Archinect - News

Why building a neighborhood library can take so long to complete

2018-03-30T15:04:00-04:00

Today’s libraries have also evolved into complex institutions compressed into small spaces, making their design needs equally intricate. ... In the end, the problem of how to build good public architecture briskly and frugally has little to do with design and everything to do with bureaucracy. Virtually no one feels the urgency or has the clout to reform a sclerotic system.

Zaha on Zaha: "I always thought, you know, I should do well because the work is good."

2016-03-31T14:09:00-04:00

What was it like to be Zaha Hadid? From teaching to developing her vision to turning down an opportunity to work with Rem Koolhaas, in this remembrance we collect a few of Zaha's first-person writings and interviews about her life and work from her unparalleled, groundbreaking career.

On being a woman and an Arab, excerpted from The Guardian, 2012:

Being an Arab woman and a modern architect certainly don't exclude each other – when I was growing up in Iraq, there were many women architects. You cannot believe the enormous resistance I've faced just for being an Arab, and a woman on top of that. It is like a double-edged sword. The moment my woman-ness is accepted, the Arab-ness seems to become a problem.

I've broken beyond the barrier, but it's been a very long struggle. It's made me tougher and more precise – and maybe this is reflected in my architecture. I still experience resistance but I think this keeps you on the go.

As a woman in architecture, you need confidence. Sometimes, w...

What comprises a company's culture, physically? News innovator, Quartz, is looking for answers and documenting the process

2016-03-24T14:36:00-04:00

Moving offices can be a pain, but it’s also an opportunity to take stock of how the company has grown and what it could still become. With this move, we’ve put an emphasis on capturing the culture, or Quartziness, that defines Quartz employees and their work: global, nerdy, creative, and so on...This diary is part of a new obsession at Quartz, also called The Office, which is exploring the future of work, from management structures to the gig economy to distributed workplaces to compensation.

From mass-scale organizations like WeWork to four year old "digitally native news outlet" Quartz, the questions of what defines work culture in a largely post-manufacturing, perennially fluid global infrastructural era are still being formulated. Quartz is currently asking how "How do you capture a company’s culture in a physical space?" as they prepare to move into a new office while documenting that process on Medium.

Desai Chai Architecture is designing this as-yet-undefined space for Quartz. Desai is correspondingly basing their ideas not only on the titular physical mineral, but a more abstract notion of what constitutes the company. Citing parallels to Sol LeWitt with the company's tendency to resemble "a structured grid with unexpected deviations," the team has so far defined vital elements of the Quartz culture as incorporating "glitch moments" in an intellectually playful environment. It's a clickable front row seat to the design concept process, as well as an intimate tour ...

Architects tell all in a global survey about the future of design competitions

2015-04-23T15:49:00-04:00

Architectural design competitions have long been a crucial element in the field -- from the student level to starchitect status -- that can provide an international platform for drawing attention to pressing issues and new ideas in the world around us. Nonetheless, the typical structure of the competition is also in great need of its very own discussion. The Architectural Record and the Van Alen Institute conducted a global Competition Survey that asked architects and designers worldwide about what drives them to participate in competitions, what they like and dislike about the process, and suggestions for how to improve and rethink its format for the future.

Respondents fervently shared their input and personal experiences in the survey, which amassed a total of 1,414 responses from 65 countries. The Architectural Record and Van Alen published the results in three documents:

A compilation of raw data from the online survey platform
Ten Propositions that highlight the main factors that...

Love Letter to Plywood. By Tom Sachs

2015-02-24T13:42:00-05:00

Already a couple years old, but a great piece by Tom Sachs on the beauty and nature of plywood. h/t kottke.org