Cities are being overwhelmed by a top-down, algorithmically-enabled attempt to make them legible, quantifiable and replicable. Can a project of nonsense-making disrupt the seemingly inexorable march of "progress"? — Failed Architecture
Anti-digital mapping and other seriously stylish interventions have taken cues from protest groups like the Umbrella Movement. Many now see them as key areas in which architects can play a role alongside other designers and urbanists to halt the encroachment of certain proptech... View full entry
Foster + Partners has been appointed as the Architectural Advisors for a new mixed-use master plan in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The firm was selected by Masterise Homes, the developer behind what will be The Global City. As stated in Foster + Partners’ announcement: “The Global City... View full entry
The open letter by architecture magazine Project Russia, which included over 6,500 signatures of Russian architects and urban planners opposing military strikes in Ukraine, has been removed and replaced. The original text from their open letter, which can be found in Archinect's... View full entry
Unesco said it is “gravely concerned” about damage caused by Russia’s invasion forces in the cities of Kharkiv and Chernihiv and called for the protection of Ukrainian cultural heritage, including the country’s seven World Heritage sites. — The Art Newspaper
Ukraine currently has seven landmarks on the UN cultural body’s list of World Heritage Sites (not including the Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial site that was bombed on March 1st, which they also condemned). Odessa and Kharkiv are also members of the organization’s Creative Cities Network... View full entry
Airbnb said this week it will offer free, short-term housing for up to 100,000 Ukrainian refugees fleeing the Russian invasion. The program will be backed by Airbnb.org, an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and funded by donors and hosts. — The Real Deal
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky announced the move on Twitter, calling for people to offer their homes in nearby countries, including Poland, Germany, Hungary, and Romania. This comes as an estimated 660,000 refugees have so far fled Ukraine, with the U.N. refugee agency predicting that this figure could... View full entry
UPDATE, March 4th, 2022: New media crackdown in Russia forces censorship of open letter signed by country's architects and urban planners A new missive in the architectural community’s fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been launched as this time, a group from inside the... View full entry
As the walls of the international community begin to cave in on Vladimir Putin and his acolytes in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, more prominent architecture and design firms have joined the effort to isolate Moscow from the rest of the world economically. The past 24 hours saw... View full entry
Russian forces have bombed Babyn Yar, a ravine in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv where thousands of Jews were executed by Nazis during the Second World War. At least five people were killed and another five were injured in the incident.
Located at the site is an artist-conceived memorial to the Holocaust massacre currently under construction. The status of the memorial is currently unclear.
— Artnet News
The attack was part of the Russian military’s attempt to disable a nearby central TV tower, killing five in the process. Jewish groups across the world decried the act, stating that it was “an attack on Jews around the world” and citing that such targeting of cultural property is illegal... View full entry
The latest economic report released by the American Institute of Architects signaled a continuation of expanding billings and a "slight improvement in business conditions," according to the organization. The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) score for January held steady at 51.0 compared to... View full entry
An important designation has been granted to several of the globe’s most important underrepresented cultural landmarks after the World Monuments Fund (WMF) today announced its biannual World Monuments Watch list. The list represents a group of endangered heritage sites in dire need of... View full entry
As Russian troops and tank convoys sweep into Ukraine from three sides, the future of its cultural contribution has also been cast in doubt after the announcement that the embattled country has, at least for now, placed a hold on all activities related to its pavilion from the 59th International... View full entry
To kick off 2022, Niall Patrick Walsh published A Guide to Employee-Owned Architecture Firms, based on conversations with "Those Who Have Made the Change". b3tadine[sutures] was struck "in light of SHoP and their union-busting efforts, this really puts esops in a poor light." Can you believe that... View full entry
As casualties mount in Vladimir Putin's war of aggression against neighboring Ukraine, the prominent Moscow-based Strelka Institute for Media Architecture and Design has issued a statement condemning the loss of life and announcing that it has suspended all academic activities until further... View full entry
Ice believed to have fallen more than 1,400 feet from a Midtown condo crushed the roof and smashed the windshield of Deneice O’Connor’s car as she drove up Sixth Ave., the shaken motorist said Saturday. “It just crashed down on me. I immediately thought a body had fallen on my car,” O’Connor, 35, told the Daily News. — Daily News
The ice is believed to have fallen from the SHoP Architects-designed 111 W. 57th Street supertall, one of the world's thinnest skyscrapers and tallest residential buildings in the Western Hemisphere. It is a prominent fixture along “Billionaires’ Row”. Police have also reported that... View full entry
The job ad, posted by design company Zulufish, sought Part 1 and 2 architecture graduates ‘or equivalent’ to work full-time for up to four months without salary.
The post was highlighted on social media by Future Architects Front (FAF), a campaign group seeking to end exploitation in architecture, which described it as showing ‘comical levels of exploitation’.
— AJ
The firm later withdrew the posting after a current of social media backlash brought on by the organization in spite of its having received a “sickening”-ly high level of responses from applicants. The advertisement called for a full-time schedule in a placement that provided only £75 per... View full entry
