Archinect - Features

The Whistleblower Architects: surveillance, infrastructure, and freedom of information according to Cryptome (part 1)

2016-07-05T08:36:00-04:00

Architects are no strangers to controversy, but few have had their work called a “tip off [to] terrorists,” as The New York Times once described Deborah Natsios and John Young’s twenty year old project, Cryptome. Then again, few architects devote their time to disclosing government secrets, from the internal emails of Wikileaks to lists of alleged former members of the Stasi.

To design a secure bank, ask a bank robber

2016-06-30T08:22:00-04:00

Joe Loya, a former bank robber turned TV writer, learned to read spaces the way other criminals learned to crack safes. His insights illuminate the changing role of privacy in the architecture of crime prevention design for banks.

The blind justice of Salt Lake City's courthouse

2016-06-28T08:29:00-04:00

Architecture normally receives very little public notice in Salt Lake City, but the new federal courthouse here got the public’s attention. The Salt Lake Tribune and a local TV news station’s website KSL.com received a wave of letters and posts in response to articles about its opening in 2014. The overwhelming consensus was negative.

Screen/Print #42: Harvard's New Geographies 07, 'Geographies of Information'

2016-06-24T10:16:00-04:00

It’s easy to forget that, in an era of unprecedented access to information fueled by an accelerating Moore’s Law, everything weighs on the land. While unlikely to be visible from the backyard, the infrastructure of digital technologies will only become more pervasive, and should be respected with the same aesthetic and critical discourse that we bestow on the ballet of the sidewalk, the symphony of the city, and the poetry of infrastructure.

Strange bedfellows: exploring shades of privacy in co-living

2016-06-20T12:18:00-04:00

From chaste bunking to on-site Pilates classes, co-living companies have as many versions as a cover band. But each incarnation raises the question: how do we architecturally define privacy in the 21st century?

#GetSafe: a beginner's guide to cybersecurity for architects

2016-06-16T14:59:00-04:00

Cybersecurity: you hear about it often, but assume it doesn’t really concern you. You have nothing to hide, right? And, besides, why would someone hack you of all people? Or your firm?

If houses had airplane modes: an interview with Joseph Grima of Space Caviar

2016-06-07T08:27:00-04:00

“Should our homes have an airplane mode?” asks the Italian architecture studio Space Caviar, in the descriptive text for their RAM House, a fully-equipped smart home that alternatively doubles as a refuge from the ubiquitous technology of today.