The tragedy of Flint, Michigan's water crisis seems to worsen with every newly uncovered detail. As a manmade public health crisis provoked by willful denial and compromised safety standards, the entirely preventable poisoning of Flint's water supply with lead stands not only as a failure to care... View full entry
'Why can’t communities simply be communities and develop in the organic way that we allow other communities to develop?'...'They are inspirational in that people have developed them themselves, without government and real estate types pushing them around. Without a doubt, they still have problems. But they are stabilising themselves and, over time, knitting themselves into the fabric of their cities. This is a true marvel of global urbanism.' — The Guardian
More in relation to slums:World's first Slum Museum is coming to MumbaiHousing mobility vs. America's growing slum problemHanoi: is it possible to grow a city without slums?In Lagos the poorest are paying the price of progress View full entry
Escalating their battle to stamp out an unprecedented spread of street encampments, city officials have begun seizing tiny houses from homeless people living on freeway overpasses in South Los Angeles.
Three of the gaily painted wooden houses, which come with solar-powered lights and American flags, were confiscated earlier this month and seven more are planned for impound Thursday, a Bureau of Sanitation spokeswoman said.
— The Los Angeles Times
Does providing homes for the homeless solve the problem? Studies would indicate that it does, based on our coverage of the development of programs across the globe to help provide permanent, individualized shelter for the homeless, including those in Utah, Seattle, and London.Here's a... View full entry
Imagine the conditions of Los Angeles—its housing types, its parking, its response to drought—as a series of mini-golf course obstacles. Or, just go to Materials & Applications this June, when the Silverlake-based exhibition space will launch "TURF: A Mini-Golf Project," featuring the... View full entry
“The combination of the course offerings on a regular basis in subject-area courses, housing studios, design-build, as well as programs for both students and the primary faculty involved—that we feel is unique,” says UO architecture professor Michael Fifield. — Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, American Institute of Architecture
The University of Oregon Department of Architecture was recognized in January as among the finest in the country for its housing design education.UO architecture faculty members Michael Fifield, Peter Keyes, and Rob Thallon, who spearhead the UO Housing Specialization Program, received the... View full entry
Metro is negotiating an agreement with Lyft aimed at learning more about ride-share trips that begin and end at key Metro stations [...]
The relationship would last at least a year and would give Metro a rare peek at data typically kept private. The deal, one of the first of its kind in the United States, would shed light on the role that ride-sharing plays in ... the so-called "first mile, last mile" gap [...]
In exchange for Lyft's data, Metro would advertise the service to its riders
— latimes.com
Lyft's recent advertising has also been flaunting its connection with public transit – ads all over the US depict the local city's rail map with branching pink veins, suggesting how Lyft can extend existing public transit infrastructure (even though you're still definitely in a stranger's... View full entry
The streets of London are slowly being infilled by brick-faced buildings characterised by flat, austere façades and a certain self-effacement that seems to bow to its predecessors, even though its scale is often a huge step up. London might be acquiring a new vernacular. [...]
[Brick] is back in a big way. Manufacturers are running out of stock and there is a critical shortage of skilled bricklayers, leading to construction delays.
— ft.com
More on the elusive London style:Working Warrior: an interview with Katy Marks of Citizens Design BureauHonoring the "Maverick" British architectsInfrastructure or advertisement? Sky to sponsor the Garden BridgeThe (state-facilitated) death of the council houseAmid London's austerity measures... View full entry
As Deputy Director for Urban Design and Mobility in Glendale, CA, a teacher of urban design at Woodbury University, and one of the Mayor's appointees on the City of Pasadena's Design Commission, Alan Loomis has thoroughly installed himself in the shifting scene of southern Californian urbanism... View full entry
Mortenson Construction Vice President John Wood said stadium designers and builders will cover the cost, so it won’t be added to the overall budget or cost taxpayers or the team any money. [...]
the Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority tentatively agreed to pay Mortenson $16 million for cost overruns even though the final figures are still being tallied. The authority is overseeing construction of the $1.1 billion stadium and approved the payment to resolve a mediation claim by Mortensen.
— washingtontimes.com
Related on Archinect:How Cost of Train Station at World Trade Center Swelled to $4 BillionBudget Busters: ranking the world's most overbudget monumentsHKS is chosen to design new Vikings stadiumStadium Sticker Shock: Costs Explode for Russia's 2018 World CupPATH/Fail: The Story of the World’s... View full entry
The book is devoted to a specific case study of binationalism and its relationship to urbanity: a Turkish community in Germany. However, Bernd’s insights are quite universal. Since the methodology is clearly structured and easily replicable, it can be applied to most countries and to different... View full entry
'Preservation is good, but it doesn’t allow any opposing force,' says Bench. 'If you save a few beautiful buildings, it’s not as if the stuff that really should go then gets demolished. Instead, we end up putting the pressure on the buildings that are quite good, but not quite good enough to be deemed historical.' — The Guardian
Architects David Bench and Jonathan Chesley share the thought process behind their "Taking Buildings Down" competition proposal, which was one of the winning entries in the Storefront for Art and Architecture's Competition of Competitions in 2014."[R]ather than ask for new architectural... View full entry
Deborah Berke’s appointment last year as the first female dean of the Yale School of Architecture might have brought her into the limelight, but the architect and interior designer had already been getting attention for her work on 21c Museum Hotels, a small chain of boutique properties doubling as art galleries. [...]
In old buildings, you’re taking what you find and complementing that with the architecture and design of today.
— nytimes.com
More Deborah Berke stories in the Archinect news:Deborah Berke named Dean of Yale School of Architecture, will succeed Robert A.M. Stern in 2016Deborah Berke's design for new Cummins distribution HQ is unveiledIt's Deborah Berke for downtown Naptown!New York Architect Deborah Berke Selected for... View full entry
The [Planning] department completed a draft report last month on how to expand the existing landmark designation to include aspects of the interior that date back to Wright’s 1948 design. [...]
“If anything, the inside is more important than the exterior,” said Turner, a professor emeritus of art at Stanford University. “It’s one of Wright’s most exquisite designs, and it’s almost exactly the way it was originally.”
— sfchronicle.com
More news on architecture's caped crusader, Frank Lloyd Wright:Watch (an animated) Frank Lloyd Wright talk about arrogance in this new shortSociety of Architectural Historians Announces Major Grant for Charnley-Persky House Conservation Management PlanFrank Lloyd Wright's Sturges House is for... View full entry
Ambition or talent: which matters more to success?
I think it’s probably ambition, because if you have talent without ambition, the talent goes to waste. But if you have talent and want to do something with it, you follow your intuition.
— Financial Times
We swear, no BIG or Trump on this episode. We discuss the donation of Lautner's breathtaking Sheats-Goldstein house, complete with jungle, nightclub and infinity tennis court, to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, to become the museum's first acquired piece of architecture (along with a sizable... View full entry