Articles by Victor Delaqua

In 1856б Owen Jones released the book The Grammar of Ornament in which he presented a compilation of visual languages ​​adopted by the most diverse cultures – made from the author’s explorations in places such as Greece, Egypt, Constantinople and India. The work reflects how Victorians examined international art and design by placing Britain at the center of the debate in order to establish “general principles” that promoted a certain system of different styles through their own perspectives. At the time, the publication was a major editorial success and influenced everything from William Morris (from the Arts and Crafts movement) to modernist architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. However, in 2019, Priya Khanchandani and Sam Jacob re-read Jones’s work and demonstrated not only the colonizing aspects of his point of view, but also proposed a reinvention of these visual systems and patterns in accordance with contemporary times.

In 1856б Owen Jones released the book The Grammar of Ornament in which he presented a compilation of visual languages ​​adopted by the most diverse cultures – made from the author’s explorations in places such as Greece, Egypt, Constantinople and India. The work reflects how Victorians examined international art and design by placing Britain at the center of the debate in order to establish “general principles” that promoted a certain system of different styles through their own perspectives. At the time, the publication was a major editorial success and influenced everything from William Morris (from the Arts and Crafts movement) to modernist architects Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright. However, in 2019, Priya Khanchandani and Sam Jacob re-read Jones’s work and demonstrated not only the colonizing aspects of his point of view, but also proposed a reinvention of these visual systems and patterns in accordance with contemporary times.

Oscar Niemeyer was a revolutionary of modernism, with an architectural language characterized by audacious curves and elaborated structures. The Brazilian architect established an architectural vision of a future utopian Brazil, one that ultimately has not come to pass. While public attention is often drawn to his masterpieces in Brasília, somewhat hidden from the architectural discourse is a house that Niemeyer designed for himself; a colonial-style scheme offering a radical departure from the expressive forms of his more noted works. 

‘The Hedonist’ was selected to be one of ‘Hotel ShabbyShabby’ rooms for Theather der Welt in Mannheim – the most influential theater festival in Germany.

Netflix isn’t just a great service for relaxing or procrastinating—it can also be a great learning tool for architecture and urbanism. That is why we have put together seven tips—including both series and documentaries—for architecture-related viewing that, in addition to being entertaining, can help broaden your knowledge.

This month ArchDaily is exploring the topic of work, demonstrating how businesses can benefit from a good quality space: employee comfort, creativity stimulation, rest areas, brand image improvements, new talents attraction. Inspired by these topics, we selected fifteen contemporary Brazilian projects that illustrate different scales and ways of working to inspire this type of program.

Sloping plots often present themselves as major challenges and therefore become a determining factor of the project by enabling various forms of approach, overlapping the ground, respecting its slope or even burying itself in it. To illustrate all these alternatives, we selected fifteen projects that present different solutions in dealing with landscape.

The house is located in a neighborhood with abundant afforestation. The flat ground, surrounded by houses and no distant views, is longer than the standard. The project intends to build a large garden that permeates the house and builds the landscape, in continuity with the existing vegetation. The tall trees (pau ferro, with 8m height) were brought in the beginning of the works.

In order to further explore how we think about the future of cities, ArchDaily’s topic of the month for July is resilience. To prepare for disasters or disruptions in the system, we spoke with biologist Alessandra Araújo, founder of bio-inspirations and professor of Biomimicry at the Architectural Association Amazon Visiting School and the Master Ecological Design Thinking at Schumacher College, who discussed her thoughts on resilience in the field of architecture and urbanism through a different point of view: nature.

Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology allows the design process to be organized in a structured and disciplined manner by keeping the design, model, and documentation of each project in the same file. Whether through ArchiCAD or Revit, offices increasingly migrate to this type of tool for the assistance they provide to architects. Here, we selected ten works, of different scales, that were made through BIM software.