Archinect - News

ABI Reverts into Negative Territory for First Time in Nine Months

2013-05-23T17:26:00-04:00

“Project approval delays are having an adverse effect on the design and construction industry, but again and again we are hearing that it is extremely difficult to obtain financing to move forward on real estate projects,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “There are other challenges that have prevented a broader recovery that we will examine in the coming months if this negative trajectory continues... we’re hopeful that this is just a short-term dip.”

Zaha Hadid beyond buildings: architect launches new design gallery

2013-05-23T13:01:00-04:00

She has become a global brand so desirable that her buildings in China are now being pirated – before they are even finished. So what territory is left to conquer? The answer might be found by peering through the windows of an innocuous looking building on Clerkenwell Road in east London, which opened this week as the Zaha Hadid Design Gallery, part of Clerkenwell Design Week.

PinkCloud’s Pop-Up Hotel Turns Empty Office Spaces into Temporary Hospitality Spaces

2013-05-22T17:44:00-04:00

The finalists of the 2013 Radical Innovation in Hospitality competition recently gathered during Hospitality Design Expo in Las Vegas to present their ideas for the next big hotel concept in front of a jury of top industry judges. [...] the Copenhagen-based international architecture collective PinkCloud.dk took home the $10,000 grand prize for its Pop-Up Hotel concept, which utilizes empty Class A office spaces in urban centers, turning them into temporary hospitality spaces.

Fast Company's "Most Creative People 2013" includes four architects

2013-05-22T15:15:00-04:00

The 2013 global leaders in technology, design, media, music, movies, marketing, television, sports, and more.

Each year Fast Company puts together a list of the 100 most creative people in business. This year the list includes the following faces familiar to readers of Archinect...

3. Diana Balmori

12. Liz Muller

16. Ai Weiwei

60. Peter Marino

For the full list go here...

Houston court awards home design firm $1.3 million in architectural copyright case

2013-05-21T17:11:00-04:00

The jury in the United States District Court in Houston found that Frontier committed copyright infringement by constructing and marketing nineteen houses that infringed Hewlett’s copyrighted designs. Frontier’s owner, Ronald Wayne Bopp, was also held personally liable for Frontier’s activities. The amount of the judgment was based on the amount of profits Frontier earned from the sales of houses that infringed Hewlett’s copyrights.

Nashville's Music City Center hopes to make a lasting note

2013-05-21T13:54:00-04:00

This morning, city officials in Nashville cut the ribbon on the largest public building project in its history -- a new convention hall called the Music City Center. But Nashville isn't just the latest city to open a convention center. These mammoth buildings are opening or getting facelifts coast-to-coast. And standing out now takes more than a huge exhibition space and easy access.

Hirshhorn ‘Bubble’ risks operating at a loss, internal Smithsonian report says

2013-05-16T13:13:00-04:00

The Hirshhorn Museum’s proposed Seasonal Inflatable Structure, also known as “the Bubble,” a project announced in 2009 and intended as an architecturally and culturally transformative space on the Mall, would operate at a loss in each of three scenarios examined in an assessment done by the Smithsonian.

“We’ve said from the beginning, and the secretary [G. Wayne Clough] has said it, this is a bold project,” said Richard Kurin, the Smithsonian’s undersecretary for history, art and culture. “We’ve encouraged this, but it has to be raised by private money. In terms of doing that, we’re still trying to raise money for construction of the Inflatable Structure. We’ve been at this for some years. We hope its time has come now, but if not, we look forward to a better time.”

Editor's Picks #315

2013-05-14T08:00:00-04:00

News
Robin Pogrebin reported that following wide-ranging protests, the Museum of Modern Art has selected the design firm Diller Scofidio & Renfro to re-examine it’s planned expansion including whether to keep any of the existing American Folk Art Museum. Scott Gustafon was somewhat relieved "I believe that Tod Williams and Ricardo Scofidio are old friends, so this is a step in the right direction" and Lian Chikako Chang deadpanned "Pretty sure that DSR can handle staggered floorplates". Added Darkman "There is room behind the museum... you could install very gradual ramps or something. Additionally, i'd like to see the facade brought out to the sidewalk to open up the building--not sure how to do that though... ha. Or replace with semi-transparent glazing in the same pattern and shape. Would be cool to see it glow".

Bustler.net showcased Parabola Chair by Los Angeles-based architect and product designer Carlo Aiello, winner of the 2013 ICFF Studio Award. The chair will be e...

Archeology of the Digital

2013-05-08T12:41:00-04:00

Now is the time stop starting with "in the future" in relationship to digital technology. This show will tell, "in the past digital technology did this." It is time to write its history.

Greg Lynn aims to pull the curtain on the digital positioning of sci-fi and other camps and record the history of the subject for what it really is or was. This could help the recent debates of what is what, and, depending on the curation, place certain legacies in place.

NBBJ Appoints Tim Leberecht Chief Marketing Officer

2013-05-08T08:43:00-04:00

NBBJ, a global architecture and design firm, today announced that it has appointed Tim Leberecht as its Chief Marketing Officer. Leberecht joins NBBJ from Frog Design where he led the marketing organization from 2006 to 2013 and helped transform the company into one of the world’s foremost design and innovation consultancies. He will direct NBBJ’s worldwide marketing, business development and communications from the firm’s San Francisco office.

“We’re thrilled to have Tim joining us,” said NBBJ managing partner Scott Wyatt, FAIA. “With his experience positioning Frog Design at the forefront of design innovation, and his continuing mission for brands to provide value, he’s exactly the person we were looking for as our first-ever chief marketing officer. His presence here underscores our ambition to become a leading force in transforming human experience and business performance through design.”

“I’m honored to join a firm with such a strong legacy, ethos and ambition,” said Tim...

Editor's Picks #314

2013-05-07T13:14:00-04:00

Over at the LA Times, Christopher Hawthorne reported on LACMA Director Michael Govan’s plan’s for $650-million new building by Swiss architect Peter Zumthor...Eric Chavkin commented "New construction has always been fundraising tail that wags the museum dog. Big names to draw bigger money...Now that AMPAS is leveraging it's Oscar prestige to be a part of LACMA, a new name to entice donor dollars is Zumthor, a name that means absolutely nothing to most.

News
Michael Z Wise reviewed the newest edition of Albert Speer, Architecture by Léon Krier for the Wall Street Journal. Mr. Wise concluded his review "Though he is again bemoaning a contemporary inability to regard classicism in a detached manner, it is Léon Krier who is in a delirious thrall to a malevolent aesthetic".

Will Galloway was surprised "wow, i didn't need another reason to dislike krier, but this one certainly seems more than enough to set aside any other complaint about the guy and never revisit them. its amazing that someone could hate modernism so much that even hitler's vision for the world seems palatable to him. nasty". For his part Steven Ward
argued "I'd rather see the swastika redeemed for its original associations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika) than see any redemption of Speer's work. It's not that the style(s) from which he borrowed were bad so much as his intentional bombastic over-scaling of everything. These buildings were meant to communicat...

Flushing Meadows Corona Park (for now)

2013-05-06T12:14:00-04:00

If all the various proposals come to fruition, Major League Soccer will plunk a 35,000-seat stadium on top of the Pool of Industry; the Related Companies and Sterling Equities will jointly build a 1.4 million–square–foot shopping center on parkland turned parking lot next to Citi Field, and the National Tennis Center will creep beyond its current borders

Justin Davidson reviews the Bloomberg administration's recently announced plans for Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Mr. Davidson is "skeptical of the new sugarplum visions" which would transfer about 40 acres of public land into the hands of private capital for various "goodies".

Apple Submits Revised Campus 2 Plans, Delays Tantau Development to Cut Costs

2013-04-25T18:59:00-04:00

In order to trim 300,000 square feet of construction costs from its budget, Apple has pushed the entire Tantau Development to Phase 2, which means it will be completed after the main campus is built. Apple's revised campus plan includes the addition of an expanded section detailing bicycle access improvements, which comes with an included visualization of what bike pathways and sidewalks might look like on the campus.

Download all the revised plans from Cupertino.org

Architecture billings up for 8th consecutive month

2013-04-25T17:22:00-04:00

In March, the American Institute of Architects’ Architecture Billings Index marked its eighth consecutive month of growth in the demand for architectural design services. While the national score of 51.9 is down three full points from February’s score of 54.9, the architecture industry is still seeing continued strength nationwide, and across all regions and industry sectors.

What's hot in housing trends these days?

2013-04-17T19:30:00-04:00

Housing starts in March rose to the highest level in five years. If developers keep building at that rate, there’d be one million new houses by the end of the year. So, what are builders building and what kind of homes do consumers want? The granite countertop of the new kitchen is like the leather interior of a new car -- a standard, special order must-have.

Editor's Picks #311

2013-04-16T12:43:00-04:00

For the latest edition in his NEXT SERIES: features, Orhan Ayyüce spoofed the rise of architectural firms who hire media experts, also known as social media coordinators or marketing directors. The piece titled Media Specialist Wanted began provocatively "in architectural media, what it used to be ‘there is no such thing as bad publicity’ in the prime print years, has turned into ‘puffery is the only publicity’ in the age of social media and infinite promotion"...

Nicholas Cecchi doubted "an architect would personally insult someone who dislikes their building, why is OK for someone hired by an architect to do so? Have architects forgotten that they serve clients and the public, not their own egos and interests?".

While, Will Galloway offered up some praise for Orhan and an answer to Steven Ward’s previous comment/question "another great piece of irony truth and fiction, orhan. @ steven, we never pay to be published, except that it costs us a bit of time to prepare material......

The Rise of the Darists

2013-04-15T12:09:00-04:00

To be sure, I do not believe that design practices do not involve research, or that these practices do not produce new knowledge. Nothing could be further from the idea. All design draws upon knowledge, either produced by existing research or new research. But critically, design is not synonymous with research. Design cannot base its conclusions on design itself.

Archinect contributor and former editor in chief Javier Arbona's critique of Design as Research, DaR, and what happened to architectural theory. A provocative piece. "the Rise of Darists" @ PLAT 2.5

UNStudio launches open source knowledge sharing

2013-04-11T17:21:00-04:00

In June this year UNStudio will launch the new organisation of its practice as an open-source knowledge-based practice operating projects around four specialised Knowledge Platforms. As part of the reorganisation of the studio a new interactive online knowledge platform will be launched, aimed at facilitating the open exchange of knowledge, with the ultimate goal of introducing and encouraging the expansion from a collaborative to a co-creative working model for architecture.

The rise and fall of Scottish architects RMJM

2013-04-03T16:44:00-04:00

“When one office was doing well, another was not doing as well,” says the source. “But we always managed it so that there was the see-saw effect – one office would be profitable and another would be in the doldrums. But we managed to keep the group afloat.” “What people are worried about now is that the people who ran the company down are still the ones in charge.”

Editor's Picks #308

2013-03-26T16:23:00-04:00

Archinect published work from Beyond Prototype, an advanced digital fabrication seminar developed at Columbia University...Nicholas Cecchi was impressed but also offered some criticism "This is amazing student work...However, I would like architecture schools to stop pushing students to contextualize this kind of research-based exploration. Showing these as enclosures (or the one as a gondola) only undermines the amazing generative capacity of this kind of design"

For the latest edition of the Student Works feature, Archinect published work from Beyond Prototype, an advanced digital fabrication seminar developed at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture Planning and Preservation by Jason Ivaliotis and Nicholas Kothari. In the course "Students develop parametrically controlled tessellations and transform them into building component systems that can be built using conventional sheet stock materials. These tessellated systems are extracted from the digital realm and built at full scale".

Nicholas Cecchi was impressed but also offered some criticism "This is amazing student work. The craft and quality is great, and the theory behind it is impressive. However, I would like architecture schools to stop pushing students to contextualize this kind of research-based exploration. Showing these as enclosures (or the one as a gondola) only undermines the amazing generative capacity of this kind of design. These should not be taken liter...

Tackling Concerns of Independent Workers

2013-03-24T19:07:00-04:00

Today, the Freelancers Union is one of the nation’s fastest-growing labor organizations, with more than 200,000 members, over half of them in New York State. Ms. Horowitz, who has never lacked audacity, says she expects to expand the organization to one million members within three years. For some perspective, the United Automobile Workers union currently has 380,000 members.

Perhaps, architect interns, and those contract workers, will look to adding their numbers to this collective, instead of waiting for venal institutions - you know who you are - to make substantive changes to the way that things work.

Providence, RI Takes Grand Prize at Mayors Challenge

2013-03-20T19:59:00-04:00

Providence, Rhode Island was recently selected as America's most innovative city at the nationwide Mayors Challenge, taking home the $5M-Grand Prize for its idea "Providence Talks." The Mayors Challenge, hosted by Bloomberg Philanthropies, is a competition to inspire American cities to generate innovative ideas that solve major challenges and improve city life - and that ultimately can be shared with cities across the nation.

Architecture Billings Up for Seventh Consecutive Month

2013-03-20T13:57:00-04:00

In February, the American Institute of Architects’ Architecture Billings Index marked its seventh consecutive month of growth in the demand for architectural design services. With a national score of 54.9, up from January’s score of 54.2, the architecture industry is seeing continued strength and a higher rate of growth of billings than it has seen since the bubble burst five years ago. (A score above 50.0 in the index means that demand is increasing.)

Editor's Picks #307

2013-03-19T17:39:00-04:00

Reflecting on the site of Farnsworth House, an obvious floodplain, toasteroven wondered "who pushed siting the building where it is - the client or mies?". To which snooker-doodle-dandy replied "don't believe Mies would ever let a Client tell him what to do. In fact if they tried, he would most likely stuff out his Cuban cigar on their forehead"

News
As of March 11, 2013 Farnsworth House is fully surrounded by river water, but neither the lower deck nor the upper deck had yet been breached.

Paul Petrunia noted that last time it happened "They even blogged the cleanup: http://archinect.com/news/article/80993/farnsworth-clean-up".

Reflecting on the site of Farnsworth House, an obvious floodplain, toasteroven wondered "who pushed siting the building where it is - the client or mies?". To which snooker-doodle-dandy replied "don't believe Mies would ever let a Client tell him what to do. In fact if they tried, he would most likely stuff out his Cuban cigar on their forehead"

For her part Donna Sink expressed the opinion "I think evilplatypus - whose presence here I miss - once noted that the 100 year flood level that Mies used to site the building has been radically changed due to the massive suburban development that has happened upstream in the intervening 60 years. I think the house should be moved".

AIA ...

Flush With Oil, Abu Dhabi Opens World's Largest Solar Plant

2013-03-19T16:45:00-04:00

Abu Dhabi, the most oil-rich of the United Arab Emirates, is now home to the world's single-largest concentrated solar power plant. The 100-megawatt Shams 1 plant cost an estimated $750 million and is expected to provide electricity to 20,000 homes, according to the BBC. Why, you might ask? Bloomberg says the less oil Abu Dhabi uses for local consumption, the more it can export.

Modular construction is gaining popularity across New York City

2013-03-17T16:03:00-04:00

“Any change in the way you do business involves some concerns and issues,” said Richard T. Anderson, the president of the New York Building Congress...“If for New York City construction, business as usual is a challenge, you need to change some of the basic ingredients, and labor and management needs to address this.”

In the Real Estate section of last Sunday's NYT, Julie Satow talks with architects, city officials, various trade organizations and developers (although no union representatives) about the recent growth in projects using prefabricated, modular construction techniques. Such an approach offers advantages in terms of speed and efficiency of construction. Yet, particularly for New York City’s powerful construction unions, does pose challenges.

Editor's Picks #306

2013-03-12T12:30:00-04:00

For the latest edition of the ShowCase feature, Archinect published the Hotel Wiesergut a complex renovation and extension by by GOGL ARCHITEKTEN, located in Hinterglemm/Salzburger Land, Austria. FRaC thought "those cold roofs are hot!"

News
Over at the financial times Emma Jacobs chatted with Zaha Hadid an "Unlikely ‘pushover’ who doesn’t play safe". In response Donna Sink commented "I wouldn't work for free, but I'd be happy to be bullied by Zaha for a short term. Like a wilderness survival camp-type vacation" but GiaCarbello replied "Diplomacy aside. Donna Sink. Wow. Your comment is as low as Hadids and Schumachers lame comments regarding their inexcusable behavior. They have an idea in their heads that ‘uncompromising standards’ is the reasons being for such behaviour. Hadid had to fight her way to the top because of a male dominated industry and forgot along the way to find a balance. Self integrity and self respect at lost".

However Apurimac argued "For christ's sa...

Dead-malls and the return of Main Street

2013-03-10T00:07:00-05:00

The link between this New Urbanist development and a mall REIT is significant. It points to a danger raised by city planner Ann Satterthwaite: that post-mall neighborhoods will simply become outdoor malls, as controlled and sterile – and state subsidized – as indoor shopping centers.

Robbie Moore reviews the current state of thought, among urban planners, academics and real estate analysts, studying the future structure of regional towns and suburbs – and the future of public space, after "the mall" has gone. Concepts/terminology include; "Dead Malls, Grayfields and Ghostboxes".

H/T Bruce Sterling

Autodesk Partners With MakerBot, But Really Wants to Make Its Own Hardware

2013-03-08T19:02:00-05:00

Carl Bass, who’s helmed the $2 billion corporation since 2006, admits that the delineation between building virtual and physical products is eroding, and that has created opportunities for companies who have traditionally focused on developing and selling software. “It used to be that it was this unwritten rule that software companies don’t do hardware, and vice versa,” he says, “but I think the rules are changing…. It totally would be fun. I personally would love it.”

The Financial Times calls Zaha an "Unlikely ‘pushover’ who doesn’t play safe"

2013-03-06T15:08:00-05:00

Referring to younger staff variously as “kids” or “the children”, Dame Zaha, cloaked in black and with smudges of fuchsia on both her eyes and lips, says she is approachable. Those who know her (and prefer not to be named) characterise her as volcanic – she blows up but then it’s over. There are no lasting grudges. Her business partner, architect Patrik Schumacher, says the explosions are the byproduct of “uncompromising standards”, suggesting such bust-ups are normal in creative offices.

She pulls the architect responsible to one side. “I don’t care where [the lights go] as long as they’re not in my presence,” she snaps. Dame Zaha’s two assistants stare at the ground. Moments later they fall to the floor to take off her high-heeled Martin Margiela ankle boots so she can walk five yards across the room.

Why does this globally renowned architect – the first female winner of the Pritzker award (considered the Nobel Prize of the field) – pick on her employees? “Some people take the piss and I don’t like that,” she says. “People have to understand my limits. There is a point of no return. Most people who work with me know that line.” You cannot run a business and be “a complete doormat”.