Located in the heart of Washington, D.C., Midtown Center is a 14-story mixed-use office, dining, and retail complex arranged around a large new public plaza. It is designed by SHoP Architects and completed in 2018.

The two towers are connected by three pedestrian bridges that extend 100 feet across the plaza below. Much of the ground plane is given over to smaller gathering places linked by public pathways and connect adjoining neighborhoods.

The building works to integrate with its environment—and honor local architectural traditions—through a unique glass-and-copper facade designed to slowly patina over time. This architectural expression optimizes solar shading while maintaining maximal daylight conditions for the workplaces within.

The Benchmark School is a private elementary school in Media, Pennsylvania. It was created by SHoP architects and completed in August 2018. This metal-clad Innovation Lab is set at an angle between a stucco-faced performing-arts building and another wing. Students see into the lab through the glass entry. The 2,200-square-foot glass-and-metal-clad two-story structure is tucked between two existing buildings.

The upper-level houses three spaces for middle-school pupils: two open labs separated by a sliding-glass partition for maximum flexibility, and a small triangular space (for messier projects) wedged between them behind a glazed wall. The extensive wooded grounds can be seen through the large windows on both levels of the upper-level labs.  A classroom for the youngest children is on the lower level. With butcher-block lab-style tables and counters along the walls for computers, the rooms include sinks, adjustable track lighting, power cord outlets that drop down from the ceiling, and whiteboard wall surfaces.

When Chile was faced with a housing crisis after an earthquake hit that killed 500 people and destroyed 80% of the city’s buildings, Alejandro Aravena decided to think outside the box. He had limited funding, and he didn’t want to leave people with small, subpar housing. So, he built half houses. These houses are just that, they are split down the middle, with one side ready to be moved into and the other side open. Families can design the other half however they want, over as much time as they need. With the floors, foundation, roof, and walls already built, families can develop better housing than they would have access to if they started from scratch. Alejandro Aravena’s firm, Elemental, even held workshops and gave out manuals to give families ideas on how to develop the other side of the house with common materials. In my team presentation, one of the points I discussed as part of the solutions to high-density development is to develop something that can be continuously reinvented and renovated, and I do believe this does just that because it is incremental housing that spreads the major costs of building a house out over multiple jobs. This design gives families a way to obtain affordable housing that they can make all their own. Alejandro Aravena won the Pritzker Prize in 2016 for his unique take on addressing housing deficits.

www.archdaily.com/797779/half-a-house-builds-a-whole-community-elementals-controversial-social-housing

This institute is set to be built in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The design was accepted in 2014. “Sleuk Rith” means “the power of the leaves” because dried leaves have historically been used for the documentation of history. This building will be used as a museum, research center, and a graduate school, to name a few. The most important role this building will have is a genocide memorial structure. Zaha Hadid wanted to create a structure that strayed from the “distress-invoking” from the majority of existing memorials. She also wanted to emphasize Cambodia’s culture and traditions that will help bring the community closer together. 

The design is composed of five wooden structures that are separated at the ground level, but become intertwined as the structure gets taller. The buildings intertwining symbolizes growth and strength from the dark events that occurred. All of the buildings will have their own purpose and use. The building materials are sustainably sourced wood, which gives the structure a natural and warming effect.

The Rainbow design from Make Architects is a strikingly simple modern house. This house a lot to offer its residents however, whether it be from high levels of comfort and durability to using materials that correlate with its surroundings. The upper portion of this house is composed of large panels of stainless steel. It acts as a lookout as it faces out towards the east. This beautiful home holds 5 bedrooms. This house consists of clad in stone and dark timber, with floor-to-ceiling glazing. The sustainable designs include a green roof, solar panels, air source heat pump, and LED lighting. The dimensions of this home is 380m^/4,000ft^2 and it is located in Essex, UK.

Gallier Hall was designed by James Gallier and was erected in 1853 on St. Charles St. at Lafayette Square. It was New Orleans City Hall for over a century. It took 8 years to construct since they ran into financial troubles. The police were the first to move into the building during construction. The tuckahoe marble Greek Revival building has two rows of fluted ionic columns. The hall is still used for civics and many events from art galleries to Mardi Gras acting as a convention center. It is a very important local landmark and even has Jefferson Davis and General Beauregard buried there. It was a place on congregation and revival especially during Reconstruction and while Huey Long was in office. It was declared a national historic landmark in 1974.It remains an important aspect of New Orleans culture, including the spot of mayoral inaugurations. Almost every parade stops in front of the hall to pay respects to those who are buried and the rich history which it has stood for.

80 Charlotte Street took this London providence by storm. This complex has 55 new apartments, a café as well as a restaurant. The entrance of this beautiful building is framed by a monolithic weathered steel structure. Throughout this whole structures residents have access to rooftop views. This building utilizes to the fullest its floor-to-ceiling heights. This is achieved by highly integrated structure and services. The windows to this building are Crittall as well as the entrance doors are blackened oak veneer. The floors of this structure are made of band-sawed timber and grooved timber panelling. The dimensions of this building is 34,500m^2/371,000ft^2.

The Port Authority Building, designed by Zaha Hadid, is located in Antwerp, Belgium. This building serves as the headquarters of the port, housing over 500 hundred port employees. I find this building to be absolutely captivating. I love that this design combines traditional with modern architecture. One of my favorite elements on this structure is the amount of windows. I personally love when buildings allow a lot of natural light in, so the amount of windows in this building is amazing to me.

The Moxy Hotel is another favorite of mine. Being built in 2018, it is fairly new and a very large building. 10 floors and a unique exterior design gives it a spot on my blog. The image that two buildings are glitched into one another is a trippy look that I like. It is different then most buildings you would see on an everyday trip. Its unique enough to maybe make you look twice if you did not catch it the first time. Overall, I am pleasantly enjoyed by this building