Archinect - News

WXY opens beachfront community center for Rockaway, Queens

2024-04-30T17:28:00-04:00

WXY Architecture + Urban Design has opened its new Arverne East Nature Preserve and Welcome Center in the Rockaway neighborhood of Queens.

The project forms the first phase of New York City’s first net-zero residential community with 1,650 new units. It was realized at 6,000 square feet and includes a community meeting room and space for the Parks and Recreation Department's Urban Park Rangers program and The Campaign Against Hunger.

Image: courtesy of WXY, Ⓒ Albert Vecerka/Esto

WXY Founding Principal Claire Weisz describes: "Arverne East represents a unique and innovative path forward for the Rockaways — one rooted in honoring local knowledge, collective power, and an ongoing practice of community stewardship. The sustainable and resilient architecture creates an inviting, accessible space to connect with nature — a promontory for everyone from beachgoers to community organizers to Parks Department staff."

Image: courtesy of WXY, Ⓒ Albert Vecerka/Esto

Image: courtesy of WXY, Ⓒ Albe...

Conservation expert cautions: Narratives about traditional earthen architecture and the Moroccan earthquake are flawed

2023-09-18T14:37:00-04:00

The rush to blame the destruction that ensued in the wake of this month’s devastating 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Morocco on rammed earth and the region's other traditional earthen construction methods is a flawed conjecture, according to an explanation penned recently by University of York lecturer Louise Cooke.

In an article featured in The Conversation over the weekend, Cooke refuted some of what she calls inaccuracies latent in the popular media narrative about the country’s traditional architectures, namely that their structural designs make them susceptible to collapses during seismic events. She says the popular consensus about traditional architecture is a mischaracterization, adding that the disaster’s true culprit lies in a hastened shift away from age-old building and maintenance methods caused by outside influence from modern Western design.

“In the immediate aftermath of an earthquake, it is common for local building cultures to be blamed for their own destruction,” the...

'Tiny house, big impact': Marina Tabassum shares her flat-packed vision with CNN

2023-04-04T14:17:00-04:00

Past Aga Khan Award winner and 2021 Soane Medalist Marina Tabassum was recently featured in a short CNN profile of her ongoing Khudi Bari project in the coastal region of her native Bangladesh.

The concept, which seeks to deliver mobile two-level residential structures to a largely landless population in the heavily flood-prone area, first came about in October of 2018 and was accelerated by a pandemic downturn that ground several of her eponymous studio’s other ongoing projects to a halt.

Tabassum says the bamboo structures (whose name translates to “tiny home” in Bengali) can be easily disassembled and transported elsewhere, relying on steel joints and metal corner braces for structural strength. The design is split into two levels, with the uppermost elevated about six feet above the ground plane to accommodate up to four people in the event of flooding.

Image courtesy Marina Tabassum Architects

According to MTA: “The architecture mimics traditional vernacular language of the Ben...

Boston rolls out new green infrastructure requirements for public works projects

2022-11-01T14:17:00-04:00

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has announced a new policy mandating the use of small-scale green infrastructure on curb extension projects throughout the city.

A set of five design standards will be introduced to help expand the adaptation and maintenance of the measures with the larger aim of improving pedestrian safety and bolstering climate resilience of the city’s crowded walkways and streetscapes.

“These new design standards will allow the City to continue enhancing our streets as public spaces for everyone,” Boston’s Chief of Streets, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, said in a statement. “These curb extensions help keep our neighborhood safe by slowing cars and making street crossing easier for pedestrians and now they can also benefit our quality of life by providing more green space in our City.”

Boston planners say the policy will eventually lead to the implementation of green infrastructure into large-scale capital projects, combining with its recently-proposed ban on fossil fuels in new ...

Danish-based architecture studio MAST develops 'Land on Water,' a system for floating housing infrastructure

2022-10-21T11:53:00-04:00

Danish maritime architecture practice, MAST, has developed a sustainable floating foundation for building housing and infrastructure atop the water, called “Land on Water.” The project was developed to serve as a solution to increased sea level rise and the growing risks of urban flooding.

Image render © KVANT-1/Courtesy of MAST.

For Land on Water, MAST was joined by construction industry executive Hubert Rhomberg and venture studio FRAGILE. The system consists of modular containers made from reinforced, recycled plastic.

Image: MAST

It was inspired by gabion construction, a method that utilizes mesh cages filled with rubble to create sturdy, low-cost foundations. With Land on Water, the “cages” are filled with locally sourced, upcycled materials that could support the weight of any structure while floating. Materials could be adjusted if weight is added.

Image: MAST

Land on Water also leaves a smaller footprint compared to steel and concrete foundations, which employ toxic anti-fouli...

The Army Corps of Engineers reveals initial coastal resiliency plan for New York City

2022-10-03T09:00:00-04:00

The federal government wants to build a massive system of storm surge gates and seawalls to protect the New York harbor region from flooding and has put forth a much-delayed plan that would remake coastal areas from upper Manhattan down to Jamaica Bay. The Army Corps estimates construction on the $52 billion project would begin in 2030 and be complete by 2044. The project must be first approved by federal, state and local officials and funded before any of the work can start.

The New York District, North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a 569-page report outlining a coastal storm risk management feasibility study. According to The City's Samantha Maldonado, a public comment period will be held through January 6th, 2023, as a means to help "inform the design." Maldonado also reported that the government expects plans to be finalized by 2025.

The Army Corps also released an interactive map that details individual aspects of the initial proposal, which Columbia University climate scientist Paul Gallay said will "set the tone for coastal protection and community viability for decades to come."

"We have a lot more room to advocate for environmental justice communities and truly sustainable solutions than many of the other plans would have allowed for," Victoria Sanders, a research analyst at the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, told the publication. "There is still a long road and a lot of unknowns between now a...

Resilient housing prototypes designed by Marvel Architects utilized a range of self-sustaining strategies to survive Hurricane Fiona

2022-09-23T12:00:00-04:00

After Hurricane Fiona tore through Puerto Rico on Sunday [Sept. 18], roads in the small mountain city of Caguas—hit with more than 20 inches of rain—were underwater. Landslides washed away some streets. As on the rest of the island, the electric grid went down, and it wasn’t clear how many homes had been damaged or destroyed. But in two new prototype homes, the electricity stayed on.

The prototypes are single-family homes completely off-grid with electricity and potable water. They were designed by New York City and Puerto Rico-based Marvel Architects and paid for by nonprofit Acacia Network. The homes utilize hurricane and seismic-resistant components, which include an insulated concrete panel system that has shown to be just as if not more effective against earthquakes than traditional concrete block construction. They also employ passive design strategies, allowing natural cross ventilation, heat extraction, and shade. In addition, the structures are modular so that they can adapt to a variety of locations and square footage.

Jonathan Marvel, the firm's founder, addressed the cost of these resilient homes with Fast Company's Adele Peters stating, "I don't want to say 'affordable,' because the average Puerto Rican income is below the level of poverty in the United States. So this is a housing system that's going to require assistance to build." Marvel added th...

Chief Heat Officer Eugenia Kargbo discusses extreme heat mitigation in Freetown, Sierra Leone

2022-08-09T14:30:00-04:00

Kargbo grew up to become a banker, but she has spent the last several years working in the administration of Freetown mayor Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, a noted climate activist. Before becoming the city’s chief heat officer, she headed up the city’s sanitation department [...] Kargbo says her work is to keep climate change on the agenda, however many other things are tugging the world’s attention away.

A former aide to the noted climate activist Mayor of Freetown Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, Eugenia Kargbo is one of five official Chief Heat Officers (CHOs) in the world. After being appointed in 2021, she joins fellow CHOs from Athens, Miami, Santiago, Chile, and Monterrey, Mexico in a program sponsored by the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center (Arsht-Rock).

Arsht-Rock, along with the Extreme Heat Resilience Alliance (EHRA), developed and piloted the role of CHOs to have officials "charged with unifying the response to the challenge of heat to reduce risks and impacts of extreme heat for their residents and constituents."

For these officers appointed by local officials in their cities, much of the work entails attempting to consolidate their communities' disparate (and sometimes madcap) efforts to address climate issues that are too often spread between conflicting bureaucratic hierarchies.

Meet the current Chief Heat Officers. Image courtesy of Adr...

A new museum for one of Australia's most serene artistic escapes

2022-02-05T09:00:00-05:00

The art ecosystem of Australia’s South Coast region got a significant boost over the weekend after the official unveiling of the new Bundanon Art Museum and Bridge for Creative Learning designed by Kerstin Thompson Architects.

The Melbourne-based firm worked with landscape architects Wraight Associates, Craig Burton, and sustainable design engineers Atelier Ten to create a multifaceted arts destination on an important 1,100-hectare (2,718-acre) property located in the Shoalhaven region of New South Wales.

Photo by Zan Wimberley

Designed to be a weather-resilient education center as well as an art museum and retreat destination, the entire development consists of a 500-square-meter (5,382-square-foot) museum, paddock-to-plate café, an education center, and lodging for up to 64 people. All this is inspired by the art of landscape painter Arthur Boyd, who, together with his wife Yvonne, gifted the property to the Australian people in 1993.

Photo by Zan Wimberley

The museum is split into ...

The building industry is preventing resiliency efforts in areas increasingly affected by deadly storms

2021-12-23T15:49:00-05:00

While experts say the technology and design standards exist to better protect people and buildings from tornadoes, attempts to incorporate those designs into building codes have repeatedly been blocked or curtailed by the building industry, according to public documents and people involved in efforts to tighten the model codes.

Resilient infrastructure in states like Kentucky and Tennessee that are increasingly falling into the crosshairs of deadly tornadoes as a likely result of climate change-produced atmospheric conditions and non-related weather patterns like La Niña is becoming more and more imperative, as evidenced by the recent storm that killed 93 people in the region on December 10th.

The challenge is not at all unsurmountable but is, however, corrupted by the building industry, critics charge. A 2012 proposal that came in front of the rather powerful International Code Council and even had backers in the deep-pocketed insurance and concrete lobbies was ultimately blocked thanks to a coalition that included the National Association of Home Builders, among others.

A typical “safe room” costs around $7,000 for a single-family residential unit and $100,000 for commercial structures like the ones that collapsed in Kentucky and Illinois, according to The New York Times.

“It really does kind of boil do...

'Let’s prepare, act, and survive': UK urged to invest in every area of floodproofing

2021-10-13T13:21:00-04:00

It is a case of “adapt or die”, said the Environment Agency’s chair, Emma Howard Boyd, warning that deadly events such as the flooding in Germany this summer would hit the UK if the country did not make itself resilient to the more violent weather the climate emergency was bringing.

With some big-name resiliency projects planned in Miami and New York for the next few years, the UK now faces a renewed push to invest in its flood-adverse communities before they suffer irreversible damage due to climate change. Sea walls are still a popular infrastructure solution to the crisis, although some say they don’t necessarily offer the best protection owing to their structural inadequacies and corrosive effects on beaches.

England will need about 3.4 billion extra liters of water per day in the future as it faces incredible supply shortages 20 to 25 years in the future. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called the opportunity to answer the crisis a "coming of age" in his speech to the UN General Assembly last month. The government's response will be in the spotlight soon as Glasgow prepares to host the Cop26 summit next month.

Aluminum wrapping helped one cabin withstand the Caldor Fire

2021-09-09T11:33:00-04:00

Jennifer Diamond, a spokeswoman for the team fighting the Caldor Fire, wasn’t sure who wrapped the Phillips Tract cabin but said she’s helped cover a historic backcountry building with foil in the past. Aside from historic buildings, firefighters might choose to wrap a remote cabin where property owners have already cut back vegetation, cut down overhanging trees and cleared roofs and gutters of debris.

The cabin was among many in the South Lake Tahoe region to adapt a temporary version of an adaptability approach that has become increasingly popular during a year that has already seen over a million acres scorched in California alone.

The ongoing Caldor Fire has destroyed more than 700 homes as of this week and is still only about 50% contained. One problem facing homeowners who attempt the wrapping method is the labor involved: a typical structure takes several people a minimum of five hours to install using an army of 15,000 staples. A 200-foot roll of the material retails for $687.

Hotel workers were among those left to prepare structures for the fire. The San Francisco Chronicle has a look at the wrapping method here.

Boston architects create a waterfront hotel with permeable ground floor to prepare for sea level rise

2019-09-27T13:30:00-04:00

“We are building a 100-year building. We want to make sure it will last 100 years, but well beyond that,” explained William R. Halter, an architect for Elkus Manfredi, the firm behind the building’s design.

Elkus Manfredi's design for the St. Regis Residences allows the lowest floor of the 22-story luxury tower to be permanently be raised by up to five feet without disturbing the building's two-story ground-level restaurant. The design was created to allow the building to adapt to rising sea levels by plugging into a planned network of elevated streets set to rise above the area's existing roads.

The 114-unit complex is slated to be completed in 2021.

How can cities become "heat-proof" and how does this affect the built environment?

2019-07-02T18:57:00-04:00

On top of climate change, cities grow hotter and hotter due to an increase in urban heat island effect. According to Philip Oldfield's Guardian piece, "What would a heat-proof city look like?," there are four solutions cities can implement to decrease rising temperatures. Oldfield explains green roofs/vertical gardens, reflective roofs, water treatments (ponds, pools, misters), and dynamic shades would aide in mitigating increased temperatures. However, before understanding these solutions, it is essential to point out what causes this rising heat phenomenon.

Image © Victor217 via freepik.com

Built environments worsen summer temperatures thanks to specific design elements and building materials. Asphalt and concrete absorb heat and bounce sun rays back onto street surfaces and surrounding areas. Tall buildings and glass skyscrapers create "urban canyons" which trap heat at ground level. Traffic and automobile dependency also contribute to heat emissions making city streets sizzling p...

How cool can paint really be? UNStudio collaborates with Monopol Colors to develop a paint that helps buildings fight solar radiation and elemental weathering

2019-02-27T20:16:00-05:00

UNStudio is known for their groundbreaking work in solution driven designs relating to the ever-changing urban environment. Climate is changing, which leaves architects and designers taking steps towards designing buildings and structures that can accommodate to the overheated urban environment. Intense heating and other weather conditions like rain and dust generate a lot of stress and strain on the exteriors of many buildings. Thirty to forty years ago, these types of conditions were not necessarily a priority. However, with the environmental conditions of today firms like UNStudio are taking a different approach to future building design. According to the studio's principal and founder Ben van Berkel, "designing with the future in mind also means buildings last longer in the face of environmental change. That they are more resilient to change and they endure environmental strain."

Theatre de Stoep in Spijkenisse, Image courtesy of UNStudio

Beyond the design process, materials play...

Can architecture brace itself during the Polar Vortex? Here are 5 examples of structures designed to withstand freezing temperatures

2019-02-03T10:49:00-05:00

There's no way to sugar coat it, the Polar Vortex of 2019 has aggressively hit various parts of the world. As people have braced themselves for the cold and frigid temperatures, how does the harsh cold remind us of building more resilient structures? Chicago and many other areas in the U.S. have made headlines with its reaction to the Polar Vortex. Photos and videos of snow covered roads, icicle buildings, and frozen bodies of water have graced the media. Although these record-setting temperatures in the Midwest have made a substantial impact on several people, the solution to designing thermal resilient structures is nothing new in the world of architecture.

Several architects and designers have constructed buildings that were made to withstand some of the most extreme temperatures. Places that are prone to the cold like Antarctica and Norway are home to several structures built to withstand such extremes. Below are 5 examples and descriptions of buildings that can brace the cold.

...

MVRDV makes 5 proposals for resiliency in San Francisco Bay Area

2018-09-13T19:00:00-04:00

At San Francisco's Global Climate Action Summit yesterday, MVRDV presented a report offering 5 recommendations to Bay Area officials on the region’s plans for a resilient future. Their report, titled Too Much + Too Little, was created as part of the NL Resilience Collective. Below are the firm's 5 proposals for the city:

1. Update long-term plans to include water management and climate adaptation
2. Install a Bay Area Resiliency Commissioner
3. Understand your system
4. Develop a set of design principles for local communities across the bay
5. Start both big and small

Read the full descriptions for each recommendation here.

After the Storm: Puerto Rico's Architecture Schools in the Wake of Hurricane Maria; Part 2 — Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico

2017-11-10T19:53:00-05:00

For Archinect's After the Storm mini series, we had reached out to various architecture schools in Puerto Rico to get a better understanding how the recent Hurricanes Irma and Maria — and the devastation they left behind all over the region — had impacted school facilities, academic infrastructure, and student life.

In Part 1, we interviewed Mayra Jiménez-Montano, Interim Architecture Dean at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan.

In this second installment, we're talking with Luis V. Badillo-Lozano, Dean of the School of Architecture at the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico in Ponce, the island's second largest city.

Archinect: How have the recent hurricanes Maria and Irma impacted the school's daily operations and student life? Have school facilities and infrastructure been affected?

Luis V. Badillo-Lozano: Neither Hurricane Irma nor Maria had a big impact on our School's facilities. Some water infiltration through the roof and a crack on a glass door (some floor ...

After the Storm: Puerto Rico's Architecture Schools in the Wake of Hurricane Maria; Part 1 — University of Puerto Rico

2017-11-08T12:31:00-05:00

Several weeks have now passed since Hurricanes Irma and Maria consecutively ravaged through the Caribbean and southern states and territories of the U.S., leaving behind a trail of destruction and overwhelming infrastructural challenges. Puerto Rico was hit particularly hard — in terms of human loss, damage to homes, businesses, and life-sustaining networks like power grids, communication systems, water supply, wastewater treatment as well as the subsequent long-term health dangers and the ongoing exodus of professionals and their families.

We have reached out to Puerto Rico's architecture schools to get a reading on the current state of architectural education on the island in the wake of the storms and how faculty, staff, and students manage to cope with the new circumstances. Since most school websites were still down until recently and spotty power and internet supply made using the official .edu email systems near impossible, much of the communication had to be conducted via so...

Climate crisis fortresses are reinforced concrete on stilts.

2017-09-17T16:11:00-04:00

But because of its unique setting and vulnerability to hurricanes, Monroe has long had stricter building codes than the rest of the state and has mandated some critical upgrades...Most importantly — homes must be elevated above the flood plain to allow storm surge, which is the deadliest part of a hurricane, to pass underneath living spaces.

David Ovalle reports on how building codes and precast concrete homes, reduced property damage and shaped Hurricane Irma's impact, in the Florida Keys.

Via @Bruce Sterling

Star-studded design competition seeks to make Bay Area a model for shoreline resiliency

2017-09-13T15:55:00-04:00

San Francisco is one of the many cities in the U.S. threatened by climate change. Scientific projections predict that sea level rise is likely to push tides upwards with accelerating force in the coming decades and a 2012 study estimated that the average high tide within San Francisco Bay could be 66 inches higher by 2100.

Seeking to face the threat of rising sea levels head on, a group of community, industry and government leaders have launched a new competition in the Bay Area that seeks to restore shoreline resiliency, the phrase encompassing techniques that resist rising tides while at the same time providing ecological benefits. Think approaches like planting natural buffers such as eelgrass, which help absorb the shock of storm surges as oceans rise—a challenge that hard structures can't easily meet—while also luring water bugs, fish, birds, and shell reefs that support native oysters.

Ibises, roseate spoonbills, and egrets at Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. Found v...

Engineers grapple with a melting Alaskan Highway

2016-08-05T14:57:00-04:00

Today the highway serves as the main artery connecting the “Last Frontier” with Canada and the northwestern U.S., bringing tourists to Alaska cruise ships; food, supplies and medicine to remote towns; and equipment to oil fields and mines that are the region’s lifeblood... “Communities are unable to reach each other, it’s harder to get goods there,” [...] Thawing permafrost isn’t “just an inconvenience, folks; it’s a change in the way of life.”

This greenhouse can grow legs to escape flooding

2016-01-28T18:47:00-05:00

Constructed in an area which experiences frequent flooding, the Greenhouse That Grows Legs incorporates a novel approach to flood protection. The building is fabricated on a bespoke steel frame with four hydraulic legs, capable of lifting the building 800mm from the ground on command.

According to the designer, Bat Studio, the greenhouse stands on hydraulic legs that can lift it up in case of flooding – a common occurrence in the area.

Built in glue-laminated timber sections, the greenhouse is meant to be both visually-pleasing and functional. The most prominent façade includes externally-expressed "glulam" columns with mirrors bonded to their sides.

"As the building becomes established and filled with plants we hope this effect will become better and better," state the architects.

"The aim was to construct an experimental building exploring a novel approach to flood defence whilst not compromising the quality of the buildings design."

NYC to receive $176 million in federal funds for flood-protection proposal

2016-01-22T15:25:00-05:00

[Through a national competition by the Department of Housing and Urban Development,] The money would be used to help fortify a stretch of shoreline from Montgomery Street on the Lower East Side to the northern tip of Battery Park City. Specific measures have not yet been determined, but could include adding sea walls and temporary flood walls that could be deployed before a storm, and building grass berms that could double as recreational areas.

Not to be confused with the Rebuild By Design competition-winning proposal, "The BIG U", from 2014.

Harvard GSD to host talk on "Habitation in Extreme Environments: Alpine Shelter" exhibition this Friday

2015-02-11T18:58:00-05:00

Curated by Spela Videcnik, Rok Oman, and John T. Dunlop (Design Critic in Housing and Urban Development), the "Habitation in Extreme Environments: Alpine Shelter" exhibition currently at the Harvard GSD presents a prototypical alpine shelter that students designed in an option studio this past fall. A public lecture and discussion by Spela Videcnik will formally introduce the topic this Friday, February 13 at Gund Hall. The exhibition and lecture are free and open to the public.

Guided by instructors Spela Videcnik and Rok Oman of Ljubljana-based OFIS arhitekti, the studio focused on investigating architectural solutions and responses to extreme climatic conditions, specifically referring to the ongoing heavy wintry conditions that ravage the North region of the U.S. The students researched traditional European alpine settlements in an effort to find new architectural solutions fit for a North American context.

The prototype shelter that will be presented at this Friday's lecture prov...

"Miami 2100" exhibition reinforces the urgent need for designing resilient cities

2015-01-19T22:59:00-05:00

Miami, Florida is one of those cities that is projected to be underwater over the next 100 years. And with climate change and rising sea levels continuing to occur worldwide, it's never too early to start preparing for what natural disasters may lie ahead. Students at the Florida International University School of Architecture took a proactive approach to this grim outlook with the exhibition, Miami 2100: Envisioning a Resilient Second Century, currently at the Coral Gables Museum until March 1.

Funded by the National Science Foundation, the exhibition showcases the projects conducted by graduate research studios and seminars in the school's Departments of Architecture and Landscape Architecture over the course of three years. With a solution-driven focus in architecture, landscape architecture, and urban design, Miami 2100 includes models, drawings, video interviews, and various digital materials and projections.

Find more exhibition photos here.

D.C. Exhibit Explores Disaster-oriented Design

2014-12-03T19:17:00-05:00

Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, wildfires — no part of the United States is immune to natural disasters. While no one can prevent these hazards, people can prepare for them. “Designing for Disaster” at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., showcases how scientists, engineers and government officials work together to guard the country’s infrastructure against Mother Nature’s fury.

For Archinect coverage of related design work, check out these links: