Arckit is expanding from house models into entire cities and master plans, or at least will if they meet their Kickstarter goals.The Kickstarter showcases a series of models with various components including contoured top pieces, textured walls and even transparent, glass-like modular... View full entry
Blending elements of brutalism and pronounced geometric framing, the Murray Music House designed by Carazo Arquitectura is technically a single family home, designed for two parents and three children. The fundamental concept underlying its design is "Living Through the Experimentation," which... View full entry
Perkins+Will have announced that Phill Freelon will step aside as managing director of its North Carolina practice, to be replaced by principal Zena Howard. Freelon will continue as design director and still sit on the Board of Directors.“Having worked with Zena for nearly 14 years, including... View full entry
Looking for a job? Archinect's Employer of the Day Weekly Round-Up can help start off your hunt amid the hundreds of active listings on our job board. If you've been following the feature on our Facebook, Employer of the Day is where we highlight active employers and showcase a gallery of... View full entry
Habitat 67—the iconic housing complex designed by Moshe Safdie for Expo 67—turned 50 this year. To commemorate the occasion, we sat down and talked with Safdie about the experience and how it influenced his career. Meanwhile, the Canada Post celebrated the anniversary by unveiling a new... View full entry
The New York Construction Alliance is urging City Council to consider mandatory drug and alcohol testing on all New York City construction sites. NYCA president Kenneth Thomas recently made the following statement:“New York Construction Alliance (NYCA) is committed to worksite safety and our... View full entry
The list of materials that can be produced by 3-D printing has grown to include not just plastics but also metal, glass, and even food. Now, MIT researchers are expanding the list further, with the design of a system that can 3-D print the basic structure of an entire building. — MIT
According to the researchers, structures built with this tech will be faster to make and cheaper than traditional construction. They'll be customizable and enable forms otherwise difficult to manufacture. "Even the internal structure could be modified in new ways," they write, "different materials... View full entry
While there's no word on what would happen if someone skinned their knee on this bacteria-infused concrete, the premise is certainly intriguing in theory: concrete that patches cracks in itself for up to 200 years after its initial formation. Here's a brief video outlining the process: View full entry
Let’s say you want to switch to solar—for ecological or economic reasons—but are a renter. Installing solar panels on your roof isn’t really an option unless you get permission from your landlord. Enter Solar Gaps, or photovoltaic solar blinds that can be installed easily, and temporarily... View full entry
Then we have good news for you, that is, if you have $7,600 a month to spare on rent. The LA-based architect's Santa Monica home has been put up for lease following his recent re-location to Cheviot Hills. Two years ago, Thom Mayne and his wife, Blythe Mayne, bought beloved science-fiction author... View full entry
[The] Digital Construction Platform (DCP) [is] a four-ton solar powered robot arm on tank tracks. And yet, it’s a working proof-of-concept that a machine can build a lot like a tree does, sourcing local energy and adapting to local conditions to construct a building out of local materials–anything ranging from dirt, to ice, to moon dust...The tip of the arm is fit with a nozzle that can mix and spray mud, foam, or concrete–basically any viscous building material you could imagine. — FastCo.Design
Designed by the MIT Mediated Matter group, the DCP robot is an “experimental enabling technology for large-scale digital manufacturing” that has shown impressive results in printing with various media, including light printing, excavation, welded-chain construction, and additive... View full entry
While Rem Koolhaas called smart homes “potentially sinister”, his former protege Bjarke Ingels seems to have no problem with them. BIG has partnered up with Friday Labs, a smart home product company, to design a smart lock.The door lock is connected to your smart phone so you can give access... View full entry
ICYMI, back in April Nicholas Korody published an interview with Bryan MacKay-Lyons and Talbot Sweetapple, about their contextually-sensitive, regionally specific, vernacular. Therein MacKay-Layons explains "The other non-object sense of our work is that we see the buildings as helmets that... View full entry
The Foster + Partners and Branch Technology team recently won first prize in the NASA 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge's Phase 2: Level 1 Compression Test Competition. The three-phase Challenge envisions a future where autonomous machines can help build extra-terrestrial shelters for human... View full entry
To snap a photo of the Hollywood sign, tourists have clogged hillside streets and hiking paths, spurring battles in Hollywood Hills neighborhoods and in court over how people should be able to access the iconic landmark.
Now Mayor Eric Garcetti has floated an alternative: Building a gondola to ferry visitors to the beloved sign.
— The Los Angeles Times
Instead of having to evade trespassing laws (or take the long way around), those who want to visit the Hollywood sign up close may be able to simply take an aerial gondola lift if Mayor Eric Garcetti's recent remarks become a reality. As this article notes:Garcetti spokesman George Kivork said in... View full entry
