Archinect - News

We've interviewed them, now go work for them! 11 of the most talented architecture firms in Los Angeles are hiring

2020-01-16T12:00:00-05:00

Continuing with our regional Spotlight on Los Angeles, we've selected 9 Los Angeles firms that are currently searching for the right candidate to join their team.

During any job search, learning about your future employer and the culture of the offices they run is key. For this week's selection of curated job picks, we have also included interviews, podcasts, and studio visits with the leaders of these firms. Collectively, they discuss their respective practice's histories, studio cultures, and projects.

Opened in 2003, Gehry also designed LA Phil's iconic home on Grand Avenue, the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Photo: Giuseppe Milo/Flickr

Gehry Partners, LLP Seeks a Job Captain/Intermediate Architect, Senior Project Architect, Revit Content Specialist, and Project Architect/Senior Job Captain
Frank Gehry established his practice in Los Angeles, California in 1962. The Gehry partnership, Gehry Partners LLP, was formed in 2002 and currently supports a staff of over 130 persons engaged in...

What's new, Miami? A look at the city's latest A-list architecture additions.

2018-12-04T13:37:00-05:00

Miami’s newest wave of designs could be its most ambitious yet. Fitting for a place that cherishes A-listers, virtually every celebrity architect in the world, and many rising stars, have built there in the last decade. The big names include Frank Gehry, Rem Koolhaas, Zaha Hadid, Herzog & De Meuron, Grimshaw, César Pelli, Richard Meier, Arquitectonica, Rafael Moneo, Jean Nouvel and Bjarke Ingels. The impressive results are scattered citywide, from Miami Beach to the thriving Design District.

Sam Lubell takes a stroll from Downtown Miami to the Design District to Miami Beach for a NYT roundup of (fairly) recent additions to the city's impressive portfolio of landmark buildings by noteworthy architects, including Herzog & de Meuron's 1111 Lincoln Road parking garage, OMA's Faena Forum arts center, Zaha Hadid Architects's One Thousand Museum condo tower, Grimshaw's Frost Science Museum, and, of course, the exuberant Museum Garage with facade contributions by J. Mayer H, WORKac, and others.

Garages, so hot right now.

Related: Listen to our podcast episode about Miami's garages, in our conversation with Thom Faulders of Faulders Studio.

Daniel Libeskind’s first New York City building may be affordable senior housing in Brooklyn

2018-03-29T13:16:00-04:00

Though he's called New York home for decades, Polish-American architect Daniel Libeskind has yet to see a NYC building to completion. But it appears that will soon change with his first ground-up building, a 197-unit affordable housing project on the Sumner Houses in Bed-Stuy. A January press release credits Studio Daniel Libeskind as the designer of the 10-story building-to-be, and a rendering shows an angular white-colored building done in the firm’s signature un-orthogonal style.

Bjarke Ingels reveals new rendering for West Chelsea hotel/condo project, The Eleventh

2018-03-08T17:43:00-05:00

Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) has released new design details and a teaser site for its first New York condominium and hotel project at 76 Eleventh Avenue near the High Line in West Chelsea. Known as “The Eleventh,” or as it’s being written now, The XI, the project is comprised of a pair of twisting asymmetrical bronze and travertine towers joined by a skybridge. The windowed facade is said to be inspired by the Meatpacking District’s iconic warehouses.

A failure "in truth-telling"

2017-12-03T14:32:00-05:00

Starchitecture is out of fashion these days, but it can still produce visual wonders. The look of the Louvre Abu Dhabi, designed by Jean Nouvel, might be described as Arabic-galactic. In the form of an immense, filigreed gray half-sphere resting on a low base infiltrated by water channels, it could pass as a spaceship, an unfinished mosque or a Venetian pavilion set on the edge of the Persian Gulf.

Holland Cotter reviews the new building and collection/inaugural installation, of the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Zaha Hadid’s 520 West 28th Street reveals full suite of amenity renderings

2017-10-20T11:55:00-04:00

Closings commenced at the late Zaha Hadid‘s futurist 520 West 28th Street at the end of June. According to a press release from developer Related, now that move-ins are underway, the architects have revealed the fully amenitized interiors, which include one of the world’s first private IMAX theaters, a 75-foot sky-lit lap pool, a High Line-adjacent terrace and landscaped courtyard, and a fitness center complete with a 24-hour juice bar and plunge pool.

renderings © Scott Frances

Bjarke Ingels’ curvy East Harlem tower tops out

2017-10-18T11:34:00-04:00

The concrete, t-shaped residential tower designed by starchitect, Bjarke Ingels and his firm BIG, topped out over the weekend, adding diversity to Upper Manhattan’s usual upright architecture. The East Harlem project at 158 East 126th Street, known as E126, uniquely slopes inward as it rises upward, allowing more sunlight to hit the street. As CityRealty learned, the unusual configuration will provide residents incredible views of the East River and Central Park from a rooftop garden.

Rendering of E126 courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Construction progresses at E126, photo via CityRealty

According to the firm’s website, the t-shaped footprint, “offers a diverse set of unit sizes and layout organizations.” The building’s facade of interlocking checkerboard pattern panel system allows floor-to-ceiling windows in every unit.

Rendering of E126 courtesy of Bjarke Ingels Group

Developed by Edward Blumenfeld’s Blumenfeld Development Group (BDG),...

REVEALED: David Adjaye’s Wall Street Tower, his first skyscraper in NYC

2017-05-23T14:45:00-04:00

When it opens in 2019, the building is expected to be one of the tallest in the neighborhood. Views from the skyscraper include the Statue of Liberty, the Woolworth Building, City Hall Park and the East River. The condos will range from $630,000 studios to $4.7 million four-bedrooms.

Three years ago, starchitect David Adjaye completed his first project in NYC, an affordable housing complex in Harlem called the Sugar Hill Development.

Now that he's garnered international fame for his National Museum of African American History and Culture in DC, Adjaye is coming back to the big apple to build his first skyscraper in the city-- a 61-story, 750-foot-tall condominium condo in the Financial District. Known as the Wall Street Tower, it appears as a gold prism against rigid rows of arched windows.

To win recognition, China's smaller cities bet on starchitecture

2017-03-20T14:38:00-04:00

From egg-shaped concert halls to skyscrapers reminiscent of big pairs of pants, China’s top cities are famously full of curious monuments to architectural ambition. But as land prices in the main metropolises have shot into the stratosphere, developers have been scrambling to buy up plots in the country’s second and third-tier cities, spawning a new generation of delirious plans in the provinces.

"From Harbin “City of Music” to Dezhou “Solar Valley”, provincial capitals are branding themselves as themed enclaves of culture and industry to attract inward investment, and commissioning scores of bold buildings to match."

Herzog & de Meuron will turn Gowanus’ graffiti-covered ‘Batcave’ into an art production factory

2017-03-08T16:04:00-05:00

One vestige of Gowanus Canal's gritty, industrial days will soon join the ranks of its Brooklyn-esque neighbors. The Batcave, a former warehouse built in 1904, will be transformed into an art production factory and exhibition space to be called the Powerhouse Workshop by Pritzker Prize-winning Swiss architecture firm Herzog & de Meuron.

Examining the politics of starchitect megaprojects in Abu Dhabi

2016-12-16T15:18:00-05:00

Even if Abu Dhabi has almost unique economic and institutional conditions and rests for now as a borderline case of development profiles, it still highlights several common problems in contemporary large-scale development projects and in the use of star architecture in other parts of the world: little care for the context of branded projects, de-politicization of urban development, weak and inconsistent public planning...[and] spectacular architecture [for] global competition and media exposure

An excerpt from the upcoming book “Starchitecture. Scenes, Actors, and Spectacles in Contemporary Cities” by Davide Ponzini and Michele Nastasi examines Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island megaproject, and argues how such projects show the little influence that famous architects can have on city-building initiatives today.

Landmarks reveals new renderings for Studio Gang's Natural History Museum expansion project

2016-10-12T11:23:00-04:00

In light of the Landmarks Preservation Commission's approval of Jeanne Gang's expansion plan for the American Museum of Natural History, the Commission has revealed a slew of new renderings, which show the $325 million project from various angles, as well as new views of the surrounding parkland. Chairwoman Meenakshi Srinivasan referred to the new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation as a “stunning piece of architecture” and an “absolutely wonderful addition.”

Architecture has sacrificed its aspiration to deepen public life

2016-09-01T20:23:00-04:00

Modern architecture, during its heyday, was deeply concerned with its civic function; its mission to reform housing and improve the city was a moral imperative. But the failure of this utopian vision has served to...[give] rise to a profession in which its practice is defined increasingly by individual “star” architects and “architecture for architecture’s sake”...

In a piece on the civic benefits of music, literature, and architecture to the public sphere, Rebecca Burgess finds architecture to be somewhat lacking, based on the writings of Michael J. Lewis. Is this a complaint about the good old days in the vein of Prince Charles, or a meaningful critique in an era of starchitects?

For all the latest on starchitecture:

New Renderings of Bjarke Ingels’ High Line Towers Show Crowns and Amenity Bridges

2016-08-10T17:31:00-04:00

In November 2015, Bjarke Ingels‘ released images of a pair of asymmetric, twisting towers along the High Line at 76 Eleventh Avenue then at the beginning of this year, the design changed to a simpler silhouette with more space in between the two buildings. Now it has been revealed through another group of renderings glass crowns at the 300- and 400-foot tops, the retail podium and plaza fronting the High Line, and two amenity-filled podium bridges that will connect the towers.

Could This Glass-Enclosed Farm/Condo Grow on Rem Koolhaas’ High Line Site?

2016-08-05T13:23:00-04:00

From multidisciplinary architectural firm Weston Baker Creative comes this vision of glass and grass in the form of a mixed-use high-rise springing from the Rem Koolhaas parcel on banks of the High Line. As CityRealty.com reported, the mixed-use concept would include residences, an art gallery and ten levels of indoor farming terraces.

New Jersey’s Oldest and Largest Frank Lloyd Wright House Listed for $2.2M

2016-07-07T12:36:00-04:00

Of the four houses Frank Lloyd Wright built in New Jersey, the first and largest was the 2,000-square-foot James B. Christie House, which dates to 1940. Wright built the home on seven acres of secluded woodland and employed his Usonian principles of simplicity and practically that connect to nature. After selling in 2014 to a private buyer for $1.7 million, the Christie House is now on the market for $2.2 million after receiving a new roof and heating system.

Modernist treasures from Philip Johnson's iconic Four Seasons Restaurant headed for auction

2016-06-15T15:48:00-04:00

Now that the iconic restaurant’s impending demise is only weeks away, its furniture, tableware, and custom-made Knoll furniture will be included in the 500 lots headed for auction next month on July 26. News had surfaced last summer when Seagram Building owner Aby Rosen did not renew the lease for the quintessential Midtown “power lunch” spot for the last decades of the 20th century since it opened in 1959.

Additional background on this news can be found here: Landmarked Four Seasons restaurant must not be changed, NYC landmarks commission rules

"We need less Gehrys, less Hadids, less bloated egotecture. We need more shit, more beautiful shit for the rest of us."

2016-06-07T13:26:00-04:00

By and large, elite architects have disengaged from efforts to make the most fundamental unit of architecture available to all. [...] Contra Hadid and others, a truly revolutionary architecture would concern itself with how to provide permanent, quality housing for the nearly one billion people currently living in slums, how to create accessible housing for the millions more adversely affected by a global affordability crisis in urban areas.

Related on Archinect:

One of the late Dame Zaha Hadid's final designs will be built in West Chelsea

2016-06-06T18:37:00-04:00

When the architecture community learned of the passing of Zaha Hadid in late March, it came as a bit of consolation that her first and only building in New York, 520 West 28th Street, had already begun to take shape along the High Line, ensuring that her legacy would last in our skyline. In much welcome news, 6sqft learns today that yet another design of hers will rise just three blocks away in Chelsea.

The Moinian Group worked with the late Zaha Hadid on one of her final creations, 220 Eleventh Avenue in West Chelsea. The building will be a collection of loft-like condos and penthouses, as well as a cultural institution that will be a hub of the Chelsea art district. Construction is expected to begin in 2017.

Rafael Viñoly admits 432 Park ‘has a couple of screw-ups’

2016-05-09T12:13:00-04:00

Critics of the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere, 432 Park Avenue, are quick to try to bring the tower down from its 1,400-foot pedestal. And strangely, its very own architect is the latest jump on the bandwagon. Rafael Viñoly admitted at a Douglas Elliman talk last week that his creation “has a couple of screw-ups,” namely the window framing, which he blames on developer Harry Macklowe, and the tiny issue of “the interior design and layout.”

Previously:

Starchitect-Designed Public Projects Are Often Long Delayed and Way Over Budget

2016-03-01T17:15:00-05:00

Last week Port Authority decided not to hold an opening ceremony for Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center Transportation Hub (followed by their sudden flip flop), citing the fact that it was six years delayed and that final construction costs came in around $4 billion in taxpayer dollars, twice what was projected. But it’s hardly the only public project to face delays and skyrocketing costs. In fact, it’s not even close to being the worst of the lot that are draining tax payer dollars.

REVEALED: SHoP Architects’ Long Island City Waterfront Development

2015-11-25T12:00:00-05:00

Here’s our first peek at Simon Baron Development, Quadrum Global and CRE Development’s three-tower Long Island City development slated to rise alongside the former Paragon Paint factory building at 45-40 Vernon Boulevard. Permits for the first tower were filed with the DOB back in June and detail a 28-story, 296-unit rental tower designed by SHoP Architects.

REVEALED: Bjarke Ingels’ Brand New High Line Towers

2015-11-23T11:02:00-05:00

Back in February it was revealed that HFZ Capital Group was in talks to bring a “monumental” new structure to a lot at 76 11th Avenue in the Meatpacking District. And between shortlisted architects Rem Koolhaas and Bjarke Ingels, in April the developer decided to move forward with starchitect-of-the-moment Ingels for the high-profile project. Now Yimby has our first look at the design that may rise along the coveted High Line site.

What a starchitectural skyline means for the future of New York

2015-09-14T14:25:00-04:00

The latest explosion of Manhattan development has fully and passionately embraced the phenomenon of the global starchitect. [...] As it turned out, the future would be pure real estate ... The future was the privatisation of the sky and a transfer from corporate power to individual wealth, the visual manifestation of the 0.1 per cent. It was a catwalk of anorexic skinnyscrapers by the equivalents of haute-couture designers ... global names with which to sell real estate.

ClickHole's magnificent spoof on starchitects' unbuilt buildings

2015-07-24T17:44:00-04:00

“a barbershop, a beautiful barbershop formed by curves of alabaster stone. It would resemble an albino slug that’s eating a pile of white towels. Instead of sitting on swivel chairs during your haircut, you’d rest on a big egg that rises out of an indoor reflecting pool. [...] Every day, I open the phone book and call a handful of random barbershops to see if anyone is interested, but I have yet to find a barber with the vision and bravery required.” – Zaha Hadid

I had dreamed of the day when the visionary and hysterical ClickHole would lampoon starchitects. Now that day has come, and the resulting listicle does not disappoint.

Here's Frank Gehry's lost project for the "Evil Concert Hall":

"Instead of holding music, the evil hall would just house endless screaming and clanking chains, establishing an intriguing duality that exists not just in the Disney universe but throughout the entirety of the cosmos. The Disney family only approved the good building.”

And poor Santiago Calatrava, disappointed to realize his design wasn't so original after all:

“My best design ever was actually the Taj Mahal, but I found out that it had already been made. It was extremely humiliating, because I learned that while pitching it for a museum in Barcelona. When I unveiled the model, the clients said, ‘This is the Taj Mahal. India has one,’ and I told them I was pretty sure they didn’t, because I had just invented it. We looked up the Taj Mahal, and sure enough, it...

"[Architects] are not the creators of the city, but the midwives" says Bjarke Ingels

2015-07-23T13:51:00-04:00

In a fifty-one minute conversation with New York Times critic Michael Kimmelman, Bjarke Ingels does little to dispel his reputation as a media-friendly starchitect who dances his way around thorny design issues by reminding everyone of the rose. When Kimmelman brings up the wind issues that an 80th story outdoor space (such as the ones proposed for Two World Trade Center) is likely to encounter, Ingels relates an anecdote about how in Denmark the only car to have is a convertible, because even if the pleasant days are rare, they must be savored fully.

However, it is Ingels' redefinition of the architect's role, especially in the context of the discussion about how to shape the future cultural vibe of Manhattan, that makes Kimmelman shift in his seat:

Ingels: [Architects] are not the creators of the city, but the midwives.

Kimmelman: You make the architect sound a little more passive or receptive than maybe I'm comfortable with. Do you think the architect is just receiving other peopl...

Starchitect Rafael Vinoly to Design a 10-Story Meatpacking District Building

2015-05-26T13:18:00-04:00

Look out—not up—because there’s a new low-rise Rafael Vinoly-designed building coming our way. The architect mastermind behind the city’s tallest residential tower, 432 Park Avenue, has just been chosen to to design a comparatively demure ten-story office-and-retail building in the Meatpacking District, reports The Real Deal. The new addition is being developed by Vornado Realty Trust and Aurora Capital Associates and is located on the former site of Prince Lumber at 61 Ninth Avenue.

2 World Trade Center May Ditch Norman Foster’s Design for a Bjarke Ingels Skyscraper

2015-04-27T12:02:00-04:00

Norman Foster may lose out on yet another major project in Manhattan. The Journal writes that if News Corporation and 21st Century Fox decide to move into 2 World Trade Center, as previously reported, developer Larry Silverstein may drop Foster’s design in favor of a new one by none other than starchitect of the moment, Bjarke Ingels of BIG.

Listen to Archinect's interview with Bjarke in ep #14, "His bjark is BIGger than his bjite".

Patrik Schumacher takes to Facebook "In Defense of Stars and Icons"

2015-04-10T14:59:00-04:00

Earlier today, Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects posted a nearly 1,400 word polemic on Facebook denouncing contemporary architecture criticism and defending the “star-system” that has been instrumental in his firm’s success in the last few decades. Instead of “seeing conspicuity and success merely as a red cloth and occasion to knock down icons (and to teach the virtues of the ordinary, obscure and underappreciated),” Schumacher suggests that the role of the architecture critic should be to explicate and defend the work and status of successful architects to an ignorant public.

Schumacher sets out some “heuristic principles” that he hopes could guide his proposed role for the architecture critic. He states that so-called “iconic architecture” is the invention of critics rather than “the architects’ discourse,” which “serves the purpose of filling the explanatory gap that inevitably opens up because the methodology and motivation behind the unusual appearance of a radically ...