The new OMA-designed Taipei Performing Arts Center opened up last Sunday and so you’ll now find lots of articles, photos, and drone videos circulating around online. The two partners-in-charge, Rem Koolhaas and David Gianotten, were also on this Monocle on Design episode talking about the… Read More
This is a good idea (taken from a recent FT article by Edwin Heathcote): The hotel lobby is already understood as a kind of public space, the corporate lobby should belong to that same world, a place open to the functions of the city, porous… Read More
I had a friend — who I know from architecture school — visiting from Detroit for the weekend, so we did a little building tour on Sunday morning. This is the elevated (and half-finished) CIBC Square Park that spans over the rail lines leading into… Read More
I am usually known for my optimism for the future. But I am having a difficult time deciphering whether the new 170-km-long vertical city that Saudia Arabia just revealed (see above video) is a legitimate development proposal, a new metaverse project, or a dystopian spoof… Read More
I was on a panel last month with Jamie Miller, director of biomimicry at B+H Architects, and he remined me just how much I am fascinated by the use of biomimicry in architecture and engineering. Nature is pretty impressive and I think there’s a lot… Read More
I recently mentioned that it would be nice to be able to buy a five-storey building in Soho (New York) for $70,000. Yes, that was in 1968 dollars. But even in today’s dollars, we’re talking less than $600,000. I would gladly buy a cast-iron five-storey… Read More
If you can’t see the Twitter poll below, click here: At the time of writing this post, affordability was number one, followed by design and beauty, and then sustainability. Some of you were right to point out that these options are not always mutually exclusive.… Read More
This is a lovely little infill rental project in Tokyo by ETHNOS (architect) for Real Partners (developer): The building is 4 storeys plus a rooftop terrace. From the plans, it looks like there are 8 units, all of which are two-storey suites. The A and… Read More
Some of you might remember that Toronto City Council approved new garden suite policies earlier this year. Garden suites (also known as accessory dwelling units) are kind of like laneway suites but without the adjacent lane. Unfortunately, these new policies were subsequently appealed by a… Read More
I am a big fan of Victoria-based developer Aryze. And their Pearl Block project is a good example of why. Developed on an awkward triangular lot that had been sitting vacant for nearly 65 years and that presumably every other developer had been overlooking, the… Read More
BRANDON DONNELLY 