Archinect - News

Russian attacks destroy acclaimed Ukrainian design academy in Kyiv

2024-03-30T08:00:00-04:00

Various Ukrainian news outlets are reporting the recent near-total destruction of the Mykhailo Boichuk State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design in Kyiv from a Russian missile attack in the morning hours of Monday, March 25th.

"During this morning's attack on Kyiv, as a result of falling fragments of a missile launched by the Russian Federation, the central part of the building at the Kyiv State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design named after Mykhailo Boichuk was destroyed, particularly the sports hall, congress hall and exhibition center. The premises of the departments and the auditorium of the institution suffered significant damage," a press update from the country's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy reads.

Image: Helen Osadch via Facebook

News reports indicated that only two people were injured during the attack, which was part of a larger aerial assault on the capital's Pecherskyi and Solomianskyi districts. (You can read more about the att...

Drexel University researchers develop AI-guided robotic structural inspection system

2024-02-12T08:00:00-05:00

Researchers based at the Drexel University College of Engineering have devised a new method for performing structural safety inspections using autonomous robots aided by machine learning technology.

The article they published recently in the Elsevier journal Automation in Construction presented the potential for a new multi-scale monitoring system informed by deep-learning algorithms that work to find cracks and other damage to buildings before using LiDAR to produce three-dimensional images for inspectors to aid in their documentation.

The development could potentially work to benefit the enormous task of maintaining the health of structures that are increasingly being reused or restored in cities large and small across the country. Despite the relative age of America’s built environment, roughly two-thirds of today’s existing buildings will be in use in the year 2050, according to Gensler’s predictions.

The toll on heritage sites in Turkey and Syria following the February earthquakes is staggering

2023-02-28T12:28:00-05:00

The catastrophic events have devastated countless heritage structures, archaeological areas and religious sites, many still active places of worship, across an area so vast that it encompasses ten Turkish provinces and impacts more than 13 million people. Though less extensively reported, damage to heritage sites is most significant in the southernmost province of Hatay. The city centre of Antakya [...] has been almost completely flattened.

The World Bank estimates the total physical damage in Turkey to be approximately $34.2 billion. The Gaziantep Castle, a 2nd-century fortress later expanded under Emperor Justinian, and Aleppo's ancient Citadel in neighboring Syria are perhaps the most significant historic sites to be heavily damaged.

All told, there were at least 173,000 structures destroyed or damaged across Turkey as a result of the outmoded building codes and blatant corruption within the construction industry.

For their part, UNESCO says they are “mobilizing [...] experts, in conjunction with its partners such as ICOMOS, to establish a precise inventory of the damage, if there is any, to safeguard these sites with the cooperation of national authorities, while being aware that their priority at this stage is emergency disaster, rescue and relief.”

Ukraine has lost almost 500 churches and religious sites since the start of the Russian invasion

2023-02-25T08:00:00-05:00

As a result of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, at least 494 religious buildings, theological institutions, and sacred places were wholly destroyed, damaged, or looted by the Russian military. The Ukrainian Institute for Religious Freedom presented this updated data on the impact of the war on Ukrainian religious communities on January 31 and February 1 during the Summit on International Religious Freedom (IRF Summit 2023) held in Washington, D.C.

The Institute for Religious Freedom reported Russia’s tactic of using churches for military bases and hiding spots. Clergy members have also been targeted as part of the longer-term goal of destroying the Ukrainian language and culture. (The Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which accounts for 48% of the survey, famously broke away from Moscow in a May 2022 declaration.)

Graphic courtesy Institute for Religious Freedom (source)

Non-Christian sites afflicted include the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial (which includes a synagogue designed by Manuel Herz) and several mosques. The destruction of holy buildings and other cultural property nevertheless pales in comparison to the waste of life on both sides of the conflict. The latest estimates from the UN human rights office have at least 8,006 civilian deaths in the country over the past twelve months, with the actual death toll of non-combatants likely much higher.

Ukraine’s architects look ahead to the challenge of rebuilding war-torn cities

2022-11-21T11:40:00-05:00

Eight months after Ukrainian forces retook the Kyiv suburb of Irpin from Russian occupiers, The New York Times has spoken with several architectural figures from the region on their mission to rebuild the urban landscape destroyed by war.

Since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, 885 buildings in Irpin have been destroyed, while 12,000 have been damaged. 119 high-rise apartment buildings have sustained significant damage, as have 1,483 private homes, resulting in 16,358 residents being left homeless. City officials estimate the cost of completely rebuilding Irpin to be over $1 billion.

Among those interviewed by The New York Times was Mikhail Sapon, an architect who is in charge of overseeing the city’s reconstruction in collaboration with the Irpin mayor’s office. “During this month, we started counting all the damage, scanning everything with drones,” said Sapon, who was himself shot at the...

The cost of war damage to Ukraine's buildings and infrastructure has reached $127 billion

2022-11-08T13:46:00-05:00

The latest analysis from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) on the cost of direct damage to Ukraine's buildings and infrastructure since the beginning of the Russian military invasion of the country puts the estimate at $127 billion.

The report shows the largest share (39.7%) of the surveyable damage comes from residential structures, totaling 135,800 and equal to about $50.5 billion. As is usually the case in a total war scenario, transportation infrastructure was another big target. That category took up another 27.7% of the damage, with roadways ($26.6 billion) and railroad tracks ($4.3 billion) making up the majority of the $35.3 billion total.

Other civilian infrastructure, like education and healthcare, have been targets as well, suffering totals of $6.95 billion and $1.6 billion worth of damage, respectively. That includes some 978 healthcare facilities and a total of 1,270 schools, the deliberate destruction of which is generally considered a war crime under the Geneva Conv...

The Eiffel Tower is getting a new 60 million euro paint job in lieu of some much-needed repairs

2022-07-12T12:01:00-04:00

According to CNN, the unnamed need for maintenance was first uncovered in confidential reports obtained by the French periodical Marianne. Rust damage to the structure has accumulated over the years, a product of the lead contained within the paint which was originally meant to protect its steel from oxidizing but is now slowly making its condition worse in the opinion of at least one structural engineer with knowledge of the situation.

As Marianne noted, this represents the 20th time the tower, which Gustave Eiffel originally conceived of as a 20-year temporary installation, has been repainted since its debut as the centerpiece of the 1889 Exposition Universelle. The latest round will reportedly cover a mere 5% of the entire 1,063-foot structure. An unnamed expert told the magazine: "At best, it will be mostly useless, but at the very worst, it will make the defects in the existing layer of paint worse and result in corrosion."

Related on Archinect: Paris mayor announces €300M Eif...

More damage reported at Hagia Sophia as conversion impacts grow

2022-06-30T16:55:00-04:00

A number of marble tiles on the floor of the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, which was turned back into a mosque in 2020 after serving as a historical museum for decades, have reportedly been cracked by heavy machinery used to clean the building last week.

“It’s like a fairground now,” one tour guide reportedly told the Turkish opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet in reference to the change in status that occurred in 2020, when the site was reconverted into a mosque and conferred back into the auspices of the Department of Religious Affairs following an edict from President Recep Erdoğan.

The conversion of one of its original World Heritage Sites has drawn the ire of UNESCO, who says it is “gravely concerned.” In the past, Erdoğan, who is facing a potential unseating in the elections next year, has called the project “a symbol of the re-rising of the sun of our civilization.”

UNESCO releases a new list of damaged cultural sites across Ukraine

2022-06-08T18:26:00-04:00

The UN’s official cultural body UNESCO has issued a new report documenting damage to an alarming amount of historic sites, monuments, and structures since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s criminal invasion of Ukraine began in late February.

The organization has verified that 139 sites have suffered damage since that time, a combined total of 62 religious sites, 12 museums, 26 historic buildings, 17 cultural buildings, 15 monuments, and 7 libraries, including the Babyn Yar Holocaust remembrance site in Kyiv, which have come under Russian bombs and artillery shells as the conflict shifts from a three-pronged invasion to a more targeted offensive focused in the eastern Donbas region.

Somewhat remarkably, none of the country’s sites listed on the organization’s official log of protected cultural property have been impacted or targeted by Russian shelling, the latter act being...

O2 Arena badly damaged as high winds wreak havoc in London

2022-02-18T12:34:00-05:00

Social media is buzzing about the unreal damage to the O2 Arena's PTFE-coated glass fiber roof, which tore off during a live performance in the early morning hours Friday. A spokesperson for London’s Fire Brigade told the Evening-Standard there is no “actual collapse” of the roof or structural damage to the 22-year-old arena otherwise. More significant buildings across the capital were damaged by the storm’s 70+ mile per hour winds, including Herzog & de Meuron’s Laban Centre, which lost considerable parts of its facade.

More and more of the Dome is being shredded pic.twitter.com/EUgyH2ryvK
— Ben Hubbard (@BJFHubbard) February 18, 2022

The scene is reminiscent of the collapse that happened to Montreal's Olympic Stadium the same winter that the O2 (then called the "Millennium Dome") opened. The Rogers Stirk Harbour-designed arena was originally meant to be a temporary structure before undergoing a conversion into a full-service entertainment venue in 2005. A Fugees reunion concert th...

Noah's Ark theme park in Kentucky sues their insurance company over rain damage

2019-05-28T15:16:00-04:00

Genesis, this is not. This is the fate of the multimillion-dollar Noah’s Ark replica and theme park in Northern Kentucky, Ark Encounter, which is suing insurance carriers over coverage for rain-related damages to the property. The company is seeking to recoup what it says were $1 million worth of repairs, as well as attorneys’ fees and costs, and an unspecified amount of punitive damages.

Lawyers of the Ark Encounter — the buzzy Noah's Ark theme park in Williamstown, Kentucky that opened in 2016 — filed a lawsuit last Wednesday against the park's insurance company for breaching their coverage policy obligations, after heavy rains in 2017 and 2018 caused a landslide on the park's access road. Reports state that the damage was repaired and the 510-foot ark replica was not at risk.

“By refusing to pay all but a very small proportion of Plaintiffs’ covered claim, the Defendants have failed to meet their Policy obligations and failed to handle Plaintiffs’ claim properly and in good faith, causing Plaintiffs to incur significant additional loss and expense,” the lawsuit states, WLWT reports. The def.endants cited faulty workmanship as the cause of the road damage.

Correction: The headline of this post was edited to indicate that heavy rains caused property damage at Ark's Encounter, not flooding.

Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation sues architect for flawed designs

2018-09-20T13:39:00-04:00

Actor Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation has sued the architect of scores of homes the nonprofit sold to Lower 9th Ward residents who lost everything to Hurricane Katrina. Make it Right itself was recently sued over the homes’ shoddy construction. The new lawsuit against local architect John C. Williams was filed Tuesday in Orleans Parish Civil District Court.

Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation, recently facing a lawsuit of their own on delivering poorly constructed homes, is now suing John C. Williams, the architect responsible for many of the homes sold to New Orleans residents. Repairs to the water damaged homes caused by flawed designs could cost over $20 million.

Notre Dame is falling apart and relying on US donations for major repairs

2018-08-15T14:21:00-04:00

One of Europe’s most visited sites, with about 12 million tourists a year, is in dire need of repairs. Centuries of weather have worn away at the stone. The fumes from decades of gridlock have only worsened the damage. “Pollution is the biggest culprit,” says Philippe Villeneuve, architect in chief of historic monuments in France. “We need to replace the ruined stones. We need to replace the joints with traditional materials. This is going to be extensive.”

Notre Dame faces major repairs as the historic Cathedral's structure decays due largely to pollution. Funding for the repairs needed were difficult to raise as the cathedral is owned by the French government, yet their arrangement allows the Catholic archdiocese of Paris to use it for free. Both claimed the other responsible for raising funds, however the archdiocese stepped up creating Friends of Notre Dam last year.

The organization allows US citizens to make tax deductible contributions to the renovation of this historic landmark. Friends of Notre Dame hope to raise $114 million within the next five to 10 years.

Notre-Dame de Paris asks for a makeover

2017-09-29T16:42:00-04:00

Broken gargoyles and fallen balustrades replaced by plastic pipes and wooden planks. Flying buttresses darkened by pollution and eroded by rainwater. Pinnacles propped up by beams and held together with straps.

The historic French monument, Notre-Dame de Paris, has suffered due to time, rain, pollution and wind.

Built from 1160 to 1345, with restorations and additions in the mid 19th century by architects Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Viollet-le-Duc, the cathedral attracts 14 million visitors per year.

Image from WIkipedia

The cathedral's spokesman André Finot explained that the cathedral needs an extensive makeover. The cost of the restoration is estimated at 150 million euros (US $180 million).

Image from Friends of the Notre-Dame de Paris

Pinnacles appear to be melting due to atmospheric corrosion.

Image from Friends of the Notre-Dame de Paris

Several gargoyles are highly damaged by rain, pollution and wind.

Image from Friends of the Notre-Dame de Paris

Flying buttresses are one of the most urgent and concerning issues due to their structural function. If one was to collapse, the consequences would be disastrous.

Image from Friends of the Notre-Dame de Paris

The Friends of the Notre-Dame de Par...

What's left from the Alberta wildfire

2016-05-10T19:31:00-04:00

After a week of wildfires raging through the town of Fort McMurray and the surrounding area, more than 500,000 acres of forest and 2,400 buildings have been destroyed in Alberta, Canada. Rachel Notley, Alberta's premier, said that 90% of Fort McMurray remains intact, though several neighborhoods were complete losses...While the last fires in town are put out, and infrastructure repaired, more than 80,000 residents will have to wait at least another two weeks before they can return.

Only 8.2% of the Great Wall of China is in good condition, according to recent study

2015-07-02T14:55:00-04:00

Citing a recent report from the Great Wall of China Society, the [Beijing Times] claims that more than 30% of the original structure has disappeared. Approximately 74.1% is poorly preserved, and only 8.2% is in good condition. While concerns about the wall’s condition have deepened in recent years, the study appears to be the first to actually quantify the problem.

Report highlights vulnerability of Amtrak’s NYC tunnels

2014-10-02T13:49:00-04:00

A new engineering report assessing the damage caused to the Amtrak-owned Hudson River and East River tunnels in New York City by Superstorm Sandy in October 2012 recommends a phased process of maintenance works, which will require taking individual tunnel tubes out of service for extended periods.

$450K panel of glass at Apple’s iconic 5th Avenue ‘Cube’ store shattered by snowblower

2014-01-22T14:21:00-05:00

Several readers are reporting that a snowblower has accidentally knocked into and shattered one of the large glass panels at Apple’s iconic 5th avenue Apple Store. That’s one of 15 panels, and those large slices of glass were installed a couple of years ago.

Niemeyer's Latin America Memorial building hit by fire in Sao Paulo

2013-12-02T19:24:00-05:00

Authorities in Brazil's largest city, Sao Paulo, have fought a major blaze at a landmark building designed by architect Oscar Niemeyer. A large plume of smoke billowed from the Latin America Memorial, a cultural centre which hosts an art gallery, an auditorium and other facilities.

Corbu's Marseille's Cité Radieuse damaged by fire

2012-02-10T11:22:00-05:00

One of France's most important landmarks of modernist architecture, La Cité Radieuse housing estate in Marseille, built by the architect Le Corbusier, has been damaged by fire. Fire services fought for over 12 hours to put out a blaze that began on Thursday afternoon in a first floor flat in the nine-storey concrete complex which is protected by special heritage status in France.

Fire destroys buildings at Stockholm's School of Architecture

2011-05-04T14:58:10-04:00

The fire broke out early Wednesday morning in the institute's architecture school on Östermalmsgatan in central Stockholm with the roof of the main lecture hall quickly filling with smoke. Firefighters battled throughout the day to bring the blaze under control and prevent it spreading to other parts of the university's buildings and there are fears that there is a risk of a building collapse.