The first prototype for IKEA and British designer Tom Dixon's urban farm proposal—announced last year—will be on display at the Chelsea Flower Show in London starting next week. "Gardening will Save the World" is an experimental space that will feature 4,000 plants in both a horticultural laboratory featuring hydroponic technology on a lower level and a botanical garden above. "Aiming to give back to cities and create productive landscapes within urban zones, the garden includes a raised modular landscape with edible and medicinal plants and an enclosed garden fueled by hydroponic systems and controllable lighting.” Dixon said in a company blog post. After the show, the urban garden prototype will be moved to East London where it will stay for three years. [IKEA]
An offshoot of MIT's Self-Assembly Lab based in the Maldives is currently working to encourage island growth on the ocean floor to help replace some of the coastal land and island loss due to climate change. According to the organization's website, a team is "designing, building and deploying submersible devices that, based simply on their geometry and orientation, can function as adaptable artificial reefs. By harnessing wave forces to accelerate and guide the accumulation of sand in strategic locations, and adapting the placement of the devices to seasonal changes and storm direction, our approach aims to naturally and sustainably reshape sand topographies using the forces of nature." [MIT Self-Assembly Lab]
This week Exton, Pa.–based construction software company Bentley Systems announced its acquisition of Keynetix, a cloud-based software for capturing, visualizing, modeling, and sharing geotechnical data based in the U.K. [ARCHITECT]
Hungarian BIM software company Graphisoft released the latest version of its ArchiCAD software on Tuesday. ArchiCAD 23 offers new opening, column, and beam tools for improved modeling accuracy as well as improved software flow for quicker project data accessibility and navigation. [Graphisoft]
Entrepreneurs and investors are flocking to the building industry, determined to disrupt the status quo—and make a fortune in the process. Daniel Davis, an independent researcher and the former director of research at WeWork, explains why. [ARCHITECT]
Hong Kong’s Xiqu Centre, a subtly curving, eight-story structure with a not-so-subtle textural façade, puts the concept of a curtain back into curtainwall. Designed by Revery Architecture (formerly Bing Thom Architects), which has offices in Hong Kong and Vancouver, British Columbia, with local firm Ronald Lu & Partners, the 320,000-square-foot performing arts venue features more than 13,000 extruded aluminum fins on a unitized-panel façade. [ARCHITECT]
