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
After breaking ground on its first residential high-rise in Philadelphia in June 2019, Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates now celebrated the topping out with developer Dranoff Properties. Dubbed Arthaus, the 47-story glass-and-steel tower sits on Avenue of the Arts vis-à-vis the city's Kimmel... View full entry
This week's list of featured online events from Archinect's Virtual Event Guide focuses on Paul Revere Williams, climate and energery research, Taliesin West, and Lina Bo Bardi. Are you hosting a virtual lecture? Presentation? Tour? Interview? Happy Hour? Submit it for... View full entry
A New York City Department of Buildings inspector has been charged with taking a $1,200 bribe in exchange for not citing a construction firm that had continued working despite a stop-work order. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, the inspector, Francesco Ginestri, was charged "with solicitation and receipt of a bribe related to his agreement to ensure that the DOB would not issue a $25,000 fine in connection with the stop-work order. " He was released on $150,000 bond last week and, if... View full entry
French experts are combing the country’s forests for centuries-old oaks to rebuild the Notre Dame spire that was destroyed by fire. [...]
Last July, Macron announced the spire would be reconstructed exactly as it was. This is expected to require up to 1,000 oaks aged between 150 and 200 years old.
— The Guardian
Rebuilding the fire-damaged Gothic cathedral hasn't been easy: construction crews were impacted by COVID-19 safety measures, and since French President Macron decided to ditch the modern spire and restore it to its "last known visual state" based on Eugène Viollet-le-Duc's 19th-century... View full entry
Mitch McEwen kicked off 2021 with a powerful editorial against Philip Johnson and MoMA. "Institutions that support architecture and design in this country are so overwhelmingly complicit with antiblack racism and antidemocratic politics that the legacy of Johnson continues to circulate as an... View full entry
The starting point of everything Superstudio did was dissatisfaction with the uniformity of modern architecture, which its left-wing members saw as an instrument of capitalism that disempowered the masses, robbing them of their individuality and freedom. Sometimes, they made fun of the status quo, or took it to absurd conclusions; other times, they imagined utopian futures. — The New York Times
The exhibition Superstudio Migrazioni about the radical Italian "anti-architecture" collective runs until Sunday, May 16 at CIVA in Brussels. View full entry
Reconstructions: Architecture and Blackness in America is the fourth installment of the Issues in Contemporary Architecture series at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). The exhibition investigates the intersections of architecture, Blackness, and anti-Black racism in the United States. Olalekan... View full entry
The Chandler Boulevard Bridge Home Village, designed by Lehrer Architects and the Bureau of Engineering (Engineering) for the City of Los Angeles, has recently opened to its first residents in North Hollywood. Working in collaboration with various city agencies, Lehrer Architects converted an... View full entry
Conversation around the future of housing is a topic commonly discussed within architecture and urban planning circles. Firms large and small have postulated where issues within housing schemes lie and how the industry can address them. However, as architects continue to dance around solutions for... View full entry
Frank Gehry is back in Toronto − at least via Zoom. At 91, the world’s most famous architect is actively working on a major project in the city where he was born: two towers on King Street West that are the biggest and the tallest buildings of his career.
After more than eight years of discussion, this complex project is advancing. The developers say they will begin sales on its condo apartments in 2022.
— The Globe and Mail
The Frank Gehry-designed towers for a massive downtown Toronto development have come a long way since they were first proposed in 2012. Image: Gehry Partners Gone are the dramatic curves of the initial Mirvish+Gehry Toronto plan — the latest design updates propose two stainless steel-clad... View full entry
Controversy over the former Weyerhaeuser campus in Federal Way continues, as those interested in preserving the historical site urge for “responsible” development while the owners hold firm to current development designs.
The site [...] was purchased by Industrial Realty Group in 2016 for $70 million. [...] the nonprofit Save Weyerhaeuser Campus organization has advocated for environmental and historical preservation of the campus.
— Kent Reporter
Completed in 1972, the Weyerhaeuser Company's iconic former corporate campus in Federal Way, WA was designed by landscape architect Peter Walker, founding principal of Sasaki, Walker and Associates (SWA) and PWP Landscape Architecture, and Edward Charles Bassett, partner at Skidmore, Owings &... View full entry
Even more perilous, the promised second phase of Hudson Yards — eight additional buildings, including a school, more luxury condos and office space — appears on indefinite hold as the developer, the Related Companies, seeks federal financing for a nearly 10-acre platform on which it will be built.
Related, which had said the entire project would be finished in 2024, no longer offers an estimated completion date.
— The New York Times
The New York Times is reporting on the uncertain future of the $25 billion Hudson Yards mega-development in Manhattan’s Far West Side. The starchitect-studded development is reeling from ongoing effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic, as luxury condos remain unsold and commercial tenants go... View full entry
Ford Motor Co. of Dearborn has brought on New York City-based EverGreene Architectural Arts, one of the largest specialty contractors in the U.S., to revive the grandest areas of Michigan Central Station, including the main waiting area, arcade, ticket lobby, and restaurant. The company specializes in restoring historic buildings. — DBusiness Magazine
Ford purchased Detroit's historic but long-vacant Michigan Central Station in 2018 with plans to redevelop the hulking structure as the shining centerpiece of the company's new 30-acre Corktown mobility innovation district. PAU was brought on as the lead architect and strategic planner, and in... View full entry
