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On October 17th, 1989, the Oakland A’s were playing the San Francisco Giants in the World Series, but just as the game was kicking off—the television broadcast cut out. When the signal came back, it was no longer the baseball game. These were the early minutes of the Loma Prieta earthquake, which struck near Santa
A border is an idea so powerful that we never even have to see it to believe it. Or believe in it. Global borders can be sites of peace and conflict, violence and celebration, opportunity and confinement. And borders as they exist today – which is to say, increasingly militarized and clearly defined – are
Last year, an accident left my right arm and shoulder numb and paralyzed. After extensive testing, doctors determined that I had severely injured my right brachial plexus — a crucial nexus of nerve pathways carrying signals back and forth between my spinal column and right upper extremities. It was made clear that I shouldn’t expect
In a limestone cave deep in Central Slovenia, an unremarkable insect lives in complete darkness. This tiny beetle, barely visible to the naked eye, has no eyes and a brownish-yellow coloration—adaptations to a life spent entirely underground. The beetle has survived for approximately two million years in this harsh environment, yet in the past century,
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Conceived as a threshold, the Burden Museum & Gardens Welcome Center establishes a formal entry to the Burden Museum & Gardens campus through a series of simple, legible forms—architecture deliberately embedded in the landscape to frame, heighten, and ultimately reveal it. The new 6,500 SF Burden Museum & Gardens Welcome Center—with 3,000 SF of covered outdoor space—serves as the primary point of arrival to Burden Museum & Gardens and the broader LSU AgCenter Botanic Gardens campus. Located on land once stewarded by Steele Burden (1920–1995)—a Louisiana horticulturist, preservationist, and civic leader whose lifelong cultivation of his family estate shaped hundreds of acres of gardens, forests, and agricultural fields—the site carries deep cultural, agricultural, and ecological significance. Steele Burden, along with his sister Ione Easter Burden and sister-in-law Jeannette Monroe Burden, ultimately donated the land to LSU in 1960. Today, the 440-acre property is envisioned as a pla...
The project introduces a new university building within one of Durango’s most prominent pedestrian and recreational areas. Las Alamedas is characterized by tree lined streets, pedestrian promenades, and a strong everyday presence of pedestrians. The project establishes its relationship with this setting through an intermediate condition: an architecture with a clear urban presence, whose scale and materiality engage with the existing landscape. The tower's central element is a full-height atrium. This void establishes visual continuity between the surrounding trees and the interior spaces, while the glazed curtain wall makes the lobby visible from the street. From within, the urban landscape is framed by different levels and circulation routes, keeping the context a constant presence throughout the building experience. The structure becomes particularly expressive along the south facade. The bracing required for the tower’s structural efficiency is incorporated into the architecture...
NOTA (formerly NOT A HOTEL) has revealed two new projects in Japan designed by Tadao Ando and Herzog & de Meuron. The hospitality operator has also released updated visuals for a previously announced development on Yakushima by Ateliers Jean Nouvel. Image credit: Tadao Ando Architect & AssociatesImage credit: Tadao Ando Architect & Associates The new Tadao Ando-designed villa will be located along the coast of Japan’s Kinki region, characterized by a circular roof and an organically shaped reflecting pool. The scheme uses concrete to establish a geometric composition combining straight and curved forms. Image credit: Tadao Ando Architect & AssociatesImage credit: Tadao Ando Architect & Associates The design is intended to respond to changing light conditions throughout the day and across seasons, while establishing a relationship between the built structure and the coastal surroundings. The firm describes the intention of the scheme as to create a place where “one lives in harmony wit...
The Numerate Case for Aesthetic Abundance
One extra home can change the rules, the costs, and who can afford to build.
