Digital Lab

Architectural intelligence

Preview of the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale

At a time when reason and foresight are becoming less influential in world affairs, this Architecture Biennale may be just the response we need. Carlo Ratti, the Biennale Director, will be staging his exhibition “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective” at the Giardini and the Arsenale, as well as many other locations in Venice, from 10 May 2025. Will this Architecture Biennale offer fresh insights into the critical issues of our time?

Regional connections

Semi-Detached Houses in Catalonia by Taller Sau

In Vidrà, a small village in the Catalan foothills of the Pyrenees, Taller Sau have designed two semi-detached houses with a regional connection and a high level of structural efficiency.

What can AI do for architecture?

For a culture of sharing

What hopes do architects have for artificial intelligence? For our 1/2.2025 issue, we asked around 20 experts. Thomas Wortmann, from the Institute for Computational Design and Construction at the University of Stuttgart, hopes that the triumph of AI will be accompanied by a stronger open-source culture in architecture firms.

What can AI do for architecture?

Artificial Intelligence Needs Quality Assurance

What are architects' hopes for artificial intelligence? For our 1/2.2025 issue, we asked around 20 experts. Andreas Dieckmann from GMP Architekten warns against using AI blindly – in the end, decisions still have to be made by humans.

A flexible event venue

Hybrid Stadium in Hangzhou by Archi-Tectonics

Subsequent use considered: This multifunctional sports complex that was home to the 2023 Asian Games will be available for use as a venue for events of all kinds.

Congress in Copenhagen

Fabricate 2024 – Creating Resourceful Futures

From 4 to 6 April 2024, the Royal Academy in Copenhagen will host Fabricate, the prime place of exchange on innovative ideas in design, architecture and engineering.

Digital resurrection of a building tradition

Wood Pavilion in South Korea by JK-AR

With the Pavilion of Floating Lights in the South Korean city of Jinju, the JK-AR studio have resurrected a wood-based building without adhesives or nails. Augmented reality played a role in this project.

Digital planning, robotic production

Willow Trees of Steel by Peter Haimerl

Two building-high, computer-generated willows of steel cover the transparent new building by Peter Haimerl and add a bit of shine to the market square of the northern Bavarian basket-weaving city of Lichtenfels.

Robotic production

An Innovative Facade Garment for Textile Research

Reutlingen University has moved into Texoversum, the new building devoted to textile research. The robotically produced shell of fibrous composite materials represents a collaborative project by Allmannwappner Architekten, Menges Scheffler Architekten and the structural engineers from Jan Knippers Ingenieure.

Exhibition in Beijing

Zaha Hadid Architects: Designing in the New Global Context

The Zaha Hadid Architects exhibition The New World opened at Beijing’s Guardian Art Center in July. It celebrates the development and work of ZHA since its first Chinese projects in 2010, with which the studio left a decisive mark on architecture and urban planning at the beginning of the 21st century.

A vibrant city centre

Archive of the Future in Franconia by Peter Haimerl Architektur

With a sculpture of trees and a glass pavilion, the Baroque old town of Lichtenfels has gained a new destination in the city centre.  

An artificial boulder

The Chapel of Sound Concert Hall near Beijing

The Chapel of Sound concert hall, located in a mountainous national park northeast of Beijing, is a half-open, monolithic concrete construction that makes it possible to directly experience both weather and landscape.

A desert construction for paying guests

First 3D-Printed Hotel to Open in 2024

BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group and Icon are planning the El Cosmico Hotel in the Texan town of Marfa.

A 3D-printed clay wall

Hive Research Project at the University of Waterloo

Traditional material and robot-supported production meld to create digital artisanship.

An auxetic metal pavilion

Pergola of Auxetic Structure

The Auxetic Pavilion at Kyushu University examines freely formed, three-dimensional surfaces that are suitable for use as adaptive shading elements.

Parametric urban furniture

MicroNature Pavilion by Atelier Ping Jiang in Shanghai

The MicroNature Pavilion by Atelier Ping Jiang was created for the 2022 Shanghai Design Festival; it comes to life with its contrast of a cubic exterior and organic interior life.

Sustainable, innovative 3D printing

Additive Production Increasingly Prevails

The latest Sculpteo survey on the status of 3D printing.

Self-supporting structure

Parametric Pavilion from the University of British Columbia

Only three days were needed for creation of the University of British Columbia's Millefeuille Pavilion. The self-supporting structure needs neither nails nor screws by combining parametric design with robotic fabrication.