Six months since we last checked in, the curving steel skeleton of the Eric Owen Moss-designed Wrapper office tower is starting to take shape next to Metro's La Cienega/Jefferson Station in Baldwin Hills. — Urbanize LA
Designed by Eric Owen Moss Architects, the 17-story (W)RAPPER office tower in Los Angeles generated a stir of reactions among Archinect readers when construction started going vertical in December 2019. The free-form steel exoskeleton, which appears to be wrapping the structure and enables... View full entry
The Van Alen Institute, in collaboration with the Urban Design Forum, has launched Neighborhoods Now, a new initiative that connects four New York neighborhoods heavily impacted by COVID-19 with four leading design firms to collaborate and develop safe and effective reopening strategIes... View full entry
The Architecture and Design Museum in Los Angeles (A+D) has announced an institutional restructuring initiative as well as a transformation focus on digital and traveling exhibitions and programming in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In a statement published by the museum, Executive... View full entry
400 artists and 80 arts organizations have received $2.7 million in total grants as part of a broad-based COVID-19 relief effort for the visual arts in the Los Angeles region, the J. Paul Getty Trust and the California Community Foundation announced this week. "The arts are a source of expression... View full entry
For one gym in Redondo Beach, the novel coronavirus has inspired a unique way to keep its clients safe when they open Monday, June 15.
The owners of the aptly-named Inspire South Bay Fitness have constructed nine “workout pods” out of plastic pipes and shower curtains.
— The Beach Reporter
According to The Beach Reporter, there are a total of nine pods, each about six feet wide and roughly 10 feet tall, equipped with a benchand some dumbbells for client's use. "We think of our clients as family," Peet Sapsin told The Beach Reporter. "So we were thinking, 'How can we do it... View full entry
The United States Coast Guard is warning that a concrete bridge in Stuart, Florida is "at risk of imminent collapse." CNN reports that the Roosevelt Bridge is currently closed for repairs after large structural cracks were discovered along the causeway's southbound span. The bridge, according to... View full entry
Walking into Yinka Ilori’s west London studio from the drab suburban business park outside is to enter an oasis. Floor-to-ceiling shelving is lined with the brightly coloured, upcycled chairs, painted or upholstered in West African fabrics, that made Ilori’s name when he first left college. [...]
“My work is very much about inclusivity and how people enjoy design,” says the 33-year-old.
— The Guardian
Emerging British-Nigerian designer Yinka Ilori in conversation with The Guardian's Observer Design magazine. Asked about his growing courage to also take on architectural-scale projects, such as his collaboration with architects Pricegore on the 2019 Dulwich Pavilion The Colour Palace, Ilori... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has unveiled yet another building retrofit tool aimed at helping building owners and operators retool existing facilities for re-occupancy following quarantine. The latest set of resources includes reports detailing the "basic building blocks" for... View full entry
I think that, if anything, the quarantine experience that we’re having is the realization that large-scale, drastic changes are actually possible. — LA Forum/Delirious LA
LA Forum's publication Delirious LA interviews BLDGBLOG's Geoff Manaugh on the quarantine as a possible enabler to change in architecture and other conjectures it may bring to architecture and urban design. "For me, as someone who writes about architecture, it was the idea that there was a way of... View full entry
As investigations into the ways in which the coronavirus spreads continue, new research suggests once again that bathrooms, and particularly toilets, represent a potential vector for infection. Recently published research in the academic journal Physics of Fluids finds that toilet... View full entry
Marking the 135th anniversary of the birth of German designer Lily Reich, Fundació Mies van der Rohe presents its 2nd edition of the Lily Reich Grant for Equality In Architecture. Reich was Mies van der Rohe's close collaborator for many years and was a key player in the conception and... View full entry
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is floating a $4.6 billion plan to protect the most vulnerable areas in Miami-Dade County, Florida, from future coastal flooding and storm surge damage. The plan is part of the $3 million, three-year Miami-Dade Back Bay Coastal Storm Risk Management Feasibility Study, which is examining current and future storm management strategies. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, "the proposed plan focuses on seven geographic areas and would include the construction of storm surge barriers with floodwalls and pump stations, as well as nonstructural measures like home elevations and flood-proofing. The plan also includes the... View full entry
The public opening of the new HOK- and WSP-designed La Guardia Terminal B in New York City took place last weekend, revealing a new 850,000-square-foot terminal set to become the first component of a totally revamped airport complex. The airport contains a series of mesmerizing public art... View full entry
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) President Alan Jones has returned to his post following a two-month leave of absence prompted by the disclosure of an affair that had taken place between Jones and another person. Jones temporarily stepped back from his role in April when news of... View full entry
After a five-week lockdown, several conservation projects have begun in earnest in Mosul as part of a Unesco programme aimed at restoring the rich heritage of the war-ravaged Iraqi city’s old quarter. Restoration work funded by Germany has begun on the Al-Aghawat mosque, houses are being refurbished with the aid of the European Union, and the rehabilitation of the Dominican Al-Saa’a church is under way with funding from the United Arab Emirates. — The Art Newspaper
Rebuilding efforts are underway in Mosul, Iraq as part of UNESCO's Revive the Spirit of Mosul initiative launched in February 2018. The program aims to reconstruct not only the heavily war-damaged Old City but also foster social reconciliation and trust in the local population after years under... View full entry
