[...] Art Fund Museum of the Year is awarded annually to one outstanding museum, which, in the opinion of the judges, has shown exceptional imagination, innovation and achievement across the preceding 12 months.
The Hepworth Wakefield was selected as winner of the £100,000 prize from a group of five finalists, also including Lapworth Museum of Geology (Birmingham), National Heritage Centre for Horseracing & Sporting Art (Newmarket), Sir John Soane’s Museum (London) and Tate Modern (London).
— artfund.org
Photo: Iwan Baan."The Hepworth Wakefield has been a powerful force of energy from the moment it opened in 2011, but it has just kept growing in reach and impact ever since," said Art Fund director Stephen Deuchar. "David Chipperfield’s building has proved a perfect stage – both for the display... View full entry
In a study conducted by UCL and Bangor University researchers in which people were shown a Google Street View, a painting of St. Peter's Basilica and a surreal computer generated image, architects, sculptors and painters consistently conceptualized of the space differently than those with no... View full entry
For July, four design initiatives became honorary members of the 2017 Curry Stone Social Design Circle, which is honoring a total of 100 designers throughout the year for exceptional work that is dedicated to addressing the most pressing social issues in urban... View full entry
Lloyd Wright's concrete-block John Sowden House in Los Angeles makes a special appearance in “I Dare You”, the latest music video from British indie-pop band The xx as their “love letter to Los Angeles”. Directed by fashion photographer Alasdair McLellan in collaboration with Raf Simons... View full entry
For decades, authoritarian regimes have waged war on modern architecture and the philosophy it embodies. A new ad proves it’s still a target. — CO.DESIGN
In an alarmingly threatening and dangerous ad, NRA attacks intellectualism (in its core sense) via modern architecture. This savage ad might not only target your profession and/or your education but also puts the average citizen in front of the barrel of a gun. View full entry
Known as “S Houses,” these prefab structures going up here in Ba Vi, about 30 miles from Vietnam’s capital, Hanoi, are iterations of a prototype that Mr. Nghia has been honing since about 2013. [...]
But Mr. Nghia says that his plan is to mass-manufacture this portable, easy-to-assemble design for people in slums, remote areas or refugee camps around the world, beginning later this year, all for the starting price — $1,500 — of about two iPhones.
— New York Times
The NYT takes a closer look at the extremely affordable S House prefab system currently going up by the dozens in Vietnam, with a keen eye on the global super-low-cost market. Designed by Vo Trong Nghia Architects, a design studio with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, S House was exhibited... View full entry
The authorities in the Cuban capital, Havana, say they are restoring a network of hotels where rooms are rented by the hour to lovers.
State-run "posadas", or love motels, disappeared during Cuba's economic crisis in the 1990s, when they became hurricane shelters.
Private householders filled the gap in the market, but at exorbitant prices.
Officials say the posadas will be cheaper and will help end the practice of love-making in Havana's open spaces.
— BBC
Architects love the freedom presented by a blank sheet of paper (or CAD window), but the reality of practice inevitably puts limits on the imagination. This is doubly true when it comes to remodels, which require working around somebody else’s design. But constraints can also encourage... View full entry
Wind down after last month's busy London Festival of Architecture with this week's event picks, which include gigs, childhood games, gardens, and art. What better way to reset your creative mind, than to explore different media; to venture outside the architectural realm and into different... View full entry
Built within the dense forest of Point Roberts in Washington, the Lightbox is the aptly named home of a photographer and his family. With the photographer's taste for simplicity and well-crafted details in mind, architecture practice Bohlin Cywinski Jackson designed... View full entry
The 2017 Festival des Architectures Vives in Montepellier last month drew in nearly 16,000 people. The annual festival lets visitors and locals alike explore the city as they search for a series of site-specific installations tucked away in courtyards across town. Earlier this... View full entry
Launched this year, The Design Prize is an annual awards program, organised by the media outlets designboom and Abitare under the auspices of the City of Milan. Aric Chen, a lead curator for Design and Architecture at one of the world's largest visual art museum, M+ in Hong Kong has been named... View full entry
The Society of American Registered Architects New York Council recently awarded its top 2017 Project of the Year accolade to the 520 West 28th Street residential complex designed by Zaha Hadid Architects in collaboration with Ismael Leyva Architects. Adjacent to The High Line in the heart of West... View full entry
It’s full speed ahead for the George Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the $1B museum sited in Exposition Park in Los Angeles and designed by Ma Yansong. Rising four stories, the 115-ft. tall building will house some 300,00 square feet of floor area containing exhibition space, a library, two... View full entry
Like a Shell futurologist, one can imagine multiple disastrous futures for Miami. Will it become a southern Super Venice, a la Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York of 2140...Perhaps the hard realism of Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife is more apt...Or imagine a super Katrina resulting in something a little more Odds Against Tomorrow: — the Brooklyn Rail
from Key Largo John Pennekamp nature center, by author, February 12, 2017Stephanie Wakefield penned some Field Notes from the Anthropocene, inspired by a recent honeymoon in Miami Beach. In which she explores 'experimentation' as a mode of dwelling in the Anthropocene and the emancipatory... View full entry