Archinect - News

Major Baltimore bridge collapses after being struck by container ship

2024-03-26T11:04:00-04:00

A major bridge in Baltimore, MD has collapsed after being crashed into by a container ship. The Francis Scott Key Bridge, which spans 1.6 miles over the Patapsco River, was hit by the 1000-foot-long ship just before 01:30 ET.

Rescue efforts are ongoing for as many as seven people believed to be missing, while two people have already been pulled from the water alive. As the bridge was struck, contractors were working on the bridge to repair a concrete deck.

According to early reports, the container ship ‘Dali’ was leaving the port of Baltimore en route to Sri Lanka. On approach to the bridge, the ship deviated from its charted route, colliding with one of the bridge’s main concrete pillars. Upon impact, the bridge quickly crumbled into the river.

The bridge opened in 1977, designed as a steel arch continuous through truss bridge. At the time of its completion, the bridge’s main 1.6-mile span was the third longest of any continuous truss bridge in the world.

To maintain its structura...

Shigeru Ban team constructs Paper Log House prototype in wildfire-ravaged Maui

2023-12-08T17:32:00-05:00

A new collaborative project between Shigeru Ban, the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Architecture, and Hawaii Off-Grid Architecture and Engineering has been constructed in Maui, providing residents of the community with much-needed temporary accommodations following the aftermath of the deadly spate of wildfires that killed 97 and destroyed another 2,000 structures in August of this year.

The installation of Ban's Paper Log House housing prototype in heavily afflicted Lahaina follows previous contributions to earthquake recovery efforts in Turkey and Morocco through Ban’s nonprofit Voluntary Architects’ Network (or VAN), which was first founded in 1995.

Image courtesy Hawaii Off-Grid Architecture and Engineering

“We are so grateful to Shigeru Ban and the Volunteer Architects Network (VAN) to inspire and remind us of the compassion and creativity that architecture and architects can provide to our communities,” Hawaii Off-Grid principal David Sellers told local news outlet La...

World’s tallest full-scale building earthquake test takes place at UC San Diego

2023-05-10T15:09:00-04:00

UC San Diego has hosted the tallest full-scale seismic building test on an earthquake simulator. The LEVER Architecture-designed 10-story building, made of cross-laminated timber, was tested on what the organizers say is the world’s largest outdoor shake table.

Image credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

Tests on the structure began in late April, where a shake table simulated earthquake motions recorded during prior earthquakes covering a range of magnitude 4 to magnitude 8 on the Richter scale. The range also included various iterations of the 6.7 magnitude Northridge Earthquake which struck Los Angeles in 1994.

Image credit: UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering

The shake table used in the test has been designed to “reproduce the full 3D ground motions that occur during earthquakes” including a movement of up to six degrees of freedom. Atop the table is what the team has dubbed the Tallwood building: A 116-foot-tall cross-laminated timber structure roughly one-fifth...

Designing for disaster in an increasingly fire-burdened California

2023-04-19T11:45:00-04:00

Each home was considered to be built to shelter-in-place standards, with ignition-resistant construction and materials—a cutting-edge approach for the time, though the standards have since been adopted into state and local codes. They are little fortresses of tile roofs, stucco walls, hardscape patios, and covered eaves. [The] heavy fortification gives the communities—both the structures and the people who shelter in them—an extra chance to survive.

The state is in a bind caused by its dire need to quickly enact affordable housing and the movement of populations into liminal wildland-urban interface zones, both of which are placing more people in the fight or flight predicament that’s leading to more innovations in residential design surrounding the concept of defensible space.

Experts point to homes in the Rancho Santa Fe neighborhood in San Diego as exemplars of fire safety that the rest of the state is still lagging to catch on to, hemmed in by costs that are making defensive evacuation plans harder to execute. “Shelter-in-place really was a theory,” local fire protection specialist Brandon Closs told the MIT Technology Review, “it’s still a work in progress.”

Shigeru Ban deploys paper partition system shelters in Turkey for earthquake victims

2023-03-03T10:49:00-05:00

Shigeru Ban Architects is operating in Turkey in response to the devastating earthquake that killed more than 50,000 across the region last month while leaving an estimated 3 million unsheltered in two countries.

The firm’s non-profit Voluntary Architects' Network (VAN) released details Thursday about their recent deployment of the same Paper Partition System (PPS) temporary shelter seen in Ukraine and elsewhere in response to situations where masses of people have been displaced following earthquakes in Japan, Nepal, and two other countries.

Ban, who had previously delivered temporary Paper Log House designs to displaced persons after the devastating 1999 İzmit earthquake, pioneered the technique of installing a structure made of approximately 2x2-meter paper tubes over which fabric privacy curtains can be installed. The first PPS version was deployed in Japan in 2011 in response to the 3/11 earthquake and was later mentioned as one of several structural innovations in the citatio...

Amidst increasing wildfires, should we retreat or regroup? A UC Davis proposal recommends taking the high road despite challenges

2022-07-19T16:13:00-04:00

As Spain, France, Greece, and Germany grapple with a spate of historic wildfires that have gripped the region in recent weeks, a group of researchers in the American West is now advocating for fairly extreme shifts in development trends there which would buck others currently favored by the industry that involve more direct applications of design in the built environment.

Writing in FastCompany this week, UC Davis professors Emily Schlickman, Brett Milligan, and Stephen M. Wheeler proposed a three-point plan that entails zoning changes (including San Diego’s approach of avoiding hillside development) and placing severe limitations on new construction, which are seen as a large part of the problem in Northern California and other places.

The trio pointed to recent examples from Los Angeles County and an existing law in Oregon as frameworks that could easily be adopted in the sunshine state, backed up by aggressive legal measures and incentivizations that would further prevent develo...

Four years later, trial begins into collapse of Genoa’s Morandi Bridge

2022-07-08T11:39:00-04:00

A trial has opened in the Italian city of Genoa over the collapse of the Morandi Bridge. A total of 59 people are facing charges over the collapse, which killed 43 people on August 14th, 2018.

As reported by Reuters, the defendants are facing a range of charges from manslaughter to making false statements, all of which they deny. Giovanni Castellucci, CEO of the parent company of the motorway’s operator, faces 15 years in jail if found guilty of his charges, which include endangering safety on the roads and a willful failure to take precautions to prevent disasters.

Prosecutors may call up to 178 witnesses throughout the trial, which is expected to last months. One prosecutor expressed fears that if the trial extends too far into the future, the final verdict may not be delivered before the statute of limitations kicks in, thus ending legal proceedings.

In papers filed last year, prosecutors sa...

A new tool provides wildfire risk data to American homeowners in the face of climate change

2022-05-18T20:15:00-04:00

Wildfires are becoming an increasing threat to American homeowners with the acceleration of climate change, and now a new tool from the nonprofit First Street Foundation will allow them to access probability-based data about the potential risk their property may face over the next 30 years.

By incorporating open-source tax information, satellite imaging, and advanced computer modeling, the Foundation was able to produce a Fire Factor metric and interactive map that details both the intensity of future burns and their ability to move across varying topographies. An individual structure’s score is thus determined by its available defensible space, roof and construction type, and proximity to fuels like trees, shrubs, and wild grasses.

Currently, there is no publicly available data on fire risk similar to the flood damage assessments required by the federal National Flood Insurance Prog...

Italy launches unprecedented anti-seismic plan to protect churches under threat from earthquakes

2022-03-30T14:51:00-04:00

Cathedrals, churches and basilicas across Italy are at risk of being razed by earthquakes that could strike at any moment. But the government is on a mission to protect some of the country’s most significant and vulnerable religious buildings from disastrous seismic shocks. A new national project backed with €250m from Italy’s multibillion-euro pot of EU Covid-19 recovery funding is unprecedented in Europe for its scale and reach, officials believe.

In one of Europe’s most earthquake-prone countries, the anti-seismic plan will allow the Italian culture ministry’s heritage safety department to distribute resources around the country that will mitigate the impact of future disasters. Straps and chains will be wrapped around bell towers and shock-absorbing blocks will be fixed to foundations. Project grants will be assigned to around 250 of the 840 structures owned by Italy’s Religious Buildings Fund. The ministry will assess buildings based on their historical value, importance for local communities, and vulnerability to damage.

This initiative is backed by Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan, a €191.5 billion ($213.7 billion) investment package from the EU focused on addressing judicial, administrative, and energy reform. Funds are being channeled into “macro-projects” aimed at preserving and rejuvenating Italy’s cultural sector....

Beirut port explosion survivors are pushing to have the remaining silos preserved as a memorial site

2022-02-24T13:45:00-05:00

Last August, Swiss engineering firm Amann Engineering GmbH concluded that the iconic grain silos are at risk of collapsing as they slowly tilt. The Lebanese government, notably Economy Minister Amin Salam who is in charge of the silos, has echoed similar sentiments, which has angered the families of the devastating blast’s victims.

The structure was comprised of 42 individual reinforced concrete cylindrical silos and is credited with preventing the blast radius from further impacting the heavily-populated western portion of the city, which could have killed into the thousands. The remaining portion has since become a de facto memory site to those lost in the blast (and its survivors) similar to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial that was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.

Back in May, Beirut issued an international call for proposals for a port renewal competition that includes the silo site. Many Lebanese citizens have responded favorably to the restoration of the silos in support of victims’ families who have become fed up with the controversial judicial investigation into the blast’s root causes. The struggle has drawn parallels to the failure to hold certain parties accountable after its devastating Civi...

Tsunami Towers are about to spring up along the Pacific Northwest shorelines

2022-02-08T12:37:00-05:00

“The fact of the matter is that if a tsunami occurs tomorrow, we are going to lose all of our children,” said Andrew Kelly, the superintendent of the North Beach School District, which includes Ocean Shores. Mr. Kelly is one of a growing number of local officials who are calling for a network of elevated buildings and platforms along the Northwest coast that could provide an escape for thousands of people who might otherwise be doomed in the event of a tsunami.

Voters in the Washington state community of Ocean Shores will decide today on a measure that would install a pair of tsunami towers that can hold up to 800 people. Residents in the immediate shoreline region would have only ten minutes to escape potentially 100-foot waves propelled by a quake in the shallow offshore Cascadia subduction zone. The state estimates that around 70,000 people would be trapped in low-lying areas that have no bluffs or tall buildings which can be used as an escape.

The elevated steel platforms can be placed on top of parking garages, schools, and other structures to achieve a safe vertical distance from the inundation, although many such buildings in the area are not sufficiently seismic-ready to withstand magnitude 9.0 tremors. Washington has proposed 58 such towers, which cost around $3 million each to construct. To date, only two structures have been completed: one at a facility operated by Oregon State University, and the other, at Ocosta Elementary Sc...

Modular bridge reconnects critical route for Louisiana community hit by Hurricane Ida

2021-12-22T15:59:00-05:00

An international bridge engineering and supply company by the name of Acrow has recently supplied a modular steel bridge to temporarily replace a bridge that was destroyed during Hurricane Ida in Louisiana.

When the hurricane hit the country on August 29th, the Category 4 storm caused widespread damage to infrastructure across the northern Gulf Coast and beyond, including a vital bridge that provided passage between the communities of Lafitte and Barataria in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana.

As stated in Acrow’s press releases, the 400 residents of Barataria became isolated as their only vehicular bridge to the mainland was destroyed. In response, the Louisiana National Guard installed a temporary floating bridge to enable access for first responders and residents, however, it could only support a single lane of traffic. A larger, longer-term temporary bridge was needed to meet the needs of the community’s residents.

Previously on Archinect: Mayhem in New York City and across the Nort...

One Northern California designer is replenishing housing stock in the region with new, fire-resistant prefabs

2021-08-06T15:03:00-04:00

A Chico-based general contractor with a degree in architecture is attempting to use pre-fabricated, non-combustible, eco-friendly and customizable home packages to help rebuild homes in Paradise and other areas of California where replacement homes due to natural disasters still must be built.

The city of Chico was in the crosshairs of the 2018 Camp Fire, which destroyed over 18,000 homes in and around Butte County over a 17-day span. This week, an entire town in Plumas County was razed by the Dixie Fire. Steelmaster has more on Vern Sneed's Q Cabin Kit here.

Related Reading: UCLA's Department of Architecture and Urban Design has been at the forefront of fire-related building resiliency since launching the FireCity and FireLAnd initiatives last year. Read our recent interview with Associate Adjunct Professor Jeffrey Inaba and Professor Hitoshi Abe here.

Keeping Hong Kong flood-free

2020-07-29T17:58:00-04:00

The city's complex drainage system protects Hong Kong from once-disastrous flooding caused by seasonal typhoons. But will it be strong enough to withstand the effects of climate crisis?

CNN's James Griffiths on the challenges of building a vast rain water-draining tunnel network in one of the world's densest cities and how well it is prepared for ever-intensifying climate and security threats.

"At present, some rain is collected and reused for irrigation and flushing water, but most is still dumped back into the sea, a bitter situation for a city that imports over 70% of its fresh water from across the border in mainland China," Griffiths writes. "With rising temperatures potentially leading to greater water-insecurity around the world, Hong Kong's ability to do more with the water that literally falls upon it is more important than ever."

Grenfell Tower fire: lawsuit launched against US building material suppliers

2019-06-21T14:51:00-04:00

American attorneys famous for claims in construction disasters have launched a landmark wrongful death lawsuit in Philadelphia against three US companies on behalf of 69 of the 72 people killed in the 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London, and 177 who were injured in the tragedy.

"They are targeting Arconic, Inc., which they claim supplied the Reynobond Polyethylene Cladding (PE) panels on Grenfell; Celotex Corporation, which they claim supplied the insulation used in the cladding system; and Whirlpool Corporation, which manufactured the fridge-freezer thought to be linked to the start of the fire," reports Global Construction Review.

How many fires does it take to get to the center of a solution?

2018-11-28T14:53:00-05:00

Nearly 16,000 structures have been destroyed in the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive fire in the history of California. (The next nine worst blazes in the state together destroyed 20,500 structures.) The devastation is in part a story of how climate change–induced “boom and bust” cycles of rainfall and drought have made firetraps of California forests. But it’s also a story about the way we build.

In lieu of recent events, California has been hit with a wave of wildfires. Affected in both the Southern and Northern areas of California, the recent months have left many Californians with nothing. Areas have been reduced to ash, leaving homeowners to evacuate the area. The blame can be pointed to several contributing factors. However, what solutions can be made in order to prevent these destructive fires from engulfing these areas?

Wildfires are nothing new to California, yet, with more and more Westerners wanting to live in or near nature, the number of homes located in the wildland-urban interface, or WUI, has increased from 3.3 million to 4.4 million. Homeowners wanting to live in nature is nothing uncommon. States like Colorado or North Carolina have homeowners that share this similar desire. However, the West is filled with wildlands, and wildlands do burn. Historically, wildfires in the West are tied with the mismanagement of forests and land. Along with strict WUI buildin...

Earth, water, wind & fire: making homes disaster-proof

2018-10-10T14:25:00-04:00

Some of the world's most scenic locations for luxury homes — beachfronts, forests, mountains — are also prone to disaster: hurricanes and floods, wildfires and earthquakes. Architects and designers are increasingly tasked with creating gorgeous homes that are also able to stand up to nature's whims.

It shouldn't have to take another reminder from the United Nations that a lot more climate change-related extreme weather scenarios will be heading our way in the coming decades to finally take disaster preparedness into consideration when designing homes.

Motorway bridge collapses over houses and buildings in Italy, leaving 20 dead

2018-08-14T16:29:00-04:00

A motorway bridge, running above houses, streets and railroad tracks in the center of Genoa, Italy, collapsed this morning dropping dozens of vehicles and leaving at least 35 dead and many more injured. Operations remain underway to clear the rubble as at least 30 vehicles sit trapped. Rescuers warn that the death toll may continue to rise as they pick through the debris.

"The collapse of Ponte Morandi is an immense tragedy for our city," said Genoa Mayor Marco Bucci, who told CCN that the collapse "was not absolutely unexpected." Deputy transport minister Edoardo Rixi also confirmed that the bridge had shown "signs of problems" in the past.

Constructed in the 1960s, when many of the country's viaducts, galleries and other infrastructure projects were built, the Ponte Morandi bridge was beginning to show its age. A cable-stayed bridge, the design featured two pretensioned concrete cables used on both sides of the pillar. Subject to corrosion, it may have made the bridge, which re...

Shigeru Ban builds temporary shelter for flooding victims in Japan

2018-07-17T14:17:00-04:00

World-renowned architect Shigeru Ban sprang into action again in a disaster zone by setting up temporary “homes” to give flooding victims here some much-needed privacy. Ban, members of his Voluntary Architects’ Network (VAN) and student volunteers used recycled paper tubes and pieces of fabric to create partitions for evacuees in the gymnasium of the Sono Elementary School in the Mabicho district on July 14.

Torrential downpours and subsequent floods and mudslides have devastated parts of Western Japan in recent weeks. With over 250 people dead or missing and more than 8 million people under evacuation order, this has reportedly been one of the country's most severe natural disasters in years.

Pritzker Prize laureate Shigeru Ban joined the relief efforts with VAN, the Voluntary Architects' Network he's leading, and his award-winning, low-cost, easy-to-assemble cardboard tube emergency shelter system to create a sense of privacy for evacuees having to spend their nights away from their flooded homes in an elementary school gymnasium in Okayama Prefecture.

"It is our mission as professional architects to make living environments better. We are just doing our job," said Ban.

Image: VAN - Voluntary Architects' Network

Image: V...

Archinect is pleased to release Ed #2 "Architecture of Disaster"!

2018-05-21T11:00:00-04:00

After months of hard work reviewing submissions, selecting content, editing, designing and working with the best printers in the industry, we're excited to announce the second issue of Ed, "Architecture of Disaster," is now available for purchase. If you're an annual subscriber, your copy has either arrived at your doorstep or is on its way. For everyone else, you can order now, from our revamped online shop. Copies will be available at selected stockists shortly, including the soon-to-open Archinect Outpost, our experimental retail/gallery/event space in downtown LA's Arts District.

Get your copy of Ed #2 "Architecture of Disaster" here!

“The disaster ruins everything, all the while leaving everything intact.”

- Maurice Blanchot, The Writing of the Disaster

It’s four in the morning and I can’t sleep. I keep thinking about the disaster. Which one? The storm in the Caribbean? Or the ones in the Southeast United States, India, Bangladesh, or Nepal? The earthquake in Mexico? Or Tokyo...

MADWORKSHOP fellows reimagine the emergency shelter for disasters

2018-05-08T14:37:00-04:00

Through a plethora of over-designed shelters, interventions, and temporary housing prototypes, professional architecture has attempted to pick up on issues of global mass displacement. Despite the endless stream of projects of this nature, little has changed and cots in gymnasiums remain the standard, insufficient approach in times of need.

Addressing this issue, Shelter Squared is meant to offer a different design-oriented solution to emergencies. Designed by Jeremy Carman and Jayson Champlain, two of MADWORKSHOP's 2017 fellows, the flat-packed, approximately mattress-sized shelter takes less than fifteen minutes to assemble, and can be stored on-site making it immediately available in any scenario.

The units are constructed with lightweight, waterproof panels for easy maintenance and use velcro connections to ensure simplicity of assembly. Each unit provides an operable fabric enclosure, clean floor, roomy sleeping quarters, lockable...

26-story building in Brazil collapses after massive blaze

2018-05-01T13:29:00-04:00

An abandoned 26-story building in downtown Sao Paulo, Brazil, caught fire and collapsed early Tuesday, showering the surrounding streets with fiery embers and killing at least one person, firefighters said. About 150 firefighters were battling the blaze, which started at about 1:30 a.m. local time. It is thought to have been caused by a gas explosion, according to reports.

Though officially abandoned as the former São Paulo headquarters of the federal police, about 50 families were believed to have occupied the building as squatters. Most people have reportedly managed to get out, however at least one person died in the building collapse, firefighters said.

Five buildings tilt dangerously after magnitude 6.4 Taiwan quake

2018-02-07T14:39:00-05:00

Yesterday, a magnitude 6.4 quake struck the Taiwanese city of a Hualien, Taiwan. So far, in its wake, the damage has left seven dead and injured 262 others; sixty-three people still remain unaccounted for. according to CNN.

Since, emergency workers have been working diligently to rescue those who remain unidentified. Many are believed to be trapped in the numerous buildings that have caved in and begun to tilt dangerously to roughly 40-45 degree angles. Among these, are four buildings—a 12-story apartment building, two hotels, and a military hospital.

The addition of rain following the wreckage has exacerbated the problem, causing some buildings to tilt at an alarming rate of five cm per hour. Mobile cranes are being used to prop up the leaning structures as rescue efforts continue.

Twenty-four years after the Northridge quake, Los Angeles still has thousands of 'soft-story' buildings to retrofit

2018-01-18T14:08:00-05:00

Los Angeles city officials and property owners are making progress on retrofitting the types of apartment buildings that proved especially vulnerable in the 1994 Northridge earthquake. [...] As of this month, retrofits on 608 “soft-story” buildings are complete and another almost 4,000 retrofits are in progress, according to the mayor’s office. More than 13,000 of an estimated 13,500 soft-story buildings have been issued orders to comply, the first step on the road to retrofitting.

Commemorating the 24-year anniversary of the 1994 Northridge Earthquake which devastated the greater Los Angeles area on January 17, Curbed LA reports about the status of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti's effort to retrofit all of the city's 13,500 "soft-story" buildings — like the ubiquitous, and extremely vulnerable, dingbat-style apartment buildings.

Deadline for Ed #2 'Disaster' submissions extended until January 30

2018-01-04T12:00:00-05:00

With 2017 in the rearview mirror, Ed wanted to take stock of where we are and where we’re going. But despite our best attempts at optimism, things didn’t look so hot. Our rents are rising. The climate is getting crazy. Nuclear war seems right around the corner. It began to feel like the only thing we can depend on is our monthly student loan bill. That is, we couldn’t help but notice that we’re in the middle of a sh*tstorm.

For our second issue, Ed is trying to grapple with the seemingly widespread sense that things are bad and probably getting worse. That is, we’re trying to think about architecture and disasters: How does architecture play a role in creating disasters? How can architecture help mitigate them? Are there such things as disasters in architecture itself? What even qualifies as a disaster anyway?

Credit: KC Green

Late last year, we began accepting written submissions of around 1500-2000 (max.) words (Chicago-style citation), as well as visual and built projects, that re...

Call for Submissions now open for 'Ed' #2: Disaster!

2017-11-22T12:13:00-05:00

The last few months alone have seen cataclysmic storms devastate the Caribbean, the Southeast United States, India, Bangladesh, and Nepal, while intense wildfires have scorched Southern California, the Pacific Northwest, Southern Europe, North Africa, and Central and South Africa. The effects of climate change, it would seem, are ramping up. And, alongside extreme weather, related resource-driven conflicts are multiplying across the world, from Syria to Somalia. With more than half the world’s population living in cities, a majority of which are along waterways and coastlines, built environments not designed to accommodate rising tides or other environmental crises are being tested. In short, we live in a world marked by disasters. The foundations upon which we build are shaking; the ground has been revealed as unstable. What is the role of architecture in all this? How does it contribute to disaster scenarios? How can it mitigate the effects of a warming planet?

But this climate of...

Having endured two major hurricanes, Puerto Rico's museums begin to reopen

2017-10-05T15:11:00-04:00

Three weeks after the category four Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on 20 September, devastating the US Island, knocking out power and killing an as yet undetermined number of residents, local museums are back to work and helping with community relief efforts.

While the U.S. President spent his visit in double-hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico tossing rolls of paper towels into the crowd like t-shirts at a Knicks game, the island's museums are busy assessing the damage and getting their institutions reopened to the public.

The AIA urges lawmakers to reject rollbacks and issues seven infrastructure principles

2017-09-13T19:54:00-04:00

The American Institute of Architects released a statement this morning, in light of damage wrought by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, urging policy makers to reject any weakening of building codes. President Thomas Vonier advocated for state and federal legislators to reject attempts to roll back protections pointing out that "designing buildings to minimize damage from such natural disasters as hurricanes matters not only for public health, safety, and welfare; it also makes complete economic sense."

The AIA went on to remind that, like bridges and highways, America's buildings are infrastructure too, and as such, are crumbling. "Unless we include buildings in the discussion about our nation’s infrastructure renewal" the statement warned, "taxpayers will be stuck with decrepit community places, higher bills when repairs come due and structures vulnerable to disasters and threats."

Along with the above cautions, the AIA also released the following principles on infrastructure

Infrastruc...

Florida museums prepare to reopen in wake of Hurricane Irma

2017-09-13T19:12:00-04:00

Hurricane Irma, now downgraded to a tropical depression, wrecked havoc across the Caribbean this weekend and killed at least 42 people, but museums in Florida were mostly spared from any large-scale destruction, according to early reports. Following evacuations ordered last week, residents are slowly returning to their homes and some institutions plan to reopen this week.

Just like museums in the greater Houston area rushed to reopen again last week after Hurricane Harvey to reestablish a certain sense of civic normalcy, now institutions in Florida are busy assessing damage from Hurricane Irma, getting started on repairs, and reopening to the public.

The Pérez Art Museum Miami announced that it will offer free admission on Thursday, September 14 and Friday, September 15 and host a variety of activities to "relieve some of the stress from Hurricane Irma."

Post-Harvey Houston reopens its museums

2017-09-06T14:22:00-04:00

As aid workers and Texans begin to take stock of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey, museums across Houston, the fourth biggest city in the country and one of the areas hardest hit by the storm, are starting to reopen. Gary Tinterow, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), announced Friday that the institution would partially reopen on Tuesday 5 September with free admission through Thursday, 7 September. He offered the museum “as a place for reflection and renewal.”

While a leisurely visit to the museum may not be on the minds right now of Houston residents hit the hardest by Hurricane Harvey, reopening its cultural institutions is an important first step for the city to start the long process of recovery and breathe new life into the civic spirit.