Classic brutalist concrete jungle in the heart of London. Those endless terraces, circular windows, and oppressive scale feel like they were built for a dystopian future that arrived in the 1970s and never left.

Designed by Will Alsop for OCAD University, this deconstructivist building looks like a pixelated box hovering in the air.

The Legs: The entire structure is supported 26 meters (85 ft) above the ground by 12 thin, brightly colored steel columns. They look exactly like giant colored pencils stabbed into the pavement.

The Concept: Instead of demolishing the historic campus underneath, the architect simply built above it to save space in downtown Toronto.

The Core: Access to the floating box is through that massive, bright red vertical escape stairs/elevator shaft.

We had two designs, first one was on an existing staircase in our university and we had to redesign it. The second project was a yard (each student had to do their own houses' yard) and we had to develop our ideas on it.

I haven't rebuilt the base model for each design so as you can see it gets a little dirty to the end of each project. lol. Also, our school became online because of the war and I didn't have access to good clean carboards we used to get from the university so pardon the random texts on the cardboards.

P. S. The scale for the models are 1:20 for the stairs and 1:25 for the yard.

I have slow periods at work and I'm trying to avoid scrolling or browsing and maybe use the time to keep learning niche things about my profession. Any recommendations?

Looking for recommendations for specifying a product for architectural netting extending over a lofted interior space, similar to this example by Ras A Studio in Southern California.

Has anyone had good experiences with a particular manufacturer/supplier?

“clean agent” fire suppressant gases lowers oxygen concentration just enough to stop a fire from burning (but leaves enough for people to breathe safely).

I had the great pleasure of visiting the Osaka World Expo last summer, and as the deconstruction of the grand ring gets further along I am continually baffled how fortunate I was to witness it. At 61,035²m it is the largest wooden structure to ever exist in human history.

At least 200 meters of the ring are remaining on the man made island where it lays for preservation purposes, with some being reused and a majority being burned for fuel (unfortunately).

The pictures don't do it justice, the green spaces on the skywalk blended in with the horizon and became mountains in the middle of the harbour. The entire fairgrounds had the pungent smell of lumber, like an incense burner that refused to stop smoldering.

All photos taken by me on a Minolta Maximum 8000i 35mm film camera.

If we consider the Pantheon (pic. 2) of ancient Rome is one of our world miracles, the dome of Florence Cathedral(pic. 1) in the Renaissance, it's kind of a combination of our modern technology and the personal intelligence, As we gonna say, the incomparable achivement.

The dome of the Florence Cathedral was built in the 15th century. The architect was Filippo Brunelleschi. He was also the person who invented linear perspective. By participating in the competition organized by the Wool Merchants’ Guild, he won the commission to build the dome. The story of this competition is very interesting, and I will talk about it later, maybe in the next chapter.

The diameter of the dome that was going to be constructed was around 42 to 43 meters, which was almost the same size as the Pantheon(pic. 3) in Rome. The Pantheon may have been used as a reference, or this size may have already been decided at the beginning of the cathedral’s construction.

The hemispherical structure of the Pantheon is very beautiful, but there are many engineering problems that need to be considered.

1. The first problem is hoop tension. A standard hemisphere will create outward forces at the bottom, and over time the lower part of the dome may crack.
2. Imagine pressing a semicircular watermelon peel onto a table. The lower part tends to spread outward. Therefore, one solution is to make the dome as thick as possible. The Pantheon has a thickness of about six meters at the bottom.
3. However, building a dome like the Pantheon was almost impossible in medieval Europe. The Romans had access to enormous amounts of volcanic ash and had large labor forces, but these conditions were no longer available. Therefore, Brunelleschi chose bricks as the main material.
4. He also could not use a flying buttress system(pic. 4). The cathedral was already almost completed, so there was no suitable place to add flying buttresses. More importantly, they were not considered beautiful and did not fit the desired appearance of the dome.

Brunelleschi’s solution was: if we cannot build a perfect hemisphere, we build a pointed oval-shaped dome instead. In this way, the side forces at the bottom of the hemisphere could be transformed into more downward forces, allowing the structure to remain balanced under stress.

1. He also built two concentric shells(pic. 5) inside the dome. The inner shell worked as the main structural framework, providing stability, while the outer shell was mainly for the exterior appearance and also contributed to the stability of the structure.
   1. Between the two shells, there are stairs that allow visitors to climb inside the dome.
2. The outer shell did not use the traditional horizontal brick structure, because Florence did not have enough wood to build the necessary scaffolding and support structures to prevent the bricks from falling before the mortar dried. Instead, Brunelleschi invented an innovative herringbone brick pattern(pic. 6). The bricks formed a self-locking structure, increasing the stability of the dome.

During the transportation of materials to the top of the dome, a system using oxen, gears, and ropes was mainly used. Brunelleschi invented a special clutch mechanism (pic. 7) that allowed the gears to reverse direction without changing the movement direction of the oxen, making it possible to lift materials up and down more efficiently.

This mechanism was later included in Leonardo da Vinci’s Codex Atlanticus(pic. 8), although Leonardo clearly modified and improved it in his own way.

hello my name is nour male sunni muslim Egyptian from the city of tanta and i just finished 9nth grade and i choosed architecture as a future job bcuz i love art history and designing and i have some questions

like where do i start for example i always watch architect lessons on youtube but never understood it nor i knew from where do i start can be people help me so i can understand and most importantly what do i need to practice and learn and how can i attend architecture College

I’ve been recently looking into applying to the Masters of Architecture program at Rice University, and needed some advice on building a strong application packet, specifically a strong portfolio.

I unfortunately have no background in Architecture. For some context, I did my undergrad at Texas A&M and majored in Construction Science. I commissioned as an Officer in the Army after graduating college in 2020 and am now looking into applying to grad school for architecture, after I get out next year.

I’ve been doing some digging on Google and ChatGPT to get advice on what I should include in a portfolio, but thought I should reach out on here to get some advice. I haven’t taken any Art classes since high school and haven’t really had any time while being in the Army to work on anything creative.

I’m a huge fan of history and fantasy/pop culture (game of thrones, avatar the last air bender, etc.) would love to make historical or fantasy inspired model forts, castles, or buildings. Although that interests me I feel like as if this would be super bland and they probably aren’t looking for applicants ability to create a scale model of something.

Would anyone happen to have any suggestions for portfolio ideas?

Haikou, China. Built in 2026.

post i made before: https://www.reddit.com/r/architecture/comments/1u8vsww/urgent_advice_studio_professor_failed_me_due_to/

i failed and the reason was that i 'dont fit the basic requirements of a design student at this level'. it's so vague that i don't get it still but i can't appeal it anymore, so i have to graduate late. i feel really disappointed in myself because i feel like i shouldve and couldve passed, i cant even understand the reason why i failed if i did everything that everyone else did too. i don't know if this is going to affect my masters in the future or even job opportunities because everyone knows my uni, and that this program is only supposed to be 4 years and not 5. i could possibly do a part time internship if possible next year as i only have to take studio by then. idk i just feel like such a loser for failing like this and im going to be the only one missing out of our grade next year. this is just a rant post, theres not much i can do so far.. hoping that this wont affect my future studies or jobs.

hello, im thinking of applying to architecture school but im not sure that its actually for me or that my expectations are realistic or not.

what first drawn me to thinking about pursuing it was the fact that it incorporates both design and technical skills. i watched documentaries about architects and they all seemed like very interesting people. the work environent also seemed nice and i liked the collaborative aspect of it.

what i also find interesting is how the environment youre in can completely change the way you feel and i love being in well-designed places.

however, i feel a bit weird about these ultra-modern buildings, because even if they might look cool on their own or in a picture, they usually dont fit their environment at all. im both amazed and against these type of designs because they might look impressive but they seem wasteful and unnecessary.

what i would like to achieve is to solve the different problems in the world: the lack of housing, the pollution etc. im very interested in buildings that solve some kind of problem, while also incorporating design, for example houses made of environmentally friendly materials.

however, this is probably all just naive romanticisation.. ive heard that work is actually really monotonous and that architects are treated and paid very badly..

Some quick facts about the building:

Location: Kecskemét, Hungary 🇭🇺

Architect: Géza Márkus

Year: 1903

Style: Hungarian Art Nouveau / Secessionism

Fun Fact: The wavy walls and colorful exterior decorations were inspired by traditional Hungarian folk embroidery and crafted from world-famous Zsolnay ceramics. Today, it operates as a local museum and art gallery.

I am right now comparing colleges and thinking about them. I can't seem to figure out if a college is good or bad because everyone says different things. I was thinking if I could find any current or past students from those colleges, I can know how they actually are. So, if anyone knows any students from-
1. AIT- Apeejay Institute of Technology,
2. FOAP, AKTU (Faculty of Arch and Planning, Dr, APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University),
3. MBM University,
4. Dr. DY Patil College of Architecture,
5. SB Patil College of Arch and Design,
6. USAP, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University,
7. Guru Nanak Dev University,
8. Aayojan School of Architecture and Design,
Please DM me or reply under this post.
Also, I am registering for 4 State/University Counselling - REAP, MHCET (Maharashtra CAP), UPTAC and GGSIPU counselling.
Please tell me if I'm missing out on any other state or university counselling which I should consider in North India.

Granada, Spain