In a statement posted the American Institute of Architects (AIA) website, the organization explains that a group of former AIA presidents have written a letter directly to President Donald Trump denouncing the "Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again" executive order. Previously on... View full entry
At a time when states are debating the removal of Confederate monuments, Maryland unveiled bronze statues of famed abolitionists Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass during a ceremony Monday night in the Maryland State House.
The life-sized statues were dedicated during a special joint session of the Maryland General Assembly in the Old House Chamber, the room where slavery was abolished in the state in 1864.
— ABC News
According to ABC News, the statues were dedicated during Black History Month and have been made to show Tubman and Douglass as they would have appeared in age and dress in 1864. Harriet Tubman. Photo by Danielle E. Gaines. Via marylandmatters.org "A mark of true greatness is shining light on a... View full entry
Barcelona, Spain-based Estudio Barozzi Veiga has been selected to design a new headquarters for Oolite Arts, one of Miami's largest artist-supporting cultural groups. In a press release announcing the selection of Barozzi Veiga, Oolite Arts CEO Dennis Scholl said, "Miami’s visual arts... View full entry
“We have to think of buildings as material depots,” says Thomas Rau, a Dutch architect who has been working to develop a public database of materials in existing buildings and their potential for reuse. [...] “Waste is simply material without an identity,” he says. “If we track the provenance and performance of every element of a building, giving it an identity, we can eliminate waste.” — The Guardian
In an opinion piece, Oliver Wainwright writes on how more architecture firms across Europe are exploring methods on preserving, adapting, and reusing existing buildings instead of demolishing them, which hugely create CO2 emissions. But it'll take more than a few progressive architects and... View full entry
According to the museum’s most recent 990 tax forms, filed in 2018, LACMA is carrying $331 million in county bond debt that was used to pay for construction of the Resnick Pavilion, the Broad Contemporary Art Museum, the Pritzker Parking Garage and other projects. In addition to that debt, the museum has $112 million in other liabilities, such as accounts payable and accrued expenses. This brings LACMA’s total debt to almost $443 million. — The Los Angeles Times
Carolina Miranda of The Los Angeles Times takes a hard look at the finances for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as the institution prepares for the imminent demolition of its legacy William L. Pereira Associates- and Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer-designed campus to make way for a $... View full entry
Last week Mr. Weizman confronted an unexpected mystery when he was denied a visa to enter the United States. An official at the U.S. Embassy in London told him, without elaboration, he said, that an algorithm had identified a security threat that was related to him. — The New York Times
According to a report by Colin Moynihan in The New York Times, Eyal Weizman, the director of research-focused investigative practice Forensic Architecture, was stopped on his way to attend the opening of the group's first American retrospective exhibition. The exhibition, Forensic... View full entry
On Wednesday, the city released its “Resilient Houston” strategy, a robust plan to invest in and strengthen the capabilities of neighborhoods, communities and the entire region to address, withstand and quickly recover from physical, social and economic shocks and stresses.
Mayor Sylvester Turner unveiled the strategy alongside Chief Resilience Officer Marissa Aho and signed an executive order requiring all city departments to make resilience part of all strategic planning.
— Kinder Institute For Urban Research
The new plan comes in relation to the six floods that have occurred in the region: the Memorial Day Flood in 2015, the 2016 Tax Day Flood and Hurricane Harvey in 2017. According to the Kinder Institute, the Resilient Houston plan focuses on 5 core visions: A Healthy Place to LiveAn... View full entry
The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) continued to show signs of growth in the month of January, continuing a modest year-end rally into the first quarter of 2020. January ABI highlights Architecture Billings Index Score for January: 52.2Project inquiries index: 57.9 Design contracts... View full entry
The last of the 18 piers that will support the new Genoa bridge in Italy has been completed less than eight months after construction of the first foundations began. [...]
Ten of the sections of the deck that will rest on the piers have been installed so far; the current deck length of 550m is more than half of its eventual 1,067m length.
— Construction Index
43 people were killed and 14 more injured on August 14, 2018 when the nearly mile-long Morandi highway bridge in Genoa partially collapsed. Architect Renzo Piano, a Genoa native, was commissioned to design the 1,067-meter replacement bridge, and construction work started in June 2019. The... View full entry
Antonio Pacheco wrote about the Austin Central Library, completed in 2017 and designed via a joint partnership between Lake | Flato and Shepley Bulfinch. monosierra also provided some on-the-ground reporting "Was just here this week. I think it does its job as a public library well - generous... View full entry
Last week the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced its investment of $74 million "for 63 projects to research, develop, and test energy-efficient and flexible building technologies, systems, and construction practices to improve the energy performance of our Nation's buildings and electric... View full entry
As the United Kingdom works to strike new trade deals with Europe following Brexit, Greek authorities are using the occasion to try and negotiate a return of the country's long-lost Parthenon Marbles (also referred to as the Elgin Marbles). Reuters reports that Greek officials have included... View full entry
The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) has struck a deal with five different private developers that will hand over the management and repair duties for seven public housing complexes to the selected companies in exchange for $1.5 billion in repairs. The deal will impact 5,908 housing units... View full entry
In an effort to expand cultural competency, Murphy Burnham & Buttrick (MBB) Architects has instituted its own private travel grant. Established in 2016, the Harold Buttrick Travel Grant offers one employee five days of paid leave and paid travel-related expenses to "[broaden] his or her... View full entry
Developers SJP Properties and Mitsui Fudosan America may be forced, under a recent New York State Supreme Court ruling, to tear down the top 20 stories of a nearly-completed 56-story luxury residential skyscraper in New York City designed by Elkus Manfredi Architects. The New... View full entry
