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
“No Section 8.”
You’ll find those words on rental listings across the country. Landlords use them to deter people who rely on the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly known as Section 8, from applying for their units.
Starting in January, a new California law will make that discrimination illegal.
— Capitol Public Radio
A new law is slated to take effect in California on January 1, 2020 that will prevent landlords in the state from discriminating against federal housing voucher recipients. The measure caps off a better-than-average year for tenants rights activists across the country—at the local... View full entry
We've covered a sprawling variety of urban planning stories on Archinect this year, but as the new decade is mere hours away from the land of the densification-averse, we'd like to raise our glass and salute the fine people at Planning Peeps for tirelessly brightening our days with the memes even... View full entry
The reconfiguration of these mundane sites into spaces of political expression show how Hong Kong’s public space “is clearly made by the people, not something simply given by the state, and certainly not to be taken for granted,” said Jeff Hou, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Washington and the co-editor of City Unsilenced: Urban Resistance and Public Space in the Age of Shrinking Democracy. — Quartz
Syd Mead, the legendary science fiction illustrator responsible for concocting the retro-futurist conceptual drawings that inspired movies like Blade Runner, Aliens, and Tron and other seminal sci-fi films, has passed away at age 86. Mead passed away in his Pasadena... View full entry
The new breed of airports take that altered reality and alter it some more, to create their own version of the world.
If you want to be dystopian, airports are prototypes for sinister societies of the future, products of the military-entertainment complex where dictatorial government colludes with big business to create controlling environments. Where individuals are pacified by distractions and ruled by technology.
— The Guardian
The Observer's Rowan Moore takes a critical look at the newest global breed of airport architecture, including the recently opened Beijing Daxing and the brand new Singapore Jewel Changi, in the face of climate change, commerce, and mass surveillance. "It is sometimes pointed out that a modern... View full entry
December often serves as a time to reflect on the year that’s just gone by. As the holidays set in, semesters come to a close, and a a flood of superlatives and year-in-review articles take shape, the blustery days of winter force a certain sort of quietude for an otherwise busy and bustling... 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
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)... View full entry
In a recent Vox report, writer Roxanna Asagarian delves into the troubling phenomenon of incarcerated individuals struggling to stay warm in their cells as temperatures drop throughout the winter season. Reaction from the public over the issue seems to be split with regards to... View full entry
A new plan by the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership—a consortium of three business improvement districts—seeks to make room for all of those people by curtailing car access and installing protected bike lanes, colorful street furniture, and monumental gathering spaces. — CityLab
Despite rapid population growth, Downtown Brooklyn seems to be missing the appeal for the increasing number of pedestrians and cyclists. The newly unveiled Downtown Brooklyn Public Realm Vision, developed jointly by WXY architecture + urban design and Bjarke Ingels Group in collaboration with... 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
For many of Archinect's readers, September represents the beginning of a new year as the academic season refreshes. To help ease this process, we offered incoming students a few tips throughout the month. September also represented the start of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, and Archinect's... View full entry
Princeton University has filed a $10.7 million lawsuit against the design and construction firms responsible for the creation of the Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment complex at the school due to “extensive changes and delays” involved in the delivery of the... View full entry
August held a special place for tall architecture, broke architecture students, and some interesting developments with Kanye West. Let's dive into the big hits of this year's August roundup. Rendering of Rainier Square Tower ↑ Seattle's second-tallest skyscraper is almost complete The... View full entry