Blog

Article by Alexandra-Elena Ciocan – We take a look at the competition project of Eden Soestdijk and look how new ideas gave back life and expression to old values.  Interested in winning first prize in a landscape design competition and a place in people’s hearts? As challenging as it sounds, it is a ride to enjoy. Take, for example, the submitted work of Mecanoo architecten and its partners in Baarn, The Netherlands on the Soestdijk Estate. The outcome? An Eden-like project that proves one super power of design: unification of the modern landscape and the historic existing framework. The very motto for the proposal is “from palace to paradise”, and in our opinion, it reads success! Competition Project While the results of the competition had yet to be announced by April 2017, we bel...Read More

Review by Frank Bourque – A three-week postgraduate architecture and urban design course that teaches architecture based on its cornerstones in Edinburgh, Scotland. A lot of people would agree that there is something special about modern architecture that honors its roots in the past. This is exactly what the science of urban design is based upon – a rich history of shaping the physical settings for life in cities, towns, and villages through a collaborative and multidisciplinary process. The art of making places and designing them in an urban context has been mastered nowadays, and we can thank many past engineers and architects for setting the historical cornerstones of urban design and planning. One great example of a city that prides itself on the variety and context of its urban...Read More

Article by Amrita Slatch – Vanke Cloud City Phase 2, by Lab D+H, in Guangzhou, China. It is very rare for mixed-use developments to cater to a specific group of people. But the Cloud City development by Vanke (China’s largest real estate developer) has taken the bold step of focusing on the younger generation, who come to live in extravagant first-tier cities such as Guangzhou, but wish to enjoy an affordable lifestyle. This project of 5,000 small apartments, combined with high-end retail areas, required a cohesive street infrastructure that would be interactive and add value to the space, but still be cost effective. It became essential for the developers to come up with an innovative solution. Considering the challenges involved, Lab D+H lab brought into the set-up to develop a str...Read More

We take a look at how the Place des Droits de l’Homme project brought people back to a space that was forgotten about, rejected by time and life. The square, Place des Droits de l’Homme, is located in Tremblay en France. The town is a commune in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris, it has an area of 22.44 Km2 and is 19.7 Km from the center of the capital city; using public transportation, it would be a 1-2-hour trip. The square has a strategic location and has existed since the 70’s; it is surrounded by the town hall, the cultural center, the municipal library and housing, and it is the cover for an underground parking lot. The square has always been viewed as an essential piece of the city center but as time passed the space became neglected and forgotten, slowly becoming a mournful space,...Read More

Article by Claudia Corapi – A walk inside Ubatuba House II by Spbr Architects, Ubatuba, Brazil. Urban planning has to ensure the right use of the land, but sometimes its rules interfere with creating a project that can also be viewed as a piece of art. The task taken up by SPBR Architects with the “Ubatuba House II” project wasn’t easy because of the necessity to preserve the surrounding site, made up of a forest of trees. Nevertheless, referring to the “Ubatuba House I” project experience, designed almost ten years before, they were soon able to turn two limitations – the urban rules and the sloping area – into key factors. “The hill on which is placed the house and the lush vegetation growing, are protected by environmental laws”, Angelo Bucci commented about Ubatuba. Ubatuba House...Read More

Article by Alexandra-Elena Ciocan – Angles of Incidence, by  Warren Langley and Julia Davis, in Victoria Cross, North Sydney, Australia. The 6-meter high, imposing and curious sculptural landmark created by famous artist-couple Warren Langley and Julia Davis in the Victoria Cross intersection, North Sydney, required tremendous thought and sentiment, as well as thorough artistic and engineering study. The Angles of Incidence project is part of the North Sydney Public Art Trail, consisting of this and 17 other pieces scattered in different locations all over Sydney, with the major purpose of providing visitors with a high-quality public art experience. Angles of Incidence shows that artists need to utilize much more than just materials or colours in order to conceive of something eye-c...Read More

Article by Giacomo Guzzon – The Case of St. James Square in Melbourne and Pancras Square in London looking at how they created new urban squares. Almost all historic public squares have some common characteristics. They are typically generous in size, they are often surrounded by important buildings, feature fountains, statues, and seating of some kind, and most importantly, they have lots of light because they are surrounded by rather low buildings, hosting shops and restaurants and conveying a liveable and active atmosphere. Today urban squares are designed in a completely different socioeconomic environment. Space in cities is limited and there is great economic pressure to create tall buildings to maximize their capacity and use. Many of these new squares such as St. James Square...Read More

Article by Gwgw Kalligiannaki – We take a look at 10 incredible YouTube tutorials for creating a landscape architecture plan to improve your skills. The landscape architecture plan is a communication document. We create them to visualize our ideas to other people. However, we live in the age of publicity, so the plan is also part of the architect’s professional image. As the competition grows, most of us spend lots of hours in front of our computers not only for ‘cadding’, but also for illustrating our plans. I really love editing, paying attention to the line weights, using textures for the different materials, using symbols, in order to form a more aesthetically interesting landscape architecture plan. Fortunately, we can easily find a variety of video tutorials for editing, and ti...Read More

Article by Radenka Kolarov – Zhangjiajie Pour, by Martin Duplantier Architectes, in Zhangjiajie, Hunan Province, China. Zhangjiajie Pour project by Martin Duplantier Architectes and Daqian Landscape Architects, in Zhangjiajie, China. This new stainless steel bridge is part of an award-winning concept designed by Martin Duplantier Architectes for the Zhangjiajie World Heritage Site in China. Landscape design for a World Heritage Site is all about treading lightly. And the latest concept for the Zhangjiajie World Heritage Site in Hunan Province, China, does exactly that. Martin Duplantier Architects has released its award-winning plans for pavilions and three scary bridges that will link mountain peaks via a new walkway in the wilderness. The plans come just a few months after the long...Read More

Article by Ophelia Yuting Ji – We take a  look at how Amsterdam became one of the most sustainable cities in the world due to the development of the Amsterdam Canal Ring.  Revolving windmills, blossoming tulips, and meandering canals; we are all drawn to the beautiful sightseeing in Amsterdam, but the capital of the Netherlands is definitely more than that. The city, located in the North Holland province in the Netherlands, was derived from a fishing village along the Amstel River in the 13th century. The clue can easily be found in its name: “Amster-dam” basically means the dam around the Amstel River. Despite the fast development around this river and IJ Bay, Amsterdam has become one of the top 5 sustainable cities in the world, according to the Arcadis “Sustainable Cities Index” i...Read More

Article by Farah Afza Jurekh – A review of the vibrant plaza at Place des Droits de l’Homme, by B+C Architectes , Tremblay-en-France. The urban squares are like magnets to cities. The magnetic forces that the city square possesses depends highly on the design of the square. An unused, forgotten, mournful space can be easily turned into a dynamic, attractive, vibrant place if it is designed creatively and meticulously by architects. Place des Droits de l’Homme, located in Tremblay-en-France, designed by B+C Architectes, is one such project which has turned an old, unused square into one of the most attractive, living spaces of the city. Place des Droits de l’Homme Vibrant Plaza The Site, its Context, and its Importance The site of the vibrant plaza project, or its context, dictated a ...Read More