Archinect - News

The political reason behind London’s ‘weird’ skyline

2024-02-15T11:30:00-05:00

The dominance of starchitect-led high rises in London is the result of the UK’s subjective planning system, according to a new opinion piece in The New York Times. Taking aim at the city’s “weird” skyline, business and economics columnist Peter Coy argues that “developers hire star architects because doing so gives them a better chance of winning approval for taller, more profitable buildings.”

Related on Archinect: The City of London skyline is expected to add these eleven towers by 2030. Image credit: City of London Corporation

“London has a jarring profusion of odd skyscrapers with funny names or nicknames,” Coy explains. “There are the Shard and the Scalpel, which are pretty elegant. The (mostly) well-liked Gherkin, which looks like a glass pickle. The wedge-shaped Cheese Grater. And the widely loathed Walkie-Talkie, a bulbous cartoon of a building that “looms thuggishly over its low-rise neighbors like a broad-shouldered banker in a cheap pinstriped suit,” to quote The Guardian....

Chicago issues caisson permit for 400 Lake Shore Drive

2023-12-14T12:41:00-05:00

An important milestone has been reached in the construction of 400 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. According to Urbanize Chicago, a caisson permit has been issued, and below-grade work is scheduled to kick off early next year.

The blog reports that once that work is done, "above-grade work will start in Q1 2025 and continue through Q2 2027. Landscaping and the final completion of the tower is expected for Q3 2027."

The project had previously set a date for around December 1st for its construction to start. SOM's chairman emeritus David Childs is the designer of the two-tower scheme, which quotes the masonry and terra cotta traditions that are synonymous with the Windy City.

Previously on Archinect: Chicago's 400 Lake Shore Drive developers finally set a construction start date

The project will culminate in a total of 1,100 residential units. The first phase of its development calls for the construction of the 3.44-acre DuSable Park and the 72-story Tower One, which stands as a half-size...

‘Mutant’ London apartment block to be demolished for deviating too far from permitted development

2023-10-17T11:54:00-04:00

The planning authority in London’s Royal Borough of Greenwich has ordered the demolition of a new residential development along the River Thames. In a statement, the authority concluded that the 23-story building, named Mast Quay Phase II, was “so substantially different to the scheme that was originally permitted” that the development’s ultimate construction was unlawful.

In its decision, the authority cited 26 main deviations from the scheme originally granted planning permission, including “visible design changes to the external appearance of the towers,” arguing that the towers looked “more solid and bulky because of the removal of the stepped back top floor and the glazed curtain wall facade” to one of the blocks.

The approved Mast Quay Phase II (left) versus the scheme subsequently constructed (right). Image credit: Royal Borough of Greenwich

The authority also cited visible changes to the materials and windows, a larger than approved footprint, “lower quality residential acco...

An open letter to LA's next mayor outlines 10 proposals to speed up the production of affordable housing

2022-09-30T13:20:00-04:00

The Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA|LA) has released an open letter to mayoral candidates Rick Caruso and Karen Bass suggesting 10 fixes to zoning requirements and the approval processes that would positively impact citywide efforts to tackle an ongoing housing crisis that has taken center stage ahead of the November election.

Echoing the tone of a recent LA Times op-ed, Koning Eizenberg principal and AIA|LA Government Outreach Committee member Brian Lane wrote on behalf of the organization, saying that, as the system is currently arranged, there are "a thousand ways to 'no.'" Their letter claims that city bureaucracy gets in the way of the design community's efforts and that production can be significantly increased via the proposed set of solutions.

"Dear Mayor," the text begins. "It takes about $600,000 and 5 years to build one affordable housing unit. That’s one person or family moved off the streets of over 69,000 experiencing homelessness in LA...

Oxford's 'Shark House' owner detests its new landmark designation status

2022-04-01T13:38:00-04:00

The 25-foot tall (7.6 meter) sculpture of a shark crashing through the roof of Magnus Hanson-Heine’s house in rural Oxford, England, is now a protected landmark — and he’s not happy about it.

City Council members in Oxford voted earlier in the month to add the protest artwork to its Heritage Asset Register along with 16 other sites.

Officially named the Headington Shark, the sculpture was installed on the anniversary of the bombing of Nagasaki in 1986 as a powerful anti-war message lobbed against the U.S. government by American ex-pat homeowner Bill Hanson-Heine and local artist John Buckley. Hanson-Heine died in 2019 and apparently passed down his grudge against the planning body, which had for years attempted to effect last night’s removal via a series of orders that were eventually halted by Department of the Environment Minister Michael Heseltine in 1992.

“Using the planning apparatus to preserve a historical symbol of planning law defiance is absurd on the face of it,” Magnus told the AP earlier this week.

Los Angeles hopes to cut housing red tape with preapproved ADU designs

2021-03-08T19:00:00-05:00

More than a dozen designs for accessory dwelling units, known as ADUs, will be offered through the city’s ADU Standard Plan Program [...]. The small-scale, stand-alone residences are generally tucked into properties zoned for single-family homes. The idea, says the city’s chief design officer (and former Times architecture critic), Christopher Hawthorne, is to take a weeks-long permitting process and “turn it into an approval that is over-the counter.”

Notoriously plagued by a shortage of housing stock, Los Angeles has launched a new initiative that aims to drastically shorten the approval process — and promote good design — with preapproved accessory dwelling unit (ADU) plans.

The ADU Standard Plan Program will start out with designs by 14 architectural firms, ranging from well-known practices to emerging studios: wHY, SO – IL, Design, Bitches, LA Más, Jennifer Bonner/MALL, sekou cooke STUDIO, Fung + Blatt Architects, Escher GuneWardena Architecture, Connect Homes, Amunátegui Valdés, IT House, First Office, Abodu, and Welcome Projects.

Below is a small selection from the initial roster of plans.

LA Más: 1-story, studio with options (3D-printed home)

SO – IL: 1-story, 1 bedroom with options (693 sf)

Amunátegui Valdés: 1-story, 2-bedroom with covered roof deck and options (934 sf)

IT House: 2-story including mechanical room with options (660 sf)

Design, Bitches: 1-story, 1 bedroom with options (454 sf)

wHY: 1-story, 1 or 2 bedroom with...

Contested Bel Air megamansion may soon be gone as city wants it 'torn down to its foundation'

2019-11-08T16:29:00-05:00

Los Angeles city prosecutors are calling for an unfinished mega-mansion in Bel-Air to be torn down to its foundation, the latest twist in the saga over a colossal building at the center of criminal charges, court battles and an FBI investigation. [...] last week, City Atty. Mike Feuer and his prosecutors stepped up their demands, saying that a structural engineer had found that key structures supporting the building were deficient.

"Hadid pleaded no contest two years ago to criminal charges tied to the mammoth, unfinished building, which prosecutors said was much bigger than city rules allowed and included bedrooms, decks and even an IMAX theater that the city said were never approved," reports the Los Angeles Times.

Calls for the complete demolition of the embattled Bel Air megamansion first erupted in June when former construction manager Russell Linch accused the building's owner, celebrity developer Mohamed Hadid, of bribing a Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety inspector to 'overlook' building code violations.

New safety and corruption concerns over Bel Air megamansion: 'entire house must be demolished,' says former construction manager

2019-06-20T15:23:00-04:00

The mammoth, unfinished mansion on Strada Vecchia Road in Bel-Air has long been at the center of controversy, investigations and legal battles. Its developer, Mohamed Hadid, pleaded no contest to criminal charges after prosecutors accused him of building a house far bigger than allowed. [...] And investigators have looked into possible wrongdoing by a city building inspector scrutinizing the house.

Looks like the legal drama over the gargantuan on-again/off-again under-construction Bel Air megamansion by celebrity developer Mohamed Hadid is entering a new act: Russell Linch, the contested project's former construction manager, has come forward this week and accused a Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety inspector of allegedly accepting perks in exchange for 'overlooking' building code violations.

"Because I believe the piles are inadequate to support the house, I believe the house is unsafe and that the entire house must be demolished," Linch added in his declaration.

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia acquires proper permits

2019-06-10T12:58:00-04:00

She told reporters that the council had finally managed to "resolve a historical anomaly in the city -- that an emblematic monument like the Sagrada Familia... didn't have a building permit, that it was being constructed illegally," Agence France-Presse reported.

Despite being under construction for 137 years, Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, Spain has never had proper building permits. That is, until now.

CNN reports that Barcelona's chief urban planner announced last week that the city council had finally awarded the committee responsible for the cathedral's construction with a building license. In exchange for the license, the group agreed to pay 4.6 million euros to fund additional mitigation measures to address the impact the cathedral's 4.5 million annual visitors have on surrounding areas.

Detail shot of the Sagrada Famila's decorative spires, Image courtesy Wikimedia user Poniol60.

According to the committee, Gaudi applied for a building permit from the local authorities back in 1882, but apparently, he never heard back. That did not, however, stop the architect from starting construction that year, a monumental task that has been going strong for over a century and is due to be completed in 2026.

Detail view...

Owner of famed Oxford shark house has passed

2019-04-03T16:05:00-04:00

Bill Heine, who famously put a 25 foot fiberglass shark by the sculptor John Buckley on top his house, has passed away. A BBC radio broadcaster, Mr. Heine spent a good sum of his time protecting what he saw as a fight for creativity.

Placed without planning permission in 1986, the unusual home addition sparked a 6-years long battle with the Oxford City Council. The shark was finally saved in 1992 by the Secretary of State for the Environment, Michael Heseltine, whose inspector issued the final ruling in the shark's defense, arguing that "any system of control must make some small place for the dynamic, the unexpected, and the downright quirky."

Bill Heine in April 1987, next to his Oxford home.

During this time, Mr. Heine's shark had become an undeniable part of the local community, and as his daughter describes, "an irreplaceable (and legal) part of the Oxfordshire skyline." Today, the defiant attraction continues to draw thousands of visitors each year.

When diagnosed with terminal...

Gaudi's Sagrada Familia fined $41 million for lack of building permit

2018-10-19T13:22:00-04:00

Despite having been under construction for more than 130 years, Gaudí's Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona has lacked the proper paper work. Turns out, the Unesco world heritage site, attracting more than 20 million visitors a year, has never been granted a building permit, the BBC News reports.

After two years of negotiations, an agreement to remedy the situation was finally reached on Thursday. The church's trustees conceded to paying $41 million in fees over a 10-year period, so that the city can fund public transportation, increase accessibility, and make other improvements to the surrounding area.

Ada Colau, Barcelona's far-left mayor, argued that the basilica's board has been working without a permit; has failed to pay proper taxes and fees on construction; and has not submitted the required paperwork for tearing down neighboring residential buildings. According to the Times, the church, on the other hand, contends they were granted a permit in 1885 by Sant Martí de Prove...

Housing shortage statistics demonstrate the cities that are still building

2017-08-29T15:03:00-04:00

Trulia isolated the markets in which building permits for residential construction are being issued at rates above historical averages, which have been calculated by looking at the number of permits issued each year between 1980 and 2016. The study also shows that Austin, Dallas and Houston, issued over 10% of all permits in the nation in 2017.These cities are projected to add about 130,000 new homes by the end of the year, their growth driven by abundant jobs and rising incomes and home prices.

According to the real estate website Trulia, the number of homes available for sale decreased 8.9 percent in the second quarter of 2017 compared to a year earlier, which follows decreases every quarter for the two past years.

The projected number of new building permits in 2017 grew the most in the following cities:

Austin, TX (+107.7% higher than historical average)
Charleston, SC (+72.8%)
Nashville, TN (+65.8%)
Philadelphia, PA (+62.3%)
Boston, MA (+61%)

Decreasing the most in:

Worcester, MA (-85.5%)
Allentown, PA (-85.0%)
New Haven, CT (-80.8%)
Akron, OH (-77.1%)
Syracuse, NY (-70.8%)

Frank Gehry's Grand Avenue Project files for construction permits with City of Los Angeles

2017-08-14T14:42:00-04:00

The Frank Gehry-designed project has taken a smaller, but important step forward this summer, by filing for building permits with the City of Los Angeles...The latest iteration of the Grand Avenue Project, which has been proposed for well over a decade, calls for the construction of two high-rise buildings at 100 S. Grand Avenue, replacing an infamous "tinker-toy" parking structure...Related has set a 2018 groundbreaking date for the project, with completion targeted in 2022.

Hearing begins for "modernist" North Carolina home threatened with demolition

2014-08-26T14:38:00-04:00

Today is day two in court for architect Louis Cherry and his wife, Marsha Gordon, for the hearing that will decide the fate of their new home in the historic Oakwood neighborhood of Raleigh, North Carolina. Back in March, a neighbor complained that the "modernist" style of Cherry's home didn't jive with the neighborhood's tone, and successfully appealed to have the building's permits revoked. Construction was halted, and now the decision of whether the house can be finished, demolished, or forcibly modified to local design standards has been brought to court.

We first covered this issue back in May and July, and the preservationist-NIMBYism that it's raised. Opening statements for the case were held yesterday, although it could take months for the judge to issue a final decision.

UPDATE: The hearing has been adjourned, according to @RaleighReporter, Colin Campbell (reporter for The News & Observer, North Raleigh News and Midtown Raleigh News).

@NCMHTweets reported from inside the court...

Hanoi: is it possible to grow a city without slums?

2014-08-11T13:28:00-04:00

Hanoi has faced the same population pressures as other Asian cities. But thanks to vague and informal conventions, the state has been able to avoid extreme levels of disservice, even to the most impoverished new urban areas. And the construction of homes themselves has remained at least loosely connected to the regulations of the more formal suburbs. Together these factors have prevented the formation of slums as they are typically defined. But how has this come about?

Don’t Like Your Neighbors’ House? Sue Them.

2014-07-14T13:32:00-04:00

“Words like ‘holocaust’ have been used in reference to the idea that our house could inspire a rash of tear-downs which could then be replaced with modern homes. I designed my house specifically within the design guidelines of this historic district and to be compatible, a good neighbor. But the term ‘modernism’ just clicks a switch in people’s brain and they can’t see the house for what it is.”

Previously: Architect Fights for His Home

Bohlin Cywinsky Jackson and Eckersley O'Callaghan tapped for Apple's upcoming Madison Avenue store

2014-05-19T14:29:00-04:00

Longtime partners Bohlin Cywinsky Jackson and Eckersley O'Callaghan have been brought in to revamp the 93-year-old former United States Mortgage and Trust Company building at the corner of East 74th Street and Madison Avenue, according to New York City building permits.

No wartime paperwork? Tear down your home

2014-05-14T13:56:00-04:00

A German pensioner has been ordered to demolish her own home - because the house, built at the start of World War II, did not have planning permission.

Architect Fights for His Home

2014-05-07T18:37:00-04:00

Lewis Mumford wrote that, in a city, “time becomes visible.” Not, it would appear, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where a city board has just decided that a rather discreet and understated modern house might need to be torn down because it damages the ambience of a historic district, which is to say it destroys the illusion that the neighborhood is a place in which time has stopped.

A battle of bureaucracy and "historic preservation" is playing out in a Raleigh, NC neighborhood. Louis Cherry, FAIA, is building his own home in the Oakwood neighborhood of Raleigh. After having received approval for his design by relevant city agencies, including the Raleigh Historic Development Commission who oversees the Oakwood Historic District, construction proceeded in the vacant lot Cherry purchased. Gail Wiesner, his neighbor, has since led a charge to halt its construction filing an appeal with the local Board of Adjustment, who oversee procedure of local public agencies. Voting 3-2, the board found that the RHDC's decision had “no rational basis” and the Building Permit was rescinded.

Timber Pallets and Building Permits

2012-01-04T19:46:35-05:00

Pallets are omnipresent. (We) have found pallets not only in the small architectures of informal settlements in Buenos Aires, Istanbul, and Panama City, but in the blogs of self-builders throughout North America and Europe...Urban pioneers in Detroit, Camden and other failing Rust Belt cities reclaim pallets...But none of these builders have negotiated the gap between informal and formal economies with a permanent pallet building authorized by a building permit. - Wes Janz, Cabin(s) in the Woods