Articles by Andreea Cutieru

Last year’s granting of the Mies van der Rohe Award to a social housing refurbishment project brought into the spotlight a topic of interest for many European cities: the moral and physical rehabilitation of post-war housing blocks.

The first episode of Practice, a new series of documentaries about the process of architecture, takes an in-depth look into the design thinking of Invisible Studio‘s founder, Piers Taylor. The short film follows the architect as he builds a small cabin, alternating visually compelling imagery with pieces of conversation about his early years in the profession and the beginning of Invisible Studio. Taylor also shares his thoughts about building with volunteers and working with wood. The rhythm, the sound design (created by Simon James) and the cinematic quality of the film make of the short documentary an immersive experience.

The developers of Design District have released new visuals of the future creative hub at the heart of Greenwich Peninsula. Designed by a collective of eight well-renowned architectural studios, and with landscaping by Schulze+Grassov, the project aims to gather together startups, artists and entrepreneurs across many industries, generating a new creative neighbourhood for London.

In this short video, Jens Thomas Arnfred and Søren Nielsen from the Danish office Vandkunsten Architects talk about wood and the many reasons why it makes for such excellent building material. The two architects discuss the sustainability advantages of using timber and reflect on its influence on our senses and mind, on our feeling of wellbeing.

Through its urban planning and civic buildings, Chandigarh represents an iconic fragment of Modernist architecture. This economic and administrative centre was meant to showcase the progressiveness of the 1950s’ newly independent India.

In this interview by Parametric Architecture, NEXT Office’s founder, Iranian architect Alireza Taghaboni, talks about his approach to design, describing how he reinterprets the principles of traditional Iranian architecture and translates the cultural and climatic context into his work. The interview covers the conceptual thinking behind several projects, as the architect discusses dichotomies such as mass-void, introversion-extroversion as being the recurrent themes of his designs.