Architecture

Spectators at Beijing's Olympic swimming pool have witnessed some outlandish goings-on over the last couple of weeks: 25 world records have fallen, compared with eight at the Athens Olympics four years ago. Seven of them were broken by one swimmer, Michael Phelps of the US, while the UK's Rebecca Adlington improved on the 800 metres freestyle record - unchallenged for 19 years - by more than two seconds.Records have been tumbling in other sports too, but none at this rate. What's going on?

Finally, after years of criticizing just about everything going on in Dubai, even the so-called green twisting tower that everyone else seems to love, a project that is not, well, dubious. X-Architects have designed Xeritown to be "a novel example of man and nature working in harmony, an entire town is to be built along a north-south axis to take advantage of cool breezes blowing in off the sea." It is sort of like Foster's

Second and third year architecture students at the Architectural Association school in London have completed this year’s AA Summer Pavilion, called the Swoosh Pavilion. (more…)

Croatian architects Bif-Studio have won a competition to design a new Macedonian Orthodox church in Zagreb. (more…)

Japanese architects Atelier Tekuto have designed the Twin-Bricks House in Urawa-ku, Saitama, Japan. (more…)

At the Royal College of Art Show Two last month, architecture graduate Gemma Douglas presented her conceptual design for a combined Ministry of Defence headquarters and integration centre for citizens arriving in the UK. (more…)

http://www.dezeen.com/wp-content/uploads/movies/SO_389_Skylon_FINAL_1Mbps.flv

Film and media studio Squint/Opera have created a short film to publicise the campaign to rebuild the Skylon - a popular landmark designed by architects Powell & Moya for the 1951 Festival of Britain (more…)

X–Architects of Dubai have designed an urban complex called Xeritown that aims to be a more sustainable mode of development than recent projects in the emirate. (more…)

The Limes Hotel by Argentinian designer Alexander Lotersztain opened at the end of last month in Brisbane, Australia. (more…)

Architects DSDHA designed the new underpass at Tickle Cock bridge in Castleford, UK. (more…)

One can plunk a two storey house on a big lot in the Slovenian suburbs, "surrounded by accumulation of anonymous cliché two story individual houses," or you can "define another kind of domestic environment. The house HB is a redefinition of a specific from of traditional house, of low and elongated rural typology."

While we have not shown a lot of big suburban houses on TreeHugger for a while, the HB house by Matija Bevk and Vasa J. Perović of bevk perović arhitekti has some interesting attributes that are worth noting. ...

Swiss architects group8 with Guscetti & Tournier structural engineering are building this aviary in the Bois de la Bâtie public park in Geneva, Switzerland. (more…)

Here are some more images of The Public, a new arts centre in West Bromwich, England by architect Will Alsop. (more…)

It was the competition to end all competitions; take some food, add some architecture, with a dash of fun and here's what you get. Over 100 top architects worldwide submitted proposals for this jelly mould competition that ends up with the top ten entrants being cast in....jello. Part of the London Festival of Architecture, it's all for a good cause--Article 25,a disaster relief and design charity--and it challenged the architectural soul and notion of structure and technology. Said one (Will Alsop) : "I loved doing this, I had to mental...

Shipping pallets become low-cost, low-impact housing materials for displaced people.

When it comes to water conservation, the shower beats the bath.

Eco-Libris reviews The Urban Homestead, a how-to book about city livin' sustainability.

A recent poll reminds us that carpooling can help make a difference.

TriplePundit shares tips on how to help push for cleaner, easier e-waste disposal.

Most Huggable is a regular round...

Technicolor Bloom is an architectural installation constructed from 1400 flat plywood panels to form a double-curved perforated tunnel. (more…)

The team behind the Danish pavilion at the World Expo 2008 in Zaragoza, Spain consists of three Copenhagen-based firms — architects Spektrum Arkitekter, graphic agency Loop Associates and communications agency 2+1.

The Danish pavilion houses Círculos de Agua (Circles in the Water), an exhibition about sustainable living and lasting solutions that echoes the World Expo 2008 theme of water and sustainability. Círculos de Agua highlights Danish technologies that have started out small yet have the potential to affect global change. The underlying message is that everything we do spreads like ripples through water.

Here are some photographs of NLA Sky Walk by architects Carmody Groarke, built in Montague Place, London, as part of the London Festival of Architecture. (more…)

Patternity is the title of a research project by Sydney-based architect Frank Minnaërt, which explores the potential for transferring characteristics found in the epithelia membranes of living organisms to the field of architecture. (more…)

Here are a few snaps of The Public, a new arts building in West Bromwich, England, designed by architect Will Alsop. (more…)

Open Tables Ecology by London-based studio Working Architecture Group has been announced as the winning project in this year’s Workspace Group Urbantine Project. The design will be constructed and displayed at Tent London during the London Design Festival this September. (more…)

Image credit: Roger Ressmeyer/CORBIS

Aerogel was invented in 1931. But at $3000 per kilogram, it's use has been limited to visionary projects and unique structural applications like reinforcement of tennis raquets. But that could change soon. Halimaton Hamdan, a Cambridge-trained professor of chemistry at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Technical University of Malaysia), has announced the discovery of a cheap process for turning waste rice husks into aerogel. Actually into "Maerogel", as Hamdan has dubbed the "Malaysian aerogel"....

London-based architects Anarchitect have completed the conversion of two Victorian houses into one residence in East London. (more…)

The Zaragoza Bridge Pavilion by Zaha Hadid Architects has opened in Zaragoza, Spain. (more…)

Given the current price of oil, and the fact that over 90% of its energy is imported from outside the island chain, it’s not surprising that Hawaii would want to take action to diversify its energy supply and reduce demand. To that end, with the signature of Governor Linda Lingle on Friday, Hawaii has become the first state in the US to mandate the installation of solar water heaters in new residential construction.

The legislation, Act 204, mandates that new single-family homes built after January 1, 2010 will have to install solar waters to receive a building permit. Exceptions will be made on a case-by-case basis in forested areas, where a life cycle analysis indicate...