While our busy schedules didn't allow us to release as many episodes this year, compared to the last few years, 2019 was a great year for Archinect Sessions. We gained thousands of new subscribers and more than doubled the number of listens per episode. Here's a list of 2019's most popular... View full entry
This post is brought to you by LafargeHolcim Foundation Entries in the 6th International LafargeHolcim Awards for Sustainable Construction will close on February 25, 2020. The competition seeks projects by professionals as well as bold ideas from the Next Generation that combine sustainable... View full entry
The Trump administration has built up the biggest backlog of unfunded toxic Superfund clean-up projects in at least 15 years, nearly triple the number that were stalled for lack of money in the Obama era, according to 2019 figures quietly released by the Environmental Protection Agency over the winter holidays.
The accumulation of Superfund projects that are ready to go except for money comes as the Trump administration routinely proposes funding cuts for Superfund and for the EPA in general.
— Associated Press
Under the current presidential administration, funding earmarked for cleaning up superfund sites has slowed to a trickle. According to an Associated Press report, the number of unfunded projects has ballooned from 12 in 2016, President Barack Obama's last year in office, to 34 this year. ... View full entry
Jill Lerner, Managing Principal at Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF), Stas Zakrzewski of Zakrzewski + Hyde Architects, and Arup Principal Fiona Cousins have been appointed by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio to the city's 16-member Climate Advisory Board to help steer the city's implementation of an... View full entry
The London-based architecture firm, PLP Architecture, recently won the international Delftseplein competition for its hybrid tower project known as "Tree House." The $177m (£137m/€160m) project will stand at 459 feet (140 meters) and will be constructed using mass timber and concrete... View full entry
Now that 2020 is here, many are looking to the new year with optimism and initiative to face the world's pressing issue of climate change. Amid the constant reminders of the globe's current climate crisis, a December editorial piece and report from Nature.com elicits a reason to reflect... View full entry
Happy New Year! For the month of January, Archinect is shifting its spotlight series to Los Angeles, the country’s second largest city, and the urban area home to some of the nation’s leading architecture firms, advocacy groups, and educational institutions. Los Angeles is, of course... View full entry
Canberra has experienced its worst air quality on record, as bushfire smoke became trapped by atmospheric conditions and residents were told to stay indoors and brace for more smog in the coming days.
The ACT’s acting chief health officer, Dr Paul Dugdale, said the smoke was the worst since the 2003 bushfires and was “certainly the worst” since air quality monitoring started in the city 15 years ago.
— The Guardian
According to The Guardian’s reporting, Air Quality Index (AQI) readings in Canberra city reached 3,463 on Wednesday afternoon, with readings above 200 considered to be hazardous. According to reports, the fires have burned at least 14.6 million acres around the country so far with... View full entry
Located at the Dubai International Financial Center stands an eye-catching pavilion designed by the Middle East Architecture Network (MEAN). Known for their evocative designs using computational design and digital fabrication techniques, their most recent project, Deciduous, highlights the... View full entry
October was an action-packed month this year, as the architecture world grappled with the loss of noted historian and theorist Charles Jencks, Design Intelligence unveiled its annual list of "most admired" architecture schools, and Architecture practice Wolfgang & Hite reinterpreted the... View full entry
This post is brought to you by California College of the Arts (CCA) In August 2019, California College of the Arts (CCA) Architectural Ecologies Lab, one of five research and teaching labs in CCA’s Architecture Division, launched the Buoyant Ecologies Float Lab in San Francisco... View full entry
In Silver Spring, Maryland, the 135,000 square foot building pushes the boundaries of a net-zero building. With its completion in 2018, the building was built in collaboration with United Therapeutics, a biotech company, and Whiting-Turner Contracting. Unisphere. Image © EwingCole... View full entry
[...] a team of Canadian science and engineering graduates is pitching a dream to plant a billion trees by 2028 using drones. The project is dubbed Flash Forest and combines the use of drones with specially-designed pods and an accelerated seed germination process. According to Flash Forest, its technology can plant trees 10 times faster than a single worker and at a cost that is 80 percent cheaper than traditional tree planting methods. — New Atlas
On their Kickstarter page, the team behind the Toronto-based Flash Forest project explains what happens before and after heavy-lift drones pneumatically fire their custom-designed seed pods into the ground: "Before we plant our pods, we pre-germinate the seeds inside using our own 'secret sauce.'... View full entry
The Trump administration announced Friday that it would block a rule designed to phase out older incandescent bulbs and require Americans to use energy-efficient light bulbs.
In announcing the move, the secretary of energy, Dan Brouillette, who is a former auto lobbyist, said the administration had chosen “to protect consumer choice by ensuring that the American people do not pay the price for unnecessary overregulation from the federal government.”
— The New York Times
The rule in question was set to phase out the use of inefficient incandescent light bulbs on January 1, 2020 through the imposition of stringent energy efficiency standards initially crafted in 2007 under the administration of President George W. Bush. Regarding the measure, The... View full entry
As scientists continue to advocate for further development of [geoengineering] technologies, the field’s demographics are drawing more scrutiny. Some researchers argue the lack of diversity affects both which geoengineering projects get discussed [...] and how their risks get calculated. — Wired
In a recent article, Wired writer Sarah Sax dives into the troubling demographics of the White male-dominated geoengineering field, a largely theoretical research program with the potential for global impacts, both anticipated and unforeseen. Explaining how the monocultural makeup of the... View full entry
