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DLR group details case studies using integrated design The value of Integrated Design Architect Steven McKay has been selected as the newest CEO of the global, 100% employee-owned firm DLR Group. He began his journey with the company in 1996, and has led the firm’s integrated design practice during those three decades. The team celebrates this model of ‘integrated design’ as a valuable and more efficient workflow that involves a range of disciplines working together in harmony. The process brings all of the voices together to make the crucial design decisions and iterations at the earliest stages of a project. ...

Translucent veil drapes over MAD architects' xinhee design center in china MAD Architects completes Xinhee Design Center   Xinhee Design Center, created by MAD Architects, sees its completion after almost seven years of construction. Located in Xiamen, a port city on china’s southeast coast, and designed for the international fashion group Xinhee and its six subsidiary brands, the scheme unfolds around a central atrium, with six curvaceous petals emerging from a central core. Occupying an area of around 61,000 sqm (656,600 sq ft), the architecture introduces a flexible and innovative workplace that blurs the boundaries between built and landscape, as well...

using AI, vincent callebaut reimagines 'haussmannian' paris architecture as green, breathable buildings Vincent Callebaut envisions A Resilient, Green & Breathable Paris Drawing from the work of Baron Haussmann, who was responsible for the urban transformation of Paris between 1853 and 1870, architectural firm Vincent Callebaut Architectures presents a series of futuristic, biologically inspired architectures for the French capital. The architects harness the power of new artificial intelligence tools to create a collection of green ‘Haussmannian’ buildings and biomimetic positive-energy structures called ‘Archibiotics’.  The resulting units are built from biobased materials (such as rammed earth, bamboo, microalgae, mycelium, etc.) and are...

Five ways drones will change the way buildings are designed Authors Paul Cureton Senior Lecturer in Design (People, Places, Products), Lancaster University Ole B. Jensen Professor of Urban Theory and Urban Design, Aalborg University Drones are already shaping the face of our cities – used for building planning, heritage, construction and safety enhancement. But, as studies by the UK’s Department of Transport have found, swathes of the public have a limited understanding of how drones might be practically applied. It’s crucial that the ways drones are affecting our future are understood by the majority of people. As experts in design futures...

Cooling buildings by nearly 5ºC possible thanks to new whiter-than-white paint Author Andrew Parnell Research Fellow in Physics and Astronomy, University of Sheffield From icy tundras to billowing clouds, the colour white crops up repeatedly in our planet’s palette. This colour provides a natural way for light from the sun to reflect back from the Earth’s surface and into space. This effect – known as the planet’s albedo – has a huge impact on average global temperature. Imagine a world covered entirely with oceans. Although the idea might evoke a refreshing sense of coolness, the absence of reflective white areas...