Amid contentious debate on rezonings across the city, the late 2013 hubbub around an upzoning proposal for East Midtown has, for the moment, abated — but hasn’t disappeared. In a bid to spur significant new development for the first time in decades, the de Blasio administration is currently retooling the Bloomberg-era plan to allow developers to construct much larger buildings [...]
Whether this rezoning eventually occurs or not, the buildings in Manhattan’s core aren’t getting any younger.
— urbanomnibus.net
Related news on Archinect:Scroll through the "new New York Skyline" with this interactive infographicNew Renderings & Video of One Vanderbilt, Midtown NY’s Future Tallest Office TowerHistoric 190 Bowery to be Restored View full entry
Now that the cat is out of the bag and the Japanese government has officially announced Kengo Kuma's stadium proposal as the new winning design for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, all eyes are on Zaha Hadid Architects, design firm of the voluptuous initial winning stadium spaceship which was ultimately... View full entry
February, 2015↑ 10 Frank Lloyd Wright Buildings Nominated to UNESCO World Heritage ListThe buildings are the first modernist architecture structures to be nominated, and not a bit too soon – many of the FLW structures are desperately in need of attention to fix significant structural... View full entry
January 2015↑ California finally breaking ground on first high-speed rail segmentWelp, this hasn't gone smoothly. The first leg of construction broke ground in Fresno nearly a year ago, but California's HSR just lost its previously wholehearted support from California Democrats, and the... View full entry
While some residents may be more concerned about their overflowing rubbish bins than maintaining ancient monuments, for many the survival of modern Rome will depend on the preservation of the past. — The Guardian
As Rome moves forward without a mayor, the city is taking on the restoration of both the Colosseum and the Porta Maggiore basilica while updating the modern city.More about Rome on Archinect:Was Rome really a "City of Marble"?A breakneck tour of contemporary architecture in RomeContemporary Art... View full entry
Buildings in Delhi’s residential areas were restricted to two storeys, with construction permitted on only a fraction of the space on the third floor, so on top of homes, families built small dwellings for their own use, as accommodation for domestic staff or to rent out cheaply. Exposed to the elements, the single room on the top floor became known evocatively as the barsati – derived from the Hindi word for rain, barsaat. — the Guardian
"These apartments – generally, a small shack with a large terrace – afforded a new generation of urbanites cheap living space near the centre of town... But it’s a typology that, as land values rise and the population grows, is fast disappearing. While there are no official figures... View full entry
Today, The Barack Obama Foundation issued a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) to seven architectural firms, one of which will ultimately be selected to design the Obama Presidential Center (OPC) on the South Side of Chicago. [...]
Although the RFP process is not a design competition, the RFP will require defined, visual responses from each candidate to present creative ideas in response to the Foundation’s project goals.
— barackobamafoundation.org
After sending out RFQs to a broad range of (undisclosed but widely speculated) architectural firms on August 26, the President and First Lady, together with advisers from the Obama Foundation, have found time to sit down and select seven finalists to receive a formal Request for Proposal. The... View full entry
Dozens of people are missing after a landslide engulfed 22 buildings at an industrial park in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. [...]
Local media reported that the soil that came loose had been dug up in the past two years in construction work and was piled up nearby.
A statement on Weibo from the Shenzhen municipal government said the landslide had also triggered an explosion at a nearby gas station.
A landslide in the country's Zhejiang province in November killed at least 25 people.
— bbc.com
"Shenzhen's fire brigade said it was working to free other trapped people - state media say 59 remain missing. Two workers' dormitories are among the affected buildings."It's been a rough few months in the news for China lately:Following warehouse explosion, three new high-rises in Tianjin... View full entry
As I walked back down Forest Avenue, I realized how revolutionary the Prairie School was for its time. Wright and the architects in his fold built a genre based on their interpretations of how living spaces could evolve. So many elements of Wright’s designs were bold, such as raised floors and roofs that extended significantly from their structures, while also retaining a strong sense of simplicity. — NYT
John L Dorman recounts the glories of homes found in Oak Park (a village 10 miles west of the Loop outside of Chicago), designed by Frank Lloyd Wright between 1889 and 1909. An easy way to take in the sights is the “Wright Around Oak Park Tour” ($60), an extensive three-hour guided walking... View full entry
North Korea held a ceremony on Tuesday to celebrate Mirae Scientists Street, the residential sector dedicated for scientists or engineers of North Korea.
Mirae (“Future”) Scientists Street, located in the center of Pyongyang, directly next to Pyongyang Station adjacent to the Taedong River, is nearing completion. [...]
Wednesday’s report emphasized the term “Pyongyang Speed,” the idea that North Korean workers can produce miraculously fast construction speeds.
— nknews.org
"KCNA reports revealed that one of the buildings is 53 floors high, designed with an artistic exterior and guided under Kim Jong Un’s orders. The street also had a kindergarten, daycare center, school, stores, sports park and more, according to KCNA."h/t CTBUHRelated news on... View full entry
Last weekend in the outskirts of Paris, the rap of a green-tipped gavel announced an historically-unprecedented international climate agreement. A sense of accomplishment suffused the crowds gathered locally and the official statements broadcast globally – President Obama called the deal “a... View full entry
For our final Mini-Session from the Next Up series, Nicholas Korody interviews TOMA, a Santiago-based collective. TOMA build politically-charged social spaces, using design as a strategy for bringing people together rather than as an end in itself. With their installation for the Chicago... View full entry
I hate this historical turn, which for me is contained most neatly in the High Line...The trend I mean is this: toward ersatz, privatized public spaces built by developers; sterile, user-friendly, cleansed adult playgrounds with generic environments that produce the innocuous stupor of elevator music; inane urban utopias with promenades, perches, pleasant embellishments, rest stops, refreshments, and compliance codes. — New York Magazine
Jerry Saltz analyzes how the rise of bad, privatized public spaces has actually been great for public art. However, these "nightmares of synthetic space" bring with them significant downsides such as a loss of "quietness, slowness, whimsy, stillness, different rhythms, anything uneasy... View full entry
'Tis the time of year for reflections and speculations – and 2015 was a big one for Archinect Sessions. We launched our first ever live podcasting series, Next Up, at Jai & Jai Gallery in Los Angeles and at the first Chicago Architecture Biennial; we started a brand new interviews-only show... View full entry
Their choice of Terry Riley’s piece was ideal. Goethe called architecture “frozen music.” “In C” perfectly illustrates Goethe’s corollary: “Music is liquid architecture.” [...]
Interdisciplinarity is a popular buzzword on many campuses, but in most cases it remains a mere slogan. Here was a shining model for other schools [...]
It prompted students like Huizhong Sun and Marco Aguirre to remind me about the architectural concepts of simultaneity and interpenetration, and of “transparency”
— wsj.com
The performance was part of a new RISD collaborative initiative, organized by the architecture department's head, Laura Briggs. Briggs brought together David Gersten (architect) and Michael Harrison (microtonal composer) to teach "Outside the Guidelines," where they approach architecture from... View full entry
