Archinect - News

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is still straightening things out (a bit)

2023-01-05T12:16:00-05:00

Results from the Leaning Tower of Pisa’s annual checkup are in, as of November 30. After a stabilization project, begun in 1990, reduced the quirky monument’s dangerous lean by a full 15 inches, the tower has straightened itself out by an additional 1.6 inches since 2001. Some Italian officials are taking that optimism further, claiming the Tower could stand all the way straight on its own some day.

This is the second update to the engineering project since 2018. The tower is expected to last at least another 300 years. In a statement to the press, the Italian heritage group Opera Primaziale Pisana said the nearly 850-year-old monument's overall health was "excellent."

Repeated attempts of tourists to correct the lean themselves still appear not to be having any effects.

YACademy's 'Architecture for Fashion' 2022 Edition offers lectures and internships with MVRDV, Zaha Hadid Architects, and Toyo Ito & Associates

2022-06-14T17:00:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by YACademy

Architecture is a privileged tool of those brands characterized by an elevated positioning that, beyond the quality of their own products, needs to feed an imaginary of prestige, style, and refinement. From the showrooms to the stores, fashion needs architects as much as stylists, photographers and modelers.

For these reasons, the course Architecture for Fashion has been created, with the aim of training designers able to interpret the identity of a brand and transform it into an architectural space, moving the meanings of exclusivity, luxury, and elegance from the dress to the designated environment to exhibit it. By deepening the needs of the fashion world, students will gain skills that can spend in the field of luxury, becoming familiar with a segment of the market characterized by an eternal charm and continuous rewarding opportunities of application.

Throughout the course, participants will focus on technical and compositive topics at th...

Archaeologists discover well-preserved Mayan city in the Yucatán peninsula

2022-06-02T17:10:00-04:00

Archaeologists of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (Iphan, the Mexican federal bureau that oversees cultural heritage projects) have unearthed a remarkably well-preserved Maya city in the Yucatán peninsula near Merida while examining a construction site for archaeological artefacts.

The site is called Xiol, which is believed to have been occupied by more than 4,000 people between 600 and 900 AD. It consists of nearly 100 structures with features related to the Mayan Puuc style, an architecture characterized by carefully-cut veneer stones set onto a concrete core, with façades decorated with intricate stone mosaics and geometric elements.

According to The Art Newspaper, similar examples of Puuc architecture have not been discovered in this region of the Yucatán. The structures are thought to have served as palaces and ritual sites. The archaeologists also discovered a cenote, freshwater underground pits, carved stone heads, ceramics with religious symbols, burial grounds with various objects, and marine artifacts.

Video via Global News on YouTube.

The discovery of Xiol, along with other archaeological sites in the region, can be attributed to increased development in the Yucatán. A controversial multi-billion dollar train line called the Maya Train is currentl...

As Milan's San Siro stadium goes, so goes the city

2022-05-23T14:56:00-04:00

AC Milan’s Serie A championship title over the weekend brought out the missives on placemaking and memory concerning the club’s future in the 96-year-old stadium adored by the Milanese as their seconda casa.

The facilities, last upgraded in 1990 and renovated throughout the 2000s by the local firm Ragazzi and Partners, are set to be replaced by a new “cathedral” designed by American sport heavyweight Populous for the year 2027. Many feel it is the last victim of a changed European Soccer landscape dominated by Russian oligarchs and other monied interests from abroad after the late-1990s to early-2000s.

Previously on Archinect: Populous tapped to lead design of new combined Inter & AC Milan stadium

Alternatives, including its reuse as a massive Covid memorial, have been proposed by the faithful, who also claim a demolition effort of such size would be harmful to the environment. A final approval is still on the horizon for later this year. The architects of the new stadium say their...

Explore historic architecture and new interventions with YACademy's 2022 Architecture for Heritage training course

2022-05-09T13:04:00-04:00

This post is brought to you by YACademy

Architects have always been asked to breathe new life into ancient architectures inherited from the past or into historical – often monumental – artifacts that no longer respond to the customs and needs of contemporary society. Nevertheless, the ancient architectures tell our story, therefore, it deserves to be restored with interventions that bring along a hint of modernity and show the trace of the design activity. The “Architecture for Heritage” course has been created on these premises.

The course aims to train designers who will be able to understand and enhance the memory of historical architectures and take inspiration from them to carry out new interventions that both meet the new needs and are enriched by the link to the past. In a close dialogue between the ancient and the modern, between existing architectures and new interventions, it is possible to comprehend what has been and what is now, redesigning – through architecture – a h...

Historic England objects to proposed monument at site of ancient Roman chariot-racing track in Colchester

2022-02-14T14:41:00-05:00

A proposed monument for a historic Army barracks could "harm" remains of an ancient Roman chariot racing track, Historic England said. The Roman Circus, a scheduled ancient monument in Colchester, Essex, shares a site with the Royal Artillery Barracks. An application has been submitted for a monument and two blue plaques to recognise the barracks as one of the earliest in the Colchester Garrison.

According to the Local Democracy Report Service, the Roman chariot-racing track is the only one of its kind in Britain and one of only six unearthed in northern Europe. Historic England, the public body that looks over England’s historic environment, does not believe the proposed commemorative monument would yield public benefit that outweighs the potential harm on the racing track.

Historic England has recommended a new location away from the ancient site be found for the monument. The applicant behind the monument was surprised by Historic England’s objection, noting that a block of residential units had been built near the site and was deemed acceptable.

Italy blocks McDonald's from building drive-through at Rome's ancient Baths of Caracalla

2022-01-04T13:40:00-05:00

Italy’s highest administrative court has definitively barred McDonald’s from building a 10,000 sq. m outlet in the shadow of the third-century Baths of Caracalla, one of Rome’s most celebrated ancient sites. Published on 28 December, the council of state’s ruling upheld the verdict of a lower court preventing the fast food chain from using a tract of land adjacent to the baths to open a drive-through restaurant and parking area.

The court also stated that government authorities are entitled to halt future development projects in or around other important heritage sites. As reported by The Art Newspaper, the Lazio region and the Italian culture ministry can now suspend works in not only existing heritage sites but in locations that authorities “intend to protect”, which have yet to be declared of cultural or landscape interest.

McDonald’s had already started building the drive-through after being approved by the ministry of culture. However, the project was stopped in 2019 following a media outcry and the ministry of culture’s reversal of its position. McDonald’s plans to open 200 new restaurants in Italy by 2025.

UK recruits modern day "Monuments Men and Women" to recognize historic structures

2019-10-28T14:15:00-04:00

Heritage campaigners have welcomed the government’s plans to increase the number of listed buildings across the UK...Under the new scheme, which has been allocated £700,000, people will be encouraged to nominate buildings in their area and a heritage champion will be appointed to encourage councils’ local listings.

"These activists will form a task force, which the government describes as a modern version of the ‘Monuments Men’ who recovered countless artworks from the Nazis during the Second World War," Architects' Journal (AJ) reports.

According to AJ, the plan is for the "heritage activists" to identify pertinent buildings and "get them listed, locally or nationally as soon as possible." The initiative will commence with 10 English counties, in an effort to populate their local lists.

Grassroots activists are fighting to save Russia's wooden architecture

2018-02-16T13:55:00-05:00

“Today’s state of wooden architecture can be defined as an SOS,” says Igor Shurgin, an architect and restorer who runs the Foundation for Maintenance of Wooden Architecture Monuments. “If we do nothing to support it, then nothing will be left in 20 years.” A grant from the European Union enabled the organisation to stage a series of exhibitions in Russia and Europe between 2010 and 2012 that highlighted the problem.

After the contemporary artist Danila Tkachenko photographed a series of the country's abandoned wooden houses set ablaze, attempts to save Russia's wooden architectural heritage have become a high priority for preservation activists. Russia's ministry of culture has intentions to adopt an action plan to preserve these structures based on the work of architect and restorer Igor Shurgin, but many fear that it might be too little too late.

Estimated costs for preservation are assessed at around £183m, in addition to an extra £70m to protect 87 particularly significant works. Though the growing number of grassroots initiatives are promising, Konstantin Mikhailov, a coordinator of the Arkhnadzor preservation group, tells the Art Newspaper "that a great deal now depends on proper implementation of the recommendations."