Archinect - News

Gold and eagles, Trump's makeover of the White House

2017-08-24T14:40:00-04:00

A real dump,” is how Donald Trump is said to have described the White House he inherited from the Obama administration. For a man used to inhabiting a penthouse fantasy land of golden columns, heaving chandeliers and cherubs tumbling from the ceilings, the decor at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue must have seemed a bit drab. So he took the opportunity of his summer vacation to call in the decorators for a $3.4m (£2.6m) overhaul, the results of which have been unveiled this week.

Perhaps because the president and his family don’t spend much time living in the White House, the interior changes, at least so far, have been few. Nevertheless, Trumps' recent redecorations include noticeable features like a change in wallpaper— from Obama's yellow candy-stripe to, handpicked by Trump, creamy grey damask affair, and gold drapes with gold-hued upholstery. In "bringing back the lustre and the glory” to the place, replacement of the plain Obama-era carpet was also initiated— the 6,000 meters of the new carpet feature “a floral medallion inspired by the White House architecture and the Rose Garden”.

As Oliver Wainwright writes, "The outside of the White House has been spruced up and stripped back too, given the same liberal dousing of bleach as the interior." In place of the timeworn stone steps of the South Portico staircase, are now brand new treads, "giving them the look of one of the many Chinese McMansions modeled on the White House, rather than the real thing its...

Vernacular architectural photographer John Margolies has died

2016-06-16T13:10:00-04:00

Mr. Margolies, who died on May 26, at 76, was considered the country’s foremost photographer of vernacular architecture — the coffee shops shaped like coffeepots; the gas station shaped like a teapot (the Teapot Dome Service Station in Zillah, Wash.); and the motels shaped like all manner of things, from wigwams to zeppelins to railroad cars — that once stood as proud totems along America’s blue highways.

In memoriam, here are a few of Margolies' idiosyncratic finds, many of which were compiled into the 2010 book "John Margolies: Roadside America":

Other architectural photographers who are still doing their signature thing:

A preview of Biber Architects’ USA Pavilion design for Milan Expo 2015

2014-07-31T20:03:00-04:00

Biber Architects of New York recently announced the groundbreaking of the USA Pavilion, "American Food 2.0: United to Feed the Planet", for the Milan World Expo in 2015. The US pavilion is one of 147 participating countries responding to the expo's theme, "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life", which addresses global issues regarding food security, access and waste, and the challenging prospect of nutritiously feeding 9 billion people by 2050.

Highlighting America's role in the global food system, the barn-inspired pavilion includes features like a a harvestable vertical farm, food trucks, and a boardwalk.

Nature And Design Meet In Lautner's Modern Homes

2011-12-04T22:28:58-05:00

Lautner's homes have appeared in Hollywood movies, but the architect himself wasn't particularly well-known when he died in 1994. Still, in 2011 — the centennial year of Lautner's birth — his hometown of Marquette, Mich., has honored him with two exhibitions: one at Northern Michigan University's DeVos Art Museum and one at the Marquette Regional History Center.

John Lautner's homes have been featured in many movies, but few people actually know who the architect was who came up with the designs. His space-age designs were probably a favourite of the cinematic because the designs themselves look like something which might be dreamed up by a set designer on some back lot in Hollywood.