Archinect - News

Kate Wagner: Rescinding progress means architects must become the agents of change

2024-08-12T12:23:00-04:00

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 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 meaningful efforts to combat climate change are actually quite mundane.” Progress on a number of fronts, including the decarbonization of the building sector, is being either stalled or eroded at the hands of real estate and other interests. Now professionals face the choice of further subjecting their labor or pushing back via activism or other means.

Developer behind SHoP-designed The Brooklyn Tower is facing foreclosure on $240 million loan

2024-04-04T12:20:00-04:00

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 Real Deal.

As TDR pointed out, Stern is also responsible for 111 West 57th Street, which has had issues with cost overruns and other legal setbacks.

Stern, a veteran of the city’s high-stakes recent luxury market, is known for making huge bets on his projects. Speaking for a 2020 Financial Times profile, FXCollaborative’s Daniel Kaplan said of his approach, “He’s commissioned some very good architecture. The thing that’s really interesting about him is that all the things people say you can’t do — or you can’t do for the money — he says, ‘Forget it!’”

The tower, which stands as Brookly...

For sale: One of New York's first skyscrapers

2023-03-15T17:12:00-04:00

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.

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 they provided to Hyperallergic. “Our plan is hopefully to maintain ownership. We’re going to bid for the 25 percent,” explained GFP Real Estate Chairman Jeffrey Gural.

The minority partner they’re trying to force out, Nathan Silverstein, says it’s a matter of “different viewpoints with people who evidently get upset too quickly.” Gural added that the plan would then be to lease each of the 22 floors individually, adding that his only strategy heading into next week’s auction is to “play it by ear.”

The developer behind some of New York City’s tallest buildings is hiring in-house designers

2023-01-25T18:31:00-05:00

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 office, calls for applicants with degrees in architecture or interior design, and a minimum of five years of relevant experience in the industry. The successful candidate will “contribute to a variety of projects that change the city skyline” by engaging with the design process and interior design process at all stages of projects, reviewing design drawings and submissions, and participating in the procurement, construction, and administration process.

Why the role interests us

The position at Extell offers an insight into the role of architects in client-side businesses such as developers a...

McMansions are making LA’s housing crisis a lot worse

2022-12-19T12:05:00-05:00

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.

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 anti-McMansion ordinances that work by limiting the size of structures, although loopholes abound.

A possible solution can be taken from LA's 35 existing community plans, which contain some version of language to “protect existing stable single-family and low-density residential neighborhoods from encroachment by higher density residential uses and other uses that are incompatible as to scale, character, or would otherwise diminish quality of life.”

HWKN's upcoming commercial tower will bring a 'grade A, sustainability-certified workspace' to London's Canada Water Dockside

2022-12-02T14:24:00-05:00

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 development, which will be master-planned by BIG.

The New York-based studio will make its UK debut by reportedly designing a 1.5 million square feet of "grade A, sustainably-certified" office workspace for up to 10,000 workers. The project includes 100,000 square feet of "affordable offices for small businesses, alongside community spaces and other amenities" located on the building's ground floor.

"Having worked with Matthias [Hollwich] and his team previously we knew his visionary and innovate approach would be well suited to Canada Water Dockside, and we’re delighted to be bringing his architecture to the UK for the first time," Luka Vukotic, the Development Director for Art-Invest, said in a statement.

Image court...

Trellick Tower residents are bracing for a fight against encroaching development schemes

2022-08-11T11:45:00-04:00

“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.”

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 luxury accommodations. Many fear the same privatized fate that befell leaseholders in Ernö Goldfinger’s earlier Balfron Tower is all but inevitable, given London developers’ penchant for leveraging the city’s social rent needs in order to obtain taxpayer-funded contracts.

"All we’ve ever done is stop them for a couple of years," original tenant Keith Benton told the Times. "There’s no guarantee they won’t try again."

The project's ‘architect’ says he had no active role in Hudson Yards tower design

2022-06-13T13:48:00-04:00

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 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 rising in Hudson Yards, along with a hotel near LaGuardia Airport and dual high-rise residences in Queens. Each of these projects fall under developer Marx Development Group.

The document shows a contract Schiffman signed upon his retirement from Marx Development Group in 2016 that details how the company’s design firm, DSM Design Group, could continue to use his seal of approval following his absence. Signed shortly before Marx Development Group embarked on the three aforementioned projects, the contract called for Schiffman to provide his architectural stamp and signature to DSM Design Group when requested. However, Schiffman claims he was never asked to review any building plans.

In addi...

Perkins&Will and DSDHA tapped for $430 million science complex in central London

2022-05-11T17:50:00-04:00

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 Properties and Reef Group as its development partners. The design team will also include Reef’s in-house design studio UrbanR. Oxford and Reef will invest approximately £350 million ($430 million) towards the 300,000-square-foot project that will feature commercially-available lab facilities across three new buildings.

Snowsfields Quarter will play a key role in forming the required real estate infrastructure to support the area’s emerging SC1 Life Science and Innovation District, a new health innovation cluster. The sale of a long-term leasehold of the site to Oxford Properties will complete once planning permission for the project has been secured.

Are Airbnbs and ultramodern architecture killing the vibe in Joshua Tree, California?

2022-04-14T13:13:00-04:00

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.

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 threat by overdevelopment (or so says the Center for Biological Diversity, whose petition is currently under review by the California Fish and Game Commission.)

Part of the draw is the growing number of Instagram-friendly architectural showpieces that have been spun off into midcentury-inspired camp compounds and Disneyfied planned communities. A rental typology may be developing around the trend entirely, characterized by maximized space for lodgings, matte finishes, and materials like mirrored glass and corrugated steel. Their appeal is nevertheless lost on some local desert dwellers, ...

Proposed development along Brooklyn's Broadway Junction faces pushback from local community

2022-03-31T15:24:00-04:00

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.

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, one offering 400 units of senior housing and the other offering another 200 units. In addition, the development would include 1.1 million square feet of retail and commercial space and the removal of a block-long stretch of Herkimer Street that runs through the proposed space.

While planning for the development is still in the early stages, with Totem only having submitted a pre-application statement for the plan, elected officials and community activists have already begun voicing their concerns. In an area that has fallen into disrepair and blight, individuals, such as Councilmember Sandy Nurse, who represents the neighborhoods surrounding Broadway Junction, believe development should come t...

TIC townhouses are taking over Los Angeles — but who can actually afford them?

2022-03-23T12:45:00-04:00

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.

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 developer called B&A Group.

The actual product of the new buildings, and whether or not their typically under-market rate but restrictive $700,0000–$800,000 price tags are in the end going to displace working-class residents living in cheaper rental units in LA neighborhoods like West Adams is a major concern for people like neighborhood council president Steven Meeks.

“Cheaper for who?” he told the LA Times of costs, which would fall under the category of a mansion in many other places. “What person in this neighborhood is going to afford that?”

...

Architects and designers are helping cities fight back against AI surveillance

2022-03-08T10:31:00-05:00

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"?

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 entities with software that can learn “the concept of gentrification itself."

Knott eventually tied anti-gentrification pushback against high tech real estate to the long-standing tradition of intervention into urban planning endeavors, saying that, in the end, it is up to communities of people who can utilize the notion in an all-out effort to prevent the wholesale creation of what he called the “algorithmic city.”

“Design alone won’t save neighbourhoods from the gentrifying tendencies of urbanism tech...

Chinese government takes control of incomplete, $1.7 billion Evergrande Guangzhou Football Stadium

2021-12-06T19:11:00-05:00

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.

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 $300 billion of debt.

Previously on Archinect: One of China's largest property developers is roiled in a Lehman-esque debt spiral

The Gensler-designed, 100,000-capacity soccer stadium was planned to be the home ground for professional club Guangzhou Evergrande. Work on the arena began in April 2020, with an estimated cost of $1.7 billion. It was set for completion by the end of 2022.

One of China's largest property developers is roiled in a Lehman-esque debt spiral

2021-10-19T16:54:00-04:00

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.

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 with a 12 billion yuan ($1.86 billion) football stadium project from Gensler in spite of the huge debts it owes to more than 250 different institutions worldwide.

Evergrande was recently behind the financing for Harvard GSD’s HouseZero initiative. Currently, the company has an estimated 800 projects underway in mainland China in addition to plans announced earlier in the year that would provide 268 individual units in a $4 billion “Versailles-like” villa along Hong Kong’s Yueng Long wetland.

Massive NYC development grinds to a halt

2021-02-08T16:38:00-05:00

Even more perilous, the promised second phase of Hudson Yards — eight additional buildings, including a school, more luxury condos and office space — appears on indefinite hold as the developer, the Related Companies, seeks federal financing for a nearly 10-acre platform on which it will be built. Related, which had said the entire project would be finished in 2024, no longer offers an estimated completion date.

The New York Times is reporting on the uncertain future of the $25 billion Hudson Yards mega-development in Manhattan’s Far West Side.

The starchitect-studded development is reeling from ongoing effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic, as luxury condos remain unsold and commercial tenants go under. Additionally, tourist attractions remain closed and the development's centerpiece—Heatherwick Studio's Vessel—has been closed following its third suicide in less than a year.

The situation enveloping Hudson Yards is representative of the state of speculative real estate across the country, though the Manhattan project is perhaps the nation's largest single site. Developers, architects and the entire real estate vertical are rethinking the needs of cities in which dramatically more people are working from home, demand for office space is shrinking, and delivery services are bringing more food and products directly to our doorsteps.

ODA completes cubic condos in DUMBO

2021-01-21T18:03:00-05:00

ODA New York-designed condominiums, 98 Front Street, have opened in the heart of DUMBO. The 10-story luxury condominium comprises 165 studio, one-, two-, three- and four-bedroom residences ranging in size from 400 to over 2,000 square feet. Asking prices for the homes range from approximately $650,000 to $4,000,000.

Photo by Aaron Thompson

"There is a simplicity in 98 Front Street’s design in the materiality and process that accentuates the building’s jewel box facade," said ODA founder Eran Chen, in a statement. "To provide residents with the best living experience, we played with the geometry and layouts to create open floor plans that allow for flexible programming for living, working, and entertaining at home, while maximizing the available light, air and outdoor spaces of each residence. Each of our nearly 50 residential buildings across New York City has its own unique geometry and personality and we're excited to see 98 Front join the ranks."

Photo by...

Architect John Portman III has passed away

2020-09-01T14:49:00-04:00

Architect John Calvin "Jack" Portman III has passed away at age 71.

Jack, who passed away from natural causes, led Portman Architects following the death of his father, John Portman, in 2017. Jack earned a Bachelor of Architecture from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Master of Architecture from Harvard University Graduate School of Design before beginning to practice at his father's firm in 1973.

An obituary on the Portman Architects site commemorating Jack's life explains, "While exceedingly successful as a real estate developer, Jack was passionate about being an architect, particularly the creation of meaningful architecture with a focus on culturally sensitive design. He once said, 'The challenge of the architect is to do something that seems to belong where it is situated.'"

Portman helped lead the international expansion of his father's firm over his nearly 50-year career with the Portman Companies, particularly after the resumption of diplomatic relations between ...

Gerald D. Hines, developer of iconic Houston skyscrapers, has died

2020-08-25T13:37:00-04:00

Real estate magnate Gerald D. Hines, the developer behind many of America's most iconic skyscrapers from the late-20th century, has passed away at age 95.

Hines is perhaps best known as the backer for many of downtown Houston's skyline-altering developments, including SOM's One Shell Plaza, Johnson Burgee's Penzoil Place, and I. M. Pei & Partners's JP Morgan Chase towers, among many others. His projects can be found all over the world, including in New York City, San Francisco, China, Spain, and other locales. Hines's work with the Johnson Burgee firm, however, stands out the most, with many of the firm's most well-known projects coming out of their work for Hines.

Bank of America Center in Houston, one of the many projects developed by Hines. Image courtesy of Anders Lagerås.

Characterized by Paul Goldberger as the "un-Trump" in a 2015 interview with The Houston Chronicle, Hines is remembered as a detail-oriented developer who, by some accounts, helped launch the contemporary idea ...

Projects entangled in L.A. corruption scandals face uncertain futures

2020-07-27T15:36:00-04:00

“I would be disgusted if we had to drive through downtown Los Angeles for generations and see buildings marking the city skyline that were achieved through bribery and corruption,” said Councilman Paul Krekorian, who has also proposed barring developers implicated in criminal conduct from getting any future approvals.

Emily Alpert Reyes of The Los Angeles Times takes a look at the handful of projects that have been tied to an ongoing federal corruption investigation targeting Los Angeles City Council member Jose Huizar and investigates how planning approvals for some those projects may be impacted by their connections to the probe.

The projects include a proposed 77-story tower initiated by Chinese developer Shenzhen New World and designed by Dimarzio | Kato architecture that was once projected to become the tallest building in the city. At least three other projects have been connected to the probe. A proposed two-towered development created by Gensler for developers Shenzhen Hazens Real Estate Group recently lost its project approvals due to its ties to the investigation.

Development fuels LA’s growing corruption scandals

2020-04-01T16:32:00-04:00

One Los Angeles city councilman, now out of office, admitted last week that he accepted envelopes of cash from a businessman in casino bathrooms. [...] Yet another council member allegedly sought a $500,000 cash bribe from a real estate developer, according to a plea deal struck between federal investigators and a political fundraiser who admitted collecting much of the money in a paper bag.

Los Angeles Times reporters David Zahniser and Emily Alpert Reyes shed light on the growing number of municipal corruption scandals in Los Angeles.

A probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigations has revealed the degree to which real estate development plays a role in feeding “pay-to-play” activities within city government. The federal corruption probe involves several Los Angeles City Council members’ connections to development projects in the city.

M-Rad's Matthew Rosenberg shares architectural business tips in a new online course

2019-12-18T15:15:00-05:00

Matthew Rosenberg, CEO of M-Rad Inc, has launched a new online course for GoArchitect's DesignClass called Learn to Lead with Matthew Rosenberg.

In the course, Rosenberg shares the lessons he's learned throughout his career and presents fresh ways to operate as an architectural businessperson by looking at topics such as real estate development, strategic partnerships, standing out in a competitive market, and hiring staff.

This new DesignClass will launch December 23, 2019.

Musician-turned-designer Pharrell Williams moves into architecture with a two-tower project in Toronto

2019-11-07T14:07:00-05:00

We've seen some of pop culture's most prominent figures break into architecture in recent years. There was Brad Pitt's "informal apprenticeship" with Frank Gehry and his subsequent Make It Right Foundation. We have Kanye West, and his exploratory activities within the field of affordable housing, as well. And now, we have Pharrell Williams: The Grammy Award-winning artist and entrepreneur is also stepping into the world of architectural design.

The musician has partnered with Reserve Properties and Westdale Properties on a new two-towered residential development in Toronto, Canada. Williams worked with architects at IBI Group and interior designers at U31 on various facets of the design, ranging from the facade material to the interior furniture. "The opportunity to apply my ideas and viewpoint to the new medium of physical structures has been amazing," Williams said in a statement.

The development will be called Untitled, celebrating the "universality of space," a concept that was...

243 unit live/work development underway near Los Angeles State Historic Park

2019-11-04T12:56:00-05:00

Development is in the works for another park-adjacent parcel near the Metro’s Gold Line station in Chinatown. An LLC submitted plans on Thursday to the city to build 243 live/work units on a property on North Main and Sotello streets, a block away from Los Angeles State Historic Park.

According to Curbed, the site is currently in use as a produce distribution center.

LA’s Little Tokyo Metro-owned site due for development

2019-10-22T10:43:00-04:00

At a community meeting last week, four developers pitched plans for a Metro-owned property above the under-construction 1st/Central subway station in Little Tokyo...Though the station site is 1.2 acres, the property only offers a 14,500-square-foot building pad due to the diagonal orientation of the 1st/Central station box.

"Metro released a request for qualifications to prospective developers in August 2018, and received eight responses by January 2019," reports Urbanize. Of those eight, four have moved forward: Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC), who has teamed up with FSY Architects; Centre Urban Real Estate Partners in collaboration with Stantec and Kritzinger & Rao; Kaji & Associates, teaming up with Kengo Kuma & Associates and Gruen Associates; and Innovative Housing Opportunities.

Kaji & Associates' pitch. Designed by Kengo Kuma & Associates. Courtesy of Metro

Huge mixed-use development headed to Amazon HQ2-adjacent site in Virginia

2019-10-11T13:45:00-04:00

JBG Smith, the biggest developer in the D.C. area and landlord of Amazon’s future Northern Virginia headquarters, Tuesday announced that it would redevelop about 2.6 million square feet of space at five multifamily buildings and an office building in Crystal City. The buildings are all within half a mile of the Amazon headquarters site and near Reagan National Airport, representing part of a broader development push in the area now called “National Landing.”

In total, JBG Smith plans to redevelop around 6.9 million square feet at National Landing with a third of that area devoted to office space and the rest developed as residential spaces that could generate between 4,000 and 5,000 dwelling units, as well as ground floor retail, reports Curbed DC.

According to Curbed, National Landing—which includes the cities of Arlington, where Amazon's new, ZGF Architects-designed HQ2 will be located, and Alexandria—has been named the most competitive real-estate market in the U.S.

Colorado's old Art Institute building will become 130 micro-units

2019-10-10T15:45:00-04:00

After abruptly closing in late 2018, a developer has big plans for the old Art Institute building at 1200 Lincoln Street. The Nichols Partnership has purchased the building and plans on converting it into roughly 130 micro-units...The units will range from 300 to 425 square feet.

"We shoot for several hundred dollars below the cheapest conventional apartment. So if a studio apartment in a bigger building is $1500-$1700, we want to be at $1100-$1200," developer Randy Nichols told CBS, advocating for the affordability the apartments will bring to the city. According to CBS, the new project is currently in the design phase and should take about a year and a half to complete.

Former Los Angeles City planning director charged $281,250 for illegally lobbying on behalf of real estate developers

2019-08-20T17:00:00-04:00

Former planning director Michael LoGrande recently admitted to violating city ethics laws by lobbying planning department officials just months after leaving his job running the agency.

This week, the City of Los Angeles Ethics Commission voted to fine former Los Angeles City Planning director Michael LoGrande $281,250 for violating the city’s “revolving door” rules. The fine is the largest single penalty ever levied against a current or former city employee, according to The Los Angeles Times.

Shortly after leaving his post, LoGrande was hired as a consultant by the City of Los Angeles to provide his expertise on unresolved projects, The Los Angeles Times reports. During this time, LoGrande used his influence and relationships with former colleagues variously to curry favor for several development projects he had been hired to lobby on behalf of as a private citizen.

Los Angeles Ethics Commission President Melinda Murray told The Los Angeles Times in a statement, “These are extremely serious violations that illustrate the reason we have revolving door laws,” adding, “Former city officials should not use inside information or personal relationships to try to creat...

Emily Helen Butterfield, Michigan's first female architect

2019-08-05T15:36:00-04:00

Emily Helen Butterfield, born August 4, 1884, was the first licensed woman architect in Michigan.

Butterfield grew up in Detroit with a love of watercolor painting, and eventually studied architecture at Syracuse University, where she was a founding member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. After graduating in 1907, Butterfield and her father, Wells D. Butterfield, established the architectural office of Butterfield and Butterfield in Detroit.

The pair practiced together and specialized in the design of churches while also leading the design of the Oaklands planned community in Farmington Hills outside of Detroit. The younger Butterfield designed many houses in the development, according to the City of Farmington Hills Historic District Commission, mainly in the Colonial Revival style. Butterfields thoughtful bungalows are notable for their two-story design and for the cleaver inclusion of evocative stylistic architectural elements that lent the homes formal interest and material ...

Are real estate developers good or bad?

2019-07-31T09:09:00-04:00

In Seattle, Austin, New York, Denver, Minneapolis, Washington and the Bay Area, developers are the antiheroes of an urban drama over the high cost of housing and what must change to bring it down. But their arch-villain status today — merely invoking “developers” can shut down civic debate — deserves scrutiny

The New York Times profiles the real estate developer, an arch-villain of contemporary society who, by some accounts, makes too much money, bulldozes humble neighborhoods to make room for the rich, and wills inequality and displacement as a matter of business.

But is there another side to the story? Are real estate developers bad or can they be good, too?

Carol Galante, a former nonprofit housing developer, defends the development, in general. She tells The New York Times, “In places where frankly there isn’t a lot of development happening, how is that working for you right now? In terms of getting increased housing affordability, it’s obviously not.”

Galante also takes aim at the notion that developers make too much profit, adding, “There is just a total lack of understanding of the economics of building new housing today, of the math behind it, and what developers actually make or don’t make. This is not your father’s subdivision process of the 1950s.”

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