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Although the use of arches in architecture dates back to the 2nd millennium B.C., it was the Romans who solidified them as both an engineering element and a symbol of military victories, which we now see excessively as memorial arches. Shortly after, different civilizations and cultures adopted the arch for their own purposes, bridging together structural necessity and aesthetics. In this article, we look at how arches evolved from significant structural elements to captivating decorative details.
Similar to how the function of arches evolved throughout the years with different civilizations, its form changed as well. Romans utilized the semicircular arch for their bridges and grand structures, whereas the Abbasids (a caliphate that ruled the Arab, Persian, and Mesopotamian regions) opted for the pointed arch, initiating its reference to religion and grandiosity. Following their use in mosques, pointed arches became extensively used in cathedrals in Medieval Europe, and were d
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The European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture, the Mies van der Rohe Award has just announced the first 449 works competing in its 2022 edition. Selected from 279 cities in 41 countries, the projects have been nominated by European independent experts, the national architecture associations, and the Prize Advisory Committee.
Initiated in 1987 the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award, organized by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe and the European Commission since 2001, is awarded biennially to works completed within the previous two years and exceptionally, this time, 2, 5 years. 449 works, completed between October 2018 and October 2020, are competing for the 2022 Award. Revealed today by the European Commission and the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, the list of nominees includes for the first time architectural works from Armenia, Moldova and Tunisia. This first selection will be joined in September by a new group of nominated p
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Francis D. K. Ching [1] characterizes a chimney as an “incombustible vertical structure, which contains a duct through which smoke and gases from a fire or furnace are pushed outwards and through which an air current is created.” While its pipes can be hidden in walls or other structures, the chimney top usually remains prominent in order to transfer dangerous gases from the inside out without dirtying the interior or harming the health of the occupants. Being vertical elements, there are chimneys that become major landmarks in the urban landscape, especially in industrial projects. At the time of drawing, deciding on the “weight” that the chimney will have in a project is essential. At Casa Milá, for example, Gaudí crowns the building in sinuous and curvy sculptural chimneys. In other cases, the solemnity of the building aesthetic is mirrored in its chimney, whereas in others, the architects render the chimney as hidden as possible. Recently, too, many chimneys have