Archinect - News

How Notre Dame was almost totally lost

2019-07-17T15:20:00-04:00

Some of what went wrong that night has been reported in the French news media, including Le Monde and Le Canard Enchaîné. Now, The New York Times conducted scores of interviews and reviewed hundreds of documents to reconstruct the missteps—and the battle that saved Notre-Dame in the first four critical hours after the blaze began. What became clear is just how close the cathedral came to collapsing.

A stunning visual report from The New York Times lays out a chain of events chronicling the heart-wrenching battle to save Notre-Dame cathedral as it burned uncontrollably on April 15, 2019.

The article points to several key lapses in the design of the cathedral's fire safety systems that ultimately allowed the fire to rage unimpeded for nearly an hour before fire fighting efforts got underway.

The report, for example, highlights the convoluted design of Notre-Dame's high-tech fire warning system as contributing to the delay.

Glenn Corbett, associate professor of fire science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, told The New York Times, “You have a system that is known for its ability to detect very small quantities of smoke. Yet the whole outcome of it is this clumsy human response." Corbett added, "You can spend a lot to detect a fire, but it all goes down the drain when you don’t move on it.”

In addition, the report notes that the church's roof timbers—400-year...

Watch 7 ancient ruins get reconstructed

2018-03-23T18:06:00-04:00

It can be difficult to picture what ancient architecture would have looked back when it was first erected. Reconstructions by NeoMam and Thisisrender help you visualize what these ancient ruins looked like at the height of their glory. Take a look back in time and watch these historical structures get rebuilt.

The Parthenon, Athens, GR

Temple of Jupiter, Rome, IT

Milecastle 39 (part of Hadrian’s Wall), Northumberland, ENG

Luxor Temple, Luxor, EG

The Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacán, MX

Area Sacra di Largo Argentina (Temple B), Rome, IT

All images courtesy of viewfinder.

When 'Frank Lloyd Wright' and 'historic designation' are holding back your home’s value, what’s a seller to do?

2016-08-09T18:23:00-04:00

Richard Herber, owner of the [Frank Lloyd Wright-designed] home at 3901 N. Washington Road, said he wanted the [historic] distinction pulled because he wanted to sell the house for the best price. Getting the property off the historic list was the only way to “cast a wider net to the widest number of people,” he said. [...] Not everybody is a candidate for buying a home that’s historic, ... but those who are know exactly what they’re doing.

More on the sticky business of historic preservation:

Another chance at re-envisioning Philip Johnson's “Tent of Tomorrow”

2016-07-06T14:59:00-04:00

The question still holds: What does the future entail for Philip Johnson's New York State Pavilion? Following the 1964-65 World's Fair, the elliptical “Tent of Tomorrow” lived shortly as a concert venue and a roller-skating rink before it eventually slipped into abandonment. But, the aging landmark has another chance at finding a shiny new purpose in the New York State Pavilion Ideas Competition.

Among recent efforts to preserve the landmark, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the People for the Pavilion co-launched the competition asking architects (and non-architects) how the pavilion can be revived into a contemporary public space. Before the winning ideas are revealed in August, the public can vote now for the Fan Favorite until July 15.

As these open idea competitions tend to show all too exhaustingly often, the possibilities are seemingly endless. The 250 submissions include a brewery, a Metro station, a Glass House reference, drone arenas, botanical gardens, and...

Chicago's Marina City designated official landmark status — it's about time!

2016-02-12T15:22:00-05:00

...it's tempting to turn cartwheels over the Chicago City Council's vote to grant permanent landmark status to Marina City, the city within a city best known for its iconic corncob-shaped towers. Marina City was a landmark building that lacked official landmark status and was therefore vulnerable — if not to demolition, then to insensitive additions that chipped away at the sculpted beauty of its curving concrete.

Since the process began last July, Chicago City Council unanimously voted 48-0 (with the absence of two aldermen) to designate Bertrand Goldberg's midcentury icon as a historic city landmark as of Wednesday, according to Loop North News.

"Ald. Brendan Reilly, 42nd, deserves credit for championing the protection of Marina City..." Blair Kamin writes in the Chicago Tribune. "Yet it can't be forgotten that Reilly in 2012 supported the demolition of the Goldberg-designed Prentice Women's Hospital, a building that lacked Marina City's picture-postcard appeal but was nonetheless worth saving because of its boldly engineered concrete shell structure and humanistic interior. In a sense, Prentice died so that Marina could live."

Previous news on this topic:

Pyongyang's inner Wes Anderson shines through in its architecture, then and now

2015-11-03T13:24:00-05:00

'Let us turn the whole country into a socialist fairyland,'...Throughout the city, you now encounter the recurring colour schemes of salmon and teal, or pink and baby blue...These new spaces look like they have been assembled from crisp, unreal planes of colour and exude an anaesthetising aesthetic, candy-coloured decoys that distract from a reality of mass poverty across the country.

Debated relocation of U.S. Embassy in London is "inevitably painful" for locals

2015-06-10T15:58:00-04:00

The United States Embassy in Grosvenor Square, a Modernist concrete building in the heart of Mayfair, London’s most exclusive neighborhood, has been a potential terrorist target for years, creating anxiety for both employees and neighbors...So a new embassy [by KieranTimberlake] is under construction for a move by 2017, and the residents of Mayfair are relieved. But this being Britain, the new embassy has become the object of debate and, in some quarters, ridicule.

KieranTimberlake’s U.S. Embassy in London celebrates groundbreaking

The Hudson River Valley in NY is the next stop for Gehry's Winton Guest House

2015-05-21T18:50:00-04:00

The Frank Gehry-designed Winton Guest House will embark on another lengthy roadtrip, moving roughly 1,200 miles from its current location in Owatonna, Minnesota to its new home in New York's Hudson River Valley. The geometric house sold for $750,000 at the Wright auction house in Chicago on Tuesday. The new owners, who wish to remain unidentified, paid an additional "buyer's premium" of $155,000 for the guest house, bringing up the total to $905,000. Wright listed the house's starting bid at $850,000.

The new owners pledged to restore and preserve the Guest House on private property, according to Dr. Victoria M. Young, professor of modern architectural history and chair of the Art History Department at the University of St. Thomas, which owned the house since 2007 as part of the Daniel C. Gainey Conference Center. Since the university sold the Gainey Center to Meridian Behavioral Health Services last summer, the house was scheduled to begin relocation this June to meet its August 201...

Growing up in Case Study House #22: The Stahl House

2015-05-20T18:38:00-04:00

[The Stahl House] may be more famous for its breathtaking view of the Sunset Strip, its immaculate midcentury design, and its oft-photographed pool, which is perched on the edge of a cliff, but I love it for another reason, too: It’s living history. [...] The city around the Stahl House has changed, but the house itself has not. — Alison Martino

Writer Alison Martino interviews Bruce and Shari, two of Clarence and Carlotta Stahl's three kids, on their experiences growing up in The Stahl House a.k.a. Case Study House #22.

JetBlue tapped as prospective developer for JFK TWA terminal

2015-04-16T17:34:00-04:00

[JetBlue Airways] reportedly wants to get into the hotel business by partnering with New York-based hotel developer MCR Development to turn the landmarked terminal into a 500-room hotel. The deal isn't final—the parties are in 'advanced negotiations'—so things could still fall apart...The Port Authority previously chose hotelier Andre Balazs as the developer, but Balazs backed out after realizing how long the project would take. He told the [WSJ] his company had 'more interesting opportunities.'

Previously: Hotelier Andre Balazs to convert JFK’s historic TWA terminal into a hotel and conference center

Great Synagogue of Edirne in Turkey, Europe's third largest synagogue, reopens after five-year restoration

2015-03-26T19:39:00-04:00

Top Turkish government officials, nearly 100 international dignitaries, and 500 members of the Turkish Jewish community took part in a ceremony commemorating the re-opening of the Great Synagogue of Edirne today after a five-year restoration. The synagogue is claimed to be the largest synagogue in the Balkans and the third largest in Europe.

The $2.5 million government investment repaired the synagogue's lead-clad domes, its collapsed roof and walls, and its foundation was fortified. Inside, the floor covering was restored to its original patterns and colors, as well as the Torah inscriptions. Turkey’s Prime Ministry General Directorate of Foundations oversaw the restoration.

The Great Synagogue of Edirne - after and before restoration.

The push to rebuild the Great Synagogue began in 2010, as part of an effort to mitigate restrictions on Turkey's non-Muslim religious minorities. Authorities describe the Great Synagogue's reopening as a symbol of tolerance towards Turkey's Jewish commu...

Pondering the cultural value of Frank Gehry's Winton Guest House

2015-03-20T20:56:00-04:00

Frank Gehry's Winton Guest House was recently announced to be up for auction on May 19 in Chicago. Designed for Mike and Penny Winton during the '80s in Lake Minnetonka, MN, the Guest House helped propel Gehry into international stardom in the '90s. Currently, the University of St. Thomas owns the $4.5 million home, which was repurposed as part of the Daniel C. Gainey Conference Center in Owatonna, MN a few years ago. Ever since St. Thomas sold the Gainey last year, the Guest House is once again up for grabs and must -- also once again -- start relocation this June to meet its August 2016 deadline.

The Winton Guest House revives the question of what cultural value that the house -- and others vernacular structures like it -- possess. As this comment discussion shows, the topic is a subjective one with no clean-cut answer.

Some may agree that the Guest House's value lies in its history, like an art object that can be studied or referred to for inspiration. According to the University o...

The Aluminaire House to relocate to Palm Springs

2015-03-13T14:27:00-04:00

When it was unveiled in New York City in April 1931, the starkly modern Aluminaire House was an overnight sensation that emboldened an architectural movement. Designed as a case study by architects A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey, the three-story house, which was built in 10 days, became the first all-metal prefabricated house in the U.S.

After Sunnyside Gardens was a no-go, it looks like the Aluminaire House will be heading to sunny Palm Springs, California, according to an announcement by Palm Springs Mayor Steve Pougnet during a fundraising event at Palm Springs Modernism Week last month. The Aluminaire House Foundation plans on placing the all-metal prefab house right across the Palm Springs Art Museum to become another modernist attraction in the city -- where Frey lived and practiced from 1935 to his death in 1998.

Previously: The Aluminaire House looks to Sunnyside Gardens as its possible new home

Frank Gehry's Winton Guest House to be up for sale on May 19 in Chicago

2015-03-06T17:45:00-05:00

Frank Gehry's Winton Guest House must be sold! Completed in 1987 for Mike and Penny Winton, the Winton Guest House in Owatonna, Minnesota is one of Gehry's few residential projects that contributed to his rising fame during the 1990s. According to the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul -- the home's current owner -- the $4.5 million home will be up for auction on May 19 in Chicago, with auction house Wright in charge of handling the sale.

Entryway to the University of St. Thomas St. Paul campus

Mike and Penny Winton commissioned Gehry to design the home in 1982 when they needed extra room for their family to accompany their Philip Johnson-designed residence on their property in Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota. Built from plywood, stone, brick, and metal, the 2,300 sq.ft guest house consists of five separate geometric spaces that include a central pyramidal living room tower, two bedrooms, a kitchen, fireplace room, two bathrooms, and loft space. The house's distinctive geometric-block de...

Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House to reopen once again in February

2015-01-23T14:22:00-05:00

In the heart of Hollywood's Barnsdall Park, Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House will officially reopen on February 13, as recently announced by L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, Councilmember Mitch O'Farrell, and the Barnsdall Park Art Foundation. This isn't the first time the iconic house has been restored, but the latest renovation focused on bringing back the house, and all its decorative details, to its original early 20th century state. The conservation effort took place from 2008 to 2014 and cost $4,359,000.

The Hollyhock House was Frank Lloyd Wright's first residence in Los Angeles. Pennsylvanian oil heiress and arts enthusiast Aline Barnsdall commissioned Wright to build the house -- which was named after her favorite flower -- as her own venue for producing avant-garde plays. It later became a performing arts complex including Barnsdall's private residence. Construction began in 1919 but came to a halt in 1921 when Barnsdall fired Wright, primarily due to costs.

Nonetheless, the hou...

Don't forget to register for YAC's Rome Community Ring competition

2014-12-22T18:14:00-05:00

Late registration began today for Young Architects Competitions' Rome Community Ring. If you want a chance to win, make sure to register by January 19, 2015 and submit your entries by January 26, 2015.

Students and professionals are encouraged to share their ideas on how to revive one of Rome's historical treasures, the 19th-century Forte Portuense, into a new cultural space for public recreation. Proposed designs must also include room for potential urban development. Built between 1877 to late 1881, Forte Portuense is one of several military fortresses and has remained preserved since military authorities abandoned the site in 1967.

Winners and cash prizes totaling €15,000 will be awarded when the competition ends in March 2015. An awards ceremony and exhibition will follow.

For more important competition details, click here.

Previous YAC competitions:

Wine Culture Centre

Post-Quake Visions

Steven Holl's Kennedy Center Expansion Project in D.C. breaks ground

2014-12-05T18:42:00-05:00

As the saying goes, history likes to repeat itself. The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. broke ground yesterday on the Kennedy Center Expansion Project. The ceremony also celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Center's original groundbreaking in 1964.

The event featured remarks from Vice President Joe Biden, Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein, Kennedy Center President Deborah F. Rutter, Kennedy Center Trustee (and John F. Kennedy's granddaughter) Rose Kennedy Schlossberg, as well as Steven Holl. During the ceremony, Rubenstein used the same gold-plated shovel that President Lyndon B. Johnson used to break ground for the Center on December 2, 1964.

Steven Holl and senior partner Chris McVoy designed the expansion with BNIM Architects. The Expansion Project, which was announced in 2013 and is being paid for entirely by private funds, will be built south of the current facility as an interactive space for artists to engage with the community. Th...

UPDATE: Glasgow School of Art fire

2014-05-23T13:23:00-04:00

Today's tragic developing story is the massive fire engulfing the historic Glasgow School of Art building, the masterpiece by Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh.

News updates and tweets (#gsafire) are pouring in left and right, and we'll try to collect the latest developments in this post.

Tweets about "#gsafire"

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The Glasgow School of Art Media Centre tweets a link to this Statement from Muriel Gray, Chair of Board of Governors on fire at the Mack:

"Today is a really black one for the GSA, but I cannot thank the fire brigade enough for the speed with which they came and their commitment to contain and extinguish the fire.

Fortunately there have been no fatalities or injuries.

I am so proud of the sta...

Spirit of Space interview Jeanne Gang for film on Chicago's historic Shoreland Hotel renovation

2014-05-21T13:50:00-04:00

Spirit of Space are known for their emotive, precisely choreographed short films exploring buildings and urban spaces. Their most recent film reports on Studio Gang's renovation of the Shoreland Hotel, a historic Chicago high-rise on the border of Lake Michigan. SOS's film looks into the guts of the building through renovation until completion, as Jeanne Gang and David Gwinn (Director of Design for Silliman Group) explain how they sought a balance between contemporary updates and historical mood.

Watch the film below:

SHORELAND from Spirit of Space on Vimeo.

First major Guastavino exhibition opening at MCNY on March 26

2014-03-25T14:05:00-04:00

The upcoming "Palaces for the People: Guastavino and the Art of Structural Tile" exhibition will showcase the works of Spanish architect Rafael Guastavino and his son Rafael Jr. that helped shape the architectural identity of New York City.

Opening at the Museum of the City of New York on March 26, the exhibition will share the story of the Guastavinos, whose family legacy graces the vaulted and tiled ceilings of over 200 historic NYC buildings like the Grand Central Terminal, Ellis Island, Carnegie Hall, and the Bronx Zoo's Elephant House.

The exhibition was first organized by MacArthur Fellow John Ochsendorf from MIT before MCNY expanded it to feature 20 major Guastavino projects throughout NYC's five boroughs. The exhibition will include never-before-seen drawings and materials, an 11 ft x 15 ft replica of a Guastavino vault, contemporary photos by Michael Freeman, and a video gallery installation that lets viewers "visit" Guastavino spaces.

"Palaces for the People" will run until...

Rice Design Alliance’s "Additionally" tour highlights modern updates of 8 historic houses in Houston

2014-01-08T12:46:00-05:00

If you're in the Houston, Texas area and want to "add in" some well-in-advance weekend plans, Rice Design Alliance from Rice University will be hosting their 38th Annual Architectural Tour "Additionally" on March 29-30, 2014.

RDA is inviting its members and their guests for a weekend to visit eight historic houses originally built between 1885 to 1964 throughout Houston. Within the past 12 years, local architecture firms individually crafted modernized additions that complement each house's historic nature.

Check out some of the tour's destinations:

216 Avondale (1906); Addition: 2012, m+a architecture

707 Sabine (1885); Additions: 2000, Gary Eades; 2009, Janusz Design

3503 Audobon (1920); Addition: 2011, Interloop–Architecture

5503 Sturbridge; Additions: 1960, Marshall S. MacDougal; 2008, Dillon Kyle Architecture

For more info on the tour, head over to Bustler.

Images courtesy of Rice Design Alliance.

The Quaint Plans for American Cities, as We Envisioned Them 200 Years Ago

2014-01-03T13:10:00-05:00

Charles O. Paullin and John K. Wright produced an Atlas of the Historical Geography of the United States in 1932 that remains, 80 years later, one of the most definitive collections of maps (many of them innovative in their time) from early U.S. history. [...] Just before the holidays, the University of Richmond’s Digital Scholarship Lab unveiled an ambitious project bringing the entire collection online [...].

Wright Masterwork Is Seen in a New Light: A Fight for Its Life

2012-10-03T11:34:00-04:00

It’s hard to say which is more startling. That a developer in Phoenix could threaten...to knock down a 1952 house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Or that the house has until now slipped under the radar, escaping the attention of most architectural historians...a spiral home for his son David.

Is the North Dakota Capitol Building Ugly?

2012-04-20T13:36:00-04:00

North Dakota’s governor has bitten back at a Minnesota lawmaker who compared his state’s Depression-era Capitol building to an insurance office, calling the critic ignorant of classic architecture. The Capitol in Bismarck was built during the 1930s with a plain concrete and stone exterior, ostensibly to keep costs down.

Let us know what you think in the comment section below.

Paris Opera | Charles Garnier | Architecture as Allegory

2011-10-02T15:20:20-04:00

A design competition opened in December 1860 with a month's deadline; it drew 171 submissions. The winning architect, Garnier, was a blacksmith's son who had studied at the École des Beaux Arts, taking its Grand Prix de Rome for architecture in 1848.

The UK riots: Is architecture irrelevant?

2011-08-11T18:22:50-04:00

The role that architecture plays in all of this is of course limited. New business eventually accrued from rebuilding destroyed buildings will have a negligible effect on the construction economy. So far the London riots have claimed two historic landmarks, the Victorian cottages at Croydon’s Reeves Corner (1867) and Tottenham’s Art Deco Union Point (1930), both of which survived the Blitz.

WORKac to Redesign New Holland Island in St. Petersburg

2011-08-05T19:22:00-04:00

New York-based practice WORKac is the winner of the competition to select a master planning consultant for the future development of New Holland Island in St Petersburg, Russia. [...] New Holland is an 8-hectare island bordered by two canals and a river in the heart of St Petersburg, within 20-minutes walk of the Hermitage and the city’s other major cultural sites.

Film: A Plea For Modernism

2011-05-26T20:17:12-04:00

The Phillis Wheatley Elementary School has served the historic New Orleans African-American neighborhood of Tremé since it opened in 1955. Celebrated worldwide for its innovative, regionally-expressive modern design – the structure sustained moderate damage during the storms and levee breach of 2005. Although it is scheduled for demolition in Summer 2011, DOCOMOMO Louisiana is advocating for its restoration via adaptive reuse. "A Plea For Modernism" is narrated by actor Wendell Pierce (“The Wire”, “Treme”). View on Vimeo

American frontier's first 'starchitecture?'

2011-04-26T01:40:47-04:00

"It is interesting here in the frontier: Who were they trying to impress?"

Warren Gerds, of the Green Bay Press-Gazette, shares with us a building that might otherwise be relatively insignificant if it was elsewhere in America. The Fort Howard Hospital is a Late-Federal-styled building in Allouez, Green Bay, Wisconsin. The story is what makes the building particularly interesting.

"Starchitecture" is usually defined as buildings and follies wrought-to-being by a computer-scripted composition littered with fantastical shapes from cathartic fractals to abstracted crystalline shards to yet-to-be-named distended-and-distorted spherical blobs. But, "starchitecture," as another concept seems to transcend both style and time if one were to define "starchitecture" purely in terms of architecture that embodies emotion, speculation and alienation; architectural objects that essentially should not or could not exist referentially to their neighbors and time periods.

Fort Howard Hospital is one of those objects. The hospital was built in 1834-1835 at the...