Since April 1 a large number of the bars, pubs and liquor shops across India has gone out of business, thanks to a Supreme Court order that the outlets should be at least 500m away from state and national highways...The Aishwarya Bar in North Paravoor, a Kochi suburb has built a 250m-long maze-like walkway to the entrance, theoretically making it more than 500m away from the highway. — India Times
In a move that has even delighted the bureaucrats who initially drafted the rule that no bar could be within 500 meters of a highway, an Indian bar has managed to stay in business by virtue of building a 250 meter long maze that, like the snaking lines at an amusement park, greatly expands the... View full entry
The garden bridge, proposed to cross the Thames from the South Bank to Temple, is nothing if not a landmark of the post-truth era. It has wrung tens of millions out of the public purse on the basis of deceptions, distortions and facts that proved to be fake. First sold as “a gift to the people of London”, entirely paid for by private sector donations, it is now due to cost a minimum of £60m in public money. Its estimated total cost has gone from £60m to “north of £200 million”. — Rowan Moore
Its claims to fundraising prowess are exaggerated, its promised transport benefits minimal. Its backers assert overwhelming public support on the basis of a poll that told those polled nothing of the costs and drawbacks of the project. View full entry
"Architecture and design can mitigate climate impact while simultaneously reducing operating costs for building owners," says AIA President Thomas Vonier, FAIA, in a recently-released press statement issued in conjunction with Earth Day. ”We need the federal government to keep and even expand... View full entry
Nicholas Korody started publishing excerpts from Archinect’s fourth live podcasting event, Next Up: Floating Worlds. Looking at potential roles for architecture in the contemporary neoliberal economy, with a focus on issues pertaining to gender and identity, the event featured... View full entry
This week, for our 100th episode of Archinect Sessions, we are excited to share our conversation with Archinect favorite Steven Holl. Our conversation spans a number of topics, including growing up in a small town in Washington state, his early career struggles, his inspirations, working in... View full entry
Despite receiving a substantial drubbing from architectural critics, the Petersen Museum has managed to garner a 2017 American Architecture Award from the Chicago Athanaeum Museum of Architecture and Design (among 78 other finalists). The award, which has been given out since 1994, recognized the... View full entry
California’s Central Valley is best known for supplying nearly 25% of the country’s food, including 40% of the fruit and nuts consumed each year. Yet today, backcountry places such as Patterson, population 22,000, are experiencing an increase in homelessness that can be traced, in part, to an unlikely sounding source: Silicon Valley. — The Guardian
As home prices rise staggeringly high in Silicon Valley and San Jose, aspiring homeowners have increasingly headed inland to the agricultural regions of the Central Valley, which lie alongside the I-5. In towns like Patterson, rents have risen from $900 to $1,600 over three years, forcing more and... View full entry
Sentinel Peak Resources, which took over the roughly 1.1-acre site in December, now believes that affordable housing is the “best beneficial use” for the land [...] Neighborhood leaders said they were interested in closing and re-purposing the site, but are awaiting more details. They stressed that regardless of any plans, they still want the city to pursue their concerns about violations at the site, which Sentinel Peak Resources has so far brushed off. — Los Angeles Times
According to the L.A. Times, “No official plan has been drafted and details are scant, but [L.A. City Council President Herb] Wesson said he was ‘unbelievably excited’ about the idea, arguing it could pave the way to convert other local drilling sites.”But converting the site — which is... View full entry
Moldings, profiles, traditional cabinets — they’re not really interested in that. They’re really interested in something more modern and definitely more linear....Of course, paring down with such attention to detail comes at a price. Where baseboards and moldings can be used to hide uneven edges, the cleaner lines favored by millennials require more precision....Yet dramatically altering the DNA of a prewar apartment could harm its resale value — NYT
Jill Krasny highlights a growing trend among younger, buyers. They may prefer older, prewar apartments to newer, cookie cutter options, yet aren't necessarily interested in the traditional finishes and historical details. Rather they are more interested in clean lines, "gap reveal" and open... View full entry
This post is brought to you by 3A Composites USA Every company wants to establish a brand on a local, regional, national or even international level. A company strives for an image that is recognizable by potential customers no matter where they are in the world. In fact, the first face-to-face... View full entry
Today, the Greater London Authority released a biting investigative report on the Garden Bridge conducted by senior Member of Parliament Margaret Hodge. Last October, Mayor Sadiq Khan formally appointed Hodge to lead the independent review, as part of Khan's promise to investigate the decisions... View full entry
In tough competition with leading Norwegian offices (Snøhetta, Jensen & Skodvin, Jarmund Vigsnæs and Carl Viggo Hølmebakk) the young practice Transborder Studio wins the invited competition for an extension of the Center for Studies of Holocaust and Religious Minorities. The center is... View full entry
Architecture, we forget at our peril, is inherently violent. It invariably subtracts from the range of available possibilities, especially the perennially attractive option of building nothing at all. In this sense, construction sites are crime scenes.
—Herbert Muschamp, NY Times
— Numéro Cinq
Three quick takes on architecture, with links, of relevance to a certain tower. View full entry
The AIA has released a revamped version of its Disaster Assistance Handbook, which they claim is “significantly enhanced” and “will serve as a go-to resource for architects, built environments professionals, municipal government officials and emergency managers involved in disaster... View full entry
Although certain architects have attempted to inject humor into the profession, architecture is generally not known for its slapstick and wry timing, which makes the pairing of interviewer Michael Ian Black (formerly of classic comedy show The State) and Yale Dean of Architecture Deborah Berke... View full entry
