In the interview Nigel Topping, the UN's champion for the COP26 climate conference, said architecture was "one of the least well-represented businesses" in the UN's net-zero push.
According to Topping none of the world's 50 largest firms have signed up to its Race to Zero campaign. This is despite the fact that the built environment contributes around 40 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Architecture firm BBOA has completed a government-backed housing scheme in Argentina featuring irregular residential blocks clad with pale pink bricks.
The project is located in Granadero Baigorria, a town in the Argentine province of Santa Fe.
It is part of a programme in which government-subsidised lines of credit are offered to residents to enable them to own their own homes.
The housing project by BBOA is in Santa Fe, Argentina
The low-cost development was built on state-owned land that formerly belonged to the National Railway System.
The long, linear property is bordered on one side by railroad tracks. The other sides are surrounded by trees and urban development.
Railroad tracks and trees surround the development
The project was designed by BBOA, or Balparda Brunel Oficina de Arquitectura, which is based in the city of Rosario.
The architects' overall goal was to create a unique design that departed from the norm for multifamily housing developments in the country, which tend to be homogeneous.
The blocks are clad in pink bricks
"The project acknowledges the issue of the impersonal style in housing complexes and the infinite repetition of dwellings of identical characteristics, as opposed to the need of identity and acknowledgement of individuality," the team said.
For the flat site, the firm conceived a mix of buildings that vary between three, four and eight levels. Totalling 12,700 square metres, the development encompasses 105 residences and eight spaces for businesses.
The buildings are made of reinforced concrete and are faced with pink-hued brick.
"That is not only the most traditional and common method used in the region, but it also identifies itself with the old railway stations, where the predominance of stonework is a common feature," the architect said.
White walls brighten interior spaces
In the three-level and four-level buildings, stairs are located within open volumes.
At the ground level, the openings enable a connection to the urban landscape along with the site's interior courtyards.
Upper portions of the stairwells are surrounded by wire
To accentuate the voids, the team used white paint, which contrasts with the brick cladding on the facades. Upper portions of the stairwells are surrounded by metal wire.
The taller buildings – three in total – are found at the centre and the ends of the complex.
The towers are composed of offset blocks
Rather than each being a single chunky mass, the towers are composed of two conjoined blocks that are slightly offset.
This massing strategy strengthens the relationship between the buildings and the street, while also providing better views for tenants.
Residents have views from the staircases
For all of the buildings, the team sought to minimise waste and to make use of local technologies. The structural system follows a regular grid that results in efficient layouts.
"The intention is to express an architecture that not only favours inhabitants but also the citizen," the team said.
In the third of our series of exclusive video interviews with Sumayya Vally, the architect discusses how her studio Counterspace's Children's Courtroom project aimed to teach kids about the law, rights and equality.
The installation comprises a set of kids-sized furniture elements imitating furniture found in standard courtrooms.
It is used as an educational tool for children to learn about concepts related to the law, court procedures as well as their own rights and equality.
Children's Courtroom by Counterspace is a mobile installation and educational tool for children to learn about the justice system
"The project is designed as a stage set for teaching children about how the justice system works and preparing child witnesses for court," Vally explained in the video.
Made from wood and blue metal elements, the installation includes a witness stand, a defendant's stand, a judges table, seating for the accused, seating for the public and a courtroom entry arch.
It was created for the children's museum Play Africa at Constitutional Hill in Johannesburg, the biggest constitutional court in South Africa. However, it can easily be packed up so that it can be transported to other locations.
The project comprises children's furniture that imitates what you would find in a courtroom
"This piece had to be designed to be able to function at Constitutional Court, but also to be packed up onto a van and then unrolled on a parking lot in a very rural area or in a street in inner-city Johannesburg," the architect said.
"It's really important that the pieces are able to come together to function as a court for children but also that they can function in separate parts for different functions."
Counterspace has worked with Play Africa on a number of projects including an interactive exhibition on indigenous Ndebele art which teaches children about the mathematical concepts around geometry, pattern, depth perception and scale.
Vally is the architect behind this year's Serpentine Pavillion. She founded her Johannesburg-based architecture studio Counterspace at the age of 23 and is the youngest architect to receive the prestigious commission.
The installation was created for children's museum Play Africa at Constitutional Hill, Johannesburg, the highest court of justice in South Africa
Dezeen is publishing a series of exclusive video interviews with the architect. In the previous instalment, Vally discussed the studio's project Folded Skies, a mirrored installation exploring the complex geographies of Johannesburg.
Below is a transcript of the interview:
"Children's Courtroom is an installation that was made at Constitutional Hill, which holds the highest court of the land in South Africa and is also home to Play Africa, which is an organization that works with children from across Johannesburg.
"The project was done for Play Africa, and we often work with them on very quick, very inexpensive prototype projects.
"The project is designed as a stage set for teaching children about how the justice system works and preparing child witnesses for court.
"So this piece had to be designed to be able to function at Constitutional Court, but also to be packed up onto a van and then unrolled on a parking lot in a very rural area or in a street in inner-city Johannesburg.
"And it's really important that the pieces are able to come together to function as a court for children but also that they can function in separate parts for different functions."
Dezeen promotion: furniture brand Prostoria held an exhibition in its Croatian factory as a "way to communicate during a pandemic".
The Revisiting Factory exhibition was a continuation of the brand's Revisiting Analogue project, launched in 2020, which combined design, architecture film into an event for the local architectural community.
For Revisiting Analogue, Prostoria built a house-like pavilion with "transparent walls" in a forest in Sv. Kriz Zacretje. But its latest exhibition took place in a structure inside its factory drying room.
Prostoria's drying room is usually used to store the brand's timber until it reaches a mature stage and can be processed into furniture.
The architectural ambience is a result of a composition of cyclopean wood blocks that require long-lasting storage to mature for optimal processing into high-quality furniture
In June, the brand temporarily repurposed the space and showcased its furniture products alongside raw materials like timber planks. The exhibition aimed to show how the brand's factory is "a research laboratory where sustainability is part of the design process," said Prostoria owner Tomislav Knezovic.
Both projects were created in response to the cancelled international furniture fairs during the pandemic.
"Both exhibitions present a new way of communicating brand experience that Prostoria created as a response to the impossibility of presenting new products at international fairs, which have been cancelled for a year and a half due to the Covid-19 pandemic," said the brand.
The project was developed in collaboration with Numen/ForUse and Simon Morasi Pipercic
The projects also celebrate Prostoria winning three German branding awards in 2021, including the German Brand Institute's German Brand Award Winner 2021 in the Excellent Brands, Interior and Living category.
Specifically, Prostoria won the awards due to "excellent brand management to companies pioneering in their market niches and are active on the international market".
In addition, Revisiting Analogue won awards for storytelling and content marketing in the Excellence in Brand Strategy and Creation categories.
The timber structure has a warm interior, its hallways and outdoor terraces aim to appear like "environments such as home, office or a large club"
Both projects were developed in collaboration with Croatian-Austrian design collective Numen/ForUse studio and industrial designer Simon M Pipercic.
To learn more about the exhibition and Prostoria's products, visit its website.
Partnership content
This article was written by Dezeen for Prostoria as part of a partnership. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.
Dezeen Showroom: London design practice Studio Tord Boontje took inspiration from Art Nouveau to create the Light Flowers lamp, which features a delicate-looking botanical form cut from steel.
A table lamp that is well-suited to bedsides, Light Flowers has a lampshade formed by the petals of a flower bulb, and a body made of its stalk and leaves.
Light Flowers is available in two sizes
The design references the Art Nouveau works of Émile Gallé and Louis Comfort Tiffany, who also tried to embody the natural world in functional objects.
The table lamp is well-suited to bedsides or living spaces, and comes in two variations: a smaller single-lamp model and a taller three-lamp version.
It comes in either a white or copper finish
Light Flowers is made in the UK from laser-cut steel that is formed and shaped by hand at Studio Tord Boontje.
The design is available in either a powder-coated white or copper-plated finish, which is applied to the parts prior to assembly.
Light Flowers has been made in a limited edition of 500 signed pieces.
About Dezeen Showroom:Dezeen Showroom offers an affordable space for brands to launch new products and showcase their designers and projects to Dezeen's huge global audience. For more details email showroom@dezeen.com.
