Archinect - News

Weakened North Carolina building codes jeopardized property after Hurricane Helene

2024-10-31T18:27:00-04:00

The long road back for residents of the western North Carolina counties that were heavily impacted due to flooding from Hurricane Helene is still being mapped out, but now the New York Times and other local outlets are reporting on critics who say reforms to the state’s building codes could have exacerbated the scale of property losses.

SB 166, which was passed into law last July, removed a requirement for professional architects to sit on the State Building Code Council. Both it and the related House Bill 488 were supported by the North Carolina Home Builders Association, echoing issues that came to the fore in Kentucky after a string of devastating tornadoes there three years ago.

Compounding the recovery process for homeowners is the fact that most did not own flood insurance policies. The data analytics company CoreLogic has estimated property damage in the area to be worth upwards of $47.5 billion.

The Vessel reopens with improved safety barriers after three years

2024-10-21T16:55:00-04:00

CBS News is reporting on the re-opening of The Vessel at Hudson Yards after closing abruptly in January of 2021 in response to a rash of suicides.

The Vessel now includes expanded safety measures, with steel mesh barriers installed on four stairwells and adjoining platforms. These barriers are designed to prevent further tragedies while maintaining the structure’s iconic appearance and panoramic views. The first two levels will be fully accessible to visitors, while only sections with added barriers will be open on higher floors. The topmost floor will remain closed to the public, marking a significant shift in visitor access aimed at enhancing safety.

The Vessel was an instant architectural icon when the honeycombed structure opened in 2019 on the west side of Manhattan. But after a number of people died by suicide there, it was shut down for nearly 1,200 days until now. https://t.co/UgszqwYQOB pic.twitter.com/o60jOONtdr
— NBC New York (@NBCNewYork) October 21, 2024

Video source @...

Moriyama Teshima Architects opposes 'shock' closure of Ontario Science Centre in new letter

2024-06-26T15:26:00-04:00

Moriyama Teshima Architects has provided a statement in rebuke of the sudden closure of its late founder Raymond Moriyama’s beloved Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. The closure was announced Friday by the provincial government, citing the need for repairs in many of its RAAC roof panels in the interest of public safety.

The issue is another salient note in the controversial Ford administration-led plans to remove the structure as part of the proposed redevelopment of Ontario Place and has been called into question by critics Alex Bozikovic and Elsa Lam. Each responded with the position that the government's reading of the engineers' report is wrong and meant to favor prospects for a new development.

"The Rimkus engineering report makes it clear that closing the OSC is not a necessity," the letter states decidedly. "Repairs are needed, but on a manageable scale and with potentially minimal impact on the public experience of the building."

Tohoku University researchers develop real-time stress monitoring materials for aging infrastructure

2024-06-14T08:08:00-04:00

A team of researchers from Japan’s Tohoku University has developed a new mechanoluminescent construction material they say can be used in infrastructure to monitor daily use stress information in real-time in order to avert potential future catastrophes that may result from its aging stock of bridges, roads, and dams.

"What makes our material truly innovative is that it operates without a power supply, complex equipment, or on-site observation and is easily combined with IoT technology," Professor Chao-Nan Xu explains.

Image: © Tomoki Uchiyama, Chao-Nan Xu et al.

Their findings were published in the Applied Physics Letters in early April. The material works by responding to mechanical strain with luminescence using Pr-doped Li0.12 Na0.88 NbO3 (or LNNO). The LNNO finish is then applied to the surfaces of objects, emitting an afterglow produced with the application of a flashlight and then measured quantitatively using a series of light sensors.

"Our findings are expected to allevia...

The Vessel to reopen with improved safety measures

2024-04-15T11:44:00-04:00

The Vessel has announced it will again be open to visitors in New York City later this year after upgraded anti-suicide safety measures are installed in response to a spate of tragedies that have befallen its existence since being inaugurated in March of 2019. The attraction has been closed since 2021 and will reopen with its uppermost level kept inaccessible to the public.

The New York Times reported a representative from Related Companies, which manages the Thomas Heatherwick-designed property, as saying a “floor-to-ceiling steel mesh” barrier would be installed. It will replace existing barriers that were only waste-high and not "cut-proof," as the new fencing is understood to be made.

"While we think it took Related four lives too many to make these physical adjustments, these are the changes we requested, which will allow for prioritizing the safety of everyone who visits the Vessel," Manhattan Communit...

Asphalt Art Initiative expands pedestrian safety program to these 25 North American Cities

2023-11-14T15:53:00-05:00

Another round of funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies' Asphalt Art Initiative has been announced in an effort to improve the pedestrian safety of 25 different cities in North America.

Grants of up to $25,000 were awarded also in Mexico and Canada for the first time in the program’s history. This fourth round will bring the total number of cities impacted by the program to 90. The initiative says they chose from a field of 200 applicants, and that each selected project will be installed by the end of 2024.

Mexico City, San Francisco, Calgary, and Portland are among the larger metros of the group, which also includes smaller American cities like Stamford, Connecticut, and Anderson, South Carolina.

A 2021 Asphalt Art Initiative installation in Pittsburgh, PA. Lead artists: Tim Englehardt and Randi Stewart. Image: Sean Carroll

The latest grantees, divided into three respective categories, are:

"Improve a challenging intersection using curb extensions and other tools"

United States: An...

Golden Gate Bridge finally installs anti-suicide nets after years of delay

2023-11-07T12:51:00-05:00

Construction of the lingering suicide prevention upgrades is wrapping up on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

The project's long road to culmination was covered by the New York Times recently as contractors work to finish installing the netting system, which was more than 80% in place as of September.

Work began in August of 2018 after an additional $124 million in funds needed for the project was eventually raised. It then hit further delays in the form of a contractor’s breach-of-contract lawsuit arising from significant cost overruns, which drove the installation's final price from $142 million to the $400 million final reported estimate.

Some have framed the project as emblematic of the “wrong approach” to suicide prevention, saying they are susceptible to second attempts and that money is better distributed through the city’s mental health network. Dennis Mulligan, the General Manager and...

Seattle eyes its first Barcelona-inspired "superblock"

2019-09-03T13:00:00-04:00

After an extensive renovation, the art nouveau market anchoring the neighborhood returned to its original 19th-century splendor last year. In the area around it, parking was moved underground, newly planted trees and shrubs dot the streets and public plazas, children romp in new play areas, and bicyclists and pedestrians now have ample space to move around freely. In short, public space has increased by thousands of square meters — all because car traffic was deprioritized.

In an effort to improve safety conditions for the city's pedestrians and cyclists, Seattle in considering implementing a series of traffic calming measures along a six-block section its Capitol Hill neighborhood that would create the city's first "superblock" configuration.

The move comes as the number of pedestrian fatalities skyrockets in American cities, and as municipalities continue to struggle to implement successful Vision Zero-related road design improvements.

Meet New York City's fearless rope-access building inspectors

2019-03-08T19:04:00-05:00

A growing number of building facade inspectors, increasingly women, are rappelling into New York City’s glass and terra-cotta canyons.

Stefanos Chen introduces us to New York City's growing community of "industrial rope access" facade inspectors.

"The city requires that of the approximately 1 million buildings in New York City, those taller than six stories — more than 14,500 structures — have their facades inspected every five years, to ensure the safety of passers-by below," writes Chen.

"Rather than using bulky swing-stage scaffolds, like the ones for window washing, or hydraulic cranes that block traffic, an increasing number of design and engineering firms are training their staff to rappel down the side of skyscrapers in search of dangerous defects."

A new proposal for Miami's collapsed bridge by Dover, Kohl & Partners

2018-04-09T15:43:00-04:00

Last week, street planners Victor Dover and Kenneth García of the Miami firm Dover, Kohl & Partners published a proposal for redesigning the area. The pair criticized not only the “accelerated bridge construction” technique used in the FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Bridge, but the fundamental design of the street it once spanned.

Following the Miami FIU bridge collapse three weeks ago, investigations have been conducted on what went wrong. Looking ahead to reconstruction, the Miami based design firm Dover, Kohl & Partners proposes a new pedestrian friendly design for Eighth Street. Focusing on greater harmony between pedestrians, bikers, public transit, and cars, the firm's goal is to make the entire area safer and more appealing.

The design calls for reducing the eight-lanes of traffic down to five, a middle section designated to public transportation, with bike lanes and trees added along the roadway. Rather than rebuilding the pedestrian bridge, multiple street level crosswalks would be added for residents and students. The firm does not expect this design to be pursued, however their aim is to put forth a solution to a problem they see across the country.

Hong Kong death-trap apartments photographed by Benny Lam

2017-06-08T14:20:00-04:00

Photographer Benny Lam has documented the suffocating living conditions in Hong Kong’s subdivided flats, recording the lives of these hidden communities.

From a stove-adjacent toilet to walls crammed with knives, scissors, and precariously stacked storage cases, Benny Lam's photographs of illegally subdivided apartments in Hong Kong are like a gorgeously illustrated case study in how major disease epidemics get started. This Guardian article is a showcase of Lam's Prix Pictect 2017 shortlisted photographs; the video below is a literal page-turner of Lam's book, "TRAPPED," documenting the Hong Kong apartments:

Oil company proposes turning L.A. oil-drilling site into affordable housing

2017-04-12T14:06:00-04:00

Sentinel Peak Resources, which took over the roughly 1.1-acre site in December, now believes that affordable housing is the “best beneficial use” for the land [...] Neighborhood leaders said they were interested in closing and re-purposing the site, but are awaiting more details. They stressed that regardless of any plans, they still want the city to pursue their concerns about violations at the site, which Sentinel Peak Resources has so far brushed off.

According to the L.A. Times, “No official plan has been drafted and details are scant, but [L.A. City Council President Herb] Wesson said he was ‘unbelievably excited’ about the idea, arguing it could pave the way to convert other local drilling sites.”

But converting the site — which is located at 4th Avenue and Washington Boulevard across the Carson-Gore Academy of Environmental Studies — could become pricey, and state regulators “caution against building over wells, warning that even a properly plugged well can leak in the future.”

CA seeks to allocate $10 million in state funds to new earthquake early warning system

2016-05-16T18:34:00-04:00

In a major reversal, Gov. Jerry Brown is seeking state funds for a fledgling earthquake early warning system for California, which would allow for a limited rollout of alerts by 2018...Though the governor’s proposed funding is a big step for the system, it does not come with ongoing funds to operate it. An earthquake early warning system for California alone will cost about $23 million to build and $12 million annually to operate[.]

Department of Transportation Secretary threatens to shut down DC Metro

2016-05-10T17:35:00-04:00

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said Tuesday he seriously considered ordering a shutdown of the entire Washington Metro subway system last week and may still do that if local officials don't follow Transportation Department safety directives. "We have the ability to withhold (federal) funds from Metro. We have the ability to shut Metro down, and we're not afraid to use the authority we have," Foxx said told reporters. "This is serious business."

"Local officials have yet to identify the root cause of incidents involving electrical arcing, smoke and fire, and so have no plan for how to fix the problem, he said."

For more on the dilapidated state of American infrastructure: