Fantastically futuristic, there’s something eerie about this geodesic sky-dome. Like a 1950s vision of the future coming to life, it’s otherworldly — something out of a science fiction movie. In late 2011, this dome, aptly named The Home for the Future, however, will become a reality.

Providing a year-round microclimate that showcases cooperation between man, technology, and nature, The Home for the Future was designed by Laboratory for Visionary Architecture Asia Pacific (LAVA), with the goal to create a space where technologies are seamlessly integrated to satisfy human needs. Read more…

A rendering of the East River waterfront esplanade, by SHoP Architects.

New York City’s architecture community braved the snow recently to hear Greg Pasquerelli of SHoP Architecture explain how he and his partners are moving beyond identified styles and developing a performance-based architecture practice. Christopher Sharples, Coren Sharples, William Sharples, Kimberley Holden and Gregg Pasquerelli started the firm in 1996, after graduating from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. Starting with a staff of ten, SHoP now employs 70, each person chosen for his or her special and diverse skill sets. This allows the team to tackle new ideas and test them in innovative ways.

Pasquerelli’s lecture, entitled “Out of Practice,” alluded to this desire to escape the traditional ways of architects and celebrate their field as the great generalist profession that it can be. He excited the full house at Cooper Union’s Great Hall by showing beautiful renderings of projects like the East River Park, eagerly awaited New Yorkers—construction is to be completed in August. But more importantly, he discussed their new business ventures, named SHoP Construction, SHoP Envelope, and HeliOptix, which are integrated into their practice in order to facilitate growth and innovation. Read more…

Leave it to Bjarke Ingels to win a competition for his proposal for a new waste to energy plant by designing a 31.000 m2 ski slope. The competition, which yielded 36 proposals in fall 2010, was the largest environmental initiative in Denmark. With a budget of 3.5 Billion DKK, competing teams designed structures to replace a 40- year-old Amagerforbraending plant in Copenhagen with a more sustainable waste energy plant.

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) decided to approach their design in a way that truly celebrates the idea of sustainability. What they call “hedonistic sustainability,” refers to design that improves the quality of life, both directly and indirectly- ecologically and socially. Read more…

Where can one find world class doctors, highly customized medical plans, a five star spa, health club, and restaurant? The Chaum Center, in Seoul, Korea, designed by KMD architects, combines all these things in an attempt to transform health care.

Housed in a futuristic building with lavish amenities and design elements, the Chaum Center is certainly a far cry from your average drab hospital building. KMD’s intention: to create an inspiring space that fosters relaxation. Here, futuristic elements, like the examination pods mimicking cell structures, continuous walls that snake through the interior, as well as the use of sleek materials, create a luxurious aesthetic. Read more…

How can introducing a design curriculum to a high school, in one of America’s poorest rural counties, create new opportunities? Emily Pilloton, author of Design Revolution: 100 Products that Empower People, published in 2009 by Metropolis Books, shows us, in her TED Talk about her recent project Studio H.

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Each year the Fulbright Program offers grants to 1,700 Americans to study, teach English, or conduct research.  This year, the design world has much to look forward to. Earning the title of most highly represented specialized institution of 2010, seven students holding bachelors and masters degrees from Rhode Island School of Design have been chosen to study design from a number of global perspectives.

The surpassing of such institutions as Julliard and the New England Conservancy of Music by RISD in the number of Fulbright grantees is exciting for the design world. Read more…

The Glass House’s forgotten older brother re-enters the architecture world thanks to a real estate advertisement. The Booth House, Phillip Johnson’s first commissioned home, was recently put on the market by Sirkka Damora, an architect and editor who lived there for fifty five years with her husband Robert, a renowned architectural photographer. So thank you William Raveis Real Estate for reminding the world of its impact. Read more…

Empty sky captured within the courtyard of a residential building in Hong Kong.

Thomas Kong, an architect and educator in Chicago, explores the informal use of empty sites in the Asian metropolis. His year-long Zero Project, supported by the Jaap Bakema fellowship, seeks to uncover the meanings and opportunities of urban spaces formed by social processes, rather than top-down design schemes.

What happens, he asks, when the architect steps aside and watches as people re-appropriate an empty urban site? In Bangkok and Hong Kong, for instance, barbershops or coin operated washing machines often enliven empty street corners. For Kong, this is a result of natural human behavior: people use and share public spaces in ways that cannot happen on private property or in a tightly planned city. In the examples he lists, the architect is not a protagonist. His heroes are the people, who react quickly and opportunistically to social and economic changes. Read more…