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Organizing at the community level and putting pressure on politicians can go a long way, but it’s not enough. Architects have to start seeing themselves as political actors with high stakes in the same way communities and unions do. Architects are workers and they depend on work.
The fight for climate justice, resiliency, and workers’ and tenants’ rights are only going to get harder in an era of political decay, cronyism, and systemic crisis.
— The Nation
The fight over congestion pricing and residential building retrofits in New York City are just a couple of the many flashpoints architects should involve themselves in heavily in order to better advocate for the profession, critic Kate Wagner writes. Rightly, she states, “The field’s most... View full entry
Michael Stern, the developer of SHoP’s new The Brooklyn Tower (also known by its address at 9 Dekalb Avenue), is facing foreclosure over a failure to pay a $240 million loan that was extended by Silverstein Properties in 2019 to complete the 93-story project, according to reports from The... View full entry
A protracted battle over control of one of New York City’s most iconic buildings will finally be settled at auction later this month. A group of developers will hash out their ownership of the Flatiron Building after a State Supreme Court judge ruled a sale could move forward on March 22 at Mannion Auctions.
The auctioneer, Matthew D. Mannion of Mannion Auctions, LLC, confirmed that the sale is public — meaning anyone can bid, and the Flatiron Building is therefore anyone’s to win.
— Hyperallergic
The city’s landmark first skyscraper, designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick Dinkelberg has sat empty since publishing house Macmillan left the building for greener pastures of FiDi in early 2019. However, the four majority owners of the property aren’t looking to sell, according to quotes... View full entry
Following last week’s look at an opening for an Architect at Doctors Without Borders, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open position on Archinect Jobs for a Senior Designer at Extell Development Company. The role, based out of Extell’s New York City... View full entry
There is another cause of overcrowding and homelessness. It is mansionization, the demolition of older, smaller, less expensive houses by real estate speculators who quickly replace them with spec McMansions: boxy, shoddily built houses that max out the permitted building envelope. — City Watch LA
The disincentive to build multifamily and affordable housing is made worse by the popularity of these easily repeatable home designs, which also cost more to construct while taking up more space and using more water and electricity. Certain communities around L.A. County have developed effective... View full entry
UK real estate developer Art-Invest has announced Matthias Hollwich and the team at HWKN Architecture will be the designers for a new commercial tower at the Canada Water Dockside in London. The tower will be one of three new commercial buildings built on the 4.5-acre... View full entry
“Given the dire shortage of affordable housing in London and the valuable real estate occupied by the Trellick, it is almost certain that someone will build on the site in the future. But residents would like their say. [...] Many fear the build would only attract more developers to the surrounding neighborhood, spoiling the character of the site.” — The New York Times
This fall, residents were able to halt a Haworth Tompkins scheme for a new 16-story tower block in the place of its demolished nursing home that would have obstructed sightlines, a graffiti wall, and exterior views of the Grade II* listed structure. Some units have already been converted into... View full entry
But Mr. Schiffman said he had no active role in those projects, a statement that raises questions about whether the buildings were approved for construction without the oversight and involvement of a registered architect — a requirement in New York State to ensure that buildings are properly designed and do not pose a safety risk. — The New York Times
The New York Times has obtained a document showing that the credentials of a retired architect in his mid-80s were used to fake his approval of building designs that he did not review. Warren L. Schiffman has been designated as the architect of record on an under-construction, 642-feet-tall hotel... View full entry
DSDHA and Perkins&Will have been chosen by a team of developers to design a new life sciences complex in central London. The investment entity behind the proposed Snowsfields Quarter project, Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation, selected global real estate investor and developer Oxford... View full entry
Tensions over visitors, some of whom will, inevitably, want to claim a piece of the desert themselves, has been a part of the area’s story for years. But as the pandemic has boosted Joshua Tree’s allure for travelers, transplants and investors, it has magnified old conflicts and created new conundrums. — The New York Times
Numbers of short-term rentals have doubled in Joshua Tree and the neighboring community of Yucca Valley, presenting an existential crisis to some of its inhabitants dismayed at the new boom in development to meet the demands of the market. Even the tree species that the town is named for is under... View full entry
Broadway Junction, the busy yet infamously underutilized area surrounding the Broadway Junction Subway station, may need to brace for a big change. The area, which sits between several neighborhoods including East New York, Bed-Stuy and Brownsville, has become the center of a private developer’s new vision for East Brooklyn. — BK Reader
At a virtual town hall held on March 22, Totem Group, a Brooklyn-based real estate development firm, shared preliminary plans to build a large mixed-use building next to the busy station complex. Totem’s proposal calls for the construction of four high-rise towers, with two including housing... View full entry
An L.A. developer has a new approach to the so-called tenancy-in-common, or TIC, model, in which residents share ownership of the property. Instead of converting old, rent-controlled buildings into TIC properties, the developer is replacing single-family homes with new townhomes.
Some real estate experts said the model could help the region’s gaping affordable-housing problem, particularly after a new state law opened more areas to similar development.
— The Los Angeles Times
S.B. 9 allows for up to four units to be built on plots formerly reserved for single-family developments exclusively. Since the bill was enacted, many investors have begun to demolish single-family units in order to construct the newer TIC model of townhouses, which was supposedly pioneered by a... View full entry
Cities are being overwhelmed by a top-down, algorithmically-enabled attempt to make them legible, quantifiable and replicable. Can a project of nonsense-making disrupt the seemingly inexorable march of "progress"? — Failed Architecture
Anti-digital mapping and other seriously stylish interventions have taken cues from protest groups like the Umbrella Movement. Many now see them as key areas in which architects can play a role alongside other designers and urbanists to halt the encroachment of certain proptech... View full entry
Chinese authorities have taken over the Gensler-designed, under-construction Evergrande Guangzhou Football Stadium, commissioned by indebted property developer Evergrande, which was due to become the world’s largest football stadium by capacity, according to Reuters. — Global Construction Review
The Chinese government will either sell or take over the stadium via the state-owned Guangzhou City Construction Investment Group. As reported by Reuters, construction on the stadium has been halted for at least three months, in which Evergrande has been struggling to meet repayments on over $... View full entry
Worries about the giant developer’s ability to repay its debt and a total of $300 billion in liabilities have put global investors on edge. Beyond the company itself, there are worries about a potential spillover into the rest of China’s real estate industry or economy. — CNBC
Evegrande missed another round of payments last Monday, setting it back again ahead of Wednesday’s scheduled $47.5 million interest payment. Investors are blindly looking for a government bailout, but financial experts remain uncertain as to its prospects. The company says it plans to go forward... View full entry