Photo courtesy of www.thinkstock.com

For years now, design has been one of the biggest promotional themes in Europe. The largest branch of design or at least the most monumental is architecture and European architecture is producing solutions and statements that reflect the time in which we live. The relationship between nature and cities is popping up everywhere in European architecture. This May 20 to Aug. 24, Rotterdam will once again stage its International Architecture Biennale (IABR) and this year’s theme is URBAN BY NATURE. Rotterdam is going the extra mile in highlighting architecture in this show and will use exhibitions, tours and even overnight stays at an architect’s home, to press home the point that to be in a city is to be in a work of art.

URBAN BY NATURE recognizes the importance of integrating nature into the urban landscape. That may sound strange but consider the fact that there are more trees to be found in parks and nurseries these days than in the world’s rainforests. Like human population, most foliage lives in cities and suburbs these days.

The program for IABR 2014 was conceived by landscape architect Dirk Sijmons. The central hub of this year’s event will be Kunsthal Rotterdam, where guests can visit the main IABR exhibition. The Pure Veerkracht [‘Pure Resilience’] exhibition to be held at the adjacent Rotterdam Museum of Natural History [Natuurhistorisch Museum Rotterdam] sets out to demonstrate that cities are themselves also part of the natural world. The joint ticket allows entry to both museums. The price of a regular ticket is €11 – this is the regular Kunsthal admission price. Museumkaart [Annual Museum Pass] holders only pay a €5 surcharge for IABR admission.

Architecture earned Rotterdam 10^th place on this year’s New York Times list of Best Places to travel. Times writer Elisa Mal cited the city’s “striking, cubed architecture (which) gives shape to the most modern skyline in the country.” This year Rotterdam unveiled its Centraal train station and its renovated Kunsthal museum.

At the IABR the symposiums, lectures and debates will probe architecture and its relevance to a time that’s desperately trying to reconcile modern life and the environment. The summer long events of the IABR begins with the ZigZagCity architecture festival (May 29 to June 9), which explores Rotterdam on tours of the historic Laurenskwartier district, taking them from Luchtsingel to the world-famous Cube Houses and the Blaakse Bos building complex.

Milan Builds a Forest Skyscraper

Milan, already known as a center of innovation in modern fashion as well as a Renaissance center of artistic scientific innovation, is about to unveil what could be a major innovation in green architecture. Dioga Costa’s Vertical Forest or Bosco Verticale is part residential tower and part forest adding vertical green space to the city. That’s right, vertical forest. While most modern architects are trying to add green touches to their buildings Costa seems to be adding a building to a forest by creating two towers — one 18 stories and the other 26 that are literally covered with trees from top to bottom.

The two towers combined will contain 400 luxury condos, starting at more than $4,000 per square meter. The balconies and terraces of each condo are teeming with large and small plants. When the full botanical infusion is complete the towers will have 730 plants (480 large, 250 small), 5,000 shrubs and 11,000 perennials and groundcover on its facades, which is about the same vegetation found in 2.2 acres of woodland. Altogether there will be more than 100 different species of plant life in the towers.

Other environmental touches such as solar and wind power will also be applied in the Bosco Verticale towers. An irrigation system will reuse recycled greywater to feed the plants. The Bosco Verticale is located in central Milan near the Isola neighborhood. The towers will do much to improve the environmental health of the city in creating oxygen, absorbing C02 and saving energy.

Pulling a House from the Printer

On a recent visit to Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum, President Barack Obama was shown the 3D Print Canal House by the Mayor of Amsterdam Eberhard van der Laan. The house, a research project, was created using parts from a specially designed 3D Printing machine. The 3D Print Canal House is an initiative of DUS architects together with Heijmans, Henkel, Amsterdam Municipality, Doen Foundation, Amsterdam Fund for the Arts and many partners.

It’s the world’s first house by 3D Printer including furniture. The house is located on a canal in north Amsterdam. An industrial scale 3D Printer made the plastic bricks that will comprise the walls. The 13-room house is being built by the side of a canal in the north of the city using a traditional gable design. The 3D Print Canal House is printed with newly developed materials derived from biobased raw materials. It is also possible to print with recycled plastics.

The Rijksmuseum itself just recently emerged from a major 10-year renovation that puts more than 8,000 works of art back on display. Spanish architecture firm Cruz y Ortiz arquitectos gave the 19th-century building a bright and spacious interior, a new entrance, modern facilities, restored galleries and a new Asian Pavilion. The architects have recreated the clear layout conceived by the museum's original architect, Pierre Cuypers, and have restored the high, spacious, late 19th century galleries to their former glory. An outdoor exhibition space and renovated garden have also been added.