This week we marked the anniversary of 9/11

This week on Dezeen, we reflected on the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers and looked at how they impacted architecture in our 9/11 anniversary series.

As part of the series, we interviewed architect Daniel Libeskind who masterplanned the rebuilding of the site in New York following the attack in 2001.

"Everything changed in architecture" after the 9/11 attacks, he told us in an exclusive interview.

We also looked at how the site was rebuilt and spoke to architects about how the terrorist attack led to "a renaissance of tall building design".

Dezeen Awards 2021 architecture shortlist reveals world's best buildings

This week also saw the announcement of the Dezeen Awards 2021 shortlists.

We announced the shortlisted projects in the architecture, interiors, design, sustainability and media categories throughout the week.

Information on all the shortlisted projects can be found on the Dezeen Awards website.

Note Design Studio reuses Vestre fair stand to form indoor park installation

In Milan, the coronavirus-delayed Milan design week took place this week, including trade show Salone del Mobile, which was rebranded as Supersalone.

Note Design Studio created a leafy installation made from one of Vestre's old fair stands while Crafting Plastics and Office MMK presented a scent-infused 3D-printed room divider at the furniture fair.

Stufish designing hexagonal arena for ABBA reunion tour

In London, British architecture studio Stufish revealed its design for a temporary performance venue that will be built to host Swedish pop group ABBA's reunion tour.

The 3,000 capacity arena will be built from mass timber and host the band's virtual reunion tour from 27 May 2022.

Norman Foster criticises architects' "hypocritical moral stance" on airports

Continuing the debate over the validity of architects designing airports, Pritzker Prize-winning architect Norman Foster called architects that walk away from designing airports "hypocritical".

"I do feel passionately that we have to address the infrastructure of mobility," he said in a TV interview. "We have to reduce its carbon footprint, like everything else. We can't walk away from it. We can't adopt a hypocritical moral stance."

Former Apple design director launches mass-timber housing company "to bring productisation to the built environment"

In the US, Apple's former design director BJ Siegel has set up a company that aims to bring the computer company's ethos to the housing sector.

In an exclusive interview, Siegel explained how the company is building mass timber housing from a kit of components built in factories in the US.

Woods + Dangaran updates 1960s California home by Craig Ellwood

Popular projects this week included a renovation of a mid-century residence in Los Angeles and a house with twisted brick walls in the Indian city of Trivandrum.

Our lookbook this week focused on Shaker-style interiors.

This week on Dezeen is our regular roundup of the week's top news stories. Subscribe to our newsletters to be sure you don't miss anything.

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Tribe Studio founder designs her own Australian weekend beach retreat

Australian firm Tribe Studio Architects has created a U-shaped, timber-clad dwelling in New South Wales that is meant to serve as an "affordable and sustainable prototype home".

The Bundeena House is located in a coastal hamlet of the same name that borders the Royal National Park. The home sits about 100 metres from Gunyah Beach.

Bundeena House is located near Gunyah Beach in New South Wales

The low-scale dwelling serves as a weekend retreat for Hannah Tribe, who founded Sydney-based Tribe Studio Architects in 2003.

While designing the home, Tribe and her team took cues from the modest fisherman cottages found in the area. Their aim was to create a holiday dwelling that embraced its context while also serving as a reproducible model.

The house features an inner courtyard

"The home doubles as a replicable architectural prototype for a sustainable holiday home that is authentic to the Australian aesthetic whilst also being cost-effective, environmentally aware and supportive of local trades," the team said.

U-shaped in plan, the houses consists of rectilinear volumes arranged around a courtyard. Instead of creating a multi-level building with views of the sea, the architect opted to keep the house at one level.

Rectilinear volumes are arranged in a U-shaped plan

"We chose not to pursue a double-storey home to capture water views, in favour of tackling the larger challenge of creating an affordable and sustainable prototype home, with potential to be recreated across a variety of environments – from beach and bush to suburban estates," the firm said.

The single level also enables Tribe and her family to continue using the home as they age, while also being suitable for visitors who may have mobility limitations.

The kitchen has an open-plan layout

The home's structure consists of a concrete slab and a modular timber frame that achieves spans of up to 5.4 metres without the use of steel.

Exterior walls are clad in white-painted timber. The front facade has no windows – a response to the street layout and the need to block glare from approaching headlights.

"While the house is conceived as a prototype kit-home, it also reflects some particularities of the site," the team said.

Inside, the home has bright rooms and a fluid layout. The public area consists of an open room for cooking, eating and lounging. Retractable walls provide a seamless connection to the outdoors.

Interior finishes are meant to be durable and honest

The private zone encompasses two adult bedrooms and a kids' room that can sleep up to six children. A built-in sofa in the lounge can be converted into a bed, enabling the home to accommodate additional guests.

Instead of a dedicated mudroom, the team put the laundry in the entrance area — creating a "deliberate sand trap for beach towels, tossed togs, wetsuits and thongs". Interior finishes are meant to be durable and honest.

A Phillipe Chemise fireplace heats the house during cooler months

Materials include laminated veneer lumber (LVL), structural plywood and Australian blackbutt wood. Concrete flooring was left unpolished so that wet and sandy footprints wouldn't be an issue.

The property's vegetation – selected by landscape architect Christopher Owen – features water-wise, indigenous plants that attract birds such as kookaburras, tawny frogmouths, cockatoos and sea eagles.

Up to six children can sleep in the kids' room

The only non-native plants are edibles in the inner courtyard, where they are protected from grazing deer. "Now the courtyard is the 'food bowl' of the house," the team said.

The home has an abundance of sustainable elements, including double-glazed windows, adjustable shading and heavy insulation.

A shaft of light in the shower room

The building is oriented to capture prevailing breezes, helping cool the interior on warm days. When temperatures drop, a Philippe Chemise fireplace is able to heat the entire home.

"Lighting is all LED," the team added. "A five kilowatt photovoltaic array, a separate solar hot water system, and provision for a future battery leans the home toward electrical self-reliance."

Concrete flooring was left unpolished to tackle wet footprints

The dwelling also has a rainwater harvesting system, with recycled water being used in toilets, the washing machine and garden irrigation.

"This house is an attempt to achieve a high level of architectural and sustainable outcomes at a low cost," said Hannah Tribe. "It is an experiment in delivering a more thoughtful kit home."

Visitors can wash off after the beach using a shower at the entrance

Tribe Studio Architects has completed a number of residential projects in Sydney and beyond, including the drastic redesign of a 1920s dwelling, and the creation of a house with a clever pulley system for bicycle storage and retrieval.

The photography is by Katherine Lu.

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Project credits:

Architecture: Tribe Studio Architects
Building: Ballast Construction + George Payne
Engineering: Cantilever
Landscaping: Christopher Owen

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Minoru Yamasaki designed World Trade Center as "beacon of democracy"

Author Justin Beal has written a book on World Trade Center architect Minoru Yamasaki. Continuing our series marking the anniversary of 9/11 he told us about Yamasaki's experience designing the building and his influence on architecture.

Named Sandfuture, the upcoming book by Beal aims to give an insight into the life and work of the little-known American architect Yamasaki.

Yamasaki is best known for designing the original World Trade Center towers, which were destroyed on 11 September 2001 in a terrorist attack.

At 1,368 and 1,362 feet (417 and 415 metres) tall, the towers were the world's tallest buildings when they opened in 1973.

Minoru Yamasaki (above) was the architect behind the original World Trade Center (top)

However, despite their international significance, Beal believes that Yamasaki's career sits in "the margins of architectural history".

"I was an architecture major, just weeks out of a very rigorous architecture program and I remember standing at the foot of these extraordinary buildings [the Twin Towers] and wondering how it could be that I had no idea who designed them?" Beal told Dezeen.

"No one ever said anything about Yamasaki," he continued. "As I started working on this book, which was not originally going to focus so much on Yamasaki, I began to appreciate how the breadth and cultural significance of his life and his career combined into this extraordinary story and that that story needed to be in the centre of the book."

World Trade Center modelled on "idea of global trade as a force for good"

Yamasaki was born in 1912 and raised in Seattle, Washington to Japanese immigrant parents, and anti-Japanese prejudice defined much of his youth. He enrolled on the University of Washington's architecture program in 1929 and started his own firm 20 years later.

He was commissioned for The World Trade Center in 1962 by American banker David Rockefeller and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, after being selected from a shortlist including architects IM Pei, Philip Johnson, Welton Becket and Walter Gropius.

Justin Beal's book Sandfuture draws attention to the life of Yamasaki

The complex was built with the aim of revitalising Lower Manhattan and it drew on the 1939 New York World's Fair exhibit called the World Trade Center, which was dedicated to the concept of achieving world peace through trade.

"I think we are accustomed now to seeing the World Trade Center as a symbol of American capitalism and American unilateralism, but that's not really what it meant when it was built," Beal explained.

"The project was conceived around an idea of global trade as a force for good that seems impossibly naive now."

Project designed as "a Mecca"

Yamasaki's final design for the centre – a pair of towers with narrow windows, decorative pointed arches at their base and a large surrounding plaza – was revealed in 1964.

His aim, Beal said, was to embody the New York World's Fair exhibit concept by creating a "beacon of democracy" and, in the architect's own words, "a Mecca".

Yamasaki designed the centre as a "beacon of democracy"

"I think Yamasaki genuinely believed that this project could be both a nexus of international commerce and a beacon of democracy and goodwill between nations," Beal explained.

However, despite his ambitions, "accepting the job was not an easy decision" for Yamasaki.

"It was the commission of a lifetime," Beal explained, "and he knew that he could not turn it down, but he also understood that it was too big a job for his office."

Twin Towers branded "Disneyland fairytale blockbuster"

Upon its conception, the World Trade Center was widely lauded but as the project progressed "critical reception shifted dramatically".

Yamasaki worked in "constant conflict" with the port authority as it cut key elements of the design to save costs and pushed the scheme to increase its height and office space.

Beal explained that this turn of events is encapsulated by the shift in opinion of the late architecture critic Ada Louise Huxtable over the course of the project.

"Ada Louise Huxtable was a longtime advocate of Yamasaki's work, but she was also a very sharp and conscientious critic, and the evolution of her opinion is a good indication of the arc of the critical reception of the project," said Beal.

Read:

9/11 anniversary: how the World Trade Center site was rebuilt

Initially, Huxtable described the complex as "the best new building project" in New York, but later expressed concern about the towers' scale and eventually labelled the project a failure.

"Her final review dismissed the design as 'Disneyland fairytale blockbuster' and 'General Motors Gothic' – incisively branded adjectives that carried all the weight and force of an elite East Coast critic dismissing Yamasaki's work as populist, provincial, and corporate," Beal explained.

"The loss of his most stalwart advocate was devastating for Yamasaki," he added. "To make matters worse, the country entered a recession and good commissions were scarce. He continued to work, but his career never really recovered."

Yamasaki "shaped the culture and politics of architecture"

Yamasaki died in 1986. Alongside the World Trade Center, his most notable works include the modernist Rainier Tower and Pacific Science Center in Seattle and the social housing project Pruitt-Igoe in Missouri.

Pruitt-Igoe suffered a similar fate to the World Trade Center, as it was demolished less than 20 years after its completion. Today it is often referred to as a symbol of the failure of modernism.

However, Beal believes that the destruction of both Pruitt-Igoe and the World Trade Center both shaped the course of architecture. As such, Yamasaki "deserves to be at the centre of any discussion of American design", he said.

Yamasaki is also known for the Pruitt-Igoe housing that was demolished

"It is hard to imagine another pair of buildings which in their lifespan, from conception to construction to spectacular violent destruction, have exerted a greater influence on the course of American architecture," Beal explained.

"It is difficult to imagine any story that has shaped the culture and politics of architecture in the last eighty years more than those told by the handful of photographs of Pruitt-Igoe tumbling to the ground and the thousands of images of the towers of the World Trade Center collapsing under their own weight."

Yamasaki "remains largely unknown"

Beal partly blames Yamasaki's untraditional approach to modernism and use of ornament for his obscurity in the architecture industry. However, he said his background also had a large part to play due to the "diversity problem" in the architecture sector.

"Art, cinema, literature have all had major reckonings with their respective lack of diversity in recent years, but less attention has been paid to the fact that most of the buildings we work in, live in, go to school in have been designed by one very homogeneous group of people," he explained.

As such, Beal hopes that Sandfuture will encourage discourse on the need for more diversity in the architecture industry and the revisiting of the work of architects such as Yamasaki.

He was also the architect of the Rainier Tower

"Part of this conversation is working towards more diversity in architecture, of course, but another part of it is revisiting the work of architects like Yamasaki who was one of the most important figures in twentieth-century American architecture and yet remains largely unknown."

However, despite a lack of recognition, Beal said Yamasaki's has influenced the course of architecture and that it is evident today.

"There are architects like Gyo Obata and Gunnar Birkerts, who began their career working under Yamasaki and architects like Rem Koolhaas and David Adjaye who consider him to be a key point of reference," he said.

"The influence of Yamasaki's design for the Reynolds Metals Regional Headquarters, for example, can clearly be felt in projects like Mecanoo's Library of Birmingham and David Adjaye's Smithsonian National Museum of African American History And Culture."

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9/11 anniversary

This article is part of Dezeen's 9/11 anniversary series marking the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center.

The images are courtesy of Justin Beal, excluding the main image of the World Trade Center taken by 2gerrytwo.

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Nine architecture projects from students at Cardiff University

A project that explores how flooding threats can be turned into valuable architectural assets and another that examines the past of "a 12th-century structure hiding in the shadows," are included in Dezeen's latest school show by students at Cardiff University.

Also featured are projects that investigate how the dystopian nature of an underground environment can be perceived as utopian and a community-based housing complex on top of a shopping centre in Cardiff.

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Cardiff University

Institution: Cardiff University
School: Welsh School of Architecture
Courses: Master of Architecture
Tutors: Dr Mhairi McVicar

School statement:

"The Welsh School of Architecture (WSA) is a world-leading and agenda-setting architecture school in Cardiff. Our school was first established in 1920. Today, we combine a strong tradition of architectural education with an international reputation for research excellence.

"We provide a vibrant, collaborative environment for teaching and research. Our students and staff communities encompass diverse national, cultural, and professional backgrounds. Our school fosters a strong studio culture, encouraging student architects to confront complex situations and issues with intelligence and creativity.

"We are launching our virtual WSA student exhibition on 10 September 2021 at 6 pm. Our virtual exhibition has been curated by our students and showcases a variety of work produced from our diverse range of courses from Architecture to Urban Design and Computational Methods in Architecture to Sustainable Building Conservation.

"This has produced a varying portfolio of work in response to a rich research agenda and demonstrates architectural reactions to a variety of real-world issues and contexts. Tune in here to explore the work of our students and participate in our week-long exhibition festival. We are looking forward to welcoming you.

"The second year of the Master of Architecture at WSA is organised around the Design Thesis, as a student-led and research-led design proposition. Within a framework of nine Design Units, each of which sets out its own architectural agenda. Here, each student is encouraged to explore an independent stance, proclaiming and defending an architectural position."

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Growing Smart by Josh Hayward

"This unit works on the Indian Government-funded smart cities such as Mangalore and Kochi in collaboration with local stakeholders. The unit has been collaborating with the School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi (2018- 20) and SCMS School of Architecture (2020-21).

"Based in the coastal city of Kochi, India, Hayward's project explores the impact of rapid urban growth on the health and wellbeing of the citizens. A key design strategy is implementing an urban design code with the aim to promote healthy and active lifestyles.

"This is achieved by re-densifying the city, adapting its morphology, and giving the responsibility of neighbourhood development back to the people that live in them."

Student: Josh Hayward
Course: Master of Architecture
Email: HaywardJ9[at]cardiff.ac.uk
Tutors: Dr Shibu Raman
Unit: XIII – Liveable Urbanism

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Podium Paradise by Joanna Mider

"This unit explores the role of architecture in improving the experiences of those that are homebound and unable to leave their home. This may be due to illness or old age or alternative experiences, such as those who are incarcerated or in quarantine situations.

"Mider's project explores the architecture that brings together diverse users to avoid class clustering. Located on top of St David's shopping centre in Cardiff's city centre, the scheme operates similarly to a housing cooperative.

"Community-based housing includes the use of shared amenities as well as putting a contribution towards the shares of the scheme."

Student: Joanna Mider
Course: Master of Architecture
Email: MiderJ[at]cardiff.ac.uk
Tutors: Dr Sam Clark
Unit: XIV – Dwelling Differently

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Rewild the People by Georgina Myers

"Local adaptation explores environmental and cultural conditions where a population of organisms has evolved to be more well-suited to its environment than other members of the same species. The projects in this unit develop from the close observation and analysis of an environmental condition and have been made from local material using digital tools such as Grasshopper, Ladybug, 3D printing, and scanning.

"Looking at the soil quality and land use as parameters of flooding, Myer's project uses rewilding to retain water in the mountains and alleviate fluvial flooding along the length of the Taff.

"Following the river upstream, the proposal intervenes at the river source in the mountains where little grows and little, other than sheep, live."

Student: Georgina Myers
Course: Master of Architecture
Email: gemyerst[at]gmail.com
Tutors: Kate Darby and Gianni Botsford
Unit: XV – Local Adaptation

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The Making of Marks by Grace Taylor

"This unit addresses the meaning and identities associated with all forms of making: craft and manufacturing; digital fabrication and handmade; bespoke and mass production; functional and decorative; practical and poetic.

"Taylor's project explores the role of marks in representing narratives of craft. A mark reveals insight into the maker, material and the making process.

"This notion was applied to the local high street, by exploring the intentional and accidental marks left by society and by providing a response directly informed by people and place."

Student: Grace Taylor
Course: Master of Architecture
Email: gracetaylor98[at]hotmail.com
Tutors: Dr Steve Coombs
Unit: XVI – Craft

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Grove Garden Dwellings by Constantina Charalambous

"This unit is concerned with the urban dimension of tall buildings and their impact on the immediate and wider context. It is speculative and experimental. It seeks innovative concepts and solutions through the combination of parametric design thinking, computational analysis methods and digital fabrication.

"For this unit, Charalambous' project investigated how the dystopian nature of the underground environment can be perceived as utopian providing the basic needs to live. The design was conceived around the idea of removing elements from a solid mimicking the way miners were carving out coal from the underground."

Student: Constantina Charalambous
Course: Master of Architecture
Email: charalambous_4conna[at]hotmail.com
Tutors: Dr Wassim Jabi
Unit: XVII – Rigorous Creativity

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The WorkHome Cooperative by Thomas Rose

"Anticipating that the conservation of 20th-century architecture will become an overwhelming technical challenge for future architects in the UK, this unit intends to forearm itself by accumulating expertise.

"Addressing this challenge, Rose's project interrogates whether badly performing 20th-century offices can be saved and repurposed as WorkHome developments. It aims to provide living and workplaces of the future while reducing the need for commuting.

"The WorkHome Cooperative is an economic model that gives power and benefits back to the workers, as well as ongoing benefits to the city. The scheme responds to the climate emergency in terms of reducing both embodied carbon and operational carbon through considered design decisions."

Student: Thomas Rose
Course: Master of Architecture
Email: RoseT2[at]cardiff.ac.uk
Tutors: Oriel Prizeman
Unit: XVIII – Lost Properties

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Finding Value in the Flood by Sarah Noble

"This unit explores how value is calculated, extracted, exploited, nurtured, cared for. The unit is situated in Cardiff's Grangetown and examines how we ascertain the value of this land.

"Responding to this unit brief, Noble's project aims to explore narratives of water within the context of Grangetown and how threats presented by water can be turned into valuable assets while benefitting wider public health.

"Acceptance and invitation of water within new urban development in flood risk areas can support environmental resilience and promote health and wellbeing, whilst celebrating the culture, history, and poetics of place."

Student: Sarah Noble
Course: Master of Architecture
Email: sarah.noble.444[at]gmail.com
Tutors: Dr Mhairi McVicar
Unit: XII – Value

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The Cycle by Salma Aitali

"Sensing Structures will revisit the unit-based typology which can accommodate a small area within a single building or expand as a larger network of structures in parts of a city. The aim is to reinvent the unit-based approach by devising methods of sensitizing, customizing, and embedding it within larger urban systems.

"Aitali's project creates a new typology of the workplace, focused on optimising daily tasks by offering appropriate zones for each type of activity.

"Achieved through a Smart Building integrating a 5G mast to the structure, the cycle participates in the Cardiff city's agenda to implement smartness. A unique space blocking all electromagnetic fields is also created to offer an experience for the public to reconnect with themselves."

Student: Salma Aitali
Course: Master of Architecture
Email: salmaaitali[at]hotmail.fr
Tutors: Alexandros Kallegias
Unit: XIX - Sensing Structures

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Reliquary for the Forgotten by Anna Krzyzanowska

"Designing Histories operates at the intersection of architecture, history, mythology and preservation as a means to nurture critical thinking and architectural storytelling. Expanding and interrogating architecture's perpetual relationship to the framework of memory, time, and meaning, the unit strives to create expressive and provocative designs.

"Responding to this brief, Krzyzanowska's project focuses on the duality of our past which is composed of forged memories and the fading truth. It examines Westminster Abbey, a 13th-century relic of medieval England, glorified by the Gothic revival to a monument of national pride, and St Margaret’s Church, a 12th-century structure hiding in the shadows.

"The project is an extension to St Margaret’s Church that uncovers and retells the history hidden inside of it."

Student: Anna Krzyzanowska
Course: Master of Architecture
Email: aniakrzyzanowska96[at]gmail.com
Tutors: Alexis Germanos
Unit: Unit XX Designing Histories

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Partnership content

This school show is a partnership between Dezeen and Cardiff University. Find out more about Dezeen partnership content here.

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