Archinect

New architecture and design competitions: British Museum Western Range, Built by New York, Future School for Ukraine, and London Design Summit

2024-05-11T11:00:00-04:00

This edition of Bustler's curated picks of noteworthy architecture and design competitions features four calls seeking adaptive concepts for new schools across Ukraine, outstanding work of design practitioners based in New York City, proposals for the restoration of the British Museum's Western Range, and creative solutions addressing the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals.

For the complete directory of newly listed competitions, click here.

Floating house from Pixar’s ‘Up’ is now available to rent on Airbnb

2024-05-11T08:00:00-04:00

Airbnb has added a replica of the floating house from the popular 2009 Pixar film Up and other unique pop culture-inspired stays to its inventory. The experience is part of Airbnb's new Icons line of vacation rentals, which CEO Brian Chesky recently unveiled to the public in Los Angeles.

Image courtesy Airbnb

The sure-to-be popular Up home will be located in Abiquiu, New Mexico, and, thanks to a crane, is intended to appear as though it were floating. An Airbnb spokesperson told KRQE News 13: “Our community’s safety is incredibly important to us, so guests will not be inside the house while it is lifted. All guests will remain 100 ft away from the house while the house is lifted. The house will not exceed the height of 50 ft designated by engineering and crane operators as safe for lifting.”

Image courtesy Airbnb

Other Icons stays include a replica of Shrek’s home in the Scottish Highlands, Christina Aguilera's Las Vegas mansion, and the three-bedroom style house in Minneapolis made ...

R.P. House by Atelier d'Arquitectura J. A. Lopes da Costa

2024-05-10T20:00:00-04:00

Designed for a couple with two children, the house is distributed over three floors and is set on a rectangular plot with good sun exposure and privileged views of Santa Maria da Feira Castle.

Pedestrian and vehicular access is via the two roads adjacent to the plot, at different levels, taking advantage of its natural slope. The pedestrian access is located at the highest level, leading to the house entrance through a canopy on the north-east façade. As it faces the street, this façade is deliberately more closed off. The basement garage is accessed by a slight ramp from the street to the south-east. At the basement were also located storage and technical areas as well as a space for storing hunting and fishing gear, the owner's hobby.
The social and leisure areas of the house were located on the ground floor, making the most of the relationship with the exterior and the solar quadrant: East/South, enjoying views of the castle, and South/West, opening onto the garden and a patio she...

62% of A&E firms report using artificial intelligence increased efficiency, according to new Deltek study

2024-05-10T18:28:00-04:00

Statistics revealed in the latest Deltek Clarity Architecture & Engineering Industry Study have indicated wide optimism about the use of AI technology, even as most firms struggle to determine where and how to apply emerging trends in the face of prevailing economic headwinds.

According to the 45th annual report, 62% of all 650 surveyed A&E respondents across the United States and Canada have successfully begun using AI to augment their daily operations. Only 20% of firms now report at least three-quarters of their project leadership teams as possessing the proper project management training to best utilize such tools, with another 44% reporting insufficient time to invest in skill-based learning. Other leading challenges include prioritizing applicable trends and the cost of technology.

The findings add to a body of recent valuable industry trends reporting, including last month’s Autodesk study which stated that 76% of all AEC professionals now feel confident about incorporating ...

Nonresidential project abandonments show improvement despite discouraging performance in the public sector

2024-05-10T17:39:00-04:00

Project abandonments remain on an upswing across the country, according to an analysis of construction project data in the latest ConstructConnect Project Stress Index for the week ending April 27th. Over the past month, Delayed Bid, On Hold, and Abandoned activity have increased by 4%, 7%, and -6%, respectively. The number of Abandoned projects in the public sector is now up 44% when compared to year-ago levels.

Meanwhile, ConstructionConnect says: “The PSI continues to trend within a narrow range of between 120 and 130, indicating a steady level of industry project stress that is 20% to 30% greater than our 2021 base period."

“We traded a more severe form of stress for a lesser form of stress,” said Michael Guckes, senior economist at ConstructConnect, told Construction Dive in reference to last month's more concerning declines. “[This] is a positive. We would rather see more on-holds than abandonments. For this reason, it has been harder for us to be excited about the latest dec...

British Museum launches international competition for Western Range galleries redesign

2024-05-10T14:56:00-04:00

The British Museum has announced the launch of an international competition to redesign major portions of the gallery spaces inside the institution’s Grade I-listed neo-classical Smirke building in Central London. The brief calls for submissions to be judged in two phases and considered for further development toward a final design in a collaborative process between the museum, architects, and other stakeholders.

The museum says: “The competition is accepting entries from all design teams who feel they have the key characteristics the panel are looking for. Overall they must demonstrate they have the creative ability and design flair to put forward an innovative proposal which reimagines the building but keeps the collection at its heart and recognizes how it can be displayed, accessed, and preserved for the future. The panel will also be looking for expertise in sustainability — both environmental and economic.”

The British Museum Western Range Architectural Competition is open for e...

Quzhou Smart Town Digital Economy Industrial Park by LYCS Architecture

2024-05-10T14:07:00-04:00

"Rolling Hillscape" Quzhou Smart Town Digital Economy Industrial Park, designed by LYCS Architecture, has been officially completed. The design "Gently Places the Building into Nature," echoes the distant mountains that surround the city. "Rolling Hillscape" reinterprets the traditional architectural forms of Jiang Nan using lightweight and transparent modern materials, seamlessly integrating the large-scale public complex into the urban fabric. The project is located in the core area of the Quzhou High-speed Rail New City, with a total construction area of 96,172.11 square meters. It is a digital complex comprising three main functions: the Smart Service Center, the Technology Incubation Center, and the Urban Exhibition Hall.

Rolling Hillscape

Quzhou, known as the "Land of Mountains and Waters and the Land of Humanity," is located in the western part of Zhejiang Province and is the birthplace of the Qiantang River. Since it was established as a prefecture during the Eastern Han Dyn...

Pritzker Prize winner Riken Yamamoto to speak in Chicago May 16th

2024-05-10T13:42:00-04:00

The Pritzker Architecture Prize and Illinois Institute of Technology College of Architecture will convene a special event featuring 2024 laureate Riken Yamamoto on Thursday, May 16th, titled Community: The Architect as Catalyst for Change, the 2024 Laureate Lecture and Panel Discussion. The gathering is being presented in partnership with the Chicago Architecture Center and gives fans of architecture the chance to hear rare public remarks from Yamamoto at an American venue.

The Japanese architect will discuss his career-long orientation to community design and desire to create space for people to find each other at a time when architects are everywhere looking to affect a socially dispositive built environment. Past Laureates David Chipperfield (2023), Francis Kéré (2022), and Anne Lacaton (2021) join the 79-year-old for a post-talk discussion in historic S.R. Crown Hall.

J.M.C. House by Atelier d'Arquitectura J. A. Lopes da Costa

2024-05-10T13:03:00-04:00

The house is situated on a triangular plot with a steep slope along the access street, in the East/West or South/North direction. This has influenced its shape and volume.

The construction is positioned at the highest level on the East side, with the house mainly opening to the West. It is distributed over three floors, taking advantage of the slope of the land. Pedestrian and vehicle access are located at different levels through Rua Dr. Domingos da Silva Coelho, utilizing the natural slope of the road and land. The pedestrian access is situated at a higher level on the ground floor, leading to the house entrance through a flap. The car access is located further west at a lower level, leading to a partly covered patio that connects to the garage and service entrance in the basement. The two levels are externally connected through a ramp located to the south or a staircase that connects the ground floor patio, next to the pool, to the basement parking patio.

The ground floor compr...

Oceanwide Plaza, LA's unfinished high-rise graffiti mecca, faces impending sale

2024-05-10T12:00:00-04:00

The Chinese owners of the stalled residential, hotel and retail complex towering over Crypto.com Arena have hired real estate brokers to sell the property to buyers who could restart the project after work stopped in 2019. Taggers recently covered its outer walls with graffiti visible from far away.

The LA Times also reports the brokerage firm Colliers to have submitted an application estimating the property’s current value at $485 million and stating it is still just 60% completed. Another $865 million would be required to finish the block-scale development designed by CallisonRTKL. Some had speculated it could be demolished. Costs for the cleanup of possibly the greatest graffiti takeover of recent memory have been reported at $3.8 million.

A look at the Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize nominees for 2024

2024-05-09T20:23:00-04:00

The Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize nominees have been announced along with a jury for the biennial award's 5th cycle by the College of Architecture at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).

Many of the highest-profile new American buildings made the list of 219 nominated projects; among them, 111 West 57th Street, The Brooklyn Tower, new Buffalo AKG Museum, and Center for Computing Sciences at Boston University were some of the most prominent. Other smaller U.S. nominees include John Ronan Architects’ Chicago Park District Headquarters and LEVENBETTS’ East Flatbush Public Library branch in Brooklyn. The new Louis Armstrong Center in Queens and International African American Museum in South Carolina led the country’s cultural output, while the Wrapper, Uber headquarters, and Google Bay View were among several Californian selections featured in the commercial sector.

A House With A Curved Ceiling by 株式会社 NoMaDoS

2024-05-09T19:59:00-04:00

A House With A Curved Ceiling

【Background】

This house is located on a triangular site at the confluence of tributaries of the Kitakamigawa River. Across the flowing river to the south is a wide landscape of apple orchards.

We planned to build a house for this couple and their future children and cats to cherish family time.

【Highlights】

・The curved ceiling can dissipate the summer heat upwards to the windows while reflecting the surrounding green into the interior like a screen.

・We set the height of doors and windows considering the surrounding terrain, planning to ensure privacy while experiencing nature around.

Considering the house's location near the river, we set it above the flood height predicted on the hazard map to prevent natural disasters.

・The exterior walls use high insulation specifications and radiant heating. In winter, the entire house is comfortably heated by draft-free heating.

【Property Overview】

Primary use: Private residence

Location: Morioka City, Iwate Prefe...

Álvaro Siza completes sculptural extension to Porto monastery

2024-05-09T17:24:00-04:00

Pritzker Prize-winning architect Álvaro Siza has completed an extension to the Monastery of Leça do Balio outside Porto, Portugal.

The recently renovated monastery will now serve as the headquarters for the Livraria Lello Foundation, offering a space for “exhibitions that will champion literacy and critical thinking.”

Photo: Alexandre Delmar

Located near Siza’s hometown of Matosinhos, the scheme draws on the architect’s early childhood dreams of being a sculptor. Among the contributions by Siza to the extension is a stand-alone sculpture ‘Viandante’ which acts as a “poetic tribute to the pilgrim’s journey, offering a serene space for visitors to reflect and forge deeper connections.”

Photo: Alexandre Delmar

The extension, due to open on June 22, follows weeks after Siza's self-named Serralves Museum expansion in Porto opened to the public. The 45,000-square-foot expansion is the fifth building designed by Siza for the Serralves Foundation after the Serralves Museum of Contemporary Ar...

HWKN to design new Keith Haring Wing expansion for Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard

2024-05-09T15:48:00-04:00

The Center for Curatorial Studies (CCS) at Bard College in New York is about to begin work on a new expansion of its CCS Bard Library and Archives, thanks to a $3 million gift from the Keith Haring Foundation. The funds will help advance the HWKN Architecture-led $10 million capital project towards a late 2025 completion.

Image courtesy of HWKN Architecture

The project was announced as a 6,000-square-foot expansion and will help house the CCS Library and Archives and related Hessel Museum collection, both of which have been added to by recent donations from the art dealer Gavin Brown and former MoMA chief curator Robert Storr. HWKN says their design is “aimed at enhancing the educational and community aspects of this unique venue.”

Image courtesy of HWKN Architecture

Work will begin later this summer and result in a new wing with a 30-person classroom and space for 30,000 volumes adjacent to six new offices for academic departments and 6,000 feet of below-library storage. C.T. Male As...

Dodge Momentum Index reverses decline in April, led by influx of commercial planning

2024-05-09T14:44:00-04:00

The latest Dodge Momentum Index (DMI) has shown an increase of 6.1% for April to a new score of 173.9. For the month, commercial planning improved by 12.6%, while institutional planning dropped by 6.3%.

Year-over-year, the DMI is now 1% lower than it was in April of 2023. Planning in the commercial segment was up 6% from year-ago levels, while the institutional segment was down 15% over the same timeframe. An influx of new data center projects had been credited for the marked improvements in the former category.

"Outsized demand to build Cloud and AI infrastructure is supporting above-average activity in the sector. Most other categories, however, faced slower growth over the month," Sarah Martin, the Associate Director of Forecasting at Dodge Construction Network, stated: "Across these industries, it’s likely that owners and developers are grappling with uncertainty around interest rates and lending standards, thus delaying their decisions to push projects into the planning queue....

Jingu Center by LYCS Architecture

2024-05-09T14:11:00-04:00

"AutoFuturist Complex"—Jingu Center, designed by LYCS Architecture for Jingu Group, has officially been completed. Located in the heart of Hangzhou's Yinhu Sci-tech City, the project spans a total construction area of 92,010.23 square meters. It includes facilities for headquarters, office spaces, commercial areas, and reception services. Jingu Group (002488) is a high-tech enterprise specializing in producing automobile wheels, recognized by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers as the "Leading Enterprise in China's Auto Parts Wheel Industry." The sleek lines of automobile waistlines inspired the design of the project's main building. The silver structure is boldly sliced with vibrant, dynamic red curves, adding a unique and striking color accent to the urban texture of Yinhu Sci-tech City.
Between the city and nature
Yinhu Sci-tech City, Binjiang High-tech Zone, and Future Sci-tech City are hailed as Hangzhou's three major high-tech industry hubs. Situated in the core ar...

Autodesk introduces experimental AI 3D shape generator Project Bernini

2024-05-09T13:53:00-04:00

Autodesk has just announced the development of a new experimental generative AI design tool called Project Bernini, the latest addition to its Autodesk AI inventory for industry professionals and design students in every field.

Project Bernini can reportedly be used to generate complex and unique functional geometric shapes for 3D modeling via text prompts, 2D images, voxels, and point clouds. The model was trained on a range of over ten million different shapes using research from the Autodesk AI Lab in collaboration with the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Its potential will become even more considerable once trained on larger professional datasets after the product is made publicly available.

Demonstration video for Project Bernini. Video courtesy Autodesk/YouTube.

Autodesk says: “If trained on buildings, the models could generate geometrically rigorous creative designs and inspire a new generation of buildings and architects. If trained on video game character models or fanta...

12 featured job opportunities in Portland and 3 at UO in Eugene

2024-05-09T12:56:00-04:00

The latest curated jobs roundup from Archinect Jobs features 15 exciting career opportunities across Portland and Eugene, Oregon.

For helpful guidance on how to get that next job, make sure to check out Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series and our Archinect Tips collection.

Waechter Architecture seeks a Project Designer
"Waechter Architecture in Portland seeks a designer with 3-5 years experience to join their community-focused team, assisting in all architectural phases. Key traits include curiosity, strong communication, and organizational skills. Opportunity includes managing projects and client interactions."

Linden, Brown Architecture seeks an Intermediate Designer
Qualifications include four to eight years of experience, familiarity with physical model building, 2D and 3D drawing and modeling (Vectorworks, Rhino, etc.), rendering (Photoshop, Enscape, etc.), and generating presentations (Adobe Creative Suite), familiarity working with municipalities for project approvals, and s...

Interface de Transportes Lourosa/ Fiães by Atelier d'Arquitectura J. A. Lopes da Costa

2024-05-09T12:09:00-04:00

A Interface de Transportes Lourosa – Fiães é uma interface de transportes, implantada num lote de terreno com cerca de 11.500m2 na fronteira entre estas duas freguesias, composta por uma vasta área de estacionamento e manobras e um edifício de apoio com cerca de 500m2, que foi escolhido para ser localizado perpendicularmente à estrada que lhe dá acesso. Esta localização permite uma melhor integração na topografia existente, e também separa claramente o acesso ao parque de estacionamento a nascente do acesso aos autocarros a poente, evitando cruzamentos ou possíveis conflitos entre o tráfego de automóveis e autocarros.

O edifício de planta retangular e construído em estrutura metálica, apresenta uma volumetria dinâmica e é revestido por uma pele que faz a transição da escala utente/pedestre para a escala do vão de autocarros, a poente. Esta cobertura em chapa metálica contrasta com alguns volumes paralelepipédicos revestidos por mosaicos de cimento que animam as fachadas.

Na frente d...

Marlim D João IV Building by Atelier d'Arquitectura J. A. Lopes da Costa

2024-05-09T12:08:00-04:00

The intervention located in the heart of Porto, in D. João IV street, aimed to convert two existing buildings, with a basement and three floors, into 10 apartments of different types, all enjoying the generous garden spaces located inside the property.

The intervention intended to safeguard the character and personality of the pre-existing buildings, providing them with better conditions of habitability and comfort. It sought to maintain and refurbish the essential characteristics adapting the spaces to the new functionalities and contemporary living experiences, through new solutions, materials and finishes.
The entrance is made through the north building, which provides access to all the apartments and, from its staircase, makes possible to rich the south building through the intermediate landings. This was possible because the difference in height between the two is about half floor. As the north building was in a better state of conservation, the intervention mainly involved plac...

New U.N. report warns of potential decades-long rebuild for Gaza

2024-05-09T12:02:00-04:00

A new report on the socio-economic situation in Gaza from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) has established a baseline for rebuilding as a cease-fire deal that would end the seven-month Israel-Hamas war continues to be up in the air. The findings lay out the most realistic timeline for recovery, which first requires an estimated 37 million tons of debris removal and the construction of temporary shelters for Palestinians who have lost more than 80,000 of their homes since the fighting began in October.

Israel will have to allow five times the volume of construction materials as it had after its two most recent incursions in order for Gazans to regain "normalcy" by 2040. The UNDP stated it would likely take another four decades to rebuild entirely, given the number of damaged residential structures. Around 25,000 buildings have been reported destroyed in Gaza, with 32 hospitals now knocked offline and another 100 schools or universities being completely destroyed, accordi...

Owners of Marilyn Monroe's last residence sue Los Angeles for right to demolish it

2024-05-08T18:27:00-04:00

Alleging an "abuse of power" by Los Angeles city officials, the owners of Marilyn Monroe's former Brentwood home are suing the city to block an effort to have the structure declared a historic-culture landmark, which would prevent its demolition. The Los Angeles Superior Court lawsuit [...] alleges "illegal and unconstitutional conduct" by the city "with respect to the house where Marilyn Monroe occasionally lived for a mere six months before she tragically committed suicide 61 years ago."

The LA Times (which has been reporting on the story since January of this year when the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission recommended landmark status for the former Monroe residence) writes that the lawsuit was filed by billionaire heiress Brinah Milstein and her TV producer husband Roy Bank, who also own the home next door and purchased the contested mansion in 2023 with the intent to demolish it and merge both properties.

The preservation fight involving the Marilyn Monroe house follows the public uproar over the demolition of Craig Ellwood's 1950 Zimmerman House in Los Angeles by its new owners, actor Chris Pratt and his wife Katherine Schwarzenegger, last month.

How to Read a Croissant / Unfolding Spatial Violence II

2024-05-08T16:40:00-04:00

A croissant, in some instances, becomes a logistical issue– even one of global import.

Part II of III

In Gaza right now, humanitarian aid and calibrated mass starvation are not competing agendas, but one coordinated matrix of genocide. In the first part of this writing I read the logistics of this occupation-as-starvation through a close reading of croissants. In this second part, I turn to reading as an act. Through the urgency of this moment, especially on campuses, a mode of reading emerges that refuses the old Enlightenment mind-body split. In the third part I will return to the croissant and what it makes legible about the matrix of control innovated around Gaza. The coordinated matrix of control requires highly calibrated material and spatial protocols, which also require multiple data paradigms.

The blockaded croissants of April 8th reveal a calculated will to starve over a million residents of Gaza. Nine days before the April 8th delivery of aid-as-starvation, Neve ...

New interlocking tower blocks by Foster + Partners open in Dubai

2024-05-08T15:47:00-04:00

A pair of interlocking high-end residential and hotel towers designed by Foster + Partners recently held its official opening ceremony in Dubai.

Rising to 30 and 31 stories, respectively, The Lana and The Lana Residences demand their presence on the skyline of the Marasi Marina waterfront, located between downtown Dubai and the Dubai Design District.

Photo: Nigel Young / Foster + Partners

The concept behind the scheme is driven by seven vertical gardens throughout the development, which aim to act as social hubs for guests and residents. The architectural language will be echoed in the design of two more upcoming residential towers nearby, called VELA and VELA VIENTO, which we recently published on Archinect.

Photo: Ahmed Alnaji

"The idea behind the design was to create a building that responds to its surroundings with a unique sense of place derived from its interlocking gardens," said Gerard Evenden, Head of Studio, Foster + Partners. "The fluidity of spaces and the relationship t...

Log 60: The Sixth Sphere by Log

2024-05-08T14:44:00-04:00

“The architecture we inhabit, the urban systems we rely on, and the landscapes we transform are all part of the technosphere,” write Albert Pope and Brittany Utting, guest editors of Log 60: The Sixth Sphere. For them, the sixth sphere is the technosphere, an emergent man-made system entangled with the Earth’s five natural spheres: the atmosphere, hydrosphere, biosphere, cryosphere, and lithosphere. “Taken as a whole, the technosphere includes our feedlots and sewer systems, factories and housing, tarmacs and croplands, and every modification we have made to the ground, the glaciers, the sea, the air, and the biosphere. It is a vast and often banal landscape. . . . Almost everything we do – prepare a meal, buy a shirt, message a colleague, fill a prescription, take a bath – we do through the technosphere.”

Log 60, a 208-page thematic issue, explores the technosphere as “a planetary enmeshment of bodies, environments, and technologies” by examining the Earth’s natural spheres through...

Columbus, Indiana, selects Merritt Chase for Downtown Entrance Plaza Redesign

2024-05-08T14:08:00-04:00

The City of Columbus, Indiana, known as a Midwest jewel box of Midcentury modern architecture, has selected landscape architecture and urban design firm Merritt Chase to redesign a 1.5-acre Downtown Entrance Plaza.

The Pittsburgh- and Indianapolis-based team will be tasked with improving an underutilized site split in half by busy State Road 46 based on a landscape design completed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates back in 2000.

The Columbus Design Institute, on behalf of the City of Columbus, issued an RFQ for the assignment earlier this year.

Catch up on Archinect's extensive Exhibit Columbus coverage here.

Sandi Simon Center for Dance, Chapman University by Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects [LOHA]

2024-05-08T13:46:00-04:00

The Sandi Simon Center for Dance is an expansive new education and performing arts center at Chapman University that redefines a former orange packing house. Landmarked by the National Register of Historic Places, LOHA’s adaptive reuse strategy preserves the exterior identity while opening the interior structure with a calculated cut through the original floor that allows for a reorganization into three levels and forms a new circulation through the space.

The Dance Center houses five studios for dance instruction, a performance studio that provides space for small concerts and master classes, two classrooms, a training room, and faculty offices. It addresses not only the studio and classroom needs of the dance program, but also provides spaces for students to socially engage.

Originally built as a two-story headquarters for the Santiago Orange Growers Association in 1918, the post and beam heavy timber frame building is representative of the industrial vernacular style of its ti...

Grasshopper Studio by Wittman Estes

2024-05-08T13:17:00-04:00

A studio and guesthouse for a family with three small children. The main house and studio are linked by a covered breezeway, integrating landscape and architecture to make a private courtyard for playing,dining, and parties. Built primarily of recycled materials, sustainability and economy are maximized.

A University of Arkansas researcher's quest to create stronger and lighter structures using kirigami-based design

2024-05-08T12:28:00-04:00

By making a series of cuts and folds in a sheet of paper, Baker found she could produce two planes connected by a complex set of thin strips. Without the need for any adhesive like glue or tape, this pattern created a surface that was thick but lightweight. Baker named her creation Spin-Valence. Structural tests later showed that an individual tile made this way, and rendered in steel, can bear more than a thousand times its own weight.

MIT Technology Review highlights the digital fabrication work of Emily Baker, an architect and assistant professor at the University of Arkansas' Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design. Baker began her research into lightweight and sturdy Spin-Valence structures as an architecture graduate student at the Cranbrook Academy of Art.

A concept for a shade structure in rural Arkansas following this design principle by Baker and collaborators Vincent Edwards, Edmund Harriss, Isabel Moreira de Oliveira, Eduardo Sosa, and Reilly Dickens-Hoffman also recently won the 2024 Forge Prize for innovation in steel architecture.

A utopic city, monument to a president's ego, maybe just a future "jungle resort"

2024-05-08T11:58:00-04:00

It is estimated that the construction of Nusantara will cost $38 billion, with 20 percent of that coming from the Indonesian coffers...But the vast majority of the metropolis – 80 percent of it – is to be financed by private investments. Everything that actually makes a city a city...And that is currently where the greatest hurdles lie: The investors are not showing up

Earlier this year, Maria Stöhr and Muhammad Fadli reported on Indonesia's plans for a new capital city. This mega-project is more than just a city but a new capital region. It is billed as "The World's Sustainable City" with plans for "smart security." While the architect of the "Smart Forest City", Sibarani Sofia, admits they would have preferred a more modest design (the palace in the shape of an eagle was already baked in) some have raised economic and environmental concerns.