Since [...] the federal government turned control [of Governors Island] over to New York City, under the condition that it not be used for residential housing, it has been an island in search of a purpose [...]
Now, the city has a new idea: transforming one of its last big chunks of developable land [...] into a “living laboratory” for coping with the effects of climate change.
— The New York Times
The early stages of a plan to convert New York's Governor's Island into a self-funded sustainability laboratory have come to light. The proposal bears some similarities to the Billion Oyster project, a decade-old proposal developed by an eponymous nonprofit and landscape architects SCAPE hat... View full entry
Every year the International Union of Architects (UIA) reminds the globe to celebrate World Architecture Day (WAD). However, like most annual holidays that generate a large amount of interest within a 24-hour period, but quickly fade away as the day ends, there's hope that this year's festivities... View full entry
To local leaders, a row of abandoned redbrick buildings in the heart of this Rust Belt city’s ailing downtown presents the best hope to spark a citywide revival.
The buildings—stripped down to their plaster walls, tin ceilings and worn wood floors—are part of a $150 million plan to draw more people to live and work downtown.
— wsj.com
The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the resurgent efforts being undertaken by local, state, and federal entities aimed at revitalizing Erie, Pennsylvania, a city that has suffered through persistent economic and population decline over the last 60 years. John Lettieri, CEO of the city's... View full entry
Skanska USA has introduced a new open-source database tool, the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (“EC3”), which estimates and evaluates the carbon emissions contained within a variety of construction materials...The searchable database is based on environmental product declaration (EPD) data and has a list of more than 16,000 materials...categorized by performance requirements, design specification, project location, and global warming potential. — Construction Dive
The new technology enables owners, contractors, and designers to calculate a project's carbon footprint, reports Construction Dive. Currently in pilot testing, the tool "has helped participating projects to achieve embodied carbon reductions of up to 30% with little to no cost impact. View full entry
The Roosevelt neighborhood has the makings of a huge transit-oriented development success story. A building boom is underway, protected bike lanes have recently gone in, and the station site will be home to an affordable housing complex right around the time trains begin operating.
Northgate Link, along with an underground station in Roosevelt, will open in 2021, and the neighborhood–like others along the line–are already transforming
— The Urbanist
The Urbanist takes a look at three neighborhoods in Seattle that have seen a rush in transit-oriented development as a new light rail line heads toward its 2021 completion. View full entry
As part of Archinect's Spotlight on New York, we have decided to focus on firms that are searching for junior architects and designers looking to start their careers. This week, we feature nine New York-based firms specializing in residential housing, urban design, and interiors. Cooper... View full entry
The architecture profession tends to assume that there is always more to build. We need more infrastructure, more houses and more office space to accommodate economies and societies that are forever expanding. Greedy though it may be, this mindset is supported by the pervasive belief that a society’s success is best measured not in terms of humane measures such as the capacity for care and play but in economic terms such as market expansion. — Failed Architecture
Mark Minkjan of Failed Architecture interviews Phineas Harper and Maria Smith, two of the curators behind the Oslo Architecture Triennale 2019. The triennale's theme, Enough: The Architecture of Degrowth is focused "proposing alternatives to the unsustainable and unfair paradigm of... View full entry
Yes, messy sidewalks are hard. But so are shops and restaurants with steps at their entrances. So are blocks that lack curb cuts or have ones that are poorly designed. So are broken elevators. So is the fact that in L.A., if you’re a disabled person (which is what Radcliff calls himself rather than a person with a disability), you generally have to spend more on rent, because the properties covered by rent stabilization are older ones less likely to be accessible. — The Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times takes a look at how a pervasive lack of universal design across Los Angeles makes daily life nearly impossible for disabled people. View full entry
Los Angeles-based architects Brooks + Scarpa and factory home builder Plant Prefab have partnered on a new line of adaptable apartment modules that aim to provide streamlined responses for creating much-needed high-density in Los Angeles. View of unit types for the Blue Jay model... View full entry
Beijing is seeing the completion of two high-profile, record-setting skyscrapers this fall: while the Zaha Hadid Architects-designed Leeza SOHO Tower with its 623-foot-tall, full-height atrium (the world's tallest) will open to the public in November, the 1,732-foot supertall CITIC Tower already... View full entry
The BIG day has arrived for the Danish firm's long-awaited, waste-to-energy ski slope Amager Bakke, which was inaugurated and fully opened to the public today. At 41,000m2, the year-round ski plant — also dubbed “CopenHill” — was the winning proposal of a 2011 competition that was... View full entry
A new tower designed by Zaha Hadid Architects containing the world’s tallest atrium is nearly complete. The so-called Leeza SOHO tower straddles a new subway line in Beijing and was designed for developer SOHO China. The subway line running below the site bisects building, creating the... View full entry
In celebration of the 60th Anniversary of the Motown Museum and Hitsville USA, Perkins and Will has commenced the first phase of the museum's expansion. The project has been dubbed Hitsville Next and will consist of two distinct phases. Phase 1 is a renovation of three historic houses where... View full entry
Google's Architect-In-Residence and Head of R+D for the Built Environment, Michelle Kaufmann, will help lead the first ever 2019 fellowship cohort. After releasing an open call for fellowship applications earlier this year, four fellows have been chosen to help spearhead Google's newest... View full entry
Architect David Adjaye has been selected to design a new museum in Nigeria that may one day hold cultural and artistic works that were previously looted from the region by colonial powers. Adjaye Associates, who helped design the National Museum of African American History and Culture in... View full entry
