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At University of North Carolina’s Chapel Hill campus legend has it that if on the first day of each semester you drink out from the Old Well fountain you will maintain a 4.0 GPA. The drinking fountain located beneath a domed rotunda structure in the is a key fixture on campus and recognizable as the symbol used in the university’s branding and logo. Beginning on May 30, the Old Well will undergo renovation that will introduce a permanent sloped ramp that will unite the stone pavers with the uppermost platform of the well. Since its initial construction in 1795—when it…

The city of Shenzhen straddles the border of Guangdong and Hong Kong and has undergone great change over the last half century. The former fishing town, perched on the South China Sea, has grown from approximately 300,000 residents in 1980 to nearly 20 million today. Unsurprisingly, that growth has fueled a long-running construction boom that includes myriad civic institutions. One such project is the Four Roof Pavilion by Los Angeles–based firms Found Projects and >Schneider Luescher: Its airy design and public quarters act as a gateway for the recently completed Pingshan Children’s Park. Pingshan Children’s Park, designed by WEi Studio,…

Like so many, the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns, as defined by Vitruvius in the first century BC, hold my very first memories of learning about the history of architecture. Centuries later, during the Renaissance, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola would famously add the Tuscan and Composite orders to the mix. Whichever you prefer—Greek trio or Italian five—the orders have occupied Western imagination as the archetype of a logic and language imposed upon the act of building. An exhibition in Dumbo, Brooklyn led by four researchers, questions the historic understanding architecture takes toward columnar ordering. Hosted by the Sou Fujimoto–designed cafe-bookstore-gallery,…

Architecture studio Mixtura has built a new conventual complex, featuring wooden textures and artisanal details in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.Named Conventual Complex, the 5,300-square-metre building was completed as part of an important social project that the Fondazione Betania Onlus has been carrying out in Brazil since 2010.The cell building seen from the eastThe project has already seen the construction of a kindergarten for 120 children from the neighboring favelas, and also involves the construction of a school complex for more than 500 children living in conditions of serious hardship.Childrens playing in front of the refectoryMixtura completed the building based on…

Madrid-based architecture studio Office for Strategic Spaces has renovated a 19th-century housing block with a breathing and light-filled courtyard that is shaped by crossing beams in Barcelona, Spain.Named La Carboneria, the project, located in a humble 1860’s collective housing estate in Barcelona, is the oldest building of the seminal Cerda’s Eixample neighborhood, easy to identify by its iconic square urban grid. The location of the project faced with major design decisions by the city to intervene with “long, wide and symmetrical axis and boulevards” which resembled the layouts of Paris, Vienna, Moscow or Washington in the middle of the 19th century. Although…

The French Pavilion has installed a hemispherical-shaped structure that becomes a performance space at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale.In response to Lesley Lokko’s theme The Laboratory of the Future, the exhibition, titled Ball Theater, was envisioned to be “a laboratory of identities, places and imaginaries” to become an interactive space for all visitors. The 2023 Venice Architecture Biennale has opened to the public on Saturday 20 May, 2023 at the Arsenale and Giardini venues and the biennale can be visited until Sunday, 26 November, 2023.The Ball Theater is curated by architecture firm Muoto, in partnership with Georgi Stanishev and Clémence La…

In the current investment landscape, an increasing number of investors are gravitating towards alternative investments as a means to diversify their portfolios and potentially achieve enhanced returns. Alternative investments encompass a broad spectrum of assets beyond traditional options like stocks, bonds, and cash. These can include real estate, commodities, hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, and more. Advantages of Venturing into Alternative Investments: The appeal of alternative investments lies in their ability to offer diversification, enabling investors to spread their risk across different assets. Moreover, alternative investments have the potential to generate superior returns compared to conventional investments and act…

New York City is one step closer to formalizing a permanent set of standards for sidewalk and roadway dining and upgrading its open spaces. Legislation introduced by New York City Council Members Marjorie Velázquez, Keith Powers, Julie Menin, and Justin L. Brannan, with support from mayor Eric Adams proposes the permanent establishment of sidewalk and roadway dining, succeeding the temporary plans outlined in Local Law 77, through which structures ranging from ramshackle to luxurious were quickly constructed across New York during the pandemic. Licensing will be overseen by the New York City Department of Transportation (DOT). Sidewalk and roadway cafes—defined…

Outside the University of Texas at Austin’s Blanton Museum of Art, 12 three-story-tall, fan-like pillars form a canopy that shades an expansive outdoor community space. Moody Patio, as the shade structure is called, is the primary addition of a Snøhetta-led renovation project which saw a revitalization of the museum’s grounds. As previously reported by AN, the renovation to the Blanton was announced in 2021, with plans to “unify and revitalize” the museum campus, an expansive, 200,000-square-foot site housing two main buildings and Ellsworth Kelly’s chapel-like Austin. Blanton’s new grounds culminate the recently completed Texas Capitol Mall, a new pedestrian greenway…

The Design Educates Awards, the awards that annually recognize the best projects that respond to complex social and environmental contexts and carry educational value, have announced the results of the 2023 edition. The awards look for what will have a lasting impact on users and the environment and showcase the world’s best ideas and realizations that can educate.The 2022 edition attracted applicants from 40 different countries. Most of these entries represent architectural projects, but as the award becomes more widely recognized, it is gaining interest among product, installation, and service designers. “Although the educational layer still does not play a critical role in…