Author: Nicolás Valencia

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We’ve already talked about this. You’re preparing your final project (or thesis project). You’ve gone over everything in your head a thousand times; the presentation to the panel, your project, your model, your memory, your words. You go ahead with it, but think you'll be lousy. Then you think just the opposite, you will be successful and it will all be worth it. Then everything repeats itself and you want to call it quits.  You don’t know when this roller coaster is going to end.  Until the day arrives. You present your project. Explain your ideas. The committee asks you questions. You answer. You realize you know more than you thought you did and that none of the scenarios you imaged over the past year got even close to what really happened in the exam. The committee whisper amongst themselves. The presentation ends and they ask you to leave Continue reading "9 Lessons For Post-Architecture-School Survival"

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Initial set-up, Camp Castor, Gao (Mali). Image © The Dutch Ministry of Defense

Can architects have a truly active role in pressing social problems? Malkit Shoshan, the curator of the Dutch Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale, thinks so. Her career is evidence of this: advocating for the incorporation of a fourth 'D' in the criteria of the UN (Defence, Diplomacy and Development) in its peacekeeping missions around the world, Shoshan has sat at the same table as military engineers and policy makers to analyze the urban impact peacekeepers have left around the world.

For the Dutch Pavilion, Shoshan has focused on the case of the joint mission of the Netherlands and the UN in Gao (Mali). In 2012, Gao was declared capital of the Independent State of Azawad, a nation not recognized by the international authorities, following Mali's Tuareg rebellion. "Although [these peacekeeping missions] occupy large plots of land in hundreds of different cities around the

Continue reading "Malkit Shoshan on How the City is a Shared Ground for the Instruments of War and Peace"

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At a press conference on Thursday, FC Barcelona presented the design of the new Camp Nou, a project led by Nikken Sekkei (Japan) with Joan Pascual i Ramon Ausió Arquitectes (Barcelona), who won the international competition in early March. Alongside the team's players, the board of directors chaired by Josep Maria Bartomeu presented the model of the project, which will begin construction in mid-2017 to expand the stadium's capacity to 105,000 spectators. In addition, the organization published a series of videos about the project, including an explanation of how the expansion will take place without affecting a single football match.
"We will build a great open space around the stadium, like a giant piece of origami arranged not to disturb the flow of people into the stadium," explained Takeyuki Katsuya, the lead architect at Nikken Sekkei. "The solution for the stadium was to continue the path started by Mitjans," the original designer of the Continue reading "FC Barcelona Explains the Design and Construction of the New Camp Nou in these Videos"

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Knitknot Architecture, in collaboration with nonprofit group Seeds of Learning, has designed -- and is raising funds to build -- the El Jicarito School. Located in El Jicarito, a tiny village in Nicaragua, the school will serve 27 children who currently do not have a school to attend. The low-cost school design aims to bring the community together through collaborative construction methods, the use of local materials, and the creation of a new educational landscape that will enhance creativity.

Overall, the school will feature two classrooms, a multipurpose space, and a public square/playground area. Both of the classrooms are conceived as flexible spaces, in an effort to "stimulate and promote interactive teaching and classes with different formats."

© knitknot architecture

The floors will be made of poured colored concrete, the walls will be earth-bags, and the columns and beams will be made out of reinforced concrete

Continue reading "Knitknot Architecture Seeks Funds for Nicaraguan School"

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FREE City, the Mexico proposal. Image © FernandoRomeroEnterprisE A total of 34 countries will participate in the inaugural London Design Biennale, according to a press release from the organization. Set to open on September 7th, the Biennale will center on the theme Utopia by Design, looking at “sustainability, migration, pollution, water and social equality,” among other issues.  The theme was chosen in honor of the 500th anniversary of the publication of Thomas More’s “Utopia,” and the Biennale will be “the centerpiece” of the Somerset House’s year-long programme celebrating the text. “We chose the inaugural theme, Utopia by Design, to celebrate the 500th anniversary of the publication of  Thomas More’s classic, and to reflect on the rich history of the modernist design it inspired,” said Christopher Turner, the Director of the London Design Biennale.  The Biennale “will present newly commissioned works in contemporary design, design-led innovation, creativity and Continue reading "Over 30 Countries to Participate in the Inaugural London Design Biennale"

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The four finalists, clockwise: Samuel Bravo, Matilde Cassani, Pier Paolo Tamburelli and Anna Puigjaner. Image via Wheelwright Prize Harvard GSD has announced the four shortlisted architects for the 2016 Wheelwright Prize. Awarded annually, the $100,000 grant is for travel-based architectural research.  Selected from 200 applications from nearly 45 countries worldwide, the four finalists are from Italy, Spain and Chile. Each finalist will present their work and proposal on April 20. This year’s jury includes Eva Franch, Jeannie Kim, Kiel Moe, Rafael Moneo, Benjamin Prosky, Mohsen Mostafavi, and K. Michael Hays. The four finalists and their proposals are: 

Cultural Frictions: A Transference, From Traditional Architecture to Contemporary Production 

Samuel Bravo — Samuel Bravo Arquitecto, Santiago, Chile 
BArch 2009, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile Samuel Bravo is a licensed architect in Chile. He has worked in a variety of contexts in South America, from Patagonia to the Amazon, developing the

Continue reading "Harvard GSD Shortlists 4 Architects for 2016 Wheelwright Prize"

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via Nintendo [Youtube] More than 6 million courses have been created for Super Mario Maker, a video game where players can create their own game levels with all of the available tools of the Mario universe. The plumber, who has entertained millions of people around the world with his adventures, turned 30 last September, the date of the release of his first solo odyssey, Super Mario Bros. The rest, as we know, is history. A few months ago, for the premiere of Super Mario Maker at the last Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3 2015), Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, the creators of Super Mario Bros, explained how they designed the levels of the classic Nintendo video game in 1985: on graph paper. That's right, using graph paper and tracing paper, the Japanese artists drew each level in detail, adding and editing the position of enemies, traps, and even designing the game's Continue reading "These Sheets of Graph Paper Were Used to Design Super Mario Bros"