Magazine

The much anticipated extension of the Kunstmuseum Basel opened to the public in April. Architects Emanuel Christ and Chrisoph Gantenbein have crafted a building that interprets the classical elements of architecture found in the museum's main building. A dynamic Light Frieze across the facade... John Hill, Thomas Geuder

The Machado Silvetti-designed Center for Asian Art, an addition to the Ringling Museum of Art, is covered in more than 3,000 deep-green, glazed terra cotta tiles that boldy mark the entrance to the grand Florida institution. John Hill

Three of the most impressive structures within Reporting from the Front, the exhibition directed by Alejandro Aravena, are masonry vaults: one made from brick and "unqualified labor"; one made from unreinforced, cut stone; and one made from clay tile and built by students. John Hill

At the 2016 AIA Convention in Philadelphia this week, Shildan Group launched Fabrik® by Flexbrick, which consists of a stainless steel mesh woven with materials such as ceramic tiles to create unique screen walls. John Hill

On Friday, May 6th, the Bridge for Laboratory Sciences at Vassar College was dedicated. Designed by Richard Olcott of Ennead Architects as part of the school's Integrated Science Commons, the new building features two types of bird-safe glass that make it a welcome addition to the... John Hill

The aptly named Crystal Houses in Amsterdam, designed by the Dutch architects at MRVDV, features a replica facade made of traditional terracotta bricks that dissolve into solid glass bricks at street level. John Hill

"A warmly glowing, floating metal sculpture" is how the architects at pape + pape describe the new bus station they designed for Gummersbach, Germany. Sited by the train station, the new structure creates a striking image at the entrance to the country town. John Hill, Thomas Geuder

Benthem Crouwel Architects, working with designer Irma Boom, have created a cycling and pedestrian "slow traffic corridor" at Amsterdam's Central Station that is clad on one side by nearly 80,000 Delft Blue tiles. John Hill

A combination of horizontal shelves, vertical fins and hidden LEDs dramatically illuminates the glasses within Bolon Eyewear's first flagship store, designed by Ippolito Fleitz Group with Pfarré Lighting Design. John Hill

Twenty-five years after an anonymous water tower in Milan's Porto Garibaldi was covered with a colorful palette of ceramic tiles, the team behind Torre Arcobaleno (Rainbow Tower) returned to refurbish the local landmark. John Hill

GG-loop's renovation of a corner building in Altamura, Italy, features a bold, faceted red facade made from EIFS (Exterior Insulation and Finishing System), a system associated otherwise with bland, run-of-the-mill buildings. John Hill

Stuttgart-based architects h4a have completed the new sports hall for the Kepler- and Humboldt-Gymnasiums in Ulm, a boxy building stacked with three gyms one above the other. The interior is elegantly blurred by a sculptural facade of twisting aluminum fins. John Hill, Thomas Geuder

The motto of Expo 2015 in Milan, "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life," was translated in the French pavilion into a built landscape designed by Parisian architecture firm XTU, with lighting design by Bonn's Licht Kunst Licht. John Hill, Thomas Geuder

The campus of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) is known best for SANAA's Rolex Learning Center built in 2010. Dominique Perrault has just completed an adjacent building whose facade dissolves through the use of a custom, movable aluminum mesh. John Hill, Thomas Geuder

Strasbourg's Urbane Kultur has renovated one of France's "1,000 Pools" from 40 years ago, a distinctive dome set in the townscape. The dark exterior gives way to a light and bright interior covered partially with HI-MACS® acrylic stone. John Hill

March Studio’s dynamic entry stair and lobby for Hotel Hotel in Canberra, Australia was named the World Interior of the Year at the Inside Festival held recently in Singapore. John Hill

The Centre Pompidou's new "pop-up" museum, which opened in March 2015 in Málaga, Spain (the birthplace of Picasso) includes a 120-seat multipurpose auditorium with retractable seats by Figueras. John Hill

The shopping mall at Brookfield Place in New York's Battery Park City, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects, features two new highly transparent entrance façades supported by glass fins supplied by Sedak. John Hill

A facade with calligraphic letters set into light emitting concrete, designed and produced by LUCEM Lichtbeton, was recently completed at the Al Aziz Mosque in Abu Dhabi, UAE. John Hill

The recently completed Ryerson University Student Learning Centre in Toronto, designed by Snøhetta with Zeidler Partnership Architects, has a crystalline form accentuated by faceted panels with a prismatic finish at the building's entrance on Yonge Street. John Hill

Stone supplier SolidNature collaborated with architect Rem Koolhaas and designer Petra Blaisse to display 600 types of onyx, marbles, travertines, and other stones for the Maison & Objet trade fair in Paris. John Hill

Buenos Aires's new Centro Cultural Kirchner is commonly known as Ballena Azul (Blue Whale) due to its whale-like concert hall designed by B4FS Arquitectos that is covered in metallic fabric from GKD. John Hill

At Expo Milano 2015, Spain's Zorrozua y Asociados's colorful box expresses the four geographical and culinary regions of Ecuador in the country's first pavilion at an international exposition. John Hill

In Münster, Germany, HPP Architects have realized, together with Duk-Kyu Ryang, an office building for LVM that adds character to the city's skyline. Inside, employees can look forward to seasonal moods of color that emanate from the flooring. John Hill, Thomas Geuder

The S-Bahn-Station Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz in Leipzig, Germany, is a wonderous space of concrete, glass block and light, the product of a collaboration between architect Max Dudler and lighting designer Andreas Schulz. John Hill

The ETH Zurich Pavilion at the IDEAS CITY Festival in New York City (28-30 May 2015) is built of boards made from discarded beverage cartons, an example of turning waste into a resource, the "matter from which to construct or configure new cities." John Hill

Architects flocking to Atlanta last week for the AIA National Convention were treated to a new ground-floor headquarters designed by 5G Studio Collaborative for the local chapter of the American Institute of Architects. John Hill

China's presence at the recently opened Expo Milano 2015 is threefold, with a national pavilion, the China Corporate United Pavilion, and the Vanke Pavilion. The last, designed by Daniel Libeskind, is covered in ruby red ceramic tiles developed with Casalgrande Padana. John Hill

As part of Milano Design Week 2015, the Cosentino Group commissioned Antonio Citterio Patricia Viel and Partners to design an installation completely made from the company's Dekton® surfaces. John Hill

A large oculus designed by James Carpenter Design Associates, Grimshaw, and Arup reflects sunlight into the subterranean spaces of the Fulton Center subway station in Lower Manhattan. John Hill

The facade of SEHW Architektur's design for the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT) in Darmstadt, Germany, appears to form some kind of secret code, appropriate given the site's history. John Hill, Thomas Geuder

Hascher Jehle Architektur and artist Burghard Müller-Dannhausen treated the exterior and interior, respectively, of the new Rems-Murr-Klinikum hospital in Winnenden, Germany, with a range of colors to create a strong building identity. John Hill

Late last month WoodWorks, an initiative of the Wood Products Council, announced the winners of its 2015 Wood Design Awards. Here we present a few of the winners to highlight the versatile ways architects are building with the product. John Hill

A. Zahner Co., the go-to engineering and fabrication company based in Kansas City, Missouri, has worked with Thom Mayne and Morphosis on a number of projects, including the L.A. outpost of Boston's Emerson College, completed last year. John Hill

Since 2012, Wolf-Gordon has created an annual site-specific installation for NeoCon as a means of highlighting the company’s products and adding an exclamation point to the “heart” of Chicago’s Merchandise Mart. John Hill

Two walls of Danish brand Vipp's new two-story Vipp Shelter feature large sliding windows, specifically the PanoramAH! sliding windows supplied by Malmö, Sweden's Architectural Solutions. John Hill