Archinect - News

Brooklyn group opposes new Tony Hawk-backed skatepark: 'Pouring concrete is Stone Age'

2024-04-08T11:58:00-04:00

The city has construction plans for Mount Prospect Park, once the site of a lookout station for George Washington’s army. About 40,000 square feet of the 7.79-acre park are to be turned into one of the largest skateboarding spots on the East Coast. Some nearby residents are fighting the plan. [...] They say the poured-concrete skateboarding facility would take up precious green space in a city that does not have enough of it.

A total of four skatepark designs are scheduled to be built in the Bronx and Brooklyn, courtesy of The Skatepark Project (or TSP). Costs for a new park at the contested Brooklyn location are about $100,000.

The Mount Prospect Park location calls for 40,000 square feet worth of concrete to be poured, leading to local protests recently. Hayley Gorenberg of the group Friends of Mount Prospect Park told the Times, “Paving green space isn’t acceptable to the community, and it’s not the way for New York City to look forward to a more resilient future. It’s backwards thinking.”

Tony Hawk is also involved in Peterson Rich Office and OSD’s new adaptive reuse design for the Shepherd Gallery and Art Center in Detroit.

Better Block Foundation, a nonprofit for open-source neighborhood design and ‘wikiblock’ urbanism, is hiring

2023-12-07T12:42:00-05:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for an Architect/Designer at Build Block, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open role on Archinect Jobs for a Landscape Designer at the Better Block Foundation.

The role, based in Dallas, TX, “goes beyond the conventional office setting, requiring a genuine commitment to hands-on, physical work in the field,” according to the company. Among the responsibilities will be delivering site design and presentation materials, material sourcing and ordering, construction documents, and potential public speaking and development roles. “The Landscape Designer should be passionate about new urbanism and willing to swing a hammer, get paint on his/her clothing, answer volunteers’ questions, etc.,” the company adds. “This position is very hands-on.”

Before/After: Collaborative neighborhood placemaking. Image credit: The Better Block Foundation

Why the role interests us

The role at the Better Block Foundation offer...

A public interest design fellowship for young designers has opened at the University of Detroit Mercy’s Detroit Collaborative Design Center

2023-07-26T13:27:00-04:00

Following last week’s look at an opening for a Designer at Boffi, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an opportunity on Archinect Jobs for a Public Interest Design (PID) Fellowship at the University of Detroit Mercy, Detroit Collaborative Design Center.

The 18-month fellowship, based in Detroit, calls for “young designers who are eager to gain experience in public interest design.” Among the responsibilities for the role are collaborating with the center’s wider team and partners on community engagement, design development, and project deliverables, as well as attending conferences and participating in training from senior mentors.

Why the role interests us

The fellowship at the Detroit Collaborative Design Center offers the opportunity to reflect on the many examples of community action undertaken by design entities tied to academic institutions...

Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation adds to leadership team in Chicago

2023-07-21T14:24:00-04:00

The celebrated ongoing restoration of Chicago’s St. Laurence elementary school by the Theaster Gates’ Rebuild Foundation has added new leadership to support the $10.35 million project, which broke ground on the city’s South Side in May 2022.

The Foundation shares that Nonprofit Operations Strategist Racheal Allen, Special Collections Librarian Heather Hummons, and Director of Finance Mileak Harper have all been hired in support of the initiative, which seeks to “[support] artists of color and their livelihoods, while bringing new cultural resources into the South Side community.”

Once completed the project will deliver a total of 40,000-square-feet 40,000 square feet of artist studios, co-working floors, a research archive, classrooms, and spaces dedicated to various objects from the Foundation's own collection.

Previously on Archinect: Theaster Gates' newest community arts incubator breaks ground on Chicago's South Side

In a statement, Gates said: “Central to the redemption of St. L...

For civic-minded designers, a New York NGO presents a career opportunity to impact marginalized communities

2022-08-24T15:55:00-04:00

In March 2022, we published a feature article exploring failures in the maintenance and administration of public housing in the United States. The piece was one of several features on our editorial that have exposed architecture’s connection to pressing social issues, with recent examples including labor, gender and racial inequalities, governance of public space, and homelessness.

Archinect Feature: America’s Public Housing is Burning, Fueled by Cold Indifference

Our coverage of these issues has also brought to the forefront a broad range of individuals determined to find solutions, from Weronika Zdziarska’s investigations into the impact of urban design on gender-based violence to Todd Brown’s exploration of social, environmental, and racial justice.

Archinect Feature: Perceptions of Safety: Weronika Zdziarska Questions Urban Design and Its Impact on Gender-Based Violence Experienced by Women in Cities

While Zdziarska and Brown offer examples of individuals who have used funded ave...

Meet community engagement champions CIVIC: Your Next Employer?

2022-08-15T09:00:00-04:00

Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based OPEN OFFICE, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series east to Providence, Rhode Island, where we find CIVIC.

Founded by architect Manuel Cordero, and based in Providence’s Innovation District, CIVIC’s work is defined by an inclusive vision of the built environment, and in particular, the public realm. Their portfolio has thus developed to include a collaboration with Arup on a masterplan for public spaces across Providence, as well as ongoing educational and community projects.

The firm now seeks to expand by advertising for a multidisciplinary designer role on Archinect Jobs. For candidates interested in applying for the position, or anybody interested in learning more about life as an architect, we spoke with CIVIC founder Manuel Cordero for a behind-the-scenes look at the studio.

CIVIC's workspace is in CIC Innovation Campus in Providence. Image via CIVIC

How did CIVIC get started?

I am a licensed architect, but have alway...

Theaster Gates' newest community arts incubator breaks ground on Chicago's South Side

2022-05-10T17:22:00-04:00

On the heels of another recent multimillion-dollar community revitalization effort through his non-profit Rebuild Foundation, 2022 Serpentine Pavilion designer Theaster Gates was back in the South Side last week to celebrate the groundbreaking of the new St. Laurence Arts Incubator in Chicago.

Joined by Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, Gates spoke about the new $10.35 million project, which will transform a disused elementary school — shuttered since 2002 — into a “think tank and makerspace” for local artists with 40,000 square feet of studios, co-working, research, educational, and entrepreneurial spaces. The new initiative joins Gates’ Prada-backed Dorchester Industries Experimental Design Lab, also located on the South Side, that was announced last summer.

Image courtesy of the Rebuild Foundation

“The St. Laurence renovation is a work of art in and of itself," local philanthropist Alec Litowitz said in a statement prior to the May 3rd groundbreaking ceremony. "Resurrecting this ab...

Local LA hero Lauren Halsey’s Met rooftop installation will focus on utopian architecture, Afrofuturism, and community

2022-03-15T20:36:00-04:00

The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced the commission of artist Lauren Halsey for the tenth edition of its popular annual Roof Garden Commission series with a new work titled the eastside of south central los angeles hieroglyph prototype architecture (I).

The 34-year-old artist’s temporary installation will feature an inhabitable structure that at once weaves the museum’s ample holdings of Egyptian art with elements of her own personal history and visual inventory in order to create a “monument to living architecture” overlooking Central Park and Fifth Avenue.

Halsey is known for inspiring work that examines the shifting dynamic between architecture and community-building as influenced by her upbringing in and around South Central Los Angeles. Her installation is thus taken from the desire to produce, as Met director Max Hollein put it, “a powerful form of documentation” that engages with the history, iconography, and local material culture of the neighborhood remixed with ele...

Remembering Prescott Reavis: A champion of Black excellence and mentorship within architecture

2022-02-10T17:57:00-05:00

Within the architecture industry, there are individuals who work tirelessly to not only design impactful buildings but who aim to represent the people, places, and community that their work serves. Prescott Reavis was more than just a Black architect. He was an advocate, a mentor, and a formidable force for equitable design practices. On February 8, 2022, Reavis sadly passed away.

The Oakland-based practitioner was a man of many talents and specialties. For over 20 years, his works as a spatial activist, architect, planner, and educator could be seen throughout his involvement with organizations across the nation, specifically in the Oakland/San Francisco area.

Image of Prescott Reavis as a student at Howard University. Image courtesy of Prescott Reavis' Facebook page.

Reavis was a graduate of Howard University where he received a Bachelor's degree in Architecture with a minor in Education. He also attended San Jose State University where he completed Master's Certificates in Appli...

Theaster Gates leading $4.5 million revitalization of garden in Chicago's South Side

2021-07-29T18:19:00-04:00

Adding to his ongoing effort to transform neglected areas of Chicago’s South Side into sustainable community spaces, artist, educator, and urban planner Theaster Gates is embarking on a $4.5 million revitalization of a garden.

The 1.3-acre Kenwood Gardens is located in Chicago’s Grand Crossing neighborhood, which is home to a number of Gates’ restoration projects. Most notably, there's the Stony Island Arts bank, a public arts space and library, that was formerly a fully operating local bank.

For the garden, Gates, along with head of planting for the garden, Chris Abraham, envision spaces for educational programming, meditation, and community-focused gardening. The once overgrown plot of land will be converted into an oasis, featuring Minnie Pearl Phlox, Lilac Squirrel, and more.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Theaster Gates (@theastergates)

So far, $1.5 million worth of work has been completed, denoted as phase one, which is about beautifying the...

Empowering people with architecture: Victor Body-Lawson presented the Leader in Housing Award by the AIA New York Chapter

2021-06-28T13:12:00-04:00

Architect, educator, artist, and public housing advocate Victor Body-Lawson has spent much of his career working towards community-driven designs that focus on integrating design, arts, and architectural education for more equitable urban solutions. Body-Lawson's work spans New York, other neighboring cities along the East Coast, Cuba, and projects in West Africa. He advocates for equitable, urban residential projects and architects serving as their own real estate agents. His contributions to challenging public housing and propelling affordable housing initiatives have positioned him as a force in the industry. On Wednesday, June 24th, the AIA New York Chapter awarded Body-Lawson with the Leadership in Housing Award.

Home Street Residences by Body Lawson Associates

Born in Nigeria, Body-Lawson came to the United States for school and attended Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C where he pursued architecture. He received his M.Arch at Columbia University where he worke...

Theaster Gates to design the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion

2021-05-18T17:34:00-04:00

Artist and urban planner Theaster Gates has been selected to design the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion. This will be the first time that the Serpentine Gallery has awarded this commission to a non-architect. Gates is currently a professor at the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago. Utilizing his background in urban planning, his work focuses on space theory and land development, sculpture, and performance, integrating sound, motion, Black history, and architectural features.

His most famous work, the ongoing Dorchester Projects, began in 2008 in the wake of the financial crisis when Gates bought a number of rundown properties on Chicago’s South Side, where he grew up and currently lives. In collaboration with architects and designers, he converted these derelict buildings into community centers and cultural institutions. He also repurposed the scrap within these sites as art and injected the money made back into the neighborhood. Projects include the Archive House, for...

UMSoA to Propel Neighborhood Revitalization with $650,000 from Knight Foundation

2015-04-16T12:56:00-04:00

“The School of Architecture has a long history of helping to reshape and revitalize the South Florida community,” said Rodolphe el-Khoury, dean of the University of Miami School of Architecture. “We are pleased that Knight Foundation has chosen to support this unique project that will have a lasting impact on communities in need of assistance.”

The University of Miami School of Architecture today announced a plan to bring “third places” – community spaces, marketplaces, incubators and training centers – into two underserved Miami neighborhoods with $650,000 from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

The Third Place Project will create spaces that provide resources and support to entrepreneurs, creatives and civic leaders in these neighborhoods, as a way to foster their ideas and break down barriers. It will also help transform these neighborhoods and create opportunities for local businesses, by establishing inexpensive spaces for startups and hubs for arts, culture and entertainment. The grant will support Momentum2: The Breakthrough Campaign for the University of Miami.

“A major challenge in the Miami metro area is the disconnect between extraordinarily wealthy neighborhoods and boom areas and long-struggling urban neighborhoods such as Allapatah, Little Haiti and Opa-locka,” said Charles Bohl, associate professor an...

The Year 2014 in Architectural Activism

2014-12-29T10:00:00-05:00

Let's admit it, we architects much too often get lost in narcissistic own-horn-tooting, passionate ego-inflating, disillusioned navel-gazing, vile shit-flinging or simply in the mundane day-to-day operations for the paying clientele.

But all is not completely lost thanks to the tireless work and burning passion of individuals and groups around the world seeking the greater good, putting humanity first, improving this planet one initiative at a time.

Topics we had the honor of reporting about on Archinect & Bustler this year ranged from the Israel-Gaza conflict, Syrian refugee crisis, Ukrainian revolution, climate change, historic preservation, #folkmoma, abortion clinics and affordable housing all the way to still very recent issues like the Ebola epidemic and Ferguson protests.

Following is my personal (and hopelessly incomplete) list of noteworthy and much-discussed examples of architectural activism on Archinect & Bustler in 2014:

Exhibition Explores the Design of Protest Movements...

Apple 2 campus taking shape, NCARB names names, and cities sell out: News Round-Up for September 2, 2014

2014-09-09T18:04:00-04:00

Friday, September 5:

Beijing public transit commuters can now pay fares with empty bottles: Beijingers can insert a recyclable bottle and receive equivalent rebates in train fares or mobile phone credits.
Community Bus Stops Transform Brazil: Thousands of Brazil's bus stops are unmarked, leading fed-up residents to install their own signage under the Que Ônibus Passa Aqui? (Which Bus Stops Here?) program, one of the world's biggest community projects.
Town Becomes a Beer Ad, but Residents Don’t Feel Like a Party: Crested Butte, Colorado, population 1,500, was outfitted for a three-day party to publicize Bud Light, with 1,000 partiers vetted and shipped in by Anheuser-Busch. The town's Mayor agreed to host the party to the tune of $500,000, in part to help boost the town's mostly tourist economy during the difficult "shoulder" season between summer and winter.
Gehry's Revised Eisenhower Memorial Loses Two Controversial Tapestries, But Concerns Remain: Nitpicking continues over the Memori...

An App to Crowd-Source Urban Disruptions

2014-06-11T17:06:00-04:00

Maa2too3a, or ‘Happin’ in English, is a free app that uses news and crowd-sourced information to geo-tag disruptive events in the city as they occur, allowing users to mitigate risks or simply save time by avoiding them. Launched in May 2013, the app now has over 100,000 users, according to the developer, Mohammed Taha. “It’s a tool to keep people safe,” he says. And on calmer days, it can be used to simply avoid traffic jams or other routine problems.

Latino Placemaking: How the Civil Rights Movement Reshaped East LA

2014-03-25T15:08:00-04:00

Latino Placemaking goes beyond creating great public spaces. It also includes cultural identity, which is shaped by needs, desires, and imagination. The Latino quest for cultural identity parallels the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, which has its genesis in protests – many of which were carried out in public spaces.

The Pop-Up Activist of the Lower East Side

2013-11-10T23:44:00-05:00

Eric Ho watches the boom on the Lower East Side...and sees...Detroit. Specifically...vacant storefronts — more than 200 of them in the area east of the Bowery and south of 14th Street. How was it possible, he thought, that in a neighborhood where space was at such a premium, so much of it was sitting idle? ...an architect who once intended to design housing for disaster zones,, he thought: What could be done with them?

“Working with the 99%” Wins a Future Cities Prize in Venice

2012-08-31T19:13:00-04:00

Three winning projects were announced in the Future Cities, Planning for the 90 per cent competition: ateliermob (Portugal), Municipal Housing Secretariat of São Paulo (Brazil), and Interazioni Urbane (Italy). The projects are part of the exhibition Future Cities: Planning for the 90 per cent in Venice during the 13th Architecture Biennale. Ten projects were selected for the exhibition from more than 100 participants from several countries.

Portuguese practice ateliermob presents one of the three winning projects, "Working with the 99%," a case study of the progress and community work of Lisbon's self-built PRODAC neighborhood.

Click here to see more Archinect News posts related to the 13th International Architecture Exhibition of the Venice Biennale.