Archinect - News

Mecanoo's enigmatic theater design stages Jacob's Pillow for a new era of performance in Massachusetts

2024-11-21T13:17:00-05:00

Mecanoo’s next cultural building in the United States, the new Doris Duke Theater for the Jacob’s Pillow dance center in western Massachusetts town of Becket, has announced its opening date of July 9th, 2025.

After the popular Berkshires destination suffered a devastating loss from a fire in late 2020, the $30 million rebuilding effort was launched, focused on creating a new home that, in the words of the center’s Artistic Director Pamela Tatge, is "grounded in the Indigenous history of the land on which we dance."

Image: Robert Benson, courtesy of Jacob's Pillow

Joining Mecanoo for its reimagined design was Marvel, now fresh off the groundbreaking of its new Bronx Museum of the Arts renovation/expansion and work on the esplanade for the new Universal Hip Hop Museum led by Michael Ford’s BrandNu Design Studio.

Image rendering by Mecanoo Architects and Marvel, courtesy of Jacob's Pillow

Francine Houben, Mecanoo’s founder, says: "At the heart of the new Doris Duke Theatre lies a celebra...

MASS Design Group debuts Gun Violence Memorial project at three sites around Boston

2024-09-04T17:37:00-04:00

MASS Design Group has opened a new Gun Violence Memorial Project in the city of Boston that will amplify individual stories of our ongoing collective tragedy nationwide. The firm says the project "aspires to be a catalyst for change and a testament to the resilience of communities affected by gun violence."

Joining the other installations at City Hall and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston is another memorial house created inside the firm's office at 1 Chandler Street. Each of the installations will remain on view until January 20th, 2025. MASS Design Group is inviting all those interested to attend an opening reception on Tuesday, September 17th, at 7:30 pm. You can RSVP for the event here.

Preservation group completes purchase of Marcel Breuer's 1949 Cape Cod home

2024-08-02T17:43:00-04:00

The fight to save Marcel Breuer’s former home on Cape Cod, the 1949 Wellfleet Cottage, has reached its conclusion after The Cape Cod Modern House Trust completed its purchase following a successful $1.4 million fundraising campaign. Breuer’s son Tamas was the homeowner at the time of the sale.

The house had reportedly degraded into what The Art Newspaper describes as “not in the best condition.” The Modern House Trust's spokesperson told the outlet: “Work begins on the restoration immediately.”

Massachusetts changes direction for reuse of Paul Rudolph's brutalist Government Service Center

2024-07-29T12:34:00-04:00

The planned reuse of Paul Rudolph’s oft-reviled Boston Government Service Center has taken on a new direction with a housing-focused proposal from the administration of Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey. The updated plan replaced a previously announced NBBJ overhaul that would have remade both the Erich Lindemann and Charles F. Hurley buildings into an office block with labs for scientific research. Now, with the demand for each shrinking, the state is poised to reroute the redevelopment to match its previous benchmarked demand for over 69,000 new homes by 2030.

The newly released press statement noted: “The site remains architecturally significant due to its unique mid-century design, and the Administration will prioritize historic preservation in the renewed redevelopment process.” A formal RFP for the new plan could come as soon as this year.

Three rural renovations by Murdough Design: Your Next Employer?

2024-05-13T12:07:00-04:00

Following our previous visit to California-based Walker Warner, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Massachusetts this week to explore the work of Murdough Design.

From their studio in Concord, the firm has built a portfolio specializing in residential and small institutional projects. “We merge practical requirements with intangible qualities distinct to each design problem,” the firm says about its design outlook. “Our approach considers relationships between landscape and architecture, space and light, material and form.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for an Emerging Architect / Designer to join their Concord team. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about the firm’s output, we have rounded up three rural renovation projects by Murdough Design that exemplify the firm’s ethos.

Reclaimed Barn. Image credit: Chuck Choi

Reclaimed Barn, Central Harbor, NH

Murdough Design led the restoratio...

SO – IL presents designs for their new Williams College Museum of Art expansion

2024-03-08T13:48:00-05:00

SO – IL’s plans for an extension of the Williams College Museum of Art in western Massachusetts have been made public as the institution prepares to house its important collection in a free-standing and purpose-built new home for the first time in its 100-year history.

The project will enhance the museum’s mission as an on-campus educational resource while creating a new gateway between the college and the community of Williamstown.

SO – IL says they envision their plan to culminate in 2027. When it does, the project will yield a total of 15,000 square feet worth of new gallery spaces in a three-story structure that houses a 6,400-square-foot study center, auditorium, art studios, and a café. Reed Hilderbrand will be included to complete the project's landscaping. The project was announced in 2021 following a two-year programming study that was made in consultation with TenBerke through the pandemic.

Image credit: Jeudi.Wang, courtesy SO–IL and the Williams College Museum of Art

Ref...

35-story Raffles Boston becomes Hancock Tower's newest neighbor

2024-01-10T13:32:00-05:00

The Architectural Team (TAT) has completed a mixed-use tower in Boston featuring the city’s first sky lobby. The Raffles Boston Hotel & Residences features a 400-foot curved glass form and is described by the team as a “sophisticated new skyline statement within a challenging and historic context.”

Image credit: Ed Wonsek

The 35-story high-rise comprises 146 homes, 147 hotel guestrooms, and 16 amenity spaces. To compensate for the site’s narrow plot, the tower’s design sees a cantilever at the fourth-floor extent over the adjacent historic University Club to support the upper 29 stories, with a further cantilever occurring at the 17th floor.

Image credit: Ed Wonsek

In addition to increasing the internal area of the tower, the cantilevering approach forms a distinctive design element of the scheme’s exterior, “granting the tower a contextually scaled street presence while also allowing the building to express itself as a sculptural form on the upper levels,” according to the team. To d...

French 2D completes Boston co-housing complex grounded in community connections

2023-12-19T12:02:00-05:00

Boston-based French 2D has completed a 45,000-square-foot collective housing complex in Malden, on the outskirts of Boston. Named Bay State Commons Cohousing, the thirty-unit scheme was conceived as a collaboration with residents “through a participatory design process emphasized mutual support and the central values of consolidating and sharing resources from land and energy to cars and material goods.”

Image credit: nkubota

The scheme’s form is defined by a series of stacked, interlocking units, ranging from micro-studios to three-bedroom homes. Half of the units and common spaces overlook an interior courtyard and lawn, with exterior spaces at every level encouraging spontaneous interactions among residents.

Image credit: nkubota

“Rather than being about surveillance, these connections create reciprocity across multiple places for gardening, chatting, playing, reading, or lounging,” the team explains. “Many of the community’s older resident...

Four unique residential projects by I-Kanda Architects: Your Next Employer?

2023-11-28T11:26:00-05:00

Following our previous visit to Seattle-based Wittman Estes, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Massachussets this week to explore the work of I-Kanda Architects.

The Charlestown-based firm specializes in high-end residential projects, ranging from “mountainside cabins to penthouses, barns to unique homes.” Regardless of typology, the firm describes each project as “a new array of needs and desires out of which to craft uniquely enhanced environments that enrich the lives and experiences of individuals.”

Over on Archinect Jobs, the firm is currently hiring for a Mid-level Architect to join their Charlestown office. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning about the firm’s output, we have rounded up four bespoke homes by I-Kanda that exemplify the studio’s ethos.

Cabin on a Rock. Image credit: Matt Delphenich

Cabin on a Rock, Thronton, NH

Located on a granite outcropping in the White Mountains, the Cabin on a Rock was p...

A Massachusetts architect is drawing crowds with impressive Halloween installations in his driveway

2023-10-31T17:57:00-04:00

The haunting Halloween decorations created by Tom Saltsman, a CalArts and Harvard GSD graduate and the Principal of Boston-based firm SaltsmanBrenzel, are taking the spotlight once again in the architect's own driveway.

Saltsman says the inspiration for his crowd-pleasing designs stems from a desire to create perspective illusions of the home he and his fellow architect wife own in Marblehead, Massachusetts. He has been harkening his background in fine arts to create designs for trolls, a shipwreck, and other sculptural decor. He also told WBUR it takes the family and their fleet of volunteer builders months to plan and complete. Some have been realized at costs under $200.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Saltsman Brenzel (@saltsmanbrenzel)

Visitors from as far away as China have been flocking to see the annual display, which the Saltsman family started 15 years ago. His high school-aged daughter and their neighbor both plan on studying architecture a...

Relics of an industrial past are the key to future of affordable housing in Massachusetts

2023-07-19T11:37:00-04:00

As Massachusetts continues to suffer from a shortage of affordable housing, former mills like those in Lawrence are a bright spot. With the assistance of state and federal funding, developers have renovated and converted more than a hundred mills around the commonwealth into housing complexes in recent decades — projects that both provide much-needed homes and help revitalize post-industrial areas.

Conversions are often marketed towards high-end buyers, critics say. But the demand from young professional renters and the state’s affordable housing crunch means its stock of former textile mills are once again a vital economic cog considering their costs versus new construction and in spite of the considerable price of built-in environmental cleanups. The recent CUBE 3 conversion of the historic Riverwalk complex in Lawrence (once the largest worsted wool mill in the world) leads the field, followed by billions of dollars worth of other revitalization projects in the area that could help alleviate the need for new units which currently stands at around 175,000.

Looking for architecture jobs in Boston? Here are 8 featured firms currently hiring

2023-06-16T08:00:00-04:00

If you are looking for your next architectural career opportunity in the Boston area, don't miss this week's curated employment highlight from Archinect Jobs with a selection of attractive openings in the city.

To look up specific job titles from the architectural profession, consult Archinect's Guide to Job Titles series. Also, follow our Archinect Tips series to improve your portfolio, resume, interviewing skills, and increase your overall chances of getting that next job.

Payette seeks a Building Scientist, Visualization Designer, and Mid-Level Architect/Designer
"The ideal candidate will be working within the Building Science group, informing project teams through personal expertise and computer modeling, while assisting on research initiatives that range from academic literature reviews to software tool development. She or he will serve as an integral design team member beginning with early conceptual studies that analyze the impact of design options, ultimately helping develop...

Your next job could be as a model maker at Safdie Architects

2023-05-11T12:52:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for an AI-Related Architectural Intern at DVLPR, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Digital Fabricator / Model Designers at Safdie Architects.

The role, based in Safdie’s Boston office, calls for a “creative, entrepreneurial, and detail-oriented individual” to assist in exploring the “spatial, tectonic and material properties of designs through the planning and production of digital, 3D printed, fabricated and handcrafted models, as well as scale mock-ups.” Among the skills and qualities sought in applicants are a passion for model making, experience operating digital tools such as laser cutters and 3D printers, and a knowledge of AutoCAD, Revit, Rhino, and Adobe Suite.

Archinect Feature: Archinect's Guide to Job Titles: Model Maker

Why the role interests us

The role of model makers in design practices, and the design culture at Safdie Architects, are topics our editori...

SOM completes new Wellesley College Science Complex, an 'interplay between old and new'

2022-10-13T14:48:00-04:00

SOM just completed a major design project for the Wellesley College Science Complex after a five-year construction period.

The redesigned 97,000-square-foot structure is comprised of mass timber with recycled zinc elements and involved the consolidation of several smaller academic buildings that were originally constructed on the Science Hill portion of the campus between the 1920s and late1970s.

Dave Burk © SOM

“We reimagined the science center as a village for teaching, learning, and research,” SOM Design Partner Colin Koop said in a press release. “The project is a careful mix of removal, renovation, and addition that will give students and faculty a more inviting and engaging experience.”

Dave Burk © SOM

For the renovation portion of the project, SOM focused on the L-wing, a Perry, Dean, Stahl, and Rogers-designed addition to the older Neo-Gothic Sage Hall that was first enacted in 1977 and provided an ideal space for transformation.

Dave Burk © SOM

SOM’s team converted the structu...

See inside DS+R's newly-opened Prior Performing Arts Center at the College of the Holy Cross

2022-09-29T15:15:00-04:00

Diller Scofidio + Renfro has shared new photos of its just-opened Prior Performing Arts Center at the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The three-year, $110 million project culminated in an 84,000-square-foot multipurpose arts facility that houses a 400-seat proscenium theater, 200-seat studio space, and the relocated Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Art Gallery, which has garnered a reputation as one of the leading academic art museums in the country since first being founded in 1983.

Photo: Iwan Baan courtesy of DS+R

“The new Prior Performing Arts Center is an uncommon commons,” DS+R partner-in-charge Charles Renfro describes the project. “The building is uniquely perched on a hill overlooking the campus and Worcester, yet straddles the intersection of multiple cross-campus paths. While its world-class facilities provide a singular new home for Holy Cross's performing arts students, its atrium invites the broader student body to participate in casual and unscripted cr...

Marcel Breuer's Grieco House hits the market for $1.5 million

2022-06-27T17:08:00-04:00

This weekend, a home designed by modernist architect Marcel Breuer will hit the market in Andover. Named for its original owners, “The Grieco House” offers three bedrooms and three bathrooms in 3,721 square feet on 1.07 acres. The Janovitz + Tse Team of ModernMass at Compass is handling the listing at 81 Sunset Rock Road, which will come with a $1,500,000 price tag.

Breuer supposedly took the commission after the Grieco family dismissed Frank Lloyd Wright from the project following a disagreement. Its binuclear plan incorporates some of the lessons Breuer learned in the Bauhaus studio of Paul Klee that relate to relaxation and the spatial distribution of light. It is one of Breuer’s last completed New England residential designs following his tenure on the faculty of the Harvard GSD, and comes with a fully renovated interior, refurbished original woodwork, and brutalist wine cellar, according to the website ModernMass.

News of the listing comes just months after the demolition of another early binuclear design – the erstwhile Geller House on Long Island – which preservationists saw as evidence of the difficulties in maintaining some of the traditionally overlooked examples of midcentury modernism in America.

“There aren’t very many tools to aid the preservation of these houses,” Docomomo US executive director Elizabeth Waytkus told the New York...

SO – IL will design a new building for the vaunted Williams College Museum of Art

2022-06-03T08:50:00-04:00

One of the leading academic art museums in the country has announced SO – IL will head a new expansion effort that will deliver the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) with the first stand-alone structure in the institution’s storied history.

Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu’s team is now tasked with the tremendous opportunity to develop a concept design for a new structure that will provide upgrade facilities to the museum’s collection, which has been housed since its inception in historic Lawrence Hall. A renovation of the existing building is being explored as well.

The partners referred to it as a “project the brings together our passion for the arts with our commitment to education.” They will look to build upon a cultural portfolio that includes UC Davis’ Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art and the award-winning new Amant Art Campus in Brooklyn and promise the new construction “wi...

Arup-supported $2.3 billion light rail project nears completion in the Greater Boston region

2022-03-25T18:29:00-04:00

The Union Square Branch opening of the long-awaited Boston Green Line Extension (GLX) marks a major milestone for the Arup-supported project.

The first of two segments as part of a 4.7-mile extension of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority’s (MBTA) regional transit system, the Union Square Branch comprises the new Union Square and Lechmere stations. The opening of the Medford Branch later this year will conclude the development of this decades-long project.

The GLX is expected to add 50,000 daily passenger trips to Boston’s transit network and bring much-needed service to the Somerville, Cambridge, and Medford communities. The project will also help bring the city closer to meeting its 2050 goal of carbon neutrality by significantly reducing vehicle-related emissions.

Arup is serving as the project’s Design Professional, supporting the MBTA with overseeing the design development, and testing and commissioning process. The firm was first tapped by the MBTA as a consultan...

Massachusetts is using incentives to build a small passive house empire

2022-03-09T18:59:00-05:00

A pair of statewide incentive programs in Massachusetts is driving a surge of apartment buildings designed to the highly energy-efficient passive house standard. In the past year, families have moved into 257 affordable housing units in complexes built to the standard, and about 6,000 additional units are now in various stages of development.

The Commonwealth has been ramping up investment into the technology since 2018, when it instituted The Passive House Design Challenge that awarded a total of $1.73 million (or $4,000 per unit) to eight separate multifamily developments from Gloucester to Boston. Another initiative called Mass Save was launched the following year, offering an additional $5,000 per unit and helping architects to pursue some innovative projects including the new 1599 Columbus building in Boston from Utile.

Related on Archinect: How Passive House Design Can Propel the Clean Energy Transition in Architecture. Photo by Aaron Leitz.

Passive house techniques are supposed to be well-suited for such developments because of their ability to fit so many units inside the tighter building envelopes. They also offer the added benefit of energy savings, which are vital to low-income families in colder states like Massachusetts. One developer also sees it as a great way to deliver high-quality design to people who mi...

MIT commits to net-zero emissions by 2026

2021-05-19T11:19:00-04:00

MIT has announced a goal of achieving net-zero emissions from their campus by 2026, and eliminating direct emissions by 2050. The goal is one of a number of initiatives announced under the institution’s new plan titled “Fast Forward: MIT’s Climate Action Plan for the Decade,” aimed at intensifying new technologies, new policies, and new forms of outreach to tackle the climate crisis.

The plan sets out a desire to create “new ideas, transformed into practical solutions, in record time,” with key research areas including cement and steel production, heavy transportation, and ways to remove carbon from the air. Five broad areas of action are proposed: sparking innovation, educating future generations, informing and leveraging government action, reducing MIT’s own climate impact, and uniting and coordinating all of MIT’s climate efforts.

Previously on Archinect: Carbon-free nuclear fusion power within reach, according to MIT

The specific aim of achieving a net-zero emissions campus by...

USA’s largest offshore wind farm gains final approval, while world’s largest is announced by South Korea

2021-05-12T11:04:00-04:00

The United States has given final approval for what will be the largest offshore wind power project in the country’s history. The “Vineyard Wind” project will see as much as 84 wind turbines built 12 miles off the coast of Massachusetts. When completed, the project is expected to provide renewable energy for 400,000 homes and businesses, and supply over 2% of the energy needed to meet the country’s goal of generating 30 gigawatts from offshore wind by 2030.

The 800-megawatt project will be only the third offshore wind project to be built by the United States, after the 30-megawatt project at Block Island Wind, and a minor test project off the coast of Virginia. The USA’s lack of experience in offshore wind construction means there is currently a shortfall in infrastructure to produce turbines and blades, and the transport infrastructure needed to relocate them to the offshore sites. The Vineyard Wind project could serve as a catalyst for the development of this infrastructure and bo...

10 academic architecture projects in Boston we liked this month by architects based in Boston

2020-03-24T18:53:00-04:00

Hardly any other American city is as closely associated with higher education as Boston, with some of its universities making frequent appearances in Archinect's academia-related news coverage.

As part of our month-long editorial Spotlight on Boston, why not take a look at ten standout architecture projects for institutions of higher learning and K12 schools in the greater Boston area? All selections were picked from projects uploaded to Firm profiles of practices based in the city.

Searching for architectural jobs in the region? Check out these firms that are currently hiring in the city and catch up also with our latest curated job picks specifically for Boston.

If you missed our recent regional project roundups, head over to Miami, Austin, Los Angeles, and, most recently, residential projects in Boston.

↑ New England Conservatory Student Life and Performance Center in Boston by Ann Beha Architects (Design Architect) with Gensler (Associate Architect); Photo: Peter Vanderwarker

...

10 residential architecture projects in Boston we liked this month by Boston-based architects

2020-03-18T13:16:00-04:00

As part of Archinect's month-long Spotlight on Boston, we have selected ten of our favorite residential architecture projects in the greater Boston area uploaded to Firm profiles of practices based in the city.

Next week, we will follow up with a look at Boston's outstanding academic and workplace projects. Don't miss it.

Searching for architectural jobs in the region? Check out these firms that are currently hiring in the city and catch up also with our latest curated job picks specifically for Boston.

Missed our other recent regional project roundups? Head over to Miami, Austin, and Los Angeles.

And here now, finally, Boston:

↑ Congress Square (mixed use) in Boston by Arrowstreet; Photo: Robert Benson

↑ Norman Street in Marblehead by BLOOM Architecture; Photo: Trent Bell

↑ Macallen Building in Boston by NADAAA / MPdL Studio; Photo: John Horner Photography

↑ Waltham Watch Factory (mixed use) in Waltham by Bruner/Cott Architects

↑ West Newton in Boston by BUTZ + KLUG Architecture...

KPMB Architect's new building for Boston University reaches for carbon neutrality

2020-03-05T12:52:00-05:00

Boston University's new Center for Computing and Data Sciences building is set to be the largest carbon-neutral building in Boston when completed. The 19-story structure will house the university's mathematics, statistics, and computer science departments.

Previously covered on Archinect back in 2018, the goal for the project, according to Toronto-based architecture firm KPMB Architects, is to create a structure that would be "an iconic fixture on campus." Besides, its stacked, podium-like volumes, which are meant to resemble stacked books, the structure will also stand as the tallest—and greenest—building on campus.

A press statement by university president Robert A. Brown expresses, "This building is a physical statement about our commitment to the field. We wanted architecture that would signal to everyone that this was a special place, the center of campus,"

Boston University's Center for Computing and Data Sciences. Image courtesy of KPMB Architects

Boston University's Cente...

Valerio Olgiati offers an alternative to Harvard GSD expansion

2019-06-07T18:10:00-04:00

This article has been updated from the original version, making it more clear that this is an alternative proposal to the winning proposal by H&dM.

Though Herzog and de Meuron recently made clear that they have won the bid to expand the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the design competition entry offered by Valerio Olgiati provides an alluring alternative to what things could have been.

View this post on Instagram _ Harvard GSD Gund Hall Expansion, Cambridge #valerioolgiati #harvardgsd
A post shared by VALERIO OLGIATI (@valerioolgiati) on Jun 7, 2019 at 12:05am PDT
View this post on Instagram _ Harvard GSD Gund Hall Expansion, Cambridge #valerioolgiati #harvardgsd
A post shared by VALERIO OLGIATI (@valerioolgiati) on Jun 6, 2019 at 2:03am PDT

His studio's Instagram recently uploaded three renders of the alternative design, including one featuring a triangular-shaped addition to the school's main building, designed by John Andrews and completed ...

The Power of the Facade: French 2D explains how facades are punctuations on the urban landscape

2019-05-24T19:03:00-04:00

What's in a facade? For those outside the architecture and design profession, the function, importance, and commonality facades play in the built environment might not be so clear. But the exterior wall, or "face" of a building, in fact, plays a crucial role in conveying a building's structural design as well as the artistic intentions of the designer.

Because the look of facades has dramatically changed over time to become more sleek and streamlined, thanks to material exploration and advances in building technology, it's easy to forget the amount of detail, and intention that goes into design.

New York by Gehry. Image courtesy of New York by Gehry

Tara Theatre designed by Aedas. Image by Philip Vile

Despite this trend, especially within bustling urban landscapes, facades create opportunities for buildings to be loud, imposing, simple, or decorative. Regardless of their visual intention, however, facades also have the power to prompt the general public to look and notice the built...

10 great architecture job opportunities in the Northeast, outside of NYC

2019-02-07T10:06:00-05:00

The past few weeks have been quite "stormy" for the Northeast, no pun intended. However, with tumultuous weather seeming to make its final round and the recent win of a certain sports team, the Northeast can focus on other news worthy topics like architectural job opportunities.

For this week's weekly job round up we're featuring firms from Philadelphia, New Jersey, Maine, and more who are currently hiring architects, designers, PMs, and entry level architects.

Image © SMRT

SMRT seeks an Architect in Portland, ME
SMRT specializes in the design of high-performing, programmatically complex environments for clients nationwide and across market sectors. The idea candidate will have a minimum of 5 years of architectural experience in technical design and detailing of commercial construction projects, with a developed ability in coordinating design documents for construction. A 5 Year Professional Degree or Master's Degree in Architecture preferred. NCARB registration a plus and LEED Prof...

Inside Frank Gehry and Thomas Krens' hybrid Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum

2018-02-20T14:25:00-05:00

Picture the World Trade Center near the Empire State Building near Fenway Park near London's Tate Modern. Now picture trains zipping past the architectural icons. That is the vision world-famous architect Frank Gehry and museum developer Thomas Krens are trying to bring to North Adams, in the form of the Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum.

With the aim of developing North Adams, Massachusetts as a cultural destination, Frank Gehry and Thomas Krens released plans last summer for their hybrid Extreme Model Railroad and Contemporary Architecture Museum. The initial concept has now developed into an entire model showcasing more of what the museum will look like.

The model museum features 164 buildings showcasing contemporary architecture by 71 international architects. Interwoven amongst these building 12 rail lines will run 107 operating model trains.

The proposed museum houses this entire set up in one 670-foot-long gallery stretching the length of 2.5 football fields. Buildings will be constructed at a 1:48 scale including iconic structures such as the Seagram Building in Manhattan or the Brooklyn Bridge. The tallest building, the One World Trade Center, will reach 40 feet tall.

The trains and buildings will also be surrounded by video-projected landscaping blending the physical models into a seamless background. The...

Get Lectured: MIT, Fall '17

2017-10-18T14:47:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2017

Ready or not, it's the start of a new school year. Back for Fall 2017 is Archinect's Get Lectured, an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back regularly to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

See what events are coming up in MIT Architecture's Fall 2017 lecture series, “Agency”.

Oct 16
Raya Ani
Homecoming Queen
6:00 PM, Room 3-133, AKPIA

Oct 17
Cole Roskam
Designing Reform: Architecture in Post-Mao China
6:00 PM, Room 7-429/Long Lounge, HTC

Oct 19
Thomas Auer & Stephan Behnisch
Lost in Transformation
The Ahmad Tehrani Memorial Symposium
6:00 PM, Room 7-429/Long Lounge

Oct 20
David Reinfurt
A Post-Industrial Postscript
2:00 PM, E15-001/ACT Cube, ACT

Oct 20
Boris Groys
Cosmic Imagination
6:00 PM, Room 7-429/Long Lounge,...

Get Lectured: Harvard GSD, Fall '17

2017-09-26T14:11:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2017

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

So far in Harvard GSD's Fall 2017 lecture series, the school has featured the U.S. premier of Tomas Koolhaas' “Rem” documentary, the “New Materialisms: Histories Make Practice | Practices Make History” symposium, and a lecture from photographer Iwan Baan, to name a few. Check out what events are coming up soon.

Oct 3
Clare Lyster and Mason White in conversation with Charles Waldheim (Harvard GSD)

Oct 5
Teresa Moller

Oct 6-8
Black in Design Conference

Oct 12-13
“Rethinking Pei: A Centenary Symposium”

Oct 16
Liam Gillick

...