Articles by Katherine Allen

Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD) has announced the six recipients of the 2019 cycle of the six recipients of their Richard Rogers Fellowship program. Inspired by Lord Richard Rogers’ “commitment to cross-disciplinary investigation and engagement,” the Fellowship established last year to support individuals “whose research will be enhanced by access to London’s extraordinary institutions, libraries, practices, professionals, and other unique resources.”

This extract was originally published on Common Edge as “The Legacy of Christopher Alexander: Criteria for an Intelligent Architecture.“

London architecture today, for all the big-hitters that dominate the headlines (Foster, Rogers, Heatherwick), finds its richness in small studios. Peter Barber leads one such studio, where for the past 30 years he has led the development of some of the city’s most sensitive housing and housing developments.

Zaha Hadid Architects and A_Lab have been announced the winner of a competition to design two new metro stations in Oslo. The stations, Fornebu Senter and Fornbuporten, are to be part of Oslo’s new Fornebubanen line, connecting a major existing rail interchange to the Fornebu Senter, a major shopping center in the city.

The Aga Khan Award for Architecture has announced the master jury for the 2017-2019 award cycle. The jury, a diverse and global group comprising architects, academics, and theorists, will select the recipients of the award, each of whom will, in turn, receive a USD $I million prize for their winning work.

WOHA’s Kampung Admiralty Singapore in Singapore has been named the 2018 World Building of the Year at the World Architecture Festival, concluding this year’s three-day event in Amsterdam. The building, which combines dedicated senior-housing facilities with a broad mixed-use program and a lush green roof, was selected from a strikingly broad shortlist that included works from offices such as Sanjay Puri Architects, Koffi & Diabate Architectes, Heatherwick Studio, Spheron Architects, and INNOCAD.

Our world revolves. Not just literally, as it does around the sun, but in nature’s every aspect. Seasons cycle into each other (though more erratically each year), waves trace and retrace the beaches with the shifting tide, flowers open, close, and turn to follow the path of the sun. Even we are governed by these circular natural systems. Maintenance of our circadian rhythms, a human connection to light, is so essential to our health that it is a required element in many contemporary building codes. 

The 2018 World Architecture Festival has announced the second-day winners of this year’s edition, featuring works from such diverse firms as SeARCH, Sordo Madaleno, NextOffice, and Grimshaw.

Planning can, on occasion, feel Sisyphean. Emerging technologies, shifting economies, and changing governments can all enact dramatic and unpredictable change in short order. So what’s the use of planning for the future, let alone planning for a future nearly half a century away?

Nestled in the steep gorges and river valleys of Japan’s Tokushima prefecture is Kamikatsu – a small town seemingly like any other. But Kamikatsu, unlike its neighbors (or indeed, most towns in the world), is nearly entirely waste-free.