In the second quarter of this year, investment spending by the federal government dropped below 1.4 percent of gross domestic product for the first time since the 1940s, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. OK, at 1.397 percent, it wasn’t much below, and federal government investment as a share of GDP isn’t exactly a closely watched economic indicator. But the decline through the decades is still pretty striking... — bloomberg.com
Justin Fox tracks the decline in U.S. government spending over the years, noting infrastructure investments have largely been replaced with spending on social insurance programs. With private investors taking the lead, Fox argues U.S. infrastructure suffers as there are many vital projects which... View full entry
Construction has begun on Atlanta's soon-to-be largest park by John Portman & Associates. The repurposed quarry pit will not only provide an outdoor recreational area but also create 2 billion gallons of emergency drinking water for Atlanta, increasing the city’s emergency water reserves... View full entry
If Michigan isn’t the first place that comes to mind when considering [the Modern era] — unlike, say, Germany or France in the 1920s — it should be. The presence of Ford in the city and Booth in the country was enough to make Michigan ground zero for the Modernist experiment [...] making the state home to perhaps the most diverse and best-preserved collection of early Modernist experiments in the world. — The New York Times
A look at Michigan's history in the Modernist movement and the story it tells for our future. M.H. Miller traces three main convergences in the state: Henry Ford's first Model T factory, the Cranbrook school's presence, and numerous influential architects most notably Albert Kahn and Minoru... View full entry
The Pavilhão do Atlântico sports facility by Valdemar Coutinho Arquitectos was recently completed this year in Viana do Castelo, Portugal. The brutalist gymnasium was built to serve both the local Pedro Barbosa School and community. Pavilhão do Atlântico by Valdemar Coutinho... View full entry
The world’s biggest offshore windfarm has officially opened in the Irish Sea, amid warnings that Brexit could increase costs for future projects.
Walney Extension, off the Cumbrian coast, spans an area the size of 20,000 football pitches and has a capacity of 659 megawatts, enough to power the equivalent of 590,000 homes.
The project is a sign of how dramatically wind technology has progressed in the past five years since the previous biggest, the London Array, was finished.
— The Guardian
The Walney Extension is made up of 87 turbines and has a total capacity of 659 MW, enough to power almost 600,000 homes in the UK. This makes it now the largest operational offshore wind farm, however with wind farm supersizing along the British coastline it may not hold the record for long. ... View full entry
The recently completed Bolueta high rise by VArquitectos is now the tallest reaching Passive House building in the world. Located in Bilbao, Spain, the project includes an adjacent 9-story building with 63 apartments dedicated for social housing. Bolueta by VArquitectos, located in Bilbao... View full entry
Hours after an immense fire consumed the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, a crowd of protestors gathered in front of the wrecked institution on last night (3 September) to protest the financial neglect that led to its demise. The 200-year-old historical building lacked an efficient sprinkler system—a result of years of incremental budget cuts by the Brazilian government—and was quickly gutted when the blaze erupted shortly after the museum closed to visitors on Sunday (2 September). — theartnewspaper.com
Current Brazilian president Michel Temer and former president Rousseff are being blamed for a failure to properly maintain the National Museum in Rio De Janeiro after a consuming fire broke out 3 days ago. In the aftermath of the flames the museum's facade has mostly survived, yet aerial shots... View full entry
Each year for the past 19 years, DesignIntelligence has conducted the same survey across the design industry regarding architecture-school rankings. The number of valid responses from hiring managers of architecture and design-professional firms typically range between 2,600 and 3,200, year over year. But this year was markedly different: we had more than 4,500 valid responses, which may reflect the urgency of improving architectural education. — architecturalrecord.com
DesignIntelligence has been conducting a yearly design industry survey to rank architecture undergraduate and graduate programs for the past 19 years. For this year's ranking DI has changed their primary question of “Which programs are best preparing students for a future in the profession?”... View full entry
JCDecaux has taken the wraps off a unique piece of out-of-home inventory in London designed by Zaha Hadid Design.
The agency briefed the agency to redefine 'the design language of billboards'. It ditched the conventional shapes and frames that have steered the industry to date. Dubbed 'The Kensington', and located on the road from London to Heathrow, the structure takes the shape of a curved double-ribbon.
— thedrum.com
Zaha Hadid Architects has created a new design for street advertising with JCDecaux Group, a multinational corporation known for its bus-stop advertising systems and billboards. Creating a sculptural advertising approach, the firm's design reinvents the classic billboard into public art. Brands... View full entry
The company is negotiating a lease in 1 World Trade Center to take over about 200,000 square feet in the building, a source close to the deal told CNNMoney.
WeWork recently became the second-largest renter of office space in the borough, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report earlier this month. WeWork trails just about 74,000 square feet behind JPMorgan's New York tenancy. If the deal goes through, WeWork would surpass the bank.
— money.cnn.com
According to Crain's New York Business, WeWork is close to finalizing the lease with 1 World Trade Center. The co-working space company has grown tremendously in the past 8 years it has been operating with offices now in over 20 countries around the world. For more backstory on WeWork's... View full entry
The first building to win the RIBA Stirling Prize – Hodder Associates’ Centenary Building for the University of Salford – could be converted into a new primary school.
The plans for the currently empty 23-year-old building form part of 5plus Architects’ emerging 99ha development framework for the university’s existing campus and surrounding area.
— Architects' Journal
Hodder + Partners's Centenary Building for the University of Salford was the first to be awarded the RIBA Stirling Prize back in 1996. Originally designed to be the School of Electrical Engineering, during construction plans changed for the building to house the Faculty of Art and Design... View full entry
Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, is back at it again with more outlandish ideas to solve Los Angeles' traffic. Earlier this month, Musk's latest venture–The Boring Company–resuscitated its flawed proposal to dig new car tunnels for Los Angeles, this time to connect the Red Line subway with Dodger Stadium [...] The Chicago tunnel idea is bad enough, but the Dodger Stadium plan is exceptionally poor even if one takes Musk's promises at face value. — urbanize.la
Alon Levy pokes holes in Elon Musk's public transit plans for Los Angeles. Musk's plan involves tunneling under Sunset Boulevard between the Dodger Stadium and one of three Red Line stops: Vermont/Sunset, Vermont/Santa Monica, or Vermont/Beverly. Levy cites major issues with construction... View full entry
London is pure object in these images and likewise in those taken from the other aforementioned viewing points. Like visitors to a museum, we wander the corridors atop the Switch House and observe the artefacts curated for our all-consuming gaze: a shard, a walkie-talkie, a gherkin, etc. Like Tower Bridge, the new Museum of London, Battersea Power Station and the Tate Modern, the skyline of the city is presented as a display – complete with its own exhibition gift shop. — failedarchitecture.com
George Kafka argues that London's trend in preservation and commemoration in the built environment is directly related to the decline of small-scale spaces and small businesses centered around everyday life. Kafka cites recent developments in London's built environment over the past few years... View full entry
Wang Shu and his wife, Lu Wenyu, of China’s Amateur Architecture Studio want to protect Chinese culture and history by returning to artisanal building techniques and the use of materials such as natural stone, wood and bamboo. Wang Shu’s rejection of what he calls “professional, soulless architecture” has almost become a war cry. That kind of architecture, he believes, is ruining China. — South China Morning Post
Amateur Architecture Studio focuses on creating work that transcends the black and white divide of traditional and modern architecture. The duo have made it their mission to bring back handmade work and natural materials into modernization. China Academy of Art Xiangshan Campus by Amateur... View full entry
From ground level, greater Miami looks like any American megacity—a mostly dry expanse of buildings, roads, and lawns, sprinkled with the occasional canal or ornamental lake. But from above, the proportions of water and land are reversed. [...]
Barring a stupendous reversal in greenhouse gas emissions, the rising Atlantic will cover much of Miami by the end of this century. The economic effects will be devastating [...].
— Bloomberg
Bloomberg reporter Christopher Flavelle takes a deep dive into the vast, intricate, and highly fragile network of natural aquifers and man-made infrastructure that has kept Miami (mostly) dry and equipped with fresh drinking water. But for how much longer? View full entry