Archinect - News

Albany's 'Million Dollar Staircase' to add permanent bust of late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, its first woman

2023-03-14T15:52:00-04:00

Even then, the gender imbalance was glaring. The so-called Million Dollar Staircase, spanning 444 steps and four floors of the New York State Capitol, memorialized the faces of dozens of distinguished figures in delicate carvings, but not one was a woman. Scrutiny prompted a state official to hastily authorize the addition of several women to the staircase’s lower level. The year was 1898.

After 125 years, New York State will make its first new addition, Brooklyn native and late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The carving will be formed from the same Scotland-sourced Corsehill sandstone used for the original stairs. It is expected to cost around $150,000 and complete sometime this spring. The piece will be sculpted by artist Meredith Bergmann.

The Million Dollar Staircase, also officially known as the Great Western Staircase, was carved in place from large blocks of sandstone from 1884 to 1898. It was designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson and features 78 carvings of distinguished figures from that time. The few faces of women that are present on the staircase seem to serve a more decorative purpose, including babies, goddesses, and the architect’s granddaughter. The six proposed female additions include Susan B. Anthony, novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Civil War nurses.

Blue Check Homes installs Twitter-style blue checks on houses for "authentic public figures"

2021-02-09T14:02:00-05:00

According to its satirical official website, BLUE CHECK HOMES offers clients a verified blue badge on their homes. "The blue verified badge on your house lets people outside know that you're an authentic public figure. To receive the blue check crest, there must be someone authentic and notable actively living in the house," the site explains.

Simply provide your first name and all of your social media accounts and BLUE CHECK HOMES wait for a review and interview with the company's board. If you are approved, pay the fee and get a crest installed.

Pricing? For verified homeowners, "the BLUE CHECK HOMES installation team will secure your home's very own plaster baronial crest for a fee of $2999.99."

The jokester behind this is artist Danielle Baskin. In a postscript on the website, she writes, "If you thought this was a full-fledged service, please investigate the things you read on the internet! And if you're an artist making jokes on the internet, we should consider adding disclaim...

Artist Calvin Seibert races against time in building these modernist sandcastles

2016-11-22T18:04:00-05:00

Building “sandcastles” is a bit of a test. Nature will always be against you and time is always running out. Having to think fast and to bring it all together in the end is what I like about it...Once I begin building and forms take shape I can start to see where things are going and either follow that road or attempt to contradict it with something unexpected.

Professional sculptor Calvin Seibert builds “sandcastle” structures that look like they could be straight from the sketchbooks of architecture's modernist icons. Whenever he starts sculpting his next sand structure, he usually only has “a vague notion of trying to do something different each time”, and mixes various ideas and inspirations as he goes.

Here are a few of Seibert's sandcastles he has sculpted over the last few years.

You can find more of Seibert's sandcastles on his Flickr, or follow him on Instagram.

h/t Colossal

Meryl Streep's husband among those helping select architect for the Obama Center

2016-01-14T12:37:00-05:00

The team advising the Barack Obama Foundation on the selection of an architect for the Obama Center includes the husbands of Caroline Kennedy and Meryl Streep – a designer and a sculptor — with Chicagoans Fred Eychaner and Bob Clark also centrally involved, the Sun-Times has learned. Known as the Design Advisory Team, the group is helping evaluate proposals from architects for the sought-after commission, with seven firms selected as finalists last December.