‘Architecture of Independence’ in Africa’s Fast-Growing Cities

By Jason Farago – Did you make it to the eighth episode of “The Young Pope,” the one which sees our saintly Jude Law bring his pontifical dog-and-pony show to a country called Africa? Astounding, in 2017, that you can still get away with this: the anonymous land ruled by a military dictator, where children are starving, dust rises in the heat and there isn’t a skyscraper or cellphone in sight. (“The Young Pope” was actually shot outside Cape Town, which has no shortage of both.) You would not know, from most Western media, that Africans live in a whole range of places, bucolic or bustling — and that Africa is urbanizing faster than anywhere on earth.

Read the complete article in the New York Times…

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Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville by OMA

A crisscrossing library in France marks the spot for a regional center along a redeveloping riverfront.

By Josephine Minutillo – Books are over,” Rem Koolhaas asserted slyly at the opening of the Bibliothèque Alexis de Tocqueville in Caen, France, on January 13. “That’s what everyone kept saying. Happily, on the contrary, books will probably exist forever.”

Read the complete article in Architectural Record…

 

Palestinian Museum by Heneghan Peng Architects

North of Jerusalem, reached by roads that are often narrow and winding, the Palestinian Museum first appears as a low-lying beacon set amid the surrounding hills. Composed of two shardlike limestone volumes joined above a low, triangular expanse of glass, the building crests a cascade of landscaped terraces. With its crisp geometries and its integration with the undulating topography, it is the striking response of Dublin-based Heneghan Peng Architects to the client’s desire for a sustainable, contemporary structure that nods to the area’s vernacular architecture while emphasizing a deep connection to the landscape.

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A Look at Some of Architect Bjarke Ingels’s Most Whimsical and Awe-Inspiring Buildings

By MadeleineBjarke Ingels is a name to know. At only 42, the Danish-born architect has received a host of important commissions, founded his own firm, and now—he’s making his mark on New York City. Ingels moved to the city in 2010, and in 2015, his firm, BIG, relocated its U.S. headquarters near Wall Street. Last year, Ingels’s first completed project in New York, the residential building Via 57 West, opened. Between this West Side landmark in the making, and his plans for 2 World Trade Center, New Yorkers will be seeing a lot more of Ingels’s work. So, above, in honor of his recent profile in the February issue of Vogue, here are 10 of Ingels’s most impressive designs.

Read the complete article in Vogue…

 

Lycée Schorge by Kéré Architecture

When Susanne Pertl, a board member at the Stern Stewart Institute in Munich, first saw the work of Diébédo Francis Kéré, she knew he would be the ideal architect for an organization that promotes education and entrepreneurship in West Africa. Kéré had grown up in a remote village in Burkina Faso before earning his architecture degree in Germany and opening an office in Berlin. Today, Kéré remains committed to his home country, where he has completed such projects as the Center for Health Care and Social Promotion in Laongo (RECORD, August 2015) and a high school in Dano (RECORD, January 2011).

Read the complete article in Architectural Record…

25 Masterpieces That Prove 2016 Was an Incredible Year for Architecture

By Sam Lubell – In 2016, the best architects rethought everything. They transformed familiar building types like skyscrapers, offices, and museums. They resurrected once-neglected materials like brick and plywood. They tweaked expected features like skylights and balconies. And they found novel ways to fuse structures with their surroundings, carving out new public spaces, inserting contemporary forms into historic fabrics, and merging buildings with landscapes. Some of the very best designs were sequels—extensions to existing structures, reuses of historic buildings, or painstaking renovations. And structures that are often ignored or overlooked—salt sheds, filtration plants, and the like—finally got some love. Here, in no particular order, are 25 projects of note from the past year.

Read the complete article in Wired…