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How can we make architecture more sustainable?

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The Top 6 Sustainable Architecture Strategies for Public Building Design | Thought Leadership | HMC Architects

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More and more, sustainable architecture strategies are being implemented in public building designs. While cost is always a top consideration for civic building planners, keep in mind that spending more up-front on sustainable strategies can not only provide large savings over time, but also positively impact air quality, well-being, and lead to a regenerative future.

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This Robot Eats Trash!

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AD rounds up the most awe-inspiring examples of modern architecture from the Iraqi British talent

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A video on biomimicry in architecture.

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Exploration Architecture founder Michael Pawlyn on biomimicry | Design for Life | Dezeen

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If you are starting university but your kitchen skills leave a lot to be desired, then fear not - our 10 favourite student basics will see you through your first term and beyond.

Check out our collection of student recipes and read on for easy meals you can master in minutes. Once you've got the basics, try your hand at some more challenging suggestions.

1. Fajitas

Whether feeding friends or whipping up a midweek main, you can't go wrong with fajitas. Add and swap ingredients to accommodate taste and budget.

Simple staple
Slice, chop and serve - rolling your own fajitas is a fun and fast way to get dinner on the table:
Roll-your-own fajitas
Easy chicken fajitas

2. Pasta bake

A classic student dish, pasta bake doesn't have to be the cheese-laden vision we imagine on hearing the words. Let storecupboard staples like pasta and tinned tomatoes be your base, then get creative with your favourite veg, herbs and reduced-fat crème fraîche for a lovely texture with less of the stodge.
Find more cheesy pasta bake recipes.
3. Pasta on the hob

If you are short on time or simply too ravenous to wait out a pasta bake, our speedy hob spaghetti dishes will be your supper salvation.
Discover more delicious budget pasta recipes.
4. Curry

Pack your storecupboard full of spices, curry paste and coconut milk and you'll be ready to whip up a classic Asian curry, whatever the occasion.

Make it more interesting
Up for a challenge? Roll up your sleeves and make your own Thai curry paste to add to your favourite green curry:
Green curry paste
Check out more easy curry recipes.
5. Traybakes

Traybakes are an ultimate student staple - just throw everything in a roasting tin or pan and let the oven work its magic. You'll also save on washing-up afterwards!

6. Soup

Ditch the canned soup and stir up your own nutritious broth - the perfect solution to late nights or when you're feeling under the weather.
More budget soup recipes.
7. Jacket potatoes

Jacket potatoes are a great speedy food when cooked in the microwave, but taste their best when lovingly crisped up in the oven.
Read our guide on how to cook jacket potatoes in the microwave and find more brilliant jacket potato recipes.
8. Stir-fried rice

With a bag of rice in the cupboard, you're never more than 15 minutes from a satisfying and speedy supper. Choose brown or wholegrain rice for added health credentials.
Get more fantastic fried rice recipes.
9. Granola

Don't forget breakfast! Make your own granola and add your favourite nuts, fruit and seeds to rolled oats. Store in a sealed container to help keep the crunch.
See more granola recipes.
10. Omelettes

Eggs are a cheap source of high-quality protein and are rich in vitamins and minerals. Whipping up an omelette for one couldn't be easier, making for a speedy lunch or satisfying solo supper.
Try some more omelette recipes.
Discover more student recipes...
Student recipe collection What are your go-to recipes at university? Leave a comment below...
Essential recipes for university
How to kit out a student kitchen
7 healthy student suppers
10 easy vegetarian student recipes
Top 10 vegan student recipes
Top 10 student baking recipes
A guide to cheap and healthy cooking

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If you are starting university but your kitchen skills leave a lot to be desired, then fear not - our 10 favourite student basics will see you through your first term and beyond. Check out our collection of student recipes and read on for easy meals you can master in minutes.

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How nature helped design the bullet train

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How nature helped design the bullet train

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Discover the world of biomimicry design.

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The world is poorly designed. But copying nature helps.

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Make your own: Mexican-inspired embroidery

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Make your own: Mexican-inspired embroidery

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These free, downloadable embroidery patterns have been inspired by a group of beautiful 19th-century samplers in the V&A collection, originating from Mexico.

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V&A · Make your own: Mexican-inspired embroidery

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Try your hand at some Mexican-inspired embroidery motifs with these free, downloadable patterns

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Design and make your own Islamic tile and printed pattern

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Design and make your own Islamic tile and printed pattern

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Discover new shapes and patterns though the V&A's collection of Islamic art. Learn about symmetry and calligraphy, and design your own Islamic tile and tessellating pattern.

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Discover new shapes and patterns though our collection of Islamic art. Learn about symmetry and calligraphy, and design your own Islamic tile and tessellating pattern. Designed for ages 7 and up.

Islamic art is often found in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Egypt and Turkey. It celebrates design and creativity relating to the Muslim religion.
What are Islamic Patterns?
When making objects for mosques and other religious buildings, Muslim artists do not usually include people and animals. This is because it might look like people are praying to them, instead of to God. Instead artists often focus on rich colours, patterns, geometric shapes, plants and flowers.

These beautiful tiles come from Iran and are over 750 years old! Can you see the cross and eight-pointed star shapes? This arrangement of shapes can be repeated infinitely, over and over again, and is called a tessellating pattern.

The tiles are also symmetrical. If you drew a line down the middle of one of them, the pattern would be the same on each side. What symmetrical objects can you find around your house?

Decorative writing, called calligraphy, is often used in Islamic art. It can be used for messages, to add a texture to an artwork, or to make it even more beautiful. The writing could be a poem, or might quote the Qur'an - the main religious text of Islam.

This is the Ardabil carpet, one of the biggest and finest carpets in the world. It is more than 5 meters wide and 10 meters long. The maker of the carpet has used calligraphy. A piece of poetry, a signature and the year it was made have been added in Persian. Can you see it written below?

There are many more examples of Islamic calligraphy in our collection.

Design your own Islamic tile
Now it's time for you to design your own Islamic tile. For this activity you will need:

Thick card or packaging, such as a cereal box

A pencil and coloured pencils

Coloured paper or magazines

Scissors

Glue

Natural materials such as leaves, sticks or flowers

1. Find some small leaves, sticks or flowers that you think have interesting shapes.

2. Put these objects on top of coloured paper or a page from a magazine. Draw around each object with your pencil.

3. Move your object to a different coloured sheet or magazine page and draw around it again. Repeat this several times.

4. Carefully cut all the shapes out, using scissors (with adult help if needed) and put them to one side.

5. Now you need to make a tile base out of card or a cereal box. It can be any shape you like. For inspiration, look back at the tile shapes you have seen already.

To ensure your tile has at least one line of symmetry, fold the card in half and cut out your shape. Then unfold it to see your creation. The more folds you do before cutting out the shape, the more lines of symmetry your tile will have.

6. Gather your colourful shapes from earlier. Start to arrange them on top of your new card tile base. Can you layer them so that there is a symmetrical pattern similar to the examples from the V&A's collection? Can you also find space to draw your name in a decorative way, in the style of calligraphy, using coloured pencils?

7. When you're happy with your design, use glue to stick down your cut-outs. You have just made an Islamic-inspired tile!

Design your own tessellating pattern print
For this activity you will need:

Paper

Pencil

Scissors

Any type of paint or ink, different colours if possible

Potato or other firm root vegetable

Knife (for an adult to cut the potato)

An old plate, tub, or a paper plate

Either card, cardboard (could be a cereal box or recycled packaging) or a piece of fabric

1. Go on a hunt for shapes around your house. Find two interesting shapes that fit together - or tesselate - just like the cross and star tiles. If you need to, you can alter or simplify the shapes you find to make them tesselate.

2. Draw your tessellating pattern on a piece of paper to test if it works and can be repeated again and again.

3. Ask your adult to cut a medium sized potato in half. Then use a felt tip and draw your two shapes on the cut side of each half of the potato.

4. Ask your adult to cut out these shapes.

5. Pour some paint or ink into an old plate or tub.

6. Dip your potato slice shapes into the paint or ink, and press it onto the paper or fabric to print your shape.

7. Now try to use another shape that fits with your first shape and print it next to it with a different colour.

8. Repeat this process as many times as you can.

Where would you use this pattern? Perhaps for tiles in the kitchen? Or to decorate your clothes?

Share your Islamic art inspired designs with us using #VAMFamilies

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V&A · Design and make your own Islamic tile and printed pattern

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Discover new shapes and patterns though our collection of Islamic art. Learn about symmetry and calligraphy, and design your own Islamic tile and tessellating pattern. Designed for ages 7 and up. Islamic art is often found in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran, Egypt and Turkey.

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Explore the groundbreaking Bauhaus collection. You can view 500 works from all areas - furniture, ceramics, photographs, prints and much more!

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Explore our collection from wherever you are! In our database you can view 500 works from all areas - furniture, ceramics, photographs, prints and much more.

You can also search important parts of the extensive estate of Walter Gropius. Our pilot project open archive walter gropius currently comprises 14,000 letters from the years 1910 to 1969, 3,500 photos of Walter Gropius' buildings and projects, 2,500 private photographs and his newspaper archive on the Bauhaus from 1917 to 1925.

A large part of our documents can be researched via Kalliope. Our specialist library on the Bauhaus is accessible via the KOBV and OPAC databases.

We would like to thank the State of Berlin, the Research and Competence Center Digitization Berlin ( digiS) and the European Fund for Regional Development ( EFRE).

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Online collection - Bauhaus-Archiv | Museum für Gestaltung, Berlin

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Explore our collection from wherever you are! In our database you can view 500 works from all areas - furniture, ceramics, photographs, prints and much more. You can also search important parts of the extensive estate of Walter Gropius.

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Moulding a seat for Marcel Breuer’s Short Chair

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Moulding a seat for Marcel Breuer’s Short Chair

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This film shows a contemporary version of Marcel Breuer’s Short Chair being made at the Isokon Plus workshop, London. The chair is made from plywood. Standard plywood cannot be moulded into curved shapes...

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Standard flat plywood boards cannot be moulded into curved shapes. To form curved plywood, glue is spread over layers of thin, cross-grained veneers which are placed in a mould. Pressure is then applied to hold the veneers together in the desired shape while the glue sets. Depending on the type of glue used, the mould may need to be heated. Once the glue has set and the cross grained veneers have been joined as a single shape, the material becomes plywood.

This film shows a contemporary version of Marcel Breuer's Short Chair being made at the Isokon Plus workshop, London. A two part (concave and convex) mould is used to form the chair's seat. Glued, cross-grained veneers are laid between the two parts which are then held together under pressure in a press. Once the glue has set, the seat is removed from the mould, ready for trimming and finishing.

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V&A · Moulding a seat for Marcel Breuer's Short Chair

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Standard flat plywood boards cannot be moulded into curved shapes. To form curved plywood, glue is spread over layers of thin, cross-grained veneers which are placed in a mould. Pressure is then applied to hold the veneers together in the desired shape while the glue sets.

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By 2050 there could be 10 billion human mouths to feed. Eating insects could help solve the global food-supply problem.