Rigot Collective Dwelling Centre

Architects: acau architecture
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Area: 1,848 m²
Year: 2019
Photography: Marcel Kultscher and Enric Rovira

The project is located in the Rigot park in Geneva, alongside the Avenue de France, near the Sismondi school. The choice for the location in the park was driven by an urgent, temporary measure aimed at accommodating 370 migrants.

The project consists of two symmetrical five-story buildings made from 230 prefabricated wooden modules. The dwellings are accessed by an external gallery open to a public courtyard, which connects to the Sismondi streetcar stop and to the Rigot park.

The Exclusive and Inclusive Role of Design

Georgeen Theodore | Interboro | Tobias Armborst

Filmed by Ian Garrick Mason & Núria Moliner.
Edited by Sara Traba.
Learn more about The Arsenal of Exclusion & Inclusion, 2017.

urbanNext interviews Georgeen Theodore and Tobias Armborst, from Interboro Partners, on their book The Inclusive and Exclusive Role of Design.

Giboire Offices: Restructuring a Corner Building

a/LTA

Architects: a/LTA
Location: Vannes, France
Area: 200 m²
Year: 2021
Photography: Stéphane Chalmeau

This project involves the heavy restructuring of a corner building located at the intersection of rue Thiers and rue Carnot, in the heart of the historic center of the city of Vannes.

100 Norfolk: A New Relationship in the New York Development Parameters

ODA

Architects: ODA
Location: New York, USA
Area: 4600 sqm
Year: 2018
Photography: Imagen Subliminal

Autonomous, profit-driven and constrained by thorough regulations, Manhattan blocks can reveal unexpected urban possibilities. On 100 Norfolk, an inner lot was meant to host a through-building, 70 feet away from the corner with Delancey St. In a fluid give and take between the governing rules and development ambitions, 100 Norfolk takes the typical building model and flips it on its head, creating a new relationship in the New York development parameters. Rather than growing vertically, 100 Norfolk grows diagonally, enjoying increments of area every two floors.

Intertwined Environment: Community Engagement

Cristina Mateo | Studio Gang

This is a podcast from urbanNext exchanges, the urbanNext series curated by Ricardo Devesa and Marta Bugés.

Creating resilient communities is key for any city to thrive, but also for a university campus, a business and other realms. In this session, Jeanne Gang and Cristina Mateo talk about how to boost community building in an increasingly digitalized world.

Beloit College Powerhouse

Studio Gang

Architects: Studio Gang
Location: Beloit, USA
Area: 11.000 m²
Year: 2020

Looking to enhance the student experience and help revitalize the local riverfront, Beloit College partnered with Studio Gang to reinvent a former coal-burning power plant as a student union centered on recreation and wellness.

Houssay Square: Promoting New Links

RDR Arquitectos

Architects: RDR Arquitectos
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Area: 47.000 m²
Year: 2018
Photography: Javier Agustín Rojas

Located in one of the most compact and densely populated downtown areas of Buenos Aires, with more than 650 inhabitants per hectare, the Dr. Bernardo A. Houssay Plaza was created in 1975 on the grounds of the former Buenos Aires Hospital, based on a project by a multidisciplinary team that included landscape designers Pradial Gutiérrez, Aldo Mario Liberatori and Román Wellington Peñalba. Surrounded by the Faculties of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Dentistry, Social Sciences, Economics and Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires, which together with the nearby Hospital-School of Clinics José de San Martín, host approximately 100,000 students, the square was progressively disfigured by partial and uncoordinated actions that fragmented its spatial and environmental condition, making it uncomfortable.

New York, USA

Julien Lanoo

Urbanization & Traffic in Nairobi

Civic Data Design Lab

Excerpt from Moving in Nairobi by Civic Data Design Lab.

More than 50% of the world’s population currently lives in cities. By 2050, this figure is expected to climb to 68%. Africa is experiencing one of the highest rates of urbanization across the globe. Though most of the continent’s population is rural, with only 40% living in cities, the number of urban dwellers is increasing faster than any other region on the planet.

Mind the (Commuting) Gap and the City

And The City | Hagar Abiri | Prima Abdullah

Read the related essay: Mind the (Commuting) Gap and the City by Prima Abdullah.

Tokyo in 1994 was already a city with one of the lowest crime rates. With only 60 crimes per 100.000 population, it has earned a reputation of one of the safest cities. Unfortunately, not everyone is not experiencing the same sense of safety, at least 70% of women commuting has experience harassment. Join Prima and Hagar as they examine problems faced by female commuter in the city, with our guest human rights issue researcher Puri Kencana Putri.