Earlier this year, a colorful, terraced design created by South Korean designers Soomeen Hahm, Jaeheon Jung and Yumi Lee was selected among four other finalists for the 2020 International Garden Festival prize. The group’s winning design, titled Augmented Grounds, according to an... View full entry
More than 106,000 clean energy jobs were eliminated in the month of March due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, according to an analysis of unemployment data by BW Research Partnership and E2. The layoffs reflect a 3% drop in overall industry employment. — Smart Cities Dive
According to Smart Cities Dive, the layoffs come as hundreds of clean energy-related manufacturing plants have closed, including those producing building materials and solar/wind power infrastructure. The largest drops have been seen Hawaii (6.4%), Pennsylvania (6.2%) and North Carolina... View full entry
The Winchester Mystery House in San Jose, California, is one of the nation’s most curious landmarks. Built by a millionaire widow over the course of 36 years, the sprawling mansion features more than 200 rooms, 10,000 windows, trap doors, spy holes and a host of other architectural oddities.
...the house...has closed to help curb the spread of coronavirus. But...you can now explore the Winchester House from afar via a detailed video tour posted on the mansion’s website.
— Smithsonian Magazine
According to Smithsonian Magazine, the narrated video tour is more than 40 minutes and provides insights into the property and Sarah Winchester, the "mysterious woman" who built it. The 24,000 square foot home was under continuous construction for 38 years and is said to have about 160 rooms... View full entry
Princeton University School of Architecture Professors Paul Lewis and Guy Nordenson have been awarded a research grant by the Princeton University Funding Program for Rapid Novel and Actionable COVID-19 Research Projects fund to help propel the duo's work on "Manual of Urban Distance... View full entry
During a webinar this week hosted by the International Code Council, building officials from around the country shared their experiences with remote inspections as the coronavirus outbreak forces them to keep doing their jobs while still abiding by social distancing requirements. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, building inspectors from Ohio, Nevada and Florida found common benefits to performing inspections using inexpensive tools like Facetime, Skype, Google Duo and Microsoft Teams. The general consensus, reports Construction Dive, was that as long as the... View full entry
Steven Holl Architects has unveiled a new video highlighting the firm’s designs for a new wing that has been added to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The REACH at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts from Steven Holl Architects on Vimeo... View full entry
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has agreed to launch a new small business financial support program to help L.A.’s most vulnerable businesses survive the COVID-19 crisis. The fund will include “bridge funding for small businesses likely to receive federal disaster... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced that its AIA Conference on Architecture 2020 has been cancelled for the foreseeable future. As part of the cancellation, AIA will be refunding conference registration fees for those who had previously purchased tickets to the three-day... View full entry
A new economic report from the United States Commerce Department indicates that housing construction has been massively impacted by the COVID-19-related economic crisis that is currently gripping the country. According to the department, the number of construction groundbreakings that... View full entry
Computer vision paired with artificial intelligence is already in use on construction sites, analyzing photos and video of a site to spot safety hazards and identify possible construction errors. But an idea pitched from a construction contractor has spurred A.I. vendor Smartvid.io to add social distancing monitoring to its feature set. — Engineering News-Record
According to ENR, Smartvid.io, a company whose AI is already able to spot workers and PPE use from video and still images, received a client request to also monitor social distancing on construction jobsites in light of the COVID-19 crisis. Since the technology could already track people on... View full entry
Although the federal government has embraced a significant economic and fiscal response to the economic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, the roll-out of the small business relief support programs created to help keep... View full entry
This is the first installment of a narrative survey of educators around the globe on the challenges of the massive move to online teaching. Some challenges are practical and logistical; others are more conceptual, political, and even philosophical, involving the importance of campus community, the role of schools in providing for the wellbeing of students, and passionate convictions about the nature of learning and the transmission of knowledge. — Places Journal
Places Journal, which recently took a hiatus from its regular publishing schedule in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, has gathered perspectives from leading architectural educators offering their takes on what some of the challenges and concerns are for the period moving forward as design... View full entry
Despite the state-wide shutdown of all non-essential construction projects, work on the 77-story One Vanderbilt tower in New York City designed by Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF) is marching forward. New York YIMBY reports that construction crews are currently hard at work installing the finishing... View full entry
As hundreds of universities across the US are forced to shift classes online and as arts studio programmes and workshops are compromised due to the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, students are mobilising to demand the full or partial reimbursement of their tuition. Few efforts, however, have yielded positive results, to the financial devastation of many students. — The Art Newspaper
According to The Art Newspaper, a letter containing the signatures of more than 80% percent of Boston University MFA students was "rebuked by school representatives last month." The school says that it believes its Zoom meetings are commensurate with a "studio education." Additionally... View full entry
A 43-story tower designed by Australian firm Koichi Takada Architects proposed for a site in Downtown Los Angeles has gotten a new look and an updated set of uses. Initiated by Australian developers Crown Group, the glass-wrapped tower features a domed top with a crown decorated in... View full entry
