Archinect - News

Flint's water crisis is far from over, and the criminal charges keep coming

2016-08-03T20:35:00-04:00

Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette has announced criminal charges against six more people—including the state's former water quality chief—in connection with lead-contaminated water in the city of Flint. [...] All six people are current or former state employees in the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services or the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. [...] "these individuals concealed the truth. They were criminally wrong to do so, and the victims are real people."

Get situated with Flint's water crisis here:

Dispatch from Flint: How architects can help, on Archinect Sessions #54

2016-02-25T17:31:00-05:00

The tragedy of Flint, Michigan's water crisis seems to worsen with every newly uncovered detail. As a manmade public health crisis provoked by willful denial and compromised safety standards, the entirely preventable poisoning of Flint's water supply with lead stands not only as a failure to care for the citizens of one city, but as a dreadful harbinger for the U.S.'s deteriorating infrastructure networks.

Like any concerned citizen, Filnt-based architect Kurt Neiswender sees this as a call to action to help any way he can. Kurt joins us on the podcast this week to discuss how architects might apply their skills to improve such a monstrous situation, and address the real limitations the profession has when it comes to these scenarios.

Listen to episode 54 of Archinect Sessions, "Dispatch from Flint":

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Should the children of Flint be resettled?

2016-02-18T16:59:00-05:00

Given the threat of ongoing lead exposure and the community’s well-founded mistrust of government, should families be offered at least temporary resettlement while upgrades, repairs and enhancements are made to Flint’s badly contaminated water infrastructure? I ask this fully aware of how unprecedented and complex such a policy would be. After all, some 9,000 young children may have been exposed to contaminated water.

For more articles on urban health issues like the ongoing crisis in Flint, check out these links:

The crisis in Flint and why architects should care about decentralizing our water systems

2016-02-10T18:02:00-05:00

...centralized urban water systems throughout the world are now under significant stress from increasing population density, water-resource competition, changing precipitation patterns, and new sources of pollutants, such as endocrine-disrupting chemicals. Even without these pressures, centralized water is, by design, a fracture-critical system—one that is susceptible “to complete and sudden collapse should any part of it fail,” writes Thomas Fisher, Assoc. AIA...

"Faced with an excessive price tag, municipalities may welcome decentralized water as the only feasible choice for future water delivery. Architects should therefore develop more expertise related to these net-zero water systems, as they will have direct implications for building design, construction, and operation."

For more on health issues related to the ecology of urban environments, check out these articles:

Flat Lot Competition - Honorable Mention Entry by ksestudio

2013-04-10T19:07:00-04:00

A few days ago, we published the winning entry of the first annual Flat Lot Competition in Flint, Michigan [...]. Here's now also one of the competition's three honorable mentions, the entry Stage a Lot by Brooklyn-based architects ksestudio.

Previously: Flint’s Flat Lot Competition Has Its Inaugural Winner

Flint’s Flat Lot Competition Has Its Inaugural Winner

2013-03-21T18:06:00-04:00

The Flint AIA chapter and Flint Public Art Project have unveiled the winner of the first annual Flat Lot Competition, an initiative to design and build a temporary summer pavilion in the central parking lot in downtown Flint, Michigan. The jury chose Two Islands, a London-based team of architects and designers, the receive the $25,000 grand prize for their proposal 'Mark's House.'