As Occupiers posted links, updates, photos and videos on social media sites; as they deliberated in chat rooms and collaborated on crowdmaps; as they took to the streets with smartphones, they tested the parameters of this multiply mediated world. What is the layout of this place? What are its codes and protocols? Who owns it? How does its design condition opportunities for individual and collective action? — Places Journal
On the anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, architects Jonathan Massey and Brett Snyder investigate the spatial dimensions of political action in two related features on Places, including axonometric drawings that follow the transformation of Zuccotti Park into Liberty Plaza. See the trailer below. View full entry
"Zawia#00:Change discusses the significantly changing realities imposed on all social, political and economic systems and their influence on design disciplines. Zawia#00:Change will attempt to demonstrate whether architects are ready to embrace changing ideals and new modes of operation, and whether they are willing to help better people’s lives rather than focusing on glorifying design or architecture." — www.zawia.co
Zawia is a periodical, English and Arabic publication and collaborative events on architecture, design & urbanism. The first volume Zawia#00:Change is out now! It features contributions from Saskia Sassen, Stefano Boeri, Joseph Grima, WAI architecture think tank, Carlo Ratti, Markus... View full entry
Check out some new architectural Kickstarter projects we've added to Archinect's curated Kickstarter page... RoboChair A Product Design project in Fargo, ND by Brad Benke of Stahl Architects Nerds Rejoice! RoboChair is foldable lounge chair that doubles as wall art--it's functional art! ... View full entry
The Marcel Breuer Digital Archive represents a collaborative effort headed by Syracuse University Library to digitize over 30,000 drawings, photographs, letters and other materials related to the career of Marcel Breuer, one of the most influential architects and furniture designers of the twentieth century. — breuer.syr.edu
Sumit Jain has fond memories of his childhood in a small town where everybody knew everybody. But as a young man, he moved to a big city for work and began living in an apartment building. Jain said he soon missed feeling connected to a community.
That sense of loss led him to create Commonfloor.com, a “neighborhood portal” for Indians whose lifestyles have changed with their nation’s economic transformation but who still crave neighborhood life.
— washingtonpost.com
Design Week NYC is almost here, and the plethora of events going on around New York City can be quite overwhelming. But worry not, the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum has launched a new tool that will come in very handy: a mobile-ready website, designweeknyc.org, highlighting design-related events around the city during ICFF, the International Contemporary Furniture Fair, May 19-22. — bustler.net
This 34,000-square-foot regional health facility located in an under-served neighborhood in southwest Atlanta combines under one roof a primary care clinic, a behavioral health clinic, childcare facilities, a dental clinic and a workforce community center. In doing so, it projects a holistic idea... View full entry
How much have books or film influenced your sense and recognition of place were you've never been before? And how about games, as developers push for more accurate and realistic map models? How will the ability to interface with all aspects of real-world data affect our future perception of space... View full entry
Hillman Curtis, a former rock musician who became a prominent first-generation Web designer and a visionary figure in the Internet’s evolution from a predominantly text-based medium to the multimedia platform it is today, died on Wednesday at his home in Brooklyn. He was 51. — nytimes.com
Very sad. Hillman Curtis was an extremely talented designer that I closely followed while growing up in the web. Too young. Check out his "Artist Series" profile on Daniel Libeskind. Also, Remembering Hillman Curtis, by Gary Hustwit, filmmaker of Helvetica, Objectified and Urbanized. View full entry
Ms. Lin conceived "What Is Missing?" as the fifth, and last, of her memorial projects, which began with the Vietnam Veterans Memorial built on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., in 1982. — post-gazette.com
If you're looking for something to do on Earth Day, consider a visit to www.whatismissing.net, the site developed by noted artist and activist Maya Lin that launches its second stage Sunday. View full entry
Creating anything new, particularly a creative collaboration, is an act of pathological hope. It has been said the difference between construction and creation is this: a thing constructed can only be loved after it is constructed; but a thing created is loved before it exists. It was with this sense of hope that this project began—an idea borne not only of the notion that we had something to say, but that we could express it in an engaging, thought provoking, and intellectually rigorous way. — Lantern
The first issue of Lantern, an online publication preceding the print versions, celebrates 'Illumination.' In the inaugural issue of Lantern, an online and print publication, we reflect on the nature of illumination, exploring both the lit circumference within the lantern’s glow and the... View full entry
Left: loading screen / Right: highlighted content with section filter bar at the top We're really excited to announce the launch of the official Archinect iPhone app! The iPhone is by far the most popular mobile device that Archinect readers own, according to our web analytics, so we developed... View full entry
Every building is unique, and each has good things and some not-so-good things. The new website Honest Buildings launched today to make it a lot easier to learn about projects and open up a discourse on how to make them perform better. As the site matures, the creators see it developing into an organic gathering place for discourse on the built environment – a social media hub just for buildings. — Inhabitat
We've optimized the studio! Check out the new demo reel AND - introducing our sister company: Brooklyn United! View full entry
....breakthrough ideas still come from individuals, not committees. “There is nothing democratic about innovation." — New York Times