Archinect - News

Theaster Gates' Serpentine Pavilion opens as a shrine to community building and sacred practices

2022-06-07T13:53:00-04:00

Theaster Gates' Serpentine Pavilion has been revealed in London's Kensington Gardens, showcasing his vision for a Black Chapel that advances the fair's evangelizing mission to be an incubator for community building, civic culture, and public engagement.

In a circular form evoking several architectural traditions and cultures, including traditional African structures and Hungarian round churches, the pavilion is rendered in the same stark-looking black tar color as the suite of 14 new paintings Gates executed for the exhibition, providing an additional reference to the meditative elements present in Houston's Rothko Chapel, which the 48-year-old artist credited as an additional source of design inspiration.

Gates conceives of his pavilion as “a site for contemplation and convening” where gatherers are hailed together artistically in remembrance of lost places of “spiritual communion” that populate urban areas like London and his hometown of Chicago. It was executed with design help...

Grenfell Tower Fire: Up to 30K Other Buildings Clad in the Same Material Likely Responsible for the Fire

2017-06-19T12:23:00-04:00

There are tens of thousands of buildings in more than 87 tower blocks across the United Kingdom clad in the same aluminum composite that experts claim was largely responsible for the severity of the blaze that erupted on Grenfell Tower in Kensington and claimed at least 79 lives. The material, which is banned in the United States and elsewhere, is intended to improve the aesthetics of the towers, in part to raise nearby property values.

In the case of Grenfell Tower, by just spending £5,000 more on the £8.6 million refurbishment, a fire resistant cladding could have been used and saved these lives. This is not new information. Back in 2000, an inquiry said all cladding systems should use non-combustible materials, following a blaze in Scotland responsible for the death of an elderly man. In addition to the cladding, a lack a sprinkler systems has been blamed for the fire. Just one of eight councils has said it put sprinklers into their flats—18 out of 2,925.

Experts, such as archit...

Grenfell Tower Fire: Corbyn calls for empty flats in the adjacent area to be requisitioned as evidence grows that negligence responsible for the blaze

2017-06-16T13:47:00-04:00

Reports indicate that a cladding, banned in the United States, added to the Grenfell Tower was largely responsible for the intensity of the fire that claimed at least 30 lives earlier this week in North Kensington. It was just £2 cheaper per square meter than an alternative, fire resistant version. Disturbingly, the cladding was added to appease wealthy residents nearby, states Emma Dent Coad, the Kensington MP, and to ‘regenerate’ the area through development.

Anger has risen as the fire increasingly looks less like a tragic accident and more and more like the result of outdated regulations and funding cuts. For example, sprinkler systems are not mandatory in public housing blocks—raising fears that some 4,000 similar blocks are at risk of similar tragedies. It is important to note that black and minority ethnic people are disproportionately housed in such flats.

When a fire erupted in 2009 in another tower block, analysis made clear inadequate measures were being taken to address fi...