Van Buren’s most ambitious undertaking so far is the reimagining of a hulking 471,000 square foot Detention Center in downtown Atlanta. [...] Van Buren has been working with social justice organizations and a mayoral task force to transform the site into an “Equity Center” that will incorporate financial literacy, job training, access to legal services and other community needs. — The New York Times
Writing in The New York Times, journalist Patricia Leigh Brown profiles Deanna Van Buren, co-founder of Designing Justice + Designing Spaces (DJDS), an Oakland, California-based architecture and real estate development non-profit that is working to end mass incarceration. Archinect... View full entry
As the spread of the novel coronavirus prompts a cascade of event cancellations and school closures, the rest of the Spring 2020 semester hangs in the balance for many design students and educators. Just this week, Columbia University, Princeton University, Harvard University, The Ohio State... View full entry
As concerns increase for COVID-19, many cities, institutions, and events have been taking precautions in an effort to mitigate the risk of spreading the disease. The architecture industry has seen its share of impact, with the cancellations and postponements of many prominent events across... View full entry
Construction of all new permanent venues for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics is now complete, organizers said Friday, as preparations continue despite worries over the new coronavirus outbreak.
The announcement comes as the International Olympic Committee insisted this week that a potential cancellation or postponement of the Games due to the virus was "not mentioned" at a meeting of their Executive Board.
— Japan Today
According to Japan Today, the last venue to be completed was the Tokyo Aquatics Center for swimming, diving, and artistic swimming. It will seat 15,000 fans for the Olympic and Paralympic games. "The main pool features a movable wall allowing the 50-meter facility to be converted into two... View full entry
Following the successful passage of a ballot initiative on Super Tuesday, the town of Newton, Massachusetts is moving forward with a proposed 23-acre community development plan that could bring up to 800 new housing units to the site of a former strip mall. View of the proposed Northland... View full entry
Los Angeles-based critic and curator Mimi Zeiger has developed Feminisms: 1974 to Now, a curated video playlist of lectures that have taken place at the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc) over the decades highlighting "feminist thought and dialogue" at the... View full entry
I remember in one of my earlier jobs after college, I had a supervisor who had a tendency to continuously check in with me after he had assigned me something to work on. On top of that, he wanted to control how I went about doing the work. It made me overwhelmingly stressed out, and my performance... View full entry
ACSA President Rashida Ng announced Saturday that the 108th ACSA Annual Meeting will not place in San Diego this week. In the statement, she says: The Board of Directors reviewed public health data about the coronavirus and its impact on travel and our conference venues, and determined it would be... View full entry
Lawmakers in California are working on a new measure that could grant churches, nursing homes, hospitals, and nonprofit entities the ability to build affordable housing on their properties without needing a change in zoning. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the measure, known as... View full entry
On this episode of Archinect Sessions Donna, Ken and I are joined by Paulette Singley. Paulette is a respected architectural historian, educator and author. Her writing and editing expands beyond the world of architecture, looking at connections within the culinary arts and film. In today's... View full entry
The U.S. House of Representatives passed the bipartisan "Yes In My Backyard" (YIMBY) Act this week, which aims to address the country’s affordable housing crisis by reducing barriers to increase housing production.
The bill, which calls for high-density single-family and multifamily zoning, is sponsored by Rep. Denny Heck, D-WA, and Rep. Trey Hollingsworth, R-IN.
— Smart Cities Dive
The bill, according to Smart Cities Dive, also calls for reducing minimum lot size; allowing manufactured homes in areas zoned for single-family residential dwellings; and allowing for duplexes in areas zoned mostly for single-family residential homes. View full entry
Texture is the condition of possibility through which our bodies meet environments; like gender in its relationality, texture is palpable only in becoming. So did the blue carpet in my childhood bedroom enmesh gender between my toes? And if we alter texture — including how we talk about it — might we transform gender in both minute and brash ways? — Places Journal
Whether or not they realize it, architecture critics generally build a body into their writings. And we must allow ourselves, and others, to write bodies other than cis, straight, white, able ones into the affect of our analyses. Changing words — say, crafting new architectural... View full entry
Editor's Note: This is a developing story, Archinect will be updating this post as new information comes to light. Archinect has learned that the Board of Directors for the School of Architecture at Taliesin (SoAT) voted this week to rescind their previous decision to close its... View full entry
London- and Los Angeles-based architects Hawkins\Brown Architects have unveiled plans for 1000 Seward, a fanciful 10-story office complex in Los Angeles's Hollywood Studio District. The mid-rise, mixed-use tower, Urbanize.LA reports, is being developed by The Post Group and Plus... View full entry
“Stone,” says architect Amin Taha, “is the great forgotten material of our time. In 99% of cases, it’s cheaper and greener to use stone in a structural way, as opposed to concrete or steel, but we mostly just think of using it for cladding.” — The Guardian
Oliver Wainwright's takeaways from The New Stone Age, a current exhibition at the Building Centre in London. The "great forgotten material of our time" appears to be bracing for somewhat of a comeback with architects like Amin Taha of London-based practice GROUPWORK (also one of the exhibition's... View full entry
