From headwaters near Salem, Missouri, the Meramec River snakes 218 free-flowing miles, through 14 counties and scores of towns, skirting St. Louis before emptying into the mighty Mississippi. Derek Hoeferlin grew up outside St. Louis, on a wooded hill close to the Meramec. As he commuted to school... View full entry
The World Green Building Council (WGBC) has published its Advancing Net Zero Status Report 2021, offering an overview of the construction sector’s progress towards decarbonization throughout the last twelve months. Available to read and download here for free, the 48-page report offers detail on... View full entry
The Harvard Graduate School of Design’s Loeb Fellowship has announced its Class of 2022. The ten individuals were selected from a group of 134 candidates, and work across fields including activism, urbanism, public art, film and media, technology, and real estate development. The... View full entry
It's no secret that a lot of public engagement is worthless—or worse. It's not just that much of it is lazily designed to check off a box on a list of requirements—though that's true. It's not just that there's a built-in power imbalance, in which public feedback tends to overrepresent groups with a lot of access to and familiarity with the political process—older, wealthier, whiter, and more politically engaged residents. Though that's true too. — Strong Towns
Often the public surveys on a public space, new building proposal, town center, shopping area, a local roadway, housing, etc., involve meaningless questions and public input via the neighborhood workshops, hearings, and other means of conjuring up political support for the projects already decided... View full entry
Los Angeles has moved a step closer to implementing free public transport, with the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority approving a program that will give free bus and train travel to students and low-income users. The 23-month pilot program will begin in August 2021 for students, and for... View full entry
The Potrero Power Station Mixed-Use Project, an urban waterfront development in San Francisco's Dogpatch neighborhood, has officially broken ground. Sitting in a historic industrial site, this project sees the revitalization of the decommissioned Potrero Power Generating Station, which was... View full entry
Before the Covid-19 pandemic forced most office workers to indefinitely take their work home, the New York-based WeWork had a dramatic rise and fall. With a widely-reported, botched IPO in 2019, the office space company’s ascent was emblematic of an unprecedented alliance between data, finance... View full entry
California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed into law Senate Bill 7, aimed at streamlining large building developments in the state. The bill, also known as the Housing and Jobs Expansion Act, allows for certain proposed developments, particularly infill residential-led projects, to be fast-tracked... View full entry
With the Memorial Day deadline now passed for President Biden’s massive new $2.25 trillion infrastructure bill, architects and planners are watching closely and with interested eyes to see what is included in any future version of the bill that has the potential to make outsized impacts in... View full entry
An executive told employees on a video call that the firm didn’t have enough money to pay severance packages or unused paid time off, a person who attended the meeting said. The executive said the effects of Covid-19, as well as rising costs of labor and construction materials, contributed to its latest cash crunch. — The Information
Katerra, a closely watched startup founded 6 years ago, had a vision to reinvent the massive construction industry. After a few years of challenges and bailouts from investors, they've announced this week that they will shut down. The CEO of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, indicated that Katerra... View full entry
21 former students of UCL (University College London) have voiced complaints over alleged sexism and racism at the Bartlett School of Architecture. The complaints, first reported by The Guardian, stretch back over a decade. The ex-students' complaints include inappropriate comments on race and... View full entry
Who designs cities? Architecture school may lead young designers to believe that their profession shapes the spatial and aesthetic qualities of the built environment, but a look at the composition of city planning boards suggests otherwise. City planning has existed for millennia. The Roman... View full entry
Hudson Yards is reopening The Vessel this week with a renewed focus on suicide prevention following a rash of incidents last year. The Vessel was closed in January after three people took their lives inside the 150-foot sculpture over a period of 15 months. Harm-reduction trainings have been added... View full entry
Artist Maya Lin’s long-awaited skeletal forest has finally opened in New York’s famed Madison Square Park. With the help of 49 dead Atlantic Cedar trees sourced from the New Jersey Pine Barrens, the 61-year-old Lin has transformed the park into an immersive installation — her first in... View full entry
A coalition of leading design and construction organizations have called on Congress to include funding in any new infrastructure proposal that would significantly improve the resilience and performance of buildings across the country, The American Institute of Architects announces. In a... View full entry
