The National Building Museum announced today that it will present its 2021 Honor Award to global design firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). For the first time in 36 years, and inspired by this year’s honoree, the Museum will transform the annual Honor Award into a Climate Change Call to Action, including weeks of provocative, expert-led online programming open to the public. — National Building Museum
On June 17, the National Building Museum will present the award to SOM at a dynamic virtual event. The firm will be celebrated for its leadership and commitment to combating the climate crisis by advocating for a seismic shift in the way we design, build, and do business. Starting on May 19th, the... View full entry
An Arts District cold-storage plant dating to the 1890s would be replaced with housing, offices, a hotel and shops in a proposal unveiled Thursday by Denver developers. With a price tag between $1.5 billion and $2 billion, the complex would rank among the largest L.A. commercial real estate developments in recent memory. — Los Angeles Times
Image: Studio One Eleven/Adjaye Associates According to the Los Angeles Times, the proposed Fourth & Central mixed-use mega-development in Downtown LA's rapidly transforming Arts District would consist of 10 buildings. While local firm Studio One Eleven is in charge of the master plan and building... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the winners of this year’s Upjohn Research Initiative, providing up to $30,000 to four research projects advancing sustainable architecture and design. The four projects demonstrate a variety of approaches to tackling climate change, from... View full entry
The Chicago Architecture Biennial is returning this September under the 2021 edition banner, The Available City. This morning, Artistic Director David Brown unveiled an initial list of 29 contributors from Chicago and around the world to collaborate with local community groups to examine forms of... View full entry
Researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) have developed bistable inflatable structures inspired by origami, raising new possibilities for the future of emergency shelters, pop-up architecture, and even extra-terrestrial structures. Many of... View full entry
Residents of a luxury development on London’s South Bank who lost a legal battle to close part of the tenth-floor viewing platform at Tate Modern are now taking their case to the UK Supreme Court.
Owners of four flats in the Neo Bankside block located alongside the gallery, previously claimed in court that “hundreds of thousands of visitors” to Tate Modern were looking into their homes from the viewing space located in its Blavatnik building.
— The Art Newspaper
After losing their legal case to close parts of the public viewing terrace at the neighboring Tate Modern extension, some residents of the luxurious Neo Bankside glass condo development in London are now taking their fight to the UK's Supreme Court, reports The Art Newspaper. Previously on... View full entry
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is rebuilding part of New Delhi, but the mammoth undertaking is drawing fire [...]
The massive project — which local media have estimated could cost about 200 billion rupees ($2.7 billion) — has grown more controversial as India’s coronavirus cases have exploded. On social media, some questioned the need for spending on new government structures at a time when the nation is dealing with severe fallouts from the pandemic.
— Bloomberg CityLab
As India struggles to contain a new devastating wave of Covid-19 outbreaks throughout the country, opposition is further growing to Prime Minister Modi's controversial redesign plan of the historic Central Vista in the capital Delhi which will include a new parliament building and several... View full entry
Advocates of social and structural change within architecture and professional practice, the Architecture Lobby has announced the launch of a new online summer program that will address three themes: capitalism, labor, and collective practice. The Architecture Beyond Capitalism (ABC... View full entry
On Wednesday, April 20th, the guilty verdict in the trial of Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd brought a ripple effect of response and emotion across the nation. While this verdict is a step, it is not a "static pivot," explained by NOMA's current President Jason Pugh and... View full entry
An investigation by the Better Government Association (BGA) and the Chicago Tribune has found that, since 2014, at least 61 people have died in Chicago buildings where city officials were aware of fire safety problems. Buildings where the deaths occurred, 23 of which were children under the age of... View full entry
Three years in the making, the renovated Skydeck Chicago is reopening Friday for public tours of the 45,000-square-foot space that has undergone a multimillion-dollar renovation the general manager calls “part Chicago museum, part selfie museum, part architectural river tour and part children’s museum.” — Chicago Tribune
A design collaboration of SOM, Thinc Design, and Chicago Scenic Studios, the re-envisioned Skydeck experience on Willis Tower's 103rd floor (of 110 in total) reopened to the public today. Photo © Dave Burk | SOM "In creating the new Skydeck, we wanted to honor the structural clarity and... View full entry
Titled "On Cities," a new series of twenty masterclasses was released by the Norman Foster Foundation this week. Each half-hour video features a leading expert in the fields of architecture, urbanism, economics, and mobility, aiming to promote cross-disciplinary and trans-geographic exchange... View full entry
Alexander Walter caught up with the two principals of PLY+, recipients of one of this year's Emerging Voices Awards from The Architectural League of New York. Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit. Image: PLY+ Nathan Mattson was happy to see them get some attention "One of the best small firms in... View full entry
On the subject of architecture and construction’s contribution to climate change, our existing building stock is coming under increasing scrutiny. While the United Kingdom recently announced a review into embodied carbon in buildings, thanks in part to the Architect Journal’s RetroFirst... View full entry
[...] the Los Angeles Cultural Affairs Commission signed off the initial phase of the long-proposed remodel of Pershing Square. [...]
The first phase of the project, as detailed in a presentation from Gruen Associates partner Debra Gerod, would focus on the Olive Street side of the park. The most visible of the proposed changes is the removal of the cafe building, creating space for a new landscaped plaza with outdoor seating.
— Urbanize Los Angeles
French landscape practice Agence Ter, working in collaboration with Los Angeles-based firms SALT Landscape Architects, Deborah Murphy Urban Design + Planning, Rachel Allen Architecture, among others, won the 2016 international design competition to redesign Pershing Square, the oldest public park... View full entry
