Archinect - News

Winning designer of Canada’s Afghan War memorial sues government for bid slight

2024-05-01T19:06:00-04:00

The winning bid for a $3.5 million contract to design a new memorial to Canadian military veterans of the war in Afghanistan from a Montreal-based studio that was replaced by the government has prompted a lawsuit by its architect. Renée Daoust is suing the federal government after it replaced hers with a proposal from the Indigenous artist Adrian Stimson citing an apparently “un-scientific” online survey, according to the CBC’s reporting last month.

"We're very concerned because it does create a precedent, a very dangerous precedent for Canada in terms of competitions, public art competitions, architectural competitions and so on," Daoust told the broadcaster. "There was political interference, so we don't want this to happen again."

Stimson is reportedly working to finalize his design without a clear resolution in sight. The American National Global War on Terror memorial in Washington, D.C. from Marlon Blackwell Architects is also being planned for the National Mall.

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Marlon Blackwell will deliver a new memorial to the Global War on Terror on the National Mall in Washington

2023-07-13T08:00:00-04:00

Marlon Blackwell Architects has been selected as the designer of an important new memorial to veterans and service members lost during America’s decades-long War on Terror on the National Mall in Washington, D.C.

The Arkansas-based firm was announced as the project’s lead following a search process that began last summer with submissions from 177 different U.S. and international competitors. Its development will be guided by a newly-created Design Advisory Council (DAC) comprised of Gold Star family members, veterans, and "other stakeholders." The project was commissioned by the nonprofit Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation, which was first founded in 2015.

The foundation’s President and CEO Michael “Rod” Rodriguez complemented the designer’s “ability, credibility, and humility to lead the design of an inclusive and reverent Memorial,” adding “Marlon’s proven track record as a world-class designer, combined with his personal experiences in a family with a history of military...

MIT's 'Ways of Seeing' project offers scholars renewed access to four important cultural sites in Afghanistan

2023-07-05T14:24:00-04:00

A new research project at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has produced a useful documentation of four hard-to-access multireligious architectural heritage sites in Afghanistan using a combination of digital renderings, satellite imaging, crowdsourced data, and XR technology.

MIT News recently profiled the school’s “Ways of Seeing: Documenting Endangered Built Heritage in Afghanistan” effort, which was the product of multiple departments and research centers within the university. The project was led by MIT’s Sociotechnical Systems Research Center director Fotini Christia, who said it “combines field data, technology, and art to protect heritage and serve the world” in a true evocation of the university’s cross-disciplinary collaborative tradition.

The end result produced two open-access digital archives co-managed via Archnet and MIT Libraries by the Aga Khan Documentation Center and Aga Khan Trust for Culture. Class of 2006 M.Arch graduate Jelena Pejkovic contributed ...

The war in Afghanistan left behind a host of abandoned buildings and other infrastructure

2021-09-08T15:25:00-04:00

The Afghan countryside is littered with abandoned and decaying power plants, prisons, schools, factories, office buildings and military bases, according to a watchdog agency, the legacy of the U.S.’s 20-year effort to fund the establishment of a modern Afghan state that could provide security and basic services for its citizens

A reported $145 billion went to infrastructure projects and construction equipment alone. In March, an American taxpayer watchdog group called SIGAR released a report which estimated $6.6 billion worth of buildings and vehicles went misused or were abandoned since the 20-year war began. Architecture in the country is likely to fall into dire straights as the Taliban have gained total control of every province.

The embassy complex alone cost the U.S. over $8 billion. President Bush called the main building a “big, solid, permanent structure, which should represent the commitment of the United States of America to your liberty” at a ribbon-cutting ceremony in March of 2006.

The Wall Street Journal has more on what’s been left to rot here.

Afghan cultural officials fear worst is yet to come for historic monuments as Taliban resume power in Afghanistan

2021-08-18T17:32:00-04:00

Do leopards change their spots? One only has to look at the command structure of the Taliban and their supporters to feel that there won’t be much of a change from 2001—and it might well be worse. [...] Much of the archaeological landscape has simply gone. Many of the Buddhist monuments were dynamited in 2001, partly in search of portable antiquities to loot.

Some of Afghanistan's museums had reportedly begun preparations months ago, others are at a loss as fear and paranoia grips what remains of civil society after a 20-year occupation. The city of Herat poses a special risk as its educational heritage and historic citadel have led some to the comparison of the ancient Vietnamese imperial city of Hue that was destroyed during the 1968 Tet Offensive.

Several Afghan artists have already shuttered their studios preemptively in fear of the Taliban’s wrath. The Art Newspaper has more on museum responses and their potential cultural impacts here.

12th-century UNESCO site in Afghanistan captured by Taliban

2019-06-03T12:30:00-04:00

The Taliban captured the 12th-century Minaret of Jam and killed 18 Afghan security personnel tasked with protecting the World Heritage Site. Pro-government forces have yet to re-secure the area. The current condition of the brick structure and the surrounding communities, who were both threatened by torrential flooding just last week, is still unknown.

Nearly two decades after the American-led invasion of Afghanistan began, significant works of Islamic heritage continue to fall under threat in the country.

Just last week, for example, the 12-Century era Minaret of Jam, the world's second tallest Islamic tower, appears to have been captured by the Taliban. While the ultimate fate of the UNESCO-recognized tower remains unknown, the 213-foot-tall brick minaret, one of the most significant cultural and holy sites in the country, joins a long list of relics that have been captured, damaged, or totally destroyed by the Taliban group.

In 2001, for example, the Taliban-led government famously dynamited the Buddhas of Bamiyan in northeast Afghanistan, a spectacle that garnered worldwide condemnation.

Minaret of Jam, Photo courtesy of Wikimedia user David Adamec

According to The Antiquities Coalition, "This destruction has gone hand in hand with the organized looting and trafficking of antiquities by the Taliban, Haqqani Network, and othe...

The challenges of urban planning in Kabul: formalizing the informal

2019-05-13T14:37:00-04:00

Barely built for a million people, Kabul, now has close to five million residents with the majority – 80% – still living in informal, unplanned areas [...]. More than one million properties still need to be officially registered, according to City for All, a government urban planning initiative. [...] But while decades of war have destroyed much of the capital, an urban revolution is growing, creating small pockets of peace.

The Guardian's Stefanie Glinski writes about the efforts residents and the local government in the rapidly growing Afghan capital are taking to cope with the overwhelming urbanization, turn informal settlements into formal ones, set urban planning goals, and rediscover architectural heritage and craftsmanship that has defined the region for centuries.

"I don’t want our children to forget about our historical background," the article quotes an Afghan master carpenter. "Both regime changes and war destroyed our country. As Kabul is growing, many modern buildings are put up carelessly. We can’t forget about our architectural history and its beauty."

Ai Weiwei documents life in Greek refugee camp on social media

2015-12-30T14:12:00-05:00

The Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei is visiting Lesbos to document the plight of thousands of refugees who arrive daily on the Greek island by boat from Turkey. For the past two days, Ai has been photographing orange rubber dinghies coming into shore, families huddled around fires, people queuing to register at the Moria refugee camp and piles of discarded lifejackets, among other scenes [...] It is understood Ai will be creating a work in response to the refugee crisis.

Here are just a few of Ai Weiwei's recent photos from the Lesbos refugee camp; giving a human face to people and entire families escaping war and persecution in their home countries of Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, as well as documenting humanitarian workers, such as the Norwegian group, Drop in the Ocean.

All photos by Ai Weiwei via @aiww on Instagram.

Archinect Project Collections presents your Bamiyan Cultural Centre proposals!

2015-03-02T20:05:00-05:00

Many teams have already followed Archinect & Bustler's recent call to post your non-finalist entries to the highly popular Bamiyan Cultural Centre design competition in Afghanistan directly on your Archinect profiles.

As we're continuing to gather all submissions in one handy list, you can now access the Bamiyan Project Collection here.

To give you a better impression of the quality and scope of received entries, here are just a few proposals that especially stood out to us.

↑ Entry by by KSR Architects

↑ Entry by Kaluzhak Maxim, Oleg Budeanu, Andrei Vatamaniuc, Ina Borozan, Irina Dubinschi

↑ Entry by Karolos Michailidis, Zapantiotis Fotis, Papanagiotou Stathis

↑ Entry by 1.61 Arquitectos

↑ Entry by Shift Process Practice

↑ Entry by by Jong Kim, Shawn Conte, Mark Talma

↑ Entry by Maryam Moayery Nia, Hamed Zarrinkamari, Fatemeh Mousavi, Masoud Moayery Nia (CG artist: Milad Kambari, Pouria Abbasi)

↑ Entry by Chiara Mazzarello with 4rkitects Team

Haven't submitted your entry yet but would like t...

Bamiyan Cultural Centre online petition calls for jury to revise winning decision

2015-02-23T15:00:00-05:00

Note: This post has been updated to correctly list the petition organizers, the number of signatures, and includes a comment from the team.

Shortly after the UNESCO Office in Afghanistan announced the anticipated results of the Bamiyan Cultural Centre Design Competition on February 18, competition entrants Kia Massoudi along with Nick Roseboro, Fabio Pradarelli, and Alessandro Orsini of New York-based firm Architensions set up an online petition expressing opposition against the Jury's selection of the winners. It currently has 89 signatures.

A total of 1,070 online submissions to the single-stage competition, which invited professional architects worldwide to propose designs for the new Bamiyan Cultural Centre in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan, near the World Heritage property of the Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of Bamiyan. The Jury selected "Descriptive Memory: The Eternal Presence of Absence" by Carlos Nahuel Recabarren, Manuel Alberto Martinez Catalan, and Fran...

UNESCO Afghanistan reveals Bamiyan Cultural Centre competition results

2015-02-18T15:28:00-05:00

The UNESCO Office in Afghanistan announced today the grand prize winner and four runner-up teams in the Bamiyan Cultural Centre Design Competition. Launched last November, the single-stage competition invited architects worldwide to propose designs for a cultural center in the Bamiyan Valley of Afghanistan that would contribute to the country's gradual process of reconciliation, restoring peace, and economic redevelopment after decades of political conflict.

In addition to complementing the physical and historical landscape of Bamiyan, the new Bamiyan Cultural Centre will be built as an emblem of heritage preservation, cross-cultural exchange, and strengthening cultural identity.

Out of 1,070 submissions from 117 countries, the seven-member Jury selected "Descriptive Memory: The Eternal Presence of Absence" by Carlos Nahuel Recabarren, Manuel Alberto Martinez Catalan, and Franco Morero from Argentina as the winning proposal, with a cash prize of US$25,000. The Jury included Elizabeth...

Monuments Men: U.S. Army struggles to recruit enough heritage specialists for conflict areas

2015-01-28T16:53:00-05:00

The US Army is looking to recruit the next generation of “Monuments Men and Women” to help preserve sites and cultural property in combat zones and to advise troops on heritage. [...] It is turning to museum directors, archaeologists and preservationists to fill these posts. [...] With extremist groups such as Islamic State using the destruction of cultural heritage as a tool of war, such expertise is needed more than ever.

UNESCO accepting entries for Bamiyan Cultural Centre in Afghanistan

2014-11-17T17:55:00-05:00

Afghanistan continues to build toward reconciliation, restoring peace, and economic redevelopment after decades of political conflict and turmoil. To contribute to this process, UNESCO recently launched a single-stage open competition seeking the winning design of the Bamiyan Cultural Centre in the Bamiyan Valley, Afghanistan. The Centre will serve as a space to promote cross-cultural understanding and heritage safe-guarding.

UNESCO and the Ministry of Information and Culture of Afghanistan (with the financial support of the Republic of Korea) will collaborate to implement the project. The Centre will be located near the boundary of the World Heritage property, the Cultural Landscape and Archaeological Remains of the Bamiyan Valley.

Submissions are being accepted now until January 22, 2015, 11:59 P.M. GMT.

Learn more about the competition on Bustler.

National Museum of Afghanistan Entry by Matteo Cainer Architects

2012-10-16T13:54:00-04:00

Bustler recently published the winning projects of the National Museum of Afghanistan competition. Here is another museum entry we just received, the proposal "Timeless Cube" by Paris/London-based firm Matteo Cainer Architects.

The Post-War Ghost Towns of Foreign Aid

2012-10-08T20:20:00-04:00

Originally a low income neighborhood of informal, mud brick housing, Sher-Pur was subject to government land grabs around 2004 and is now Kabul's wealthiest neighborhood. Built up using mashup of imported architectural designs from Dubai, the neighborhood is full of massive poppy palaces and narco palaces... as the international community pulls out ahead of the 2014 NATO withdrawal deadline, many of these elaborate mansions are sitting empty. Sher-Pur is becoming a ghost town of opulence.

Winners of the National Museum of Afghanistan Competition

2012-10-04T18:11:00-04:00

In the international architectural ideas competition for the new design for the National Museum of Afghanistan, the entry by Spanish team AV 62 Arquitectos was selected for the First Prize. The Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture and the US Embassy recently announced the results at an awards ceremony in Kabul.