For his first feature, Antonio Pacheco (Archinect’s new Managing Editor) takes readers Inside the Plan to Save LA’s Southwest Museum, since a 2003 merger, known as the Autry Museum of the American West. Plus, Katherine Guimapang chatted with Jennifer Bonner about the power of alternative... View full entry
Emily Helen Butterfield, born August 4, 1884, was the first licensed woman architect in Michigan. Butterfield grew up in Detroit with a love of watercolor painting, and eventually studied architecture at Syracuse University, where she was a founding member of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority... View full entry
A year ago, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals told Boise that it’s unconstitutional to stop the homeless from sleeping in public spaces if there’s not enough shelter available for them. Now Boise wants the U.S. Supreme Court to have a look at that decision. — The Los Angeles Times
A recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece takes a look at the ongoing legal battle regarding whether criminalizing homelessness constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" under the United States Constitution. Two constitutional lawyers, Theane Evangelis and Theodore B. Olson, discuss the... View full entry
In particular, the new numbers confirm that there is a major slowdown underway in the creation of jobs making things: manufacturing, mining and construction.
Those “goods-producing” sectors, as Labor Department classifications call them, added an average of 58,000 jobs a month in 2018. That is now down to 23,000 a month thus far in 2019 — and a mere 15,000 in July.
— The New York Times
The New York Times reports that as most economic figures remain steady, a look at some of the "fine print" of recent economic data might be cause for concern, particularly within the manufacturing and construction sectors, which are seeing lagging job growth. According to The New York... View full entry
Central Park Tower, aka 217 West 57th Street, has surpassed the 1,450-foot-tall Willis Tower (née Sears Tower) to claim the title of highest roof in the Western Hemisphere. The Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill-designed supertall is being developed by Extell and will soon top-out at 1,550 feet tall over Billionaires’ Row. — New York YIMBY
Once the world's tallest building from 1974 to 1996, the 1,450-foot-tall Willis Tower in Chicago is, little by little, kicked out from top placements in various height-record categories by the new kids on blocks all over the world. After losing the overall height crown to the twin Petronas Towers... View full entry
In his book Four Walls and a Roof – The Complex Nature of a Simple Profession, Reinier de Graaf paints an honest picture of what it is like to work as an architect today. De Graaf, who is a partner at OMA and director of AMO, the office’s think tank, provides engaging stories about the banal, everyday reality of working for an acclaimed firm. — Failed Architecture
When pursuing a life of architecture, it's hard not to become jaded by the peculiarities of the profession. A career path not for the faint of heart: architects often dream of using their skills to "change the world." However, as mystical and alluring the profession may appear to be, architects... View full entry
According to The Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump is moving to escalate America's trade war with China by imposing new tariffs on all Chinese-made products imported into the country. Currently, the administration's tariff-loving trade policy has been limited mostly to... View full entry
Fifty years since the first footsteps on the Moon, the exploration of the cosmos remains irresistible, and the ambition to establish commercial space travel and planetary settlements continues to capture the imagination. Far Out: Suits, Habs, and Labs for Outer Space celebrates the visionary ideas and ingenious solutions from architects, artists, and designers who dared to imagine life far out among the stars. — San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Entitled Far Out: Suits, Habs, and Labs for Outer Space, SFMOMA's exhibition celebrating the "booming space industry," will be open from July 20, 2019 to January 20, 2020. "Extraterrestrial conditions amplify the challenge to design for space travel, and new research and technologies are... View full entry
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is close to finalizing a major reform of its extensive senior housing portfolio, allowing nonprofit owners of 125,000 apartments to tap private sources of financing for the first time.
HUD built nearly 2,900 of these properties over the past three decades. Though owned by nonprofits, the federal government funded their construction and subsidized tenant rents.
— Wall Street Journal
The nation's recent crop of senior housing projects could see much-needed improvements come to reality as the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) loosens rules dictating where nonprofit building owners can draw funds from to make building repairs. Tom Davis... View full entry
Working with an international team of researchers and artists, Tomšič and Bricelj Baraga study, map and archive fading sites and Brutalist-style structures. They’re building a database of about 120 case studies across Europe and in former Soviet states and will be releasing a book this year. — The Guardian
"Using a surveying and data-collection process known as photogrammetry and a series of high-powered computer workstations, a team led by Georgios Artopoulos will create a digital model of the monument for use with virtual reality headsets or smartphones," writes the Guardian's Nate Berg about the... View full entry
After breaking ground last November, the steel frame of the $75-million Audrey Irmas Pavilion has quickly taken shape in Koreatown.
Located at the corner of Wilshire and Harvard Boulevard, the expansion to the Wilshire Boulevard Temple will house cultural, religious and community events. The three-story, 55,000-square-foot structure will consist of a chapel and terrace, a grand ballroom, a catering kitchen, meeting rooms, performance spaces and a rooftop sky garden.
— Urbanize Los Angeles
The OMA/Shohei Shigematsu-designed Wilshire Boulevard Temple expansion in Los Angeles recently celebrated the topping out of its steel structure. Conceptual model. Image courtesy of OMA New York On its website, OMA explains that the "structural frame, weighing about 700 tons, is composed of steel... View full entry
Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, co-founder of the radical Italian architecture group Superstudio, has passed away at age 78. Di Francia, born in 1941, started Superstudio in 1966 with Adolfo Natalini; Eventually, the group grew to include Piero Frassinelli, and Alessandro and Roberto... View full entry
Japan, through both government mandates and its engineering culture, builds stronger structures capable of withstanding earthquakes and being used immediately afterward. The United States sets a minimum and less protective standard with the understanding that many buildings will be badly damaged.
The two approaches reflect different attitudes toward risk, the role of government and collective social responsibility.
— The New York Times
The NYT takes a look at the drastically differing approaches (and ideologies behind them) towards earthquake safety in Japan compared with the United States and asks experts what would be at stake in the greater, urban picture in the anticipated event of a very big earthquake. "The debate over... View full entry
“If you’re building a greenhouse in a climate emergency, it’s a pretty odd thing to do to say the least,” said Simon Sturgis, an adviser to the government and the Greater London Authority, as well as chairman of the Royal Institute of British Architects sustainability group. “If you’re using standard glass facades you need a lot of energy to cool them down, and using a lot of energy equates to a lot of carbon emissions.” — The Guardian
As the global community continues to mobilize against the rising threat of climate collapse, cities and other entities are moving toward banning or limiting the future development of all-glass skyscrapers due to the buildings' high energy demands, according to a report in The... View full entry
The legislation, dubbed the “No Biometric Barriers to Housing Act,” was introduced by Congresswoman Yvette Clark whose district borders the Atlantic Plaza Towers in Brownsville where tenants made headlines this spring with their fight to keep a facial recognition system out of their apartment complex. — Curbed New York
Back in May, residents of the Atlantic Plaza Towers in Brooklyn opposed the installation of facial recognition technology proposed by their landlord. Now a bill has been introduced that would prohibit "facial, voice, fingerprint, and DNA identification technologies" within federally funded public... View full entry