Although the cranes swing, much of the new living zones now being created range from the ho-hum to the outright catastrophic. The skyline is being plundered for profit, but without creating towers to be proud of or making new neighbourhoods with any positive qualities whatsoever. If London is an enormous party, millions of people are on the wrong side of its velvet rope. — theguardian.com
Rowan Moore sets a signpost in London's rampant development, checking in on the industries and businesses struggling in the midst of city-wide growth. Moore points out that while things like a bevy of cranes and a thriving multicultural food scene may look like more feathers in London's urban hat... View full entry
Uber France CEO Thibaud Simphal and Uber Europe GM Pierre-Dimitri Gore-Coty were both taken into custody today in Paris [...]
The two executives were charged with two different allegations. First, according to them, Uber is running illegal taxi operations. Uber has been struggling with this charge in many countries, starting with the U.S. Second, the police said that Uber France is concealing digital documents...
— Tech Crunch
After protests last week turned violent, French authorities have detained two executives of the ride-sharing company Uber, although officials stated that they were brought into custody on charges unrelated to the protests. Uber is facing ferocious criticism in France, with taxi-drivers complaining... View full entry
This is where we encounter this strange animal, this monster, “ecomodernism”, that I am not sure we should learn to love, and that triggers in me, I have to confess, a deep antipathy. It sounds much like the news that an electronic cigarette is going to save a chain smoker from addiction. — ENTITLE Blog
Ecomodernism? Sounds good but majorly flawed according to Bruno Latour, who takes on its modernity, PR and philosophical tardiness."Wake up you ecomoderns, we are in the Anthropocene, not in the Holocene, nor are we to ever reside in the enchanted dream of futurism. Down to earth is the message... View full entry
Seen exclusively by the Guardian, the document sheds new light on why so little affordable housing is being built across England; why planning policy consistently fails to be enforced; and why property developers are now enjoying profits that exceed even those of the pre-crash housing bubble. — theguardian.com
And the affordable housing crisis is certainly not restricted to the greater London area as many recent headlines on Archinect show:No room for affordable housing in SF? Build it in Oakland"We've got enough millionaires": George Lucas wants to build affordable housing on his own landDevelopers in... View full entry
"What happens if someone gets a monthly amount without rules and controls? — independent.co.uk
Imagine if everyone was given a living wage, without any regulatory or qualifying hoops to jump through? The Dutch city of Utrecht, in a partnership with University College Utrecht, is running such a dramatic social experiment, starting at the end of the summer, offering an "unconditional form of... View full entry
These are strange days in San Francisco, where the clamor to build needed housing — especially at affordable levels — is matched only by the self-righteous vigor with which actual proposals for that housing tend to be opposed...But if we want a well-planned city with distinctive new buildings for all its citizens, projects like this show that good design and good policy can go hand in hand. — San Francisco Chronicle
Developer Tishman Speyer's nearly one-year-old proposal for a 400-foot-tall residential tower, which Jeanne Gang designed, at 160 Folsom St. is suddenly facing opposition from local groups. With former mayor Art Agnos at the forefront of the opposition, the groups argue that the building promotes... View full entry
This year’s list of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places is our most diverse list ever. Several of the places on the 2015 list focus on chapters in our history that have sometimes been overlooked, reinforcing the message that preserving the full American experience means everyone has a seat at the table and that all voices are heard. — preservationnation.org
The 2015 List of America's Most Endangered Historic Places, compiled by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, comprises: A.G. Gaston Motel, AlabamaCarrollton Courthouse, LouisianaChautauqua Amphitheater, New YorkEast Point Historic Civic Block, GeorgiaFort Worth Stockyards, TexasGrand... View full entry
Lots of summer blockbuster news to discuss on this week's podcast. The winner of the Helsinki Guggenheim competition was announced (a young husband-wife firm from Paris took the cake), SelgasCano's "psychedelic chrysalis" Serpentine Pavilion opened, and Andres Jaque's COSMO for MoMA PS1's "Warm... View full entry
In this first year of Build Your Own Pavilion, young people aged 8 to 14 are invited to submit their Pavilion designs online and at workshops across the UK during the summer of 2015. The platform and workshops give an insight to the basic principles of architectural design and workshop students will be given the Pavilion brief and a toolkit that begins with sketching by hand, working with simple modeling materials and progressing to 3D design and print technologies. — serpentinegalleries.org
Earlier this week, London's Serpentine Galleries launched the much anticipated 2015 summer pavilion — a vibrant and playful space slug designed by SelgasCano.To celebrate fifteen years of pavilions (and continuing the theme of "playfulness"), the Galleries also launched Build Your Own Pavilion... View full entry
I must ask myself if we want to design buildings for people to fit some preconceived idea of a glass world. Is this really the future of cities?" – Minoru Yamasaki — businessinsider.com
While the critical response to the new 1WTC has been, at best, one of resigned acceptance, the original Twin Towers didn't receive much fanfare either when they first opened in 1973. Ada Louise Huxtable, then architecture critic for The New York Times, wasn't much of a fan of Minoru Yamasaki's... View full entry
In a report released a week after the incident, officials with Berkeley’s Building and Safety Division confirmed suspicions that dry rot had deteriorated the wood beams supporting the balcony. They also said they found no construction code violations. — latimes.com
It's been a week since the tragic balcony collapse occurred, and while the victims' families try to cope with the grief, experts have been searching frantically for the cause of the accident. Was the fault in the structural design? Is the contractor to blame for poor execution? Speculations... View full entry
High-rise buildings and apartments are crowding small alleyways and residential areas, investors ignoring the huge pressure they are putting on already weak infrastructure. [...]
Hai, a resident of Thanh Xuan District, said locals are most worried about the danger of fire [...]
High-rise developments also put a huge strain on local power and water supplies, struggling sewage systems and storm-water drainage, creating more hazards for neighbouring residents.
— vietnamnet.vn
"Modern architecture is a defining artistic form of the 20th century at considerable risk, often due to the cutting-edge building materials that characterized the movement." -Deborah Marrow
In news that will surely make Prince Charles sigh with displeasure, the Getty Foundation announced it is awarding $1.75 million of grants to help preserve 14 structures in the modern style, including Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple, Walter Gropius’ residence ‘The Gropius House,’ and... View full entry
Members of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) have destroyed two historic mausoleums in the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria's top antiquities official said Wednesday, raising fears that the armed group could next target the town's famed Roman ruins.
Maamoun Abdulkarim, the head of the government's Antiquities and Museums Department, told [AP] that ISIL destroyed the grave of Mohammad Bin Ali, a descendant of Imam Ali, cousin of Islam's Prophet Muhammad...
— Al Jazeera
Previously on Archinect:ISIS allegedly not interested in bulldozing Palmyra architecture but intends to "pulverize" statuesISIS militants seize control of ancient Syrian city of PalmyraAncient Syrian city of Palmyra under threat by ISISISIS continues destruction of ancient artefacts, burns Mosul... View full entry
A Dutch court has ordered the government to cut the country's greenhouse gas emissions by at least 25 percent by 2020 in a groundbreaking climate case that activists hope will set a worldwide precedent.
A judge in The Hague said the state must “ensure that the Dutch emissions in the year 2020 will be at least 25 percent lower than those in 1990.”
— Al Jazeera
