Archinect - News

I'd bug-out there: 8 remote and beautiful spots to hide out in during the next 4-8 years

2016-11-10T19:09:00-05:00

Whether your bout of electora nerviosa ended in celebration or mourning, you may be looking for a little peace and quiet. OFIS arhitekti's recently completed winter cabin on Mount Kanin, Slovenia (home country of our next First Lady) is about as isolated as you can get—its materials had to be helicoptered in, and visitors must scale the mountain on foot to reach it.

Once you do, you've got a shelter to view the gorgeous Slovenian and Italian landscape below, all the way to the Adriatic Sea. Don't forget to bring firewood though.

The weather on Mount Kanin can get pretty extreme, snowing up to ten meters in the winter, with snow persisting for over half the year. Not to mention powerful winds, landslides, and earthquakes, as well as numerous caves and abysses. Good thing it sleeps up to nine, enough people to form an undefeated baseball team should you get trapped up there and start going stir-crazy!

OFIS sought out the dramatic site with the intent to test its minimal shelter in extre...

Disruption: Y Combinator's urban techno-suprematism and the new Trump presidential era, ft. special guest Fred Scharmen on Archinect Sessions #88

2016-11-10T15:47:00-05:00

Recorded in the wake of Tuesday's election results, this episode got a bit emotional. Fred Scharmen—designer, researcher, and assistant professor at Morgan State University's School of Architecture and Planning in Baltimore—joins us to discuss the potentials and pitfalls of a technocratic urbanism, and whether the former king of cat memes can really offer anything to cities. Our conversation is largely in response to Fred's recent piece for Archinect, "Architects: If You Don't Start Disrupting Urbanism, Silicon Valley Will Do It for You.", with reflections on how technology and media are responsible for our current political climate.

Listen to episode 88 of Archinect Sessions, "Disruption":

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President-elect Donald Trump renews pledge to invest in American infrastructure

2016-11-10T13:45:00-05:00

US President-Elect Donald Trump, who built his business on constructing towers, used his victory speech early today in New York to repeat his pledge to put “millions of people to work” rebuilding American infrastructure, airports, schools and hospitals. [...] “We are going to fix our inner cities and rebuild our highways, bridges, tunnels, airports, schools, hospitals,” he said to whoops and applause.

“We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become, by the way, second to none, and we will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.”

More on how the Trump residency may impact the built environment:

AIA releases statement on 2016 U.S. Election results — Will Trump's relations with architects change?

2016-11-09T18:48:00-05:00

The unthinkable has happened and Donald Trump is now the president-elect of the United States. Considering Trump's rocky relations with architects (and critics) and his comments on America's “inner cities” during the debates, now that he has won the White House, what does a Trump presidency mean for the architecture industry in the coming years?

In what sounds like every public-figure response to the election results, the AIA released their own statement today saying that they “are committed to working with President-elect Trump to address the issues our country faces”. That includes core architecture issues like housing, infrastructure, and energy/the environment. If you need a refresher on Trump's stances on these issues, Archinect recently summed them up here.

Here is the entire AIA statement from Chief Executive Officer Robert Ivy:

“The AIA and its 89,000 members are committed to working with President-elect Trump to address the issues our country faces, particularly strengthening ...

How the stressful voting-poll experience can be redesigned

2016-11-08T19:06:00-05:00

From longer-than-expected lines to technological fumbles, voting polls in urban cities are typically a gnarly mess on Election Day — sometimes causing some voters to end up discouraged and skip out. In response to this still-too-common situation, the Van Alen Institute launched the “Open Poll” flash competition, wherein interdisciplinary teams were invited to submit design proposals that create a more accessible, engaging voting experience for all.

The three finalist teams presented their proposals to the judges and the public got to watch and vote for their favorite entry. By the end of the one-day charrette, the winning team was announced. Have a look at the finalist entries below.

Winner: “Voting at Your Fingertips: A National Celebration of the Democratic Process”
Team: Racha Daher, Alexandra Gonzalez, and Elena Kapompasopoulou

Project description: “The current voting process is inefficient, strenuous, wasteful, non-inclusive, and prone to human error. This proposal aims to change ...

Touring Trump Tower, where a lot glitters that's not gold

2016-10-24T14:17:00-04:00

Trump Tower is no ordinary property: It is the jewel in Donald Trump's brass crown. He lives at the top in a three-story penthouse with his third wife and third son. But it's more than just Trump's home. With its flashy outward image barely concealing a rotting, garbage-filled core, it's a metaphor for the man.

Trump once famously declared, "I will build a great wall—and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me—and I'll build them very inexpensively." The last part is definitely true, judging by this undeniably cheap construction.

For more on the architecture of the Republican candidate for president, follow these links:

Architecture Billings Index in July remains in positive terrain but higher volatility expected due to U.S. presidential election

2016-08-17T13:16:00-04:00

The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) was positive in July for the sixth consecutive month, and tenth out of the last twelve months as demand across all project types continued to increase. [...] (AIA) reported the July ABI score was 51.5, down from the mark of 52.6 in the previous month. This score still reflects an increase in design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 57.5, down from a reading of 58.6 the previous month.

“The uncertainty surrounding the presidential election is causing some funding decisions regarding larger construction projects to be delayed or put on hold for the time being,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, Hon. AIA, PhD. “It’s likely that these concerns will persist up until the election, and therefore we would expect higher levels of volatility in the design and construction sector in the months ahead.”

Key ABI highlights for the month of July were reported by the AIA as:

Regional averages: South (56.9), Midwest (50.1), Northeast (49.3), West (49.2)
Sector index breakdown: multi-family residential (55.2), institutional (50.7), mixed practice (50.5), commercial / industrial (50.3)
Project inquiries index: 57.5
Design contracts index: 51.8

The ABI in previous months on Archinect:

Senator Tim Kaine weighs in on the future of U.S. affordable housing

2016-08-15T18:57:00-04:00

Democratic [VP] candidate Senator Tim Kaine drew a bright line on Friday between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump on a subject important to pretty much every voter: housing. While Americans say that housing is as important an issue as other priorities, so far the subject hasn’t come up much during the campaign. That just changed....His editorial outlines the ways that a Clinton administration would work to make housing fairer and more affordable.

A closer look at Sen. Tim Kaine's opinion editorial, wherein he briefly outlines the Clinton administration's plans on fairer housing laws.

Shoring up America's infrastructure by repatriating money stashed overseas

2016-08-11T13:17:00-04:00

Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump may have a lot of differences in temperament and policy, but common to both campaigns are promises to invest heavily in the country’s crumbling infrastructure. It’ll be a hard task to get the bill through a Republican-controlled, miserly House — particularly for a President Clinton. But there’s a pot of gold that both candidates could possibly dip into: the some $2 trillion in cash stashed overseas by American companies. A repatriation tax holiday could be used to fund infrastructure projects according to Dan Clifton, head of policy research at Stategas, as reported by CNBC.

For more on the state of American infrastructure, check out these links:

How Republicans and Democrats differ when it comes to infrastructure

2016-07-28T13:36:00-04:00

On issues related to the funding, mass transit, biking, and the environment, the two parties have staked out dramatically different views about how they envision the future of the nation’s transportation system. Democrats are proposing an expansive increase in federal support for transportation investment, with a focus on building access to opportunity, bolstering access to non-automobile modes, reducing the impacts of climate change, and maintaining the role of unions.

Republicans, on the other hand, propose no increase in federal spending (though Mr. Trump may disagree), an elimination of the federal role in funding non-automotive transportation, an emphasis on pollution-spewing modes and energy sources, and a reduction in the role of unions.

For more on the state of American infrastructure, check out these links: