A newly erected section of the border wall on the US-Mexico border toppled over in high winds this week. The section fell over onto the Mexicali, Mexico side of the border just across from Calexico, California. Luckily, no one was injured due to the failure. According to local agent Carlos... View full entry
Medics in Wuhan, the city of 11 million people where the virus originated, have described overcrowded hospitals and a shortage of test kits, protective gear, and other medical equipment.
To alleviate this pressure, city authorities last Friday announced plans to build a new hospital from scratch in just six days, to be used beginning February 3.
— Business Insider
Chinese officials are under increasing pressure to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus which has already claimed the lives of at least 130 people and is quickly spreading around the world. The epidemic originated in Wuhan, the most populous city in Central China and home to more than... View full entry
The School of Architecture at Taliesin (SoAT), which maintains campuses in Scottsdale, Arizona and Spring Green Wisconsin, is closing down following an 88-year run as the institution tasked with carrying on the intellectual design legacy of the American architect Frank Lloyd Wright. ... View full entry
Since its founding, the National Register of Historic Places has helped to generate an estimated two million jobs and more than a hundred billion dollars in private investments. But, because many biases were written into the criteria that determine how sites are selected, those benefits have gone mostly to white Americans. One of the criteria for preservation is architectural significance, meaning that modest buildings like slave cabins and tenement houses were long excluded from consideration. — The New Yorker
Writing in The New Yorker, Casey Cep profiles Brent Leggs, director of the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund at the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The lengthy, eye-opening report delves into the work of preservationists like Leggs who are fighting to uncover... View full entry
The Cass at London Metropolitan University is launching the capital’s first postgraduate [program] in Timber Technology. This will address key skills shortages in the architecture and construction sectors, stimulate economic growth, and respond to the growing demand for sustainable building. — World Architecture News
The new MSc in Timber Technology "will allow [students] to develop [their] skills as timber design professionals within a rapidly expanding sustainable agenda for the built environment," writes London Metropolitan University on their course information webpage. According to World... View full entry
As part of Archinect's month-long Spotlight on Los Angeles, we have selected ten of our favorite residential projects across various cities and suburbs in Los Angeles County designed by practices with offices in LA. While the region is bustling with stunning homes and raw design talent alike (too... View full entry
According to a recently published economic report from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the nation's nonresidential construction sector is expected to see growth of "just 1.5 percent through 2020," with a "less than a one percent increase" projected for 2021. The report does little to... View full entry
The Berkeley City Council has voted to create a new city-run homeless encampment to help provide a safe and clean place for some of the city's unhoused residents to live temporarily. According to a report from Curbed, the measure was supported by a majority of the City Councilmembers and... View full entry
Adolfo Natalini, who, along with Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, co-founded the visionary architects' collective Superstudio, has passed away at age 78. Natalini was born on May 10, 1941 in Pistoia, Italy. He attended the University of Florence, graduating in 1966. That year, he... View full entry
This weekend, the Architecture and Design Museum (A+D) in Los Angeles will debut a new collection of exhibitions via its seasonal The Assembly opening event. The opening will highlight four new exhibitions set to occupy the museum's Arts District space for the next several months. View of... View full entry
Danish architect Bjarke Ingels has released a statement explaining his reasoning behind the decision to meet with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro last week. In the statement, Ingels, founder and creative partner at the multi-national architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), explains... View full entry
In 2018, 60 workers died due to temperature extremes, according to the most recent Bureau of Labor Statistics data on workplace fatalities.
Though the climate crisis is creating conditions where workers are facing hotter temperatures on a more frequent basis, there are no federal safety protections for workers in extreme temperatures, and only three states, California, Washington and Minnesota, have heat stress workplace protection standards.
— The Guardian
The Guardian's Michael Sainato takes a look at the increasingly dangerous nature of outdoor work as climate change makes extreme heat a greater danger for people who labor outside. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that 783 workers in the United States died and more than... View full entry
As part of an ambition to transform Merwede in southwest Utrecht, an urban plan design, led by Marco.Broekman has been underway since 2016 with a definitive design endeavor under development this year. Simply called Merwede, the new neighborhood includes 6,000 dwellings, high-quality public... View full entry
Global pop star Akon and Senegalese government officials are readying to break ground on a new ground-up 2,000-acre sustainable tourism city near the country's capital, Dakar. Just finalized the agreement for AKON CITY in Senegal. Looking forward to hosting you there in the future... View full entry
The US has become terrible at building big things, and negligent in even maintaining our existing infrastructure. [...]
That all bodes terribly for our ability to grapple with the coming dangers of climate change, because it is fundamentally an infrastructure problem.
— MIT Technology Review
MIT Technology Review senior editor, James Temple, penned an urgent plea for a renewed, but sustainable, American public works boom that could significantly speed up the painfully slow infrastructure planning process in the face of rapidly changing climate conditions. "To prepare for the climate... View full entry
