Efforts to modernize suburban campuses can be as basic as organizing placemaking activities like after-work concerts or food truck Fridays. Usually, though, they require a much deeper investment in elements like upgraded lobbies, outdoor furniture, ball courts, fitness centers, grab-and-go cafes, greenways, bike storage facilities and open-plan offices that let in substantial natural light. — The New York Times
In her NYT piece about the renewed commercial interest in the suburban office park typology, Amanda Abrams takes a closer look at the latest investments and transformations at North Carolina's Research Triangle Park. "After all, with downtowns everywhere becoming increasingly expensive," writes... View full entry
For the month of December, Archinect is shining a Spotlight on Austin, Texas. Aside from being the Texas state capital, Austin is a major node in the thriving Texas Triangle mega-region, the urban agglomeration that includes Houston, Dallas-Forth Worth, and San Antonio. ... View full entry
Despite changes in technology and forms of representation, around the world, architectural models continue to address an important issue in aesthetic experience: Providing access to architecture for the visually impaired. "Whether it’s marveling at the height of the Eiffel... View full entry
Please join Archinect and the Architecture + Design Museum on Saturday, December 7th at 2pm for History + Theory Education in LA's Schools of Architecture, a panel discussion investigating the current and future state of historical and theoretical approaches to architectural education. The... View full entry
The surprise inspections are New York’s most aggressive effort to tighten oversight of construction sites after a surge in worker injuries as the city undergoes its biggest building boom in more than half a century...
...In the first nine months of this year — as dozens of surprise inspections were carried out daily — construction injuries fell by 26 percent to 437 from 590 in the same period the year before, according to city-data.
— The New York Times
The surprise inspections have been carried out by a team of 38 experts in areas such as renovations, high-rise construction, scaffolding, and demolitions, reports The New York Times. The team is due to eventually grow to 53. Since September 2018, the team has completed 20,166 surprise... View full entry
Little Haiti’s elevation is 7 feet above sea level with pockets in the neighborhood that go as high as 14 feet above sea level. By comparison, Miami Beach is about 4 feet above sea level.
A building boom is happening all over Miami, including in low-lying areas, but some experts say sea level rise is speeding up gentrification in high-elevation communities that historically have seen very little investment from the outside.
— WLRN
WLRN, in collaboration with WNYC's The Stakes podcast, covers the impact of the recent investment interest in Miami-Dade County’s historically black inland communities, such as Little Haiti, which are "naturally resilient" to sea-level rise due to their higher elevation. View full entry
Plans for Hungary’s landmark New National Gallery—conceived as the centrepiece of the rising Liget cultural quarter in Budapest’s City Park—hang in the balance after the city’s new centre-left mayor, Gergely Karácsony, moved to block its construction. — The Art Newspaper
After the international design competition for Budapest's New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum resulted in proposals by Snøhetta and SANAA tied for the first prize in April 2015, the latter team, headed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, ultimately won the commission later that year, beating... View full entry
Under the Faircloth Amendment [signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1999], the supply of public housing is capped at 1999 levels. In order to build a new public housing unit, the federal government is required to either abolish an existing unit or sell it to a private buyer. [...]
Article 34 of the California state constitution requires majority voter approval at the ballot for government-funded construction of any low-income housing project including public housing.
— San Francisco Examiner
Writing in The San Francisco Examiner, data scientist and fair housing advocate Sasha Perigo highlights the federal Faircloth Amendment as perhaps the most significant obstacle standing in the way of a trio of recently proposed public housing expansion programs that could vastly increase public... View full entry
The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture at the Cooper Union in New York City has unveiled The Student Work Collection, a new online resource that highlights nearly 80 years' worth of architectural output with the aim of recording the "School of Architecture's pedagogy by documenting student... View full entry
workers have gotten sick, and even died, after cutting this engineered stone and breathing in its dangerous dust, public health officials say.
Overseas, some are even calling for a ban on selling engineered quartz for countertops.
— NPR
NPR takes an investigative look at some of the workplace safety issues that have arisen amid explosive growth in the engineered quartz industry over recent decades. The report looks into the incidence of silicosis—a debilitating and progressive lung disease caused when someone... View full entry
It’s hard to reconcile our work without first acknowledging that for nearly every injustice in this world, an architecture is constructed to perpetuate that injustice. Our profession overwhelmingly serves those with means and ignores the consequences of our decisions for those without means, resulting in the collective disinheritance of historically marginalized communities. — Next City
In a compelling Op-Ed for Next City, Colloqate founder and design director Bryan Lee, Jr. lays out a few of the principles of the Design Justice movement, a perspective that is central to the Design Justice Platform created by his New Orleans-based nonprofit design practice. Lee... View full entry
On this installment of Archinect Sessions, we’re sharing a conversation I had a couple of months ago with Sofia Borges and R. Scott Mitchell, the leaders of a design-build studio at USC that addressed one of the most pressing issues in Los Angeles today—homelessness. ... View full entry
California Senator and presidential contender Kamala Harris and California Representative Maxine Waters have introduced the "Housing is Infrastructure Act," a $107 billion bill that aims to upgrade and expand affordable housing across the country. The bill is the latest in a series of efforts... View full entry
New York City-based legal group Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) has filed a class action lawsuit against a collection of public agencies representing the borough of Queens, New York "challenging the inaccessibility" of the new Steven Holl Architects-designed Hunters Point Library, according... View full entry
The U.S. is at the beginning of a tidal wave of homes hitting the market on the scale of the housing bubble in the mid-2000s. This time it won’t be driven by overbuilding, easy credit or irrational exuberance, but by an inevitable fact of life: the passing of the baby boomer generation. — The Wall Street Journal
A report in The Wall Street Journal highlights the coming vacancy crisis set to impact America's retirement communities and exurbs as members of the Baby Boomer generation age out of independent living with fewer members of younger generations left—or willing—to take their... View full entry
