Archinect - News

Crazy, abnormal lots aka learning how to build on trapezoidal, rocky or remote parcels

2019-02-19T13:57:00-05:00

But with land prices near all-time highs, developers and nonprofit housing groups are giving the leftovers another look...Several of the projects that have been built on these odd lots have been very inventive, and might even lead to better land-use and zoning policy

Stefanos Chen first reported on the launch of Big Ideas for Small Lots NYC competition and later highlighted a few recent examples of this sort of work. The list of firms includes; Aufgang Architects, OJT, SLCE Architects, SZCZ and XS House

See also; Atelier Bow-Wow and "Pet Architecture"

Atelier Bow-Wow: Micro Public Space

2014-02-06T00:28:00-05:00

What is “micro public space”?...To date, Atelier Bow-Wow have presented, in exhibition settings, numerous installations featuring small structures, furniture and so on...More than just small buildings, these works are devices supporting the interaction and activities of all sorts of people, and while compact in size, create places open to a diverse audience".

Starting February 15 and running through May 6, 2014, a new exhibition grants a close look at the practice of Atelier Bow-Wow. The exhibit will explore various approaches to public spaces – via a combination of numerous “micro-public-space” works actually able to be experienced at the museum and case studies of Atelier Bow-Wow works. In addition to a selection of Atelier Bow-Wow's leading works to date, this exhibition will feature a new piece created specifically for Hiroshima.

Editor's Picks #321

2013-06-25T11:32:00-04:00

For the latest edition of the Student Works: series Archinect featured work by two AA Visiting Schools one held in Athens & the other in Istanbul. Completed prior to the recent OccupyGezi unrest, Noise De-Former (one of the projects from the Istanbul school) "aimed to materialize the fluctuating noise levels in Taksim Square by creating an interface which can regulate noise, enabling a more comfortable environment for the public resting in Gezi Park".

News
Inspired by a recent discussion re: the Influence of Robert Venturi on Louis Kahn Orhan Ayyüce; highlighted a significant thesis by then Master of Science in Architecture candidate Sam Rodell in Washington State University completed in 2008. In the thesis Mr. Rodell, "considers the question of how Louis Kahn’s development as an architect was shaped by the influences of Robert Venturi. The personal and professional interaction between these two historically significant architects began late in Kahn’s career and early in Ven...

Editor's Picks #273

2012-07-15T11:00:00-04:00

Rusty Shackleford quipped "I wonder what the realtor spin will be with these units... ‘Japan style luxury!’ ‘MINI COOPER with plumbing! Going fast!’ ...I lived once in 275sg.ft. place in NYC. A more appropriate name for this housing type would be JAIL." KarjaCH countered "if properly designed with great attention paid to detail, 300 sf can be the most amazing place to live". Meanwhile hanque helpfully pointed out "if you look at the RFP they've already been designed."

Archinect’s latest project featured in the Showcase series is the House in Ovar, Portugal, by architect, Paula Santos.

News
NYC launched the adAPT NYC Competition, a pilot program to develop a new housing model for the City’s growing small-household population. adAPT NYC seeks to create additional choices within New York City’s housing market to accommodate the city’s changing demographics. The focus being on developing new proposals for a rental building composed primarily, or completely, of micro-units -- apartments smaller than what is allowed under current regulations.

Rusty Shackleford quipped "I wonder what the realtor spin will be with these units... ‘Japan style luxury!’ ‘MINI COOPER with plumbing! Going fast!’ ...I lived once in 275sg.ft. place in NYC. A more appropriate name for this housing type would be JAIL." KarjaCH countered "if properly designed with great attention paid to detail, 300 sf can be the most amazing place to live. I spent a year in a 275 sq ft ...

Mayor Bloomberg announces new "micro-unit" apartment design competition

2012-07-09T19:38:00-04:00

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor for Economic Development Robert K. Steel and Department of Housing Preservation and Development Commissioner Mathew M. Wambua today launched the adAPT NYC Competition, a pilot program to develop a new housing model for the City’s growing small-household population. adAPT NYC seeks to create additional choices within New York City’s housing market to accommodate the city’s changing demographics.

The design competition involves a Request for Proposals for a rental building composed primarily, or completely, of micro-units -- apartments smaller than what is allowed under current regulations. New York City's housing codes have not kept up with its changing population, and currently do not allow an entire building of micro-units. Under this pilot program, Mayor Bloomberg will waive certain zoning regulations at a City-owned site at 335 East 27th Street in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan to test the market for this new housing model. The Mayor made the announcement at the American Institute of Architects' Center for Architecture and also was joined by Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services Linda I. Gibbs, City Planning Commissioner Amanda Burden and Buildings Commissioner Robert LiMandri, whose agencies collaborated with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development on the creation of this design competition.

HPD will hold a pre-submission conference for ...

Editor's Picks #237

2011-11-13T16:13:32-05:00

Richard.Rozewski, discusses a microtecture solution being developed by a friend Patrick of APOC. Stephanie however contends “ the idea that this will promote sustainable living is patently false...the construction, however small, of individual buildings for individual people, will always inherently mean the opposite of 'sustainable' ” To which holz.box responded “false false false. microtecture can be very sustainable”.

In Archinect’s latest In Focus feature we talk to British photo artist Simon Gardiner. Simon is a “street photographer who fuses the street with a cinematic feel”.

Guy Horton, in part two of the What Should Architecture Occupy series, argues that what architecture needs is “more consumers not less”, consumers who can afford to purchase architecture. Guy goes on to suggest that the AIA should be less concerned with supporting policies which “protect the narrow interests of wealthy clients” and instead align themselves with the OWS movement since both “should be on the same side of the economic argument. After all, architects are famous for making utopian proposals. Then how about making a utopian proposal rooted in sound economic principals that will foster long-term growth and lead to greater economic stability?”

On a related note check out Reinhold Martin’s Occupy: What Architecture Can Do over at Places journal, in which he writes “Architecture is capable of mounting a prof...