It soon became apparent that the alley was not a great place to be: Further down the way was a cardboard box used as a makeshift toilet. Once, he saw a pool of blood and the apparent weapon, a pointy umbrella...
Vogel asked an architect friend what he should do. “She said the answer was simple: All I needed to do was put people in it [the alley],” said Vogel.
— Yes Magazine
Although the traditional civic approach to dangerous alley behavior (violence, drug use, impromptu toilets) is to block off public access and turn them into garbage-only collection points, director of the International Sustainability Institute in Seattle Todd Vogel decided on the opposite... View full entry
The Related Companies, the city’s largest developer, plans to “tube up” the residential towers in Hudson Yards, its massive real estate development atop the MTA’s west side rail yard. The first large-scale pneumatic waste network to be constructed in the US since Roosevelt Island’s, it will serve 5,000 apartments in six buildings, the first of which is scheduled for completion in 2018. — Urban Omnibus
The scenic High Line may soon host more than tourists and weekenders: a proposed scheme to introduce pneumatic garbage tubes into a series of Manhattan apartment buildings includes using the underside of the former elevated rail line to mount the tubes (the rendering below pictures them in... View full entry
Nicholas Korody interviewed Smiljan Radić. They discussed Architecture at the limits of instability. Therein Radić explains "In Chile, it’s better to do it really brut rather than try to do it perfectly...And here to do something brut it's cheap, but in Europe it's really expensive." ... View full entry
Peter Zellner comes to Archinect's Dry Futures jury with a diverse architectural background, having worked for large, infrastructurally-minded firms like AECOM, while previously designing smaller-scale art spaces under his own firm, ZELLNERPLUS. In September of 2015, Peter will launch ZNc... View full entry
Sadly, even the Grand Canyon, a symbolic landmark of America’s natural environment, unfortunately isn’t immune to the ravages of pollution.
Concentrations of mercury and selenium in canyon’s food webs — the interconnected food chains in the environment — regularly exceed levels considered risky for fish and wildlife. Those findings are from a study from the U.S. Geological Survey scientists published in the journal Environmental Toxicity and Chemistry.
— Discovery
It's the kind of news that reads like Anthropocene poetry – both existentially dark and metaphorically potent. This vast fissure in the Earth's crust, which presents us with two billion years of geologic history and basically defines our image of the sublime, has been thoroughly contaminated... View full entry
In 2003 in Utah, government officials decided to try a radical solution to homelessness: giving people who would otherwise be on the street permanent housing. Twelve years later, the surprisingly cost-effective program is a success: almost all of the people given homes remained in them, and the... View full entry
While wind may be one of the most economical power sources out there, photovoltaic solar energy has a big advantage: it can go small.
While wind gets cheaper as turbines grow larger, the PV hardware scales down to fit wherever we have infrastructure. In fact, simply throwing solar on our existing building stock could generate a very large amount of carbon-free electricity.
— Ars Technica
But, as many homeowners already know, installing solar panels can be quite cost-prohibitive. New research might just have solved that problem by incorporating solar hardware into the most basic light filter used in architecture: the window.According to a study, solar windows could filter out a... View full entry
With the huge impact of mental disorders on people’s health and wellbeing, and the increased mental health risk of that comes simply from living in a city, you might think that mental health would be an urban health priority. In fact, few policies or recommendations for healthy urban environments address mental health in any depth. — CityMetric
Layla McCay, director of the recently launched Centre for Urban Design & Mental Health think tank, gives her two cents on the stigma that still overshadows mental health, both in urban design and current society.More on Archinect:Mindy Thompson Fullilove is a psychiatrist for citiesJason... View full entry
In an architectural "hail Mary" move, Zaha Hadid Architects put out a 23-minute video stating their case for Japan to keep their embroiled design for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Stadium. When Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe announced approximately five weeks ago that ZHA's design was being dropped... View full entry
Our world is now ideas driven and our environment needs to be energetic, inspiring and even provocative. Employers also want people to stay longer at work and making the space awesome certainly helps. — The Daily Telegraph
Many architects are designing home/work boundary-eroding office designs, which purposefully mimic the comforts of home to encourage creative employees to stay later. These designs have been embraced by a who's who of movers and shakers including Google, Facebook, and Disney. But is this shift... View full entry
These are confusing times in the business of protecting the country’s architectural heritage. [...]
Recently, two large modernist buildings were up for consideration for listing: the British Library in St Pancras, and an East End council estate, Robin Hood Gardens. Both have been controversial [...]
Yet the library has been granted the immortality of a Grade I listing, while the estate has been denied recognition and is set to be demolished.
— theguardian.com
Related on Archinect:Robin Hood Gardens residents dare Lord Rogers to spend a night in the blighted estateRobin Hood Gardens Set For DemolitionPostmodern No 1 Poultry divides architects in debate over recent heritage View full entry
Geoff Manaugh is a design and architecture writer, contributing to publications such as Dwell, New Scientist and The New Yorker, as well as authoring several books and the long-running design and architecture site, BLDGBLOG.Manaugh’s perspective on the drought focuses on the ripe opportunities... View full entry
After imposing taxes on units in Amsterdam, Portland, Oregon, San Francisco and elsewhere, “home-sharing” facilitator Airbnb will now begin collecting taxes in Paris, the company’s biggest market.
Collection officially begins October 1st and some see the move as Airbnb’s attempt at playing nice with city regulators. Venture Beat connects the change to Uber’s troubles in Paris, where the ride service company fought new regulation policies.
— nextcity.org
Got a sketchy blueprint for a greywater purifier lying around? An unfinished section drawing for the next drought-friendly Californian front yard? Some e-commerce market for exchanging water rights? Designs for a better reservoir? Gussy up those plans and submit them to Archinect's Dry Futures... View full entry
Waikiki Beach closed on Monday after heavy rains caused by a tropical storm set off the spills.
Tropical Storm Kilo caused 500,00 gallons of wastewater to come gushing out of manholes, making the waterfront unsafe for beachgoers.
"Now's not the time to go swimming," said Lori Kahikina, Honolulu's director of environmental services.
The beachfront sees about 4.5m tourists annually.
It will be a few days before the ocean is safe for people to swim in again, Ms Kahikina said...
— BBC
