Architecture

Big ideas.

Bjarke Ingels, with his reputation for challenging the traditional conventions of architecture, is set to make his mark on Canadian soil.

The Messeplatz in Basel, Switzerland.

The annual Baselworld watch and jewellery show eventually, as it was bound to do, outgrew the available exhibition facilities in the Kleinbasel district of Basel, Switzerland, not so far from the picturesque bridge and river winding through the town.

Building truths.

Richard Meier, renowned as a member of the New York Five and recipient of some of the architecture world’s highest accolades, is more interested in the ongoing challenges of design innovation than in slowing down.

Architecture in Italian Renaissance painting.

Putting backgrounds front and centre is the aim of Building the Picture: Architecture in Italian Renaissance Painting, an exhibition now on at London’s National Gallery to showcase the key, and often eye-opening, roles that architecture plays in Renaissance painting.

Act of God.

Christchurch’s landmark cathedral gets a cardboard redesign by Japanese architect Shigeru Ban, who is the 2014 Pritzker Architecture Prize laureate.

The borough's finest.

Beneath all the light, colour, and exuberant personality of the interiors, passive energy mechanisms are at work, generating conspicuous energy savings.

An Ofist building renovation in Istanbul.

“The main idea for the design of the house was to not have too many ideas,” says interior architect Yasemin Arpaç of Istanbul-based Ofist. With partner Sabahattin Emir, Arpaç formulated an eminently simple—and versatile—living space for a 45-year-old bachelor.

A twist in form.

Douglas Coupland wrote fondly about his hometown when he dubbed Vancouver the “City of Glass”, a nickname that caught on quickly for its accuracy in defining the skyline. The same glass towers have also been the subjects of criticism that urban uniformity leaves something to be desired.