Provoke - The Architecture Issue
A wooden tower, a giant library, a bridge for the people, architecture and experimentation, ghost cities, Columbus, Indiana, and more...
“This is a mass timber building, meaning that wood layers are bonded using either a glued laminated timber (glulam) or cross-laminated timber (CLT) process, giving it the structural strength of concrete. All the wood came from French forests, and was transported via the Seine. The external columns are Douglas fir, for its moisture resistance; the interior columns are beech, for its compressive strength; and the beams are spruce, for its bending resistance. LAN used the leftover wood scraps to make furniture.”
Wallpaper
“The Beijing Library embodies a transformative vision for libraries, reinstating its relevance in the digital age and placing the cultivation of human connections at its forefront. As a key cultural landmark in Beijing’s newly established sub-center, the library stands as a contemporary hub for learning, knowledge-sharing, social interaction, and community engagement. At its heart lies a dynamic central forum, where a sculpted interior landform of stepped terraces creates a versatile communal space for visitors to relax, talk, or dive into reading.”
Snohetta
The Observatory is the first new building on campus since its completion in 2017. It’s designed for product demonstrations and contemplation.
“China’s ghost cities are far more common than one might think. Take the State Guest Mansions, a development envisioned as the palatial homes for the upper crust of society. Now their only residents are hurdles of cattle and the occasional adventure explorers meandering like ghosts around the arched verandas and stone façades of hundreds of abandoned villas. Located around the hills of Shenyang (about 400 miles northeast of Beijing), the development was originally planned by Greenland Group, a Shanghai-based real estate developer, and broke ground in 2010. But as AFP reports, within two years, the project had come to a grinding halt, leaving the half-formed skeletons of imitative royalty in its wake. Today the crumbling estates are still abandoned, left in an eerie series of rows appearing like an architectural cornfield.”
AD
Columbus- Indiana- America’s Unsung Architectural Paradise
Marlon Blackwell Architects design for an air traffic control tower in Columbus, Indiana.
“In Columbus, you won’t find the skyscrapers, stadiums or university campuses that typically bring in the biggest and boldest design ideas. Instead, architects like Harry Weese, I.M. Pei, César Pelli, and Kevin Roche came to Columbus to build schools, churches, post offices and bank branches”
The Gun Violence Memorial Project
© National Building Museum / Elman Studio LLC
The Gun Violence Memorial Project by MASS- 4 homes built of 700 glass bricks to represent the average number of lives lost to gun violence in a typical week in America.
A Bridge for the People in Bordeaux
Rem Koolhaas, Partner, OMA: “This bridge is for the people, not for connoisseurs. Rather than concentrating on form, the project focuses on performance. Instead of spending its budget on structural gymnastics, it doubles the width with a public space to serve and connect the two adjoining communities that so far have not developed a strong identity. On the model of bridges like the Rialto in Venice, this extra public space can be used for any purpose: popular, commercial, cultural, political...”
OMA
The Production Design of the Movie- “The Brutalist”
It was Becker's role to bring both these spaces into existence. She looked at the work of architects like Breuer and Tadao Ando for inspiration. "I've designed sets before but never real buildings," Becker says. "And László was a 20th-century star architect, so it was pretty daunting." First, she designed the Institute building "like an architect would," starting with sketches and ultimately building a full-scale model. The Van Buren Institute, a concrete monolith on top of a hill, was never actually built—it only looks that way through the magic of cinema. "I designed it so that it could have been constructed," Becker says. "I think it would have been interesting to experience in the way László intended it. There's a part of me that wishes it could be built."
Elle Decor
“Architecture is not about creating a space, but about creating relationships.”
Riken Yamamoto
Pangyo Housing- South Korea - Architecture by Riken Yamamoto
“In contrast to standard housing developments that are designed solely to ensure a high degree of privacy, these units were designed both to generate interaction with the surrounding community, and to create new communities. They are a prototype for the next generation of housing complexes that value both family privacy and neighborhood connections.”
Thomas Heatherwick’s initiative to challenge to boring architecture- design work by Uncommon Studio
Winner of the APA Architecture Photograph of the Year- Jason O’Rear’s photo of Greenpoint Landing/Eagle and West, Brooklyn, NYC.
Moriyama House- Tokyo-
Cell architecture and new way to design and think about city habitats
A Culture of Experimentation- Assemble
“Assemble actively invites chance and mistake.“Most things that are interesting or meaningful come out of mistakes,” says Hall. Experimentation is important, a methodology that is rarely encouraged in traditional practice, where “everything is streamlined to actively avoid mistakes, to the point where you become so risk-averse and constrained that you can’t do anything.” It also resonates with Assemble’s desire to give agency to people who have typically been denied a voice in architecture and urban design. “Experimentation doesn’t have a prescribed way of doing things, so it allows other people to become part of the process,” says Hall, “especially those who feel intimidated by design. A lot of our experimentation is highly planned, but the language around it is important because it allows you to talk about failure. I think that’s really helpful for diversifying and democratising the process.”
The Assemble Papers
Misc
The Case for an Architecture Coop
Is Uzbekistan the Next Great Architectural Destination?
Profitability is a Major Concern for US Architecture Firms in 2025
Kiosk Design from the Eastern Block
The Rebirth of Contemporary African Architecture
How Stories Helped Transform Hunter’s Point, San Francisco
The Most Spectacular Buildings that Were Never Made
Architectural Gems Taken by the LA Fires
The first featured building is stunning. I am obsessed with timber and stone creations right now.