Archinect - News

New York developer receives $92 million loan to complete project believed to be the largest speculative office building in Brooklyn's Midwood neighborhood

2022-05-10T18:23:00-04:00

A New York developer has scored a $92 million loan to finish a project which is billed as the largest speculative office building in Brooklyn’s Midwood neighborhood.

The construction loan was granted to Baruch Singer, whose Triangle 613, LLC will use the funding to develop a 10-story, 215,379-square-foot Class A office and retail building located at 1497-1538 Coney Island Avenue in Brooklyn, New York. The loan from private lender Parkview Financial came mid-construction. The development is approximately 35 percent underway, with completion expected in October 2023. As detailed by Parkview Financial Founder and CEO Paul Rahimian, the financing will be used to pay off two existing loans on the project with the remainder going towards completing construction.

According to the lenders, more than 30% of pre-leasing commitments are already in place, with the project garnering a variety of tenant prospects including a co-working office, medical office, health and wellness spaces, a restaurant, and supporting ancillary commercial retail uses.

Atelier RZLBD proposes 35-mile-long, hovering megastructure above Toronto's Yonge Street in love letter

2021-06-25T18:03:00-04:00

Through a series of postcards and a love letter, Toronto-based practice Atelier RZLBD has proposed a conceptual project that would add a 35-mile long tower above Toronto’s Yonge Street, the longest street in the world.

Titled #YongeCity, the megastructure would be composed of space frame and shipping containers. But most importantly, it would accommodate 134,000 inhabitants, aiming to reduce the housing market gap in Toronto. According to the firm, this elevated “line” above Yonge Street symbolizes equality and diversity as it is accessible and occupiable to everyone regardless of financial standing or cultural background.

Illustrating the concept is a collection of postcards, concept diagrams, and a love letter to Toronto, which can be viewed below.

Dear Toronto,

Toronto, you are one of the most culturally diverse cities in the world, proudly referred to as “Canadian Mosaic.” However, despite all the optimism, you have also become one of the least affordable cities in the world,...

Superstudio exhibition on view at CIVA

2021-02-12T18:34:00-05:00

The starting point of everything Superstudio did was dissatisfaction with the uniformity of modern architecture, which its left-wing members saw as an instrument of capitalism that disempowered the masses, robbing them of their individuality and freedom. Sometimes, they made fun of the status quo, or took it to absurd conclusions; other times, they imagined utopian futures.

The exhibition Superstudio Migrazioni about the radical Italian "anti-architecture" collective runs until Sunday, May 16 at CIVA in Brussels.

10 unbuilt architectural designs for your Friday inspiration

2021-01-29T18:25:00-05:00

In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.

Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Unbuilt.

Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles.

↑ Futian Civic Culture Center (competition entry) in Shenzhen, China by Mecanoo

↑ Buddhist Retreat Concept in Tianjin, China by GROUNDWORK Architects + Associates Ltd.

↑ XYZ House in Wengen, Switzerland by Axis Mundi

↑ ANATOLE FRANCE in Polanco, Mexico City by Dellekamp / Schleich

↑ Reveal the absence, the un-built (competition entry) in Novosibirsk, Russia by Guillaume Mazars Architecture

↑ Allegories of Home (competition entry) by Zabie Mustafa in collaboration with Neda Kakhsaz

↑ Arizona House in Tubac, AZ by WORKac

↑ Rend, Mend by Jack Stewart-Castner

↑ Detroit Series by John Szot

Click here to see more "Ten Top...

What will space exploration look like in the near future? The inaugural Outer Space competition winners propose their architectural visions

2019-09-17T00:00:00-04:00

Many of us have long been captivated by the fantastical sci-fi visions of space exploration from previous decades, but are these images still the best representation of our future in outer space? For the inaugural Outer Space competition organized by Blank Space (the creators of the popular Fairy Tales Architecture Competition), architects and designers from around the planet were challenged to envision what space exploration could look like within the next two centuries.

Through intricate stories and original artwork, entrants considered how today's scientific and technological advances can shape futuristic visions of space exploration in the near future. “What kinds of structures will be developed to move, house and sustain people? How will robotics, AI, autonomous spacecraft, and satellites enhance our reach?,” Blank Space writes.

The esteemed jury — which included astronaut Chris Hadfield, architect David Benjamin of The Living, Studio Drift, Chris Precht, and more — evaluated ...

Serpentine Galleries, Google, and David Adjaye launch augmented-reality architecture competition

2019-02-06T20:28:00-05:00

Serpentine Galleries teamed up with Google Arts & Culture and architect David Adjaye to launch the “Serpentine Augmented Architecture” competition, which is currently accepting proposals for an augmented-reality installation that will be developed and experienced on-site at the Serpentine Galleries — and located next to the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion — this summer.

The competition is seeking speculative proposals and imaginary city spaces that explore the role and utility of AR in public-space design: How can augmented reality rethink spatiality? How can AR be used to develop new ideas about the way our cities are designed?

The international call is open to architects, designers, games developers, artists, and the like, at any stage of their career. Individuals, teams, and studios can submit. The submission deadline is February 25, 2019 at 10 a.m. GMT.

Give it your best shot, as the winning commission will be selected by an esteemed jury that includes: David Adjaye, Architect and Tru...

The Invention of Wessex: Thomas Hardy as Architect

2018-02-13T14:08:00-05:00

There is a good case for listing Thomas Hardy amongst the greatest of all conceptual architects — the prophet, well before the fact, of a particular type of speculative, imaginary architectural project which would boom a century later.

The 19th-century author Thomas Hardy has never been considered much of an architect. Yet as Kester Rattenbury shows, his creation of Wessex was an architectural project - one that drew on the ideas of his time, but also predicted some of the most inventive architectural work of our own age. Hardy saw rural England through an experimental, modern frame, and his Wessex Project was as radical in its time as Learning from Las Vegas and Delirious New York were in theirs.

A tower that arcs high above New York

2017-03-23T12:09:00-04:00

“What if our buildings were long instead of tall?” ask oiio studio, authors of a new, speculative project titled “The Big Bend”. Their design, which seems to riff on Rafael Viñoly’s 432 Park Avenue Condominium tower, features a horseshoe shaped tower that arcs high in the air, framing Central Park. The project seems hyperbolic, but in their description the architect seem to think there’s meat to the idea.

From the architects:

There is an undeniable obsession that resides in Manhattan. It is undeniable because it is made to be seen. There are many different ways that can make a building stand out, but in order to do so the building has to literary stand out.

We have become familiar with building height measurements. We usually learn about the latest tallest building and we are always impressed by its price per square foot. It seems that a property’s height operates as a license for it to be expensive.

New York city’s zoning laws have created a peculiar set of tricks trough which develope...

Send your ideas to the 2016 Chicago Prize “On the Edge” competition

2016-12-05T19:45:00-05:00

Visionary plans, policy, and infrastructure have all played crucial roles in the development of the city and consequently in the definition of its edge. Today, conflicting interests regarding ownership, use, and value of the Lakefront have produced a stalemate of what this civic treasure could become.

A hotspot for land-use disputes, the urban development of Chicago's Lakefront is the subject of the 2016 Chicago Prize competition, "On the Edge”. Launched on November 29 by the Chicago Architectural Club and the Chicago Architecture Foundation, the competition seeks speculative architectural interventions for the Lakefront “in consideration of the stated issues that imagine and speculate its scape” — as exemplified in recent situations like the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the Barack H. Obama Presidential Library, or the impacts of Lake Shore Drive.

The Chicago Lakefront. Photo: Payton Chung/Flickr.

The CAC asks: “Would new strategies of zoning recharge this long strip of stand-alone city-land? Can architectural interventions function as a framework for the excitation of the edge? How will the collision of the metropolis and the lake create a radical emergence of the unimaginable?”

There is no set program for this competition. A Question-and-Answer period is open now until December ...

Proposals for the puzzle at the heart of Church’s vision

2016-09-05T12:47:00-04:00

Twenty-one architects and landscape architects made concept sketches for a theoretical summer house — an open-air structure sometimes known as a “folly.” It would have occupied a central spot on a grassy knoll on the southern slope that fronts the main house.

Ted Loos reviews a new exhibition, “Follies, Function & Form: Imagining Olana’s Summer House”, running through November 13th at the Coachman’s House Gallery at NY's Olana State Historic Site.

Designing for drones: a condo tower with drone-friendly balconies

2016-08-15T13:08:00-04:00

Make no mistake: Drones are coming, and they’re going to change a lot of things about how we shape our lives. So why shouldn’t we change how we shape our buildings to get ready for them? [...] That’s the basis for my Drone Tower, which would look like a futuristic condo building, with large balconies built to accommodate small electric aircraft or shipping drones. You wouldn’t need to buy your own drone, you’d simply order a ride with an app like a taxi—and hop in right from your terrace.

For more on the intersections between autonomous flying machines and the city, check out these links:

Alissa Walker imagines a "utopian" Los Angeles in 2056

2016-07-06T15:12:00-04:00

Sorry, I’m not able to send this directly through SnapFace since your iPhone 6 doesn’t support neural chat. Old-fashioned text pixels will have to do. Remember the movie “Her”? That’s what Los Angeles is like in 2056. L.A. is the densest city in the U.S., with a population that’s about a third larger than it was in 2016. Taller buildings are everywhere, including New DTLA — a corridor of super-talls that runs the length of Wilshire all the way to Santa Monica.

The speculative fiction details a "utopian" city primarily characterized by efficient, far-reaching public transport and fewer cars. There's no longer a drought, and buildings are wrapped in "solar skins" designed by Elon Musk.

For more speculative visions of a future California, check out these links from last summer's Dry Futures competition:

Here's a dose of design inspiration from Superstudio, the radical 1960s "anti-architecture" collective whose influence continues today

2016-04-13T18:23:00-04:00

HALF A CENTURY AGO, a group of 20-something architecture students from Florence decided to assume the small task of conceiving an alternative model for life on earth. Contemptuous of the long reign of Modernism, which they felt had sold itself as a cure to society’s ills and never delivered, they were jazzed by American science-fiction novels and the political foment of the 1960s. They gave themselves the colorfully assured name Superstudio...

"Architecture and the Unspeakable" full-length film now released

2014-10-13T18:57:00-04:00

The full-length version of "Architecture and the Unspeakable", directed by John Szot and produced by Brooklyn Digital Foundry, is now officially released to the public. The film features three architecture proposals by John Szot Studio, who visualized three fictional buildings in SoHo, Tokyo, and Detroit. Each building represents a pathological issue that also contributes to the cultural dialogue in architecture, thus exploring the connection between virtual architecture and the physical world.

The film has been featured at public events throughout the U.S. since last month. An upcoming screening is currently scheduled for November 13 at the Pinkcomma Gallery in Boston.

Check out the film in its entirety right below.

Also find Archinect's previous interviews with John Szot here.