Archinect - News

Writing Women Into History: A Curated Reading List Tackles the 'Imbalance' of Female Voices Within Architecture

2021-03-08T18:00:00-05:00

With information available at our fingertips, discovering resources like a list of female architects, for example, should be a breeze. However, like most professions, these texts and resources were often written and curated by male writers. In 2021, female writers and curators continue to reclaim their place within academia, architectural history, and professional practice by writing themselves into the canon they have been excluded from.

If you look up "female architecture writers" on Google, the first search result is a blog created by architect, writer, researcher, and academic Dr. Harriet Harriss titled "Women Who Write Architecture."

Featured on Archinect: New website champions the remarkable contributions made by 50 pioneering women in architecture. Alice Constance Austin, one of the women featured on the site, showing model of house to Llano del Rio colonists, May 1, 1917. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library

In 2019 I interviewed Dr....

CTBUH develops online resources for those interested in mass timber use

2020-12-28T15:19:00-05:00

The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) develops an online resource for those interested in mass timber use in tall building construction. Thanks to a USDA Forest Service grant, the CTBUH aimed to explore the work and research regarding mass timber and its involvement with tall buildings. The "Tiber Rising: Mass Timber Engagement Program" began in 2019 and was led by Daniel Safarik, Will Miranda, and the CTBUH.

Covered on Archinect: California adopts suite of high-rise timber regulations. Photo from the Tzannes-designed International House Sydney. Image © Ben Guthrie.

The CTBUH shares details of the program in a statement.

"What role will tall timber play in our quest for a future, lower-carbon built environment? CTBUH has committed to conducting three major research projects to provide guidance for the use of tall timber worldwide. The first of these projects, Timber Rising, has yielded four resources of interest to anyone involved in the design, classification, and ...

Yale University Press offers e-book portal filled with architecture titles

2020-05-11T15:40:00-04:00

The A&AePortal developed by Yale University Press, with support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, offers "an authoritative e-resource featuring important works of scholarship in the history of art, architecture, decorative arts, photography, and design" that includes out-of-print titles, backlisted and new releases, as well as a variety of museum and academic publications.

Initially launched in late 2019, the portal has found additional usefulness and relevance during the quarantine period. Included in the archive are "Dozens of architecture and design publications," including publications featuring the work of architects that include Leonardo da Vinci, Andrea Palladio, Antoni Gaudi, Julia Morgan, and Thom Mayne, among others, according to Yale University Press.

Publishing partners for the initiative include the Art Institute of Chicago; Bard Graduate Center; Dallas Museum of Art; Harvard Art Museums; Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Harvard University...

Cloud computer startup vagon announces a COVID-19 support package for architects and students

2020-04-27T09:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by vagon

We are all looking for ways to continue creating as much as we can during the Covid-19 pandemic. Plus, some designers and architects all over the world are doing their best to contribute collaborative design efforts. However, not being able to access a good workstation is a limiting factor for all. The cloud computer startup “vagon” has announced a special support package via Archinect for architects, designers, and students to solve that.

vagon provides private cloud computers built to run high-performance applications. They began out of the frustration a lot of us have faced – the lack of computer power required for the software we use and other options that are just too complicated. Their focus was a “Click & Use” computer system that would provide the power whenever you need it with the ability to add more power with one click.

Courtesy of vagon.

It’s a computer in the cloud you can use, install software, render, etc, just as you would on a c...

AIA publishes architecture industry guide highlighting 2020 US presidential candidate positions

2019-12-09T13:11:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has published a comprehensive voter guide for the 2020 United States Presidential election targeted toward members of the architecture community.

The guide, according to the AIA website, collects the policy positions and proposals for "all candidates who seek a major party nomination," and is "based on their campaign platforms and, where applicable, previous votes/work on the issue at hand." The organization makes clear, however, that "AIA makes no candidate recommendation with these profiles. We are not endorsing a candidate. The information provided below is for your consideration as you make your own determination on the candidates."

The guide hones in on six policy areas—climate change, housing, resilience, school safety, student loan debt, and taxes on business—and collects a mix of policy proposals, news reports, and legislative writings to explain each candidate's position.

See the following link for the guide: 2020 US presidential ...

Our dependence on concrete is exhausting global sand supplies

2019-08-26T14:00:00-04:00

China may be the biggest consumer of sand right now, but the issue is a global one. A UN report published earlier this year showed that sand extraction is far outstripping the rates at which it is replenished. According to a team of scientists who recently wrote about the topic in Science Magazine ($) and The Conversation, “Sand and gravel are now the most-extracted materials in the world”–measured by weight, they surpass fossil fuels and biomass.

Writing in Forbes, Laurie Winkless probes the far-reaching and destructive impacts of skyrocketing global sand consumption as the world's urbanizing cities demand more and more of the substance to fuel new construction.

Trump family's NYC properties are embarrassing energy hogs

2017-04-04T12:43:00-04:00

Wasteful, inefficient, and pointlessly expensive to operate: most of Donald Trump's namesake properties, as well as his son-in-law Jared Kushner's new "666" edifice, are oozing energy by virtue of their poor design and indifference toward conservation. A report by the IBTimes noted that:

As of 2015, Trump Tower in midtown used more energy than 93 percent of large residential buildings in Manhattan, according to the report. Trump International Hotel and Tower used more energy than 70 percent of large hotels in the city, while Trump SoHo used more energy than 79 percent of large hotels in the city. The report also detailed Kushner’s office at 666 Fifth Avenue, which used more energy than 85 percent of large office buildings in Manhattan.

Columbia GSAPP and the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library host a collection of 20,000 images of 20th century architecture projects

2016-09-13T13:35:00-04:00

Are you looking for design inspiration for a new project? Historical references to bolster your design proposal? The Columbia GSAPP Visual Resources Collection (VRC) and the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library host an online collection of 20,000 images of 20th century architectural projects. Underway for nearly two years now, the project includes drawings, images and photographs, primarily of modernist projects spanning from 1871 to 2013.

Unbuilt projects, like the Chicago Tribune Tower and the Lenin Library, are showcase alongside a collection of built projects. In total, the archive includes 1,000 projects from 55 countries. The project was curated by Ayesha Ghosh, who was assisted by Carsten Rodin and James Brillon.

The archive has a Plans and Sections project alongside collections of digital images, 35mm slides, and lantern slide formats. There’s also VHS and DVD recording of over twenty years of lectures hosted by GSAPP. Unfortunately, you’ll need a Columbia email to access...

Canada's 2016 Venice Biennale theme digs into the country's influence in resource extraction

2015-12-09T20:26:00-05:00

Canada's national theme for the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale will be a multimedia investigation of the country's resource extraction industry, as announced earlier this week by the Canada Council for the Arts. Titled "Extraction", the project profiles and "radically rethinks" Canada's rise as a "global resource empire" by delving into the histories, architectures, and political economies of the industry. The theme was selected as the winner of a national competition. In 2014, the well-regarded "Arctic Adaptions: Nunavut at 15" exhibition represented Canada.

Considering that the Great White North is home to 75% of Earth's prospecting and mining companies, resource extraction runs deep in the country's roots. "Extraction" will include an installation, a film, and a book featuring various perspectives drawn from history, business, art, activism, and more. Catherine Crowston of the Art Gallery of Alberta (AGA) was appointed as the project's Official Commissioner while landscape urba...

Five teams selected to participate in the Re-Envisioning Branch Libraries Design Study in New York

2014-07-14T18:23:00-04:00

Although anyone with Internet access can do a quick search online, nothing replaces a brick-and-mortar public library for quality resources and info — yet these centers are consistently overlooked by city policymakers. After setting up an RFQ for the Re-Envisioning Branch Libraries Design Study in New York, the Architectural League and the Center for an Urban Future selected five interdisciplinary teams out of 45 submissions.

They are:

Andrew Berman Architect | Library Development Solutions  | Neil Donnelly | AEA Consulting | Auerbach Pollock Friedlander
Marble Fairbanks with James Lima Planning + Development and Special Project Office
MASS Design Group
SITU Studio
UNION

To find out more, head over to Bustler.