One where we expect our buildings to deliver far more than just shelter. We want buildings that inspire us while helping the environment; buildings that delight our senses while serving the needs of a community; buildings made possible both by new technology and re-purposed materials. Here are 10 examples, including a reindeer viewing station, an inflatable concert hall, and a very clever housing complex.
Tverrfjellhytta reindeer pavilion in Hjerkinn, Norway.
A hiking trail leads to a spectacular site overlooking the Dovrefjell mountain range in central Norway, home to some of the last remaining wild reindeer herds in Europe. A sinewy pavilion designed by Snøhetta invites visitors to warm themselves while observing the animals. The structure is an exercise in material contrast — a rigid outer shell of raw steel and glass houses a soft wooden core shaped like the nearby rocks, which have been eroded by winds and running water for centuries. Photo by diephotodesigner, courtesy of Snøhetta.
Metropol Parasol in Seville, Spain.
When Seville officials decided to replace the parking lot and bus station in the city center, they were surprised to discover Roman ruins beneath the surface. What to do? This structure, by J. Mayer H. Architects, was the winning scheme in an international competition. Its design protects the ruins, provides space for shopping and cafés and creates a grand public square for the still-vibrant city. The six mushroom-like shading devices provide relief from the intense Andalusian sun, and visitors can climb to the top to take in a panoramic view of the walled city. Yet the craziest part of this swoopy landmark isn’t its form but that it’s made mostly of wood. It is the largest glued structure on Earth. Watch my virtual tour of this building below. Photo by Fernando Alda / David Franck.
Alcabideche Social Complex in Alcabideche, Portugal.
This unique housing complex for the elderly reflects Portugal’s cultural emphasis on quality of life. The human component is crucial in each piece of Guedes Cruz Architects’ design, which is based on a Mediterranean town — streets, plaza and gardens are an extension of each residence. Translucent roofs light up as the evening falls, to ensure that elderly residents can move freely at night. This lighting scheme also becomes crucial in an emergency: triggering an alarm inside the house changes the roof light from white to red, signaling the need for help. Photo by Ricardo Oliveira Alves.
Drift pavilion for Design Miami/ 2012 in Miami Beach, Florida, United States.
Snarkitecture gave a standard white party tent a makeover with a suspended landscape of white vinyl tubes. Photo by Markus Haugg.
Ark Nova in Matsushima, Japan.
Designed by Arata Isozaki and Anish Kapoor, this inflatable and mobile concert hall is made of a stretchy plastic membrane that brings both art and hope to earthquake-devastated Japan. The 500-seat venue can inflate in under two hours and, when deflated, can move to a new location on the back of a truck. Watch my virtual tour of this building below. Photo courtesy of Lucerne Festival Ark Nova.
China Central Television headquarters in Beijing, China.
The headquarters for China Central Television (CCTV) by OMA combines the entire process of TV-making — administration, production, broadcasting — into a single loop of connected activities. The building’s form offers an alternative to the traditional skyscraper, encouraging collaborative activities inside and offering an unprecedented amount of public access to China’s media production system. New public engagement creates new forms. Photo CC — By Verd gris.
Wendy pavilion in Queens, New York, United States.
Air quality is getting worse, especially in urban areas. Who can we look to for help? Meet Wendy, by my firm, Hollwich Kushner. Wendy maximizes her surface area to expose as much titanium-nanoparticle-coated skin to the environment as possible. Every square foot of this surface sucks carbon dioxide out of the air — equivalent to taking 250 cars off of the road. What I love about Wendy is that she has a personality — she is big and blue and spiky, she shoots out jets of water, and she has a name. Photo by Michael Moran / OTTO.
Fuel station and McDonald's in Batumi Georgia.
It’s a gas station, a restaurant, a public park and a reflecting pool. Because why shouldn’t gas stations offer true amenities to travelers? Design by Giorgi Khmaladze Architects.Photo by Giorgi Khmaladze.
Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre at Mapungubwe National Park in Limpopo, South Africa.
The plan for this visitor center, designed by Peter Rich Architects, began with a motif etched on stones uncovered at the former location of a South African trading civilization. Its free-form vaults were built with a 600-year-old construction technique that is both economically and environmentally responsible: Local laborers made the 200,000 pressed soil tiles as part of a poverty relief program. Though it’s inspired by the past, the center’s design is at home in the 21st century, with modern geometric forms that create a new topography in the ancient setting.Photo by Obie Oberholzer.
Favela Painting Project in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
This public artwork project began in 2010 as a collaboration between Dutch artists Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn of Haas&Hahn and a local team in Rio de Janeiro’s Santa Marta favela, a Brazilian slum or shantytown. Since then, Haas&Hahn have spread their movement across the world, transforming a dilapidated area in North Philadelphia and working with communities in Curaçao and elsewhere to alter depressed public spaces in ways that attract positive attention and economic impulses. Photo courtesy of Haas&Hahn.
Imagine wearing a hearing aid on its highest setting and being unable to make any adjustment. You can hear the speech of the person next to you—but, at the same volume, you hear birdsong through an open window, the air-conditioning whirring above, and the traffic droning outside. The difference in the layers of sound cannot be filtered, and cacophony results. Combine this with some of your senses being crossed or scrambled, rather like a poor telephone connection, and you start to appreciate how some people on the autistic spectrum encounter the world. It is a small wonder that productive teaching of an autistic child presents a challenge.
Sensory difficulties
Within our living spaces, all of us are bombarded with an array of stimulating sensory inputs—sound, smell, touch, taste, movement—and a never-ending deluge of visual information. Many people manage to filter and cope, but people with autism encounter the world differently. Sensory difficulties can cause hypersensitivity (sense too much), hyposensitivity (sense too little), or combinations of both. The environment becomes a confusing place when one attempts to process “too much information.” Unexpected changes cause anxieties, which are challenging to manage, and the level of stimuli can tip the balance to cause sensory overload, sometimes misinterpreted as a tantrum.
The importance of the environment
An optimized learning environment is vital for every child. For autistic children, the importance of the environment is magnified, as are the benefits that can be achieved through appropriate architecture and design.
Over the past five years, I’ve been conducting research into how to teach the design of autism environments to future designers with eight case-study schools and colleges. The research has identified a number of ways schools can adjust spaces to help children and young people with autism cope with their surroundings and, therefore, learn more effectively.
HOW SCHOOLS CAN HELP
In particular, the recommendations take into account the value to autistic people of preparation before an activity, as this allows information to be processed at an individual’s required rate. This gives children time to understand what is expected of them. It also reduces anxieties, provides reassurance, and enhances learning receptivity.
1. Provide Pause Places
Make the most of any open alcoves or recesses. Clear any small spaces “under the stairs” or in an outside area, providing an opportunity to stand back, process information, and recalibrate. It could mean removing a door from a shallow cupboard or locating a “pop-up” tent. This is particularly important when moving from one building to another—when the difference between environments is significant.
An existing alcove, provides an opportunity to pause and control the amount of incoming information. (Photo: courtesy of the author)
2. Multiple entrances help
The main entrance may be too busy, so provide a quieter, alternative side entrance. Schools can also help by establishing a slow longer route from the playground to classrooms, as well as a quick short route—again, giving both choice and time to process information.
Equally, softening the boundary from an internal to an external space can also help. An external canopy, for example, can create an ideal outdoor learning space to help with anxieties surrounding sudden sensory change.
3. Windows can offer reassurance
Some children have anxiety and ritualistic behaviors and may want to spend time returning to a space they have just occupied, for reassurance. If strategically placed openings are provided, they do not need to go back physically to this space for reassurance—they can look back from a short distance. This allows more time for learning in the classroom.
4. Join the dots
Schools should also look at offering activities that emulate real-life tasks, as this will help autistic children to see patterns and connections with things. A simple mock-up shop, for example, both inside the classroom and outside in the playground, could help children learn how to generalize the skill of exchanging payment for goods, across differing environments.
A richer learning experience
What is known as “taster spaces” are also a great idea, as these can offer children an area to spend time participating in a pre-activity which helps them to explore part of a bigger activity in a smaller way.
Introducing the touch of water via shallow channels chiseled into the floor. [Photo: courtesy of the author]This can help children to build up to the final activity—such as playing a percussion wall before playing an instrument or relating to a water channel before immersion in a pool.
As these ideas show, the need to encourage a richer learning experience in a regulated responsive environment is paramount for autistic children and young people. An essential consideration is that no two autistic people experience their environments in the same way, so there is no one approach or solution to sensory issues. But small, individually led adjustments (like those outlined above) can make a material difference and really help to improve learning and the quality of life for autistic children and their families.
Harvard University is offering you the chance to live out that fantasy. Well, sort of. 'The Architectural Imagination is an online course now on offer from the university's Graduate School of Design (GSD), and whilst it won't give you the necessary accreditations to design buildings, it does promise to offer a fascinating introduction to the world of architecture.
The first module of the course
The first module of the course will teach skills such as architectural drawing and architectural typology through a series of videos and exercises. Focusing on materials and technology, the second module aims to illustrate how architecture has the power to transform raw materials into beautiful factors of a landscape's overall aesthetic. The third and final module takes a more anthropological approach, examining the role of architecture in society as well as its ability to bring about social change. The course is free (if you want a certificate at the end it's $100) and you can start any time you like.
Many people know that Frank Lloyd Wright was a famous architect and that the job of an architect entails designing buildings. However, architects do much more than design aesthetically pleasing buildings: Architects plan, design, and oversee the construction of various structures. They are professions that require extensive coursework, receiving on-the-job training, and taking a rigorous exam in order to practice.
Education and Training for Architects
Architects are professionals trained in the art and science of building design. They develop the concepts for structures and turn those concepts into images and plans, which eventually may become homes, office buildings, and other facilities. Their work involves more than just the appearance of a structure. Everything architects design must be functional, safe, and meet the needs of the people who utilize them.
Architects’ Job Requirements
An architect must earn a professional degree from an accredited university or college. They typically focus on curriculum in architectural history and theory, building design, computer-aided design and drafting (CADD), construction methods, math, physical sciences, and other liberal arts courses.
People entering a career in architecture who want to receive an architecture degree and obtain licensure have two study options:
B.Arch—This is a five-year program intended for students entering college from high school or with no previous architectural training.
M.Arch—This can be either a two or three-year post-college program of students or professionals with pre-professional degrees (like an associate’s) in other disciplines or related areas.
Upon completion of undergraduate or postgraduate programs, architects must complete a three-year internship before taking the Architect Registration Examination administered by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards, or NCARB. This exam is designed to test the knowledge and skills regarding architecture to become a licensed architect. Most states require licensure and continued education to remain in compliance. Architects’ duties fall into three main roles:
Consult and Design
The architect consults with clients to determine their requirements and to prepare drawings and specifications of the concept. The designs must comply with building, safety, and local planning regulations and restrictions. Regular client meetings are involved in discussing design proposals.
Documentation
During this phase, the architect captures the design on paper. They create detailed drawings with CADD technology to ensure the feasibility of the design. There may be several revisions and drawings of the designs to meet the client's needs. Once the design is approved, it is translated into construction instructions and technical specifications for construction experts to carry on site.
Construction
During this phase, the architect visits the construction site and meets with the construction crew to review the construction, signing off on various pieces of work, negotiates with contractors if needed, and helps to any problems that arise.
How much does it cost to hire an architect?
Architects charge between $125 to $225 per hour on average. The cost can vary due to the project’s duration and extent, but customers spend between $8,000 to $15,000 total on basic conceptual architectural design services on average.
What is the difference between an architect and an architectural designer?
Architects are licensed professionals that have obtained accreditation and passed the Architect Registration Examination administered by the NCARB. Architectural designers have a bachelor’s or master’s degree in architecture and can design buildings, but they are not licensed. Moreover, there are design architects who are licensed architects but choose to only work with the design aspect and not the construction.
What is the difference between a civil engineer and an architect?
Civil engineers and architects plan and design structures. However, civil engineers focus solely on the safety of the structure. Architects deal with the aesthetics and functionality of the structural work. Civil engineers and architects often work with each other. Civil engineers analyze and evaluate the structural integrity of the design that the architect creates.
The first architect in history was the Egyptian Imhotep; born 27th century BCE, Memphis, Egypt. Imhotep was the designer of the Step Pyramid (Pyramid of Djoser). He is thought to be the first architect to use columns for support. In addition, Imhotep was the inventor of a smooth stone dressing (finish material) on buildings.
Architects, unique artists
Imhotep defined who was an architect and was compared to Ptah-TaTanen, the Egyptian architect of the universe.
In his time, architects were considered unique artists, so creative and inventively intellectual they were honored as adjuncts to the royal family. Imhotep was the Egyptian chief of engineering and prime minister of the crown.
Throughout history, architecture has created the physical environment which people occupy, but architecture also defines the space around it. The built environment is part of the essence of our culture. It exemplifies who we are and how others see us.
Architecture is not only a reflection of a society; it is often influenced by climate, available materials, and a population that includes artisans skilled to erect the building.
Even in our current epoch, architecture is most successful when it responds to the context within which it is formed.
