Archinect - News

T2a Architects transform 19th-century mill into nostalgic housing block

2019-12-11T15:53:00-05:00

Led by Bence Turányi, T2a Architects have finally realized their adaptive-reuse housing block project, called Jazz Lofts. Back in 2005 father-and-son team Gabor and Bence Turányi were commissioned to restore an abandoned 19th-century mill, but after the economic crash in the mid-2000s and a change in vendor, the project was put on hold. Today, 15 years later, along with the arrival of a new owner, the innovative project has been reborn and embraces notions of conservation as well as transformation, seeking to merge the old and the new, into something nostalgically modern.

Before work

After restoration

“We restarted the project at the last moment; it was a question at the beginning if we could even still use the structure because it was so wet and full of salt. The main task was to prove this and to find a way to keep it as it is,” said Bence Turányi, touching on T2a's desire to preserve the building's original heritage. The structure's brick facade blends thoughtfully with the undula...

Will a Louvre x Airbnb partnership be "disastrous" for the tourist-choked museum?

2019-09-20T12:21:00-04:00

In May of this year Airbnb conducted a competition allowing two winners the ability to spend a night at the iconic Louvre Museum in Paris. This "night at the museum" created quite a bit of buzz, however, not everyone was pleased with the museum's new attention and partnership with the billion dollar homestay company.

According to some, Paris is already a place flooded with tourists and visitors. Previously we've reported on the Louvre's overwhelming number of tourists and museum visits and how visitor attendance is affecting the museum staff and community. Recently, the Louvre stated they are teaming with Airbnb by allowing visitors to book after-hours guided tours of the museum when the site is otherwise closed. According to a news release from The Art Newspaper visitors "can be booked via Airbnb whose 'hosts' will show visitors key works (prices start at €30)."

One individual who is irked and disappointed by the Louvre's recent decision is Paris' city deputy mayor of housing, Ian...

Airbnb announces AR and VR system concepts for renting rooms

2017-12-13T13:20:00-05:00

Airbnb announced today (Dec.11) that it’s experimenting with augmented- and virtual-reality technologies to enhance customers’ travel experiences. The company showed off some simple prototype ideas in a blog post, detailing how VR could be used to explore apartments that customers may want to rent, from the comfort of their own homes. Hosts could scan apartments or houses to create 360-degree images that potential customers could view on smartphones or VR headsets.

Airbnb's vision for their new augmented and virtual reality app would also include a way for hosts to leave notes in certain locations as a guest moves through the space. This would make instructions more clear to guests, especially to those who do not speak the same language.

A website offering vacation rentals for architecture lovers

2017-07-26T13:36:00-04:00

PlansMatter is a new travel website that offers vacation rentals for design-minded individuals. The accommodations are hand-picked by two architects, Scott Muellner and Connie Lindor, the founders of the website. The site is not just another Airbnb—listings for each property point to various rental sites, with which the business collaborates.

The selection is exciting in its variety. The site features listings for Rudolph Schindler 's LA Penthouse, Olson Kundig's camping cabins in Washington, James Turrell 's House of Light in Niigata, Japan, F. L. Wright's Kinney House, and many more 'architecturally significant' properties all over the world in which one can stay at a variety of price points.

plansmatter.com

Muellner notes, “It’s great to go to a museum or a public building designed by an architect you admire, but it’s a whole different experience to stay a week in that architect’s space. It’s not just taking a tour; instead of viewing art, it’s living with it.”

...

Check out 2222 Jackson, ODA's new pixelated rental project in Long Island City

2017-04-07T13:58:00-04:00

The New York-based firm ODA has recently completed 2222 Jackson, an 11-story, 175-unit rental project in Long Island City, a mere stone’s throw away from MoMA PS1. The pixel-like, concrete-poured exterior is intended to complement the nearby museum, while simultaneously encapsulating the designers’ “larger mission”. That is to say, the building is designed to work “within”, rather than against, zoning constraints, representing the practice’s focus on “innovating architectural morphology in the interest of improving not only its residents’ everyday experience, but their general quality of life.”

2222 Jackson Avenue from ODA on Vimeo.

The building was conceived as a simple, modular grid with a sequence of 12-feet wide bays. Each studio apartment, which are 32 feet in length and which occupy the width of one bay, projects seven feet past the façade line, in the process producing mid-facade corner windows as well as terraces for the apartments above. This results in 30% more outdoor spac...

REVEALED: SHoP Architects’ Long Island City Waterfront Development

2015-11-25T12:00:00-05:00

Here’s our first peek at Simon Baron Development, Quadrum Global and CRE Development’s three-tower Long Island City development slated to rise alongside the former Paragon Paint factory building at 45-40 Vernon Boulevard. Permits for the first tower were filed with the DOB back in June and detail a 28-story, 296-unit rental tower designed by SHoP Architects.

Long Island City ‘Micro’ Units Will Have Three Bedrooms

2015-10-08T17:45:00-04:00

A micro apartment is typically less than 350 square feet, but the term “micro” is getting an expansion (figuratively and literally) in Long Island City. A new rental complex will offer 57 two- and three-bedroom units ranging from 490 to 735 square feet, according to the Wall Street Journal. The project at 37-10 Crescent Street is being developed by Ranger Properties.

L.A. Ranks as One of the Most Expensive American Cities for Renters

2014-12-01T17:51:00-05:00

The median per capita income in Los Angeles is $27,900. The average rent for a two-bedroom apartment—and, frankly, this sounds low to us—is said to be about $1,400. You can do the math. It's very difficult to keep a roof over your head in this town. Yet another analysis has confirmed this. The folks at Rent.com looked at median rent and median income in America's largest cities and concluded that L.A. is one of the five worst places in the nation for renters.

Study confirms LA is least affordable city for rentals in US

2014-08-22T17:40:00-04:00

The study from UCLA's Ziman Center for Real Estate shows that the average renter in Los Angeles, which has the highest percentage of renters in the country, devotes 47 percent of his or her paycheck to rent. [...] It's the latest depressing news about L.A.'s rental market, and it comes with a twist: affordability is not a new post-recession problem, but one that has been getting worse for decades. “Our studies show a severe housing burden among poor renters has existed since 1970

Airbnb host forced to evict squatter in Palm Springs rental

2014-07-22T13:49:00-04:00

A woman rented her 600-square-foot Palm Springs, California, condo to someone for a little over a month, and now she says the guy won't leave and is threatening to sue her. She's had to hire a lawyer and go through the entire eviction process, which could take 3-6 months, the same as if he were a long-term tenant. It's "been a nightmare," the host, Cory Tschogl, told Business Insider.

Office Rents Cut at One World Trade Due to Tenant Shortage

2014-05-28T13:39:00-04:00

The owners of the tallest tower at the World Trade Center are cutting office rents just months before it opens because of slow leasing activity. Only one private tenant has signed a lease at One World Trade Center in nearly three years: a one-floor deal with advertising firm Kids Creative that was signed last week. The 3.1-million-square-foot skyscraper, formerly named the Freedom Tower, is 55% leased.

Should tenants pay for earthquake retrofitting costs?

2014-02-25T20:17:00-05:00

The city of Los Angeles is considering a proposal from Councilman Bernard Parks that would pass the cost of retrofitting apartment buildings on to tenants. Currently, only 50% of major renovation costs may be passed along to tenants, with landlords and building owners paying the cost of retrofitting.

Curbed asks 6 architecture critics to share stories of their first NYC apartment rentals

2013-11-20T12:19:00-05:00

The creaky staircase was covered in plastic, as was the living room furniture, but the bones were still there: pressed paper wainscoting in the hall, thickly painted moldings. We often got in trouble for walking too loudly in our clompy shoes up to the top floor at night.