After completing two dozen 3D-printed structures across central Texas, printing a small community for impoverished residents in Mexico, and teaming up up with BIG and SEArch+ to create an off-world building system for the Moon, construction technology company ICON is now breaking into the... View full entry
More than a dozen designs for accessory dwelling units, known as ADUs, will be offered through the city’s ADU Standard Plan Program [...]. The small-scale, stand-alone residences are generally tucked into properties zoned for single-family homes. The idea, says the city’s chief design officer (and former Times architecture critic), Christopher Hawthorne, is to take a weeks-long permitting process and “turn it into an approval that is over-the counter.” — Los Angeles Times
Notoriously plagued by a shortage of housing stock, Los Angeles has launched a new initiative that aims to drastically shorten the approval process — and promote good design — with preapproved accessory dwelling unit (ADU) plans. The ADU Standard Plan Program will start out with... View full entry
One thing we're looking at is this synchronization of thermal mass and buoyancy ventilation so buildings can work like termite mounds. We've developed these scaling rules where you choose your material and you define your free-running ventilation rate so you can design for that heat wave. — Pioneer Works
Architectural historian C. Kaye Rawlings and science journalist Dan Samorodnitsky chatted with Salmaan Craig about specific ways architecture can adapt to the realities of catastrophic climate change. For more watch him speak on; Biogenic Buildings at the Institute of Technology in Architecture... View full entry
Located at the intersection of sculpture and architecture, TOLO's XYYXXY Accessible Restroom is designed as a counterpoint to the “normative” bathroom. The plan takes the shape of a disfigured cross with a “non-gendered” toilet or urinal stall located at the end of each spoke. The impetus... View full entry
With information available at our fingertips, discovering resources like a list of female architects, for example, should be a breeze. However, like most professions, these texts and resources were often written and curated by male writers. In 2021, female writers and curators continue to reclaim... View full entry
To kick off a multi-part exploration of Designers in Tech, Alessio Grancini (a prototype engineer at Magic Leap) sat down with Paul Petrunia to talk about the differences between AR, VR and XR, as well as Facebook’s plans for a "Real World Index" aka "worldwide digital twin...live-updated... View full entry
While the concept of space tourism may sound ludicrous, plans to launch people into space as a vacation vs. a vocation are well underway.
Orbital Assembly, a large space construction company, announced this year in a virtual event on its YouTube channel that it was on track to begin construction on the world’s (er, galaxy’s) first space hotel by 2026 [...].
— The Washington Post
Scale comparison between the planned Voyager Space Station (200 meters/656 feet in overall diameter) and the existing International Space Station (73 meters/240 feet long and 109 meters/358 feet wide). Image courtesy of Orbital Assembly. View full entry
102 AIA members have been elevated to the American Institute of Architects' College of Fellows in recognition of significant contributions to the architecture profession. To be eligible for the fellowship program, candidates had to be AIA members for at least 10 years while also demonstrating... View full entry
For Deanna Van Buren, designing towards justice and equity is more than a trend; it's a lifelong calling to dismantle a system that perpetuates oppression and suppression for Black and Brown communities. Back in October 2019, Archinect chatted with Van Buren to learn more about her... View full entry
This week's list of featured online events from Archinect's Virtual Event Guide includes lectures, presentations, discussions, a conference, an award presentation, and a symposium. Are you hosting a virtual lecture? Presentation? Tour? Interview? Happy Hour? Submit... View full entry
While American single-family home prices have continued to rise in the midst of the pandemic, and we mere mortals hit “fave” on six-digit Zillow listings we’ll never afford, the rich are getting richer—and that includes celebrities who shell out millions on megamansions, an unofficial term traditionally used for any home over 10,000 square feet, and sometimes limited to those over 20,000. — VICE
Writing for VICE, Ashley Spencer dives into the history of the garishly large homes of America's 0.1 percent. View full entry
On the site of a church torn down by East Germany’s communist rulers, a new place of worship is set to rise that will bring Christians, Jews and Muslims under one roof – and it has already been dubbed a “churmosquagogue”. — The Guardian
Designed by Berlin-based architects Kuehn Malvezzi, the $57 million House of One project for the historic Petriplatz in Germany's capital has been in a lengthy planning process for the past ten years. Previously on Archinect: Designing the House of One, a Worship Space for Three Religions by Kuehn... View full entry
The City of Toronto is asking a court to order a local man to stop building small wooden shelters for the homeless.
The city filed an injunction application on Feb. 12 against Khaleel Seivwright, a carpenter who has been building small structures for those living outside.
The city wants an order that permanently stops Seivwright from placing or relocating structures on city-owned land.
— CBC
According to CBC, Seivwright's shelters are in numerous parks across the city. The carpenter has been building the tiny structures since last fall and has raised over $200,000 on GoFundMe for materials. In a February 11th post on his GoFundMe page, Seivwright wrote: "I'm makin this post to... View full entry
Last year, Trump and his "make federal buildings beautiful again" executive order sent shockwaves across the architecture community. Trump had strong aversions towards modern architecture calling these buildings "ugly" and "uninspiring." Since Archinect's initial coverage on the classical... View full entry
Following the sudden, dramatic price spikes on an array of building materials in 2021, the Associated General Contractors of America has appealed to President Joe Biden to take action to ease the skyrocketing cost of lumber. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, "AGC CEO Stephen Sandherr asked Biden to urge domestic lumber producers to ramp up production to address growing shortages, as well as to make the crafting of a new softwood lumber agreement with Canada a top priority of his administration." View full entry
