When executives at Taco Bell found out that the Downey building that housed their first restaurant was at risk of being demolished, they ordered the store “to go.” The birthplace of the Mexican fast food chain, located on Firestone Boulevard, is up on rails and ready to roll. Founder Glen Bell built the mission style building in 1962 and on Thursday night at 10:30, store “Numero Uno” will begin the 45-mile ride to company headquarters in Irvine. — Los Angeles Magazine
The original Taco Bell was initially threatened with demolition back in January. For all the best coverage of food-related design, do check out:• Upstarts: Design, Bitches• A Journey from Architecture and Design to Gourmet Dog Food• How architects are redesigning schools that encourage kids... View full entry
Long-time Archinector and BLDGBLOG-runner Geoff Manaugh joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his piece on "The Dream Life of Driverless Cars" for the New York Times Magazine. Referencing work like that of London-based design studio, ScanLAB Projects, who use LiDAR (light + radar)... View full entry
Robert Urquhart’s first piece for Archinect, was a report from the front lines of the London Design Festival. Plus, Julia Ingalls talked with Guggenheim Fellow and Los Angeles Times book critic David Ulin about his book ‘Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles’. News Over at The... View full entry
"You repress almost everything to produce a building," states Daniel Libeskind during a long and wide-ranging conversation with the architectural historian Gillian Darley in the context of the exhibition Childhood ReCollections: Memory in Design at the Roca London Gallery."Everything is repressed... View full entry
In a typical year, [Humphreys & Partners] designs between 12 and 15 percent of all apartments built in the United States. [...]
Instead of starting from scratch on every project, he came up with the idea of “commoditizing” the process. He’d have a base product, like The Big House, that could be tweaked to fit in various markets throughout the country. It simplified things and kept costs down, giving Humphreys & Partners a competitive advantage.
— dmagazine.com
The Ark Encounter is a full-sized replica of Noah’s Ark, as described in the book of Genesis. [...]
the actual ark will be 510 feet long ... 85 feet wide and more than 50 feet tall, and that's before you add the sail. It can house up to 10,000 people in a pinch, and when finished will be the largest wooden timber structure in the world. [...]
“People expect the quality of a Universal Studios and we’re going to give it to them.”
— cincinnati.com
Perhaps not surprisingly, other riffs on Noah's Ark have already been built (although they probably aren't scaled to cubits):Chinese man spends whole life savings building very own 'Noah's Ark' over fears of impending apocalypseOpening Noah's Ark View full entry
The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) returned to positive territory after a slight dip in August, and has seen growth in six of the nine months of the year so far. [...] The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the September ABI score was 53.7, up from a mark of 49.1 in August. This score reflects an increase in design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 61.0, down from a reading of 61.8 the previous month. — calculatedriskblog.com
The AIA reports the following key ABI highlights for the month of October:Regional averages: South (56.2), West (54.4), Midwest (52.6), Northeast (49.2)Sector index breakdown: commercial / industrial (55.1), mixed practice (54.9), multi-family residential (52.5), institutional (51.4)Project... View full entry
In celebration of Archinect Sessions' second season, we're posting the "Next Up" live-interviews we did at the Chicago Architecture Biennial as Mini-Sessions, continuing from the interviews done at Jai & Jai Gallery in Los Angeles. You can listen to past Mini-Sessions here.Our third... View full entry
The subject of a thousand think pieces and endless dinner table conversations, the considerable changes unleashed on the Bay Area by the tech industry over the past few decades are pretty undeniable. An influx of money – and its attendant culture – has remade San Francisco and the valley to... View full entry
In Bangkok, where rents are quickly rising and young professionals often struggle to find places to live, architects created a simple tiny house that can easily pop up in a parking garage or inside one of the city's half-built abandoned buildings. [...]
Instead of solid walls, the structure has a lattice-like design that lets breezes pass through. "With the wall, we need as much ventilation as possible," she says. "It is always too hot, not cold."
— fastcoexist.com
Bangkok-based firm All(zone) is currently exhibiting their "Light House" shelters at the Chicago Architecture Biennial. View full entry
[Sara Zewde] argues that while the traditional monument commemorates a singular event or individual by placing an object in a space that is a break from its surroundings, the 400-year practice of African enslavement demands a different approach.
“For Afro-descended people, you wake up every day with the legacy of slavery,” she says. “How do you deal with that spatially?”
One approach is to translate cultural practices into spatial ones.
— Next City
But this year’s champion bathroom, crowned by voters on Cintas’ website, is not nestled inside some upscale restaurant in a major city. It’s a public restroom in Minturn, Colorado.
A collaboration between the town of Minturn, LaN Architecture’s Monika Wittig, LGM 3d Studios, and Noble Welding, the restrooms are meant to resemble a passageway into a Rocky Mountain mine. “The town rallied together and showed the value of a restroom that’s creative and memorable for guests,” [...].
— citylab.com
From the America's Best Restroom Contest website:Founded in 1904, Minturn is rich in mining history and its new public restrooms reflect its past. The unique digitally fabricated shape of the men’s and women’s restrooms resemble an adit (horizontal passage way) into a Rocky Mountain mine. The... View full entry
The lawsuits make disturbing allegations that the balcony was poorly constructed, sustained dry rot to the point of growing mushrooms and officials at the apartment complex knew about the dangers, but failed to fix them. [...]
The lawsuits allege the builders cut corners to save money, that a subcontractor did not use plywood called for in the plans, but cheaper oriented strand board that is more susceptible to water damage and dry rot.
— abc7news.com
After a balcony collapse at the Library Gardens apartment complex in Berkeley, CA killed six and injured seven others in June, the city has tightened building codes and began a forensic inspection into the balcony's construction. Lawsuits have since been filed against Segue Construction (the... View full entry
A persistent water leak is among the problems that have delayed the opening of the mall, which was supposed to be operating by now, to the first half of 2016. It is the latest setback to bedevil the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, the $3.7 billion rail terminal that will also house Westfield’s $1.4 billion shopping center. [...]
The latest twist involves water penetration around the construction site of 3 World Trade Center, an office tower abutting the hub, which began in late summer.
— nytimes.com
Related on Archinect:Massive 'spine' skylight in Calatrava's WTC Oculus nears completionThere's a chance the Hudson is leaking into the WTC siteNYMag talks to Santiago Calatrava about his WTC Station, budget, reputation View full entry
This week on the podcast, I speak with Jens Bertelsen – a Danish architect specializing in historic preservation, who since 2011 has called himself "The Queen's Architect." Bertelsen’s official title under the Danish monarch (Queen Margrethe II) translates to something like “Royal Building... View full entry
