Archinect - News

Michael Hsu Office of Architecture offers $20,000 pro-bono Design for All Partnership to south Texas nonprofits

2023-04-20T16:50:00-04:00

A unique new philanthropic initiative from Michael Hsu Office of Architecture (MHOA) is offering nonprofits in the Austin, Texas area the chance to win a $20,000 pro-bono consultation in the interests of providing much-needed space to organizations affected by the city’s rapid transformation into a new capital for America’s high-tech industries.

The firm recently announced it will be accepting design proposals for what is now its second iteration of the Design for All Partnership "seed program" that last year afforded the organization Austin Angels the chance to construct a new foster care facility at a vacant former church lot in the Buda neighborhood.

"A lot of these nonprofits are having a hard time finding affordable space," MHOA founder Hsu told the Austin Chronicle of his firm’s endeavor. "And there's all sorts of challenges in trying to build something even if they do find a space because it's so time-intensive. There's a lot of hidden costs, and part of this [partnership] i...

Conrad Gargett selected to design Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman's Nonprofit City HQ

2022-06-24T12:57:00-04:00

Conrad Gargette has been selected to design what will eventually stand as the focal point of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s epynonymous Nonprofit City development in Riyadh.

The Australian firm will remake a site situated between two ravines in the middle of the capital’s Irqah neighborhood. In a press statement, firm leaders credited the Prince’s idea of creating an environment geared towards youth and entrepreneurial goals as spawning its interest in one of the many large state-sponsored developments on the horizon for the changing oil producer in the next decade-plus.

The scheme was first made public back in November and follows the recent of a separate “smart city” megaproject (led by the Prince's development czar Nadhmi Al-Nasr) called NEOM that is planned for the country’s northern coastal region with help from Bechtel and Thom Mayne.

Image courtesy Conrad Gargett

Both are in line with bin Salman’s calculated a...

Snapchat co-founder offers to repay student loans for Otis 2022 grads

2022-05-18T14:47:00-04:00

Otis College of Art and Design has received a significant donation that will allow for the payment of student loans of students in the graduating Class of 2022. The money comes from Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel and his wife Miranda Kerr, KORA Organics CEO and model, through their philanthropic foundation, the Spiegel Family Fund. This is the largest single gift in the history of the school.

“Student debt weighs heavily on our diverse and talented graduates,” said Otis College of Art and Design President Charles Hirschhorn. “We hope this donation will provide much-deserved relief and empower them to pursue their aspirations and careers, pay this generosity forward, and become the next leaders of our community.”

The donation was announced during Otis College’s 2022 Commencement, where Spiegel, Kerr, and interior designer and Queer Eye host Bobby Berk received honorary degrees. Spiegel attended a high school summer program at Otis College when he was 15 prior to attending Stanford Univer...

Habitat for Humanity receives $436 million donation from MacKenzie Scott

2022-03-24T14:09:00-04:00

MacKenzie Scott has donated $436 million to Habitat for Humanity International and 84 of its U.S. affiliates — the largest publicly disclosed donation from the billionaire philanthropist since she pledged in 2019 to give away the majority of her wealth.

Over the next three to four years, Habitat for Humanity International will use a $25 million portion of the donation to address the global housing crisis at scale, with the remaining $411 set to be distributed among the organization’s local affiliates. Habitat for Humanity International CEO Jonathan Reckford says the money will be used to increase the supply of affordable housing, especially in communities of color. Local affiliates will focus on projects in their communities, and the international group will work on broader advocacy and efforts to build homes for working-class families.

“We could not be more excited to get the gift at a time when, in some ways, the state of housing affordability is the worst that it has been in modern times,” Reckford told The Associated Press.

Mark Cuban just donated a trove of World Trade Center drawings to the Cooper Hewitt

2021-09-10T11:56:00-04:00

In 1962, Diniz was hired by architect Minoru Yamasaki as part of the team designing the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. His drawings in the WTC portfolio show viewers the experience of monolithic structures in the context of Lower Manhattan and inside the buildings themselves. The drawings were intended to illustrate Manhattan as a center of international business.

Carlos Diniz' drawings occupy a revered place in architectural history, and his World Trade Center drawings have been by and large kept out of public collections until now. The illustrator was first hired by Minoru Yamasaki in 1962 to give the public a sense of place and scale caused by the architecture that would later become the domineering experience for users of the buildings after they were completed in 1973.

"It strikes an emotional chord with every American," Cuban told Axios. "I wanted the actual drawings to be where any American can see them, and the Smithsonian was the right home."

The Dallas Morning News has more on the billionaire's gift here.

Billionaire business man, art collector and philanthropist, Eli Broad, passes away at 87

2021-05-05T18:05:00-04:00

Eli Broad, a businessman and philanthropist whose vast fortune, extensive art collection and zeal for civic improvement helped reshape the cultural landscape of Los Angeles, died on Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 87. [...] Mr. Broad (pronounced “brode”) made billions in the home-building and insurance businesses and spent a significant part of his wealth trying to make Los Angeles one of the world’s pre-eminent cultural capitals.

Broad is best known for his extensive philanthropic work focused on public education, scientific and medical research, and the visual and performing arts. He, along with his wife Edythe, has given more than $4 billion to support these efforts. Their work has placed them among the leading philanthropists in the United States.

His lasting legacy on Los Angeles is considerable with work including the creation and preservation of the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art, the creation of the Broad, a $140 million art museum that he financed himself that features his collection of more than 2,000 contemporary works, and the Walt Disney Concert Hall, in which he granted $50 million to complete the project.

In recent years, Broad has dedicated a majority of his time to his philanthropic work via his foundations, The Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation and The Broad Art Foundation. With assets of $2.4 billion, they advocate for public education reform and promote the revitalization of Los Ang...

World Home Foundation to focus philanthropy on global housing crisis

2020-07-29T13:55:00-04:00

31-year-old entrepreneur Fanyu Lin has initiated a new philanthropic enterprise called the World Home Foundation, an effort focused on providing homes to undeserved populations that include low income urban citizens, migrants, and refugees.

The new endeavor addresses a common phenomenon in reconstruction projects after natural disasters where low quality tents are provided to the impacted population as shelters while transitional housing is developed and built. "The shelters are often shacks, or low quality tents. There are technologies such as 3D printing which could improve the conditions and speed of building significantly, essentially combining shelters and transitional housing. But to achieve that in reality, it requires people who know the technology, the willing capital, and the right organization to bring it to life," writes Fei Bo in a profile on Lin.

Prior to launching World Home Foundation, Lin founded Fluxus, an architecture and construction technology company, and also...

Serena Williams helps build schools for the underprivileged

2019-12-13T14:24:00-05:00

In a recently released video, Williams donned a pair of jeans, workboats, a hardhat and went to work on Salt Marsh Elementary School in Trelawny Parish, Jamaica. Williams, who has won a total of 39 Tennis Grand Slams – including Doubles titles, has also built grade schools in Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe. Williams built the Marsh Elementary through a partnership with the nonprofit Helping Hands Jamaica, while the schools in Africa were in conjunction with Build Africa.

The work is part of the mission of Williams' Serena Williams Fund and her other charitable efforts, which include the Serena Williams Venture, an organization that seeks to incest in companies that embrace diverse leadership, individual empowerment, creativity, and opportunity, reports Black Press USA.

According to the Helping Hands Jamaica website, the foundation seeks to improve the lives of the next generation of Jamaicans and their communities by creating a world-class education system through investment in infrastructure, resource materials and expertise.

V&A faces pressure to return donations from Sackler family, tainted by role in opioid epidemic

2019-03-12T14:04:00-04:00

The V&A Dundee is facing mounting pressure to return philanthropic donations tainted by opioid profits. The museum has reportedly received a £500,000 grant linked to the Sackler family, who, as the owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, have been embroiled in controversy for their role in fueling the opioid crisis.

The Sacklers have been active philanthropic donors, giving hefty financial support to a number of prominent art institutions such as the Met, the Guggenheim, the Louvre, the Tate, London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, and now the one in Dundee as well.

Debates on how organizations should handle donations have escalated in recent months with many beneficiaries feeling the pain. Last month, protests were held at both the Guggenheim and Metropolitan Museum of Art demanding the institutions distance themselves from questionable funding sources and remove the Sackler name from their buildings.

The V&A Dundee is among the list of high-profile institutions to be met with simi...

MacArthur Foundation doubles high-stakes open call for $100 million proposals

2019-02-28T16:11:00-05:00

In June 2016, the MacArthur Foundation launched a high-stakes contest for an incredibly large grant. The big bet competition, called 100&Change, promised $100 million to whatever group could come up with the boldest idea for tackling one of the world's most pressing challenges.

The winning project saw Sesame Workshop teaming up with the International Rescue Committee in order to create mass media and direct services for refugee children that addresses their unique educational and emotional needs. Picked from over 1,900 applications, other proposals sought to tackle issues such as neonatal health, river blindness, malnutrition, the millions of uninsured Americans, and much more.

Proposals submitted by architects include Architects for Society's project for a rapidly deployable, dignified shelter for disaster relief; Gensler's and Skid Row Housing Trust's work on using prefabrication to deliver effective, streamlined solutions to homelessness; and Miller Design Group's approach to ...

Cooper Union appoints first woman president Laura Sparks

2016-09-20T18:46:00-04:00

It's been a tumultuous year for Cooper Union: after revoking and then reconsidering its free tuition policy for students last year, the institution saw numerous prominent trustees resign. Now, Cooper Union has appointed executive director of the William Penn Foundation Laura Sparks as its first woman president, whose background in philanthropy and successful community engagement seems like an ideal match for the school. As Sparks noted about her appointment:

"I have been impressed with the passion, commitment and determination of Cooper’s board and search committee to ‘look forward’ while also acknowledging and respecting dissenting views and the voices of many throughout the wider school community. I am eager to meet more of the college’s passionate, thoughtful and accomplished students, and to engage with its extraordinary faculty as we move the institution forward while holding true to its founding principles. I am confident that together we can reaffirm our sense of mission, stab...

What financial crisis? Museums across the U.S. benefit from the "greatest intergenerational wealth transfer in history"

2015-02-19T13:46:00-05:00

Cultural giving among America’s top philanthropists fell slightly in 2014, according to an annual ranking of the 50 largest charitable donors released last week by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. This news might come as a surprise to US museum directors, who have been swiftly—and quietly—raising eight-, nine-, and ten-figure donations from eager patrons. Their ambitious capital campaigns make the austerity measures of the recent recession feel like a distant memory.

The Getty Foundation selects the first 10 modern projects to receive grants in worldwide preservation effort

2014-09-18T15:07:00-04:00

For the sake of preserving the holy modern architectural canon (and some), The Getty Foundation officially announced today the first 10 projects to receive grants of their Keeping it Modern initiative. In a race against time among other challenging factors, the philanthropic effort aims to conserve the world's architectural landmarks of the 20th century.

The Foundation states Keeping it Modern will address the pressing issues involved with the conservation of modern architectural heritage through the support for key model projects. Each grant project was selected for its architectural significance and its potential to advance conservation practices relevant to modern architecture.

The first ten projects selected to receive funding are:

(Above) Louis Kahn’s Salk Institute for Biological Studies

Jørn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House

Hilario Candela’s Miami Marine Stadium

Alvar Aalto’s Paimio Sanatorium

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House

Ray and Charles Eames’ residence ‘The Eames House’

I.M. Pei’s Luc...

Phyllis Lambert named as 2014 Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement recipient

2014-05-20T15:31:00-04:00

Phyllis Lambert, Founding Director Emeritus of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, has been announced as the 2014 recipient of the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement. The award comes from the upcoming Venice Biennale -- the 14th International Architecture Exhibition Fundamentals opening June 7 through Nov. 23, 2014. Aside from founding the CCA, Lambert is also widely known for commissioning the historic Seagram Building in New York to Mies van der Rohe.

Lambert was selected by the Board of la Biennale di Venezia, chaired by Paolo Baratta, under Director Rem Koolhaas. She will formally accept the Golden Lion award on June 7 at 11 a.m. in the Giardini of la Biennale, during the 14th International Architecture Exhibition opening and award ceremony.

More details on Bustler.