Archinect - News

Miami Beach preservationists sound the alarm over concerning new building safety law

2024-03-26T15:04:00-04:00

The New York Times has picked a side in the fight between Miami Beach historic preservation advocates and developers supporting the recently signed Resiliency and Safe Structures Act, a law those in the former category claim will augment a devastating erasure of the local architecture character over time.

The rift that has for years played out amidst a backdrop that includes the tragedy at Surfside and a spate of new starchitect-designed developments on the nine-mile island has recent salients in the demolished Deauville Beach Hotel and the yet-decided fate of Miami Marine Stadium.

Advocates say the new law is a guise that uses climate change and building safety as its premise to usher in what is, in reality, a slate of insidious and destructive requirements. The Commercial Observer said they also work to "hamstring the powers of municipalities to dictate what can replace demolished structures."

Docomomo US stands against 'anti-diversity' policies, reinforces values for upcoming Florida symposium

2024-01-16T12:23:00-05:00

Docomomo US has issued a statement clarifying its stance on issues that have been raised in advance of its 2024 National Symposium in Coral Gables, Florida.

The group’s decision to host its annual event in the Miami area had come under scrutiny over the state’s pursuit of “anti-diversity” measures in the past year. The symposium will now continue with a renewed focus on sharing stories that can relate to the experiences of those communities targeted by lawmakers, organizers say. Their statement joins a prior call from the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) outlining the detrimental impacts such "anti-woke" policies could have in the architectural education realm in places such as Arkansas, Iowa, South Dakota, and Virginia.

Other new laws and policies in Florida that have been labeled as equally antagonistic to the work of architectural historians and heritage preservation efforts were also decried by Docomomo. Beyond the local slate of major battles that inclu...

Architect Amale Andraos debuts first-ever jewelry collection for Judith Ripka

2022-12-19T19:00:00-05:00

“The challenge was adjusting to the scale,” Andraos said. “When I first started sketching, the pieces were much bigger. I remember the reaction — the team was very excited about the ideas but I wasn’t computing the budget,” adding that the process of design is “always the same across scales, but this experience was very different because the scale of jewelry and the way it relates to the body is so precise.”

Andraos, who stepped down as Dean of Columbia's GSAPP last May, told WWD that her inspiration to make jewelry for the first time came from her hometown of Beirut’s Art Deco tradition. Other architects like Elena Manferdini and Rossana Hu have contributed designs for the Judith Ripka brand. Pieces from Andraos’ new Ayah Collection retail for between $550 and $1,995. The WORKac co-founder will now rejoin the faculty in Morningside Heights in September after a yearlong sabbatical.

Related Feature Interview on Archinect: Deans List: Amale Andraos of Columbia University's GSAPP

“If you look at Amale’s body of work, she is known for asymmetry. Most people prefer symmetry in jewelry so it was an interesting challenge for us to wrap our heads around Amale’s aesthetic and make it work in jewelry,” CEO and GSAPP alumnus Robert D’Loren of Xcel Brands, Ripka’s parent company, added. “There are several finishes on the metal work, from shiny to matte which creates this remarkable sense of balance...

RIOS continues to cultivate the film studio market with a new $600 million Hollywood expansion project

2022-10-10T18:18:00-04:00

RIOS has just been announced as the architects of a new $600 million television studio project in Hollywood, California.

The studio will look to expand on its other ongoing television production projects in the delivery of its latest venture, which is set to transform the former corporate headquarters of the early TV pioneers Technicolor on 6311 W. Romaine Street into a comprehensive studio campus for developers BARDAS and Bain Capital Real Estate.

Image courtesy RIOS

The 620,000-square-foot Echelon at Television Center involves the restoration of two existing Art Deco structures and the addition of two new six-story office towers on the corner of Santa Monica Boulevard on a two-block site that also includes multiple sound stages, a “basecamp,” and a new public restaurant.

Image courtesy RIOS

The rise of streaming services has meant an increase in demand for technologically-advanced studio and production spaces around the Los Angeles area. RIOS has already begun the planning process f...

For sale in LA: a building with a Banksy OR a Banksy with a building?

2022-09-05T09:00:00-04:00

In 2010, while in town for the Los Angeles premiere of his documentary “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” the British street artist Banksy left a gift for fans: a mural of a girl on a swing, dangling beneath the five-foot red “A” of the word “PARKING” on a gritty downtown lot. Now that girl — as well as the historic building in the downtown fashion district that serves as her canvas — is for sale to the highest bidder.

The historic 26,000-square-foot Downtown Los Angeles building was purchased for $4 million three years prior to the popular documentary's premiere and underwent a $1.8 million renovation before its then-owners filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April this year.

Art dealer Jeffrey Deitch says the 12- by 33-foot mural’s intrinsic value merits a different kind of appraisal. (“This is free public art. It is not meant to have a commercial value and be resold. That’s not the intention of the artist.”) The best estimate from the previous owners was reportedly $16 million without the girl, which Sotheby’s placed at a minimum of $10 million standing alone. A resolution will come when the building goes to auction on October 6th.

One of Manhattan’s art deco gems is slowly breaking down its tenants with persistent elevator malfunctions

2022-03-29T12:34:00-04:00

At 20 Exchange Place, the sheer height of the building has made the persistent outages particularly infuriating for residents, who can pay as much as $5,000 a month for a market-rate one-bedroom unit. Since November, the skyscraper has been plagued by long elevator outages that have turned daily life upside down and trapped residents with mobility issues inside their apartments. Elevator service is unpredictable and often nonexistent, for hours at a time, above the 15th floor.

The building’s owner DTH Capital says Con Edison is the culprit, but a spokesperson for the company told the Times there was “no indication” that the malfunction has nothing to do with its service or equipment. The problems are so bad that the building had to hire an elevator mechanic to be on call 24 hours in order to replace the system's operating boards, which DTH attempted unsuccessfully to buy in bulk.

Tenants in the 57-story tower at 20 Exchange Place are getting by buying two weeks of groceries at a time. Some have been given new apartments elsewhere in the area or have signed non-disclosure agreements with the owners. Others are afraid to talk on the record, while still more either broke their leases or else wound up climbing a mountain of lament — including a 28-year-old nurse who thought she scored a deal during the Covid boom (“I’m a young, in-shape person, so I can do it. But it’s miserable.”)

“It’s a privilege that we are able to afford to live here, but we did not sign...

Goff Fest kicks off in Tulsa honoring the life of its late architectural native son

2021-11-04T08:58:00-04:00

The living memory of one of Tulsa, Oklahoma’s biggest drivers of the city’s noteworthy contributions to the visual landscape of 20th-century America is getting its due this weekend in an awesome way.

Goff Fest is about to descend on one of the city’s most important historic landmarks. The Tulsa Club Hotel will host the inaugural edition of a four-day festival honoring the life, work, and legacy of its architect, the late Bruce Goff.

Goff was an architectural prodigy who went on to become one of the Midwest’s most prominent practitioners of Modernism. Most of his extant early buildings were realized in the Tulsa metropolitan area, including the Boston Avenue Methodist Church and Riverside Studio, which are both on the National Register of Historic Places.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by GOFF FEST (@goff_fest)

Organized by Tulsa’s Goff Center of the Continuous Present (GCCP), the festival is the brainchild of Brooklyn-based artist Karl Jones. Jones was...

RIBA is looking to sell property, refurbish headquarters according to new president

2021-10-01T17:08:00-04:00

The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has announced two major changes that will help it restructure and rebound following recent economic losses.

The institute will shed staff and sell its surplus property as it looks to redevelop its 66 Portland Place headquarters according to reports published today in The Architect’s Journal and Building Design.

RIBA is currently facing a budget deficit after reported earnings for the year 2020 failed to match its £28.2 million expenditure by a figure of about £8 million ($10.8 million).

The organization is now looking to sell its offices at 76 Portland Place in order to reduce overhead after an internal audit reportedly revealed that approximately 89% of full-time staffers feel more comfortable working upwards of three days a week outside of the redesigned administrative center.

In addition to the sell-off, RIBA has also announced a new competition that would completely overhaul its adjacent 87-year-old art deco office originally desi...

Rockefeller Center's sunken plaza could receive substantial renovations

2020-01-20T15:40:00-05:00

Architects Gabellini Sheppard Associates and developers Tishman Speyer have unveiled a series of substantial changes for the outdoor public realm areas associated with the Rockefeller Center complex in New York City.

The proposal, presented to the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission last week, aims to improve pedestrian circulation and visibility throughout the iconic sunken plaza and surrounding areas by adding new stair configurations, upgrading the storefronts that currently line the plaza with a ribbon of operable doors, relocating several statues, and repaving the terraces overlooking the sunken court to make them more wheelchair accessible.

View of 30 Rockefeller Center, designed by Raymond Hood. Image courtesy of Wikimedia user David Shankbone.

The 19-building Rockefeller Center complex was originally designed in the 1930s by architect Raymond Hood, the designer behind the Chicago Tribune Tower and other notable early 20th Century skyscrapers. The complex was built in p...

The Chrysler Building sells for a mere $150 million

2019-03-11T17:35:00-04:00

Aby Rosen’s RFR Holding is purchasing the Chrysler Building, one of the world’s most recognizable skyscrapers [...] One source with knowledge of the talks said that sale price was higher “but not much higher” than the bids in the $100 million-range [...] The price is several notches lower than the $800 million the Abu Dhabi fund paid Tishman Speyer for a 90-percent stake in the tower in 2008.

When the Chrysler Building, arguably one of New York City's most beloved architectural landmarks, came up for sale again earlier this year, speculations emerged what the value of such an iconic, yet aging, real estate trophy would be.

The WSJ now confirmed that the 1930s Art Deco skyscraper changed hands "for a little more than $150 million"—a tremendous loss from the $800 million the tower's last owners, an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, paid for a 90-percent stake back in 2008.

The Chrysler Building is up for sale, but what is its real value?

2019-01-11T13:40:00-05:00

Abu Dhabi, the Persian Gulf Emirate that’s the Chrysler Building’s majority owner, is considering a sale of the 77-story tower after about a decade of ownership, people with knowledge of the matter said Wednesday. Abu Dhabi Investment Council, the government’s sovereign wealth fund, paid $800 million for a 90 percent stake in 2008.

Roughly ten years after changing ownership to an Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund, the iconic Chrysler Building is back on the market again. But what is a trophy worth?, asks Bloomberg.

Gorgeous automobile-inspired facade details, symbols of a bygone industrial era. Image via Wikipedia.

Strictly going by cold, hard math, the 1.2 million-square-foot Art Deco property, which for a brief moment in the 1930s was the world's tallest building, could be valued at up to $1.8 billion (and that is without the land underneath the tower which is owned by the Cooper Union school and leased for a whopping $32.5 million annually). And the sentimental value could add a special trophy premium that not all buildings in New York City get to enjoy.

The cost to maintain the aging skyscraper and to bring its amenities and infrastructure up to competitive standards that could attract technology-reliant tenants however pulls the realistic asking price further down again.

Graphic designer Arnold Schwartzman captures art deco buildings around the world

2019-01-03T15:47:00-05:00

Los Angeles's Central Library, London's Hoover building, and Lisbon's Eden Teatro, are all considered to be some of the finest examples of Art Deco from around the world. They also all take center stage in the stunning photographs taken by graphic designer and film-maker Arnold Schwartzman, whose book on the 20th century architectural style was released in November of last year.

Schwartzman, who was the Director of Design for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, photographed 13 of the world's most beautiful buildings. From a movie theater in Glendale, California, to an amusement park in Sydney, Australia, Schwartzman captures the careful and exacting detail of Art Deco's most celebrated examples. A number of them can be seen here in the Guardian.

David Chipperfield Architects completes unifying renovation for Selfridges department store in London

2018-09-12T13:24:00-04:00

David Chipperfield Architects recently completed Selfridges Duke Street, a new entrance building and accessories hall for the Selfridges department store in London.

The department store is housed in a beaux-arts style building on Oxford Street completed in 1929. Selfridges eventually expanded into a new art deco style building to the north, and developed into a hodgepodge of styles mixed together.

The accessories hall in the original Selfridges building facing Oxford Street by David Chipperfield Architects, located in London. © Simon Menges

The firm's goal is part of a larger redevelopment plan for Selfridges to establish architectural continuity and fluidity throughout the entire complex.

The accessories hall in the original Selfridges building facing Oxford Street by David Chipperfield Architects, located in London. © Simon Menges

The accessories hall, looking south towards the link bu...

A look back at the iconic Mackintosh style and its radical origins

2018-06-08T15:35:00-04:00

What most caught [German critic Hermann Muthesius's] eye was the work of a young couple, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh, who were quietly making wildly original furniture, buildings and interiors. These struck him as utterly “divergent from everything that is familiar”. Fusing the sinuous forms of art nouveau with rugged Scots baronial motifs and exotic Japanese touches, their designs were a startling sight – too much for many British critics to stomach.

Couple Charles Rennie and Margaret Macdonald built their Mackintosh name into the art deco icon it represents today, yet the duo's designs were far ahead of their time. The Mackintosh art nouveau style, originating in Glasgow, would go on to be recognized internationally. Take a deeper look into the history behind these radical designs as the city celebrates the 150th anniversary of Charles Rennie's birth.

Take a virtual tour of Havana's modern architecture

2015-05-04T13:12:00-04:00

With the historic lifting of the Cuban embargo creating an instant rush to visit the long-cloistered island nation, a rush for rediscovery will bring all manner of Cuban art, culture and design to the fore. While it's not always acknowledged as such, Cuban architecture, especially modernist buildings, showcase an eclectic and exciting blend of styles, from the Spanish and Art Deco buildings that preceded them to the modern and Brutalist influences that came during the postwar period.

For more on Cuban architecture:

Adaptive reuse + "curb appeal", equal historic buildings, reinvented

2014-08-10T23:41:00-04:00

“People are more comfortable...with something that feels authentic." - Toby Moskovits, president of Heritage Equity Partners

Earlier this summer, C. J. Hughes took note of a trend in NYC real-estate, the conversion of unusual buildings into apartments and condos. But, it isn't only your typical post-industrial loft, the conversions include; phone company buildings (like 140 West Street designed by Ralph Walker, a prominent Art Deco architect), parking garages, religious buildings, movie theaters and even government/public buildings.

Havana's overlooked Art Deco architecture

2013-03-25T10:19:00-04:00

These landmarks are not as grand as the Chrysler Building in New York, and there is no Art Deco district like Miami Beach’s, but fans say there is an unusual wealth and diversity of stock, much of which has remained standing — if poorly maintained — through 50 years of Communist rule.

Some 250 Cuban and foreign connoisseurs met last week in Havana for the start of the World Congress on Art Deco which runs until March 27th. Victoria Burnett interviewed a number of the organizers and participants and spoke to them about challenges facing the owners of Art Deco homes who struggle to find the money or building materials for proper maintenance.