Chris Williamson has been elected as the next RIBA President. The co-founder of London-based practice Weston Williamson + Partners prevailed over fellow presidential candidates Funmbi Adeagbo and Duncan Baker-Brown. From a total of 4,462 votes from RIBA members, Williamson received 1,760 votes in... View full entry
Q: Is there a design ethic?
A: I just hate wasting material, time, and energy. When I started developing structures with humble, recycled, reusable material in the middle of the ’80s, no one—including myself—was considering any ecological and environmental problems. I just do not waste anything.
— Eames Institute, Kazam! Magazine
The Eames Institute's Kazam! Magazine in conversation with Shigeru Ban. View full entry
New AI architecture tools will, in the short term, make good design affordable and accessible. But AI will still fall short when it comes to understanding human nature as well our emotional and dignity needs. Dignity means much more than just the absence of humiliation. It also requires recognition, manifested through nine critical human needs: reason, security, human rights, accountability, transparency, justice, opportunity, innovation, and inclusiveness. — Big Think
"Looking to the future, tomorrow’s architects will need to be equipped with transdisciplinary tools such as Neuro-Techno-Philosophy, a framework I have introduced to understand the AI-neuroscience-philosophy nexus underpinning our society today," Oxford University's Nayef... View full entry
Jamie Chan connected with sixteen women, ranging from current and former students, professors and deans, about What It Means To Be Female in Architecture School. "What is clear is that we are in the midst of a generational shift, with more people paying attention to female leaders in the field"... View full entry
Moriyama Teshima Architects has provided a statement in rebuke of the sudden closure of its late founder Raymond Moriyama’s beloved Ontario Science Centre in Toronto. The closure was announced Friday by the provincial government, citing the need for repairs in many of its RAAC roof... View full entry
A decade ago the only way to secure a bed in Sydney’s brutalist icon, the Sirius building, was a proven need and time on the social housing waitlist. Now the price of admission starts at $1.55m – for a studio apartment. [...]
Advocates who fought to save the building from the wrecking balls and from being sold see it now as the pinnacle of privatisation that failed the state’s most vulnerable.
— The Guardian
The fate of Sydney’s martyred Rocks mirrors closely that of London’s Trelick and Balfron Towers, and the future of Singapore’s once caste-busting social housing system. As of our last reporting, the brutalist landmark has (finally, and forever) been saved from the wrecking ball — only... View full entry
“The city of Los Angeles has worked very hard to brand these as tiny homes as if they are a housing solution, which they absolutely are not,” said Shayla Myers, a senior attorney at the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles. “In reality, these are tiny sheds.” — The New York Times
Firsthand accounts of what it’s like to live inside one of the eleven tiny home villages scattered across parts of the San Fernando Valley and northeast LA often underscore their value as bulwarks against unsheltered homelessness in the city. Feedback from on-site mental health professionals... View full entry
Techxplore.com has some interesting insights concerning flaws in the AI-led architectural image generation of historic Islamic architecture after a report about its inaccuracies surfaced in the journal Buildings this March. "[The] inability to obtain precise visual representations of... View full entry
The value of smart building deployments is projected to grow by 95 per cent to $14bn by 2026 globally. This growth, up from $7bn in 2024, will be driven by sustainability initiatives and the need for cost reductions in building management, said Juniper Research, which has published the report. — Smart Cities World
As reported by Smart Cities World, the study found that artificial intelligence-based building management solutions will be key to both achieving sustainability and energy goals and securing a return on investment in smart buildings. Through in-depth data analytics, AI is capable of identifying... View full entry
A new statement written by the AIA’s Board of Trustees in response to the swirling controversy surrounding CEO Lakisha Ann Woods has reiterated their broadscale support amidst criticism about certain actions during her more than two-year tenure. While the statement does not address specifically... View full entry
Less attention, though, has been paid to rental housing, particularly for low and moderate income people. Unlike market-rate apartment developers, those building multifamily projects financed by subsidies and tax credits do not have the ability to simply pass on those higher insurance costs to tenants, since they are limited by government guidelines as to how much rent they can collect. — The New York Times
The Times points out, many “low-income areas tend to be more prone to flooding and other catastrophic damage” – meaning that resilient design strategies often have to be added to the list of considerations for architects and their clients (as the ASLA’s most recent industry survey proves)... View full entry
How might this destruction be stopped? International law remains one of the only paths to seek accountability. And it is not only lawyers who make its systems function. Through their stewardship of the built environment (including long-standing engagement with the right to housing and the politics of climate change), architects, planners, and preservationists can shed light on the techniques, procedures, and consequences of modern urban warfare. They also have the potential to change them. — The Architectural League of New York
Berlin-based Palestinian urbanist and scholar Natasha Aruri, formerly of the TU Berlin, breaks down the concept of ‘domicide’ with MIT's Balakrishnan Rajagopal and SITU founding partner Brad Samuels. The term can be traced to the 2001 title Domicide: The Global Destruction of Home, but has... View full entry
Saudi authorities have permitted the use of lethal force to clear land for a futuristic desert city being built by dozens of Western companies, an ex-intelligence officer has told the BBC.
He said the April 2020 order stated the Huwaitat was made up of "many rebels" and "whoever continues to resist [eviction] should be killed, so it licensed the use of lethal force against whoever stayed in their home".
— BBC
The village of al-Khuraybah, home to members of the displaced Huwaitat tribe, was the target of Saudi security forces during the deadly raid that left one member dead. The report states, however, “The BBC was not able to independently verify Col. Alenezi's comments about lethal force.” The... View full entry
Allegations of executive misconduct on the part of American Institute of Architects (AIA) CEO Lakisha Ann Woods and senior staffers who allegedly engaged in nepotism and other forms of unethical behavior have surfaced amidst the annual AIA24 conference that was held last week in Washington, D.C... View full entry
Things are looking up (way up) this week for what may become North America’s new tallest building: Southern California-based firm AO announced in a social media post today that the Oklahoma City Council had approved the development team's request for unlimited building height for the proposed... View full entry
