseeing digital output across all platforms and countries. Prior she was the Executive Creative Director, in which capacity she led such initiatives as The Creators Project.

Left: Georg Windeck; right: Construction Matters book by Georg Windeck

Georg Windeck, RA

Georg Windeck is an architect and educator from Berlin, living and working in New York City. He is the author of Construction Matters (2016), a book that discusses how artistic experiments with new building technologies have informed the aesthetics of Modernism. The book is based on his architectural practice and on his research at universities in the Europe and the US, where he taught design studios, art history classes, and advanced seminars in critical theory over the past two decades.

The judging process for the One Drawing Challenge — details of which can be found here — is designed to reflect the multi-faceted qualities of architectural drawings. Our outstanding cast of jurors will be asked to select winning entries based on their communicative and aesthetic qualities, as well as their impact and ability to “go viral” on social media. Entries that stand out in one or more of the following categories stand a great chance of being a Winner.

Good luck to everyone that enters this year; we can’t wait to see your submissions!

Enter the One Drawing Challenge

All project images and portraits courtesy of the jurors.

The post The One Drawing Challenge: Meet the Jurors! appeared first on Journal.

Architects: Showcase your work and find the perfect materials for your next project through Architizer. Manufacturers: To connect with the world’s largest architecture firms, sign up now.

Malta’s design culture is born from the sea. Located between Sicily and the North African coast, the island nation is known for dramatic coastlines and historic sites. Long governed by different rulers, from the Romans and Moors to the French, Malta gained its independence in 1964. This was the beginning of the country’s building boom, where new architecture and urban projects gained momentum.

A picturesque archipelago, Malta is now the world’s fifth most densely populated country. With the capital city of Valletta at its heart, the nation has grown to become a diverse cultural epicenter in the Mediterranean. Last year, Valletta was named a European Capital of Culture, and the country features a range of architecture that includes work from local and international offices alike. With warm weather and a host of architectural and historical monuments, the country is also home to three UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The following projects give a glimpse into the modern architecture of Malta and the country’s emergence as a center for design.

Barrakka Lift by Architecture Project, Valletta, Malta

This twenty story high panoramic lift is located on the edge of Malta’s historic fortified capital city of Valletta. As a new access point into the town, the project was made for residents and visitors travelling from the water’s edge who can now travel over the city’s fortifications and into the heart of the city. The lift was first built to connect the harbor with the town in 1905 during Valletta’s heyday as a trading port.

Today, the heavy demands of accessibility to the town require a much larger footprint, and therefore, the renewed connection has a larger visual impact. The geometric qualities of the plan echo the angular forms of the bastion walls and the corrugated edges of the aluminium skin help modulate light as it hits the structure, emphasizing its verticality. The mesh masks the glazed lift carriages, recalling the forms of the original cage lifts, whilst providing shade to passengers as they travel between the city and the sea.

Revitalized Hangar by STEELSHAPE LTD, Malta

Revitalizing an existing hangar, this project in Malta featured the restructuring of a roof and the hangar’s main door. The existing roof structure was part of an authentic Bellman truss. This was preserved and installed at a higher level to accommodate a new fleet of helicopters. The masonry wall structure is the only surviving one of its type. It is the one of the original three hundred military pens that lined the airport to provide protection to individual aircrafts during frequent air raids.

Cruise Passenger Terminal and Waterfront, Floriana, Malta

The insertion of a new Cruise Passenger Terminal at the foot of the baroque Pinto Stores was made to add another layer to the historic stratification of the Grand Harbor. The project aims at reviving the traditional activity of the area, which is that of entrance gate to the island and area of exchange of materials and ideas.

The project involved an urban master plan that re-interprets the interface between public spaces and the sea, as well as a contemporary design for the ferry passenger terminal and the cruise passenger terminal and the rehabilitation of the historic urban fabric. Pinto Stores was selected as an ideal location for the terminal since it constitutes an important part of the historic waterfront.

Ix-Xifer by Daniel Scerri Periti, Manikata, Malta

Located on a unique spot on the Maltese Islands, this site enjoys 270° open valley, sea & country views, lies adjacent to a National Park Reserve and to the recently restored historic remains of an ancient rural settlement. The dwelling features an outdoor pool & deck towards the rear of the property, where it enjoys the best views and longest hours of afternoon sun. The property’s boundary wall features a wall pattern that blends with both the natural side and the developed area, which in turn is designed in sharp volumes and planes to create a clean edge to the development scheme. The design emphasizes horizontal planes with extended balconies, and the corners of the building were designed as large glass-to-glass corner apertures to maximize views and make the space feel much larger & closer to the outdoors.

Dock 1 by Architecture Project, Cospicua, Malta

Wedged in between 16th century limestone bastions and Cold War post-war architecture, Dock 1 is found at the end of Dock Yard Creek, spreading on the shores of Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea (The Three Cities). The Grand Harbor, specifically Dockyard Creek, have been used as a harbor since the Roman period. The Dock 1 landscape project has been in the making for a long time. Through dialogue with the local councils, local businesses, traders and NGOs, the project was made to reflect design the needs of a community as part of a greater sustainable regeneration in this area of Malta.

Valletta City Gate by Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Valletta, Malta

Renzo Piano’s City Gate project was designed as a complete reorganization of the principal entrance to the Maltese capital of Valletta. The project comprises four parts: the Valletta City Gate and its site immediately outside the city walls, the design for an open-air theatre ‘machine’ within the ruins of the former Royal opera house, the construction of a new Parliament building and the landscaping of the ditch. The first objective of the project was to reinstate the ramparts’ original feeling of depth and strength and to reinforce the narrowness of the entrance to the city, while opening up views of Republic Street. The new city gate is a ‘breach’ in the wall only 8m wide. The relationship between the original fortifications and those that have been reconstructed is made clear by the insertion of powerful 60mm-thick steel ‘blades’ that slice through the wall between old and new. The architecture of the new city gate is very restrained, giving an impression of strength and austerity, stripped of extraneous decoration that would undermine its timeless quality.

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The post 6 Reasons Every Architect Should Visit Malta appeared first on Journal.

VIATechnik specializes in technology for the architecture, engineering and construction industries and works with clients in the realm of virtual reality, BIM services and artificial intelligence. Architizer is glad to present a selection of the firm’s blog posts on all things AEC. check out their website for more.

According to a study published by Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics, worldwide construction output will grow by 85% by 2030, when the construction industry will produce an astonishing $15.5 trillion in total revenue. The industry’s forecasted 3.9% per annum growth rate is set to outpace global GDP growth by more than a percentage point, providing AEC firms with an incredible opportunity to drive development worldwide over the coming decade.

While a broad-based expansion of the construction industry is much needed — experts estimate that 36 million new housing units will need to be built in the world’s 20 largest cities alone by 2025 — such an expansion could have devastating environmental consequences. Indeed, research indicates that the construction industry is already responsible for 23% of the United States’ air pollution, 40% of its water pollution, and 50% of its landfill waste. In addition, the U.S. Green Building Council reports that buildings and construction projects are responsible for nearly 40% of global energy consumption every year.

With the industry’s environmental impact in mind, AEC professionals must work to develop and implement more sustainable practices as the construction industry expands to prevent further damage to our already fragile environment. While AEC firms will need to strike a delicate balance between sustainability and economical design, many of these nascent practices actually improve construction productivity on the whole.

4D BIM software; image via lodplanner

Using BIM to Achieve Next-Level Efficiency

A key component in the sustainable construction revolution will be building information modeling (BIM). Though not explicitly marketed as a sustainability technology, BIM delivers such a wealth of boosts to efficiency that it ends up reducing almost every construction project’s environmental footprint.

For example, 4D BIM entails the integration of precise scheduling data into three-dimensional BIM design files, enabling contractors to craft step-by-step project development plans as soon as they’re hired. Any given design element can be enriched with details regarding its lead-time, construction and installation period, curing and drying allowances, sequencing, or interdependencies with other areas.

This unprecedented sophistication in scheduling helps contractors eliminate last-minute on-site design coordination and rework, simultaneously reducing waste and compressing project timelines. Simply put, the less time a construction crew spends on a worksite, the less time high-emissions heavy machinery and power-hungry tools are in use, resulting in far lower project energy consumption.

Building lifecycle diagram; image via CleanTech

Extending the Lifespans of Durable Building Materials

In a similar vein, some contractors are turning to BIM to facilitate “circular construction.” Every year, the construction industry sends over 160 million tons of non-industrial waste to American landfills, much of which actually comes from demolition undertaken before beginning new construction projects. Salvaging as much of this raw material as possible not only cuts down on costs — recycled materials are often less expensive than virgin materials — but reduces the greenhouse gas emissions created when manufacturing materials like construction-grade steel.

Especially in Europe, contractors and owners have started approaching buildings as “material banks,” temporary storehouses for materials that will later be used in numerous projects down the line. With BIM, a building’s design can function not only as a blueprint for construction — its traditional use — but as a highly-accurate “bill of materials” and blueprint for deconstruction, as well. Demolition contractors can use BIM designs to gain insight into both which parts of a structure can be salvaged and how — and to what extent — a structure was designed to be dismantled.

Modular façade construction; image via eSub

Moving Construction Off-site

Finally, environmentally-minded contractors are pioneering a variety of approaches for prefabricated — or, alternatively, “off-site” or “modular” — construction. In addition to keeping tolerances tight, assembling building sections in a factory or a similarly controlled environment all but eliminates overage and scrap. Just as importantly, when a contractor’s entire worksite agenda is comprised only of assembling — as opposed to crafting — building sections, the time it takes to complete a project is greatly reduced.

As of August 2016, only 13% of GCs were investing in off-site prefabrication, but as sustainability becomes an increasingly attractive component of project bids, its prevalence — as well as the prevalence of the other trends outlined above — is all but guaranteed to skyrocket.

Architizer is building tech tools to help power your practice: Click here to sign up now. Are you a manufacturer looking to connect with architects? Click here.

Top image: Bosco Verticale by Boeri Studio; image courtesy the architects

The post 3 Emerging Trends in Sustainable Architecture and Construction appeared first on Journal.

Architizer is proud to announce the third annual Best of LaCantina competition in partnership with LaCantina Doors, the nation’s leading design and manufacturing company of folding, sliding and swing door systems. Through the Best of LaCantina, architects are invited to showcase built projects that use LaCantina’s innovative products for a chance to win a grand prize and receive major coverage on Architizer.

Register for the Best of LaCantina Competition

LaCantina Doors’ range of systems helps to create beautiful open spaces that blur the line between indoor and outdoor living, seamlessly integrating sophisticated design with high functionality. LaCantina Doors utilizes the same signature narrow stile and rail profile across its product line for a complete and perfectly matching door package.

For the 2019 Best of LaCantina competition, we want to see the innovative projects you’ve designed using LaCantina Doors. All architects, interior designers, home builders, developers, interior architects and residential architects are invited to submit their built projects for a chance to win the following prizes:

• A trip for two to attend New York City’s annual architecture and design month, Archtober
• Special features on LaCantinaDoors.com and Architizer.com
• Publicity across Architizer’s social media network of 4,000,000+ fans (Facebook, Instagram and Twitter)

Trolley House by Beinfield Architecture PC, Norwalk, Connecticut (Grand Prize Winner in 2018)

Last year, Beinfield Architecture PC took home the honor of Best in Show for their stunning project, the Trolley House in Norwalk, Connecticut. The architects cleverly utilized LaCantina’s operable glass doors to perfectly frame hushed views of the Farm Creek estuary and the greater Long Island Sound. The entire east wall of the Trolley House is comprised of LaCantina Doors, drenching the interior in natural light each morning and offering incredible views of the tidal landscape.

Left: Piebald Ranch by Craig McMahon Architect, Inc., George West, Texas (Best Rural Residential project in 2018), right: Corner Pocket House by Edward Ogosta Architecture, Manhattan Beach, California (Best Suburban Residential project in 2018)

Further awards in the 2018 competition went to Craig McMahon Architects, Inc. (Best Rural Residential), Edward Ogosta Architecture (Best Suburban Residential), Rossington Architecture (Best Urban Residential), Jeffrey Miller (Best Compact), Studio 222 Architects, LLC (Best Commercial) and Dean Homes (Most Innovative).

This year, we excitedly anticipating even more beautiful projects, showcasing what architects can do with LaCantina Doors’ wide range of architectural products.

The competition is officially open for entries as of today. Submit your entries by August 20, and our expert panel of judges will choose a winner by September 17 with a grand announcement here on Architizer. Good luck to all who enter!

Register for the Best of LaCantina Competition

The post Call for Entries: Submit Your Projects for the 2019 Best of LaCantina Competition appeared first on Journal.

David Staczek is a principal at ZGF. Staczek’s 26 years of design experience have focused on healthcare facilities while being informed by a broad portfolio of work, from office buildings and financial institutions, to pedestrian bridges and multimodal centers.

Is bad architecture harmful to our health?

This is a rather big and bold question. In order to answer, we first need to agree that architecture, planning and design have power.

Architecture, planning and design have the power to impact our mood, affect patient outcomes in medical facilities, enhance or detract from our performance and focus, and move the needle on the bottom line.

Now that we all agree that design and architecture can impact how we live, let’s dive deeper into the ways – good and bad – that it affects our health.

Let’s begin with a quick primer of what qualifies as good architecture and good design. Good architecture or design successfully incorporates elements of urban planning, landscape design, sustainable design, interior design and environmental graphics. Good architecture and design give us positive distractions. Roman architect Vitruvius, in his treatise on architecture, told us that buildings “should delight people and raise their spirits.” Recall where you were when you first experienced a space that moved you, whether it was Frank Lloyd Wright’s iconic Fallingwater House or the Eiffel Tower. You likely experienced a moment of discovery and surprise. That is good design.

Without positive distraction, variety, and a harmonious blending of the elements of good architecture, buildings and structures will start slipping into the “bad architecture zone.” The “bad architecture zone” is not a place we want anyone to go to, yet we see and experience examples all around us.

Here, we need to define what constitutes “bad architecture.” Is a space doing harm? If so, we should determine if the design is directly or indirectly causing the harm. Directly harmful architecture is a category of its own with examples scattered across the globe, from buildings that melt cars with a “death ray” caused by reflective glass to unsound planning that collapses on occupants.

London’s Walkie Talkie building, left; AP Photo/Frank Augstein

I want to focus on architecture and design that causes harm indirectly. The indirect effects of poor design are by far the most common. We can all probably recall a building that evokes feelings of discomfort or disorientation, even if we can’t put our finger on why. There are spaces that force procrastination and outright contempt. Think about how you avoid certain paths when driving through town because of traffic or potholes. We tend to do the same things to avoid poorly designed spaces – think dark alleys, basement offices or our least favorite conference rooms.

Bad architecture can cause literal and figurative headaches. One way is through the introduction of stressful visual landscapes. Dead-end corridors, low ceilings, lack of windows and restricted access to views can lead to disorientation. These design elements can leave occupants asking stress-inducing questions like, ‘where is the front door?’ and ‘how do I get out of here?’

Blind corners and poor lighting conditions (both too bright or too dark) can throw off the body’s natural circadian rhythms, impacting everything from healing in a healthcare environment to productivity in the workplace. When spaces, places and buildings are unpleasant and we dread, or even avoid going there, it can cause our health to deteriorate. We may abandon trips to the doctor, dentist, therapist, gym or other health-related visits if they are an in an unpleasant environment.

Arizona Cancer Center by ZGF Architects: Scale, proportion balance, natural materials, contrast and balance. Tom Harris © Hedrich Blessing Photographers

As designers and architects, how can we fix this? How can we change the conversation to explore how good architecture make us healthier?

I’d like to suggest a Hippocratic oath for design, where one of the first design criteria for every project would be to do no harm to the existing context and surrounding area. If our clients or the brief don’t specifically mention these aspirations, then as designers it is our role to adhere to the oath and aspire for every project to impact the surrounding context in a positive way by responding to the sites scale, materiality, texture and orientation.

Some key characteristics of this oath include:

• Aesthetics: Seek balanced compositions of natural patterns and geometrical proportions. Combine with elements of surprise and delight that can reduce stress and lower heart rate and blood pressure.
• Planning: Consider how the functional layout of spaces can have a positive effect on our health. Design visible and inviting stairs, plan for windows and daylight at the end of corridors for orientation and connection to the rhythms of the day and seasons. Plan buildings and campuses to have safe and inviting pedestrian circulation paths to and from parking areas or mass transit stations to promote more walking.
• Interior Design: Design spaces with a balance of calming simple surfaces and areas of visual interest. Introduce positive distractions including connections to nature, art and comforting materials.
• Discovery and Delight: Ensure design and planning that leads users through the building with spatial clues and architectural wayfinding, not signs.
• Technology: Consider how multi-media display walls, VR, AR and sound controls play a role in personalizing spaces to create a sense of ownership and control. This can lead to a calm and happy occupant.
• Construction: Practice good detailing and smart material selection can eliminate leaks, mold growth, drafts and off gassing resulting in healthier buildings. Following through with these details during construction is just as important.

The best and most promising aspect of these oaths is that we can apply them to all design, everywhere, at any scale. Whether we are leading adaptive reuse projects for suburban shopping malls, transforming car factories, or redesigning a local restaurant, every space matters. Good design practices can increase our quality of life.

Federal Center South by ZGF Architects Fed center south: Natural materials, visible stairs, natural daylight, contrast and balance. © Benjamin Benschneider

We know intuitively (and through plenty of research) that bad architecture and bad design can negatively affect us mentally and physically. That’s why we need to focus our collective talents on the opposite equation – good design that make us healthier! We must design buildings and spaces with connections to nature, balanced compositions, natural proportions and thoughtful planning that promotes a healthy lifestyle.

We must provide views, access to outdoor spaces, visible and open stairs, and environments and materials that clean and filter the air. Further, we need to design comfortable environments with the ability to flex and adapt to lighting conditions, weather and the changing of the seasons. It’s through this approach – to do no harm – that we can raise the collective design bar.

The post Is Bad Architecture Harmful to Our Health? appeared first on Journal.

Send us a drawing, tell us a story, win $2,500! Call for entries begins June 10th. Enter the One Drawing Challenge today — the early entry deadline is midnight on June 28th.

“The pencil and computer are, if left to their own devices, equally dumb and only as good as the person driving them.”

Sir Norman Foster’s classic quote is as true now as ever. Great drawings are born from creative ideas, rather than the tools used to create them. That said, high quality tools — both digital and analog — are undeniably essential in bringing a great idea to life. Whether looking to render the perfect shot with Photoshop, set the scene with watercolors, or simply sketch out an idea in pen, these tools are vital in communicating architectural visions to our clients, professors or a wider audience.

Architizer’s One Drawing Challenge — a summer drawing competition with prizes valued at more than $5,000 — challenges entrants to tell a story with a single drawing. As such, the drawing tools used will be a key factor for entrants in deciding how best to create their submission. Drawing tools are not created equal — some tools are best suited for particular methods and techniques, and in turn, help establish a more coherent picture of our concept.

Rounding up some tools of the trade, the following products are designed to bring drawings to life. Featuring a range of tools for measuring, ideation and technical execution, the products each provide a different means by which to realize an idea. Sidestepping the plethora of digital software available, these focus on tools for drawings and design work. No singular tool can accomplish everything, so combine tools and processes to create the perfect illustration for your project.

Digital Tools

Procreate
Best digital illustration app for architects

This multi‑award winning creative application gives you the power to create beautiful sketches, inspiring paintings, and stunning illustrations wherever you are. With Procreate, say the makers, “the world is your studio”. Behind an easy-to-use, intuitive interface lies a professional drawing with a wide range of functionality for designers. The app allows you to export layers in PDF, PNG and GIF formats, and boasts full PSD support for masks, blend modes and groups. The most recent iteration of the app includes seven new blend modes and more than 130 handcrafted brushes to provide you with hug amounts of versatility.

See more and buy

Apple iPad Pro
Best drawing tablet for architects

What pairs perfectly with Procreate? The iPad Pro. The iPad isn’t a dedicated drawing tablet, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be used that way. The new 12.9″ iPad Pro features an advanced, edge-to-edge Liquid Retina display, and face ID means you can securely unlock iPad Pro, log in to apps and pay with just a glance. The A12X Bionic chip is faster than many PC laptops and easily runs pro apps, and the latest iPad features “all-day” battery life. Over a million apps are now available on the App Store, including augmented reality experiences. The Smart Keyboard Folio can help you be even more creative and productive.

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Apple Pencil 2; image via Apple

Apple Pencil 2
Best drawing stylus for architects

There are a plethora of tablets and styluses now available for designers, but nothing beats the Apple Pencil 2 when it comes to responsiveness and functionality. The new Pencil attaches magnetically with a satisfying snap onto the side of your iPad Pro, and once attached, it pairs and charges wirelessly. According to the tech giant, the Apple Pencil 2 is the best tool to achieve pixel‑perfect precision in a digital environment. You simply press harder for thicker lines, lighter for thinner ones, and create shading simply by tilting your stylus — all with virtually no lag between what you draw and what you see. The latest version also allows you to change between tools, like a pencil to an eraser, with a simple double-tap.

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Digital drawing glove
Best accessory for digital artists

While Apple boasts that its iPad will not leave you tearing your hair out as your resting hand leaves a mark on your drawing, users of some other (cheaper) tablets suffer from this problem. There’s a “handy” solution though: A drawing tablet glove covers just two fingers and is specially designed for artists who use graphic tablets and light boxes for their creative work. Made of high elastic lycra fibre, this particular glove features great air permeability and strong tensile resistance, effectively improving the work efficiency. It reduces the friction between your hand and the tablet surface, providing you with greater comfort when drawing on a tablet for long periods.

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Analog Tools

Sakura Pigma Micron Pens; image via Sakura

Sakura Pigma Micron Pens
Best ink pens for architects

Architects and artists alike reach for Pigma Micron pens to convey their personal drawing style, and to safeguard their work with the lasting quality of Pigma ink, invented by Sakura over 25 years ago. Pigma Micron pens come in seven point sizes, making them ideal for any application requiring precision and permanence. Unlike dye-based ink found in most pens and markers, Pigma ink will not feather or bleed, even through the thinnest paper. Pigma ink is derived from a single pigment to ensure color consistency, is fade-proof against sunlight or UV light, and will not clog or dry out like most mechanical pens.

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Copic marker sketch; image via ArtStation

Copic Markers
Best marker pens for architects

Copic makes one of the highest quality alcohol markers in the world. Developed for — and widely adopted by — the Japanese manga industry, Copic markers are ideal for all styles of architectural sketching, art, design, illustration and crafts. Durable, refillable and featuring replaceable nibs, you only need to buy a Copic marker once. Copic ink applies smoothly, with the unique, flexible brush allowing for smooth blends and a paint-like application.. The alcohol based ink dries acid free and does not destroy paper fibers the way water based inks do. Also, the open time on uncoated papers is limitless, so you can go back and re-wet the ink years later.

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Pentel Sign Pen

Pentel Sign Pen
Best sketching pen for architects

Felt tip pens are the go-to tool for speed sketching in many architecture and design firms. Perfect for general writing, drawing, doodling and adding character to a signature, the sign pen uses a bright & intense water-based ink and comes with a snap-fit cap that prevents the tip from drying out when not in use. Lately, these pens have been made as part of Pentel’s Recycology line of products and are made of 80% recycled plastic. These are great for sketching and marking up, and they have great strength and flow while allowing for different line sizes to be drawn.

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Beginner’s Drafting Architects’ Kit; image via Alvin

Beginner’s Drafting Architects’ Kit
Best basic drafting set for architects

If you’re brand new to drawing (or drawing like an architect), you can start with a tool like this drafting kit from Alvin. It comes with a 7×5 inch sketch pad, several rulers, mechanical pencil and lead, compass, eraser, stencil, and a carrying case. All pieces are standard sized and standard grade. This is truly a combination of tools that can be used as a great way for beginners to start drawing. You can eliminate guesswork, save time, and work with consistent equipment. Also, the replacement of missing or broken items is easy because they are standard stock.

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Alvin Trace Paper

Alvin Trace Paper
Best value trace paper for architects

Trace paper is used by many architects on a daily basis when designing and sketching by hand — Bob Borson of Life of an Architect swears by it. It’s very useful to be able to overlay plans, sections and elevational compositions on top of each other. Trace paper is great for detail or rough sketch work. The type of paper can vary, but most accept pencil, ink and charcoal, as well as felt tip markers without bleed through. High transparency permits several overlays while retaining legibility.

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Moleskin Sktechbook

Moleskin Sketchbook
Best sketchbook for architects

Moleskins are prolific in architecture, and for good reason. The Classic Collection notebooks feature rounded corners, ivory-colored pages, an elastic closure and a bookmark ribbon. The expandable back pocket makes space for cards, tickets and other ideas you have. They also come in many styles, from lined to unlined, dotted to graph paper, as well as hardcover or softcover. You can sketch, take notes and let your ideas flow through a sturdy, well made book.

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Arteza Triangular Architect Scale

Arteza Scale Rule
Best aluminum scale rule for architects

An architect’s scale typically has three sides, with each side displaying two different scales. These are the six scales most commonly used for architectural drawings. The Arteza Triangular Architect Scale provides three different color grooves so you can quickly and accurately select the desired scale. It’s made from anodized aluminum for a lightweight and durable feel. For technical drawings and accuracy, be sure to note whether you’re in metric or imperial scales.

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Architectural Graphics by Francis Ching

Architectural Graphics by Francis Ching
Best architectural graphics book for architects

Francis Ching’s books have become a staple of architecture schools and firms. The guides are known for describing architectural techniques and methods. This one in particular lays out architectural graphics and hand drawn techniques. The guide offers a comprehensive introduction to using graphic tools and drafting conventions to translate architectural ideas into effective visual presentations, using hundreds of the author’s distinctive drawings to illustrate the topic effectively. It includes explanations of line weights, scale and dimensioning, and perspective drawing to clarify concepts. Architectural graphics are key tools for conveying design through representation on paper or on screen, and this book is one of the ultimate guides.

See more and buy

Now show us what you can do: Register for the One Drawing Challenge and submit your best architectural drawing for a chance to win $2,500!

Register for the One Drawing Challenge

All photographs courtesy of the manufacturers.

The post Young Architect Guide: 12 Essential Drawing Tools for Architects appeared first on Journal.

Architizer was founded on the premise that architecture is for everyone — look no further than Marc Kushner’s TED Talk and book for proof. The A+Awards perfectly encapsulates this mission to break architecture out of its echo chamber. Now in its seventh edition, the program has gotten bigger and better every year, and forms the definitive benchmark for exceptional architectural design around the globe. One of the reasons for its success is the democratic nature of the voting process — and that’s where you come in.

We’re thrilled to present the finalists for the 2019 A+Awards — and announce that the public voting period is now open!

Cast Your Votes Now

Not only is the voting period a way for you to see tons of amazing architecture, but you actually have a say in which architects will take home the prestigious awards! Cast your votes using our free and easy-to-use online ballot, and make sure to run through every category to make your voice heard across the board. Don’t forget to tell your fellow architecture fans to vote too — or better yet, rally your non-architect friends and give them a crash course in what it’s all about!

Here’s a sneak peek of just a few of this year’s finalists…

ZOID House by LEVENBETTS; shortlisted in the Private House (M 1000-3000 sq ft) category

KnitCandela by Zaha Hadid Architcts; shortlisted in the Architecture +Color category

Punchbowl Mosque by Candalepas Associates; shortlisted in the Religious Buildings category

Tiny Tower by ISA; shortlisted in the Private House (S <1000 sq ft) category

Arc by Koichi Takada Architects; shortlisted in the Architecture +Brick category; photo by Tom Ferguson

Hawthorn House by Edition Office; shortlisted in the Architecture +Concrete category; rendering by Raw 3D Rendering

It’s a point that we’ve championed time and again — your opinion is as valid as that of any critic, and now more than ever, the everyday users of buildings need to be heard.

“Professional critics are still wrestling with the issue of how architectural communication has shifted from a one-way street to a multi directional conversation,” said Marc Kushner when the A+Awards Popular Choice Awards first launched back in 2013. “In fact, it is cute to see them struggle with how social media has completely changed the game. Architizer is not going to wait until critics invent a theory to invite the public to be a part of architecture. We are throwing the gates open today, opening public voting for our A+ Award finalists.”

Six years later, while many critics are still struggling to communicate with the wider public, Architizer’s public voting is back to cut through the noise and tell us what really matters — which buildings (and architects) are best addressing the wants and needs of the global populous in 2019?

Help us answer that question by voting this year. We can’t wait to see your choices!

Check out just a few of the hundreds of finalists below, and vote by July 5th to make your voice heard!

Cast Your Votes Now

Top image: V&A Dundee by Kengo Kuma Associates; shortlisted in the Cultural – Museum category.

The post 2019 A+Awards: Cast Your Vote for the World’s Best Architecture! appeared first on Journal.

The public voting period for the 7th Annual A+Awards ends this Friday, July 5th 2019 — this is your final call! Cast your votes using our free and easy-to-use online ballot:

Cast Your Votes Now

Architizer’s A+Awards grew out of a simple yet firm belief that architecture is for everyone, on both sides of the building equation. On the one hand, we believe in celebrating the tireless work of architects who create remarkable spaces for diverse users. On the other, and perhaps most crucially today, we believe in the idea that every single person must have the equal power to identify what an amazing building looks like, inside and out.

Greenwich Peninsula Low Carbon Energy Centre by C.F. Møller Architects, London, United Kingdon — shortlisted in the Architecture + Art Category

Harkening back to Jane Jacobs and the likes, many of the world’s greatest city-builders and architects have operated under the critical belief that those who understand their city best are the people who live, work and play within them. Call it on-the-ground knowledge, experiential knowledge or really whatever you want; the most important thing to remember is that you (yes, you!) are an expert on architecture. You’re well-seasoned after all — Americans, for example, spend an average of 85% of their days inside buildings.

Thailand Creative and Design Center (TCDC) by Department of ARCHITECTURE, Bangkok, Thailand — shortlisted in the Architecture + Furniture category

While these ideas are hardly new and have been percolating for decades, other prominent architecture awards such as the Pritzker Prize fail to hold these tenets true. By trapping voting power within the hands of the elite and rarefied few, they not only collapse any concept of a democratic vote, but also ignore the fact that architecture is shared by everyone. Only through the dynamism of shared usage do buildings truly come to life.

“I see no way in which we can, in good conscience, think of the Pritzker as being anything but a detriment to the profession,” wrote Kazys Varnelis, director of the Network Architecture Lab at the Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. “Indeed, the entire notion of the Pritzker Prize is testament to the misguided fallacy of architecture as the work of solitary geniuses, ignoring that it is almost inevitably a team product.”

Luminous Drapes by Studio Toggle Architects, Kuwait City, Kuwait — shortlisted in the Pop-Ups & Temporary category

As Architizer continues to occupy a space in which democracy truly matters, we ask you to take this opportunity to cast your ballot. Every single vote holds equal weight, so as you select your favorite project in each category of this year’s incredible shortlist, remember that your voice will be heard just as loudly as anyone else’s. You don’t need to be a Pritzker juror to be inspired by vibrant designs, brilliant spaces and the imaginative people behind them.

With categories that include both built and unbuilt architecture, as well as today’s most cutting edge building products, we can not only collectively celebrate the world as it exists today, but also its future potential. 

LEGO House by BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Billund, Denmark — shortlisted in the Architecture + Branding category

Currently in its exciting 7th season, public voting for Architizer’s A+Awards is now open and so, the fate of architects around the world is officially in your hands! Go to our free, simple-to-use online ballot where you will be inspired by today’s very best architecture and vote for your favorite building in each category. Better yet, tell everyone you know to do the same this week.

The more votes cast, the closer we can get to a true reflection of what great design looks like today! Architizer’s A+Awards virtual ballot box is open until midnight on July 5th. 

Cast Your Votes Now

Header Image: X HOUSE by Monk Mackenzie — shortlisted in the Unbuilt – Private House (L>3000 sq ft) category

The post 2019 A+Awards: Why Your Vote Matters to Architects Everywhere appeared first on Journal.

Architects: Showcase your work and find the perfect materials for your next project through Architizer. Manufacturers: To connect with the world’s largest architecture firms, sign up now.

Every country has a story to tell. In Portugal, architecture and culture come together in a range of monumental and iconic buildings. Although many Portuguese towns and cities are characterized by well-preserved, historic architecture, contemporary architects are using modern ideas to advance traditional design methods and techniques. When traveling through its many cities and towns, visitors can capture a glimpse of how context, design culture and innovation create new concepts and spaces.

Exploring Portugal’s architecture through the lens of modernism, the following projects showcase a small sample of the incredible building projects across the country. Incorporating diverse programs, scales and environmental conditions, they challenge notions of pragmatism in private and public spaces alike. Designed with an intentional relationship to site, these projects rethink ornamentation and free-flowing forms through detailing and structural innovation. Made with expansive volumes and surfaces, they are made to orient and expand spatial boundaries while centering on people and culture through a modernist lens.

Monção Houses by JPLoureiro, Arquitecto, Lda, Monção, Portugal

These two houses by the bank of the River Minho were created for a father and son. They are joined together by a large, pre-stressed concrete flagstone. The strong horizontal gesture begins to frame different landscape conditions and shape both the circulation and views on site. At the core of the project is  an ellipsis and circle made to leave space for a sculpture or new growth. As a conciliation between modern technologies of building and more traditional construction in this area, the project balances the horizontality of the pre-stressed concrete with blocks of stone that create walls in the landscape. The shape and the tectonics of the building establish a connection with the place, transforming it into a part of the landscape.

Braamcamp Freire Secondary School by CVDB arquitectos, Pontinha, Portugal

A secondary school located in Pontinha’s urban fabric, Braamcamp Freire is a rehabilitation project of an existing school built in 1986. The new design was created to reorganize spaces, articulate different functional areas and open the school up to the community. A combination of in situ and prefabricated concrete elements make up the façade and respond to solar orientation. The Braamcamp Freire Secondary School is located at the edge of the historical centre of Pontinha, Lisbon. The rehabilitation project of the building was part of the Portuguese “Modernisation of Secondary Schools Programme”, which has been implemented by the Parque Escolar E.P.E. since 2007. The Programme’s objective is to reorganize schools spaces to articulate their different functional areas and to open these schools to their local communities.

Party Hall by José Marini Bragança, Portugal

José Marini Bragança’s Party Hall was designed to provide a strong relationship with its natural surroundings. To minimize its visual impact, the building is raised up from the ground. The glass, its predominant material, blurs the boundaries between interior and exterior spaces. Both the ceiling and the inside floor paving features white coloring that intends to visually frame the landscape. The support bathroom stands as a unique element to destabilize the whole proposal’s serenity, with the red of its inside fittings as a counterpoint to the whole building white color.

Centro de Artes Nadir Afonso by Louise Braverman Architect, Boticas, Portugal

The Centro de Artes Nadir Afonso literally and figuratively breaks new ground in its northern Portuguese town of Boticas. The new 20,000-square-foot sustainable museum displays 80 works created by the renowned living Portuguese artist, Nadir Afonso, who early in his career practiced architecture with Le Corbusier and Oscar Niemeyer. Intertwined with the urban development of Boticas, the museum is sited to create a cultural extension of this medieval hill town. Merging landscape and architecture, the new sustainable building is divided into two distinct but connected parts. The urbane cultural structure across the street from the newly built municipal building speaks to the future of Boticas, while a green-roofed park covered, below-grade, exhibition hall facing the adjacent rolling hills connects to its pastoral legacy.

Platform of Arts and Creativity by Pitagoras Arquitectos, Guimarães, Portugal

The buildings that make up the Municipal Market and the space defined by them, commonly referred to as “the square”, are very close to the Toural Square and the city’s historic center. With this project, the transformation of the marketplace was made into a multifunctional space dedicated to artistic, economic, cultural and social activities within the scope of European Capital of Culture 2012. The project allowed for the physical and functional reintegration into the urban fabric and the regeneration of the interior space of the block. The whole structure was designed to complement the existing spaces in the city, as well as those which are under development within the European Capital of Culture. When interpreting the program, the team aimed to allow for the possibility of each components to function independently and simultaneously, creating access to each of the various services and support areas, as well as to the outdoor square and garden.

Longroiva Hotel Rural by Rebelo de Andrade, Mêda, Guarda, Portugal

Longroiva’s Hotel & Thermal Spa is located in the county of Mêda, northeast Portugal, next to Longroiva’s Thermal Spa. The old building of the Thermal Spa, which is dates back to the late XIX century, was rehabilitated to house 17 rooms on the upper floors, and social areas on the ground floor. This building is connected to the new volumes through a walking path, which connects the upper floor of the old building to the new modules of rooms. These volumes flow into the swimming pool area, which bridges the new hotel unit and the existing thermal spa. Above the level of the rooms, there are service areas and ten bungalows, divided into two groups, separated by a stone mass. This strong visual relationship with the landscape is also present in the careful choice of materials and colors, invoking the vegetation of the area and the local building materials.

Palácio Igreja Velha by VISIOARQ – ARQUITECTOS, Vermoim, Portugal

Built in 1881, in Vermoim – Vila Nova de Famalicão, the Igreja Velha Palace was for many decades the mansion of an important farm. With the introduction of many additions that deprived the complex of its features, this project came across many challenges regarding its constructive and functional aspects. The expansion, with a new volume built to host events, is made to be complementary to the use of the palace. The preservation in the local cultural landscape was possible due to a demanding recovery criteria when integrating the new volume. The old/new counterpoint asserted itself through the mixture between local and more modern materials and original constucion processes, maintaining a harmony with the landscape. The COR-TEN steel that covers much of the building, the granite, the wood and the concrete embody the concept inspired in the old local granaries.

MAAT by AL_A, Lisbon, Portugal

The Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (MAAT) was designed to explore contemporary culture through visual arts, new media, architecture, technology and science. MAAT was made to be the focal point of the EDP Foundation Campus site on the River Tagus in the district of Belém, at the heart of an urban revitalisation along one of Lisbon’s most historic waterfronts. Housed within two buildings on a 3.8 hectare site, MAAT comprises the new kunsthalle structure and the recently renovated Central Tejo power station. Blending structure into landscape, the kunsthalle is designed to allow visitors to walk over, under as well as through the building. The kunsthalle contains four distinct gallery spaces that sit beneath an undulating roof, which has been conceived to create significant new public spaces on the roof and along the waterfront.

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The post Travel Guide: Rethinking Modernism in Portugal appeared first on Journal.

Send us a drawing. Tell us a story. Win $2,500 and an iPad Pro! Register for the One Drawing Challenge today — the final entry deadline is August 9th.

Architectural drawings are a means of visualizing a concept. They bring ideas to life conveying the details, aesthetics, and philosophies behind potential projects. Whether or not they materialize, these drawings can be works of art in themselves showcasing the innovative, unique, and ambitious minds of their designers. The intricacies and meticulous attention to detail allows for clearer imaginings that can inspire and provide deeper insight into spaces and their purposes.

The One Drawing Challenge encapsulates the powerful potential of drawings to tell stories about architecture. In partnership will the makers of digital illustration app Procreate, we’re offering $2,500, an iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, Procreate software and more to the top winners of this exciting summer competition — click here for more details.

To inspire your entry for the contest, check out the following drawings, each of which possesses a monumental scale and level of detail to match the big ideas they portray. The following 5 drawings mend these qualities and are significant in challenging convention. Their artistic allure is coupled with a size and intricacy that make each illustration hard to forget!

The Mile High Illinois by Frank Lloyd Wright; images via the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation

The Mile High Illinois by Frank Lloyd Wright, 1956

In October 1956 at a press conference in downtown Chicago, Frank Llyod Wright unveiled a design for his most ambitious and outlandish project. Named, The Mile High Illinois or simply The Illinois, it was a plan for a skyscraper over 1-mile high containing 528 stories with an occupancy of 100,000 people and space for parking 15,000 cars and 100 helicopters. To put that into perspective, that is four times taller than the Empire State Building and double the height of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa.

The colossal structure was Wright’s solution to remedy the “agony” densely populated cities faced due to overcrowding and congestion. It would function to free up space by consolidating all government offices that were scattered across Chicago. He presented his plan with an enormous 22-foot tall sketch of the building. In the end, constructing the superstructure was technically infeasible, and it was never realized. However, the breathtaking idea alone is an achievement gathering much fascination and recognition in museum exhibitions of Wright’s work.

The Happiness Machine by Mark Lascelles Thornton, Image via Mark Lascelles Thornton

The Happiness Machine by Mark Lascelles Thornton, 2014

It took three years for London-based artist, Mark Lascelles Thornton, to complete his massive and thoroughly detailed piece entitled, The Happiness Project. It illustrates a birds eye view of a city where buildings are replaced by grocery store aisles and city dwellers are simply its consumers. The background brims with the world’s most iconic skyscrapers, including the Willis Tower, Taipei 101, and the Petronas Twin Towers, to name a few.

Thornton created the artwork in response to the global financial crisis, in which it focuses on themes of consumerism, socio-economics, globalism, resource availability, urbanism, and architecture. It serves as a critique of the modern way of living that is blighted by unsustainable and detached attitudes and practices. What’s most visually striking is the drawing’s red and monochrome color scheme, which represents the spatial and socioeconomic dichotomy between the advantaged and disadvantaged.

Section through Kowloon Walled City from Kowloon large illustrated, Image via Colossal

Detail of Kowloon Walled City section drawing

Section through Kowloon Walled City from Kowloon large illustrated, 1997 

The Kowloon Walled City was the most densely populated settlement in the world with a population of 50,000 residents within a space of 6.4 acres, at its height. It was constructed without a single architect or urban planner, and over time buildings upon buildings were piled atop one another culminating into the dense, informal, and chaotic dwelling that remains infamous to this day.

The city was a haven for drugs, crime and prostitution, leading to its demolition in 1993. In the days leading up to the walled city’s destruction, a group of Japanese researchers documented and measured the vacated district. Their findings were compiled into a book, which featured the above panoramic cross section of the city illustrating what life was like within.

Cosmoglyph by Benjamin Sack, Image via Benjamin Sack

Cosmoglyph by Benjamin Sack, 2015

When examining the work of artist, Benjamin Sack, it’s easy to get lost and even overwhelmed by the seemingly infinite expanse of pen and ink details. His illustrations depict massive, imaginary cityscapes often portrayed in map-like projections. Viewed in this way, the clusters of skyscrapers, superstructures, bridges, and domes culminate in a mosaic-like fashion creating a different, holistic perspective.

This is evident in Sack’s, Cosmoglyph, piece, which from close seems like a chaotic and contorted city, however, from afar one sees two human figures in an almost biblical pose surrounded by connected circles or stars. Sack’s work tells varying stories depending on perspective. It’s dramatic and intense, yet its patterns simultaneously come together to provide a single form. You can explore more of his work in his portfolio. 

Highrise of Homes, project (Exterior perspective) by James Wines, Image via MoMA

Highrise of Homes by James Wines, 1981

The Highrise of Homes is a theoretical project by SITE (Sculpture in The Environment) architectural group. This rendering was created by founding member, James Wines, in 1981. The concept is described as a multi-story matrix that can accommodate a vertical community of private houses, which are clustered into village-like communities on each floor.

Each residential lot within the structure would a garden in the style chosen by the purchaser in order to merge the advantages of urban and suburban life. The project also allows for an informal urban environment that promotes autonomy and cultural diversity created by the residents.

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The post Big Ideas: Feast Your Eyes on the World’s Most Epic Architectural Drawings appeared first on Journal.

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Moroccan architecture builds upon history. Between welcoming riad homes, ornate mosques, and Moorish palaces, the country’s modern architecture reinterprets its context. While many current projects in the kingdom are renovations of earlier historic buildings and structures, firms are beginning to create new concepts and ground-up proposals. These showcase the kingdom’s experimental spirit. Located across a range of alluring landscapes, including fertile plains, deserts, and mountains, Morocco’s modern architecture is emerging in diverse new ways.

Bringing together contemporary designs from around the country, this collection examines new buildings across programmatic, environmental, and contextual conditions. The varied formal approaches to architecture are compared through projects both large and small. Geometric patterns, bright colors, and traditional vernacular construction methods are reinvented to explore spatial experience. The projects also creatively reinterpret material organizations like those found in the ancient brick Kasbahs and villages. While seemingly enigmatic in nature, Moroccan architecture has emerged as a compelling and energetic statement on modern practice.

Volubilis Visitor Center by OUALALOU+CHOI (formerly KILO), Meknes, Morocco

Located on a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Volubilis visitor center was designed as a narrow footprint on the perimeter of an ancient territory. Set within the most visited archaeological site in the Kingdom of Morocco, this project seeks to enhance the historical and symbolic significance of this unique UNESCO World Heritage site.  In order to highlight the dramatic visual impact of the antique ruins upon entry to the site, the volume of the museum is embedded into the hillside so that visitors do not initially perceive its presence. The building consists of a succession of wooden volumes along an extended retaining wall, simultaneously buried and suspended in relationship to the rolling landscape.

Laayoune Technology School by El Kabbaj Kettani Siana Architects, Morocco

The Laayoune Technology School in Morocco is part of the decentralization policy of universities in different regions of the country. The program includes teaching spaces(classrooms, workshops, amphitheater), library, administrative offices, teacher’s offices and services (maintenance spaces, staff accommodation etc.). The various buildings are fragmented to allow maximum natural ventilation and lighting and are connected by a set of external paths, squares, covered squares, and mineral gardens to create a sense of urbanity. The architectural vocabulary is solid, geometric and plays with the contrast-ocher-exterior and interior light. Different sun protection devices are used: brise-soleil, double skin, and protected walkways. The materials used are minimized to emphasize abstraction and coherence of the design while meeting the need for sustainability and easy maintenance.

Lily’s Restaurant by Yachar Bouhaya Architect, Casablanca, Morocco

Facing the Atlantic Ocean, the formerly known Restaurant La Mer has always been regarded as one of the leading gastronomic institutions in Casablanca. This project is a mutation that takes this once mythical place into a high end Asian cuisine place rebranded LILY’S cuisine. The reconversion of the restaurant was carried out as a narrative. The entrance is an emerald moongate , then you cross a winding path leading to the reception desk over a wooden floor where the architecture mixes landscape and water ponds. Lily’s is spread over three plateaus like paddy fields down to the sea, each elevation and roof connecting with water, vegetation and sky in a wooded, warm and mineral space. A radical redevelopment of this space was conceived in such a way as to cross the vegetation with the views towards the sky and the ocean.

Technology School of Guelmim by El Kabbaj Kettani Siana Architects, Guelmim, Morocco

The Technology School of Guelmim is part of the development policy of academic institutions in the southern regions of Morocco. The project consists of an amphitheater, classrooms, workshops, laboratories, administration, library, teacher’s offices and office staff housing. The architecture was inspired by its context. The architecture is large, powerful and plays with the contrast between interior and exterior. The various buildings are organized along a north-south axis through a partly covered path, and are organized on L-forms or indoor gardens. Similarly, a reflection on the thermal quality resulted in a working orientation and the protection of openings with vegetation cover. The project assumes a certain theatricality, a certain gravitas that meets the solemnity inherent to educational institutions.

Villa Agava by Driss Kettani Architect, Casablanca, Morocco

This house is sited on a north-south oriented plot and features a blind façade on the street while being largely open on the side and the back with the south oriented garden. The plan’s “silhouette” follows a series of conceptual and urban design rules. The north orientation on the street and the presence of existing high enclosure walls were an opportunity to revisit some of the traditional house codes, while maintaining at the same time transparency and spatial fluidity. A chicane entrance, highlighted by a set of black and gray-blue traditional tiles walls emphasizes this duality and reinforces the contrast between privacy and discretion on the street and openness and transparency of the pool and the garden. This principle is affirmed through three landscape sequences, the mineral garden at the entrance, the aquatic sequence on the lateral side and the vegetal garden on the south, which in combination with the enclosure walls reinterpret the courtyard typology.

Co-Habitation by OUALALOU+CHOI (formerly KILO), Marrakesh, Morocco

As experimental houses within a communal farm, this project proposes alternative modes of domesticity and co-habitation, both within the home and between homes. When faced with the challenge of placing two houses on the site in such a way as to maximize privacy while democratizing access to the view, the team’s strategy was to place two linear houses along a single line.  The two houses are sited along the same line and each house disappears from the visual sight line of the other. Each house is one room wide and sixty meters long. The center of the project is the guest quarters of the two houses. In each house, all the spaces benefit from a double orientation to the two different orchards and interior and exterior spaces that flow into each other.

Restaurant Le Cabestan by Yachar Bouhaya Architect, Casablanca, Morocco

The Cabestan is a restaurant based in Casablanca, which was created in 1927. Since then, it has always been perceived as one of the best restaurants located on the shoreline of the city and best known for its spectacular oceanfront view Atlantic. Ninety years later, it has been redesigned in the brewery style while respecting its heritage.The Ocean View Cabestan has been refurbished based on bringing guests closer to this beautiful site by opening the roof to the sky and to green walls. All spaces connect to the sea, vegetation and sky. The materials have been carefully chosen to refurbish this space: Art deco wall paper patterns and floral plaster ceiling details, lower black Khenifra marble wall portion in relation to the warm dark oak flooring and small floor hexagons of porcelain stoneware.

Taroudant University by El Kabbaj Kettani Siana Architects, Taroudant, Morocco

As a secular town with a strong cultural identity, Taroudant’s architectural style is an expression of the deep Moroccan South. The Polydisciplinar Faculty of Taroudant is an attempt to reinterpret that heritage through a building that carries a vision for the future. The project draws its inspiration from the land. The faculty are organized around a central riad (interior garden) on the north-south axis whose northern boundary is a garden of trees, giving the user an unmatched view over the Atlas mountains. The scale of the riad is blurred and diluted by a set of plots of various sizes, and a series of gardens that define different buildings.

Wall of Knowledge by Tarik Zoubdi Architect, El Jadida, Morocco

The “Wall of knowledge” is a middle school in the city of El Jadida. The school was built for the OCP employees’ children. The irregular shape of the site and its orientation to the sun suggested a spatial distribution of the project in three main areas. The central area is a building reserved for teaching. It occupies the middle of the plot. This strategic position allows it to serve as a landmark for the neighborhood. The northern area includes all sport facilities. The southern area is kept vacant for future school extension. The building is set back, unfolding its facade’s on the ground to create a public plaza, serving as a socialization space. The hermetic and protective character of the facade is meant to be monumental: covered with local stones, it is a tribute to the architecture of the old city of El Jadida.

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The post Desert Blooms: The Contemporary Architecture of Morocco appeared first on Journal.

As millions of people have migrated to cities throughout the past two centuries, the art of master planning emerged as a vital tool for civilization. Many architectural thinkers believed that, by working at a grand scale, they could improve the social and economic fortunes of entire regions, as well as bringing immense cultural richness to the masses. Some governments have performed sweeping transformations on existing cities, while others have chosen to work with a blank slate, conjuring up opulent new cities from scratch.

By definition, drawing a master plan is an ambitious, challenging task that requires the author to envision macro-scale design solutions. As part of this year’s One Drawing Challenge competition, we want you to send us your best master plans from around the world — those that tell a powerful story about a city and its occupants. We’ve partnered with Savage Software Group, the makers of digital illustration app Procreate, to offer 2 top winners the following prizes:

• $2,500 prize money
• iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 256GB)
• Apple Pencil (2nd Generation)
• Procreate software package
• Sakura luxury drawing set
• Copic luxury marker set

The One Drawing Challenge is open for entries with an Final Entry Deadline of August 9th, so register today. As you prepare your drawings for submission, take inspiration from some of the most influential master plans in history. Here’s to thinking big:

Edinburgh New Town by James Craig; image via The Guardian

Edinburgh New Town by James Craig, 1767

Based on the need to improve living conditions for the growing, yet deteriorating, mid-1700s Edinburgh, proposals were put forward with the task of developing and expanding the city. Out of six submissions the design developed by young, inexperienced architect, James Craig, was selected. His plan was simple, spacious, and ordered consisting of large boulevards and broad, solidly constructed buildings. The city became defined by its space, clear views, light, and structure and is now one of the world’s most celebrated urban residential areas.

L’Enfant Plan by Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant; image via Wikipedia

L’Enfant Plan by Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant, 1791

In 1791 French engineer, Major Pierre Charles L’Enfant, designed the plan for the capital city of America for George Washington. With a clean slate and a ten mile square plot of land, L’Enfant crafted an ambitious plan where significant buildings would occupy strategic locations based on the forms of waterways and changes in elevation. Based on European models with American ideals, Washington D.C.’s wide avenues and open spaces communicate equality and inclusion.

Alexandria master plan by Wagner & Debes; image via Rice University

Ancient City of Alexandria by Wagner & Debes, 1885

In existence since 331 BC, Alexandria is most celebratory for being the site of some of the ancient world’s most ingenious and grandiose structures, including the Lighthouse of Alexandria, the Library of Alexandria, and the Musaeum. However, it’s the city’s design that has had the most impactful influence on contemporary, urban life. Designed by architect, Dinocrates of Rhodes, Alexandria was laid out on a grid system that integrated public and private space, the ornament with functionality, and the land and sea. What’s most innovative of Dinocrates’ plan is the construction of a 600 foot wide land bridge, known as the Heptastadion, which extended into the surrounding water.

Garden City by Ebenezer Howard; image via Wikipedia

Garden City by Ebenezer Howard, United Kingdom, 1902

Ebeneezer Howard sought to design an alternative to the polluted and overcrowded industrial cities that were frequent at the turn of the 20th Century. This alternative was the Garden City. Each city would consist of 32,000 residents and would be linked to other like cities by canals and transit. The plan included vast areas of open space in order to provide communities the best of both urban and rural living.

Le Plan Voisin by Le Corbusier; image via Wikipedia

Le Plan Voisin by Le Corbusier, Paris, France, 1925

Le Corbusier’s radical Plan Voisin, proposed in 1925, sought to completely redevelop central Paris. It called for a complete replacement of the then decrepit Marais district with 18 cruciform towers placed on a rectangular grid surrounded by an extensive open, park-like space. Part of the development’s ambition was to integrate it with highways, rail lines, and an airport. Met with strong resistance and skepticism, Le Corbusier’s urban, utopian vision was never realized, however, its innovative conceptualization remains significant.

Chandigarh by Le Corbusier; image via Polis

Chandigarh by Le Corbusier, 1951

Chandigarh was one of post-colonial India’s first planned cities symbolic of the country’s independence and nation building project. It is the capital city of the Indian states of Haryana and Punjab The city was designed by famed architect, Le Corbusier, whose plan resembles the shape of the human body with the “head”, “heart”, and “lungs” representative of the capital, city center, and open green spaces, respectively.

Brasilia by Lúcio Costa; image via dare2go

Brasilia by Lúcio Costa, Brasilia, Brazil, 1957

Planned and developed by Lúcio Costa and Oscar Niemeyer, Brasilia, was constructed to serve as independent Brazil’s new capital. Its was developed based on Brazil’s post-colonial ideals, which entailed the distancing from its former capital of Rio de Janeiro, the dispersal of its largely coastal population, and the aim to provide greater access and progress to the interior of Brazil. The city is noted for its use of modernist architecture and utopian city plan. The physical layout of Brasilia resembles that of a bird or an airplane. This form is shaped by the combination of the city’s Highway Axis, which curves from the north to the southwest, and the Monumental Axis, which runs northwest to southeast. Each axis systematically divides the city into sectors based on specific activities, such as residential, federal, and civic regions. Brasilia was subsequently designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987.

Islamabad Master Plan; image via Seerab

Islamabad Master Plan, 1964

Islamabad was built as a planned city in the 1960s to replace Karachi as the capital of Pakistan. Much like Chandigarh and Brasilia, Islamabad served as a symbol of Pakistan’s departure from its colonial past and a move towards future progression. The city’s master plan was designed by Greek architect Constantinos Apostolou Doxiadis. He divided the city into eight zones, which included, administrative, diplomatic, residential, industrial, educational, commercial, rural, and green sectors. Islamabad’s planning reflects the integration of the natural environment with its urban landscape that is accessible to its entire community.

King Abdullah Economic City; image via Forrester

King Abdullah Economic City, 2005

King Abdullah Economic City or KAEC is a megacity project along the coast of the Red Sea. This is one of four new city projects in Saudi Arabia that serves to help shift the nation’s oil-dependent economy into a more diversified, high skills-based one that attracts competitive investment. KAEC’s development is mostly sourced through private funding, which includes a lot of foreign investment. Therefore, Saudi Arabia’s controversial socio-political environment has deterred investment having direct impacts on the development of its new cities.

Songdo City by Kohn Pedersen Fox; image via KPF

Songdo City by Kohn Pedersen Fox, 2007

Sitting an hour outside of Seoul, Songdo International Business District has been completely built from scratch since its conception in 2001. It is conceptualized as the ultimate smart city and sustainable city that works to merge cutting edge technology with its infrastructure. Songdo aims to mitigate the blights of modern urban life, which can be seen in the over 20 million square feet of LEED-certified space, its use of sensors to monitor energy use, and expansive green spaces.

Now show us what you can do: Take on the One Drawing Challenge and submit your best architectural drawing for a chance to win $2,500!

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The post Architectural Drawings: 10 Master Plans That Transformed How We View Cities appeared first on Journal.

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Architecture is one of the most multidisciplinary fields out there, integrating landscape design, interior design, urban planning, history and philosophy, to name just a few. There is no one way to develop a completely comprehensive architectural education. The good news is, this allows one the freedom to form understanding through a diverse array of educational resources. Offering varying perspectives through varying written formats, architecture-related books are incredibly diverse in nature. The breadth of these books provides value for all learners regardless of expertise. 

Below is a collection of some of the most noteworthy architectural books that have proven to be incredibly useful introductory resources for students and professionals alike. From ideological works from the industry’s most influential individuals to encyclopedic reference books, this list is sure to contain books that will inform, captivate and inspire you:

Towards a New Architecture by Le Corbusier

This book offers a collection of essays by famed architect and city planner Le Corbusier, who expresses his technical and aesthetic theories, views on industry and mass-production, economics, the relation between form and function, and everything in between. Each of these subjects come together to advocate and explore the concept of a then burgeoning modern architecture. Towards a New Architecture is illustrated with over 200 line drawings and photographs of Corbusier’s own work and structures he deemed significant. This piece will prove to be an indispensable source of intrigue and inspiration towards unique ways of approaching architecture.

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101 Things I Learned in Architecture School by Matthew Frederick

As you might have already guessed, this book provides 101 concise lessons in architectural drawing, design, and presentation ranging from the basics of how to draw a line to the complexities of color theory. It is organized in a unique two-page format that contains simple and clear explanations and illustrations. 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School will prove to be a valuable resource and guide for both practicing architects and students, alike.

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Architecture: Form, Space, & Order by Francis D.K. Ching

This updated and revised fourth edition provides a classic introduction to the basic vocabulary of architecture accompanied by information on emerging trends and new developments. It explains form and space in relation to light, view, openings, and enclosures and explores the organization of space. The book is effective in taking complex and abstract design concepts and conveying them in a clear and coherent way. Detailed illustrations help demonstrate the concepts throughout.

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Design Like You Give a Damn 2: Building Change from the Ground Up by Cameron Sinclair, Architecture for Humanity

Edited by Architecture for Humanity, a relief organization dedicated to promoting architectural and design solutions to global, social, and humanitarian issues, Design Like You Give a Damn 2 gathers innovative projects developed by architects and designers that serve to improve lives. It is the first book to provide the best in humanitarian architecture and design with its presentation of more than 100 contemporary solutions to needs including, basic shelter, health care, education, and access to basic amenities.

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Yes is More. An Archicomic on Architectural Evolution by Bjarke Ingels

BIG’s Yes is More is definitely the most unconventional book on this list with its comic book style and format to express its agenda for contemporary architecture. It is the first comprehensive documentation of BIG’s radical practice that never fails to redefine and question convention. This book, therefore, embodies BIG’s philosophy using one of the most widely known mediums to convey its mission of creating socially, economically, and environmentally perfect places.

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S,M,L,XL by Rem Koolhaas, Bruce Mau, and Hans Werlemann

S,M,L,XL presents a selection of the noteworthy design work produced by the Dutch firm Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) and its founder, Rem Koolhaas, from the twenty years prior to its publication. The collective minds of Koolhaas and designer Bruce Mau produce an amalgam of architectural projects, photos, sketches, diary excerpts, poetic writings, personal travelogues, and critical essays on contemporary architecture and society. The book’s title is it’s framework, in which projects and essays are arranged according to scale: small, medium, large, and extra-large.

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A Field Guide to American Houses (Revised): The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America’s Domestic Architecture by Virginia Savage McAlester

This guide chronologically and stylistically captures almost every significant domestic architectural style within America. It essentially serves as a dictionary indexing the language spoken by this country’s built environment. A much overlooked historical context is, thus, acquired breeding character and meaning into the structures that comprise the American landscape. This revised edition includes a section on neighborhoods, new categories of house styles, an appendix on “Approaches to Construction in the 20th and 21st Centuries”, and 600 new photographs and line drawings.

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A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction by Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, Murray Silverstein, Max Jacobson, Ingrid Fiksdahl-King, and Shlomo Angel

A Pattern Language is intended to provide both the professional and the average person a framework by which to design, construct, and improve lived spaces whether they be a neighborhood, residence, or office. The book presents what the authors call a pattern language. 253 patterns, forming the language, are given consisting of a problem statement, a discussion of the problem with an illustration, and a solution. Altogether, the pattern language seeks to enable anyone to create a design for any kind of structure or aspect of the built environment.

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The Architecture Reference & Specification Book: Everything Architects Need to Know Every Day by Julia McMorrough

This architectural standards reference contains essential information for planning and executing architectural projects at all scales in a format that is very practical and useful. Providing many graphics and charts, the information is easily referable laying bare the most pertinent architectural information. The Architecture Reference & Specification Book would be a valuable addition to any architect’s library looking for convenient, fundamental knowledge.

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The Interior Design Reference & Specification Book: Everything Interior Designers Need to Know Every Day by Chris Grimley and Mimi Love

The Interior Design Reference & Specification Book provides an easy to use collection of information fundamental to planning and developing interior projects of all scopes. Topics covered in the book include fundamentals, space, surface, environments, elements and resources. This new, revised edition also presents interviews with the industry’s leading practitioners allowing for a comprehensive guide to the field of interior design.

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The post 10 Essential Books for Architecture Students appeared first on Journal.

Architizer’s inaugural drawing competition — the One Drawing Challenge — is well underway, with many stunning entries already submitted. We’re thrilled at the engagement the competition has sparked, so we want to invite even more creativity from you, dear drawer!

Enter the 2019 One Drawing Challenge

Today, we’re excited to announce a new offer for all participants: If you submit additional drawings, you’ll receive half off the initial entry fee! That’s right —  you can double (or treble, or even quadruple!) your chances of winning the $2,500 grand prize. The One Drawing Challenge entry fee structure until midnight on August 9th is now as follows:

• First entry: $50 for students, $80 for non-students
• Second entry: $25 for students, $40 for non-students (50% off!)
• Any additional entry: $25 for students, $40 for non-students (50% off!)

Every entrant that has already submitted a drawing (either in the early entry period or the regular entry period) is entitled to this offer as well — you’ll get half off your entry fee for every additional submission. If you are yet to submit a drawing, you are still eligible to this discount after you’ve paid for your first entry at the regular price shown above.

Rayan Itani by Alicia Jones

Remember, your task is simple: Create a drawing that tells a powerful story about architecture, either built or unbuilt. Two top winners will receive:

• $2,500 prize money
• iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 256GB)
• Apple Pencil (2nd Generation)
• Procreate Software Package
• Sakura and Copic luxury drawing sets

10 Runners-Up will also receive a prize package full of analog and digital drawing tools, while the top 100 entries will feature in the first “One Drawing” eBook, to be shared with millions.

Architectural drawing by Duy Tran

For more information on the One Drawing Challenge, check out the following pages:

• About (including Competition Brief, Timeline, Submission Format and Entry Fees)
• FAQs
• Jurors Page (including photographs and biographies)
• Judging Criteria

If you have further questions not answered by these pages, please don’t hesitate to contact us at competitions@architizer.com. We can’t wait to see your submission — good luck from everyone at Architizer!

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at competitions@architizer.com. Good luck to all entrants from every at Architizer!

Enter the 2019 One Drawing Challenge

In partnership with

Top image: A perspective section by Andy Lim

The post The One Drawing Challenge: Double Your Chances of Winning $2,500! appeared first on Journal.

Architects: Showcase your work and find the perfect materials for your next project through Architizer. Manufacturers: To connect with the world’s largest architecture firms, sign up now.

Turkey has become a global cultural epicenter. Combining a diverse and rich history with new development, the country is known for its eclectic and historic styles situated side-by-side. Home to one of the fastest growing metropolitan economies in the world in Istanbul, new modern architecture is being built across the country. Going beyond orthogonal and pragmatic designs, these projects are made with novel building envelopes, open public spaces, and diverse relationships to the landscape.

Drawn from across Istanbul and Turkey, each of the following eight projects take inspiration from their larger contexts. Showcasing the country’s contemporary architecture, they represent new construction methods and formal explorations. Designed with diverse programs across a range of scales, they include private and public projects alike. As these projects are built, they begin to establish new connections to the surrounding urban fabrics and the history of each site.

Garanti Bank Technology Campus by ERA Architects, Istanbul, Turkey

This project transforms an old industrial chemical factory land into a technology company campus for one of the most dynamic Turkish banks. Inspired by the natural topography around the site and the desire of creating a clear contrast to the surroundings’ urban fabric, the project takes the form of a crystal volume over several artificial hills sheltering various functions. These include two 600 and 200 seats auditoriums, educational meeting spaces, cafeterias, lounges on bridges, data center and many other functions. With approximately 142,000 sqm total built area and 51,000 sqm site area, the campus program is configured into three major sections: 53,500 sqm of open offices, a 16,000 sqm auditorium, educational spaces and cafeterias, a 72,500 sqm for parking, a Tier 4 data center, a sport center, common spaces, archives and service areas.

Yesilvadi Mosque by Adnan Kazmaoğlu Mimarlık Araştırma Merkezi, Ümraniye, İstanbul, Turkey

Built as a center for education, information and a place to dispute settlements, this mosque provides an area for Muslims to come together for prayer. Gold leaf was used in the design to symbolize endurance, abstract existence and both Kufic calligraphy. The Yesil Vadi Mosque is designed from emphasized function and identifying components. Bearing in mind, all of the traditional, spatial, semantic criteria this mosque takes the concept of communal memory to heart. The mosque consists of a 350 person prayer area, 250 person meeting hall, library, social activity units, courtyard and square. All of these components combined together to form a social complex.

Raif Dinçkök Cultural Center by EAA – Emre Arolat Architecture, Yalova, Turkey

Yalova is located in northwestern Turkey near the Sea of Marmara. A city of about 100,000 residents, it is known for its industry but also its arboretums and rich variety of endemic plants. This project features perforated weather-resistant steel with a rusty surface that was chosen for exterior surfaces. It is a kind of homage to industry and to the resilient forces of nature. A multi-purpose room with a capacity of 600 persons, a workshop for up to 150 people, wedding and exhibition rooms and an office and cafeteria are part of the scheme within specific volumes that are disconnected from the building façade. These functional volumes are connected to each other by a ramp that forms a sheltered inner street. Recreational and service areas are situated between the functional volumes.

Antalya Aquarium by Bahadır Kul Architects, Antalya, Turkey

The Antalya Aquarium in Turkey was made to be in harmony with its surrounding landscape. Combining a public area with interior program, the design includes a wavy, curvaceous shell that helps protect from the wind. The Antalya Aquarium design process was centered on creating a vanishing silhouette and harmony with the surrounding topography. At the back of the ground floor, a shaded public area was created to protect visitors from the wind and allow them to enjoy the sun. This area is a point of approach, gather and diffusion for the project.

Selcuk Ecza HQ by Tabanlioglu Architects, İstanbul, Turkey

The Selcuk Ecza HQ was designed around the client’s desire for spatial organization, aesthetics, and scales to be intimate and relatable in nature. Taking inspiration from Istanbul’s waterside mansions, the headquarters combines multiple volumes under hipped roof forms. Like a small county settlement, the juxtaposition of seven house-like volumes form the campus. These individual ‘houses’ integrate to each other either through gardens, roof gardens, upper or lower patios and paths and atriums. In turn, the brown color of the exterior creates a the soft wood effect and unifies the structure.

The Farm Of 38° 30° by Slash Architects, Tazlar Köyü, Turkey

The Farm 38° 30° is an iconic boutique dairy factory that derives its name from the coordinates of the site it is located in, the “Valley of Art” in the village of Tazlar village in Central Turkey. Located at the entrance of the valley, this dairy factory offers degustation for visitors, all the while exhibiting the production process of the dairy products of the farm. While ensuring maximum efficiency for the production line as in a “classical” cheese factory building, the boutique factory adopts a more contemporary attitude via its monumental form. The factory typology is upgraded from the status of a simple production space to that of a cheese showroom. The building wraps around an inner green courtyard and opens itself to the exterior via its large welcoming canopy.

Sur Yapi Offices by tago architects, İstanbul, Turkey

Operating as an office to promote a nearby high-rise residential complex, the Sur Yapi offices combine space for administration, sales, and exhibition. Designed as an unique, prismatic mass, the projects includes geometric wooden panels that create a striking expression as seen from the street. The solid-void relationship also helps control sunlight within the building interior. It is primarily a sales office of the high-rise residential complex which is located next to it. Later on, building is going to be the head office of the construction company.

Vakko Fashion Center by REX, Istanbul, Turkey

Restructuring an unfinished, abandoned hotel, the Vakko Fashion Center was designed as a dynamic headquarters and renovation project. With a demanding construction schedule, the building was created with speed as the design’s most significant parameter. A dramatic interior space known as the “Showcase” combines offices with a mirror-glass clad envelope to form a mirage-like exterior around a unique spatial experience. Program adjacencies and code/exiting requirements dictated the final stacking of the boxes.  The slopes of the auditorium, showrooms, and meeting rooms create a circulation path that winds from bottom to top of the Showcase.  The Showcase is clad in mirror-glass, cloaking the steel boxes and enlivening the building’s interior to kaleidoscopic effect.

Find all your architectural inspiration through Architizer: Click here to sign up now. Are you a manufacturer looking to connect with architects? Click here.

The post Travel Guide: Exploring the Modern Architecture of Turkey appeared first on Journal.