ICYMI, Shane Reiner-Roth attended Summit LA18 and offered some thoughts on LivingHome YB1, an immaculately designed first full-scale prototype ADU, by Yves Béhar. Contrary to what some might think Erik Evens argued "this seems to be a pretty credible attempt at prefabricated housing...And... View full entry
What is the role of curation in today’s architecture & design disciplinary framework? The guest curator program aims to produce a conversation through making & curating that begins to analyze traditional modes and models of curating architecture & design. The Guest Curator Program... View full entry
“Andrea Palladio in Los Angeles” is the first of a ten monograph series that pairs seminal architects with contemporary cities. Examining Los Angeles through the work of Andrea Palladio, the publication captures the city through a collection of fictional Palladian projects and accompanying... View full entry
From the sinking city of Venice to the mass bleaching of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, climate change is drastically impacting some of the world's most treasured heritage sites. To date, over 1,000 bucket-list locations have earned a spot on UNESCO's World Heritage list on account of their "outstanding universal value" to humanity. But, if the world continues to warm, many of these landmarks may lose some of those "outstanding" values or even cease to exist at all. — CNN
As of 2019, one out of four UNESCO World Heritage Sites is under threat by climate change, each with few protections against their respective worst case scenarios. Increased humidity, rising sea levels and other climatological factors are newly placing increased pressure of century and... View full entry
The New York Times' latest Op-Doc—part of their series of short, interactive, and virtual reality documentaries—profiles Julio César Cú Cámara, whose job it is to dive into the sewers and water treatment plants of Mexico City. For the past 36 years, Cámara has been a sewage diver... View full entry
Governments can help nudge the industry to use more wood, particularly in the public sector—the construction industry’s biggest client. That would help wood-building specialists achieve greater scale and lower costs. Zero-carbon building regulations should be altered to take account of the emissions that are embodied in materials. This would favour wood as well as innovative ways of producing other materials. — The Economist
The Economist compares the environmental impact of the industrialized world's most common building materials, cement and steel, with that of carbon-trapping wood, and how an earnest effort to reach the emission goals outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement cannot ignore building with timber on a... View full entry
Due to an Amazon-fueled apartment construction boom over the last decade, Seattle has been an epicenter of [a] new school of structural simulacra. But Seattle is not alone. Nearly every city, from Charlotte to Minneapolis, has seen a proliferation of homogenous apartments as construction has increased again in the wake of the financial recession. — Curbed LA
Developer Modern, Plonkitecture, Contemporary Contempt, Blandmarks... These are just a few of the names offered for the ubiquitous apartment building design that has swept the nation in the last few decades. They differ marginally across the United States, for they all equally strive for the... View full entry
It’s not necessarily that conservatives rip out their lawns for economic reasons and liberals do so for environmental ones. Fresno is located in one of the most productive agricultural areas in the world, so living here brings a consciousness of water issues, as well as a pride in the region’s miles of fields. “My Job Depends on Ag” is a common bumper sticker about town. — City Lab
The EPA estimates that a third of the water used by American households goes to watering lawns and gardens, and Californians have long made up a significant portion of that statistic. State-wide aridity lends California a unique thirst for water, especially after several droughts within the last... View full entry
Some work continued on Thursday at a partly-built $13 billion Mexico City airport that the new president is scrapping, even after the government announced construction had been halted. [...]
The head of the government-run agency responsible for the project, Gerardo Ferrando, said the only construction still underway was to preserve what had already been built, such as drainage works, slabs of foundation and a partly-built tower.
— Reuters
NAICM aerial visualization. Rendering: Dbox.It's unclear what should happen now with the partly built new Mexico City International Airport which, some argue, was about one-third complete. "Construction work is officially suspended on that airport, and negotiations on the early termination of the... View full entry
Made official yesterday at the beginning of the new year, the US has now withdrawn from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Along with Israel, the two countries first announced that they would be leaving the organization in October of 2017, citing anti-Israel... View full entry
2019 promises to become another big year in the international museum world with plenty of high-profile cultural centers reaching completion and (re)opening their doors to the public. In its first post of the new year, The Spaces has rounded up eleven anticipated new museums and expansions... View full entry
Researchers found the sedimentary basin under [Seattle] can amplify the type of ground motion that’s hardest on high-rises by a factor of two to five — much more than previous estimates.
In response, Seattle and Bellevue are boosting seismic standards for new buildings 240 feet or taller [...] But the prospect of stronger shaking also raises concerns about older high-rises
— Seattle Times
Few are the architectural models that can be eaten with onion dip. But then again, few are the architects who create experimental models quite like Sou Fujimoto. [...]
Collectively, the experimental models — part of a series dubbed “Architecture is Everywhere” — represent a dextrous ability with materials.
— Los Angeles Times
Carolina Miranda reviews the ongoing Sou Fujimoto exhibition Futures of the Future at Japan House Los Angeles. Initially scheduled to close in mid-December, the popular show has been extended through Sunday, January 6. "Futures of the Future" exhibition, photo (c) JAPAN HOUSE Los AngelesCan't... View full entry
The 1960s, a time when possibilities and technologies in many areas — artistic, political, scientific — seemed broader than ever, remain a seductive decade. Fifty years on from the first moon landing we need to remember that the most striking image from space (and the one that had the most real impact) were not those of the dusty, dead surface of the moon but those of our own planet, glimpsed as something delicate, whole and beautiful. — Financial Times
The future used to look brighter. This may be the feeling gained when looking back at some of the most radical visions from familiar names in architecture. Archigram, Superstudio, Archizoom and Cedric Price each took their shot at a future based on post-war rhetoric, and we continue to marvel at... View full entry
December may be the end of 2018, but that did not slow down the news and updates from the architecture world. December brought some architectural street cred from Congress, some thoughts on death and updates on post-modernism's mid-life crisis. The US Capitol Building↑ Architecture will be... View full entry
