A beautiful new 1.5-acre park, an elementary school, public amenities and a new pedestrian street to awaken a dead corner: all that seems like a fair trade for the neighborhood in return for a couple of the big buildings the university wants, which would replace undistinguished ones. — NYT
In his latest article Michael Kimmelman examines how New York University’s latest plan to expand in Greenwich Village has caused a storm of protest. Although the "crescent towers devised by N.Y.U.’s team...are nonstarters" Kimmelman does suggest that both NYU and the local citizens... View full entry
Hemp Technologies said it wants to use hemp-based materials to construct a 500-square-foot structure at the ruins of Knapp's Castle near Santa Barbara. The principal material for the project is Hempcrete, made of the woody internal stem of the Cannabis sativa plant, which is processed into chips and mixed with a lime-based binder. That concoction is then sprayed on, poured into slabs or formed into blocks like concrete to create the shell of a building. — latimesblogs.latimes.com
Lawrence Cheek explored the trend of open office design, amongst recent commercial/institutional architecture in Seattle. George Showman found fault "This is a weird article because one of the examples is an absolute palace (the Gates Foundation) and the others seem a little miserable...I have worked in an open office for years, but it was small enough that there were many moments of productive silence, and poor enough that I didn't expect more."
Orhan Ayyüce cites Reyner Banham, the systems man, in his latest NEXT SERIES: FASTER PUSSYCAT CITY feature. Quoting from Bricologues A La Lanterne, wherein Banham wrote "People who can believe that mass bricolage is a sovereign remedy...should think again, carefully", Orhan... View full entry
We need to redefine what we mean by “parking lot” to include something that not only allows a driver to park his car, but also offers a variety of other public uses, mitigates its effect on the environment and gives greater consideration to aesthetics and architectural context. — nytimes.com
Frances Anderton came to Los Angeles via Bath, England in 1991 and like her compatriot Reyner Banham, fell in love with the city. As a longtime producer and host of radio shows Which Way, LA? and DnA: Design and Architecture respectively, Anderton has spent the last 25 years of her professional and personal life exploring the relationship between L.A.'s architecture, politics and design. — kcet.org
“It has been extraordinarily controversial and I made no bones of the fact that it’s not a project I would have supported if I had been on council at the time,” said the mayor.
“But the thing is, it’s there. It’s an indelible and a permanent part of the landscape of our city.
“It would all do us good to grow to love it.”
The span, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, is officially pegged at $24.5 million, but is expected to cost more.
— calgarysun.com
Chances are, you know Moby best for his electronic dance music. But it turns out the eclectic-minded musician has another life, as an architecture buff who recently moved to LA and now writes a blog about buildings here he loves. The blog is called, simply, Moby Los Angeles Architecture Blog, and features his photos of local architecture. Frances Anderton talks to Moby about his love of architecture.
And, on that note, I promise this will be the last we refer to Moby's over-hyped move into the world of architecture blogging. View full entry
"What has fueled the Eisenhower memorial controversy in the media are the public pronouncements of two of the president’s granddaughters, Susan and Anne Eisenhower, who have proclaimed themselves dissatisfied with the design. Understandably, their position is being taken seriously. Yet I am concerned that the growing public brouhaha will ultimately weaken the memorial design." — The New York Times Op-ed by Witold Ribczynski
Witold Ribczynski adds his opinion and some new information to the Eisenhower Memorial design debate with this Op-ed piece for The New York Times. View full entry
The opening of the sprawling Zaha Hadid-designed Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University, which will soon exhibit slices of L.A.-based billionaire Eli Broad’s extensive art collection, has been postponed from this spring to the fall for reasons only vaguely stated. But never fear; for those of you chomping at the bit to see it, or who are in a particularly remote part of the world in relation to East Lansing, Michigan, MSU has just opened the Virtual Broad Art Museum. — artinfo.com
Eleven years ago I made a modest proposal to create a series of three massively flat and empty superblocks (two in New York and one in Washington DC). I last showed these proposals as three large architectural site models, just six months before September 11th attacks. Because my proposals seemed to foreshadow the 16 acre gap left in Manhattan’s grid, I was urged to revisit the project. — rhizome.org
“The recurring themes were people wanted a decent place to shop; second, the residents wanted a safe, affordable place for their kids to play; and the third concern was the lack of affordable housing, particularly for seniors and young families.” — NYT
Robert Sharoff looks at what the future holds for the neighborhood of Pullman, 12 miles south of downtown Chicago. Originally one of the first built-from-scratch industrial cities in America and home to the legendary Pullman Palace Car Company, the area (which is both a National... View full entry
Threats by left-wing activists in Berlin prompted New York’s Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation to cancel a planned stop in the city’s Kreuzberg district for its mobile laboratory, the BMW Guggenheim Lab. — bloomberg
Frank Gehry didn't attend Monday's congressional hearing about his design for the planned Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial in Washington. But the Los Angeles architect sent a letter defending his controversial conception of the public memorial, while also stating that he is open to the idea of changes. — latimesblogs.latimes.com
We are two graphic designers and a writer who all surf together. When at our local breaks, we found that many of the people we met were artists, architects, designers, and writers — often leaders in their fields. We wanted to create a publication that tells their stories and opens up a rich dialogue in the urban surf community. — kickstarter.com
Check out Archinect's latest curatorial pick at Kickstarter. To view all of our selections visit Kickstarter.com/Archinect. View full entry
OriginOil, a start-up based in Los Angeles, CA., has begun a pilot of its urban algae farm concept at the La Défense complex near Paris. Wastewater from buildings nourishes algae growth; algae is processed to make heat. The company is attempting to prove that integrating algae production into large building complexes will help bring them closer to net zero. — smartplanet.com
