Speaking with Milinda Pathiraja feels a lot like being in the presence of a bright light—in terms of an architectural analogy, perhaps a lighthouse. Personally speaking, it would be a familiar lighthouse: Milinda was not only a former FuturArc Prize 2017 juror, but his highly acclaimed projects were also profiled frequently in this magazine over […]
Khondaker Hasibul Kabir & Suhailey Farzana are architects based in Bangladesh and one of the winners of the prestigious Aga Khan Awards for Architecture 2022. Together, they identify as community architects, co-founding Co.Creation.Architects (CCA) in 2015. Based in Jhenaidah, Bangladesh, CCA focuses on engaging with marginalised communities and ecological landscapes, believing that by valuing and […]
Dr Emi Kiyota is an environmental gerontologist, consultant and organisational culture change specialist, with more than 20 years of experience in designing and implementing person-centred care practice in long-term care facilities and hospitals globally. She holds great concern for the needs of elders in low-middle income countries—her contributions include a vast array of national and […]
Lao Tze said, “To attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, remove things every day.” What happens when you meet the guru of conservation and heritage to discuss the topic close to his heart? You gain some wisdom by removing common misconceptions of a subject thought to be old and staid. Far from […]
A recent study has reported that Hong Kong has the best public transportation in the world.1 The worldwide ranking public transit sub-index based its findings on the volume of traffic, network density and infrastructure quality, while also including measures of how well cities are maintaining mass transit networks and number of commuters using them. “It’s […]
“Macet!”, meaning traffic jam, is an exclamation too often heard in Jakarta’s streets. It is no simple matter to unravel transportation issues in Indonesia’s most populous metropolis. Over 11 million people reside in the 660-square-kilometre land area, seeing an additional 7 million workers commuting from satellite cities each weekday. During peak hours, it is common […]
Swati Janu is Founder of Social Design Collaborative, a practice that combines architectural activism, community engagement, policy advocacy and design pedagogy. She is an architect, writer and community artist based in Delhi with an MSc in Sustainable Urban Development from University of Oxford, UK. Swati was recently awarded the Moira Gemmill Prize in Emerging Architecture […]
This year, we conducted our first-ever virtual jury meeting for FuturArc Prize, where jurors* Anton Siura, Carlos Bañón, Daniel Lim and Quang Vu Linh had a candid dialogue on the top-scoring entries as well as their views on this cycle’s theme and advice for real-life applications. *) Kotchakorn Voraakhom was unable to make it for […]
Read More… from Practicality or Concept: Excerpts from FuturArc Prize 2022 Jury Meeting
Talking to Wendy W. Fok feels easy even though the myriad topics discussed are not. She has a way of meeting you where you are when giving her extensive insight and knowledge, breaking down complex issues into ‘byte-sized’ information. Aside from removing the marketing veil of trendy terms such as NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and seeing […]
For someone as highly acclaimed and awarded as Toyo Ito—who is the recipient of The Royal Gold Medal from The Royal Institute of British Architects; The 22nd Praemium Imperiale in Honor of Prince Takamatsu; The Pritzker Architecture Prize; The UIA Gold Medal, to name a few—one would think he might be hurried in his replies […]
Love + Green Building: You and Me and the Beautiful Planet—the title of Jason F. McLennan’s children’s book encapsulates well the essence of what his work and passion are all about. Although he is one of the world’s most influential and sought-after individuals in architecture and the Green building movement today, the multi-hyphenate recipient of […]
The Plugin House concept from People’s Architecture Office (PAO) started years ago as a pilot programme in Beijing, and has since expanded to other cities in China and now in the US. Several permutations and versions have developed over the years as an answer to communities’ call for solutions in the cities. Their expanding Plugin […]
