San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer is opening another salvo in his administration's efforts to address the city's housing affordability crisis by proposing the so-called "Complete Communities Housing Solutions Initiative," a scheme that looks beyond simply building new housing to embrace holistic... View full entry
Columbia University plans to bring a 34-story residential tower to West Harlem amid its massive campus expansion.
The project at 600 West 125th Street will span just over 175,000 square feet and have 142 units for students and faculty, according to an application with the city Department of Buildings. It will replace a decades-old McDonald’s that closed a few months ago.
— The Real Deal
The tower, slated for completion in 2022, aims to "reduce demand on the local housing market," The Real Deal quotes a Columbia University spokesperson. View full entry
Garrett was born in Ashtead, England, in 1922. He studied architecture at Trinity College, although his academic pursuits were disrupted by the Second World War, in which he fought for the British Royal Navy. After the war, he completed his studies at Cambridge before opening a private architectural practice in London, where he was a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. — The Art Newspaper
Over a long and lustrous career, Stephen Garrett, played many roles and helped shape a series of architectural contributions in the museum sphere, including lending his expertise as a consulting architect for the Getty Villa project in Malibu, California. He ended up becoming the Getty's first... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has published a comprehensive voter guide for the 2020 United States Presidential election targeted toward members of the architecture community. The guide, according to the AIA website, collects the policy positions and proposals for "all... View full entry
New York City lawmakers are poised to adopt legislation requiring “bird-friendly” glass on all new construction in an effort to cut down on the tens of thousands of birds who die flying into the city's buildings every year.
New York will be the largest city in the nation to require glass that is visible to birds if the measure passes. Several California cities including San Francisco and Oakland have adopted similar rules
— ABC News
According to ABC News, the NYC Audubon estimates that 90,000 to 230,000 birds are killed annually from flying into buildings in New York City a number only a fraction of the 1 billion that die each year around the country. The cause of death comes from the reflective glass on taller... View full entry
And it's a wrap at the 2019 World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam. After three busy days of project presentations and jury deliberations, the annual global architecture industry event culminated in a glamorous gala dinner at the Beurs van Berlage, Amsterdam's former stock exchange building... View full entry
It was supposed to be the ultimate symbol of Cool Britannia. Instead it became a nightmare that exposed the spin and hubris of the New Labour project [...] — The Guardian
The Observer's architecture critic, Rowan Moore, revisits the events leading up to the opening night debacle of the Richard Rogers-designed and much hyped, but ultimately failed, London Millennium Dome on January 1st, 2000. "The Millennium Experience that it contained then is dimly remembered... View full entry
A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has thrown out a lawsuit initiated against a series of high-rise developments slated for a stretch of Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles's Hollywood neighborhood. The projects in question, The Los Angeles Times reports, include the 905-unit SOM... View full entry
Efforts to modernize suburban campuses can be as basic as organizing placemaking activities like after-work concerts or food truck Fridays. Usually, though, they require a much deeper investment in elements like upgraded lobbies, outdoor furniture, ball courts, fitness centers, grab-and-go cafes, greenways, bike storage facilities and open-plan offices that let in substantial natural light. — The New York Times
In her NYT piece about the renewed commercial interest in the suburban office park typology, Amanda Abrams takes a closer look at the latest investments and transformations at North Carolina's Research Triangle Park. "After all, with downtowns everywhere becoming increasingly expensive," writes... View full entry
For the month of December, Archinect is shining a Spotlight on Austin, Texas. Aside from being the Texas state capital, Austin is a major node in the thriving Texas Triangle mega-region, the urban agglomeration that includes Houston, Dallas-Forth Worth, and San Antonio. ... View full entry
Despite changes in technology and forms of representation, around the world, architectural models continue to address an important issue in aesthetic experience: Providing access to architecture for the visually impaired. "Whether it’s marveling at the height of the Eiffel... View full entry
Please join Archinect and the Architecture + Design Museum on Saturday, December 7th at 2pm for History + Theory Education in LA's Schools of Architecture, a panel discussion investigating the current and future state of historical and theoretical approaches to architectural education. The... View full entry
The surprise inspections are New York’s most aggressive effort to tighten oversight of construction sites after a surge in worker injuries as the city undergoes its biggest building boom in more than half a century...
...In the first nine months of this year — as dozens of surprise inspections were carried out daily — construction injuries fell by 26 percent to 437 from 590 in the same period the year before, according to city-data.
— The New York Times
The surprise inspections have been carried out by a team of 38 experts in areas such as renovations, high-rise construction, scaffolding, and demolitions, reports The New York Times. The team is due to eventually grow to 53. Since September 2018, the team has completed 20,166 surprise... View full entry
Little Haiti’s elevation is 7 feet above sea level with pockets in the neighborhood that go as high as 14 feet above sea level. By comparison, Miami Beach is about 4 feet above sea level.
A building boom is happening all over Miami, including in low-lying areas, but some experts say sea level rise is speeding up gentrification in high-elevation communities that historically have seen very little investment from the outside.
— WLRN
WLRN, in collaboration with WNYC's The Stakes podcast, covers the impact of the recent investment interest in Miami-Dade County’s historically black inland communities, such as Little Haiti, which are "naturally resilient" to sea-level rise due to their higher elevation. View full entry
Plans for Hungary’s landmark New National Gallery—conceived as the centrepiece of the rising Liget cultural quarter in Budapest’s City Park—hang in the balance after the city’s new centre-left mayor, Gergely Karácsony, moved to block its construction. — The Art Newspaper
After the international design competition for Budapest's New National Gallery and Ludwig Museum resulted in proposals by Snøhetta and SANAA tied for the first prize in April 2015, the latter team, headed by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa, ultimately won the commission later that year, beating... View full entry
