Loro Parque open-air aviary on Tenerife

Most people have at one time or another spent the night in a tent and have benefited from the protection provided by its fabric, while at the same time enjoying the sensation of being separated from nature by nothing more than a thin shell. Textile forms of habitation have a long history going back to palaeolithic times and represent an archetypal form of building which has endured to the present day. Textiles are light, easy to convert or dismantle, and they provide protection against wind, ultra-violet rays and rain. (by Susanne Fritz)

read Susanne Fritz’s article on Architonic

Architonic interviews Martin Gran from Snøhetta architects at the ‘Future²’ conference during this year’s Belgrade Design Week.

to Architonic’s Belgrade Design Week 2011 photo album

Tubaloon - Kongsberg -Jazzfestival, 2005, Photo by Robert Sannes

In 1989, when the small and newly founded Norwegian architecture studio won the prestigious competition to design a new library in Alexandria ahead of 526 other submissions, the architecture scene hardly knew about the three young guys of Snøhetta. Meanwhile Snøhetta is one of the most successful and awarded practice in the world and 20 years after their big breakthrough the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo dedicates a comprehensive exhibition to this year’s Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture winners.

Den Norske Opera, 2008, Photo by Jiri Havran

The exhibition will continue until 13th September 2009.

Petter Dass Museet, 2007, Photo by Åke E. Lindmann

to the National Museum website

to the Snøhetta website