Friday5 - October 18, 2024 - MillerClapperton

IN THIS WEEK’S FRIDAY5

3-D Printed Affordable Housing Header Image

Initiative 99 is a global competition to design affordable housing that can be built for $99,000 or less. The winners of the second and final phase of the contest were recently announced, and two of the winning designs from the Professional category will be 3-D printed for a nonprofit community in Austin, Texas, dedicated to serving the area’s homeless population.

The competition, which launched earlier this year, attracted submissions from more than 60 countries, showcasing designs that addressed the pressing global need for affordable housing. The Phase I top prize winters and honorable mentions were invited to advance to Phase II, where they adapted their designs to site constraints and parameters for construction at Community First! Village. Construction is expected to break ground on the two winning projects in early 2025.

Location: Washington, D.C.
Products: Alucobond (MCM); PAC-CLAD (Profiled)

General Contractor: HITT Construction

Architects: WDG Architecture

Cielo is a 426-unit, multifamily apartment building in the NoMa neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The 11-story building features 16,000 square feet of luxury amenity space and 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.

The LEED Gold-certified complex includes studio, 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom apartments, and community amenities include a rooftop swimming pool and indoor lounge, garden and lounge with fire pit and grills, courtyard, tech lounge, fitness studio, yoga studio, pet spa and bicycle shop.

The building’s design blends a contemporary refinement of modern materials, textures and colors with the historical context of the NoMa neighborhood. The project incorporates the bold and spirited character of the neighborhood, while providing a much-needed successful development with ample amenities in a high-demand area.

MillerClapperton fabricated and installed 42,100 square feet of Metal Composite Material (MCM) and 12,600 square feet of Profiled Metal Panels.

Architecture school is where students learn fundamentals and begin to figure out how to navigate the industry. While school teaches problem-solving, design thinking and architectural history, many new graduates struggle with practical skills and an understanding of the business side of the profession. And while many students leave school with a strong grasp of architectural history, there is a disconnect from current trends, innovations and challenges that shape the profession today. In this article, Kalina Prelikj looks at the role of contemporary architecture in the university curriculum, and whether or not it should play a larger role.

At a time when most of the global population lives in urban areas, there is an increased demand for vertical construction—high-rise buildings that can accommodate large numbers of people and businesses in a small footprint. This surge in urbanization, as well as a focus on sustainable design, has led to looking for construction methods that can minimize impact. Top-down construction, where the building’s superstructure and substructure are built simultaneously, accounts for some of the challenges of urban development.

Recommendation: “Dreams + Disillusions” by CJ Lim and Luke Angers

Published by: Routledge

In “Dreams + Disillusions,” British architect and theorist CJ Lim and his collaborator, Luke Angers, provide a collection of visions of what cities around the globe might have been, could become, or already are. By looking at twelve case studies and some analytic chapters that discuss everything from the aftermath of London’s great fire to North Korea’s Hermit Kingdom, Lim presents a universe of brightly colored and gravity-defining architectures. In doing so, they offer another way of approaching how to make cities more sustainable and beautiful.

Friday5 – October 18, 2024

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