Archinect - News

Congress moves closer to passing law funding recreation spaces in underserved communities

2024-04-11T11:46:00-04:00

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed the Outdoors for All Act, which seeks to address the lack of adequate recreation space in underserved communities. The bill, which is yet to pass the U.S. Senate, would establish a dedicated source of funding for the existing Outdoor Recreation Legacy Partnership Program.

Overseen by the National Park Service, this program funds the delivery of new parks, the renovation of existing recreation facilities, and the development of infrastructure to support outdoor education and public land volunteering. The program gives priority to projects in underserved communities.

Related on Archinect: ASLA New York honors state's best landscape architecture at 2024 Design Awards. Image credit: Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates

“Research confirms what our bodies and nature already understand — more time in outdoor spaces increases well-being,” said Torey Carter-Conneen, CEO of the American Society of Landscape Architects, which has advocated for the bill...

Construction starts on MVRDV's new Berlin mixed-use development

2024-03-17T08:00:00-04:00

Construction has begun on the MVRDV-designed LXK Office and Residential Campus in Berlin. The mixed-use complex will add needed office and residential space to a rapidly developing part of the city.

The project is located in the Friedrichshain district. It spans approximately 658,751 square feet and features abundant office, commercial, and residential space. The complex consists of two L-shaped volumes, with the residential component consolidated into a single block. The corners of each volume open up to create an accessible green, public square. This divide allows the project to integrate itself sensitively into the scale of the surroundings.

Image © MVRDV

One of the most distinguishing features of the development is its single continuous luminous band that wraps horizontally around each structure. The band unifies the fragmented structure into a single form. This component is further activated by green, accessible terraces that offer views into the surrounding city. It also hosts ...

In an Ontario plaza, interactive pavements play music ‘as if by magic’

2024-02-28T13:28:00-05:00

Montreal-based studio Daily tous les jours has completed a public space design in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada. Titled 'River Lines,' the project saw the creation of an interactive stage in an urban plaza for big impromptu musical ensembles.

Video credit: doublespace photography

Part of the studio’s wider Musical Pavement series, the interactive wave-patterned pavement is embedded with 62 sensing light rings that “get people moving through musical collaboration exercises.” The infrastructure is formed of twelve in-house tailored audio tiles that have no visible hardware and blend with the wider pavement pattern, meaning “music emanates from the ground as if by magic.”

Image credit: doublespace photography

Located on the site of a 19th-century foundry, the artwork is “a response to the historical nature of the site” and “an exemplar of how investment in the public realm is essential to reimagine and activate places and encourage collective interacti...

Water landscape design experts Fluidity are hiring in Los Angeles

2024-01-24T13:28:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Studio Director at Doug Aitken Workshop, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Project Manager at Fluidity Design Consultants.

The role, based in Los Angeles, calls for an individual to “coordinate and manage the firm’s relationship as the sub-consultant to the prime design lead on projects.” Among the requirements for the role are a professional degree in architecture, landscape architecture, or design management, 3-7 years of professional experience, and a history of writing and reviewing design contracts.

Grand Park, Los Angeles, CA by Fluidity Design Consultants. Photo: Jim Simmons.

Why the role interests us

The open role at Fluidity offers us the opportunity to highlight a firm specializing in water feature design and engineering that has previously been featured in our editorial. In August of last year, for instance, we reported on the firm’s collaboration with...

Better Block Foundation, a nonprofit for open-source neighborhood design and ‘wikiblock’ urbanism, is hiring

2023-12-07T12:42:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for an Architect/Designer at Build Block, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Landscape Designer at the Better Block Foundation.

The role, based in Dallas, TX, “goes beyond the conventional office setting, requiring a genuine commitment to hands-on, physical work in the field,” according to the company. Among the responsibilities will be delivering site design and presentation materials, material sourcing and ordering, construction documents, and potential public speaking and development roles. “The Landscape Designer should be passionate about new urbanism and willing to swing a hammer, get paint on his/her clothing, answer volunteers’ questions, etc.,” the company adds. “This position is very hands-on.”

Before/After: Collaborative neighborhood placemaking. Image credit: The Better Block Foundation

Why the role interests us

The role at the Better Block Foundation offer...

Snøhetta's green, mixed-use AIRSIDE development opens in Hong Kong

2023-11-11T11:21:00-05:00

Snøhetta’s AIRSIDE, a LEED Platinum-certified, mixed-use development in Hong Kong, has officially opened.

Located at the site of the former Kai Tak Airport district, the approximately 1,912,424-square-foot project merges into the surrounding urban landscape by creating direct access between pedestrian transit areas, retail spaces, and elevated landscapes. The development comprises an approximately 699-foot-tall tower with a second tower and its base in a continuous form.

The building mass comprises five interconnected volumes that gradually step up from the Kai Tak River, which lends the 699-foot-tall tower an inviting presence at ground level. The building’s sculpted forms create a series of human-scale urban spaces at this level, in addition to rooftop gardens. Landscaped plazas contribute to further integrating the development into the surroundings and creating an engaging pedestrian realm.

An expansive elevated garden sits atop the podium containing the building’s central atr...

Field Operations will lead new Fifth Avenue pedestrian corridor redesign in Manhattan

2023-10-13T17:18:00-04:00

Field Operations has announced its participation as the design lead for a new public space and pedestrianization project that will affect a large swath of Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

The new “Future of Fifth” project, announced by New York Mayor Eric Adams this week, will permanently reimagine the area between Bryant Park and Central Park South based on an 11-block pilot that last year added $3 million in revenue to local businesses, according to a study performed by Mastercard.

Field Operations will be joined on the project by Arcadis, Sam Schwartz, Public Works Partners, and a number of other design and engineering firms, seven of which are either minority- or women-owned business enterprises. It is seen as an extension of the city’s Open Streets program that was targeted at local businesses’ recoveries after the pandemic and builds on a larger $375 million investment in public space outlined in Adams’ “Working People's Agenda” from earlier this year.

Together, the firms wi...

LA's Destination Crenshaw pushes Sankofa Park opening to February 2024

2023-10-05T14:47:00-04:00

This fall’s anticipated debut of the Sankofa Park component of the new Destination Crenshaw public space redesign from Perkins&Will and Studio-MLA in Los Angeles has been pushed back to February of next year, according to an announcement made Wednesday by the group managing its construction in the city's Leimert Park neighborhood.

The park had previously received $3.4 million in federal funding, which added to another $2.4 million fundraising drive initiated by actress Issa Rae and star NBA guard DeMar DeRozan. Planners have now set Sankofa Park to open on February 24th. It is part of the larger $100 million project that will transform a 1.3-mile corridor into a new arts-oriented civic space. Perkins&Will says it is “destined to be a space for celebrations, protests, and demonstrations of grief and peaceful healing.”

Once it is completed, Sankofa Park will include art installations f...

Snøhetta's Charlotte Mecklenburg Library officially breaks ground

2023-08-24T17:07:00-04:00

Snøhetta’s Charlotte Mecklenburg Library (CML) project officially broke ground on August 15th in North Carolina with a demolition celebration of the existing Main Library building. Designed in collaboration with Clark Nexsen, the new library aims to become a major destination and centerpiece in Uptown Charlotte.

“We wanted to celebrate this demolition to mark the start of a new beginning in Uptown Charlotte,” said CML CEO Marcellus Turner. “From the café to the community living room and the technology hub to the destination reading room, the new Main Library will be an inviting place to learn, grow and engage with others in our community.”

The facility stands at the head of Charlotte’s public library system, which consists of 21 branch libraries that welcome 3.4 million visitors each year. It aims to transcend its use as a conventional library by also serving as a public commons. The project is supported by funding from Mecklenburg County and a major investment by the Knight Founda...

Shma's rippling landscape adds to Neri&Hu-designed hotel in Zhengzhou

2023-08-21T15:21:00-04:00

Bangkok-based landscape architecture firm Shma Company Limited has introduced an elegant, small-scale landscape intervention in front of a Neri&Hu-designed hotel called Le Meridien in Zhengzhou City, China.

Image: Arch-exist

The renovation project comprises approximately 65,000 square feet of space in a densely populated area. The architects were tasked to create a hotel frontage landscape that improves the site’s overall appearance, in addition to enhancing ground parking and vehicular movement.

Image: Arch-exist

The project design pays tribute to Zhengzhou’s historical textile weaving industry through its sculptural landscape weaves and folds. A series of undulating lawn stripes represent silk being woven. The landscape and the existing building seamlessly integrate with each other. A water feature situated in front of the hotel’s lobby drop-off area serves as the main welcoming element.

Image: Arch-exist

Two colors, bronze and black, were used for the finishing of the stainless st...

$82 million park space beneath LA's new Sixth Street Viaduct has broken ground

2023-08-09T08:00:00-04:00

Just over one year after the Sixth Street Viaduct replacement made its debut, Los Angeles city officials have commenced work on 12 acres of new park spaces at the foot of the $588-million bridge.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held on August 5th for the $82 million project, also known as the Sixth Street Park, Arts, and River Connectivity project (PARC). Landscape architecture firm Hargreaves Jones led the design.

Previously on Archinect: Take a look at new Iwan Baan photos of LA's Sixth Street Viaduct ahead of its grand opening

The park, which sits beneath the recently completed Sixth Street Viaduct, will include seven acres of open space on the east side of the Los Angeles River in Boyle Heights and five acres of space in the Arts District on the west side.

The Boyle Heights section will feature grass fields, picnic areas, a splash pad, event space, and sports fields and courts. The Arts District section will include a new arts plaza and river gateway, which will host spaces for performances, a café, and restrooms. Construction on PARC is expected to last around two-and-a-half years.

Sasaki Associates will lead in designing the largest public park in Athens, Greece

2023-08-03T13:52:00-04:00

The city of Athens is preparing for a groundbreaking addition to its already historic city. Thanks to the efforts of Lamda Development, the city will welcome Ellinikon Metropolitan Park, set to not only be the largest park in Athens but also "Europe's largest coastal park."

Urban Land's Bennett Voyles reports that "after 3,400 years, Athens will soon get its first big park [...] When completed in 2030, Ellinikon Metropolitan Park will be 600 acres (243 ha), about three-fourths the size of New York City’s Central Park, an enormous addition of public green space that may prove as important to Athenians as Central Park is to New Yorkers."

Project render of Ellinikon Metropolitan Park shows design details inspired by the Olympic venues. Image courtesy of Sasaki Associates.

Spearheaded by international planning and design firm Sasaki Associates, the site acts as another unique factor to the development, with areas of the new park being "leftover remnants" of venues from the 2002 Summer Ol...

U.N. global chief heat officer warns of the acute dangers of rising temperatures in cities

2023-07-31T15:40:00-04:00

Rising temperatures and increasingly frequent heat waves driven by climate change are turning many Mediterranean cities into dangerous places, especially for vulnerable groups. “We are not focusing enough on how extreme temperatures affect urban environments,” says Eleni Myrivili, who has spent years studying this issue in her hometown of Athens, which is one of the cities hardest hit by rising temperatures.

Amid devastating wildfires and record-breaking numbers of heat-related casualties throughout the Mediterranean region, Spanish newspaper EL PAÍS sits down with Eleni Myrivili, chief heat officer of Athens (Europe's first such municipal appointment) and also global chief heat officer to U.N. Habitat, to learn which concrete design and policy strategies can improve urban live in cities and help protect especially the most vulnerable groups.

Myrivili isn't holding back harsh criticism when she comments on an example of public urban design she deems inadequate for today's challenges — Madrid's Puerta del Sol square — saying, "Today, It is criminal to build squares without shade or cooling elements, because they create higher temperatures in the city, put people’s lives at risk and keep people away from public space."

Speaking also to The Guardian recently, Myrivili remarked on the increasing challenges of heat in cities and the built environment: "People are just starting to realize th...

SLAS architekci designs colorful multifunctional public park in Poland

2023-07-07T15:06:00-04:00

Polish firm SLAS architekci has injected an eye-catching multifunctional public space into a university campus in the southern Polish city of Chorzów. Called “Activity Zone,” the project was a nominee in the 2022 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.

Image © Michał Kopaniszyn

The park was completed in 2019 for the University of Silesia. It is located at the former site of a demolished military building where there were a number of pre-existing trees.

Image © Michał Kopaniszyn

The main goal of the project was to transform this neglected, wooded area where the campus is located into a lively, leisurely location for the public to enjoy. It aimed to promote the university and establish a new green space for the city.

Image © Michał Kopaniszyn

“Activity Zone” was designed as a perforated concrete platform that hosts a diverse program, including a student leisure zone, children’s play devices, fitness areas, individually des...

Los Angeles approves car-free 'superblock' pilot program

2023-06-26T17:57:00-04:00

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday on a motion to identify a location to implement its first Park Block -- modeled after the city of Barcelona’s Superblocks, a block grid system that restricts traffic to major roads and opens up city blocks and streets to pedestrians.

The “Park Block” motion was initially introduced by Los Angeles District Councilmember Kevin de León last year. The program aims to save lives lost due to poor air quality and traffic violence. As detailed in a report by LA City Council’s Transportation Committee, the Blocks will serve to form open public space with adequate shade, outdoor recreation, greening, and stormwater capture in communities that lack parks.

Previously on Archinect: LA Councilmember introduces plan to establish Barcelona's car-free 'superblocks' in Los Angeles

The program will first be implemented in León’s District 14, which includes parts of downtown Los Angeles, Boyle Heights, and Eagle Rock. LA's Department of Transportation will choose which area will host the initial pilot, with priority given to communities that have the least access to public space, the highest health disparities, and high population densities. In addition, the Department will report back on what funding and resources are necessary to...

A job opportunity at the City of Tacoma offers insight into a career in urban planning

2023-04-05T16:36:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for the Architecture Program Chair at the University of Michigan, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open position on Archinect Jobs for a Senior Planner at the City of Tacoma’s Planning and Development Services.

The role, based in Tacoma, WA with the possibility of a remote arrangement, calls for an individual who is “passionate about working with diverse community members to solve complex problems and building great communities.” The position also asks for either a bachelor’s degree in planning, architecture, urban design, or a closely allied field with four years of planning experience, or a master’s degree with two years of experience in the planning profession.

Why the role interests us

The position at the City of Tacoma offers insight into the role performed by public planning department...

New York City announces Ya-Ting Liu as its first-ever chief public realm officer

2023-02-17T18:11:00-05:00

In the interest of providing official guardianship for its vast inventory of public spaces, New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday (Feb. 16) announced former transit advocate Ya-Ting Liu will be the city's first-ever public realms officer.

According to the New York Times, her role was created to be a kind of “central point person” for various city agencies and newfound initiatives such as the Open Streets program and outside dining in line with proposals contained in the Making New York for Everyone plan that was developed by the administration and announced in late-December.

“Our city’s public spaces are too important to fall through the cracks of bureaucracy, and now they won’t," Adams said in a press release. "New Yorkers need to know there is one person at City Hall whose number one goal is to improve their quality of life by creating incredible, new public spaces and ensuring the ones we have are clean, equitable, and safe."

Earlier on Archinect: NYC's new planning director...

Heatherwick collaborates with Harley-Davidson for design of Milwaukee community park

2023-01-11T13:48:00-05:00

Heatherwick Studio and Harley-Davidson have unveiled details of their plan to transform part of the motorcycle manufacturer’s headquarters in Milwaukee into a public park. According to the design team, the largely concrete site will be converted into a “civic and soulful green gathering space that can be used by everyone, including employees and the local community.”

Image credit: Heatherwick Studio

The scheme will be anchored by a 272-foot-wide sunken events space named ‘The Hub.’ Formed of tiered seating and landscaped with trees and plants, the circular multi-use space will be constructed of ten types of locally sourced brick, weathered steel, and timber.

In one direction, The Hub will provide views of the original brick Harley-Davidson manufacturing buildings, while in the other, the space will provide views of a park filled with 120 native plant species and a planned market street, contemplative garden, and nature playground.

Image credit: Heatherwick Studio

“Our goal is to turn ...

Toronto’s proposed Ontario Place redevelopment is getting even more contentious

2023-01-10T14:43:00-05:00

New details are emerging in the controversial plan to redevelop Toronto’s mostly decommissioned Ontario Place after the exclusive Toronto International Film Festival unveiled further plans for a partnership with Therme Group, the Austrian entity behind the proposed $350 million project.

Local website blogTO has more details on the community’s negative response to the partnership, which will “promote the role of art and film in creating more human cities” through a series of talks spread over a ten-year period.

The online responses are only the latest thorn in the side of the provincial Ontario government and Premier Doug Ford following last summer’s harsh responses that eventually yielded a revised plan which reclassified a mere 12-acre segment of beachfront property for public use while retaining the original plan to have more than one-third of the site be developed privately.

Previously on Archinect: Toronto reveals still-contentious revised plan for proposed Ontario Place redev...

SWA Group to develop the Port of LA's waterfront connectivity plan

2022-12-22T12:39:00-05:00

SWA Group has announced plans to transform parts of America’s biggest container port, the Port of Los Angeles (POLA), in a project aimed at increasing connectivity in the public access realm.

“The San Pedro Waterfront is on its way to becoming a truly world-class destination, and we believe that much of it depends on connectivity,” SWA’s Co-CEO Gerdo Aquino explained in a statement. “It will be transformative to enhance accessibility for locals and visitors alike, to create an easily navigable multi-modal waterfront.”

In the hopes of “aiding its evolution over the next 50 years,” Aquino’s team of engineers and other project consultants will work to activate the waterfront area while compiling a comprehensive mobility strategy that links different nodes along eight miles of potentially accessible waterfront edges and a 460-acre swath of land.

Image courtesy SWA Group

The scope of the project will incorporate cruise terminals, the historic San Pedro Ferry Building, Cabrillo Marine Aqu...

Want to help improve Chicago’s streetscape? Here's your opportunity!

2022-12-22T06:30:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Robotics Fabrication Lab Manager at the New York Institute of Technology, we are using our Job Highlights series this week to explore an open position on Archinect Jobs for a Project Manager at site design group.

The role, based in Chicago, calls for an individual to serve as a “municipal consultant” for the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT)’s Streetscape and Sustainable Design Program, responsible for managing streetscape design projects in collaboration with the public body. Among the qualifications requested for candidates are degrees in landscape architecture, architecture, or a related field, as well as three or more years of professional experience.

Why the role interests us

In recent years, our editorial has featured several instances of private design firms engaging with Departments of Transportation, and the st...

Toronto reveals still-contentious revised plan for proposed Ontario Place redevelopment

2022-12-14T12:10:00-05:00

Revised plans for the proposed Ontario Place redevelopment in Toronto are once again drawing critical attention after being submitted to the city’s planning officials at the end of November.

Storeys has the details on the updated scheme, which still calls for one-third of the 155-acre site to be privately developed — a contentious provision that has led many Torontonians to call for the plan to be rejected outright in place of something more in tune with its original use as a public attraction. The revision also reclassified a 12-acre swath of beachfront land for public use in what appears as the only slight concession.

Previously on Archinect: Torontonians aren't happy with the city's planned Ontario Place overhaul

The update also includes details for a five-level underground parking structure to be enacted between the Therme Group’s nine-story private spa and the renovated Live Nation amphitheater at the cost of over 800 trees, which is about 40% of the current iteration's total c...

Adjaye Associates designs major 35-acre master plan for Cleveland waterfront

2022-12-06T12:03:00-05:00

Adjaye Associates has designed a major master plan along the Cleveland riverfront in collaboration with real estate firm Bedrock. The Cuyahoga Riverfront development spans 35 acres and is described by its designers as a “15-to-20-year vision” that “prioritizes accessibility, equity, sustainability, and resilience with the development of an 18-hour, 15-minute downtown.”

Under Adjaye’s plans, the waterfront development will host over 3.5 million square feet of space, including 2,000 residential units, 850,000 square feet of office space, 12 acres of public space, and supporting hospitality, retail, and entertainment venues.

“Our redevelopment strategy for the downtown Cleveland Riverfront taps into the lost heritage of the city, establishing a new relationship between the urban core and the shore,” David Adjaye explained. “As I became more deeply immersed, the need to build a more tempered flow of movement through the city became immensely clear.”

...

Snøhetta completes ‘revitalized’ garden at 550 Madison Avenue in New York

2022-11-29T11:10:00-05:00

The Snøhetta-designed public garden at 550 Madison Avenue in Manhattan has opened, completing one step of the extensive remodelling of the former AT&T Building at the same address. Developed with Olayan Group, the half-acre garden is described by the team as “the first new green space in Midtown in decades."

Photograph credit: Barrett Doherty

Known simply as the ‘Garden,’ the 21,300-square-foot green space is located adjacent to the former AT&T office tower, in the location of a formerly enclosed mid-block passageway. The area, open to the public, holds 48 trees, 200 shrubs, 6,300 bulb plants, and 10,000 herbaceous understory plants, as well as public restrooms and three kiosks with food and beverage outlets.

Photograph credit: Barrett Doherty

The Garden is centered around a “tranquil” water feature, and comprises five sections which are themselves anchored by different structures. Distinct “upland,” “lowland,” and “sheltered” garden sections contain a mixture of trees and shrubs, wh...

New 5G towers are altering the streetscape all over NYC

2022-11-08T14:27:00-05:00

But as is often the case when something new appears on the New York City streetscape, people seem startled by the large structures — and some have expressed unfounded fears about 5G. They’re concerned about the towers’ sheer size and, in some cases, the wrecked views from third-floor windows.

The three-story towers are part of the de Blasio Administration-backed LinkNYC wireless infrastructure network expansion that will eventually deliver more than 2,000 such structures to underserved neighborhoods in an effort to increase accessibility and combat racial inequality throughout the city before 2026.

The plan had to be approved by New York’s Public Design Commission and will be subsidized in large part by wireless carriers who can rent out space inside the poles, which are designed to last well into the era of 7G, according to CityBridge CEO Nick Colvin.

Exploring the connection between art, architecture, and infrastructure through an open role at Cliff Garten Studio

2022-11-02T15:26:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for Architecture Department Head at Penn State, we are using our Job Highlights series this week to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Designer / Project Coordinator at Cliff Garten Studio .

The successful candidate will join the artist’s studio in Venice, CA, supporting public art projects that incorporate architecture, engineering, urban design, landscape, and infrastructure. Among the potential responsibilities will be participating in the design process, producing fabrication and construction documents, and preparing studio RFQs.

Ethereal Bodies 8 by Cliff Garten Studio. Photo: Jeremy Green.

Why the role interests us

The open role at Cliff Garten Studio offers us the opportunity to reflect on the relationship between art and architecture; and specifically how spatial artistic works such as sculptures and installations interact with their architectural context. Garten is not alone in bringing this topic to our editorial, with oth...

Meet NYC's Design Trust for Public Space: Your Next Employer?

2022-09-26T14:30:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to precision craftspeople XTEN, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series back to New York City this week, where we meet the Design Trust for Public Space.

Founded in 1995 to champion and unlock the potential of New York City’s public and shared spaces, the group collaborates with architects, urbanists, city officials, and the general public on a variety of projects related to public space.

Archinect readers may already be familiar with the Design Trust. In May, the organization partnered with former Meet Your Next Employer subjects SITU on an architectural kit-of-parts for public cultural venues in New York City. The Design Trust has also previously sought architectural input on their “Public for All: Rethinking Shared Space in NYC” initiative.

From their base in Tribeca, the Design Trust is currently hiring for several positions over on Archinect Jobs. For candidates interested in applying for a position, or anybody interested in learning more ...

Torontonians aren't happy with the city's planned Ontario Place overhaul

2022-08-30T17:46:00-04:00

Toronto residents are expressing their concerns over the Diamond Schmitt-designed plan for a massive new aquatic theme park at Ontario Place they say is “tone-deaf” and exclusionary of their basic needs.

Spurred on by the recent release of updated renderings and other details of Therme Group's second North American project, opponents say the city's Waterfront Toronto Design Review Panel needs to consider a full-tilt reassessment of the scheme on the basis of accessibility, environmental impact, and a distressing lack of free public amenities.

“This seems like another plan to take away space, livable space that we are already so short on demand of down here,” a concerned area resident recently told the CBC.

The proposed Therme Toronto development. Image courtesy of Therme.

The new development is scheduled to stand on the site of a 155-acre public park and entertainment venue from renowned local architects Michael Hough and Eberhard Zeigler that has sat mostly abandoned since closing i...

NYC Mayor Eric Adams announces $7.25 million federal grant to expand greenway network in underserved communities

2022-08-25T18:56:00-04:00

Earlier this week, New York Mayor Eric Adams announced that the city has received a $7.25 million federal grant to expand the greenway network across the five boroughs, with a priority on serving historically underserved, lower-income communities.

The funding is from the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) Rebuilding American Infrastructure with Sustainability and Equity (RAISE) grant. The money will be used to fill gaps in New York City’s greenway network, improve cyclist and pedestrian safety with revitalized infrastructure, and provide green transportation options and greater waterfront access. The grant application was prepared by the New York City Department of Transportation (NYCDOT), the New York City Parks Department (NYC Parks), and the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC).

“All New Yorkers deserve access to our beautiful greenways, and we’re making that happen thanks to millions in federal funding,” said Mayor Adams. “This grant will help us do t...

LA Councilmember introduces plan to establish Barcelona's car-free 'superblocks' in Los Angeles

2022-08-15T18:23:00-04:00

Los Angeles District Councilmember Kevin de León recently introduced a motion proposing a program titled "Park Blocks," modeled after Barcelona’s Superblock initiative, which would establish usable public space for pedestrians and cyclists by closing certain streets to motorized vehicles.

Barcelona’s approach reconfigured vehicle circulation in its Eixample district, allowing for up to 70% of the street surface area to be used as public space. As noted in the motion, this move resulted in major drops in noise and air pollution and increased civic life for residents inside the blocks.

Previously on Archinect: Barcelona's bold new plan to get cars off the road

De León envisions "Park Blocks" as a means to save lives due to poor air quality and traffic violence as well as creating green and recreational spaces in communities lacking parks. They would reportedly also provide other benefits, such as establishing stormwater capture infrastructure.

"A successful program needs to be thoug...