Archinect - News

Studio Egret West, Hawkins\Brown, Haworth Tompkins, and others behind $13.4 billion Earl's Court master plan in London

2024-09-27T17:13:00-04:00

A £10 billion ($13.4 billion USD) master plan for London’s Earl’s Court district has been submitted to planning officials in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea before the commencement of construction on its first phase in 2026. The plan covers 7.5 million square feet and includes 4,000 new residential units plus a 4.5-acre park and 2.9 million-square-feet office component.

Joining Studio Egret West and Hawkins\Brown on the project are dRMM, Maccreanor Lavington, Sheppard Robson, Haworth Tompkins, Serie Architects and ACME, and SLA. Approvals are expected by the summer of 2025.

Image: courtesy The Earls Court Development Company

High Line founders release op-ed opposing final Hudson Yards development phase

2024-09-06T18:28:00-04:00

Related and Wynn’s new proposal would sweep away the years of civic engagement that led to a 2009 rezoning of the proposed development site. We have just one chance to get this right. Related and Wynn’s new plan fails the test of sensible and authentic urban design and must be fought with the same spirit that brought the High Line to life 25 years ago.

Leading with the claim that Related "wants to undo the agreement and rezone the site again", two founders of The High Line (Joshua David and Robert Hammond) say they are opposing the next phase of Hudson Yards’ redevelopment. The $12 billion plan, the details for which became a bit clearer on August 30th, would establish a hotel, casino, and office components with a 5.6-acre park over what is now the undeveloped Western Rail Yards at Eleventh Avenue and 33rd Street.

The agreement they're referring to pertains to the aesthetic agreement of any new developments with the existing character of the High Line. To that score, the authors say, "principal changes include much taller and wider buildings at an overwhelming scale, less accessible green space, more office space (in a city that has a glut), and less housing in a city that has a desperate shortage."

Are New Towns really the best new hope for ending the UK housing crisis?

2024-08-19T17:45:00-04:00

Last month, the [UK] government announced a task force to develop a strategy for new towns — settlements of more than 10,000 homes — and make recommendations for their locations within a year. The government has not set a target for the number of towns and acknowledges that they will take a long time to deliver.

Britain, short on more than four million homes, is mulling a revival of its post-war New Towns after a decisive Labour Party victory vaulted progressive leadership into power with a mandate to combat its ongoing housing crisis. Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently told the BBC that he is a self-identifying YIMBY who wants to "bulldoze" planning rules and overrule local-led resistance to get it done. The strategy, which preceded a new plan central to Kamala Harris’ Presidential campaign, could still regrettably wind up hemmed in by a notoriously parochial planning process which, nevertheless, gifted the world with Milton Keynes and other important architecture.

His deputy Angela Rayner says the list of sites to be developed won't be revealed until the end of this year. RIBA's President Muyiwa Oki has said at the outset that their plan "offers overarching solutions, but lacks critical detail on delivering social housing and futureproofing existing homes."

Whither 400 Lake Shore Drive? Chicago critic Edward Keegan asks for a firm answer

2024-08-15T13:05:00-04:00

Chicago’s most infamous vacant site of the 21st century is finally getting a tower. But will we be getting the architect’s best vision — or just half of a good design? A look at some recent history of large projects in the city offers some guidance, and reason for concern. I have no reason to doubt Related’s stated intention to build both towers, but if history is a guide, it’s more likely than not that the single tower will never see its sibling.

The Windy City's newest architecture critic, Edward Keegan, explains 400 Lake Shore Drive (designed by SOM's Chicago office with David Childs) against five other similar projects that never saw the original vision of their architects fully realized. He says a potential void might become a permanent edifice where once Santiago Calatrava endeavored to build his 2,000-foot Spire tower if Related Midwest is not kept to task by city officials and an active group of "concerned citizens."

"We need a planning mechanism that pays more attention to the interim state of larger projects without becoming too enamored with the complete design," he writes further for the Tribune's newly established architecture column. "Because city building is always a work in progress, as a number of orphan towers can attest."

The first half of the project broke ground in June and expects to be ready for its initial tenants to move in by the fall of 2027.

UNESCO assessing impact of skyscrapers on Tower of London

2024-08-07T19:29:00-04:00

The Tower of London’s status as a world heritage site may be at risk due to the influx of new skyscrapers in central London. UNESCO has requested that the UK government submit a State of Conservation Report that addresses the historic site’s preservation and the threat of increased high-rise buildings in the area. As reported by the BBC, a UNESCO spokesperson said the request was due to concerns about “cumulative impacts” from nearby high-rise developments and insufficient protection of the Tower’s “outstanding universal value”.

Previously on Archinect: The City of London skyline is expected to add these eleven towers by 2030

Concerns were initially raised by the English historic preservation body, Historic England, regarding City Plan 2040, the City of London Corporation’s (CLC) draft policies for new office, residential buildings, and overall development. Historic England believes these policies are likely to “severely harm” the likes of the Tower of London. On the other hand, depu...

New apartment construction in NYC at historic low again

2024-07-14T08:00:00-04:00

The crisis of housing in New York City isn't going anywhere soon: The latest data from a key city agency has revealed a pronounced stalemate in the number of new apartment buildings currently planned for construction in all five boroughs. A lack of tax incentives, including the expiration of rule 421a, and high construction costs (as we covered in our two-part feature on the current economy for the architecture industry) are both likely motivating factors.

Bloomberg reports: "Last month, developers filed 36 permits for multifamily buildings, which, excluding the period of Covid lockdowns in 2020, was the lowest monthly count for May in a decade, data from the New York City Department of Buildings showed. And last year, permits for about 15,500 apartment units were filed, the lowest since 2016, according to the Department of City Planning."

This revelation, one year after the borough of Manhattan approved exactly zero new apartment starts, mirrors a national trend. The Regional Plan ...

In the ‘battle’ for Sydney’s brutalist Sirius building, public interest loses

2024-06-25T08:00:00-04:00

A decade ago the only way to secure a bed in Sydney’s brutalist icon, the Sirius building, was a proven need and time on the social housing waitlist. Now the price of admission starts at $1.55m – for a studio apartment. [...] Advocates who fought to save the building from the wrecking balls and from being sold see it now as the pinnacle of privatisation that failed the state’s most vulnerable.

The fate of Sydney’s martyred Rocks mirrors closely that of London’s Trelick and Balfron Towers, and the future of Singapore’s once caste-busting social housing system. As of our last reporting, the brutalist landmark has (finally, and forever) been saved from the wrecking ball — only to be turned over to private equity. The issue highlights what many see as the death of a progressive conception of planning, wherein accommodations for working-class people are placed in the center of cities and not the other way around.

"Sirius is the pointy end of the privatization of the city and entrenching 'ghettoes for the rich'," architect Philip Thalis puts it. "It’s bad for society if the best parts of the city are exclusively for people with the most means, particularly when allied to decreasing densities in those areas."

Meanwhile, the New South Wales state government just announced a "once in a generati...

California environmental review process is hindering affordable housing development, according to new state agency report

2024-05-28T12:57:00-04:00

A new report on California’s entrenched housing crisis from the state's independent Little Hoover Commission has identified the 54-year-old California Environmental Quality Act (or CEQA) as the greatest barrier currently in the way of architects and planners looking to meet the demand for 2.5 million new units statewide by 2030.

LAist.com has more on the report, which took over a year to compile. Among its findings is the concerning fact that 25% of all lawsuits initiated under CEQA have been challenges to infill housing developments in densely populated urban areas (e.g., Los Angeles). Authors say this could grow into all-out “urban warfare” that, in turn, overburdens exurbs and more inland areas. LA has been more proactive recently under the mayorship of Karen Bass but must still overcome hurdles to meet its mandate to build 500,000 new homes before 2029.

This is what Hudson Yards West will look like, according to developers

2024-03-15T13:25:00-04:00

Details of the planned Wynn New York City resort scheme from Related Companies and the Oxford Properties Group have been released, along with new renderings and further details about the final Phase 2 building segment at Hudson Yards.

The three-tower scheme chosen from the set of alternative proposals that was released in February calls for a 1,189-foot hotel with 1,750 rooms to be placed at the northernmost edge of the site opposite a 1,366-foot office building and across a plaza area from the x-shape third residential tower, which stands at 1,172-feet will include 1,507 units. A 5.6-acre park will complete the master plan, along with a 750-seat public school and 12,250 square feet of ground-level retail.

Rendering courtesy of Related Companies and Wynn Resorts

Included in this proposal are plans for a gaming component that could potentially earn one of three coveted casino licenses up-for-grabs in the Downstate region (which includes New York City) for $500 million apiece in 2025...

Plans revealed for Hudson Yards Phase Two with several towers and a potential casino

2024-02-26T12:03:00-05:00

The next chapter in New York’s Hudson Yards has been revealed, with developers filing a bid for a potential mixed-use casino complex. Related Companies and Wynn Resorts submitted plans as part of an environmental impact process last week with the New York City Department of City Planning, which includes two scenarios for the plot directly west of The Vessel.

The proposed site is currently occupied by the West Side Yard and would see the Hudson Yards development expand west, separated from the Hudson River only by 12th Avenue. The plot would also be wrapped on three sides by the High Line, which already borders the south side of the existing Hudson Yards development.

In 2020, Related Companies offered an indicative insight into the architectural intent for the site when it published renderings to assuage concerns that a 700-foot wall would separate the development from The High Line.

Hudson Yards Phase Two proposed plan. Massing and plan credit: Related/NYC Planning

Both scenarios sub...

The City of London skyline is expected to add these eleven towers by 2030

2023-11-01T18:58:00-04:00

The City of London Corporation has revealed new images depicting the 2030 skyline of the Square Mile ahead of the completion of a planned cluster of tall buildings that are expected by the end of the decade.

The plans depicted include the 11-building ‘City Cluster’, which strategically closes an existing gap between Rafael Viñoly’s 20 Fenchurch Street (aka the “Walkie-Talkie" tower) and adjacent plots in the body's local plan. Other key areas of change included in the City Plan 2040 call for the construction of new pedestrian routes and public green space, added ground-level accommodations for retail, and a mix of education and cultural spaces.

“These new CGI images clearly illustrate the ever-changing nature of London's incredible skyline. It demonstrates that the City office is here to stay, and that the Square Mile's real estate sector is robust and thriving, despite wider economic concerns,” Chair of the Planning and Transportation Committee at the City of London Corporation, S...

Will Austin’s tall-buildings boom survive the skyscraper effect and looming tech recession?

2023-01-19T17:52:00-05:00

But joining the fraternity of cities with supertalls can also be a dubious distinction: Real estate is a lagging indicator, and skyscrapers often arrive after the boom is over, looming half-empty as monuments to a bust. Others, however, are convinced that Austin’s high-rise stampede is just getting started. Given the city’s emerging significance as a next-gen manufacturing hub this building boom could defy the skyscraper effect.

With a slate of high-rises and supertalls, including KPF’s Waterline design and the record-setting Wilson Tower from HKS in the works, Bloomberg asks if the pace of development can be sustained amidst tech’s downturn and the annals of urban economic history. The salvation apparently lies in the influx of manufacturing dollars into the city, along with a downtown area that offers what some consider to be the nation’s highest overall quality of living.

A planned cap-and-stitch project could add even more commercial parcels along a stretch of I-35 downtown beginning in 2025. The risks of repeating the same tax incentive-driven boom-bust cycle that led to so many of Dubai’s architectural headaches a decade ago are not lost on developers. For now, Austin’s only real crisis is the affordability of homes and a dearth of convenient worker housing.

NYC unveils three-pronged development strategy to achieving affordable housing goal of 500,000 new homes

2022-12-12T17:14:00-05:00

New York City Mayor Eric Adams unveiled his administration’s three-pronged plan to “Get Stuff Built” this month as a possible answer to skeptics who had previously doubted his ability to tackle what is becoming its largest existential challenge.

True to its moniker, the plan calls for the construction of 500,000 total units of affordable housing in all five boroughs to be completed by the year 2030. In doing so, it will effectively meet the city’s currently projected need for 560,000 units in the same time frame. New York is currently developing just 14% of that figure and will address the daunting remainder in line with its previously-announced homelessness and economic recovery initiatives.

"If New York is to remain the city we love, we must have places for the people we love. We need more housing, and we need it as fast as we can build it," Adams said at a press conference on December 8. "The system has been broken for so long that we have come to view it as our reality. Our ci...

Snøhetta unveils design for massive Shibuya Upper West Project in Tokyo

2022-08-09T18:49:00-04:00

Snøhetta has shared designs for its largest structure in Japan to date with the Shibuya Upper West Project. Made for Tokyu Corporation, L Catterton Real Estate, and Tokyu Department Store, the roughly 1.26 million-square-foot mixed-use development will add a cultural complex, retail, a luxury hotel, and rental residences to Tokyo’s bustling Shibuya district.

Image by Mir, copyright: Snøhetta, courtesy of Tokyu Corporation

The project sits at the intersection of the upscale residential area of Shoto, the cultural neighborhoods of Kamiyamacho and Tomigaya, and the ever-busy Shibuya ward. Key features include The Hive, a lively atrium anchoring the heart of the project, and The Sanctuary, a casual space with lush roof terraces for visitors to relax.

Image by Mir, copyright: Snøhetta, courtesy of Tokyu Corporation

According to the architects, the design of the Shibuya Upper West Project aims to evoke images of the distant foothills of Mount Fuji with its terraced steps, and ceramic façad...

Álvaro Siza’s first U.S. building completes in New York City

2022-06-01T20:16:00-04:00

New photos have been released of Álvaro Siza’s completed 611 West 56th Street, the Pritzker Prize-winning architect’s first designed building in the United States.

The 35-story luxury condo tower in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood stands 450 feet tall and consists of 77 residences. The project was jointly developed by Sumaida + Khurana and LENY.

Photo: João Morgado

The monolithic tower is wrapped in Perla Bianca limestone, which is accentuated by a subtle tiling pattern throughout the façade.

New York City-based practice Gabellini Sheppard Associates designed the building’s interiors.

Photo: João Morgado

In a 2019 NYT interview, the (then) 86-year-old Siza shared his response to winning the commission for 611 W 56th Street. "I didn’t expect to have the opportunity to build in Manhattan. Now, at my age, I thought I had lost the opportunity. I w...

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...

A first look at Nabr, Bjarke Ingels’ disruptor housing company

2021-12-14T11:55:00-05:00

Nabr has offered the first clues of what their homes of the future may look like. The “people-first housing company” was co-founded by Bjarke Ingels with the ambition of “putting more people on a path to owning a high-quality, environmentally friendly home in the city.”

Nabr’s first building is set to be launched at 415 South 3rd Street, San Jose, California in 2023. Designed in collaboration with Bjarke Ingels Group, and named SoFA One, the project will consist of more than 100 homes personalized by each owner. Prices are expected to start in the high $700Ks, with interested parties able to join a waitlist for the homes from 2022.

Image by The Boundary for Nabr

The waitlist for Nabr Homes will be open to everyone, with applicants able to fill out specific details on the units they are seeking. When the service matches the applicant’s preferences to an available unit in their area, the applicant will be invited to Nabr’s Design Studio to select and customize the home, including l...

Work begins on first building of $6 billion Lincoln Yards development in Chicago

2021-11-02T09:00:00-04:00

As the first part of a projected $6 billion residential and commercial development, the construction start was a kickoff for Lincoln Yards itself, in the planning stages for more than five years. Investors and city planners see it as a revival of riverfront land that will connect prosperous areas of the Near North Side, Bucktown and Lincoln Park.

Located on Chicago's North Side, the multibillion-dollar mixed-use Lincoln Yards master plan was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, CBT Architects, and landscape architects James Corner Field Operations.

The first building of the scheme breaking ground at 1229 West Concord is the eight-story, 320,000-square-foot life sciences center ALLY designed by Gensler.

Here we go! Site prep for the first property at @sterlingbay's huge @LincolnYards development - ALLY, an 8 story life sciences office building. pic.twitter.com/QGfN5Jkm9Q

— Curtis Waltz (@aerialscapes) October 25, 2021

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.

Morphosis-designed 8850 Sunset Boulevard releases environmental study, updated project timeline

2021-09-20T12:03:00-04:00

An updated timeline for the controversial 8850 Sunset Boulevard development has been provided along with new draft environmental study detailing changes to the West Hollywood site.

According to its developers, construction of the Morphosis-designed building is now set to begin in 2022 with a completion date slated for 2025, nearly a full year off of the project’s timeline when last updated in September of 2019.

The planned 15-story hotel and apartment development features a split design, united by a skybridge that helps to separate the volumes and frame a 120-foot-wide opening adjacent to Los Angeles’ famed Viper Room nightclub.

The updated timeline still requires approval from the city of West Hollywood. Archinect will have more details once a groundbreaking date is announced.

MAD Architects proposes a tree-filled 'office of the future' in the heart of Hollywood

2021-09-16T15:43:00-04:00

LA's Hollywood neighborhood is undergoing a massive transformation with new developments popping up everywhere. MAD Architects just introduced another $500 million design proposal to the mix which is guaranteed to stand out from the sea of often unbearably bland new buildings.

Located at 6061 Sunset Boulevard, only a few blocks away from Netflix' new Hollywood office campus, the planned office tower, dubbed 'The Star,' intrigues with an unusual shape we would expect from the team at MAD and features landscaped gardens and terraces integrated throughout its 22 floors.

A short video rendering released this week reveals a textured glass facade and external elevator pods sliding up and down the building's spines.

Video courtesy MAD Architects

"Hollywood has been a signature center for culture and creativity for a long time," Ma Yansong, MAD's founding principal, shared. "The Star will be the new iconic landmark in Hollywood and continue to nurture the public's inspiration and creativi...

26-story residential development proposed for Philadelphia waterfront

2021-04-14T14:48:00-04:00

The Durst Organization, the New York company selected last year to redevelop Penn’s Landing, is nearing final land-use approvals for a nearby 26-story apartment building that would be its first Philadelphia project. [...] Durst’s project would rise at a longtime parking lot beside the waterfront north of the Benjamin Franklin Bridge.

Designed by NYC-based Handel Architects, the proposed residential high-rise near the Delaware River waterfront will offer 360 residential units, a 116-space parking garage, and 10,000 square feet designated for shops and restaurants, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

SOM unveils design for new waterfront development in Zhuhai, China

2020-09-17T12:33:00-04:00

SOM's design for Jiuzhou Bay—a new mixed-use neighborhood located along the Pearl River Delta in Zhuhai, Guangdong Province—will transform the waterfront of the Greater Bay Area’s burgeoning tech hub and create a blueprint for future development in China. The low-carbon community takes its inspiration from the region's maritime history and will feature offices, residences, retail spaces, and infrastructure for the city's new residents and visitors.

SOM was selected from a shortlist of 10 global designer firms to design the new 5.6 million-square-foot mixed-use development. The concept contains plans for an expansive transportation hub that will offer connectivity to land, sea, and rail across 40 acres.

Five modular canopies make up a core element of the design, enclosing three sides of the 1.8 million-square-foot port. "The forms of the canopies are inspired by the local legend of the Fisher Girl and reflect the fishing nets commonly seen on the coastline throughout the region," sai...

Hollywood Center Project near Capitol Records Building moves forward

2020-04-21T11:59:00-04:00

A proposal to build a large high-rise complex near Hollywood and Vine continues to move forward, according to a draft environmental impact report published by the City of Los Angeles. The Hollywood Center development, which would replace parking lots adjacent to the Pantages Theatre and Capitol Records Building, is being developed by MP Los Angeles - an affiliate of Millennium Partners.

Handel Architects and James Corner Field Operations are the collaborating architects on the $1-billion mixed-use Hollywood Center Project.

Previously:

London, New York, Hong Kong are the most expensive cities in new International Construction Cost Index

2020-04-02T17:35:00-04:00

The latest International Construction Cost Index has just been released, and the top spots don't really come as a big surprise: London, New York, Hong Kong, Geneva, and San Francisco are the planet's most expensive cities for construction.

Compiled by design and consultancy organization Arcadis, the 2020 ICC Index surveyed construction costs, market conditions, and expert opinions in 100 large cities across six continents.

The top ten most expensive cities are:

1. London
2. New York
3. Hong Kong
4. Geneva
5. San Francisco
6. Copenhagen
7. Tokyo
8. Zurich
9. Dublin
10. Edinburgh

The ten cheapest surveyed cities are:

91. Hangzhou
92. Bangkok
93. Chengdu
94. Guangzhou
95. Wuhan
96. Shenzhen
97. Kuala Lumpur
98. Mumbai
99. New Delhi
100. Bengaluru

Arcadis 2020 International Construction Cost Index (Source)

The report also highlighted emerging industry trends associated with climate change, such as sustainable construction, decarbonization, climate resilience, and emission reduction goals.

New this year...

A look at Austin's new crop of downtown towers

2019-12-16T18:16:00-05:00

There’s no question Austin is a boomtown. A record-breaking 8.1 million square feet of office buildings is under construction in the capital city, according to CoStar Group Inc., as developers and investors try to capitalize on rising prices and continued demand for space. Austin ranks No. 2 in the country for office construction, behind Nashville — although the Texas capital has the momentum to overtake the Tennessee capital in the coming months.

The list of new Downtown Austin towers — under construction or proposed — contains the Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects-designed Block 185 for Google, the 36-story Indeed Tower, the Quincy by Ziegler Cooper Architects, the 66-story 6 x Guadelupe as well as a new University of Texas at Austin high-rise with Gensler as architect, and a 117-unit condo tower designed by Rhode Partners among many others.

Already under construction, Block 185 tower is entirely leased by Google. Image courtesy of Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects/STG Design/Trammell Crow Company.

If Austin's stock of Postmodernist skyscrapers is your preferred flavor (or not at all), read our recent piece Does a critique of Austin's 1980s skyline hold up?.

New photos of Álvaro Siza's first U.S. building in NYC

2019-12-10T15:00:00-05:00

Archinect has received new photos of 611 West 56th Street, the first state-side building by Portuguese architect and 1992 Pritzker Prize winner, Álvaro Siza.

Currently under construction in Manhattan, the 37-story luxury condo tower is being jointly developed by Sumaida + Khurana (the group behind Tadao Ando's first New York City project at 152 Elizabeth Street) and LENY.

Photo: João Morgado

In a recent NYT interview, the 86-year-old Siza shared his response to winning this commission. "I didn’t expect to have the opportunity to build in Manhattan. Now, at my age, I thought I had lost the opportunity. I was very happy to be invited and thought, 'Well, let’s see if I still have energy for this project.'"

Photo: João Morgado

"Located at 823 11th Avenue at the corner of 56th Street in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood, 611 West 56th Street measures 172,000 SF, over 450 feet tall and to be 37 stories," explai...

Heatherwick Studio releases new interior visuals of Lantern House

2019-12-05T18:19:00-05:00

Debuting his first residential building in the U.S., the London-based designer has released more visuals for the site-specific sculptural glass lobby pavilion within the Lantern House.

Aimed at merging sculptural forms with a homely appeal, Heatherwick and his team intend for the lobby of Lantern House to create a space "minimizing corners and edges to develop seamless transitions from the street to the indoors while offering unbostructed views of the surround outdoor courtyard."

Lantern House Lobby. Rendered image courtesy of Related Companies

Rendered image courtesy of Related Companies

Heatherwick shares, "People love to live in memorable places. As the High Line’s amazing riveted steel structure goes straight through the middle of our site, we knew we mustn’t miss the chance to borrow all its texture and character to make an idiosyncratic arrival experience for the building’s residents. To not compete with the soulful materiality of thi...

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.

Residents despise proposed Morphosis' Sunset Strip development

2019-10-14T11:30:00-04:00

The Morphosis-designed Sunset Strip development Viper Rooms recently sparked much debate among Archinectors, and now it has ignited further dispute among WeHo residents. "Residents erupted in anger when West Hollywood city staffers announced Thursday night that the aesthetics of a Morphosis-designed redevelopment of the Viper Room on the Sunset Strip would not be considered in a state-mandated environmental analysis," reports Curbed LA.

The backlash came at a public community meeting held by the city of West Hollywood "to update the residents on the project, review the environmental impact report process, and get feedback from the community." But, it's tough to get feedback when the majority of participants detest the proposed design. According to Curbed LA, only one of the thirty people in attendance approved of the design.

The majority, however, feel that the avant-garde look doesn't "belong on Sunset Boulevard," but "could be in Dubai or Vegas." Moreover, it appears that due to s...