Santiago Calatrava said the roof would open.
And evidently it will.
On Friday morning, a 5,700-pound glass panel was hoisted into place as a 355-foot-long operable skylight took final form in the Oculus pavilion of the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, designed by Mr. Calatrava. Another panel went up in the afternoon.
Those are among the last of 996 pieces of blast-resistant glass to have been installed at the Oculus since March 15. The glazing should be finished on Monday [...].
— nytimes.com
Here are some more photos of the skylight's construction progress in the past few weeks (courtesy of WTC Progress).More about the WTC Transportation Hub in the Archinect news:NYMag talks to Santiago Calatrava about his WTC Station, budget, reputationHow Cost of Train Station at World Trade Center... View full entry
Swedish furniture designer and architect, Bruno Mathsson, built two summer houses between 1960 and 1965, that have slowly decayed into disrepair. Mikael Olsson has photographed both houses over the past decade [for his] book, Sodrakull Frosakull. — lushpad.com
Bruno Mathsson's furniture designs are perhaps most recognizable by their mixture of curved wood and woven textile, and his architecture led Sweden's modernism movement. Two of his major works are his own homes, Frösakull and Södrakull, for which Olsson's book is named.Take a peek inside the... View full entry
These projects could be life changing for the vulnerable people they support. Yet in celebrating pop-ups as the solution to urban problems, are we simply distracting from the lack of structural public provision in these areas – and worse still, normalising, even glorifying, its absence through passionate avowals of temporariness? — The Guardian
These projects could be life changing for the vulnerable people they support. Yet in celebrating pop-ups as the solution to urban problems, are we simply distracting from the lack of structural public provision in these areas – and worse still, normalising, even glorifying, its absence through... View full entry
Listen, I advocate for an utter dissolution of the term architect. I think an architect’s skills are completely wasted on making buildings. But I don’t see it as weakening the profession, I see it as strengthening. It means that the profession can find traction in other fields: the architect as strategist, as politician, as planner; the architect as curator or editor or writer, as activist or storyteller. Finding ways to operate in other disciplines just gives us much more agency. — Tank Magazine
This is the direction we're headed and I agree with it. If you want to design and erect buildings, be a Registered Architect. If you get the education of an architect and want to improve the world in all kinds of other non-materiallly-based ways, you're an architect.h/t to Javo Cado. View full entry
News Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced that Zaha Hadid Architect's design for the Tokyo Olympic Stadium would be scratched in favor of a complete redesign. Prior to the cancellation Tadao Ando (chairman of the design committee) stated "We shouldn’t drop Ms. Hadid’s design... View full entry
Article 25’s office manager and book keeper Scott William Golding has been charged with fraud and false accounting after £200,000 went missing from the charity’s accounts — architectsjournal.co.uk
Article 25, a UK charity that helps provide shelters in disadvantaged communities worldwide, had its future thrown into question in June, when £200,000 of its funds (equivalent to approximately $312,060) were found to be missing. This past Tuesday, Article 25’s book keeper and office manager... View full entry
Balconies in Berkeley must now pass a safety inspection every three years, and new ones must be built of rot-proof wood or steel, under measures passed Tuesday as the campus community addresses the deaths last month of six young people and grave injury of seven more. [...]
With pressure from one council member and the lawyer for one of those killed in the June 16 tragedy, the City Council agreed to shorten the time between mandatory inspections [from five] to three years.
— latimes.com
The deadly balcony collapse that took place almost exactly a month ago today prompted an investigation into Berkeley's building codes and safety inspections, culminating in this new inspection practice. Primary in the discussion of safe and best building practices here on Archinect was the use of... View full entry
Start sharpening those pencils – the US Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale is now open for submissions. The Pavilion's theme of "The Architectural Imagination", curated by Monica Ponce de Leon and Cynthia Davidson, is looking for projects sited particularly in Detroit, while still having... View full entry
After multiple reassurances that Zaha Hadid Architect's design for the Tokyo Olympic Stadium would continue, despite skyrocketing costs since its 2012 announcement and constantly decreasing public favor, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced today that the stadium would be scratched in... View full entry
The spaciocide against homeless occupation is a landscape designed to strip bare the homeless right where they stand. It amounts to a complete negation of homeless rights, infrastructure, and ability to acquire jobs and services that exist outside of designated shelters and providers where the homeless can be tracked. — Design Observer
Bryan Finoki describes the nature of spaciocide against homeless occupation. View full entry
This week on the podcast: Gehry's design for the Eisenhower memorial is finally approved, Zaha Hadid's Olympic Stadium in Tokyo gets cut-and-pasted into some very Japanese situations, and Peter Zellner, Principal and Design Lead of AECOM's Los Angeles architecture division, and founder of... View full entry
World-famous architect Tadao Ando was astonished to learn that the design he chose for the new National Stadium would cost ¥252 billion to build, he said at a press conference Thursday, where he spoke for the first time since the swelling cost became an issue. — The Japan News
According to Reuters, the massive ballooning in the construction costs of Zaha Hadid's relatively unpopular proposed design for Japan's National Stadium are not the fault of the chairman of the design committee, Tadao Ando: "Soaring construction and labor costs, along with a rise in Japan's... View full entry
The 300-square foot office, located in Chongqing city, consists of 40 layers of bottles that Li and his father laid out over four months. — Oddity Central
Although full-scale installations in architecture are gaining ground as a method of successfully exploring and testing out spatial, material, and interstitial concepts (see the recent "Bigger Than a Breadbox" competition) Inner Mongolia University of Science and Technology graduate Li Rongjun's... View full entry
an administrative judge recommended that the ride-sharing giant be fined $7.3 million and be suspended from operating in California. [...]
Uber has not complied with state laws designed to ensure that drivers are doling out rides fairly to all passengers, regardless of where they live or who they are.
— latimes.com
According to the Los Angeles Times, the crux of this decision comes not from questions of the ride-sharing app's legality in general, but its ethical practices in actual transit. In 2013, "ride-hailing firms" were made legal in California, with the requirement that companies like Uber provide... View full entry
License plates: the last bastion of self-expression. No longer simply for l33t puns or your stance on abortion, the whole streetscape can now know if you're an architect (at least in New York).The New York State Department of Motor Vehicles lumps Registered Architects in the illustrious... View full entry
