Archinect - News

A new crack appears in San Francisco's sinking Millennium Tower

2018-09-10T16:32:00-04:00

A large crack formed in a window at the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower over the Labor Day weekend, prompting officials there to block off part of the sidewalk on Mission Street as a precaution, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has learned. City inspectors issued a notice of violation on Tuesday, giving the Millennium management 72 hours to report back on the extent of the problem and the soundness of the building’s façade in light of the failure.

The latest safety concern over San Francisco's sinking Millennium Tower occurred Labor Day weekend when residents heard creaking sounds followed by a loud popping noise in the building. Soon after the incident a resident living on the 36th floor found a crack in his window. The high rise is currently tilting about 18 inches when measured at the top.

Harvard GSD "Future of the American City" initiative begins in Miami with $1 million support from Knight Foundation

2018-03-20T15:20:00-04:00

The "Future of the American City" initiative led by Harvard Graduate University School of Design will begin in Miami with $1 million in support from the Knight Foundation. The project will engage Miami residents in creating new approaches to address pressing urban issues including affordable housing, transportation, and sea level rise.

With this funding Harvard GSD will send urban researchers to Miami and Miami Beach to understand the city's strengths and challenges as part of a 3-year study towards building solutions. The initiative aims to help cities tackle sustainability and resiliency challenges beginning this spring.

Building on the school’s multi-disciplinary model, the effort will use architecture, landscape architecture, and urban planning and design to come up with efficient solutions that take into account community needs. This research can also be shared with cities across the nation facing similar challenges.

Harvard GSD’s upcoming Miami research will be phase one in...

AIA releases statement on 2016 U.S. Election results — Will Trump's relations with architects change?

2016-11-09T18:48:00-05:00

The unthinkable has happened and Donald Trump is now the president-elect of the United States. Considering Trump's rocky relations with architects (and critics) and his comments on America's “inner cities” during the debates, now that he has won the White House, what does a Trump presidency mean for the architecture industry in the coming years?

In what sounds like every public-figure response to the election results, the AIA released their own statement today saying that they “are committed to working with President-elect Trump to address the issues our country faces”. That includes core architecture issues like housing, infrastructure, and energy/the environment. If you need a refresher on Trump's stances on these issues, Archinect recently summed them up here.

Here is the entire AIA statement from Chief Executive Officer Robert Ivy:

“The AIA and its 89,000 members are committed to working with President-elect Trump to address the issues our country faces, particularly strengthening ...

Waiting for the Washington Metro: A not-so-fictional tale

2016-04-27T20:27:00-04:00

The train will not come because the track does not exist, says the voice on the loudspeaker. You must believe as hard as you can. Everyone on the platform ignores him. Your belief is not enough. It has never been enough. Construction has just begun on the new Fuchsia Line, which Metro management says will solve all the system’s problems, and which is the only thing that anyone has allocated any funding for. It is entirely under water and plated in gold. It will be completed in 18 years.

Alexandra Petri of The Washington Post pens a maybe not-so-fictional tale about the “horrors” of the current state of the Washington Metro, which shut down last month.

Austin Mayor Steve Adler on the city's growing pains

2016-03-29T13:44:00-04:00

We’re growing faster than any other metropolitan area in the country, and we have been for the last five years...And the challenges are, with all the growth that we’re having, we’re going to stop being the city that we imagine that we are, that we remember being. We have to grow to be the city that we still recognize. So those challenges are not optional challenges for us to deal with, they’re the challenges for us to deal with.

As Austin rapidly becomes an "it" city, how will the city keep its character? Metropolis talks with Austin Mayor Steve Adler about the multiple challenges ahead.

DC in grid lock after unexpected Metro shutdown

2016-03-16T13:39:00-04:00

After officials announced that Metro, Washington’s subway system, would be shut down for 29 hours, riders began preparations for another problematic travel day in a city already well known for its cramped and sometimes dangerous train commutes. The controlled chaos began early Wednesday and will continue until 5 a.m. Thursday, affecting 91 Metro stations that provide 700,000 rides each day in the city and its suburbs.

DC residents took to Twitter and other social media to voice their frustration with the unexpected shutdown, which was prompted by an emergency inspection of some 600 electrical cables.

Residents have been left to face grueling traffic, delayed buses, or surge-priced Ubers. The Department of Transportation offered free, 24-hour use of Capital Bikeshare bike.

For other infrastructure news, take a look at some past articles:

Should the children of Flint be resettled?

2016-02-18T16:59:00-05:00

Given the threat of ongoing lead exposure and the community’s well-founded mistrust of government, should families be offered at least temporary resettlement while upgrades, repairs and enhancements are made to Flint’s badly contaminated water infrastructure? I ask this fully aware of how unprecedented and complex such a policy would be. After all, some 9,000 young children may have been exposed to contaminated water.

For more articles on urban health issues like the ongoing crisis in Flint, check out these links:

More and more people are dying as a result of air pollution in England

2016-01-28T05:00:00-05:00

The number of premature deaths attributed to particulate pollution has risen, government figures show. According to Public Health England, the percentage of premature deaths attributable to minute particles known as PM2.5s rose to 5.3% in 2013 in England from 5.1% in 2012. The death rate in London rose to 6.7% from 6.6%. The figures follow significant improvements in air quality across England in 2010 and 2011.

Related:

"It’s about recognizing someone as existing": Photo exhibit depicts L.A.'s homelessness crisis

2016-01-19T11:30:00-05:00

Los Angeles-based designers Sofia Borges and Susan Nwankpa recently collaborated in a photo exhibition titled "HOME(less)". Currently at the University of Southern California, the exhibition spotlights L.A.'s ongoing homelessness crisis in an interestingly positive manner. Borges and Nwankpa took a moment with Archinect to give more details into their project.

Read the full Archinect feature here.

More about homelessness in L.A.:

LA's freeway system is becoming an increasingly crowded 'neighborhood' for the city's homeless

Low-income housing in Los Angeles: A look at the past, present and future

Los Angeles to declare homelessness in the city an 'emergency' and pledge $100 million

In Los Angeles, homelessness is becoming more visible

Lessons learned: The complex realities when designing communal social housing

2016-01-05T15:18:00-05:00

What went wrong in Winnipeg was not just about architecture, and 5468796 were stuck trying to make the best of a bad situation. The pulling out of government support to make Centre Village an actual co-operative changed the [project's direction]...'It’s time to get the peanut butter off our fingers,' said Ross McGowan, former chief executive and president of CentreVenture...He admits that a failure to understand the needs of the community took a considerable toll on the project.

Despite good intentions to help families in need, perhaps the worst nightmare an architect can face when designing affordable housing is realizing that the project — which would of course already be fully built — doesn't meet the actual demands of the community, and then some. That's basically what happened to the 5468796 architecture-designed Centre Village project in Winnipeg.

More about affordable housing on Archinect:

California to decrease parking requirements for affordable housing

Cutting across the Chicago Architecture Biennial: Tatiana Bilbao's solution to Mexico's housing shortage

Up to 50% of all renting London households are living in poverty

The promising affordable housing of Hunters Point South

Poor Doors of Perception: discriminatory design, collapsing balconies, and virtual realities on Archinect Sessions #36

Behind the Scenes at Bloomberg’s Ideas Camp for Cities

2014-07-21T13:29:00-04:00

Serious money is in play in the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ “Mayors’ Challenge” for cities competing to show they have come up with promising innovations to cope with 21st-century challenges. “It was a big surprise to hear we’d share our ideas with competitors,” says Gomes. “But it works brilliantly. It’s exactly what you need—everyone sharing and trying to help each other. It’s crazy, but it works.”

Previously:

How the Bloomberg Mayors Challenge Is Being Received in Europe

2014-06-27T13:09:00-04:00

Can a U.S. organization really tell Europe how to run its cities better? [...] Following a successful inaugural challenge last year, the city innovation contest crossed the Atlantic in 2014, winnowing down European applicant cities to a shortlist of 21*, all of whom attended a two-day Ideas Camp staged in Berlin earlier this month. [...] A European organization could not realistically offer anything as substantial as €9 million in prize money.

Previously: Twenty-one finalists for the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge Competition in Europe

Twenty-one finalists for the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge Competition in Europe

2014-05-08T14:58:00-04:00

Twenty-one of what was deemed as the most bold and creative ideas were listed as finalists in the first European edition of the Bloomberg Philanthropies’ Mayors Challenge Competition. European cities with populations of at least 100,000 residents were invited to submit ideas that address a variety of some of the most common and complex urban issues throughout the continent.

In the fall, one winner will get the grand prize of €5 million (approx. US$6.9 million) for the most original and transferable idea, and four more cities will receive €1 million (approx. US$1.4 million).

Below are the finalist cities and a glimpse into the type of issues their ideas address:

AMSTERDAM, Netherlands – Youth Unemployment
ATHENS, Greece – Civic Engagement
BARCELONA, Spain – Aging
BOLOGNA, Italy – Youth Unemployment
BRISTOL, United Kingdom – Health/Anti-obesity
BRNO, Czech Republic – Public Safety/Civic Engagement
CARDIFF, United Kingdom – Economic Development
FLORENCE, Italy – Economic Development
GDANSK, Poland – Civic Engagement
KIRKLEES, United Kingdom - Social Capital
RAKOW, Poland – Transportation
LISBON, Portugal – Energy
LONDON, United Kingdom – Public Health
MADRID, Spain – Energy
SCHAERBEEK, Belgium – Energy
SOFIA, Bulgaria – Civic Engagement
STARA ZAGORA, Bulgaria – Economic Development
STOCKHOLM, Sweden – Environment
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Civic Engagement
WARSAW, Poland – Tran...