This topical review of 2016's News isn't about certain architects' big projects or prizes (those'll have their own lists), but about the culture surrounding those big names, and the way their personalities convey the profession to a wider audience. For your reading pleasure, presented in reverse... View full entry
Even if Abu Dhabi has almost unique economic and institutional conditions and rests for now as a borderline case of development profiles, it still highlights several common problems in contemporary large-scale development projects and in the use of star architecture in other parts of the world: little care for the context of branded projects, de-politicization of urban development, weak and inconsistent public planning...[and] spectacular architecture [for] global competition and media exposure — CityLab
An excerpt from the upcoming book “Starchitecture. Scenes, Actors, and Spectacles in Contemporary Cities” by Davide Ponzini and Michele Nastasi examines Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island megaproject, and argues how such projects show the little influence that famous architects can have on... View full entry
In ways big and small, architects like Mr. Berman have changed New York City this year. Projects like the library branch made it a little more livable and humane.
What follows is nothing nearly as disciplined or logical as a list of 2016’s architectural highs and lows in town. It’s more a kind of belated thank you note for a few projects that kept faith with architecture’s ideals and the city’s better self.
— nytimes.com
Kimmelman's NYC-best-of-16 roundup includes DS+R/Gensler's Roy and Diana Vagelos Education Center, Via 57 West by Bjarke Ingels & team, and the Renzo Piano-designed Jerome L. Greene Science Center, among others.In the mood for more year-end reflections? Don't miss our ongoing series Archinect... View full entry
On this episode, we discuss the biggest news items of the past week, covering: the political bent to the AIA's Gold Medal being awarded posthumously to Paul Revere Williams; Jean Nouvel's legal battle over his "defiled" Paris Philharmonie; and BIG's new proposal for a giant, riverside mixed-user... View full entry
“If you don’t understand anything about this world, or what that space was, or who these people were, your first reaction is going to be: ‘Why don’t you just bring this place up to code?’ And it’s a very quaint notion, and it would be good if that’s how the world worked [...]”
“There are so many interlocking problems that are fundamental, it’s hard to know where to begin. In almost every case, there are existing code violations to the building before they even move in.”
— GOOD
Related:DIY Space, After Ghost Ship: Safety, community and informal venues after Oakland's tragic fire, ft. S. Surface and David Keenan on Archinect Sessions #91 View full entry
In education and academia news, 2016 had its fair share of architecture's everlasting debate over Theory v. Practice, while also making a big move towards improving students' rights. Check out our most significant News stories from the world of architecture school in 2016:Peter Zellner to launch... View full entry
President-elect Donald Trump has added another name to his cabinet: former Texas Governor Rick Perry will head the U.S. Department of Energy. The announcement has drawn mixed responses. The oil and gas industry, on the one hand, welcomed the fossil fuel industry-friendly climate change skeptic... View full entry
Nicholas Korody’s piece regarding this year's 'Homeless Studio' (done in partnership with the Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission) at USC, started quite a discussion. Contra many commenters b3tadine[sutures] felt the design brief/work was a useful illustration of a "both/and..." approach aka the... View full entry
Daniel Libeskind loves the multi-faceted nature of New York City's inhabitants; the rich, the poor, the successful, and perhaps most amusingly, the failures who think they're successful. Although the architect doesn't really break any new conceptual ground in this short video from the Louisiana... View full entry
'Tis the time of year to reflect – on the good, the bad, the self, and the world. In looking back on the year that was 2016, we've parsed through all the News stories and now present to you, in all their gruesome glory, the biggest political stories of the year.While news from the U.S... View full entry
French website Mac Generation has obtained photos of newly completed portions of the Apple Campus 2 as designed by Foster + Partners. The exterior, which in renderings possessed a certain monolithic frisbee quality, is far more vivid in real life. Here are photos of both the interior and exterior... View full entry
The Home Office is considering cutting international student numbers at UK universities by nearly half, Education Guardian can reveal. The threat is being greeted with dismay by university heads, who say some good overseas applicants are already being refused visas on spurious grounds.
The home secretary, Amber Rudd, pledged a crackdown on international student numbers at the Conservative party conference in October, to include tougher visa rules for “lower quality” universities and courses.
— the Guardian
But senior university sources are warning that the cutbacks could be far more severe than expected. They say they have seen Home Office plans that model slashing overseas student numbers, with one option to cut the current 300,000 to 170,000 a year.For more on the culture of post-Brexit UK, follow... View full entry
Sometime in the not too distant future we will look back at traditional malls as an anachronism – something that started with the post World War II move to the suburbs, peaked in 1990, and faded away, according to the billionaire Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso, whose properties include the Grove and the Americana at Brand.
Millions of dollars are being spent on refurbishing and renovating malls in Los Angeles in an attempt to offer online shoppers an incentive to go outdoors. According to this report by KPCC, the big-league mall masterminds, including Grove guru Rick Caruso, are purposefully trying to redesign malls... View full entry
The recently introduced IPAL, or Integrated Path to Architectural Licensure, promises to streamline the architectural licensure process for students at 17 universities and colleges by incorporating the Architectural Experience Program into the curriculum. Licensure, which is required by a majority... View full entry
The very thing that makes modern cities vibrant and culturally dominant – increasing population density, and the atmosphere and networks that result from it – has left them politically under-represented. Meanwhile, the scattered and thinned-out populations of many struggling rural and small town areas distribute their voters through the British and American electoral systems much more efficiently. — Andy Beckett – The Guardian
Related on Archinect:The V&A's Martin Roth on Brexit: 'Me-first mentality' spreading through Europe is 'brutal'Brexit means Brexit: architects Rob Hyde, Katy Marks and Mark Middleton on how Brexit could change UK-architecture (and how architects could change Brexit), on Archinect Sessions... View full entry
