For the latest Working out of the Box: Archinect talked with artist and architecture theorist, Santiago Borja. He relates that one thing he learned from architecture school is "a sense of structural logic that most artists lack. They imagine things they have no clue how to build. Having said... View full entry
The Qatar World Cup Memorial project is a scalable building that raises awareness about the number of workers who died during the construction of the stadiums for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It is in the form of a tower made of concrete modules, each one representing a deceased worker. The higher the number, the higher the tower...If the death rate is not reduced, the Qatar World Cup Memorial could reach a height of 1.5 kilometers (nearly a mile). — 1week1project.org
1W1P – 1Week1Project – is a collaborative effort by French architects Axel de Stampa and Sylvain Macaux, graduates of l'Ecole d'Architecture in Paris-Belleville. They challenged themselves to produce a "spontaneous architecture" per week for a year, or fifty-two projects. At this point, they... View full entry
New research from the Urban Land Institute suggests that micro units—typically larger than a one-car garage, but smaller than a double—have staying power as a housing type that appeals to urban dwellers in high-cost markets who are willing to trade space for improved affordability and proximity to downtown neighborhoods. — urbanland.uli.org
Here's the direct link to the report The Macro View on Micro Units.Click here for more on the topic of Micro Units on Archinect. View full entry
While independent communications infrastructure, renewable energy, and resilient heating and power systems may all be major priorities in contemporary urban development, the three aren’t typically incorporated into the same project. Beyond The Grid — an ambitious plan underway in the Two Bridges neighborhood of Lower Manhattan — does just that. And the fact that the proposal has been created in this neighborhood is no accident. — urbanomnibus.net
This week, with the encroaching holiday craziness picking up steam, we're releasing a mini-version of Archinect Sessions to cap off the 2014 podcasting season. For this special XS session, Paul, Amelia, Donna and Ken make predictions for the world of architecture in 2015, and discuss our plans... View full entry
Archiculture takes a thoughtful, yet critical look at the architectural studio. The 25-minute film offers a unique glimpse into the world of studio-based, design education through the eyes of a group of students finishing their final design projects. Interviews with leading professionals, historians and educators help create crucial dialog around the key issues faced by this unique teaching methodology and the built environment these future architects will create.
Read our interview with filmmakers David Krantz and Ian Harris about the film, from 9 years ago (!!!) here. View full entry
These three streams—history and theory, design imagination, and the physical act of making—are the central components of the undergraduate track in architecture studies, a joint program from the Graduate School of Design (GSD) and the Faculty of Arts and Sciences’ (FAS) department of history of art and architecture. [...]
The first students in the track, housed within the art-history concentration, graduated last spring.
— Harvard Magazine
The Graduate School of Design at Harvard has long been revered as one of the world's top institutions, but only recently has that pedigree been extended into an undergraduate architecture program. As recently as a few years ago, there were no architecture studio courses available to Harvard... View full entry
The United States Olympic Committee board of directors unanimously approved a U.S. bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the USOC announced today. Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., remain under consideration, with the selection of a U.S. bid city to be made in early 2015. [...]
“All four cities have presented plans that are part of the long-term visions for their communities,” said USOC CEO Scott Blackmun.
— teamusa.org
Buoyed by sustained demand for apartments and condominiums, coupled with state and local governments moving ahead with delayed public projects, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) has been positive for seven consecutive months. [...] (AIA) reported the November ABI score was 50.9, down from a mark of 53.7 in October. This score reflects a slight increase in design activity [...]. The new projects inquiry index was 58.8, following a mark of 62.7 the previous month. — calculatedriskblog.com
In a study presented last weekend to the Gerontological Society of America, University of Kansas assistant professor Amber Watts examined 26 subjects with mild Alzheimer’s Disease and 30 healthy control subjects. She tracked health outcomes over two years, controlling for home price, income, gender, and education. [...]
"Our findings suggest that people with neighborhoods that require more mental complexity actually experience less decline in their mental functioning over time.”
— usa.streetsblog.org
Architecture, of the capital “A” variety, is exceptionally capable of creating signature pieces, glorious one-offs. We’re brilliant at devising sublime (or bombastic) structures for a global elite who share our values. We seem increasingly incapable, however, of creating artful, harmonious work that resonates with a broad swath of the general population [...]
We’ve taught generations of architects to speak out as artists, but we haven’t taught them how to listen.
— nytimes.com
In light of the above, we are appealing to you in your roles as founder and lead architect of the firm, and as an educator and a public intellectual, to side by us in advocating to your client, but also to planning and urban authorities in Beirut the preservation of a site with unique characteristics, and withdraw services on this project. If such advocacy efforts falter, we urge you to dissociate yourself and your firm from this contentious project. — Jadaliyya
We have recently learned that the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) has been commissioned to develop a design for a projected development on a prime sea-front location in Beirut (Lebanon): the Dalieh of Raoucheh. Proposing a private development over such a prime social, national... View full entry
...As a practical matter, limiting global warming to no more than 2C seemed like the most ambitious target that could possibly be achieved, since it would require virtually ending fossil fuel emissions within 30 to 40 years... Yet even as the 2C target has become a touchstone for the climate talks, scientific theory and real-world observations have begun to raise serious questions about whether the target is stringent enough." — NY Times
As is documented in the article, the recent climate talks in Lima ended with an agreement to try to limit the long-term warming of the planet to below 2 degree celsius above the global average temperature at the start of the Industrial Revolution. This limit has been central to talks aimed at... View full entry
Blumberg doesn’t understand why a memorial to victims of communism was given such an “incredibly prominent, almost sacrosanct” site. “It is so centrally placed that it would seem to quite overshadow Canada’s true history.” [...]
"I have a massive problem, a huge problem, with this memorial going on that site. I think it completely misrepresents and skews what Canada is all about.”
— ottawacitizen.com
Previously: Winner of the Canadian National Memorial to Victims of Communism View full entry
"It's like creating a contemporary cathedral in some ways [...]"
"Often the stadium is meant to become the pride of a city, a landmark object, and as such, a monument representing the latest achievements in architecture."
Since ancient Greeks built the first Olympic stadium in fine white marble, the arena has been as much about inspiring awe, as staging competition.
Today's architects must go even further.
— cnn.com
Related: Hadid and Japanese at loggerheads over ‘turtle-like’ Olympic stadium View full entry
