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Celebrated Italian design and automotive magnate Paolo Pininfarina passes away aged 65

2024-04-09T19:07:00-04:00

Paolo Pininfarina, the Italian business leader credited with expanding his family’s automotive enterprise into architecture and other areas of the design field, has died in Turin at the age of 65. The Pininfarina Chairman was known as a visionary who designed more than 600 cars after completing his engineering studies at the Polytechnic University in his home city.

"On behalf of the Board of Directors, the Board of Statutory Auditors, and all Pininfarina employees, I express deep sorrow and condolences for the loss of our dear Chairman," Pininfarina's CEO, Silvio Angori, said in a press release.

Light Towers by Pininfarina in Mérida, Mexico. Image courtesy Pininfarina

"We are all extremely grateful to Eng. Pininfarina for his extraordinary contribution to the company and for always passionately advocating for our history and corporate identity both in terms of style and ethical and behavioral choices," his statement continued. "I am personally grateful to him for confirming me in th...

Pininfarina, an iconic leader in Italian car design, offers this exciting career opportunity for architects

2021-08-13T12:36:00-04:00

For Italian automobile and design company Pininfarina, the boundless application of design manifests across architecture, transport, jewelry, and product design. For designers wishing to immerse themselves in this environment of variable outcomes, the company is now recruiting for an architect to join their team in Miami, Florida.

Pininfarina’s specialty can vary depending on who you ask. Some know the company for their collaborations with famous car brands such as Ferrari and Alpha Romeo. Others know them for their yachts, their accessories, and even for their architecture. While Pininfarina’s brand is grounded in ideas of timelessness and interpreting modern trends, the company also exhibits an interest in pushing future boundaries. This week, for instance, we published the results of Pininfarina’s global design contest “New Dreams for a New World,” which provoked a range of intriguing futuristic ideas from students, including autonomous vehicles, artificial photosynthesis, an...

“Porsches in Nature” proposes displaying glass-encased Porsches in raw Utah desert landscapes

2021-03-18T15:05:00-04:00

Cars are crafted to take us on a journey to different places; to travel, to discover, and to explore an exciting adventure. However, automotive exhibitions for far too long have been dwelling cars on the inside within confined and enclosed walls reflecting otherwise.

Re-imagining this traditional museum display of automobiles, and with an intent to instill the true experience of personal freedom conveyed by automobile, Jared Zaugg, an automotive lifestyle brand specialist and multifaceted expert envisioned the concept of setting the exhibit en Plein air (outdoors). Zaugg pictured the idea of “Porsches in Nature” an assortment of significant Porsche models placed amidst a breathtaking landscape, where the sense of scale is softened by the massive expanse of nature’s backdrop.

“Porsches in Nature”- concept, an experiential outdoor museum exhibit in the Canyonland region of Utah, Photo credits: Jared Zaugg

The concept exhibition is in the picturesque Canyonland region of Utah as a sin...

Downtown LA planning update scraps minimum parking requirements

2019-11-05T07:00:00-05:00

the L.A. City Planning Department (DCP) released its full draft Downtown Community Plan, called DTLA 2040. Once approved, the plan would eliminate parking requirements for all of downtown Los Angeles. DCP has been working on the new DTLA 2040 plan since 2014. It is the first city community plan update that incorporates the city’s new modular planning code, developed under re:code LA

Under the proposed plan, up to 60-percent of Downtown Los Angeles would be eligible for residential uses, up from just 33-percent today.

The planning document states: “By the year 2040, Downtown will include 125,000 new residents, in addition to 55,000 new jobs — representing 20% of the City’s population growth in 1% of its land area.”

Car accidents have become commonplace in America

2019-08-13T19:30:00-04:00

Since January 2000, more Americans have died in car crashes than did in both World Wars, and the overwhelming majority of the wrecks were caused by speeding, drunk or distracted drivers, according to government data.

As the rise of deaths and injuries from automobile crashes continues unabated, the public's fascination and obsession with driving cannot be swayed. The Washington Post highlights data that points to a major cause for nearly all crashes: human error.

"In automotive circles, it's common to hear that 94-percent of car crashes are caused by human error, a fact provided by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and often used as a preamble when people discuss the coming era of driverless vehicles."

Cities across the U.S. have adopted initiatives to promote the use of public transportation and to regulate traffic speeds. However, despite these approaches, the number of deadly car crashes continues to grow.

According to Maureen Vogel of the National Safety Council, "Unfortunately, our public opinion research has repeatedly shown that people still believe it will happen to someone else, but not to them."

Is it time to embrace the “slow city”?

2019-08-13T09:42:00-04:00

Imposing tighter limits on leadfoots is a key part of the Vision Zero campaign for reducing traffic deaths and injuries, because of the dramatic safety benefits associated with reducing vehicle velocity. Does this add up to evidence that fast-paced Americans are ready to embrace the virtues of city life in the slow lane?

How fast is too fast? Cities like New York, Portland, Boston, and Washington, D.C. are initiating ways to regulate traffic speeds and install better signage to aid in pedestrian and bicycle safety. With the high number of reported traffic-related deaths and injuries only rising, cities are starting to realize that lowering urban speed limits doesn’t only benefit non-drivers.

In a recent CityLab article, writer Andrew Small provides detailed information communicating the benefits that reducing speed limits can have for non-drivers, drivers, and the built environment, alike. One detail Small points out is how "perhaps urbanists shouldn't demand slow lanes or slow neighborhoods: They should ask for a slow city."

With the rise of fast-paced micro-mobility on our streets and sidewalks, and the promise of zippy autonomous vehicles transporting products and people supposedly in our the future, it can be hard to imagine how a slow city might be a possibly come to be. However, Small points...

Minneapolis bans new drive-through facilities

2019-08-10T07:00:00-04:00

Research has shown that areas around fast-food restaurants are especially dangerous for pedestrians because drive-throughs require more driveways, which introduce potential points of conflict. Plus, drivers tend to be distracted just before they have ordered their food — and in the moments when they start driving away with it. A Florida study found that each fast-food restaurant in a low-income block added an average of 0.69 pedestrian crashes every four years.

Streetsblog reports that as part of an ambitious comprehensive plan update, Minneapolis has outlawed the creation of new drive-through facilities within the municipality.

The forward-looking Minneapolis 2040 plan will also do away with parking requirements and single-family zoning across the city.

America's obsession with highway "boondoggles" continues

2019-07-02T16:44:00-04:00

The United States Public Interest Research Group (PIRG) has unveiled its annual list of "highway boondoggles," a list of "budget-eating highway projects" that will "harm communities and the environment, while likely failing to achieve meaningful transportation goals."

The proposed North Houston Improvement Project would wipe out thousands of homes. Image courtesy of Texas Department of Transportation.

The organization reports that the projects contained within the 2019 list will cost more than $25 billion to build, "sucking money away from road repair, transit, and other local needs."

Studies have shown that rather than alleviating traffic congestion, highway widening projects actually incentivize people to drive and ultimately cause an increase in traffic congestion.

Another view of Miami's proposed Interstate-295 expansion. Image courtesy of Florida Department of Transportation.

The top highway boondoggles for 2019 include:

The "Complete 540" project in North Carolina that aims to ...

Transportation research and education continues as two new UTCs are announced by the U.S. Department of Transportation

2019-06-10T13:17:00-04:00

The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced Wednesday that it will open two new University Transportation Centers (UTCs), one at the University of South Florida (USF) and one at Washington State University (WSU). Each UTC will receive $7.5 million in grant funding for transportation research and education.

Initiated in 1987 by the United States Department of Transportation, the University Transportation Center (UTC) program aides to improve research and education in transportation in order to improve the durability and lifespan of transportation infrastructures. Data and other transportation technology will help create new improvements to reduce congestion and boost transportation education programs. Currently in its 30th year, the UTC has 37 universities currently involved in the program.

David Plautz of Smart Cities Dive explains, "Diana Furchtgott-Roth, deputy assistant secretary for research and technology at USDOT, said in a statement that the UTCs will help to develop solutions 'that America needs now,' and this need will only continue to grow. A February study from transportation analytics firm Inrix found that American drivers lost an average of 97 hours in 2018 to congestion, the equivalent of $1,348 in lost productivity per driver. While solutions like congestion pricing an...

What if parking garages could have a second life? Design firms like UltraBarrio and Gensler bet on it

2019-01-19T11:50:00-05:00

Even today, parking garages are typically underused. In the not-too-distant future, car shares, self-driving cars, increased investment in transit, or simple behavioral change could all shift the amount of parking people think they need. And the U.S. also has far more parking than necessary–in Seattle, for example, there are five parking spaces for every resident. Architects and city planners are increasingly realizing that valuable city space could be put to better use than storing cars.

Parking garages run rampant, especially in Los Angeles. According to Gensler's co-CEO Andy Cohen there are 500 million parking spaces in the United States. “Think about all that real estate, all that attention to parking, that could be revitalized and reused for the future of our cities.” Today parking garages house a vast amount of underutilized space. Over time, the need for parking garages will dwindle and parking spaces will have to find an alternative purpose. Architects and urban planners are working through ways in which these gigantic structures can be turned into useful alternatives to developing housing, office space, and other spaces of function.

Gensler is already in the works of transforming a part of Netflix's two-floor parking garage into new office space However, this isn't Gensler's first garage transformation. In Cincinnati, the architecture firm transformed 84.51's headquarters by converting 3 floo...

The world is filled with perplexing designs, parking garages are one of them

2019-01-10T19:11:00-05:00

The infamous parking garage. These monumentally sized structures have plagued city infrastructures across the globe. As the automobile still remains the most popular choice of transportation, it's no question we have so many parking garages. Often described as monolithic and bulky many architects and developers, depending on the project, see the parking garage an unfortunate expense. However, despite the many qualms people have about these massive structures, not all parking garage's are alike.

Below are 12 of the most intriguingly designed parking structures found all over the globe. Scroll down to view each car park and their descriptions below. *Structures are listed in no particular order.

#12 Charles Street Car Park
Location: Manchester, UK
Designed by: Allies and Morrison
Description: "The structure consists of precast concrete columns, walls and floors. The external envelope is finished in natural anodized aluminum panels, painted green on...

Check out the massive new car elevators inside the Porsche Design Tower in Miami

2017-03-24T12:28:00-04:00

“What does [the Porsche] brand have to do with real estate?” It’s a good question, poised by the Miami developer Gil Dezer, who helped create the brand-new, 60-story, Sieger Suarez Architects-designed Porsche Design Tower in Sunny Isles Beach, Miami.

Their answer? An elevator for cars. You know, for “car lovers and people who enjoy having their car next to them in their apartments”.

Not surprisingly, this demographic is also defined by their access to at least $5 million, the starting price for one of the tower’s 132 condos. The crowning jewel, a $32 million penthouse apartment, comes with a “car gallery” for seven of your eleven automobiles.

Driven by three high-tech hydraulic lifts, the elevators weight 30,000 lbs. and carry up to 8,000 lbs. Cars zoom up the black-glazed tower at 800 feet a minute.

h/t Miami Herald

Taking a break from cars in automobile-centric Manhattan

2016-08-16T12:09:00-04:00

Pedestrianism among advocates and urban planners in the new, young century has been on the ascent in global cities far and wide, with many pushing for more restrictions on cars in the interests of bipeds and cyclists. That was part of thinking behind the Shared Streets initiative, a five-hour long event over the weekend. It saw the city demarcate some 60 blocks of Manhattan’s oldest neighbourhood as part of an urban geographical experiment...

Many cities have been trying to go car-less (at least temporarily). For more pedestrian-friendly initiatives, check out these links:

What are the ethics of self-driving cars?

2016-05-19T12:45:00-04:00

Philosopher Jason Millar claims to have originated the idea of the ethically challenged self-driving car in a 2014 paper on robotics... In the “The Tunnel Problem,” Millar’s driverless car (let’s call her Porsche again) is fast approaching a narrow tunnel, the entrance of which is blocked by a child who has fallen in the roadway. The car can either kill the kid or hit the wall of the tunnel, killing the driver (who is really just a passenger).

"Millar insists programmers need to build such scenarios into their code. I imagine them writing something like this:

if (kid_in_tunnel > 16) {
    kill kid_in_tunnel;
lp “We are sorry for your loss.”;
}
  else {
    kill ass_in_Porsche;
lp “Serves you right, schmucko.”;
}"

For more on the fast-approaching world of self-driving automobiles, check out these links: