Archinect - Features

When Buildings Attack: A Six-part Series of Unfortunate Architectural Events

2022-10-31T07:00:00-04:00

In the horror and thriller worlds, buildings sometimes seem to take on a life of their own. From The Shining’s Overlook Hotel to The Watcher’s 657 Boulevard, architecture and space become more than a backdrop or a vehicle but instead become main characters in their own right; sometimes to the peril of their occupants.

Unlike Hollywood, buildings in the real world don’t always follow a script. Even works of architecture overseen by some of the world’s most well-known architects can become unexpected antagonists for those in or around them. Below, we have rounded up six such examples, from heat rays to ice daggers to flying ceramics.

America’s Public Housing is Burning, Fueled by Cold Indifference

2022-03-09T13:22:00-05:00

In early 2022, building fires at publicly-funded properties in the Bronx and Philadelphia claimed 29 lives. The facts and conditions surrounding the fires expose an ongoing failure by officials to provide and maintain a safe standard of housing for some of America's most vulnerable. However, the reactions by the same officials would suggest that a moment requiring urgent reforms in regulations, funding, and oversight is instead being met with indifference.

The Collapse of the WTC Twin Towers Heralded a Wave of Reforms To Building Codes

2021-09-08T12:01:00-04:00

It is now almost 20 years since the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York were destroyed during a terrorist attack, killing 2,606 people within the two buildings. As is often the case following both natural and human-made disasters, the collapse of the Twin Towers prompted sweeping regulatory changes in how tall buildings are designed, constructed, and operated.