Archinect - News

Park named after Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch now open in Brooklyn

2013-05-03T16:52:00-04:00

This Brooklyn Heights playground is named for Adam Yauch, an artist, a filmmaker, an activist, and one of Brooklyn’s most influential musicians. Most famous as ‘MCA’ of the legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees the Beastie Boys, Yauch grew up playing in this playground, then named State Street Park and later Palmetto Playground, as a child.

“Born and bred in Brooklyn the U.S.A./
They call me Adam Yauch but I’m M.C.A.”
- “No Sleep Til Brooklyn,” The Beastie Boys

NYC Parks & Rec. announced today that Adam Yauch Park, named after the Beastie Boys' late MCA, is now open.

Culture, ethics & architecture

2013-02-22T13:02:00-05:00

Today, many Muslim societies like Pakistan are facing enormous challenges in terms of the built environment. At times construction-related activities are driven largely by economic forces with less consideration for their impact on common people and the environment. It is also observed that sometimes, buildings are constructed while copying from other contexts without considering the local context/culture. This process has posed critical challenges.

America’s Top ArtPlaces 2013

2013-01-07T19:52:00-05:00

America’s Top Twelve ArtPlaces is a new annual ArtPlace initiative recognizing neighborhoods in the largest 44 metropolitan areas in the country where the arts are central to creating places where people—residents and visitors—want to be.

America’s Top 12 ArtPlaces for 2013 are:

Brooklyn, NY / The intersection of Downtown, Fort Greene, Gowanus, Park Slope and Prospect Heights
Dallas, TX / The Dallas Arts District, with parts of Deep Ellum and Exposition Park
Los Angeles, CA / Central Hollywood
Miami Beach, FL / South Beach
Milwaukee, WI / East Town and a portion of the Lower East Side
New York, NY / Manhattan Valley
Oakland, CA / Downtown, including Chinatown, Old Oakland and Jack London Square
Philadelphia, PA / Old City
Portland, OR / The Pearl District and a portion of Downtown
San Francisco, CA / The Mission District
Seattle, WA / The Pike-Pine Corridor
Washington, DC / The intersection of Adams Morgan, U Street, and Dupont Circle

Why People in Cities Walk Fast

2012-03-21T19:05:00-04:00

With the exception of Nairobi — insert joke here about Kenyans crushing everyone at the New York City Marathon — the fastest walking cities were from wealthy nations. The statistical analysis confirmed this general perception: two of the three strongest social predictors of walking speed were a country's G.D.P. and its purchasing power parity (the other was its individualism).

This reminds of of a fascinating Radiolab episode from a couple years ago about cities. I HIGHLY recommend listening to this - download it here.

The Works of Yoichiro Kamei

2011-07-29T12:37:20-04:00

He is one of the most appreciated young ceramic artists. With more than 10 solo exhibitions had in the past ten years in Kyoto, Tokyo, Aichi, Osaka and Faenza, he was awarded Merit Prize at the 1st Taiwan International Ceramics Biennale in 2004. In 2010 he received the Kyoto City Artist Prize, which is one of the most valuable Japanese art awards.

'Meissen | SO - IL', 18th-century Porcelain in Contemporary Architecture'

2011-06-01T18:27:00-04:00

Archinect's Building of the Day series is brought to you by our friends at OpenBuildings.com, the web's most comprehensive directory of buildings.

During the summer of 2011 (May 28 - Aug 28), de KAdE in Amersfoort will host an extensive overview of the work of Solid Objectives – Idenburg Liu (SO – IL) architectural office. The show will take place concurrent to 'Meissen | SO - IL', 18th-century porcelain in contemporary architecture'.

SO – IL has designed 32 modern, geometrically shaped showcases in bright colours and with ‘pointed tops’. As well as showing off the fifty-plus Meissen objects to best advantage, these vitrines are autonomous works in their own right.

As Florian Idenburg of SO – IL explains, “We wanted to come up with a strategy to help visitors ‘take a fresh look’ at Meissen so that they could understand the pieces in a new way. By using the vitrine to ‘upset’ conventional ways of looking at the works, we force viewers to redefine their relationship with the...

Art as MOCA-latte: APPROVED-DISAPPROVED

2011-04-09T15:50:48-04:00

When Los Angeles MOCA Director Jeffrey Deitch ordered the removal of artist Blu‘s mural, which he commissioned, from the wall of his museum, he was quickly accused of censorship by various folks in the art community. In response to his act, an anonymous street artist put up a wheatpasted mural near MOCA that depicted Deitch as the Ayatollah Khomeini, dressed in traditional garb, holding a dripping paint roller with outstretched arm – fresh from removing Blu’s mural from the museum’s wall.

MOCA further sucks it up to its Blu(es) and PR's a Tea Party like survey on what art 'you'd' suck up to. Peviously

No Blu Wash

2010-12-17T14:56:46-05:00

MOCA commissions a mural from Blu and than finds it offensive and whitewashes it. Artist says it is cencorship. The museum director says he was in Miami art fair when it was painted. latimes
MOCA commissions a mural from Blu and than finds it offensive and whitewashes it. Artist says it is cencorship. The museum director says he was in Miami art fair when it was painted. latimes