Archinect - News

Archinect Outpost is now stocking Real Review 8, featuring interviews with Virgil Abloh and Chelsea Manning

2019-03-28T12:08:00-04:00

10 copies of the newest issue of cult favorite magazine Real Review have recently arrived at Archinect Outpost. With a focus that straddles the line between design and politics and a memorable tagline ('What it means to live today'), Real Review has quickly developed a following.

Spread of Real Review 8 featuring readymades by Nicole Mclaughlin.

Of particular interest with the newest issue is its surprising list of contributors. The issue starts off with an interview conducted between Real Review editor-in-chief Jack Self and Chelsea Manning, the former United States Army soldier who famously disclosed nearly 750,000 military and diplomatic documents to WikiLeaks. Given that the theme of issue 8 is 'Against from Within,' Self asks Manning about her exposure of military secrets while under its employment. "We are increasingly seeing risky and aggressive confrontational approaches to activism," she responded.

Spread of Real Review 8 featuring images from Virgil Abloh

Further into the is...

Is far-right ideology twisting the concept of 'heritage' in German architecture?

2018-10-06T14:02:00-04:00

Krier himself may not be fascist. Nor are most of the people involved in reconstructing the Garrison church or the new Old Town. But the defence of the political neutrality of architecture is wearing thin.

In 1991 Max Klaar, a retired German lieutenant-colonel, presented the municipality of Potsdam with a replica of a famous carillon, which from 1797 to 1945 had played themes by Bach and Mozart (Papageno’s Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen from The Magic Flute) from the tower of the city’s Garrison church. Both the tower and bells had been wrecked in an air raid – the ruins finally being removed by the East German government in 1968. The carillon, paid for by private donors, was a step in the hoped-for reconstruction of the church.

How very charming, you might think, except that Klaar had an agenda: he was a Nazi apologist. If you look on the internet (but please don’t), you will find him, for example, endorsing the thoroughly debunked lie that General Eisenhower had a million German prisoners of war killed in death camps."

According to Stephan Trüby, a professor of architecture at the University of Stuttgart, the Garrison church plan is an example of what he claims is now a disturbing patter...

With the Middle East in diplomatic crisis, what will happen to Qatar's building projects?

2017-06-06T12:53:00-04:00

In a stunning move, seven Muslim countries—Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Libya, Yemen, and the Maldives—have severed ties to Qatar, a small nation of about 2.7 million people on the north-east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. The crisis underscores the deep divisions running even within Sunni Islam that are often overlooked by the West, which tends to view the Muslim world through the dichotomous prism of Sunni and Shia.

These countries accuse Qatar of sponsoring terrorism, which is to say, primarily, Islamist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood held power briefly in Egypt following the 2011 Revolution before being overthrown in a coup led by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. They are active in many of the seven aforementioned countries.

Qatar also funds Al Jazeera, the widely-watched news channel known for supporting political Islamism and for critiquing the regimes controlling Saudi Arabia and other countries. And Qatar has been criticized for m...

AIA officially states it is pro-immigration and travel-positive

2017-02-21T12:43:00-05:00

What would America be without immigrants? More to the point, what would architecture be without the ability for those working within it to freely travel and collaborate with (much more affordable) talent from around the world? In recognition of these facts, the AIA has released an official statement that raises concerns about broad anti-immigration policies, and confirms the institute's dedication to reciprocal "free moment and association" around the globe. Here's the full text of the press release:

As discussion on immigration continues, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) today joins with many American businesses, industries and universities in calling for fair and impartial immigration policies, and in expressing deep concern about policies that restrict immigration from specific countries or regions based on overly broad factors, including religion.

“Beyond the essential considerations of fairness and equity, restrictions targeting specific areas of the world can have prof...

Brexit-lash: RIBA announces 60% of U.K. architects have seen projects delayed/cancelled

2017-02-08T07:01:00-05:00

The effects of last summer's Brexit are starting to be measured within the architectural community, and they're dramatic: according to a press release issued by RIBA, in a survey of its members 40% of U.K.-based non British EU nationals are thinking about leaving the country, while 60% of RIBA's members have seen their projects delayed, cancelled, or just plain scaled back. The news isn't all grim: according to the survey, many members are trying to look on the bright side (or at least trying to identify the bright side). As RIBA notes:

From trade agreements with new markets, reform of the UK’s public procurement system and increased public sector and private sector investment, our members have made it clear that with the right decisions the short-term impacts of Brexit can be mitigated, and the UK can position itself as a global facing nation. In response to the concerns and opportunities raised by its chartered members, RIBA has today published a set of five priority recommendation...

Guggenheim Helsinki plans nixed by city, citing "the project’s excessive cost for the Finnish taxpayer"

2016-12-01T13:24:00-05:00

The mix of private and public funding for the Guggenheim Helsinki has officially been rejected in a city council vote, meaning that the plans for the museum designed by Moreau & Kusunoki are unlikely to ever be built. A new financing plan that drew the bulk of public funding from the city and the rest from private fundraising had been approved by the city board in November, but was vetoed by the larger city council last night. According to The New York Times, Richard Armstrong, director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation in New York, said about the vote that “I suppose that it was a reaction to a sense of engulfing internationalism, or a reaction against globalism. That’s how I’m explaining it to myself.”

Meanwhile, Helsinki City Council member and Guggenheim opposer Osku Pajamaki said that “I’m exhausted but relieved. Instead of buying a subsidiary of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, we can now focus on creating unique local cultural attractions in Helsinki.”

Offici...