Archinect - News

The NYT picks up on the 'gender mainstreaming' movement in urban planning

2024-07-25T19:32:00-04:00

A new planned community is built on the urban design philosophy known as ‘gender mainstreaming.’ [...] Ms. Kail acknowledges that the parameters of gender mainstreaming are in flux. Where there used to be “a focus on the everyday life of white, middle-class women and their children,” she said, over the past decade or so, a new crop of urban planners has widened the lens, just as she’s stepping out of it.

Vienna (the city previously declared by the Times to be a "renters utopia") owes a tremendous thanks to Eva Kail for its apparent equity strides. Though recently retired, the urban planner touts the new Aspern Seestadt development and its "female face" as the embodiment of the movement to infuse gender-conscious urban design concepts to socially engineer cities and suburbs into places of empowerment for women and other traditionally marginalized groups and classes.

The leading cities to embrace the movement toward "gender mainstreaming" include Stockholm, Glasgow, and Barcelona. In line with this movement, the UN-Habtitat also quietly announced the launch of its 'Women-led Cities' initiative last June.

The City of London skyline is expected to add these eleven towers by 2030

2023-11-01T18:58:00-04:00

The City of London Corporation has revealed new images depicting the 2030 skyline of the Square Mile ahead of the completion of a planned cluster of tall buildings that are expected by the end of the decade.

The plans depicted include the 11-building ‘City Cluster’, which strategically closes an existing gap between Rafael Viñoly’s 20 Fenchurch Street (aka the “Walkie-Talkie" tower) and adjacent plots in the body's local plan. Other key areas of change included in the City Plan 2040 call for the construction of new pedestrian routes and public green space, added ground-level accommodations for retail, and a mix of education and cultural spaces.

“These new CGI images clearly illustrate the ever-changing nature of London's incredible skyline. It demonstrates that the City office is here to stay, and that the Square Mile's real estate sector is robust and thriving, despite wider economic concerns,” Chair of the Planning and Transportation Committee at the City of London Corporation, S...

ACSA issues joint statement on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion censorship in education

2023-09-21T17:39:00-04:00

The Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) has joined its sibling organizations in landscape architecture and planning in opposing the concerted efforts of far-right lawmakers to prevent the inclusion of race and racism topics into curricula in states including Arkansas, Florida, Iowa, South Dakota, and Virginia.

"This united declaration stands as a strong objection to the legislation that silences educators from sharing the histories of the architectural profession. Practitioners, educators, and students must be granted access to the complete narrative. Being privy to only a portion of the story significantly disadvantages us all," Mo Zell, the 2023-24 ACSA President, said in a statement.

"The boards of directors of the three organizations representing university programs and educators in architecture, landscape architecture, and planning — ACSA, CELA, and ACSP, — jointly communicate our opposition to any legislation that prevents educators from teaching and shari...

The future of London's MSG Sphere may be getting clearer despite concerns

2023-01-24T17:42:00-05:00

[The] MSG Sphere, a new concert hall planned for Stratford in east London – which would be as wide as the London Eye and as tall as Big Ben – could soon move a step closer to reality. On Tuesday evening, the planning committee of the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) will meet to consider its developer’s plans for managing the advertising display and its impact.

Efforts to halt the development of the Populous-designed entertainment venue date back to late 2020, when the public consultation phase for the project was extended for a third time over concerns about light pollution. Plans were approved by the LLDC in March of last year contingent on an agreement for a five-year review of the giant billboard’s 25-year advertising consent, which was accepted at Tuesday’s meeting. The project will now go before London Mayor Sadiq Khan for final approval.

Madison Square Garden (MSG)'s revised plan reportedly calls for a “suite of mitigation measures” to combat the effects of what would be the world's largest LED display. The intense visual impact of its Las Vegas counterpart is already being seen as a hazard.

A statement from the opposition group Stop MSG Sphere can be viewed below.

We gave it our best shot (the statement we gave at the meeting tonight is below). We're deeply disappointed no one voted against the paltry 5yr review on the 25YR adver...

New resort and casino project approved for the Las Vegas Strip

2022-10-24T11:48:00-04:00

Officials in Clark County, Nevada, have voted to approve a new 43-story resort and casino project to be located on the Las Vegas Strip following a successful bid from Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta.

According to Construction Dive, the scheme will include a 2,420-room hotel, 2,536-seat theater, chapel, retail, offices, and convention spaces on top of a multiple-level parking structure and be located nearby the larger Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino at 3725-3735 Las Vegas Boulevard South.

The plan will be developed over the next two years beginning tentatively in March and joins the city’s list of other major forthcoming post-pandemic projects, which to date includes DLR’s Group’s 21-story Dream Hotel, the soon-to-be-completed MSG Sphere by Populous, and the expanding Vegas Loop from Elon Musk’s The Boring Company.

An architect for the project has yet to be named. In a s...

Almost there for Frank Gehry's proposed Ocean Avenue Project in Santa Monica

2022-05-17T19:35:00-04:00

Ahead of this week’s scheduled planning commission meeting in Santa Monica, Gehry Partners has revealed updated renderings for the proposed Ocean Avenue Project that would install a new mixed-use cultural campus in the heart of Los Angeles’ beachy Westside.

The proposal calls for the creation of a new 120-room hotel, 100 deed-restricted apartment units, 36,000 square feet of retail and dining accommodation, and a 35,000-square-foot museum to be contained within an existing two-acre plot, with two additional landmarked structures being included as bookends for the cultural entity. If approved, construction is expected to take place over a period of 34 to 36 months with a total budget of around $350 million for the entire project.

Image courtesy Gehry Partners LLP.

Renderings appear to show a vibrant pedestrian scene punctuated by two undulated forms reminiscent of Gehry’s recent LUMA Arles Tower and the Building 32 design he completed for the Massachu...

Oxford's 'Shark House' owner detests its new landmark designation status

2022-04-01T13:38:00-04:00

The 25-foot tall (7.6 meter) sculpture of a shark crashing through the roof of Magnus Hanson-Heine’s house in rural Oxford, England, is now a protected landmark — and he’s not happy about it.

City Council members in Oxford voted earlier in the month to add the protest artwork to its Heritage Asset Register along with 16 other sites.

Officially named the Headington Shark, the sculpture was installed on the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki in 1986 as a powerful anti-war message lobbed against the U.S. government by American ex-pat homeowner Bill Hanson-Heine and local artist John Buckley. Hanson-Heine died in 2019 and apparently passed down his grudge against the planning body, which had for years attempted to effect last night’s removal via a series of orders that were eventually halted by Department of the Environment Minister Michael Heseltine in 1992.

“Using the planning apparatus to preserve a historical symbol of planning law defiance is absurd on the face of it,” Magnus told the AP earlier this week.

Populous' London MSG Sphere is on the cusp of final approval in spite of objections

2022-03-17T11:58:00-04:00

A planning report for the scheme acknowledges criticism of the Sphere for its scale and massing, its impact on Stratford Station, and the impact of advertising on nearby residents. But it says the Sphere would ‘establish a strong sense of place at a scale that is not considered to be excessive, taking account of the established scale of surrounding buildings.

More than 1,000 objections were lodged against the project, which will come before the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) for a final approval vote on Tuesday. Their voices echo the derision Guardian critic Oliver Wainwright and others have parroted against the giant LED display’s ungainly light and noise pollution, murky politics, and sky-high price tag.

The public consultation process has been delayed several times over, but now appears to be inching towards the finish line, bringing out some of the opposition’s bigger names in a last-ditch effort to stop the Sphere from happening.

Previously on Archinect: Future of MSG Sphere London still undecided

“We are calling on the LLDC to refuse MSG’s application for a new venue in Stratford and encourage the Mayor of London to formally oppose this project in order to protect Newham’s residents and existing businesses from this inappropriate development,” a spokesperson for AEG, which operates London’s O2 Arena said in a letter ...

8 highlighted job opportunities for urban designers and planners

2021-12-16T16:57:00-05:00

Firms are preparing for the new year and many are looking for candidates to join their team in 2022. For this week's curated job post we highlight urban design and planning positions currently listed on the Archinect Job Board.

If you're preparing for an upcoming job interview or refreshing your resume and CV be sure to check out the Archinect Tips section for helpful news articles and resources to get you ready for the professional practice.

Zuccotti Park. Image courtesy of Cooper Robertson

Cooper Robertson seeks a Senior Urban Designer
Location: New York, NY

Details: "Cooper Robertson integrates architecture and urban design across all scales, from individual buildings to campuses and city districts. Founded in 1979, we are a dynamic and diverse mid-sized office that operates as a collective of architects working closely together to wed practicality and professional rigor with art and design. We are seeking a highly motivated and talented senior urban designer with proven leadershi...

Snøhetta explores new project delivery standards with their latest book "Lean methodology in Design and Construction"

2020-06-29T15:49:00-04:00

Recognized for their distinct approach within architecture and landscape design, Snøhetta has published a new book highlighting their efforts to "recognize a potential to further challenge existing industry standards by developing new Lean key principles in the complex merge of design, construction, process planning, and BIM technology."

The book was initiated in 2017 and was developed alongside Statsbygg (the Norwegian Directorate of Public Construction and Property), engineering and consulting firm Atkins, and Danish construction and architecture firm Rambøll.

Lean methodology in design and construction book. Image courtesy of Snøhetta

The Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design ("KMD") in Bergen, Norway. Image courtesy of Snøhetta

Following project experiences gathered during the design and construction process of the Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design ("KMD") in Bergen, the firm wanted to explore new ways for exploring and publishing industry standards.

Image courtesy of Snøhet...

Old electricity works to be transformed into new mixed-use car free scheme

2018-07-03T19:09:00-04:00

Architects pH+ and Developer City & Suburban have received planning permission to transform a decommissioned electricity works into a mixed-use residential scheme at The Camp, St Albans. Wrapped around two courtyards the project implements hidden parking below the landscaped shared spaces to deliver a pedestrian centered development.

Residential entrance on Campfield Road

The scheme maximizes the strength of the streetscape supplementing parts of the existing building to provide 107 dual aspect high quality dwellings, 499m2 of commercial space, and active commercial frontage along Campfield Road.

View towards upper courtyard from lower courtyard

Designed with distinct characters the ‘Lower Courtyard’ and ‘Upper Courtyard’ deliver generous and inspiring shared public amenity space for all of the building’s occupants. In addition to these spaces a number of planted terraces for semi-private amenity or play have been provided for the future residents.

View towards upper courtyard fr...

VeloCity win The Cambridge to Oxford Connection: Ideas Competition.

2017-12-12T05:45:00-05:00

Winning “The Cambridge to Oxford Connection: Ideas Competition” is the all-women team behind VeloCity. The competition is focused on the Cambridge – Milton Keynes – Oxford arc, which currently is home to leading tech hubs and universities, as well as some 3.3 million people. The area is set to build on its productive history and its skilled workforce to become an area of rich success.

The VeloCity plan is commended for its reimagining of the village model, and its consideration of technology and modern needs in adapting this social structure for the 21st century. Using transport as an impetus for developing the plan, the scheme will benefit from the introduction of a new rail system for the area, which will connect towns and cities. On the smaller scale, the development will put in place a strategical network of pedestrian and cycle routes, which explore and encourage the decreased need for movements by car.

VeloCity clusters around six villages close to a new Oxford-Cambridge...

2017 Antepavilion playfully subverts planning legislation and explores alternative city-dwellings

2017-08-14T15:57:00-04:00

The Antepavilion program, a joint venture between the Architecture Foundation and the Arthouse Foundation, launched an international competition to design a £25,000 pop-up rooftop at Columbia and Brunswick Wharf in Hackney, north-east London. The goal was to invite architects, artists and designer to explore innovative ways of living within the city while engaging with issues of sustainability. After shortlisting five designs, PUP Architects—a London-based studio—was selected for their duct-shaped pavilion.

Photo Credit: Jim Stephenson

Called the H-VAC, the structure is built of a timber frame, cladded in shingles made from peach iced-tea Tetra Pak cartons. The design playfully subverts planning legislation by disguising the dwelling as air conditioning equipment. Their design exploits loopholes for mechanical rooftop equipment that does not require planning permission due to relaxed permitted developments rights. The firm stated that "while permitted dev...

Mapping how LA's expanding Metro network fuels gentrification (or not)

2016-09-09T14:01:00-04:00

Researchers from the Urban Displacement project, a joint UCLA and UC Berkeley effort, recently released a gentrification map of Los Angeles. They examined the city from 1990 to 2000 and up to 2015, focusing on neighborhoods near transit stops. The goal was to see if these areas saw higher rents and more displacement than other areas. The answer? Yes — with some exceptions.

Some of the UCLA researchers' key findings for Los Angeles Country (via the project's website, urbandisplacement.org):

Our analysis found that areas around transit stations are changing and that many of the changes are in direction of neighborhood upscaling and gentrification.
Examining the changes from 2000 to 2013, we find that relative to non-transit areas, transit neighborhoods are more associated with higher increases in whites, college educated, higher income households and greater increases in the cost of rent. Conversely, transit neighborhoods are associated with greater losses in disadvantaged populations including individuals with less than a high school diploma and lower income households.
The impacts of changes vary across locations but the biggest impacts seem to be around the Downtown areas where transit-oriented development interacts with other interventions aiming to revitalize the urban form.

Click here for the interactive LA map. — Looking for the SF Bay Area map inste...

Canada's 24,000 km Great Trail to complete next year, but is already falling short of expectations

2016-09-07T13:32:00-04:00

When it hits its completion date, which is expected to be in time for Canada’s 150th birthday next July 1, it will cover about 24,000 kilometres...But some think The Trans Canada Trail is better in concept than in execution...Some early adopters of the trail...claim that some parts of it are off limits to bicycles while other parts are spread out and hard to actually access.

Since construction began in 1992, the Trans Canada Trail — which is now being promoted as The Great Trail — is 87 percent complete. Organizers of the recreational trail claim that Canadians will be able to use the route from coast to coast once it's complete next year. But unsurprisingly, and especially for a project of this scale, some users of the trail say it's falling short of expectations so far.

California homeowners tend to renovate rather than relocate – here's why

2016-05-06T15:23:00-04:00

California may be a capital of cosmetic surgery, but it’s not just noses and eyelids falling under the knife. A hot housing market is driving buyers to pay exorbitant sums for old, frumpy houses, knowing they’ll pay plenty more to remake them to modern tastes. Others currently own dowdy houses and choose to renovate rather than relocate.

"While the dynamic is playing out in a number of U.S. cities, California’s plight is particularly intense because of Proposition 13, a 1978 amendment to the state constitution. It set property taxes based on 1975 assessments and capped future property-tax increases at 2% a year."

The issue with this, according to the Wall Street Journal, is that when a home is sold in the state, taxes increase because the property is reassessed to its new sale price. This incentivizes homeowners to renovate instead of move, thereby keeping the amount of home listings low and prices high.

More news from the Golden State:

LA officials seek sweeping overhaul of neighborhood plans

2016-04-14T19:10:00-04:00

Facing a potentially bruising ballot fight over real estate development next year, Los Angeles' political leaders announced Wednesday that they will seek a sweeping update of the plans that govern the size and density of new buildings that go up in scores of neighborhoods. Mayor Eric Garcetti and several council members said they want the Planning Department to revise nearly three dozen “community plans” by 2026, a task that will require the hiring of 28 new employees at a cost of $4.2M a year.

In related news:

Could a pop-up village in south-east London be the answer to the city's housing crisis?

2016-03-22T04:50:00-04:00

Rapidly rising property prices and rents, combined with the loss of social housing through right to buy, have put councils under growing pressure to find new ways to help people off their housing lists. In Lewisham one solution is a £4.3m scheme to provide 24 homes and 880 sq m of business space that can be picked up and moved at a later date, allowing the council to make use of vacant brownfield land while longer-term projects are finalised.

"Prop S" Planning War Zone: The Battle for L.A.

2016-02-03T20:49:00-05:00

Poised to be the mother of all the initiatives ever to impact the built environment of the city in a while, a proposed ballot initiative called the Neighborhood Integrity Initiative, sponsored by a group called the Coalition to Preserve L.A. (CPLA), is the talk of the architecture, planning and developer circles at the moment.

Initially underwritten by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, who emphasizes, among other reasons, the idea that densification can be a public health issue. The proposed initiative has the potential of stopping all the large scale development in Los Angeles. It aims to put a halt on the "vibrant" urban lifestyle which the developers, their political representatives and good number of gentrification people have been advocating at the cost of minorities, low-income communities and the majority of L.A.'s residents who have been struggling to come up with the outrageous rents month after month until they finally fall victim to substandard housing, homelessness or move...

A closer look at reasons why the Los Angeles River revitalization is taking so long

2015-12-03T13:40:00-05:00

From a concrete ditch, the river is now, very, very, very slowly becoming that green, recreational space many supporters have imagined. But, the question is, what's taking so long? As anyone who's ever set out to build in Los Angeles knows, things aren't always as simple as they seem. A vision becomes reality at a glacial pace, which can be a good or bad thing.

In other LA River-related news on Archinect:

Why hypoallergenic landscaping needs more priority in urban planning

2015-08-28T13:50:00-04:00

[Botany professor Paloma Cariñanos] found it surprising that the design of these green spaces thought about landscaping, climate, and fashion criteria, but didn't think about pollen problems. [She] says that in the future, urban green spaces 'will become 'comfort islands' inside 'urban heat islands.''...Cariñanos and her team stress that their research is a tool for planning and prevention. They hope that other cities will be able to use their methods to prevent high allergen levels.

You can read more of Cariñanos' team's research in the Journal of Environmental Quality.

A new LaGuardia is the "airport that New York deserves", says Gov. Cuomo

2015-07-30T15:00:00-04:00

'We are transforming LaGuardia into a globally-renowned, 21st century airport that is worthy of the city and state of New York. It’s the perfect metaphor for what we can achieve with the ambition and optimism and energy that made this the Empire State in the first place, and I want to thank our many partners for joining us to build the airport that New York deserves.' — Gov. Cuomo

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo alongside Vice President Joe Biden officially unveiled the proposed design for the new LaGuardia Airport earlier this week. The $4 billion revamp will transform the airport into a single, structurally unified main terminal, including expanded transportation access and increased taxiway space, and new top-notch passenger amenities.

The overhaul aims to alleviate the air-ground congestion and gate delays that have long plagued the airport — to the point where Biden previously described it as a place one would find in "some third world country". According to a report by the Governor’s Airport Master Plan Advisory Panel, the LaGuardia Airport is "consistently rated as among the worst airports in the world".

Groundbreaking of the first half of the project is expected to start in 2016, once the Board of Directors of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey grants final approval. The first half is expected to open to passengers in 2019, and full completion...

MVRDV approved to redesign the '70s Vandamme Nord block in Montparnasse, Paris

2015-02-25T15:28:00-05:00

MVRDV officially got the green light from the City of Paris for their plans to restructure the Vandamme Nord at Gaîté-Montparnasse in Paris' 14th arrondissement. Built in the early 1970s by French architect Pierre Dufau, the mixed-use complex is located on a triangular island bordered by Rue Mouchotte, Avenue du Maine, and the rail tracks to Gare Montparnasse.

The Vandamme was once a landmark as one of the largest urban projects at the time, but -- with dying malls continuing to be the norm -- its glory days faded away as it failed to keep up with a changing urban society.

Aiming to renew a sense of place within the Montparnasse district and improve public accessibility, MVRDV plans to give the building a new façade as well as completely reorganize and open up the building's internal program. The complex will be broken up into a collection of "boxes" inserted in the existing structural frame that will vary in size, program, color, and materials, and will also be flexibly designed for...

Prince Charles calls to reclaim the streets from cars with his 10-point “master plan”

2014-12-22T13:45:00-05:00

Prince Charles urges architects to place pedestrians “at the centre of the design process” as part of a 10-point “master plan” he has devised for the developments of towns and cities. He also calls for many street signs to be removed. “Slow” and “Reduce Speed Now” signs, for example, should be taken down and replaced by features such as squares, bends and trees that “naturally” encourage motorists to reduce their speed.

Tulsa Mayor Hasn’t Ruled Out a Sidewalk Next to New Flagship Park

2014-12-12T13:54:00-05:00

Earlier this week we reported on Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett’s decision to prevent construction of a sidewalk on Riverside Drive that would provide walking access to a major new city park. Local advocates say the lack of a sidewalk will make the park harder to get to on foot, and they don’t buy the mayor’s explanation that people will be safer if there’s no sidewalk tempting them to walk.

"Residents who want the sidewalk have charged that the mayor nixed it after wealthy homeowners complained that it would attract “undesirables.”"

Planning the Unplanned

2014-11-18T14:33:00-05:00

Daniel Campo, an urban planner and professor of planning at Morgan State University, is particularly interested in those recreational spaces that aren’t planned or designed, but are appropriated by residents for their own purposes. [...] Dylan Gauthier, a public artist, educator, and writer based in North Brooklyn, walked around these parks with Campo to discuss the benefits of unplanned spaces for recreation [...].

Documentary to Explore Racial Discrimination in Transportation Planning

2014-10-30T14:29:00-04:00

Beavercreek, Ohio, nabbed its own infamous place in civil rights history last year, when the Federal Highway Administration ruled that the suburb had violated anti-discrimination laws by blocking bus service from nearby Dayton. [...] The Beavercreek case illustrates larger, more widespread problems with America’s transportation system [...]. The Kirwan Institute is producing a one-hour documentary exploring the Beavercreek case and how racism can influence transportation decision making.

Get Lectured: University of Arizona, 2014-2015

2014-10-10T14:40:00-04:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2014

Say hello to another edition of Archinect's Get Lectured, where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. If you're not doing so already, be sure to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Today's poster features the Critical Practice Lecture Series 2014-2015 from the University of Arizona College of Architecture + Planning + Landscape Architecture.

Established in 1999, the College's lecture series continues to amplify the common ground between the arts, humanities and sciences within the College, the University, and the wider community. This year, speakers will present their individual approaches to architectural theory and practice first-hand in architecture, landscape architecture, and planning.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

All lectures are free and open to the public a...

Trading Parking Lots for Affordable Housing

2014-09-16T17:19:00-04:00

9 x 18. In square feet, that’s 162, smaller than the most micro micro-apartment. It is the size of a typical parking space. That lowly slice of asphalt has prompted three young architects — Miriam Peterson, Sagi Golan and Nathan Rich, fellows at the Institute for Public Architecture — to come up with what could be an innovative way to ease the housing crisis.

Reimagining Planning in the Urban Global South

2014-08-05T18:37:00-04:00

I asked myself the question: so what struck me about the process of thinking across boundaries and reimagining planning in the issues that we have been discussing in our celebration of DPU [The Bartlett Development Planning Unit]’s 60th anniversary in this conference. At the risk of simplifying a complex and dynamic set of discussions, I want to make six points.