architecture

Trying to make China's planned cities livable

Two brothers, an architect and a developer, team up to make new Chinese cities more people-friendly, easing the transition from rural to urban living.

Tim De Chant Buildings

When 'starchitects' build art you can't escape

Work-of-art buildings by Frank Gehry or I.M. Pei often take prominent roles in cities across the globe -- but they fail at creating a sense of place

Tim De Chant Cities

Barbie Dream House has solar panels, low-flow toilets, four stories, giraffe

The American Institute of Architects has picked a winning design in its Barbie Dream House contest, and it's green as well as pink. The four-story edifice, presumably built with input from Architect Barbie, features solar panels, low-flow toilets, EnergyStar appliances, a greenhouse, eco-friendly bamboo flooring, and "decidedly NO parking garages and driveways." It also has a meditation space, a home gym, and a 1,500 square foot entertainment area. It's hard to reconcile green design with a client so into overconsuming that she's actually a plastic toy.

Jess Zimmerman Culture

World's largest artificial floating island anticipates, causes climate change

Sure, it's got solar panels on the roof, but let's face it -- the world's largest floating island, which hosts an entertainment complex catering to the first world denizens of Seoul, South Korea, isn't exactly carbon neutral. That doesn't mean it isn't a valuable addition to the corpus of public works projects as thought experiments in how to create a sustainable, climate disaster-proof future.

Christopher Mims Buildings

Passive house mini-boom in NYC heralds furnace-free future

New York City and the rest of the tri-state area are getting their first wave of "passive houses," a type of construction in which a building is so well-insulated that it doesn't require heating in the winter.

Christopher Mims Technology

Build this beautiful shipping container house for only $40K

There's been a small vogue for houses and buildings made of shipping containers, which are cheap, plentiful, and often end up tossed in the sea (either on purpose or otherwise). This airy two-container dwelling is one of the prettiest we've seen, and it only cost $40,000 to build.

Jess Zimmerman Culture

‘Walkerville’ tent city springs up in shadow of Wisconsin’s grand Capitol

The Wisconsin State Capitol Building.Photo: Sarah GoodyearI wrote back in January about the importance of public space and urban design in the Egyptian revolution, and more generally about the role it plays in the ability of people to protest the actions of their governments and demand political change. Well, last week I was in Madison, […]

Sarah Goodyear Buildings

New Orleans proves passive houses work just as well in hot climates

New Orleans might be turning into an island, but by God, it will be a stylish, energy-efficient one, if some Canadian architects have anything to say about it. We already knew passive houses were all kinds of awesome, capable of staying warm in even harsh winters without any kind of heating at all. But NOLA […]