UNStudio recently completed two impressive high-rise developments in Singapore, bringing the Amsterdam-based firm's portfolio of completed buildings in the Asian city state up to four: the 36-story Ardmore Residence tower (2013), Singapore University of Technology and Design campus (2015), and... View full entry
It's that time of year! The 2018 World Architecture Festival and INSIDE World Festival of Interiors competitions are officially in full swing at RAI Amsterdam. As the sister event to the WAF, the INSIDE competition celebrates the best projects in the global interior design scene from the last... View full entry
Some of his benches have become part of the fabric of the city — sat on and rained on, captured on Google Street View and even vandalized. Scrawled in tidy handwriting on one bench was, “i love it, thank you,” punctuated by a small heart.
His greatest frustration is that whoever is removing them is leaving bus riders with no place to sit. The benches and their removal get at one of the more byzantine corners of transit bureaucracy in Los Angeles.
— Los Angeles Times
Realizing he had no place to rest at the bus stop near his Eastside home while recovering from a knee injury, this anonymous Los Angeles artist took matters into his own hands and began installing benches at neglected bus stops around the area, Carolina Miranda writes. Unsurprisingly, some of his... View full entry
Now in its 11th edition, the World Architecture Festival kicked off this morning in Amsterdam announcing its day one winners. The yearly awards program, which attracts architects from all four corners of the Earth, received more entries this year than ever before with a total of... View full entry
Nearly 16,000 structures have been destroyed in the Camp Fire, the deadliest and most destructive fire in the history of California. (The next nine worst blazes in the state together destroyed 20,500 structures.) The devastation is in part a story of how climate change–induced “boom and bust” cycles of rainfall and drought have made firetraps of California forests. But it’s also a story about the way we build. — Slate
In lieu of recent events, California has been hit with a wave of wildfires. Affected in both the Southern and Northern areas of California, the recent months have left many Californians with nothing. Areas have been reduced to ash, leaving homeowners to evacuate the area. The blame can be pointed... View full entry
One of ARO’s two concepts shows a huge white building emblazoned with the Amazon logo. [...] It’s a never-ending fulfillment center that the architects dub “Continuous Fulfillment.” According to ARO principals Adam Yarinsky and Stephen Cassell, the idea is an homage to a 1969 concept from the Italian radical architecture firm Superstudio called “The Continuous Monument.” The idea posits that technology will render the built environment uniform, turning buildings into white monoliths. — Fast Company
The billion-dollar cat is out of the bag, and Amazon will soon be ascending on Long Island City, New York and Crystal City/Arlington, Virginia to split its anticipated, tax-incentivized HQ2. As both regions prepare for the new neighbor to move in, Fast Company asked AIA New York State firm of the... View full entry
The new Mahanakhon SkyWalk, however, is a thrilling addition to Bangkok's roster of family-friendly tourist attractions.
Located at the top of Thailand's tallest completed building, King Power Mahanakhon, it's a 314-meter-high (1,030 feet) observation deck and rooftop bar that offers 360-degree views of Bangkok.
The terrifying bit comes in the form of a large glass floor, which juts out over the edge of the building.
— CNN
With the opening of its glass-floor observation deck high up above Bangkok's Silom/Sathon central business district the Büro Ole Scheeren-designed King Power MahaNakhon tower is now considered completed (construction of the main building concluded in 2016). Photo: Srirath Somsawat © Büro Ole... View full entry
New York's Central Park is a prominent example of exploring the role of a large, historic urban park in today's cities. In LA+ Journal's latest Iconoclast Competition, students and professionals were invited to send their ideas of how they would recreate the infamous park, which has been... View full entry
Waagner-Biro, the Austrian steel engineering company that built the dome of the Louvre museum in Abu Dhabi, has announced its insolvency and is fighting to save parts of its business by selling off subsidiaries. Austrian press reports say that delays in payment and spiralling costs of the Louvre project were chiefly to blame for the company’s struggles. — The Art Newspaper
Established in 1854 as a locksmith, Waagner-Biro has played a significant role in architectural steel engineering. Some of their high-profile projects include the spiraling roof of the Great Court in the British Museum, the dome of the Reichstag in Berlin, and a stage system for the Sydney Opera... View full entry
In the UK's airtight housing market, a growing number of homeowners are building upwards, outwards, and downwards, in order to create a bit more space. Above a 19th century warehouse flat in London, a water tower was recently converted by FORMStudio to create additional living space and a rooftop... View full entry
Its opening has been pushed back to 2020, but the LUMA Arles complex is taking shape in the French town celebrated for its prestigious Les Rencontres d’Arles photography festival.
Set on the site of the former SNCF rail yard long used for exhibitions by Les Rencontres, LUMA Arles will be an interdisciplinary arts centre aimed at supporting and producing exhibitions, research, education and archives. It is backed by Swiss collector Maja Hoffmann [...].
— British Journal of Photography
The Gehry-designed aluminum-clad tower for the Luma Arles art complex in the south of France is slowly taking shape as new photos by Hervé Hôte show. © Hervé Hôte© Hervé Hôte© Hervé Hôte© Hervé HôteThe latest photos show a dramatic progress compared to construction photos from June... View full entry
Let's face it, what wouldn't people do a like? The 800 million user and counting social media platform, Instagram, has taken "photographic moments" to a whole new level. "Insta-fame" doesn't only affect people, but places as well. Deemed an influential force, Instagram is not only changing... View full entry
Once the largest warehouse in the world, the Fenix building and its surrounding riverbanks in Rotterdam saw millions of European migrants leave from its embarkments. Bought this year by the arts organization Droom en Daad Foundation, the building will soon undergo a historic renovation that seeks... View full entry
Overlooking the Saint Lawrence River toward downtown Montreal, Moshe Safdie's personal duplex unit of his iconic Habitat 67 was recently renovated, in light of the monument's 50th anniversary. Perhaps what's most exciting is that the unit was donated to the public realm and is now open for... View full entry
On this episode of Archinect Sessions we're joined with Alex Baca, a Washington DC-based journalist focused on smart cities, planning, bike advocacy and urban mobility devices. Recent news, and related controversy, surrounding Amazon’s newly announced move into New York City and Washington DC is... View full entry
