Archinect - News

Cash-strapped Rome issues SOS to wealthy citizens for funds to restore its historic sites

2016-05-25T12:14:00-04:00

Rome has issued a €500m (£380m) SOS to companies, wealthy philanthropists and its own citizens to help restore many of the Italian capital’s historic sites and prevent others from falling into ruin. The Roman Forum, the Circus Maximus and the walls, aqueducts and sewerage system of what was once the most powerful city on Earth have all been earmarked as needing help ranging from a relatively minor clean up to full-blown structural works.

"Saddled with debts of some €12bn, Rome cannot afford to do it on its own."

Or: in search of noblesse oblige during the age of austerity politics.

Of course, Rome isn't the only European city struggling under the weight of debt. Check out these related articles:

Amid London's austerity measures, "defensive design" becomes even more hostile

2016-01-04T13:21:00-05:00

Designing out homelessness appears to be part of a wider ambition to make consumers and investors feel secure, while avoiding direct human intervention. [...] It is an indictment of our communities that we have come to identify street homelessness as a form of “disorder” – a sign that something is amiss or dangerous in our public spaces. Yet the reality is that these kinds of design and security measures are put in place because of the breakdown of these very communities.

This piece by Rowland Atkinson (Chair in Inclusive Societies) and Aidan While (Senior Lecturer in Urban Studies and Planning) at the University of Sheffield gets at how exclusionary design towards the homeless and so-called "rough" sleepers (those who sleep in the city's streets) is a sign of increasing societal rifts, as income inequality and austerity measures press down hard on London.

Greek museums can't afford to keep the doors open

2015-07-09T13:51:00-04:00

Major public cultural institutions in Greece are on the point of collapse, say leading Greek art professionals, as concerns mount that the country faces insolvency after 61% of the population rejected bailout proposals earlier this week made by international creditors.

Architecture in crisis: reports from Greece

2015-07-06T17:00:00-04:00

The dust is yet to settle in Greece, as the pronounced “No!” of yesterday’s referendum reverberates across Europe. The vote marked a clear rejection by the Greek people of enforced austerity as the price for staying in the Eurozone. It also signaled continued confidence in Alexis Tsipras and the Syria government, despite hope from the leaders of Europe’s surplus economies for a regime change.

With reports from Athens detailing a grim scene of shuttered ATM’s and closed factories, the country’s future remains uncertain.

Many have compared the current situation to the great depression of the 1930’s, and it’s clear that no economic sector is immune to its ramifications – let alone architecture, a field markedly tethered to economic undulations. Archinect reached out to a couple of its members to get a pulse on what’s happening, as well as what it’s been like to live under austerity for nearly a decade.

“The future of architecture in Greece if the economic crisis is not handled,” wrote C...

Detroit files for bankruptcy

2013-07-18T19:09:00-04:00

In a letter accompanying Thursday's filing, Michigan's Governor Rick Snyder...said...residents needed a clear exit from the "cycle of ever decreasing services". "The only way to do those things is to radically restructure the city"

Jonny Dymond analyzes the news that Detroit has become the largest American city ever to file for bankruptcy, with debts of at least $15bn.

Editor's Picks #310

2013-04-09T12:04:00-04:00

For the latest entry in the ShowCase series Archinect published the Shrine of the Virgin of "La Antigua" by Otxotorena Arquitectos. The project is located in Alberite, La Rioja, Spain and the architects main constraint was the need to "incorporate a preexisting stone archway in the design. This archway was rescued from a previous demolition in the town and it was preserved by the locals".

Donna Sink exclaimed "Wow, wow. I love it. Love the multiple arcade forms and multiple striations and similar but different textures...Would love to see a floorplan if there is one?".

News

The LA Times reported that the Watts Towers in South Los Angeles will be the subject of a new study conducted by experts from UCLA to determine the stability of the historic sculptures.

Orhan Ayyüce shared these words "In my opinion it is the most beautiful and meaningful public art in Los Angeles that people neglected for decades" and a photo.

The Plain Dealer /Cleveland.com announced th...

The white elephants and fiscal "black holes" of Spain

2012-07-27T12:42:00-04:00

"Regional governments enjoy the possibility of spending and inaugurating public works but they don't run the political risk or cost of raising taxes.

Pascale Harter visits Spain where regions are clamouring for money from central government - and one of the reasons for this is their lavish spending on white elephant building projects, such as the airport at Ciudad Real, south of Madrid.

London's Olympic venues challenge architects

2011-11-29T00:10:56-05:00

In London's case the practicality of the architecture is a reaction to the economic rather than the political excesses of the recent past. The 2012 Games are shaping up, in fact, as one of the clearest signs yet that the architectural boom years of the last decade or so in the West have definitively ended.