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"I haven’t seen anything quite like this," says Jules Boykoff, a professor and former professional soccer player who studies the impact of the Olympics on marginalized communities. "Typically, hostile architecture is more subtle." — WIRED
The worry that Los Angeles may attempt a full-scale homeless 'cleansing' ahead of the 2028 Olympics has always been present as the statistical realities make too apparent: At least 75,000 people currently live without housing in L.A. County. Now, the task for their advocates is to buck trends that... View full entry
Since opening in mid-July, the Centre Pompidou's full-height media facade installation has turned into a major draw at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. By activating the iconic shell of the museum (which is about to close in the coming months in preparation for Moreau Kusunoki and Frida... View full entry
“We’ve done all the competitive events up to the Olympics so starting with Dubai this year and then through the Olympic qualifying series in Shanghai and Budapest,” he said. “There’s been a progression of design that goes through each of those different courses both in street and park that will ultimately lead up to the courses we’ve designed for Paris and the Olympics.” — NBC4
Bill Minadeo, an OSU Knowlton School Class of 1991 landscape architecture alum, designed the first Olympic skateboarding park in Tokyo and the latest park and street courses in Paris. He said the park he created for this year’s competition, which is being staged outside the Place de la Concorde... View full entry
[Pharrell] Williams is aiming to reinstate arts competitions back on the world’s biggest sports stage, starting with raising awareness through his star-studded Louis Vuitton event Thursday in Paris. He passionately shared his goal to see the tradition revived by the Olympics in 2028 the night before the Games’ opening ceremony. — The Associated Press
As we detailed three years ago during the Tokyo games, the modern Olympics were at one time also meant to showcase feats of artistic and architectural talent (although most were tinged by racist theories of the time). Pharrell’s view, which he wouldn’t elaborate, is that having them included... View full entry
The 5,084 official medals to be conferred at the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games all include pieces of iron removed from the Eiffel Tower during previous renovation work. The pieces are made by Chaumet. Each is about 85 millimeters or about 3.35 inches in diameter and includes an 18-gram chunk... View full entry
Kengo Kuma’s completed design of the Saint-Denis–Pleyel metro station in Paris is one of the largest and most significant new projects highlighting the city’s push for sustainable urban renewal as a consequence of its turn as the host of the 2024 Summer Olympics. Images shared following its... View full entry
Reuse and refurbishment will be part of the buzz surrounding this year’s Summer Olympics in Paris, and Chatillon Architectes' new renovation of the Grand Nef de l'Île-des-Vannes sports complex is getting top billing as one of the key projects contributing to a ‘green’ games. The facility... View full entry
This summer, outside of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the museum’s famous forecourt area will be the site of a timely skatepark activation by local artist Raphaël Zarka. His new Cycloïde Piazza installation is meant to connect young Parisian skate enthusiasts and forms a key part of the... View full entry
With its focus on mobility, greenery and renovation, the overarching legacy of the Paris Olympics looks set to be more promising than most, ultimately helping to stitch long-severed suburbs into the centre. The mental geography of most Parisians will expand, for the better. Perhaps that’s the most that could be hoped for: with its emphasis on speed and reliance on private developers, the Olympics can hardly be a vehicle for more equitable forms of development. — The Guardian
Oliver Wainwright unpacks the City of Lights’ vision for a green (some might say ‘greenwashed’) 2024 Olympic Games while complimenting some of the new architectural designs from Ateliers 2/3/4/, Kengo Kuma, and others. No survey would be complete, of course, without a site visit to the... View full entry
Host cities through the decades, including Helsinki, Athens, London, Torin, Seoul, Barcelona, and most recently, Paris, have all used point access block housing that would be illegal to build in the U.S. When studying mixed-use Olympic Villages as a model for successful pedestrian-oriented development in the U.S., it becomes abundantly clear that major discrepancies exist between housing options in the U.S. and the rest of the world. — Medium.com
The endemic use of brick and natural stone in European apartment buildings versus their more combustible American counterparts is another factor underlying discrepancies architect Sean Jursnick herein describes as preventing the creation of better adaptable low-carbon multifamily designs in the... View full entry
To combat the intense summer heat in France, a geothermal energy system will cool the athlete apartments in the Seine-Saint-Denis suburb. This technology utilizes natural resources and is expected to reduce carbon impact by 45 percent compared to traditional air conditioning systems. The system will maintain a temperature below 79 degrees Fahrenheit during the night, even in the event of a heatwave, according to Laurent Michaud, the director of the Olympic and Paralympic Villages. — Runner's World
The planned alternative system will distribute cold water from underground to cool through the floors of the apartments, which will later become home to more than 6,000 permanent residents after the more than 15,000 Olympic and Paralympics athletes vacate in September. The buildings all have green... View full entry
She wants to make it a paradise of low pollution and healthy living, as friendly to pedestrians and bicycles as can be, with new developments planned to promote community life. This is a long-term endeavour, going back to Hidalgo’s predecessor Bertrand Delanoë, who was mayor from 2001 to 2014, but the Olympics have been enlisted to give it a boost. In the face of what Rabadan calls “a lot of political resistance”, the Olympics “gave us the opportunity to accelerate the transformation we need”. — The Guardian
Surveying the broadscale urban greening and pedestrianization program of 2023 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development laureate Mayor Anne Hidalgo, Rowan Moore declares the slate of changes “absolutely right” for Parisians while admitting that her “rhetoric has a way of outrunning... View full entry
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) has today announced Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo as its selection for the 2023 ULI Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development, one of the industry’s leading honors for community building and development worldwide. “La Dauphine,” as she is better known to the press... View full entry
A pre-construction archaeology dig meant to prepare a critical segment of the reconstructed Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has led to the discovery of a lead sarcophagus and several small tombs according to an announcement from the French Ministry of Culture. The discovery was unearthed directly... View full entry
In my opinion, many people consider architects less important today, while they demand engineers, landscape experts and environmentalists. It seems they no longer expect a comprehensive perspective and sensibility from architects. Architects should become advocates for architecture and fight for their role. — The Korea Herald
With the completion of the Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism 2021, Perrault will now pivot his focus to the 2024 Olympic Village plan that will help revitalize Saint-Denis, long-held to be one of the most neglected communes in the French capital region. This year’s program... View full entry