Archinect - News

As hammers clang and views vanish

2015-10-03T11:03:00-04:00

residents are taking aim at the disruption caused by construction, the uprooting of cherished institutions, the buildings’ designs and the ever-higher prices attached to the housing that they fear will alter neighborhoods fundamentally.

C. J. Hughes examines how some NYC residents are reacting to an ongoing boom in construction, enabled/exemplified by the rezoning of 37 percent of the city under the Bloomberg administration. From filing noise complaints, pushing for height moratoriums, to fighting against the loss of public space and/or services.

New restrictions on public space in England and Wales could make "unusual or unpopular" behavior criminal

2015-09-08T18:02:00-04:00

Public Space Protection Orders, or PSPOs, came into existence last year under the Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014. Similar to the much-derided anti-social behaviour orders (asbos), PSPOs allow for broad powers to criminalise behaviour that is not normally criminal. But where asbos were directed at individuals, PSPOs are geographically defined, making predefined activities within a mapped area prosecutable.

For a primer to this piece, check out:

Taking a stand against privately-owned public spaces

And for more on contested public spaces:

Editor's Picks #426

2015-08-10T09:55:00-04:00

Julia Ingalls reviewed "Work on Work" the current exhibition at Los Angeles’ Architecture + Design Museum, co-organized by Gensler and UCLA’s cityLAB.

Therein she writes "This feeling of being at an un-airconditioned business conference is not helped by the next section of the exhibit, in which the banners stop talking about history and start getting real about Gensler and cityLAB's speculation on the future of the work environment...the privileged and oversimplified overtones of the exhibit, paired with its refusal to envision a more distinguished balance between productivity and (unstructured, unmonitored, human) downtime make it a bit chilling."

Amelia Taylor-Hochberg Editorial Manager for Archinect dissects the upcoming monographic LACMA (by way of the Pompidou) “Frank Gehry” exhibition, opening September 13. Responding to her question about critical distance given Gehry’s involvement, midlander writes "It's inherently difficult to create a critical exhibit on a living architect....

Taking a stand against privately-owned public spaces

2015-08-04T12:52:00-04:00

the place where cities get “remade” is in the public rather than private sphere. Part of the problem, then, with privately owned public spaces (“Pops”) ... is that the rights of the citizens using them are severely hemmed in. [...] [Pops] feel too monitored, too controlled, to allow this communal activity to simply unfold. London, and many other cities, are failing miserably to enable diversity in people’s engagement with such spaces.

More news from the public space:

Our Parks Are Not for Sale

2013-02-17T17:15:00-05:00

Community activism that simply nibbles at the edges is not enough. Small-scale rebellions can raise consciousness and help bring needed improvements to cities, but what we really need is a revolution.

In the Winter 2013 issue of Dissent (the quarterly magazine of politics and ideas), Alex Ulam follows a thread From the Gold Coast of New York to the Venice Biennale. He argues Spontaneous Interventions "was not an outlier at the Biennale" but indicative of a general movement in support of the "Right to the City". Mr. Ulam then lays out a frame, wherein, the fact that many "municipal parks agencies have become charity cases", a new awareness of POPs, plus the continued selling off of corporate naming rights, are all examples of cities "being redesigned to benefit moneyed interests".

Editor's Picks #264

2012-05-14T11:59:00-04:00

The latest Showcase feature profiles the Summer House in Austria by Judith Benzer Architektur, the design of which is oriented by the cubature of the Kellerstöckel (wine house), typical of the Southern Burgenland region. stroke123 liked it but wondered "how does the roof shed water? Waterproof membrane and concealed gutters and downspouts?".

The latest Showcase feature profiles the Summer House in Austria by Judith Benzer Architektur, the design of which is oriented by the cubature of the Kellerstöckel (wine house), typical of the Southern Burgenland region. I particularly loved the detailing for sharp edges of the cubature which are formed by copper corner plates. stroke123 liked it but wondered "how does the roof shed water? Waterproof membrane and concealed gutters and downspouts?". While Andrew Chaveas complemented the "great compilation/composition of materials" yet still thought H&dM has a better commentary on the "house", here referring to that firm’s House in Leymen.

For the latest In Focus interview Archinect spoke with American architectural photographer Brad Feinknopf, who has shot over 100 AIA Award winning projects.

News
London's Serpentine Gallery released plans for the 2012 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion designed by Herzog & de Meuron and Ai Weiwei. Although the original design announcement "descr...

Thomas Balsley on NYC’s greater obligation

2011-12-21T22:34:00-05:00

Putting aside the legal and constitutional issues that have been the focus of the Zuccotti debate, design really can help balance the competing imperatives of openness and order. And in fact Zuccotti Park’s particular design manages this relatively well—it certainly can’t be faulted for having made the recent situation any worse.

In light of the recent attention paid to the concept of POPS and the struggle over the usage rights of public space, Thomas Balsley (one of the foremost landscape architects in NYC, who happens to have designed more Privately Owned Public Spaces, than anyone else) shared his thoughts on the vital importance of POPS to the urban fabric of the city. He also opines on what their future should hold. Finally, Balsley hopes that rather than turning POPS into a scapegoat the recent controversy surrounding POPS will serve to focus the attention of designers, policy makers and the public on the need for NYC to "to create a new and more innovative kind of public space to do what POPS can’t."

Editor's Picks #234

2011-10-23T19:45:44-04:00

Orhan noted that in the language of "architectural poetics, the living room bathes you in a beautiful California light, washes your soul and takes your thoughts into the Pacific Ocean through the large window which sets the elevation on that side. Outside is wide and open, nurturing the peaceful inner space, this is something only great architecture can bless you with and masterfully achieved as in Schindler made experience."

Orhan Ayyüce, reported on his visit to Schindler's 1926 Lovell Beach House which the MAK Center and its brilliant curatorial team were able to gain access to as a 2011 fund raising event. Orhan noted that in the language of "architectural poetics, the living room bathes you in a beautiful California light, washes your soul and takes your thoughts into the Pacific Ocean through the large window which sets the elevation on that side. Outside is wide and open, nurturing the peaceful inner space, this is something only great architecture can bless you with and masterfully achieved as in Schindler made experience." SDR then posted some older B+ W documents "As a contrast to (or context for) Orhan's new photos".

In The Ideal Firm's Profile, Sherin Wing, laid out a number of working conditions by which firms large and small can try to whether the effects of poor economic policies and deregulation throughout the 2000’s will be felt for years to come. Lian Chikako Chang commented "'But ...