Well that's a downer. In response to multiple child deaths resulting from their distinctive particleboard units tipping over, IKEA is offering a full refund or a free wall-mounting kit for any MALM dresser or chest, and additional models, made between January 2002 and June 2016. In total, that... View full entry
In 2019, New York City's Hurricane Sandy-damaged L Train tunnel will shut down for repairs, making it tricky to get across the East River without a new form of transport. In a competition sponsored by the Van Alen Institute to find alternatives, AECOM suggested building a fiber-glass fabric tunnel... View full entry
An appellate court on Thursday halted construction on Pier55... Crews had just begun work on the $130 million green space...
The opponents, led by the City Club of New York, filed suit in state Supreme Court in June 2015, arguing that the Hudson River Park Trust, the entity that manages and operates the park, did not go through the proper channels to launch the project and didn't adequately study the potential environmental impacts of Pier55.
— Crain's New York
The 2.7 acre, Thomas Heatherwick-designed park, which is funded largely by the Diller-von Furstenberg family, has been controversial for both its design and for the alleged secrecy surrounding it."The project is significantly imperiled at this point, and we are very happy about that," Richard... View full entry
Last Thursday, Great Britain voted to leave the European Union, with a margin of 52% to 48%. The result was a huge surprise—especially for those in creative industries like architecture, many of whom publicly supported the Remain campaign. While no official exit strategy is yet in place, within... View full entry
Anyone who's seen the iPhone-shot feature Tangerine or cruised by the doughnut shop at night knows that Donut Time wasn't just another of Los Angeles' dozens of purveyors of sweet, glazed pastries. Much more significant than that, it had long served as a haven for sex workers — many of them transgender women — who make a living on the streets nearby.
"I didn't think it would ever go away. It's really sad," [Tangerine director Sean] Baker says. "I think the film caught an end to an era."
— LA Weekly
According to LAist, Donut Time's closure may be related to a massive mixed-use development proposed for that stretch along Santa Monica Boulevard, where (of course) gentrification is on the rise. It's not yet known if anything will replace Donut Time.More on Archinect:Stonewall Inn formally... View full entry
Oh, SF BART Twitter account—back at it again with the going rogue. This time, instead of getting real with folks on the platform, they decided to have a little fun with the Los Angeles Metro account, challenging them to a full-on haiku battle on Twitter this past Friday. — Upout Blog
The official Twitter account for the BART isn't sycophantic or pandering: when confronted with customer concerns, it answers them with actual facts, even if those facts wouldn't gel with a traditional PR department. Now, however, the BART account has gone one step further and is outright having... View full entry
skyTran’s computer-controlled, 2-person “jet-like” vehicles employ magnetic levitation technology instead of wheels.
The patented high-speed, low-cost, elevated PRT system built at the NASA Ames Research Centre, will have cars zipping above traffic along magnetic lines from one destination to another across the island, a statement said.
— designmena.com
More transportation news on Archinect:Hyperloop hopefuls turn to 'passive' maglev technologyWould self-driving cars be useful to people living outside urban cores?Aerial cable cars proposed for ChicagoWorld's first fully autonomous taxi service will arrive in Singapore later this yearWomen-only... View full entry
A team of construction workers is pouring concrete onto the frame of a structure that will eventually become a wastewater treatment plant. It's 1 a.m. on a clear night in the suburbs of Phoenix.
The temperature is still in the high 80s. But that's way down from the area's recent record high temperatures, up to 118 degrees. [...]
"We try to pour and place and finish concrete when it's below 90 degrees," says Daniel Ward, the construction company's project director.
— npr.org
Related stories in the Archinect news:L.A.'s urban heat island effect accounts for temperatures up to 19 degrees hotterCan Phoenix un-suburbanize?"7,000 construction workers will die in Qatar before a ball is kicked in the 2022 World Cup," new ITUC report finds View full entry
Their ongoing series -- titled "The City" -- imagines a parallel universe where humankind is extinct and nature has already started to reclaim the concrete jungle. Think of it as a journey through apocalyptic architecture. — CNN
Commercial diorama makers Kathleen Gerber and Lori Nix's dystopian art project, "The City," is a miniature labor of love. Each diorama takes about 7 to 15 months to build, primarily because of the intricate level of detail contained within each scene. Check out this post-apocalyptic casino... View full entry
In ‘A World of Fragile Parts’, La Biennale di Venezia and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) explore the threats facing the preservation of global heritage sites and how the production of copies can aid in the preservation of cultural artifacts.
Ecological uncertainty, violent attacks, and the increasing demands of tourism are just a few of the factors putting global heritage sites and cultural artifacts at risk of destruction and loss.
— #NEWPALMYRA
For the Venice Biennale exhibit "A World of Fragile Parts," the digital archaeology project #NEWPALMYRA made a chrome version of a capital from the recently-destroyed city of Palmyra. Now, anyone can download the 3D model and print it, use it in a model of their own, or simply spin it... View full entry
The ax blade of residential high-rises that slices the borough drives from Brooklyn Bridge Park through Downtown, grazing Fort Greene and reaching into Prospect Heights...the best way to preserve low-rise Brooklyn is for the Wedge to succeed by growing up rather than out. A great skyline remains concentrated and confined, its towers made meaningful by borders, its scale a contrast to be savored, not feared. — NY Magazine
Justin Davidson examines the current and future state of high-rise construction in Brooklyn. View full entry
In bone, the proportions of protein and mineral are roughly equal – the mineral gives bone stiffness and hardness, while the protein gives it toughness or resistance to fracture. While bones can break, it is relatively rare, and they have the benefit of being self-healing [...]
“All of our existing building standards have been designed with concrete and steel in mind. Constructing buildings out of entirely new materials would mean completely rethinking the whole industry."
— cam.ac.uk
Bioengineer Dr. Michelle Oyen of Cambridge’s Department of Engineering and her lab are working on ways to build artificial compounds that mimic bone and eggshell. Eventually, once scaled up, the compounds could be used as building materials.When the mineral compounds are "templated" onto the... View full entry
Your dream home is not your grandmother’s, and it certainly won’t be your granddaughter’s. As the modern family evolves in an increasingly unaffordable housing market, with populations pushing out of the suburbs towards downtown, current models of the single family home don’t seem so... View full entry
The areas most likely to benefit from EU structural funding voted predominantly to leave [...]
With 12% of those working in construction migrants from the EU and with the construction industry already struggling to keep up with demand, any drop in skilled migrants will hit Britain’s ability to build. [...]
Analysts are already predicting a drop in supply of new homes, due to market volatility, predicted slowdown on skilled migration flows and share price drops for developers.
— theguardian.com
Related on Archinect:RIBA release a statement following EU referendum resultArchitects react to shocking EU referendum resultTell us what does the EU referendum means to youSay no to a "Brexit," says David Chipperfield View full entry
If causal factors leading to housing unaffordability are not resolved over multiple generations, the social stratification will start to resemble countries like Russia, where a small elite control a vast share of the country’s total wealth.
The result? A society where the threat of class warfare would loom large. [...]
San Francisco and the Bay Area have long been committed to values which embrace inclusivity and counterculture. To see these values fraying so publicly adds insult to injury
— qz.com
More from San Francisco's housing crisis on Archinect:What these “pre-rent control” stats might reveal about SF's soaring housing costsBay Area media ban together for homelessness advocacyDon't blame the tech bros: SF's housing crisis is bonkers because of zoning, not startupsMan living in... View full entry
