Archinect - News

SOM unveils new bus shelter designs for a more equitable future LA

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

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill has shared photos of its new bus shelter designs for the City of Los Angeles.

The LA STAP (short for Sidewalk and Transit Amenities Program) shelters are the first prototype designs for the initiative that will eventually install 3,000 shelters and 450 shade structures in need-based locations across Los Angeles over the next decade. Officials from the city's Bureau of Street Services (aka StreetsLA) met in Tarzana last month to preview the designs.

Image: James Michael Juarez © SOM

There, they bore witness to what will eventually be unique new additions to the city's visual landscape. Another 250 total are expected to be installed by June 2025.

Image: James Michael Juarez © SOM

The configurable designs are said to be inspired by the California Modernism movement and will display a digital art program and feature smart lighting technology.

Image: James Michael Juarez © SOM

Leading the contract for STAP is Tranzito-Vector, a joint venture between smart mobi...

A Snøhetta-designed "peace bench" is designed to help UN leaders talk it out

2019-10-17T14:30:00-04:00

Snøhetta's new bench design for the United Nations, entitled The Best Weapon after Nelson Mandela's historic adage: "the best weapon is to sit down and talk," was commissioned by the Nobel Peace Center and is currently installed at the organization's headquarters in New York City.

The project seeks to "pay tribute to past Nobel Peace Prize laureates and their efforts to bring people together to find effective solutions for peace," says Snøhetta in a recent press release.

Image courtesy of Snøhetta

Unveiled back on July 18th, Nelson Mandela Day, the installation is currently being transferred from New York City to its permanent home near the Nobel Peace Center and the Oslo City Hall. Snøhetta worked in collaboration with Hydro, a fully integrated aluminum company, and outdoor furniture manufacture Vestre, to design the work, achieving a six-and-a-half meter-long installation made from anodized aluminum.

True to its purpose the bench is elevated at both ends, bringing together those ...

Architecture of paranoia

2015-04-22T21:19:00-04:00

Since terrorism has become one of the guiding forces in urban design, the incorporation of immense fortifications into everyday streets has spawned an entire industry of defensive architecture [...] The latest developments in this rising tide of urban paranoia are on display this week at the Counter Terror Expo in west London’s Olympia, a sprawling trade show that proudly claims to showcase “the key terror threat areas under one roof”. It is an enormous supermarket of neuroses [...].

DUNE Street Furniture System by FERPECT Collective

2012-07-06T17:56:00-04:00

French design collective FERPECT has shared with us their project DUNE, winner of Forme Publique 2011, the Biennale of Street Furniture Design at the futuristic business district La Défense near Paris. DUNE is being exhibited from March 28 until December 31 on the La Défense square.

The making of Chop Stick

2011-08-16T17:28:00-04:00

The fine craftsmen of Indiana conferencing before the chop down The yellow poplar tree hanging from the crane The tree in a horizontal position The truck is finally loaded The tree outside Anderson, Indiana, ready to roll Truck on its way to Indianapolis on narrow roads with police escort The tree at the 100 acres ready for further refinement.

Visiondivision, a Swedish architecture firm from Stockholm was commissioned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art to create an innovative concession stand for 100 Acres: The Virginia B. Fairbanks Art & Nature Park.

Our friend, Archinect contributor Donna Sink, is the local architect of the record for this project.