There is no housing shortage. There are over 400,000 empty homes in the UK, and about 200,000 homeless people. The vast majority of empty homes are in parts of the country which have become depopulated because of economic decline – in the Midlands, the north, and coastal cities. So the solution to the housing crisis isn’t building tons of homes. It’s about reviving the economy in those places, launching a massive retrofit campaign, and bringing people back.” — The Guardian
“We could end the housing crisis overnight, if we wanted to,” Barber told Oliver Wainwright in a recent interview, referring to the private grab on council housing that has developed unabated since the Thatcher administration's Right-to-Buy laws came into effect in 1980. “We should... View full entry
The UK’s Architects Registration Board (ARB) has found a British architect guilty of unacceptable professional conduct after the architect made “a series of offensive and antisemitic comments and gestures.” The architect, Justin Rooney, was also found guilty of making “a series of... View full entry
A new $1 million grant from the J. Paul Getty Trust is being advanced to the International alliance for the protection of heritage in conflict areas (ALIPH) to ensure the protection of vulnerable cultural sites across Ukraine that have come under fire since the Russian Federation’s illegal... View full entry
The close of the 300-day-long inquiry into the devastating 2017 Grenfell Tower fire in London saw attorneys for the victims pinning the “primary responsibility” on the building's designer, Studio E Architects, adding that a “rogue's gallery” comprised of Arconic Architectural Products and... View full entry
The latest analysis from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) on the cost of direct damage to Ukraine's buildings and infrastructure since the beginning of the Russian military invasion of the country puts the estimate at $127 billion. The report shows the largest share (39.7%) of the surveyable... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) together along with the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) has published a new supplement to its Guides for Equitable Practice in order to reflect a renewed focus of university education and institutions. The supplement, titled... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has just announced its 2022 AIA Film Challenge winners. Grand Prize, Runner Up, and Third Place winners were selected from a field of 32 qualified entries for the competition, which awards short 1:30 to 3-minute documentary films that “demonstrate... View full entry
Another gap in the leadership of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has been filled following the announcement of Robbie Turner as the organization’s new director for diversity and inclusion. Thompson comes to the position after working for more than 30 years in various roles in... View full entry
The New York City Council passed the Rat Action Plan Thursday, a package of four bills that set new pest management standards. Among other measures, it will require applicants for certain construction work permits in the city to certify that a licensed exterminator was retained to effectively treat the premises for rodent extermination. — Construction Dive
The city is currently enduring a spike in its world-renowned rodent population, as rat sightings in all five boroughs have gone up by a total of 71% when compared to last year. Outdoor dining sheds are at least partially to blame, but the city’s public sanitation standards and its now... View full entry
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has released images of its just-completed first phase of the Tosin Oshinowo-designed Ngarannam village reconstruction project in Northeast Nigeria. The project to resettle villagers displaced by Boko Haram was begun last year as part of the UNDP’s... View full entry
A void had been filled at the top of one of Britain’s oldest professional organizations after the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) announced the appointment of Valerie Vaughan-Dick as its new Chief Executive. The current head of the Royal College of General Practitioners comes... View full entry
Washington, D.C.’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden has announced that a joint team of SOM and Selldorf Architects will lead a major modernization of its now 48-year-old Gordon Bunshaft-designed facility in the last of a three-phase campus revitalization that will begin in 2025, according... View full entry
It’s the first time in the 20 years the AIA has collected this data that renovations have breached 50%. In 2005, toward the end of a pre-recession building boom, renovations made up approximately one-third of billings. That share has been increasing steadily since 2017, when it was 44.4%, up to 52% this year. Kermit Baker, the AIA’s chief economist, says that the last time the market for design services was so heavily weighted toward renovations was likely during the Great Depression. — Bloomberg
According to Baker, about 25% of renovation projects constitute interior remodels, while adaptive reuse schemes make up another quarter of those registered with the AIA. Just 3.8% are done in the interest of improved building energy performance, with a scant 1.6% being resiliency projects. The... View full entry
Forensic Architecture founder Eyal Weizman has used a speech at the Culture Summit Abu Dhabi to set out the group’s position on the relationship between architecture and human rights. Weizman, who is also a professor at Goldsmiths, University of London, offered the summit a series of examples of... View full entry
The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is now soliciting support for a new congressional effort aimed at bolstering heat mitigation strategies in vulnerable communities across the country. The bill, formally titled H.R. 7534, was introduced by Democratic Arizona Congressman Ruben... View full entry
