With the motto “Ideas Worth Spreading”, TED Talks introduce us to a global community of online powerful and inspiring lectures that empower conversation, covering a variety of topics from technology to science, and of course design and architecture. In our previous article 5 TED Talks That “Talk the Talk” we gave you a list of selected motivational talks to inspire young architects and architecture lovers. You can as well check our list of 18 TED Talks on Sustainable Architecture and Design. If you like lists, or you missed some of the recent talks on architecture, here are 10 more for you to watch.
Courtesy of TEDx Talks
10 Top TED Talks for Architects to Watch
DANIEL LIBESKIND | 17 words of architectural inspiration
In this talk, the provocative architect gives us a tour of his world of the design process and his ambition to create a space that has never existed. He strongly believes that architecture is based on wonder, that it has a story to tell against all improbabilities and reach the human soul, change our experiences. Through optimism, expressionism, complexity, and democracy, we can break our habits and create new ideas.
FRANK GEHRY | My days as a young rebel
This is a legendary talk from 1990 when most of Frank Gehry‘s famous buildings were just an idea on his mind or non-existing at all. The controversial architect makes a presentation of his early work, trying to explain that it is the context that makes his designs understandable, and that’s why out of it, they look very weird. He identifies the origin of his ichthyological inspirations and presents his experiments with chain links and paper furniture.
LIZ DILLER | A new museum wing…in a giant bubble
Liz Diller of Diller Scofidio + Renfro presents their challenging project of the expansion of Hirshhorn Museum in Washington D.C. “To truly make a good public space, you need to erase distinctions between architecture, urbanism, and landscape”, she says. With silicon-coated glass, they create a contemporary deployable structure, taking the shape of its container. This is “The bubble”.
XAVIER VILALTA | Architecture at home in its community
The Catalan architect Xavier Vilalta presents two of his projects in the emerging countries of Ethiopia and Tunisia and the challenges he faced during the design process. The first one is a multistory shopping mall in the city of Addis Ababa and the second a masterplan of 2000 apartments and facilities in Tunis. They are great examples of how architecture can change the local communities and economies through affordable solutions that enhance the relationship between the people and the environment.
ALEJANDRO ARAVENA | My architectural philosophy? Bring the community into the process
The recent winner of the Pritzker Prize, Alejandro Aravena believes that the core of a good design is in finding the right questions, not “answering well the wrong ones”. Using a blackboard and chalk he explains how participatory design can be the solution for poverty in the cities, sustainability in working places, and facing the forces of nature. With the power of synthesis, bricks, wood, and cement become the power of life itself.
MARWA AL SABOUNI | How Syria’s architecture laid the foundation for brutal war
In this very interesting talk, we watch a young Syrian architect, who has lived the horror of the ongoing war in her hometown Homs and also lost her architecture studio, explaining how architecture was one of the main causes of the conflict in Syria. She focuses on how the modernization of the built environment, urban zoning, and misguided inhumane architecture led to the loss of the character of the community and the sense of belonging. “How do we rebuilt after the war is over in order to avoid the same mistakes?”
MICHAEL GREEN | Why we should build wooden skyscrapers
Michael Green has noticed that people act differently in the presence of wood in buildings. Along with the overpopulation and climate change he wants to find a solution in the housing using wood, a material already grown by the sun. He answers a lot of peoples’ concerns on this experiment and suggests that with mass timber panels of wood we can reach up to 30 story tall buildings.
JASON deCAIRES TAYLOR | An underwater art museum, teeming with life
The sculptor Jason deCaires Taylor started a project of creating underwater sculpture parks with more than 500 works in different places, in an effort to increase sensitivity towards the sea and the oceans. He uses materials and designs that help and encourage life and creates places for preservation, observation, and education, just like a museum.
THEASTER GATES | How to revive a neighborhood: with imagination, beauty, and art
The potter and social activist Theaster Gates in this talk teach us how to make something out of nothing. He presents his abandoned neighborhood, Grand Crossing in Chicago with failing housing markets and how he transformed its buildings into gathering sites for the community. He challenges us to rethink the reshaping of cities with the collaboration of all the scientific fields involved.
TONY FADELL | The first secret of design is…noticing
In this funny lecture, the designer Tony Fadell gives us tips on how to get over habituation of everyday things and start noticing the problems around us and try to fix them. His advice is to look broader and think younger, wake up every morning, and ask ourselves: “How can I experience the world better?”
TAKAHARU TEZUKA | The best kindergarten you’ve ever seen
Kyoto-based architect Takaharu Tezuka presents his built project of a circular kindergarten in Tokyo, where kids play in nets around trees, run more than 4,000 km a day, and learn how to live in this world. The building is completely open for most of the year, with no boundary between inside and outside or between classrooms. It is a new approach to design and education with fascinating results.
RYAN GRAVEL | How an old loop of railroads is changing the face of a city
Ryan Gravel is an urban planner who had the vision to transform his hometown Atlanta into a place you really want to live. With his project Atlanta Beltline, he raised the role of infrastructure as the foundation for our economy, social life, and culture that led to an urban revitalization benefiting the whole community.
ELISE ROY | When we design for disability we all benefit
“I believe that losing my hearing was one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever received,” says Elise Roy. Through her speech, she encourages us to experience the world in a unique way, use design thinking to “ask those stupid questions”, innovate and prototype. “What if we changed our mindsets and design for disability first?”, that would lead to a positive change in our lives with amazing results.
ALISON KILLING | What happens when a city runs out of room for its dead
In this provocative and funny TED talk, we follow Urban planner and architect Alison Killing’s approach on how death and burials shape our cities and building environment. She gives multiple examples of the lack of regulation and design in the UK considering cemeteries and burial places.
MOSHE SAFDIE | How to reinvent the apartment building
The architect of the famous Habitat 67 reimagines this building in the modern city where densities require more affordable housing while maintaining the qualities of a house to each unit. Using Lower Manhattan as a study case, he proposes new models of habitation that will enrich the public realm with gardens and community open spaces.
KENT LARSON | Brilliant designs to fit more people in every city
How can we fit more people into cities without overcrowding? Kent Larson shows off folding cars, quick-change apartments and other innovations that could make the city of the future work a lot like a small village of the past.
MICHAEL HANSMEYER | Building unimaginable shapes
Michael Hansmeyer is experimenting with the origins of forms in nature, the greatest architect. He works with foldings and algorithms to create forms free of physical constraints and encourages young architects to start designing not the object but the process.
ALEX STEPHEN | The shareable future of cities
Alex Steffen explores our rapidly urbanizing planet’s future and how cities can help us solve the overwhelming problems of climate change if we only focus on the right issues. The sharp little changes such as creating people-focused places and walkshed environments are far more efficient than unsustainable mega-projects that are doomed to fail.