Can cities be built not only to be harmonious with their environment, but to outperform traditional architecture? The residents of Arcosanti, Arizona, which is profiled in this video excerpt from the Atlantic, seem to think so. Part campus, part permanent dwelling, Arcosanti embraces the concept... View full entry
My issue is not with areas being improved, it is how gentrification is about one demographic of our society changing an area for themselves and not for the benefit of everyone. — the guardian
Portland, US: ‘We are currently building our way to hell’“I am a 70 year old carpenter and I have seen more decay in the quality of life in the last three years in Portland, Oregon – pearl of culture in the Great Northwest – with the one-term mayor ‘Chainsaw Charlie Hales’ who was... View full entry
[Rosa Parks' home] on South Deacon Street had become blighted and faced demolition in recent years, but its fortunes have since changed. The home’s facade has been removed and will be refashioned into a replica-style artwork that will be shown in museums across Europe...“She loved the city, but I don't think the city loved her very much back,” [Parks' niece Rhea] McCauley said. “This house should have been preserved here. But we live in a world where every other project takes precedence.” — Detroit Free Press
You would think that the Detroit home of Rosa Parks would have more easily garnered local support for its preservation in the present day. But as Parks' niece Rhea McCauley described, her aunt was still treated with hostility when she moved into the city in 1957, two years after she refused to... View full entry
Therefore, our general theme and approach in this set of projects is that plants should become part of our society as well as self-reliant, and be given the ability to autonomously interact and walk with us. [...]
The prototype is seen as a larger scale architectural improvement. With the reduction of gardens as years pass on, the design represents a depleted Earth as it is regenerating and given new life.
— interactivearchitecture.org
Watch the making of the "garden sphere", Hortum Machina, B below:First unveiled in April of this year, the Hortum Machina, B project is designed by architects William Victor Camilleri and Danilo Sampaio at the UCL's Bartlett. Covered in GCR, the "autonomy" is derived from the plants inside the... View full entry
CBS has given a put pilot commitment to "A Burglar's Guide to the City," a television series based off the book by BLDGBLOG founder Geoff Manaugh, who interviewed former bank robbers like Joe Loya to explore the role of architecture in crime, and the corresponding shifts in privacy in both the... View full entry
This post is brought to you by Strelka Institute. During the new academic year Strelka students will answer the question: ‘What has become “The New Normal” in the modern world?’Strelka Institute for architecture, media and design launched the enrollment campaign for the postgraduate... View full entry
Roughly 25 people each year jump to their deaths from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, which prompted city leaders to authorize a plan to erect a kind of suicide-prevention stainless steel cable netting twenty feet below the bridge's deck. The netting, which is painted gray to blend in with... View full entry
Housing is under attack today. It is caught within a number of simultaneous social conflicts. Most immediately, there is a conflict between housing as lived, social space and housing as an instrument for profit-making — a conflict between housing as home and as real estate. More broadly, housing is the subject of contestation between different ideologies, economic interests, & political projects. More broadly still, the housing crisis stems from the inequalities and antagonisms of class society. — Jacobin
For more on the housing crises gripping almost every major city in the world, follow these links:Inside the failure of Jerry Brown's plans to ease California's housing crisisTo solve a housing crisis, invest more in modular constructionTo live in London you can't be a LondonerThe root of London's... View full entry
This week, the focus is on the hard stuff: concrete. Whether that is exploring the Barbican Centre's towering volumes, listening to the author of Concretopia, or learning about two award-winning projects who use concrete in an elegant way, there's plenty of ways to fall in love with the... View full entry
Mr Shan Jixiang, head of the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics, said many of the selected structures tell abundant stories and are witnesses to key events in the nation's history.
He added that the new list will make people aware of the need to preserve more recent architectural sites for future generations. [...]
"Masterpieces of the 20th century prove that Chinese architects' spirit and techniques are well inherited. And they deserve to be passed on to modern times."
— straitstimes.com
98 sites make up China's first 20th-Century Chinese Architectural Heritage List, issued by the Chinese Society of Cultural Relics and the Architectural Society of China. The announcement comes about half a year after the country declared an official end to "weird" architecture.It's not exactly... View full entry
Amelia Taylor-Hochberg featured Orhan Ayyüce’s interview with "The Wire" actor Bob Wisdom from LA Forum's summer issue, in Screen/Print #45. Therein, the two spoke of the show’s depiction of race and crime in American cities, as well as the actor’s own observations on east vs. west coast... View full entry
Penn Station is much more than a transportation center. As the heart of the Northeast Corridor rail system, it has the potential to link downtown to downtown along the Eastern Seaboard in a way far more economical, expedient and environmentally sustainable than air travel.
But while the governor’s recently announced plan is a step toward this goal, more must be done. What we propose in addition is a completely new commuter station on the site of Madison Square Garden
— nytimes.com
The proposed plan for Penn Station's redesign comes by way of Vishaan Chakrabarti, founder of the Practice for Architecture and Urbanism. Previously, Chakrabarti was the director of Manhattan's Department of City Planning under former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, where he also... View full entry
Spiro Kostof, concluding his history, tells us we need "to come to terms with our past and to take shelter and find pride in the continuities of time and place. This is not alone a professional imperative. All of us—architects and users, environmental policymakers and consumers of such... View full entry
Beginning today through October 1, Columbus, Indiana will celebrate its architectural history and identity with its very first Exhibit Columbus—an annual event alternating between a symposium and a design exhibition. Known for its rich architectural holdings of work by Eero and Eliel Saarinen... View full entry
In this thoughtful ode to the unexpected charms of brutalism, Felix Salmon explores why the formerly nightmarish architectural style is experiencing a renaissance, or at least a renewed appreciation. Salmon's observation that ubiquitous, unimaginative glass towers have replaced brutalism as the... View full entry
