The Luum Temple in Tulum, Mexico is a pioneering example of what happens when traditional wisdom meets modern engineering. It is designed to stand against hurricane winds and significant seismic forces. The structural system has five intersecting hyperbolic paraboloids made of bamboo arches and split bamboo beams. Due to bamboo’s lightweight nature, particular attention must … Read more
Turkey has long been known for its labyrinth of underground cities, and archaeologists now believe that they may have discovered the largest one yet. Sarayini was once used as a shelter by local Christians who were persecuted by the Roman empire and local Muslim leaders and needed to protect themselves from raids. The 215,000-square-foot ancient … Read more
Billed as the “first major museum exhibition to survey the relationship between architecture and the environmental movement in the United States,” Emerging Ecologies: Architecture and the Rise of Environmentalism presents drawings, models, and other artifacts that cover roughly six decades: from the mid-1930s to the mid-1990s. The heart of the exhibition at the Museum of … Read more
Lola Ben-Alon sloshes water into a tray of dirt and plunges her fingers into the muck. She smears it between her hands to see if it cakes on her skin, then mashes it into a sticky lump. “You need to know how much clay is in the soil,” she says. “That’s the first criterion for … Read more
The use of trunks or branches of trees in their entirety can accentuate their innate mechanical properties for structural stability. By embracing the grain structure and longitudinal fibers of timber, these wood pieces demonstrate strong mechanical resistance. Some engineering companies, such as Whole Trees, and architectural research institutes, such as the Architectural Association postgraduate program … Read more
CLEZOL is a Rwandan construction company that specialized in rammed earth and compressed stabilized earth blocks. The company was created by three Rwandan civil engineers who worked on the construction project of Rwanda Institute for Conservation Agriculture, before they came up with the idea to create their own company. “As the world is focusing on … Read more