Some of Detroit's most famous vacant sites finally may see new construction getting under way in 2016, turning some of the city's longest-running symbols of distress into emblems of renewal.
The Hudson's site on Woodward, the old Tiger Stadium site at Michigan and Trumbull, and the State Fairgrounds near Woodward Avenue and 8 Mile all seem likely to see redevelopment progress in 2016 after in some cases decades of disuse.
— freep.com
Related news on Archinect:The return of redlining: how the mortgage industry is threatening Detroit's rejuvenationDetroit joins Shenzhen, Berlin, Turin and others as an UNESCO "City of Design"How Detroit can learn to revive its derelict industrial sites from other cities View full entry
Julia Ingalls penned a review of the "recently redesigned Petersen Museum". Responding to her criticism Seth Terry asked "has the public really been cheated?...I find it telling that the members of the public quoted in the article itself not only like the museum but find that it fills the role... View full entry
September 2015↑ Deborah Berke named Dean of Yale School of Architecture, will succeed Robert A.M. Stern in 2016Not many news on Archinect sparked as much excitement as the announcement of Deborah Berke as the new Yale Architecture Dean, effective July 1, 2016. Commenters debated how the... View full entry
Bank buildings have become bars. Football grounds have been turned into prestige housing. All things must pass. Buildings that have outlived their purpose have no right to be preserved perpetually in a Prince Charles-style attempt to stop the clock on history. Sentimentality about an imagined past is a British disease. For all that, the emotional link between a building like the Washington Post’s and the people who once worked there will live on, for years to come. — theguardian.com
More pieces on the cultural history of demolished or renovated structures:Saving Buildings with Social Media (Or Not)The Folly of Saving What You Kill"Historic Status" won't protect against demolitionInteractive Decay View full entry
China has detailed its urban planning vision, which has been designed to make its sprawling cities more inclusive, safer and better places to live.
[...] policymakers pledged to transform urban development patterns and improve city management.
The last time China held such a high-level meeting was in 1978, when only 18 percent of the population lived in cities. By the end of 2011, in excess of 50 percent of the population called the city their home.
— chinadaily.com.cn
Related news on Archinect:China considering drastic ban on coalDisastrous landslide burying dozens in Shenzhen likely caused by piled up soil from construction workBeijing's latest "airpocalypse" is bad enough for city to issue first ever red alertChina’s "most influential architect" is not... View full entry
The freeway system, which Southern Californians once saw as a ticket to freedom, an emblem of L.A.'s love of individuality and movement, increasingly serves as a landscape of hard luck and a desperate sort of community — a place to hunker down. [...]
As the homeless population grows in a city whose public realm is the haggard product of several decades of neglect, the freeway has taken on a crucial, if often dispiriting, neighborhood role despite itself.
— latimes.com
"The ranks of the chronically homeless in Los Angeles County have grown by more than 50% in the last two years, to more than 12,000 people, according to one study. If you count all the people who are homeless at least part of the time, the figure rises to an estimated 44,000."Related news on... View full entry
This year, Chinese families represented for the first time the largest group of overseas home buyers in the United States. Big spenders on new homes are helping prop up local economies in the Midwest...The interest from Chinese buyers is reshaping demographics in Texas. — NYT
As Part II of a series of articles exploring how China's financial heft and economic clout influence the world, Dionne Searcy and Keith Bradsher illuminate how Chinese real-estate investors are driving prices and development not just for "luxury condos in Manhattan and McMansions in Silicon... View full entry
August 2015↑ Let Jürgen Mayer H. help plan your next trip to Berlin with his own travel tipsArchinect kicks off its new series of city travel tips for the architecturally inclined traveler put together by architects that call each featured city home. For the inaugural list of must-see... View full entry
June 2015↑ Foster's Out, Ingels' In: BIG-Designed Two World Trade Center to House News Corp. and 21st Century FoxIn perhaps one of the biggest (and most hotly debated) pieces of news of the year, Bjarke Ingels replaced Norman Foster on the design of Two World Trade Center.↑ Paris erupts in... View full entry
April 2015↑ 2015 Wheelwright Prize awarded to Erik L’HeureuxHarvard GSD’s $100,000 Wheelwright Prize was awarded to Erik L’Heureux, whose “winning proposal, ‘Hot and Wet: The Equatorial City and the Architectures of Atmosphere’ examines the traditional and modern building strategies... View full entry
[Tarek] looks down at the glossy graphics, and then up again, before gesturing around at his neighbours. “Where are we in this picture?” he asks...
Norman Foster’s practice has chosen to partner with a government widely condemned by international human rights groups for its brutal crackdowns on dissent and widespread use of torture; in return, the company seems to believe it can carve out a place for itself in the vanguard of a progressive new era of urban design...
Is it right?
— the Guardian
Jack Shenker and Ruth Michaelson take a more in-depth, on-the-ground look at the political context of the Maspero District masterplan, which I discussed a few weeks ago. The Foster and Partners-designed project would remake a part of Cairo that was the site of numerous protests since 2011. The... View full entry
There is no way back, we are all Postmodern now. Can you stay behind? Do you really care that Postmodernism destroyed the ideals of Modernism? Come on, — Failed Architecture
"If you are reading this, you probably already have a certain interest in architecture, but chances are that you never warmed up to those kinds of buildings from the late 70s, 80s and early 90s, generally classified as ‘Postmodern’. The architecture of these buildings is often based on a loose... View full entry
It is well established that white roofs can mitigate the urban heat island effect, reflecting the sun's energy back into space and reducing a city's temperature. In a new study of Guangzhou, China, researchers found that during a heat wave, the effect is significantly more pronounced. Reflective roofs, also called cool roofs, save energy by keeping buildings cooler, thus reducing the need for air conditioning. — Science Daily
According to a new study by Berkeley lab researchers Dev Millstein, Ronnen Levinson, and Pablo Rosado, alongside Meichun Cao and Zhaohui Lin of the Institute of Atmospheric Physic in Beijing, so-called "cool roofs," or roofs painted white, substantially reduce the urban heat island effect during... View full entry
March 2015↑ Vienna plans world's tallest wooden skyscraperA 76% wood skyscraper, the world’s largest in that material, was designed for Vienna by Rüdiger Lainer and Partner. With a net environmental impact far lower than concrete construction and advanced fire-prevention technologies, the... View full entry
Starting on Monday, individuals who own recreational drones will have to register their devices with the Federal Aviation Administration. The mandatory registration program applies to drones that weigh between 0.55 and 55 pounds. — CNBC
According to the report, drones that were purchased before yesterday have to be registered by February 19th, 2016. If you buy a drone in the future, then you'll have to register it before flying it for the first time.If you don't, prepare to pay a steep fine: up to $27,500. That being said... View full entry
