The tower takes shape as two sets of overlapping cylinders, clad with prefabricated panels intended to evoke clouds. PROJECT The Butterfly + First Baptist Church Complex ARCHITECT Revery Architecture PHOTOS Ema Peter When you fly into Vancouver, the most prominent structure in the city’s forest of glass skyscrapers is now a 57-storey edifice known as the Butterfly. Designed by Revery Architecture, the luxury residential tower is the latest in a string of high-rises that pop out of the city’s backdrop of generic window-wall façades.  The Butterfly’s striking form evolved over many years, beginning with studies dating back to 2012. Revery principal Venelin Kokalov imagined several options, most of them suggesting a distinct pair of architectural forms in dialogue. Renderings and models of the early concepts relay a wealth of imagination that is sorely missing from much of the city’s contemporary architecture, as land economics, zoning issues, and the profit motive often compel a default into generic glass-and-steel towers. The earliest concepts look starkly different—some evoke the Ginger and Fred building in Prague (Frank Gehry with Vlado Milunić, 1996); others the Absolute Towers in Mississauga (MAD with Burka Varacalli Architects, 2009). But one consistent theme runs through the design evolution: a sense of two Rilkean solitudes, touching.  On each floor, semi-private sky gardens offer an outdoor place for residents to socialize. Client feedback, engineering studies, and simple pragmatics led to the final form: two sets of overlapping cylinders linked by a common breezeway and flanked by a rental apartment on one side and a restored church doubling as a community centre on the other. The contours of the floorplan are visually organic: evocative of human cells dividing. The roundness of the main massing is complemented by curvilinear balustrades that smoothly transform into the outer walls of each unit. It’s an eye-catching counterpoint to the orthogonality of the city’s built landscape. The two adjacent buildings—built, restored, and expanded as part of a density bonus arrangement with the city—help integrate this gargantuan structure with the lower-rise neighbourhood around it.  The Butterfly is a high-end, high-priced residential tower—one of the few typologies in which clients and communities are now willing to invest big money and resources in creative, visually astonishing architecture. That leads to a fundamental question: what is the public purpose of a luxury condo tower?  A public galleria joins the renovated First Baptist Church to the new building. Serving as a welcoming atrium, it allows for community access to the expanded church, including its daycare, full gymnasium, multi-purpose rooms, overnight emergency shelter, and community dining hall equipped with a commercial kitchen. Whatever one feels about the widening divide between the haves and have-nots in our big cities, this building—like its ilk—does serve several important public purposes. The most direct and quantifiable benefits are the two flanking buildings, also designed by Revery and part of the larger project. The seven-storey rental apartment provides a modest contribution to the city’s dearth of mid-priced housing. The superbly restored and seismically upgraded First Baptist Church has expanded into the area between the new tower and original church, and now offers the public a wider array of programming including a gymnasium, childcare facility, and areas for emergency shelter and counselling services for individuals in need.  The church’s Pinder Hall has been reimagined as a venue for church and community events including concerts, weddings, and cultural programming. The Butterfly’s character is largely defined by undulating precast concrete panels that wrap around the building. The architects describe the swooping lines as being inspired by clouds, but for this writer, the Butterfly evokes a 57-layer frosted cake towering above the city’s boxy skyline. Kokalov winces when he hears that impression, but it’s meant as a sincere compliment. Clouds are not universally welcome, but who doesn’t like cake?  Kokalov argues that its experiential quality is the building’s greatest distinction—most notably, the incorporation of an “outdoors”—not a balcony or deck, but an actual outdoor pathway—at all residential levels. For years the lead form-maker at Bing Thom Architects, Kokalov was responsible for much of the curvilinearity in the firm’s later works, including the 2019 Xiqu Centre opera house in Hong Kong. It’s easy to assume that his forte and focus would be pure aesthetic delight, but he avers that every sinuous curve has a practical rationale.  The breezeways provide residents with outdoor entries to their units—an unusual attribute for high-rise towers—and contribute to natural cooling, ventilation, and daylight in the suites. Defying the local tower-on-podium formula, the building’s façade falls almost straight to the ground. At street level, the building is indented with huge parabolic concavities. It’s an abrupt way to meet the street, but the fall is visually “broken” by a publicly accessible courtyard.   The tower’s layered, undulating volume is echoed in a soaring residential lobby, which includes developer Westbank’s signature—a bespoke Fazioli grand piano designed by the building’s architect. After passing through this courtyard, you enter the building via the usual indoor luxe foyer—complete with developer Westbank’s signature, an over-the-top hand-built grand piano designed by the architect. In this case, the piano’s baroquely sculpted legs are right in keeping with the architecture. But after taking the elevator up to the designated floor, you step out into what is technically “outdoors” and walk to your front door in a brief but bracing open-air transition.  The main entrance of every unit is accessed via a breezeway that runs from one side of the building to another. Unglazed and open to the outside, each breezeway is marked at one end with what the architects call (a little ambitiously) a “sky garden,” in most cases consisting of a sapling that will grow into a leafy tree in due course, God and strata maintenance willing. This incorporation of nature and fresh air transforms the condominium units into something akin to townhouses, albeit stacked exceptionally high.  The suites feature a custom counter with a sculptural folded form. Inside each unit, the space can be expanded and contracted and reconfigured visually—not literally—by the fact that the interior wall of the secondary bedroom is completely transparent, floor to ceiling. It’s unusual, and slightly unnerving, but undeniably exciting for any occupants who wish to maximize their views to the mountains and sea. The curved glass wall transforms the room into a private enclave by means of a curtain, futuristically activated by remote control. The visual delight of swooping curves is only tempered when it’s wholly impractical—the offender here being a massive built-in counter that serves to both anchor and divide the living-kitchen areas. It reads as a long, pliable slab that is “folded” into the middle in such a way that the counter itself transforms into its own horseshoe-shaped base, creating a narrow crevice in the middle of the countertop. I marvel at its beauty and uniqueness; I weep for whoever is assigned to clean out the crumbs and other culinary flotsam that will fall into that crevice.  A structure made of high-performance modular precast concrete structural ribs arcs over a swimming pool that bridges between the building’s main amenity space and the podium roof. The building’s high-priced architecture may well bring more to the table than density-bonus amenities. On a broader scale, these luxe dwellings may be just what is needed to help lure the affluent from their mansions. As wealthy residents and investors continue to seek out land-hogging detached homes, the Butterfly offers an alternate concept that maintains the psychological benefit of a dedicated outside entrance and an outrageously flexible interior space. Further over-the-top amenities add to the appeal. Prominent among these is a supremely gorgeous residents-only swimming pool, housed within ribs of concrete columns that curve and dovetail into beams.   The ultimate public purpose for the architecturally spectacular condo tower: its role as public art in the city. The units in any of these buildings are the private side of architecture’s Janus face, but its presence in the skyline and on the street is highly public. By contributing a newly striking visual ballast, the Butterfly has served its purpose as one of the age-old Seven Arts: defining a location, a community, and an era. Adele Weder is a contributing editor to Canadian Architect. Screenshot CLIENT Westbank Corporation, First Baptist Church | ARCHITECT TEAM Venelin Kokalov (MRAIC), Bing Thom (FRAIC, deceased 2016), Amirali Javidan, Nicole Hu, Shinobu Homma MRAIC, Bibi Fehr, Culum Osborne, Dustin Yee, Cody Loeffen, Kailey O’Farrell, Mark Melnichuk, Andrea Flynn, Jennifer Zhang, Daniel Gasser, Zhuoli Yang, Lisa Potopsingh | STRUCTURAL Glotman Simpson | MECHANICAL Introba | ELECTRICAL Nemetz & Associates, Inc. | LANDSCAPE SWA Group (Design) w/ Cornelia Oberlander & G|ALA – Gauthier & Associates Landscape Architecture, Inc. (Landscape Architect of Record) | INTERIORS Revery Architecture | CONTRACTOR Icon West Construction (new construction); The Haebler Group (heritage) | LIGHTING ARUP (Design) & Nemetz (Engineer of Record) | SUSTAINABILITY & ENERGY MODELlING Introba | BUILDING ENVELOPE RDH Building Science, Inc. | HERITAGE CONSERVATION Donald Luxton & Associates, Inc.| ACOUSTICS BKL Consultants Ltd. | TRAFFIC Bunt & Associates, Inc. | POOL Rockingham Pool Consulting, Inc. | FOUNTAIN Vincent Helton & Associates | WIND Gradient Wind Engineering, Inc. | WASTE CONSULTANT Target Zero Waste Consulting, Inc. | AREA 56,206 M2 | BUDGET Withheld | COMPLETION Spring 2025 ENERGY USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 106 kWh/m2/year | WATER USE INTENSITY (PROJECTED) 0.72 m3/m2/year As appeared in the June 2025 issue of Canadian Architect magazine The post The Butterfly takes flight: The Butterfly, Vancouver, BC appeared first on Canadian Architect.

Kreg Tool Corporate Headquarters / Neumann Monson ArchitectsSave this picture!© Cameron Campbell Integrated Studio Architects: Neumann Monson Architects Area Area of this architecture project Area:  154500 ft² Year Completion year of this architecture project Year:  2021 Photographs Photographs:Cameron Campbell Integrated Studio Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project Manufacturers:  Delta Millworks, Lock-Deck, Millennium Forms, PDM Precast, Tubelite Lead Architect: Khalid Khan More SpecsLess Specs Save this picture! Text description provided by the architects. A 50,000-square-foot office and a 105,000-square-foot manufacturing facility merge into global headquarters for a leading pocket joinery tool manufacturer. Located on a sustainably managed 25-acre campus, the facility is master-planned to accept two-fold growth. Its design amplifies innovation and agility by deconstructing previously siloed teams.Save this picture!A central Marketplace serves as the facility's "heart," connecting its "hands" (manufacturing) with its "head" (office). Its location at the intersection of two major axes aids in wayfinding. The central stair, designed to reflect the company's mission, promotes impromptu gatherings and serves as a platform for all-staff meetings.Save this picture!Save this picture!Save this picture!Throughout the facility, various formal and informal meeting spaces provide flexibility and choice. Ample daylighting, scenic views, a state-of-the-art fitness center, an outdoor walking path, and an open-air courtyard support employee wellness.Save this picture!The office's structure is steel framed with laminated wood and roof decks. The north façade's full-height glazing maximizes daylight and views in the office. East and west façades are clad in a black metal rainscreen assembly with clerestory windows for additional daylight. 14ʺ x 40ʺ precast concrete panels comprise the manufacturing component's perimeter, and a tall curtain wall provides natural light. Reducing the facility's energy load, the warehouse roof contains a photovoltaic system.Save this picture!Save this picture!Together, the facility's massing and materiality blur the lines between the office and manufacturing components to break down silos and represent this employee-owned company's values. The materiality creates a balanced and pragmatic response that speaks to the company's Midwestern roots.Save this picture! Project gallerySee allShow less Project locationAddress:Ankeny, United StatesLocation to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.About this office MaterialsMaterials and TagsPublished on May 24, 2025Cite: "Kreg Tool Corporate Headquarters / Neumann Monson Architects" 24 May 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/1029973/kreg-tool-corporate-headquarters-neumann-monson-architects&gt ISSN 0719-8884Save世界上最受欢迎的建筑网站现已推出你的母语版本!想浏览ArchDaily中国吗?是否 You've started following your first account!Did you know?You'll now receive updates based on what you follow! Personalize your stream and start following your favorite authors, offices and users.Go to my stream

Brought to you by: Architect: BNIMCompletion Date:2024Location: Johnston, IowaIn the human cardiovascular system blood, oxygen, and the heart can’t function without one another. At LifeServe Blood Center, a laboratory and blood donation center in Iowa, the building’s integrated design operates the same way: If you take away any component, it doesn’t work as it should. BNIM Architects designed the facility in Johnston, Iowa, to account for privacy, where needed, while also delivering a building that puts its life-saving vocation front and center. LifeServe previously operated out of a former bank downtown. Age, a lack of parking logistics, and a separation of spaces within the building were among the challenges. For its new headquarters it was apparent LifeServe needed a space that wholeheartedly reflected its mission to support long, healthy lives. Horizontally oriented shading devices were implemented on the south- and west-faces. (Kendall McCaugherty) “Being an institution that supports life in the way that they do, the whole idea of well-being was important to them, also longevity in terms of being responsible with regards to materials and building a facility that would last,” Rod Kruse, principal at BNIM, told AN. LifeServe’s new site is located in a suburban setting with easy access to the interstate. The move addressed the need for parking and easy access to its distribution network. For BNIM, working on LifeServe was a real “discovery process,” according to Kruse, which required understanding how the company’s services operate and how a new facility could make these processes more efficient. The 56,290-square-foot building serves myriad purposes: as corporate headquarters, donor center, blood processing laboratory, and as a garage for a fleet of commercial vehicles. The site allows for ease of traffic flow for LifeServe’s fleet of vehicles. (Kendall McCaugherty) The long, linear site spans from east to west; this orientation informed the building’s programming and its facade system. Public-oriented spaces were largely placed to the south side, while support areas such as the bus traffic and lot occupy the north and west faces. The massing comprises two long, horizontal volumes set off from one another in plan. An opening for bus traffic flow was located between the building and the garage area. A primary goal of the facade system was to deliver comfort without compromising character. A robust shading scheme installed over the large spans of glazing was the best solution. BNIM’s design considered glare and heat gain. The firm opted for horizontal shading fins, as solar studies found a horizontal orientation worked better than vertical on the south-, east-, and west-facing elevations. Studies also informed the ideal spacing for the blades, so as to control the amount of light entering the building. They were spaced to also afford views out toward the tree-lined landscape. While typically laboratories are dark, internal spaces with little to no natural light, at LifeServe they were located to take advantage of natural light. Inside, shading devices, like daylight and glare sensors, also keep solar gain at bay. Inside, so that new equipment could be added, ducting and mechanics were systemized on the ceiling. (Kendall McCaugherty) “The facade system basically becomes the architecture and the character of the building,” Kruse added. “It’s a functional element that really results in the architectural expression.” Corten steel was applied on the facade sparingly to leave room for large spans of glass. The shading devices installed on the glazed portions of the building were specified with a similar reddish-brown hue. Precast concrete is largely enveloped by the exterior shading devices but left exposed to face the bus stalls and garage facilities. A diagram shows the installation of the shading system and screens. (Courtesy BNIM) To conceal the bus lot, at the north end, a custom-designed screen serves as an organizational device. It completes the building visually, while also projecting its identity. The pattern on the metal paneling was inspired by blood cells viewed under a microscope. Using imagery, BNIM developed the pattern in its own software. Inside, flexibility was key. To accommodate changing technologies LifeServe needed lab space that could adapt to new equipment. Power distribution was run through the floor, and all the ducting and mechanics were systemized on the ceiling, allowing for future upgrades. Much like the facade, and the human body itself, the interiors operate as an integrated system where aesthetics drive functionality—or perhaps the other way around. Project Specifications Design Architect: BNIM Architect of Record: BNIM Landscape Architect: Confluence Client: LifeServe Blood Centers Contractor: Hansen Company Client Representative: Formation Group Structural Engineer: Raker Rhodes Engineering Lighting Design: MODUS Civil Engineer: Civil Design Advantage Facade System: Tubelite Cladding: Tekko Steel, Petrarch, PDM Precast, David Bear Glass: Vitro Windows: Kingspan, Solatube Doors: Tubelight, Wayne Dalton, Stanley, Uniq-Wall, VT Industries Interior Finishes: Mannington, Delta, Autex, Linea, Bradley, Tarkett, Concreteworks East, Nevamar, Corian, Cambria Fixtures: Waldinger

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" The Office of the Architects of the Judicial Branch of Santa Fe has completed a morgue designed with a horizontal line that aligns with the large flat roof in Vera, Province of Santa Fe, Argentina.Under a commodatum agreement with the Provincial Government, the Judicial Morgue of the Judiciary of Santa Fe is situated on a portion of the Regional Hospital premises in the city of Vera.Named Judicial Morgue for the City of Vera, given the particular location and how the general public views this kind of architectural program, the intervention's main goal was to create a modern area that invites approach rather than rejection—or even one that people using the building's adjacent services might not notice. For this reason, the building is discreetly hidden behind reachable embankments covered with natural vegetation, leaving the viewer with only a horizontal line that is in line with the large flat roof that encloses the reception area, office spaces, the actual morgue, and the perimeter of the intermediate galleries. Rooms facing the back of the concrete embankment or adjacent plots are prioritized from the inside.Even though the main structure is surrounded by the embankments, the building was positioned to be visible in its entirety from nearly every aspect due to the lot's proportions. Its conserved native forest, which is included into the concept, produces diverse experiences when walked about at ground level, through the pedestrian entry, or via the car access road. The deliberate image of the "fifth façade"—an abstraction made up of the entire roof structure, the vertical boundary along the street, the infrastructure areas, the vehicle access road, the perimeter lines of the embankments and pedestrian access—is given special attention.Wind, shadow, rain, sun, and vegetation all become protagonists, meticulously incorporated into the architectural concept, as environmental and climatic aspects were carefully studied in the creation of this unique program. The structure is arranged around galleries, which act as areas of transition between the outside and the inside and, more importantly, as sun control systems, which help to lessen the harsh environment of the area. Among other things, a Venturi tube at the pedestrian entrance circulates air to chill the inside and splits to cool the outside walls.Administrative offices, conference rooms, identification rooms, cold storage rooms, X-ray and picture interpretation rooms, inclusive locker rooms, autopsy rooms, loading/unloading garages, pathological waste storage, and a main hall and reception area are all part of the functional plan. An infrastructure equipment cluster that houses air conditioning condensers, refrigeration units, a chiller, a hydropneumatic tank, a generator, and an external guard room are examples of supporting spaces. These are surrounded by an exposed shell of reinforced concrete walls and roof and are situated outside the huge metal roof.The courtyard, the pedestrian entrance, and the encircling galleries are notable semi-covered areas. They all have enormous circular open skylights that let in rainwater or filtered sunlight, making the room feel cozy and inviting for both professionals and guests. A semicircular bench serves as a reflective seating space beneath the skylights. Similar to how the building is visually protected from the exterior by concrete embankments covered in vegetation and purposefully placed pedestrian openings away from the hospital, the interior is similarly protected by intermediate areas that are intended to lessen the proximity and animosity of the reinforced concrete envelope to the south. This is accomplished by paving a courtyard with loose river stones of various colors, which lessens the impression on the eye and permits future plants to grow in between the stones.The building's partially covered sections face the designated vehicle access road to the north, and vertical screens act as a physical barrier in front of the urban street's protected row of native trees that border the entrance. Using metal structures, sheet metal, circular-section tubes, and a reinforced concrete planter, the physical boundary between the lot and the street was given special design consideration. This creates an expressive, organic line that opens up urban sightlines and draws attention to the main gate and institutional signage.The autopsy room and its auxiliary spaces are the heart of a morgue, thus biosafety regulations and the best use of circulation and support rooms were taken into consideration when designing the spaces. To circulate air and safeguard the working staff, the facility has specifically built climate control systems (power capacity and unique filters). It has a digital X-ray machine, surgical-grade lighting, specialized storage equipment, and two cutting-edge stainless steel autopsy tables made by national suppliers. Filtered natural light is let in through micro-perforated metal panels, softening the space's clinical feel. The main views are of the north inner courtyard.The building's infrastructure includes a generator for continuous power supply, self-sufficient solar power, a single absorption pit and separate outputs for pre-treating liquid waste that eventually discharges into the sewer system, and connections to municipal water and electricity. Additionally, it has video surveillance, complete climate control throughout, and intrusion and fire alarm systems. Interlocking permeable pavers and intermediate chambers were used to address drainage and paving issues caused by the lengthy access road that connected the building to the city roadway.Aluminum window frames, gypsum rock walls, oxidized metal sheets for the galleries' and semi-covered areas' ceilings, flush-joint interior ceilings, exposed reinforced concrete for the external envelope, hermetically sealed double-glazing in specific geometries for the operational spaces, and reinforced concrete partitions covered in perforated and plain metal sheets are among the materials used in the building. At the site and car entrances, the vehicle access road has unique wood elements, precast stormwater drains, and articulated paving. The structure is decorated with polished 30x30 cm granite mosaic tiles, and the kitchens and bathrooms have custom black Brazilian granite countertops. Whenever feasible, national and local suppliers were used.All things considered, this project has presented a big challenge for the professionals in our office, but its completion allows us to keep trying new things in the future. By bringing compassion and respect to a function that is usually disregarded because of its negative implications, it enables us to "reconsider our relationship with the afterlife." In the end, it is a project that offers the balance of beauty and usefulness that is the ultimate aim of architecture by articulating and integrating spaces to make them livable and noticeable.Section AASection BBEast elevationWest elevationNorth elevationSouth elevationProject factsProject name: Judicial Morgue for the City of VeraClient: Judicial Branch of the Province of Santa FeArchitectural Office: Office of the Architects of the Judicial Branch of Santa Fe / (Architect Adelia Sebastián - Architect Carreras Luis - Tech. Gonzalez Javier - Architect Batlle Casas Barbara - Basualdo Gonzalo - Tech. Grippaldi Bruno - Architect Soriano Sebastián)Architect(s) in charge: Architect Adelia SebastiánTechnical Support: Architect Guillermo Goddio - Architect Ramiro SosaConstruction Company: Cocyar S.A.Construction completion year: 2024Lot area: 5,000 m2Covered area: 402 m2Semi-covered area: 980 m2Project year: 2022Location: Vera, Province of Santa Fe, ArgentinaProgram: Institutional (Judicial Morgue)All images © Ramiro Sosa.All drawings © Office of the Architects of the Judicial Branch of Santa Fe.> via Office of the Architects of the Judicial Branch of Santa Fe

html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/loose.dtd" The Office of the Architects of the Judicial Branch of Santa Fe has completed a morque designed with a horizontal line that aligns with the large flat roof in Vera, Province of Santa Fe, Argentina.Under a commodatum agreement with the Provincial Government, the Judicial Morgue of the Judiciary of Santa Fe is situated on a portion of the Regional Hospital premises in the city of Vera.Named Judicial Morgue for the City of Vera, given the particular location and how the general public views this kind of architectural program, the intervention's main goal was to create a modern area that invites approach rather than rejection—or even one that people using the building's adjacent services might not notice. For this reason, the building is discreetly hidden behind reachable embankments covered with natural vegetation, leaving the viewer with only a horizontal line that is in line with the large flat roof that encloses the reception area, office spaces, the actual morgue, and the perimeter of the intermediate galleries. Rooms facing the back of the concrete embankment or adjacent plots are prioritized from the inside.Even though the main structure is surrounded by the embankments, the building was positioned to be visible in its entirety from nearly every aspect due to the lot's proportions. Its conserved native forest, which is included into the concept, produces diverse experiences when walked about at ground level, through the pedestrian entry, or via the car access road. The deliberate image of the "fifth façade"—an abstraction made up of the entire roof structure, the vertical boundary along the street, the infrastructure areas, the vehicle access road, the perimeter lines of the embankments and pedestrian access—is given special attention.Wind, shadow, rain, sun, and vegetation all become protagonists, meticulously incorporated into the architectural concept, as environmental and climatic aspects were carefully studied in the creation of this unique program. The structure is arranged around galleries, which act as areas of transition between the outside and the inside and, more importantly, as sun control systems, which help to lessen the harsh environment of the area. Among other things, a Venturi tube at the pedestrian entrance circulates air to chill the inside and splits to cool the outside walls.Administrative offices, conference rooms, identification rooms, cold storage rooms, X-ray and picture interpretation rooms, inclusive locker rooms, autopsy rooms, loading/unloading garages, pathological waste storage, and a main hall and reception area are all part of the functional plan. An infrastructure equipment cluster that houses air conditioning condensers, refrigeration units, a chiller, a hydropneumatic tank, a generator, and an external guard room are examples of supporting spaces. These are surrounded by an exposed shell of reinforced concrete walls and roof and are situated outside the huge metal roof.The courtyard, the pedestrian entrance, and the encircling galleries are notable semi-covered areas. They all have enormous circular open skylights that let in rainwater or filtered sunlight, making the room feel cozy and inviting for both professionals and guests. A semicircular bench serves as a reflective seating space beneath the skylights. Similar to how the building is visually protected from the exterior by concrete embankments covered in vegetation and purposefully placed pedestrian openings away from the hospital, the interior is similarly protected by intermediate areas that are intended to lessen the proximity and animosity of the reinforced concrete envelope to the south. This is accomplished by paving a courtyard with loose river stones of various colors, which lessens the impression on the eye and permits future plants to grow in between the stones.The building's partially covered sections face the designated vehicle access road to the north, and vertical screens act as a physical barrier in front of the urban street's protected row of native trees that border the entrance. Using metal structures, sheet metal, circular-section tubes, and a reinforced concrete planter, the physical boundary between the lot and the street was given special design consideration. This creates an expressive, organic line that opens up urban sightlines and draws attention to the main gate and institutional signage.The autopsy room and its auxiliary spaces are the heart of a morgue, thus biosafety regulations and the best use of circulation and support rooms were taken into consideration when designing the spaces. To circulate air and safeguard the working staff, the facility has specifically built climate control systems (power capacity and unique filters). It has a digital X-ray machine, surgical-grade lighting, specialized storage equipment, and two cutting-edge stainless steel autopsy tables made by national suppliers. Filtered natural light is let in through micro-perforated metal panels, softening the space's clinical feel. The main views are of the north inner courtyard.The building's infrastructure includes a generator for continuous power supply, self-sufficient solar power, a single absorption pit and separate outputs for pre-treating liquid waste that eventually discharges into the sewer system, and connections to municipal water and electricity. Additionally, it has video surveillance, complete climate control throughout, and intrusion and fire alarm systems. Interlocking permeable pavers and intermediate chambers were used to address drainage and paving issues caused by the lengthy access road that connected the building to the city roadway.Aluminum window frames, gypsum rock walls, oxidized metal sheets for the galleries' and semi-covered areas' ceilings, flush-joint interior ceilings, exposed reinforced concrete for the external envelope, hermetically sealed double-glazing in specific geometries for the operational spaces, and reinforced concrete partitions covered in perforated and plain metal sheets are among the materials used in the building. At the site and car entrances, the vehicle access road has unique wood elements, precast stormwater drains, and articulated paving. The structure is decorated with polished 30x30 cm granite mosaic tiles, and the kitchens and bathrooms have custom black Brazilian granite countertops. Whenever feasible, national and local suppliers were used.All things considered, this project has presented a big challenge for the professionals in our office, but its completion allows us to keep trying new things in the future. By bringing compassion and respect to a function that is usually disregarded because of its negative implications, it enables us to "reconsider our relationship with the afterlife." In the end, it is a project that offers the balance of beauty and usefulness that is the ultimate aim of architecture by articulating and integrating spaces to make them livable and noticeable.Section AASection BBEast elevationWest elevationNorth elevationSouth elevationProject factsProject name: Judicial Morgue for the City of VeraClient: Judicial Branch of the Province of Santa FeArchitectural Office: Office of the Architects of the Judicial Branch of Santa Fe / (Architect Adelia Sebastián - Architect Carreras Luis - Tech. Gonzalez Javier - Architect Batlle Casas Barbara - Basualdo Gonzalo - Tech. Grippaldi Bruno - Architect Soriano Sebastián)Architect(s) in charge: Architect Adelia SebastiánTechnical Support: Architect Guillermo Goddio - Architect Ramiro SosaConstruction Company: Cocyar S.A.Construction completion year: 2024Lot area: 5,000 m2Covered area: 402 m2Semi-covered area: 980 m2Project year: 2022Location: Vera, Province of Santa Fe, ArgentinaProgram: Institutional (Judicial Morgue)All images © Ramiro Sosa.All drawings © Office of the Architects of the Judicial Branch of Santa Fe.> via Office of the Architects of the Judicial Branch of Santa Fe

The International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia,  has returned, with its grand opening held in early May. The exhibition runs until November 23, 2025 The Canada Council for the Arts, Commissioner of Canada’s official participation in the International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, administers the selection process and oversees the exhibition at the Canada Pavilion. But in addition to the Canada Pavilion, Canadian architects and designers have a presence in several other exhibitions that are part of this year’s festival. Here’s a round-up of the Canadian work in Venice. Picoplanktonics. Photo credit: Valentina Mori Picoplanktonics led by Living Room Collective Canada’s official entry to the Biennale is Picoplanktonics, a 3D-printed living artwork incorporating cyanobacteria—a global first at the intersection of architecture, biotechnology, and art. The exhibition, developed by the Living Room Collective, showcases the potential for collaboration between humans and nature. Picoplanktonics is an exploration of the potential to co-operate with living systems by co-constructing spaces that “remediate the planet rather than exploit it.” The installation transforms the Canada Pavilion into an aquatic micro-ecosystem, where architectural structures grow, evolve, and naturally degrade alongside their living components. It was designed according to regenerative architecture principles, and is not only a built object, but also a breathing organism interacting with its environment, which prompts reflection on potential futures of the built environment. The creative team is led by bio-designer Andrea Shin Ling, alongside core team members Nicholas Hoban, Vincent Hui and Clayton Lee. Etude Ile Verte by Atelier Pierre Thibault. Photo credit Alex Lesage Les boucaneries de l’île Verte by Atelier Pierre Thibault Atelier Pierre Thibault has been invited to participate in this year’s Venice Biennale as the only team from Québec. His project is inspired by the old fish smokehouses, or boucaneries, of Île Verte. With the support of the fifty permanent residents of Île Verte, Atelier Pierre Thibault has designed a participatory architectural project that aims to reinterpret the boucaneries as creative canvases to imagine new uses to strengthen Île Verte’s autonomy. This includes community greenhouses, artist studios, and gathering places. The exhibition aims to highlight, as Thibault puts it, “the strength of a sensitive and collective gesture in response to the erosion of traditional buildings and the major climate challenges faced by inhabitants living year-round in an isolated island environment.” The construction of the installations, along with the exchanges sparked with the community, was documented through photography and video, and captures both the process and the spirit of collaboration that defined the project. Celebrating the Verdoyants’ collective intelligence and inviting reflection on the future of the boucaneries, this participatory project highlights the exemplary and internationally resonant nature of this approach. The Atelier Pierre Thibault project will be on view at the Corderie dell’Arsenale. The pavilion itself will take the form of a temporary, lightweight structure constructed from reused materials, situated on the grounds of the French Pavilion, which is currently undergoing renovation. The curators have selected 50 projects to be featured across six thematic sections: Living With the Existing, the Immediate, the Broken, Vulnerabilities, Nature, and Combined Intelligences. Image courtesy of WZMH Architects Speedstac by WZMH Architects as part of Living With…Combined Intelligences  As part of the exhibition “Living With… Combined Intelligences,” WZMH Architects presents Speedstac, a prefabricated modular precast solution that aims to reimagine how urban areas devastated by war can be rebuilt. Originally designed to accelerate housing construction in Canada, Speedstac took on urgent new relevance following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. With more than 170,000 buildings damaged or destroyed and millions displaced, WZMH’s innovation, developed through its R&D lab, sparkbird, aims to offer a scalable solution: self-contained, plug-and-play building modules with integrated electrical and plumbing systems that can be seamlessly inserted into existing structures. The use of modern materials such as high-performance concrete can reduce the weight of the modules, making them easier to lift and move using conventional crane equipment. Using a robust locking mechanism, several modules can be securely fastened and unfastened as needed, to produce an adaptive modular housing solution. The Speedstac system aims to offer a solution to the challenges of traditional construction methods, enabling faster, more flexible, and more sustainable building projects. The Vivre Avec / Living With exhibition is hosted in the French Pavilion. Presentation, Northern Horizons. Photo credit: Blouin Orzes architectes Northern Horizons by Blouin Orzes architectes as part of Time Space Existence  Through a wide selection of projects—ranging from conceptual works, models and photographs to videos, sculptures and site-specific installations—the exhibition Time Space Existence, hosted by the European Cultural Centre, aims to provoke participants to question their relationship with space and time, re-envisioning new ways of living and rethinking architecture through a larger lens. Quebec firm Blouin Orzes’ participation revolves around their first-hand understanding of Inuit territories, where they have been working since 2000. Their contribution is based on their  recent publication, Northern Journeys. Blouin Orzes’ contribution in on display at the Palazzo Mora, and additional contributions to Time Space Existence are on view at the Palazzo Bembo and Marinaressa Gardens. View of Commercial and Residential Towers from Seymour and West Georgia Streets. Image credit: Henriquez Partners Studio BC Glass Sea Sponge Another contribution to Time Space Existence is the work of Henriquez Partners Studio. The transformative mixed-use development which they are presenting merges architectural innovation, social responsibility and urban revitalization, and has recently been submitted to the City of Vancouver. The project is about ambitious city-building, and aims to unlock public benefits on currently underutilized land in a way that supports some of the city’s most urgent needs, while contributing bold architecture to the city skyline. Four towers, designed by Henriquez, draw inspiration from rare and ancient glass sea sponge reefs, whose ecological strength and resilience have shaped both form and structure. These living marine organisms, which are unique to the Pacific Northwest, aim to serve as a metaphor for regeneration and adaptation. This concept is translated through the architectural language of the towers: silhouettes, sculptural forms, and sustainable performance. The tallest tower, a stand-alone hotel, proposed at 1,033 feet, is shaped by a structural diagrid exoskeleton that allows for column-free interiors while maximizing strength and minimizing material use. Developed in collaboration with Arup, the structural system references the skeletal lattice of sea sponges; a concept researched at Harvard for its groundbreaking structural efficiency. Henriquez Partners’  contribution is on display at Palazzo Bembo. Renewal Development Shishalh Project Duplex Renderings – Image credit: Renewal Development Shíshálh Nation: Ten Home Rescue Project as part of theLiving With / Vivre avec exhibition Vancouver-based company Renewal Development has been selected to appear as part of the French Pavilion’s exhibition on housing innovation. In 2024, Renewal Development partnered with developer Wesgroup and the shíshálh Nation to relocate ten high value Port Moody homes set for demolition to the shíshálh Nation on the Sunshine Coast. The Nation has been experiencing an acute housing shortage with 900 Nation members currently on a waitlist for housing. Renewal Development says that this initiative reflects its “deeply held values of sustainability, and reconciliation” and its “work to offer real-world solutions to waste and housing shortages by reimagining what already exists.” The project will be on display in the French Pavilion. The following is a list of other Canadian groups and individuals contributing to this year’s Venice Biennale: On Storage Brendan Cormier is a Canadian writer, curator, and urban designer based in London. He is currently the lead curator of 20th and 21st Century Design for the Shekou Partnership at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Prior to this he served as the managing editor of Volume Magazine. La Biennale di Venezia and the Victoria and Albert Museum, London present for the ninth consecutive year the Applied Arts Pavilion Special Project titled On Storage, curated by Brendan Cormier, in collaboration with Diller, Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R). It explores the global architecture of storage in service of the circulation of things, and features a newly commissioned six-channel film directed by DS+R. From Liquid to Stone: A Reconfigurable Concrete Tectonic Against Obsolescence Inge Donovan, based in Boston, achieved her Bachelor of Arts in Architectural Design and Architectural History, Theory and Criticism from the Daniels Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto in 2019 after growing up in Nova Scotia, Canada. The Curse of Dimensionality Adeline Chum is currently a Graduate Research Assistant at the Center for Spatial Research and third-year student in the MArch Program at GSAPP. She has received her Bachelor of Architectural Studies from the University of Waterloo, Canada and has worked in small and medium-sized architecture firms in Toronto, New York, and London. Oceanic Refractions Elise Misao Hunchuck, born in Toronto and currently based Berlin and Milan, is a transdisciplinary researcher, editor, writer, and educator. Her practice brings together architecture, landscape architecture, and media studies to research sites in Canada, Japan, China, and Ukraine, employing text, images, and cartographies to document, explore, and archive the co-constitutive relationships between plants, animals, and minerals—in all of their forms. SpaceSuits.Us: A Case for Ultra Thin Adjustments Charles Kim is a designer currently based in Boston. Stemming from his background in architecture, he is interested in materials, DIY, and the aesthetics of affordability. Since graduating from Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2022, he has been working as an architectural designer at Utile. Uncommon Knowledge: Plants as Sensors Sonia Sobrino Ralston is a designer, researcher, and educator, and is currently an Assistant Teaching Professor in Landscape Architecture and Art + Design at Northeastern University in the College of Arts, Media, and Design. She is interested in the intersections between landscape, architecture, and the history of technology. Doxiadis’ Informational Modernism Mark Wasiuta is Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Columbia GSAPP and Co-Director of the Critical, Curatorial and Conceptual Practices in Architecture program. Wasiuta is recipient of recent grants from the Onassis Foundation, the Asian Cultural Council, NYSCA, and the Graham Foundation, where he was an inaugural Graham Foundation Fellow. Blue Garden: The Architecture of Emergence Tanvi Khurmi, based in London, UK, is a multidisciplinary designer and artist. Her practice is focused on addressing and combatting issues surrounding the climate crisis. After receiving a Bachelor’s in Architecture with a minor in Environmental Studies from the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture at the University of Toronto, she earned a Masters of Architecture in Bio-Integrated Design at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London. Design as an Astronaut Dr. Cody Paige is the Director of the Space Exploration Initiative at the MIT Media Lab, a team of 50+ students, faculty, and staff building and flying advanced technology for space exploration. The Initiative focuses on helping students take their research into space. The pipeline developed to achieve this works with students from across the Media Lab and the MIT community to prototype space-related research in the lab, fly and test them in microgravity on parabolic and suborbital flights, and finally to take them to the International Space Station or on to the Moon. Cody also has a background in geology, specifically quaternary geochronology, and completed her Master of Applied Science at the University of Toronto in Aerospace Engineering and her Bachelor of Applied Science from Queen’s University in Engineering Physics.   The post Round-up: Canadian-led exhibitions at the 2025 Venice Biennale appeared first on Canadian Architect.