Archinect - News

UVA architecture students present ideas for rebuilding a war-torn Ukrainian city to the U.S. Department of State

2024-01-08T14:25:00-05:00

The culmination of the 2023 Fall semester at the University of Virginia saw a contingent of students from UVA’s School of Architecture travel to Washington, D.C., to discuss ideas for rebuilding the war-torn eastern Ukrainian city of Izium upon a special invite from the U.S. Department of State.

Together with Professor Suzanne Moomaw, the cohort of 23 students who participated in the school’s Ukraine Green Recovery Lab were delegated to the National Museum of American Diplomacy in order to present their research to State Department officials, other government representatives, and the Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova.

Highlighting topography and other similarities between Izium and Charlottesville, the students presented six phases of a proposed redevelopment to those assembled. What they took away from it was a rewarding experience delivering findings that will, in turn, be presented to the people of Izium for feedback. All in attendance report to have en...

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...

Shigeru Ban responds to the humanitarian disaster in Morocco

2023-09-28T16:53:00-04:00

Shigeru Ban and the Voluntary Architects’ Network have shared news of their delivery of several Paper Log House prototypes in Morocco in response to the devastating 6.8 magnitude earthquake that displaced over 30,000 people recently, according to disaster response statistics assembled by the UN.

This is the third such deployment in the past four months and follows Ban’s contribution to the Turkish response effort after the February earthquake that destroyed more than 160,000 structures there and in Syria. The National Architecture School of Marrakech is helping Ban coordinate the delivery of the shelters, which were first used following the 1995 earthquake in Kobe, Japan.

Photo: Voluntary Architects' Network via Facebook

The structures used this year in Turkey offer slightly more permanent accommodations than past prototypes and can be constructed in just three days, with another ten or so days required for pre-installation preparation.

Photo: Voluntary Architects' Network via Face...

AECOM awarded FEMA contract to lead flood-risk response in 17 U.S. states

2022-02-16T17:19:00-05:00

AECOM has announced that its Compass Production and Technical Services Joint Venture (Compass PTS JV) has been awarded a contract from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to provide production and technical architectural and engineering services for the Risk Mapping, Assessment, and Planning (RISK MAP) Program.

The contract has a combined program ceiling of $300 million for a one-year base period with four, one-year option years. Compass PTS JV will deliver a range of services related to flood risk analyses, hazard mapping, disaster response, and risk reduction. AECOM will also utilize its engineering and mapping capabilities to provide high-quality local flood hazard and risk data and information at state-level scales.

The contract covers regions that face the most frequent and severe flooding in the country. The states included in the contract’s scope are Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Car...

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...

How Rebuild By Design influenced disaster planning in U.S. cities

2017-01-23T17:25:00-05:00

[Henk] Ovink’s approach called for a systematic rethinking of American traditional disaster response: to simply rebuild whatever was destroyed...In the US, the Rebuild By Design competition represents a dramatic shift in disaster planning, adopting a more comprehensive and collaborative research and design approach to address complex problems and improve resiliency...The competition was widely hailed as a success, but there was room for improvement before its approach could be replicated.

What's next for Rebuild By Design? Following the success of its 2013 competition, Rebuild By Design — now its own organization — is already working to continue helping U.S. cities prepare for climate change and potential natural disasters. In the article, the group looks back at how their approach has evolved and talks about their upcoming Resilient By Design competition for the SF Bay Area.

Checking in on Nepal, one year later

2016-04-26T21:39:00-04:00

As the Nepalese government continues to face criticism for the slow pace of the country’s reconstruction, Nepal’s prime minister Khadga Prasad Oli announced today that the reconstruction of key heritage sites in Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur is to finally begin, the Associated Press reports.

A year after the devastating quake, there is some good news in Nepal. As this article notes,

The World Monuments Fund (WMF) also announced today that it, in collaboration with American Express, was financing the rebuilding of the 16th-century Char Narayan Temple, which was reduced to rubble by the quake. The project is to receive a share of $1m in grants earmarked for five major preservation projects across the globe.

For more on Nepal:

How Chile’s strict building codes help reduce the country's earthquake casualties

2015-09-18T13:39:00-04:00

Wednesday night’s 8.3-magnitude earthquake had left 11 dead and a 175 houses damaged. While the toll wasn’t negligible, the quake — the world’s strongest this year — might have leveled less-prepared countries. “Our structural engineering is world class,” Santos, a 62-year-old engineer at the firm Ingenería Estructuras Consultoría, said by phone. “And it’s made in Chile.”

Related on Archinect:

What architects have learned from rebuilding Port-au-Prince

2015-07-02T14:31:00-04:00

In the five-and-a-half years since an earthquake killed more than 220,000 people here and displaced 1.5 million more, most of headlines from Haiti’s capital have been about dysfunctional projects, mismanagement and the overall slow pace of reconstruction. Yet some innovative urban development work is going on here, often under the radar.

Previously:

Shigeru Ban: Beauty as a basic human need

2015-06-23T14:56:00-04:00

Aesthetics is a primary concern for Ban—not despite, but especially in humanitarian scenarios. He believes that beauty is a basic need, an aspect of a person’s dignity. Erecting beautiful, if simple, structures can ensure that a refugee camp is not labeled a slum. So, when examining available materials in Kobe, he fussed about the color of the beer crates, choosing Asahi’s more neutral plastic bins over Kirin’s glaring red crates.

Last week, Ban visited several U.S. cities on a brief lecture tour, captivating audiences with his thoughts about "the Temporary and the Monumental." Read Archinect's report from his Los Angeles lecture at LACMA here.

Between the Temporary and the Monumental: A Review of Shigeru Ban's Lecture at LACMA

2015-06-19T18:29:00-04:00

“I hate to throw things away,” explained the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban to a packed audience at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art last night. On the projection screen, one of his first works as an architect was displayed: an exhibition of the work of Alvar Aalto, who Ban cited as one of his primary influences. The exhibition was the first time Ban worked with paper tubes, which has become one of his signature strategies. “I couldn’t afford wood like Aalto,” so he turned to the large tubes that had once supported reams of tracing paper. Finding the tubes surprisingly strong, Ban began testing their viability – and the rest has become history.

Throughout the evening’s lecture, Ban spoke with refreshing humility, a quality that often seems lacking among his peers. Many of his most iconic design decisions he attributed to chance, like his use of paper. As Ban worked his way through a retrospective survey of his career, he made frequent quips that enlivened the mood a...

Another powerful earthquake has hit Nepal

2015-05-12T14:35:00-04:00

A powerful earthquake shook eastern Nepal on Tuesday, shattering the halting recovery from the earthquake that hit the country less than three weeks ago, and causing loose hillsides and cracked buildings to give way and collapse. By late afternoon, Nepal’s National Emergency Operation Center had reported 42 deaths and 1,117 injuries from Tuesday’s earthquake, which the United States Geological Survey assigned a preliminary magnitude of 7.3...

Nepal is still reeling from a devastating, magnitude-7.8 earthquake on April 25, which claimed upwards of 8,159 lives. According to the New York Times report, Tuesday's earthquake happened just as a semblance of normality was returning to the streets of Kathmandu and its environs. Landslides have further isolated already-damaged rural villages in the mountainous region. A large percentage of the country's infrastructure is critically damaged, while international relief has been short in coming.

Since the April 25th earthquake, Archinect has been compiling architectural responses and reactions to the on-going disaster.

Archinect's Julia Ingalls compiled a feature, How Architects Can Help Nepal (And Learn From Past Disastrous Mistakes/Successes). Ingalls notes the three phases of a natural disaster – emergency, relief, and recovery – and provides useful ideas for how architects can help in each stage. She notes, "In the emergency phase, architects can help primarily by fundraising or d...

Oakland Hires Its First “Chief Resilience Officer”

2014-08-12T13:50:00-04:00

Oakland has earthquakes, droughts and a host of other resilience problems to tackle. Now it has a Chief Resilience Officer to lead the charge. Today, Oakland Mayor Jean Quan and Michael Berkowitz, president of The Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative, will jointly announce that Victoria Salinas has been tapped as the city’s first Chief Resilience Officer, a position being created in other cities across the world, as well.

Garrison Architects develops post-disaster housing prototype for NYC residents

2014-06-25T21:15:00-04:00

Garrison Architects adds to the pressing topic of 21st-century disaster resilience for dense urban cities with their modular post-disaster housing prototype. Developed for the New York City Office of Emergency Management, the project aims to provide New Yorkers not only with reliable and adaptable emergency shelter, but also to keep residents close to their communities and reduce the necessity of long-term displacement.

More details on the prototype's design below:

"The aim is to create a blueprint for post-disaster housing by utilizing the latest construction technology in conjunction with stringent requirements for safety, sustainability, durability, and universal design.
The five multi-story modules [that Garrison Architects designed] are infinitely flexible: they can be deployed in vacant lots, private yards, or public spaces. When needed, the modules are trucked to a site, craned into place, and plugged into utilities.
With 1- and 3-bedroom configurations, every unit features a liv...

Robotics Challenge: Creating the Disaster Response of the Future

2013-12-19T14:39:00-05:00

The disaster at Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant marked the beginning of the "Robotics Challenge." Developers were rankled by how helpless robots were as they wandered through the radioactively contaminated reactor building. As they swerved around aimlessly in the steam, cables broke and the operators lost contact with the robots. [...] They compiled a list of eight tasks that robots would have to master in the future to be capable of performing well in disaster response.