5 TED Talks Every Architect Must Watch

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TED Talks are great sources of knowledge. One gets a peek into the mind of people who have achieved greatness in their fields. During this lockdown period, utilize your time by watching the following TED Talks by some of the best architects.

The genius behind some of the world's most famous buildings | Renzo Piano

Legendary architect Renzo Piano — the mind behind such indelible buildings as The Shard in London, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and the new Whitney Museum of Art in New York City — takes us on a stunning tour through his life’s work. With the aid of gorgeous imagery, Piano makes an eloquent case for architecture as the answer to our dreams, aspirations and desire for beauty. “Universal beauty is one of the few things that can change the world,” he says. “This beauty will save the world. One person at a time, but it will do it.”

Architecture is a Language: Daniel Libeskind

Daniel Libeskind believes that buildings are crafted with perceptible human energy, and that they address the greater cultural context in which they are built. Best known for designing iconic buildings like the Jewish Museum in Berlin and the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Libeskind also designed the Bord Gáis Energy Theatre and the masterplan for the new World Trade Center site in New York City. His commitment to expanding the scope of architecture reflects his profound interest and involvement in philosophy, art, literature and music.

Floating cities, the LEGO House and other architectural forms of the future | Bjarke Ingels

Design gives form to the future, says architect Bjarke Ingels. In this worldwide tour of his team’s projects, journey to a waste-to-energy power plant (that doubles as an alpine ski slope) and the LEGO Home of the Brick in Denmark — and catch a glimpse of cutting-edge flood resilience infrastructure in New York City as well as an ambitious plan to create floating, sustainable cities that are adapted to climate change.

Create, Explore and Love your life | B V Doshi

Pritzker Prize winner, B.V. Doshi explains that creation can only happen if we have patience. We should always explore and try something new daily. There is so much to learn from nature and especially trees. Love your life. Be generous. Be adventurous and explore. He is a pioneering architect, a teacher and an influential architectural thinker of modern India.

Alejandro Aravena: My architectural philosophy? Bring the community into the process

When asked to build housing for 100 families in Chile ten years ago, Alejandro Aravena looked to an unusual inspiration: the wisdom of favelas and slums. Rather than building a large building with small units, he built flexible half-homes that each family could expand on. It was a complex problem, but with a simple solution — one that he arrived at by working with the families themselves. With a chalkboard and beautiful images of his designs, Aravena walks us through three projects where clever rethinking led to beautiful design with great benefit.