Can design keep you safe from crime? Architects and urbanists have been making that claim since urban crime — or the threat of it — reached crisis proportions in the 1960s. [...] But with scant evidence to support those claims, at what cost do we build “defensible space”? Architectural historian Joy Knoblauch looks back at sixty years of attempts to secure space and asks whether safety lies in the design of the built environment, in our social structures, or in our heads. — Urban Omnibus
Geography is getting stranger: the map is breaking up. Now we need to attend to the unnatural places, the escape zones and gap spaces, the places that are sites of surprise but also of bewilderment and unease. — Places Journal
Negotiating the hostile architectures of the modern city — from the anti-pedestrian cobbles of a median strip to the unloved landscape of a traffic island — geographer Alistair Bonnett reflects on the increasingly disciplinarian nature of public space, and by crossing roads and planting... View full entry
In March, the Bank of Canada unveiled a new $10 bank note [...] The laurel leaf signifies justice, and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights building, designed by New Mexico architect Antoine Predock, is featured prominently. To contrast its striking modernism, the Library of Parliament’s vaulted ceiling is reproduced with a metallic sheen, as is the Arms of Canada insignia. — azuremagazine.com
Canada's new $10 note depicting Antoine Predock's Canadian Museum for Human Rights building on the back of the bill, along with an eagle feather and the laurel leaf. Canadian Museum for Human designed by Antoine Predock, located in Winnipeg, CA. RightsImage: Bob Linsdell/Wiki Commons. The front... View full entry
Zaha Hadid Design, PiM.studio, Chris Dyson Architects, SPARK Architects, and FT Architects are among the numerous designers and artists who created some fancy "barkitecture" for BowWow Haus London, a public exhibition that will support UK-based charity Blue Cross for Pets and the Outdoor Arts... View full entry
As part of ECC's Time-Space-Existence exhibition during the 2018 Venice Architecture Biennale, Daniel Libeskind will be unveiling a new architectural sculpture that explores the connections between climate, time, space and existence. Facing Gaia, as it is called, is inspired by ancient forms... View full entry
The Smithsonian Institution has confirmed that it will work with the Victoria and Albert Museum to set up a joint gallery and exhibition programme in East London, on the former Olympic site. Yesterday (9 April) the Smithsonian’s regents (trustees) gave formal approval for their first base outside the US. — The Art Newspaper
We first reported about the Smithsonian Institution's interest in setting up its first-ever satellite gallery outside of the U.S. back in 2015. A lot has changed since then, and evolved, scaled-back plans now foresee a collaboration with the V&A. View full entry
Welcome to Homewood, Illinois, a suburb of 20,000 that is marketing itself to urbanites as a hidden hipster gem.
The town, which is about 25 miles south of downtown Chicago, just launched a new advertising campaign called “Think Homewood.” Ads posted inside trains on the L’s Blue Line and elsewhere in Chicago contrast the laid-back vibe of Homewood to the stress of city living. The ads are comic strips drawn by illustrator and Homewood resident Marc Alan Fishman.
— citylab.com
The Chicago suburb Homewood harnessed the graphic skills of a local artist to launch their comic-strip ad campaign, Think Homewood, in order to attract millennials. Joining the list of suburban towns that must now work to attract the demographic they were originally intended for, Homewood strives... View full entry
On Harvard's campus, students in their Graduate School of Design programs are pressuring the administration to respond to an anonymous spreadsheet that catalogued incidences of assault, harassment and other abuses in the industry. The spreadsheet, known as the Shitty Men in Architecture list, was... View full entry
This week offers many opportunities to get out into the city on guided tours and explore the built environment by foot. There's a real feeling of looking towards the future, from exhibitions showcasing the artists of tomorrow, to talks and walks about how the city and the architectural profession... View full entry
Uneven, rusted steel is meant to echo the many shades and skin tones of those African-Americans lynched. — 60 Minutes
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, which Oprah Winfrey visited, opens to the public on April 26, 2018. She talked with criminal defense attorney Bryan Stevenson, founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative, which is behind the project. The National Memorial for Peace... View full entry
As designers when you start a new job the real work starts day one. Schedules are always tight. Budgets are always razor thin and there is always something to do. As owner of DBI, as well as my time at Callison and working to hire architects at Starbucks, I know that the first day... View full entry
Tishman Speyer released on Monday the first renderings for its new luxury residential tower in Downtown Brooklyn, 11 Hoyt. Designed by Jeanne Gang’s architecture firm, Studio Gang, the 51-story, 480-unit condominium project will offer a variety of apartment layouts, with more than... View full entry
Renovation is now underway for Seattle's Asian Art Museum, which closed in 2017 and recently celebrated the groundbreaking ceremony for the new project. Locally based LMN Architects will be in charge of the $54 million renovation and expansion to update the 1933 building to current standards... View full entry
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill just revealed designs for a new mixed-use skyscraper in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou, a rapidly growing metropolis with a population of nearly 10 million and host of the Asian Games in 2022. The 280-meter-tall, 54-story Hangzhou Wangchao Center makes a strong... View full entry
Last week, street planners Victor Dover and Kenneth García of the Miami firm Dover, Kohl & Partners published a proposal for redesigning the area. The pair criticized not only the “accelerated bridge construction” technique used in the FIU-Sweetwater UniversityCity Bridge, but the fundamental design of the street it once spanned. — citylab.com
Following the Miami FIU bridge collapse three weeks ago, investigations have been conducted on what went wrong. Looking ahead to reconstruction, the Miami based design firm Dover, Kohl & Partners proposes a new pedestrian friendly design for Eighth Street. Focusing on greater harmony between... View full entry