Archinect - News

HGTV lists renovated Brady Bunch house for $5.5 million

2023-05-26T17:29:00-04:00

The Brady Bunch house is back on the market — and, this time, it comes with the interiors of your 1970s TV dreams. HGTV is selling the Studio City home pictured in hundreds of establishing shots on the famous sitcom not five years after purchasing it for $3.5 million.

The iconic home, located at 11222 Dilling Street in LA's Studio City neighborhood, was purchased by the Warner Bros. Discovery-owned HGTV in 2018. The network renovated the façade and gutted the interiors. They added a story to recreate the show’s living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and yard, which had all only existed on Stage 5 of Paramount Studios. The midcentury home’s makeover was documented in a 2019 series titled A Very Brady Renovation.

HGTV invested approximately $1.9 million into the renovations, which included the addition of 2,000 square feet to the home.

Previously on Archinect: The Brady Bunch home gets its own HGTV makeover show

When the property hit the market in 2018, it was for the first time in 45 years, with an original asking price of $1.85 million. There had been speculation that it might be knocked down and redeveloped. Now, HGTV is asking for $5.5 million for the home, with the network reportedly planning to donate a portion of the proceeds toward an initiative ...

The abandoned mall featured in hit show, The Last of Us, will undergo a redevelopment led by Toronto-based practice DIALOG

2023-03-16T18:53:00-04:00

HBO’s The Last of Us has taken the TV world by storm, with its season finale recently airing last Sunday. The show has brought to life the immensely popular and acclaimed video game series, placing viewers into a dire post-apocalyptic, zombie-ridden world.

Following the journey of characters Joel, played by Pedro Pascal, and Ellie, played by Bella Ramsey, we see them undertake a cross-country trip where they encounter a range of landscapes and urban locations.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Last of Us HBO - Status (@hbosthelastofus)

One of the most memorable is seen in the show’s seventh episode, “Left Behind,” set primarily in an actual vacant shopping mall. This location is Calgary’s Northland Village Mall, which has been partially closed since 2021 as it undergoes a redevelopment plan led by Toronto-based practice DIALOG.

Rendered in courtesy of DIALOG.

The firm has recently shared renderings of the reimagined mall, depicting an open-air, mixe...

The AIA will partner with CBS on the second season of America ByDesign

2023-03-09T11:00:00-05:00

The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced a new partnership with CBS on the second season of America ByDesign it says will help to showcase “the immense value of architecture to a national mainstream audience.”

Each architect featured in the six-episode series will be an AIA member, offering the public in select audiences the chance to view architecture as a vital service instead of a craft or stratified trade industry.

AIA Executive Vice President and CEO Lakisha Ann Woods said “AIA members play an integral role in the design of so many of the places where we live, work, learn and play. They have told me about the importance of elevating and celebrating architecture in the eyes of the general public, and this partnership helps us move in that direction. It's a tremendous opportunity to showcase our members' skills and expertise as to how design thinking can create a more equitable and sustainable world for us all.”

Related on Archinect: New streaming platform to foc...

BIG designs film studio as ‘dynamic vertical village’ on the Brooklyn waterfront

2023-02-03T10:58:00-05:00

Bjarke Ingels Group has designed a new movie studio to be constructed along the Brooklyn waterfront. Commissioned by production company Samson Stages, the Red Hook Studio is imagined as a “dynamic vertical village, where the building structure is created from the stacking of eight stacked stages.”

Image credit: Samson Stages

The 330,000-square-foot building is projected to cost $400 million to deliver and will include green terraces, parking, and a new public park. Internally, the building will feature a cafe alongside the eight stacked stages.

The Brooklyn studios project is separate from the BIG-designed Wildflower Studios development currently under construction in nearby Queens. Designed for the Robert De Niro-led Wildflower Development Group, the Queens project shares Red Hook’s approach of a vertical film studio, with two levels of sound stages.

Image credit: Samson Stages

News of the studio comes weeks after BIG and Safdie completed a jagged new tower in Quito, Ecuador, as well...

The Eiffel Tower has grown a bit taller for the second time this century

2022-03-16T13:52:00-04:00

The Eiffel Tower grew by six meters (nearly 20 feet) on Tuesday after engineers hoisted a new communications antenna at the very top of France’s most iconic landmark. With the new antenna, the Eiffel Tower grew from 324 meters (1,063 feet) tall to 330 meters (1,083 feet).

The Iron Lady’s first such extension was installed in 1957 and followed in 2000 by the installation of a UHF display, which brought the official height to the just-surmounted total of 324 meters (1,063 feet). Tuesday’s addition of the new DAB+ antenna now brings the structure even further away from its original height of 312 meters (1,023 feet) at construction.

A helicopter was used to transport the antenna to the technicians in charge of installing it at a height of 324m A rare and spectacular technical feat! #tourEiffel330M @TDFgroupe pic.twitter.com/9qytcpAeiT
— La tour Eiffel (@LaTourEiffel) March 15, 2022

Owing to its height, Gustave Eiffel’s iconic structure has long served Paris and the Île-de-France region as a transmitting beacon beginning with its first broadcast in 1898. The radio itself is said to have in part saved the tower from its original 20-year hard cap, gaining a 70-year extension in 1910 thanks to its inventor's self-financed adaptation of then-new TSF technol...

BIG designs $600M film studio with Robert De Niro in Queens, New York

2022-02-15T12:24:00-05:00

Bjarke Ingels Group’s Wildflower Studios has been given the green light for construction in Queens, New York. Designed for the Robert De Niro-led Wildflower Development Group, the new seven-story building will contain a vertical commercial film, television, and creative studio.

Located in Astoria, Queens adjacent to the manufacturing warehouse of the highly-prized Steinway Pianos, the 775,000-square-foot complex will contain 11 main stages, supported by production areas, open and private offices, a fitness room, cafes, and lounges. Externally, the five-acre former industrial plot will contain 310 off-street parking spaces and a waterfront public realm.

Image credit: SYNOSIS

The stages within the building measure 18,000 square feet, with dimensions 150 feet long, 120 feet wide, and 60 feet high. Due to the site’s limited area but generous height allowances, the internal program has been arranged as a vertical film studio with two levels of sound stages, which the team believes to ...

New streaming platform to focus exclusively on architecture and design content

2020-07-21T18:01:00-04:00

Australian actor-producer and entrepreneur Dustin Clare is launching Shelter, a new streaming platform for architecture enthusiasts. The platform is targeting a global audience and will carry a mixture of films, TV shows as well as its own originals.

Shelter's "Inspired Architecture" series will include six fifteen-minute episodes that explore six Australian structures including JR's Hut in Gundagai, Permanent Camping in Mudgee, and Hart House at Great Mackerel Beach. The series explores the narrative of the buildings and their creators, accompanied by interviews with the architects and their clients.

Curated from Australia, New Zealand, Europe, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, United States and South America, Shelter will feature more than 200 hours of content upon launch, with new content to be added every month. The service will launch with the following:

Festival favorite Tadao Ando: From Emptiness to Infinity (2013) pays homage to one of the world’s most renowned architects: the Japanese ‘Master of Minimalism’ Tadao Ando. The film introduces viewers to his famous buildings and offers an exclusive look into his work process, inspiration and motivations.
Winner of Best Documentary at the Atlas Awards International Film Festiva...

HGTV dons open floor plans to attract sledgehammer-happy male viewers

2020-01-07T13:09:00-05:00

According to a recent CountryLiving article, the highly popular open floor plans featured in many HGTV remodeling shows are implemented for reasons most might not guess. Rhonda Kaysen, a New York Times contributor, recently said in an NPR interview, "the reason that they [HGTV] are so big on open concept is because it gets the male viewers. Like, guys like to watch sledgehammers and, like, taking out walls."

So, the open floor plans aren't necessarily the most ideal solution for every home, but rather, a strategic maneuver designed to attract the coveted male viewer.

British TV personality and architect George Clarke launches housing degree program with UK school of architecture

2019-09-18T14:30:00-04:00

Known most notably as the host of the British television series Amazing Spaces, George Clarke has now moved from the TV screen into the classroom. Clarke has helped create a degree in housing design to be run by Birmingham City University, reports Architect's Journal (AJ). The three-year program, entitled Design for Future Living, will consist of workshops led by Clarke and other members of his charity, Ministry of Building Innovation + Education (Mobie).

According to AJ, the program will exist within the existing School of Architecture and will also be taught by some of its professors, but will not be accredited by RIBA or count toward the professional qualification required to become an architect.

The hopes are that this new degree program will create graduates who are uniquely equipped to address the housing needs "within a range of organizations." The head of the school Kevin Singh told AJ, "We are trying to be quite disruptive here. Developers, house-builders, local authoritie...

Meet Gerhardt Fjuck, the architect behind the world's ugliest buildings

2019-08-03T15:43:00-04:00

What does an architect look like? How would this architect act or sound? Comedian Arturo Castro skillfully portrays a fictional "visionary architect" in his humorous sketch series, Alternatino.

The new series airing on Comedy Central illustrates a self-absorbed, pretentious "genius." From the round-framed glasses to his grandiose rhetoric, Castro's take on the fictional visionary Gerhardt Fjuck is indeed comical. Why? Because sadly, this portrayal is not far off from many vapid and semi-altruistic architects of the 21st century.

Image still taken from Comedy Central sketch comedy series Alternatino starring Arturo Castro. © Comedy Central

When watching the four-minute comedy sketch, it causes one to laugh and pinpoint which architects Castro used to inspire this "virtuoso." The comedian's brilliantly overdramatized parody aptly captures the essence of those famed architects we all love to hate and hate to love.

"When you enter a Gerhardt environment, I want you to feel something. I ...

The Brady Bunch home gets its own HGTV makeover show

2018-11-07T15:10:00-05:00

After purchasing the Brady Bunch home in August, HGTV is moving forward with plans to remodel the iconic Studio City ranch house seen in nearly every episode of the 1970s sitcom. The network announced Thursday that the home’s overhaul has officially begun, with six original cast members and some of HGTV’s most recognizable hosts gathering at the house to kick off renovation work.

The Brady Bunch home will return to television once again: while the midcentury house in Studio City, CA actually only served for exterior shots when the show originally aired in the 60s and 70s, it will now be the raison d'être of HGTV's upcoming home-makeover series, A Very Brady Renovation, the network announced last week.

View this post on Instagram The grooviest HGTV project of the year kicked off in a big way with a very Brady renovation day.
A post shared by HGTV (@hgtv) on Nov 2, 2018 at 4:06pm PDT

"In the coming months, HGTV will execute a show-stopping transformation by adding 2,000 square feet to its original footprint—all without compromising its instantly recognizable street view," a company statement announces. "HGTV home renovation stars also will reimagine the popular show’s interior set design, working to ensure that the final renovation results stay true to the spirit of the Brady Bunch family home that everyone loves and remembers. From the unfor...

The architectural styles of Game of Thrones, Studio Ghibli and other popular fantasy

2018-08-28T15:17:00-04:00

Creating a fantasy world involves more than just magic and mysticism; it requires the creation of a built environment to host these stories, folktales, legends, and fables. While CGI and special effects help to make this look as realistic as the newest technology allows, the architectural creations of these worlds are no less impressive, and no less crucial in creating a world of wonder.

Angie's List, the online business directory, has created a tribute to some of fantasy's most popular offerings with pen-and-paper illustrations depicting the different architecture styles of 6 imaginary universes. From the crooked charms of Diagon Alley to Studio Ghibli's floating castles, take a look at some of the most iconic locations without a real-world address.

Game of Thrones:

Harry Potter:

Marvel Cinematic Universe:

Studio Ghibli:

Star Wars:

Skyrim:

Brady Bunch house sold to HGTV for undisclosed amount

2018-08-07T16:15:00-04:00

Discovery Inc.'s HGTV network has won the bidding for the California house that served as the exterior for the home of the family in The Brady Bunch, Discovery CEO David Zaslav said Tuesday. "I am excited to share that HGTV is the winning bidder and will restore the Brady Bunch home to its 1970s glory as only HGTV can," he said on the company's second-quarter earnings conference call [...].

The midcentury house in Studio City, CA served as the make-believe exterior of the Brady TV family's home from 1969 to 1974. It was listed for $1.885M last month, and for a brief moment it appeared that 'N Sync star Lance Bass had placed the winning bid—only to wake up to the news that HGTV had in fact become the new owner with the declared intent to get the house "at any cost" and "outperform any bid" (according to Bass).

The Brady Bunch home could be yours for $1.885M

2018-07-23T13:39:00-04:00

Now on the market for the first time since 1973 is the Studio City residence known the world over as the Brady Bunch house. Built in 1959, the property was discovered by location scouts a decade later and appeared in every episode of the hit TV show except the first. [...] Sited on a .29-acre lot that abuts the LA River, the cultural icon is listed with an asking price of $1.885 million. Due to the intense interest expected, no open houses will be scheduled.

Curbed LA quotes the show's creator, Sherwood Schwartz, explaining in an 1994 interview why this particular house was chosen for the Brady Bunch exterior shots from 1969 to 1974: "We didn’t want it to be too affluent, we didn’t want it to be too blue-collar. We wanted it to look like it would fit a place an architect would live."

Interested? Dig into the listing here.

Jane Jacobs makes an appearance in Amazon's newest hit, "The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel"

2018-01-05T12:36:00-05:00

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel is a charming, new series put out by Amazon. Written by Amy Sherman-Palladino of the early aughts hit Gilmore Girls, the show tells the story of a 1950s, Jewish upper-middle-class housewife, Miriam Maisel (played by Rachel Brosnahan), as she finds her way into stand-up comedy stardom after being unexpectedly left by her husband for his secretary. What ensues over the course of eight episodes, is the delightful, 2017-inspired transformation of her character, from a housewife to a career woman. Mrs. Maisel's routine is accidental, her first "act" occurring as a drunken rant that happens to be on stage after her husband's departure. But, it is her uninhibited, risqué takes and musings on being a mother and a woman that make both her standup and the show itself a pleasure to watch.

Mrs. Maisel's dive into the New York comedy scene leads her to new discoveries about the world off the stage as well. Set circa 1958, a time of many changes, one of the shows joys is...

HGTV as economic indicator

2017-09-26T12:15:00-04:00

A recent, worrisome working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research reported on the tinder of the last conflagration...It was buyers from the top and middle top who account for the skyrocketing rate of default — and it wasn’t that they were buying bigger family homes that they couldn’t afford. It was that they were buying additional houses to flip for a profit

Caitlin Flanagan looks at the gangbusters growth of "flipping" shows on HGTV and wonders if they are perhaps a signal of the next boom/bust cycle in US housing market.

Eero Saarinen documentary to air on PBS Dec. 27th

2016-12-01T13:27:00-05:00

For those who are interested in seeing Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future (reviewed her e on Archinect), they'll have their chance on December 27th when PBS airs the documentary as part of its American Masters Series. The film, which charts both Eero's professional and personal stories, will officially be released on DVD on January 3rd, 2017 from PBS distribution. In the meantime, here's a clip from the film where Eliel Saarinen finds out it is not him but his son Eero who has won the competition for St. Louis memorial design:

What is it that makes HGTV so addictive?

2016-10-19T13:51:00-04:00

They want granite countertops and stainless steel appliances. They want a finished basement and an en suite bathroom. They want (original) hardwood flooring and His-and-Hers vanities. They want it for less than fair market value and in their current neighborhood. [...] According to HGTV, viewers in their target demographic watch the network for an average of two hours and 14 minutes per sitting. But why? What is it about HGTV that makes it so compulsively watchable?

HGTV isn’t a network that accumulates narrative, but it is a network that accumulates detail.

Frank Gehry and Maya Lin find their ancestral roots on PBS

2016-02-05T12:04:00-05:00

Frank Gehry and Maya Lin join the ranks of those who have explored the history of their ancestors via the PBS show "Finding Your Roots." The show, which is in its third season, has attracted a passionate live-tweeting audience, one of whom wryly noted that "I did not know that Maya Lin's teacher gave her a B on her design for the Vietnam war memorial." In the preview clip below, Gehry grapples with the reality of the holocaust during WWII, both in his own family and for humanity at large:

Pedro E. Guerrero spotlighted in latest episode of PBS' "American Masters", premiering Sept. 18

2015-09-18T09:32:00-04:00

Photographers who shoot the work of famous artists are rarely celebrated in their own right...'Pedro E. Guerrero: A Photographer’s Journey'...tracks the career of Pedro E. Guerrero (1917-2012), a Mexican American photographer from Mesa, Arizona, who, at age 22, got his first job taking photos for Wright during the construction of his Taliesin West complex...

Check out a preview of the documentary below.

More about architectural photography on Archinect:

Pedro Guerrero, FLW's photographer, Dies at 95

Pedro E. Guerrero: Frank Lloyd Wright's photographer

Hélène Binet celebrates first U.S. exhibit at WUHO with the 2015 Julius Shulman Institute Photography Award

Uncle Wolfgang

"Building Images" exhibition revives the power of imagery in architecture

How Iwan Baan Became the Most Wanted Photographer in Architecture

Daniel Libeskind launch guest editor of new CNN Style platform

2015-07-01T19:23:00-04:00

Today sees the launch of CNN Style, a new online destination for intelligent, stylish content spanning the worlds of fashion, design, architecture, art, autos and luxury. Throughout July, CNN Style welcomes renowned Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind [...]. As guest editor, Libeskind has commissioned a series of pieces about architecture to be published through July, given an exclusive video interview to CNN Style and written about the interplay of architecture and emotion.

CNN Style launched today with the inaugural editorial piece by Daniel Libeskind, "We mustn't forget the deep emotional impact of the buildings around us."

In the network's announcement, Libeskind is quoted: "I feel very lucky to be CNN Style's inaugural guest editor. It's a brilliant opportunity to communicate ideas about architecture and cities in an exciting new format. The spirit and emotionality of architecture is at the core of my practice [...]."

AIA announces upcoming national television advertising campaign

2015-02-06T12:23:00-05:00

Robert Ivy, CEO of the American Institute of Architects, has just announced that the organization will begin placing 30-second ads on national cable networks and news channels. The ads will begin airing on February 8th and will feature their recent "Look Up" campaign.

The campaign is a 3 year plan to "share the value that architects bring to communities".

What's My Line? Frank Lloyd Wright, game show guest

2015-01-14T11:48:00-05:00

Panel- What you do has anything to do with law? FLW- Unfortunately yes.

Noted: Ladies of the panel don't usually get up to shake the mystery guest's hand but for Frank they do. Is that a sign how noble architect(ure) was?

Vincent Scully Prize 2014 awarded to journalist and TV host Charlie Rose

2014-09-12T18:45:00-04:00

Talk show host and journalist Charlie Rose has been announced as the 2014 recipient of the esteemed Vincent Scully Prize. Established in 1999 by the National Building Museum and named after Professor Vincent Scully to honor his legacy and work, the prize recognizes exemplary practice, scholarship, or criticism in architecture, historic preservation, and urban design.

Widely known as the anchor and executive producer of Charlie Rose and co-anchor of CBS This Morning, Rose will receive the prize in recognition for his insightful interviews with the world's leading thinkers that explore the value of good design as well as the growth and shaping of the urban cityscape.

A gala celebrating Rose and the award will take place at the National Building Museum in Washington D.C. this November. Notable guests include architect Frank Gehry who will offer remarks on Rose. Mr. Rose will also present a special lecture during a public awards ceremony.

Previous recipients include High Line Co-Founders Joshua David & Robert Hammond, Paul Goldberger, Robert A.M Stern, and Phyllis Lambert.

Find out more on Bustler.

Do "Rebel Architects" pose for elite audiences and their 20K a semester students?

2014-09-11T18:08:00-04:00

it seemed perverse to us that architecture has become all about the aesthetics of a few iconic buildings whose main function is the glorification of those with the money to build them. As one prize after another celebrates the work of a selected band of world famous "starchitects", it seemed like humanity's most pressing problems are how to fold metal into the most obscure shapes, and how implausibly high a building can go.

As curated by Daniel Davies on how architecture and design can be used to build a better world, Al Jazeera sheds a light on what really matters as architecture moves into domains of architects and geographies where the works is making difference in people's lives.

"They are architects not paid by international NGOs to parachute in solutions, but working in their own countries with issues they understand at a deep level. They are architects who work independently, rarely getting developer backing, but funding projects themselves. And they rarely get media coverage outside specialist architectural and academic circles."

Seems like real "rebels" don't pose for elite audiences and their 20K a semester students.

Also, curators view.

Interview with Zack Giffin, host of TV show "Tiny House Nation"

2014-07-03T13:29:00-04:00

Zack Giffin is [...] a host of a new series, “Tiny House Nation,” beginning Wednesday on FYI, an A & E Networks channel that used to be known as Bio. When we caught up with him by phone last week, he was on the road for the show, which chronicles those who live the tiny-house life. The chalet, he said, was sitting on a trailer “in a lovely field in Lummi Island, Washington State, on my parents’ property, which is where it lives when we are not around.”

Previously:

PBS' premiere of "Time Scanners" brings 3D digital preservation technology to a wider audience

2014-07-01T13:53:00-04:00

PBS taps into the growing presence of 3D digital preservation on their new show, Time Scanners, which will premiere its first episode tonight at 8 p.m. ET. The three-part series will peruse the ancient iconic sites of the Egyptian Pyramids, St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, and the city of Petra in Jordan through the use of 3D laser-scanning technology.

Hosted by Dallas Campbell, each episode will follow Steve Burrows — the notable structural engineer known for working on the Bird's Nest Stadium at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics — and his team of investigators as they discover each landmark's physical and forensic history and scientific secrets.

Below are summaries of each episode:

July 1, Egyptian Pyramids: "The team travels to Egypt to scan the pyramids to find out how the necropoles evolved from simple mud-brick structures to the most impressive buildings in the ancient world. They use their laser technology to scan Djoser’s Step Pyramid at Saqqara, Meidum’s collapsed pyramid, the m...

TV shows are great indicators of urban trends, thanks to market research and popular influence

2014-06-17T13:49:00-04:00

Popular shows also are important predictors of the future of the built environment, thanks to Hollywood’s extensive consumer research and the instant feedback to current shows, and so TV tends to reflect how we live today and, more importantly, what we aspire to tomorrow. [...] We selected the most popular of six eras that captured best how we aspired to live “as seen on TV” based on time period and the development pattern that was being represented.

Charlie Rose interviews Tom Pritzker & Shigeru Ban

2014-03-26T17:41:00-04:00

We conclude with Tom Pritzker, Chairman and CEO of the Pritzker Organization on this year's winner of the annual Pritzker Architecture Prize, Shigeru Ban.

PBS's "UNUSUAL SPACES" profiles Berlin-Tempelhof Airport, "The Mother of All Airports"

2014-03-11T17:27:00-04:00

In the center of the sprawling metropolis of Germany's capital, Berlin-Tempelhof Airport stands as both a monument to a darker era in Germany's past and a link to its future.

Built on an airfield where the Wright Brothers once demonstrated their Flyer before a captive European audience, Tempelhof Airport was conceived by the leaders of the Third Reich as a architectural testament to the boundless ambition of German supremacy. Captured by the Soviet Army in 1945 before it could be completed, turned over to American forces following the Conference at Yalta, and then serving as West Berlin's lifeline to the free world during the Cold War, the airport was a central set piece in 20th century history.

After decades of dwindling postwar commercial operation following the construction of other regional airports, a referendum for its closure was narrowly approved in the mid-2000s. Since its official closure in 2008, however, a dramatic new vision for the airport has emerged...