Saudi Arabia announces plans for a futuristic city named The Line
The future of architecture could forever be changed by the design of a new vertical city in Saudi Arabia. Fresh details about the project pose it as an epicentre of sustainability, productivity, seamless living, and leisure for millions of people. Of all prosperous nations in the world, Saudi Arabia looks...
Current in Design
AI-generated piece controversially wins art competition
This year at the Colorado State Fair, a piece of AI-generated art won an award for Emerging Digital Artists. In the days since, online debate about what constitutes βreal artβ has ignited. If you keep up with Thred, youβll already be completely in the loop regarding AI-generated βtext-to-imageβ programs and...
Why did Agnes Denes grow a field of wheat in New York?
In the 1980s, Artist Agnes Denes created a wheat field in central New York, protesting the imbalance of wealth, global warming, and the patriarchy. In the midst of this unprecedented heatwave, her work feels more relevant than ever. The idea of creating a two-acre large wheat field in central...
βIn the Black Fantasticβ dubbed best exhibition of summer
Londonβs Hayward Gallery opens a new show featuring 11 artists from the African diaspora and, according to critics, itβs must-see.Β Kara Walker and Nick Cave are just two of the artists showing in the Hayward Galleryβs βIn The Black Fantasticβ, which opened this June. Curated by Ekow Eshun, chair of the...
3D printers are being used to create living dirt structures
A team of designers in Jerusalem intends to swap emission heavy materials like concrete and reinforced steel for 3D printed living structures made entirely of natural resources. 3D printing has come a long way in the last 20 years and is slated to become $56bn market by 2027. In...
Amateur urban planners use DALL-E to re-imagine cities without cars
You probably know the DALL-E application best for the strange meme material it generates, but it has genuinely useful applications too. Recently, amateur urban planners have been using it to re-imagineΒ cities designed for pedestrians, and the results are captivating. DALL-E is where many of us go to waste time, right? A...
Five sustainable housing initiatives supporting the refugee crisis
Last year, 89.3 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes due to conflict, violence, and climate change. Letβs look at the architects creating sustainable housing projects to meet their needs. When war erupts in one part of the world, itβs not an isolated issue. The consequences are felt by all β albeit at varying degrees β and practical solutions for developing new housing is one that requires collective effort. The...
Disused Berlin airport to be transformed into sustainable neighbourhood
A once bustling hub for German airliners is set to become a liveable, sustainable haven within the next decade. Plans are underway for a self-sufficient and car free neighbourhood including 5,000 apartments, schools, parks, and green businesses. After nearly 50 years of facilitating commercial flights, a bustling region that was once named Berlin Tegel Airport will soon become a benchmark for sustainable living. Thatβs what you call flipping the script. The...
British tourist is arrested for stealing historic Iraqi artifacts
A retired geologist from Bath, UK, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempting to steal historic artifacts whilst on a trip to Iraq.Β Jim Fitton, 66, claims he didnβt know he was breaking Iraqi law when he picked up shards of ancient pottery and placed them in his backpack. At the time, Fitton was on an archaeological and geological tour of Iraq. He also took 12 stones from...
New βDALL-E Miniβ website sparks arty social media trend
A new open source AI application lets anyone input prompts and generate images via a database algorithm. Social media has been messing about with its tools and coming up with some truly bizarre results. The inevitable shift to algorithm-generated artwork is well under way, at least as far as surreal abstract pieces go. You may remember that we wrote about the advanced AI programme called βDALL-E 2β a few...
