John LaPlante, a longtime city employee who served as the first commissioner of the Chicago Department of Transportation, died Saturday at 80 after testing positive for the novel coronavirus less than two weeks earlier.
The son of a Cook County judge and the head librarian for the Chicago Public Schools, Mr. LaPlante was a “municipally minded” Roseland native who cared deeply about his city and its government, according to his daughter Leslie.
— Chicago Sun-Times
LaPlante worked for the City of Chicago for over 30 years, starting as an intern in the 1960s for what was then the city’s department of public works. He served as chief traffic engineer in the 1980s and as the city’s Transportation Commissioner in 1992. John LaPlante. Image courtesy of... View full entry
Today, with the developing inconveniences of life, the hardships and frustrations, and the multitude of circumstantial consequences many of us face, it can be tough to know how to navigate the challenges we encounter. How do we trek this rocky path? In his book The Obstacle is the Way, Ryan... View full entry
Across the country, as the spread of the coronavirus pandemic continues to grow, cities and states are quickly putting vacant or underutilized buildings to use as makeshift medical facilities. Last week, Archinect reported that New York Governor Andrew Cuomo was working to converting... View full entry
OMA was commissioned by Australian retail developer Sandhurst Retail to design the mixed-use Wollert Neighborhood Center in the suburb of Wollert, which is about 25 kilometers (about 15.5 miles) north of Melbourne's Central Business District and is one of the fastest growing regions in the state... View full entry
Veteran International Olympic Committee member Dick Pound told USA TODAY Sports Monday afternoon that the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games are going to be postponed, likely to 2021, with the details to be worked out in the next four weeks. [...]
“It will come in stages,” he said. “We will postpone this and begin to deal with all the ramifications of moving this, which are immense.”
— USA Today
While the IOC has not responded directly to veteran member Dick Pound's statement from today, the Committee did signal its commitment to scenario-planning for "changes to the start date of the Games" yesterday amid new outbreaks of COVID-19 in IOC member countries. This development comes only days... View full entry
Previously on Archinect, the 55,000 sf studioMDA-designed Phillips HQ was due to open this May. Located in New York City, the building sits at the corner of 432 Park Avenue, providing a space that will feature private galleries, an auditorium, cafe, and more. To inaugurate the opening day... View full entry
During the global COVID-19 crisis, while most of us are housebound, filmmaker Gary Hustwit is releasing his collection of full-length documentaries online, for free. It appears that they will be released sequentially, starting with his first doc Helvetica, until March 24th, with the rest of his... View full entry
[Gov. Andrew Cuomo] has requested four field hospitals of 250 beds each from the federal government, for a total of 1,000 beds. He is looking at Javits for all of those.
He's also asked for four Army Corps of Engineers temporary hospitals. For those, he's looking at the Javits Center; SUNY Stony Brook; SUNY Old Westbury; and the Westchester County Center, another events venue.
— NY Business Journal
Thanks to clarifications from California Governor Gavin Newsom, construction work has been classified as one of the state’s “essential” services and will be allowed to proceed, with certain health and social distancing precautions, amid the increasing social and economic shutdown resulting... View full entry
David Chipperfield Architects had the winning proposal to revive Berlin's Georg-Knorr-Park, a former industrial and production site in the Marzahn district, into a residential and commercial neighborhood. Located on a 9-hectare site that includes historic buildings and surrounding urban... View full entry
Some members have signed a petition on the worker advocacy platform Coworker.org calling on WeWork to close its 848 locations worldwide. There are more than 300 locations in the United States.
Jill Raney, a Washington-based WeWork member who launched the petition, says the company’s decision to remain open during a public health crisis is “unconscionable.” They said it effectively forces businesses with small margins to choose between wasting money or putting themselves at risk.
— The Washington Post
As the number of coronavirus cases in the U.S. increases rapidly, WeWork has remained open even after some members have tested positive for the virus in at least seven of their New York locations as well as in LA and Chicago, according to The Washington Post. Other members have signed an online... View full entry
The Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) announced today that it will reschedule its previously cancelled annual conference as an online-only event. SAH’s Seattle 2020 Conference was initially scheduled to take place April 29th through May 3rd in Seattle, but it had to be cancelled as... View full entry
Ridership declines across all of the MTA’s trains and buses is becoming “more severe” by the day, the agency’s latest statistics revealed, causing $87 million in weekly revenue losses and raising the specter of more debt and drastic cuts to much-needed long-term repairs. — Streetsblog NYC
Already dealing with financial pressure, New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority is being hit especially hard by the coronavirus pandemic, as new ridership data in the latest Annual Disclosure Statement reveals. "Recent substantial declines in ridership and traffic in response to the... View full entry
President Donald Trump signed an emergency bill Wednesday to expand family and medical leave as well as guarantee paid sick leave for certain U.S. workers... The bill allows the Secretary of Labor to exempt employers with fewer than 50 employees from the emergency FMLA leave requirement, "when the imposition of such requirements would jeopardize the viability of the business as a going concern." — HR Dive
According to HR Dive, The U.S. Senate passed the bill, titled the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, by a 90-8 vote earlier in the day. It was first passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on March 14, and a revised version passed Tuesday. The bill will take effect... View full entry
The recent recipients of the 2020 Pritzker Prize, Grafton Architects, have been chosen by the University of Arkansas to partner with Modus Studio to design the Anthony Timberlands Center for Design and Materials Innovation. Founders Yvonne Farrell and Shelley McNamara are... View full entry
