The Biden administration has announced a range of measures intended to address the US housing crisis. The measures, which do not require congressional approval, and are separate from measures included in the pending infrastructure bill, aim to built and preserve 100,000 affordable homes over the... View full entry
No other city has understood its connection to mobility the way Los Angeles has. There’s a longstanding view that the city is most legible through motion. You read it by moving through it. — Architectural Record
Christopher Hawthorne, LA Mayor Garcetti's architecture czar, and previous LA Times architecture critic categorize the city's problems into two groups. One is housing, housing, and housing. The other is housing, mobility, and equity.In the interview, these challenges are explained and some... View full entry
An amended plan for new student housing at the University of California, Berkeley has been announced amidst protests surrounding the development that have touched on issues related to the state’s ongoing housing crisis. Local outlets are now reporting that the planned dormitory in People’s... View full entry
The $14.5 billion flood-protection system built around New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina seems to have succeeded at keeping the city from going underwater again. — The New York Times
The abject failure of the levee system during Hurricane Katrina was the primary cause of the devastation that eventually cost the city a minimum of 1,800 lives and over $81 billion in property damage. Ida represents the first test of the system since it was completed in 2018. The levees were... View full entry
California needs more affordable housing — quickly. 1.8 million homes by 2025 to be exact. What the state will actually do about is becoming clearer after a Thursday decision to advance Senate Bill 9, a measure that would allow for multi-unit development on suburban lots previously reserved... View full entry
Niall Patrick Walsh spoke with architect David Wallance FAIA, about his new book The Future of Modular Architecture and his proposed open-source modular system, designed to leverage "existing intermodal freight transport systems and global supply chains to create a highly-efficient, well-designed... View full entry
Construction of the Obama Presidential Center is set to continue at Chicago’s Jackson Park following a ruling by Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett. The project, designed by Tod Williams & Billie Tsien Architects in collaboration with Interactive Design Architects (IDEA), was subjected to a... View full entry
A statement in support of Palestinian rights put up by Forensic Architecture as part of an exhibition at the University of Manchester’s Whitworth Gallery is back in its rightful place tonight after backlash against the message caused the group to temporarily withdraw the exhibition over... View full entry
Rivian Automotive Inc., the electric-vehicle startup backed by Amazon.com Inc., is in talks to invest at least $5 billion to build a factory near Fort Worth, Texas, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg News. — Bloomberg
The factory, labeled “Project Tera” according to the Bloomberg-obtained document, would be able to produce 200,000 vehicles a year and create at least 7,500 jobs by 2027. A number of incentives, including grants and a city tax abatement of up to $440 million, have also been proposed in the... View full entry
Do leopards change their spots? One only has to look at the command structure of the Taliban and their supporters to feel that there won’t be much of a change from 2001—and it might well be worse. [...]
Much of the archaeological landscape has simply gone. Many of the Buddhist monuments were dynamited in 2001, partly in search of portable antiquities to loot.
— The Art Newspaper
Some of Afghanistan's museums had reportedly begun preparations months ago, others are at a loss as fear and paranoia grips what remains of civil society after a 20-year occupation. The city of Herat poses a special risk as its educational heritage and historic citadel have led some to the... View full entry
According to documents obtained through a public records request and provided to Motherboard, a subsidiary of Vice, architecture and design firm HDR Inc. has been working with the government to monitor the social media of activist groups opposed to plans calling for the construction of jails... View full entry
Demand for architectural design activity has grown for the sixth consecutive month, according to a new report released by the American Institute of Architects this morning. The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) for July continued to indicate positive business conditions with a score of... View full entry
Archinect Sessions Next Up: Exhibit Columbus continues with sharing conversations with the recipients of The J. Irwin and Xenia S. Miller Prize. Today's episode is a conversation with Olalekan Jeyifous. Olalekan, who also goes by LEk, as Paul refers to him in the conversation, is a... View full entry
On July 24, 2021, the AIA California Board of Directors officially declared a climate emergency to immediately accelerate the de-carbonization of the built environment. This action calls on each of us to make immediate and meaningful impacts in our profession, it enables AIA CA to move rapidly and boldly to influence public policy, and it challenges other organizations to join us in recognizing the importance of climate action and the immediacy of the issue. — AIA California
Wildfires have dominated the news cycle for three of the last four fire seasons. Architects all over the state have been proffering solutions ranging from ICFing homes to fireproof prefabricated Quonset huts. The AIA declaration comes on the heels of the UN’s devastating Climate Action... View full entry
The deputy leader of a London council responsible for the ballooning costs of the Marble Arch Mound has resigned. Melvyn Caplan stepped down immediately after total costs nearly doubled to £6m, up from a forecast of £3.3m. Ticketholders were offered refunds for the artificial viewing platform which temporarily closed within two days of opening on 26 July. — BBC News
The Westminster City Council, the park’s operator, has said that a review to “understand what went wrong and ensure it never happens again,” is underway. The MVRDV-designed attraction is now free to visit for the month of August after its plants and grass began to die. In a... View full entry
