As fossil fuels become more expensive and the number of urban dwellers continues to rise, urban farming will help feed the population without increasing the cost and pollution of food transport. [...]
The rise in rooftop farming isn't limited to commercial operations. "Rooftop farming and gardening has become extremely diverse, and in that sense a more 'normal' presence in cities"
— news.nationalgeographic.com
Imagine what [living in a tiny house] might mean when it's time to bring a date back to your place for the first time. Or even worse, moving in together. Will you remain devoted to your extra-small space when you decide to get a dog? Have kids? And so on. [...]
Turns out, dating and cohabitating and raising a family in 120 to 400 square-foot spaces can be done. It just comes with a unique set of challenges and best-practices at each milestone.
— citylab.com
No absentee landlords or faraway investors allowed. Only Michigan residents and businesses [...]
The idea is to lure neighbors, not investors or opportunists (#NeighborsWanted is the city's hashtag for the program). And that does not include out-of-state urban homesteaders dreaming of cheap property in Detroit. Right now, the land bank is focusing on otherwise intact neighborhoods, as opposed to those parts of town where vacant parcels outnumber the residents who've stuck around.
— washingtonpost.com
To sever instances of “architecture” from the deaths of indentured construction workers on a building site in Qatar, or from the property lines measured out at Twin Lakes, is an elemental act, comparable to flushing a toilet, turning on the water, or switching on a light... Understanding these infrastructures, and contesting their hegemony with that knowledge, is therefore as basic as it gets. — Places Journal
For the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale, curator Rem Koolhaas has chosen as his theme "fundamentals," meaning the "inevitable elements of all architecture ... the door, the floor, the ceiling, etc." To this list Reinhold Martin proposes Fundamental #13: real estate, the land itself, without... View full entry
Super-starchitect Lord Norman Foster and his friends at the European Space Agency stunned the world last year with a plan to build a lunar base by 3D-printing it with moon dust. But what happens when you try something like that on Earth? How is 3D printing changing the way we build cities?
I got the chance to ask Foster just that question at the Center for Architecture in New York City last night.
— gizmodo.com
Previously on Archinect: Foster + Partners works with European Space Agency to 3D print structures on the moon View full entry
I have been trying trying to understand what makes historic places special to so many of us. Part of it is that they are relatively rare in the United States, I guess. For several decades our newer everyday architecture – our subdivisions, strip malls, office buildings – has been simultaneously bland and deadening in its consistency. [...]
But I also think there may be something deeper going on. We gravitate to older places because they ground us in space and time.
— huffingtonpost.com
The trend began a decade ago, when apartments in two towers on New York's Perry Street were snapped up by buyers like Calvin Klein and Martha Stewart.
"When Perry Street was sold, your name was kind of on the marquee," said Mason.
"That's right, for better or worse," laughed Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier. He is now working on a new high-end project on the ocean in Miami Beach.
— CBS News
The most striking Bauhaus designs, such as Marcel Breuer's tubular steel chair or the Wagenfeld table lamp, have been endlessly copied and mass produced.
But the architecture of the design school has left a more complicated legacy in Germany.
[...] reopens two of the art school's most significant houses on Friday, almost 70 years after they were bombed, the move is sure to reignite the old debate about what to do with historic buildings damaged during the second world war.
— theguardian.com
What used to be the fortress of the family and the individual is now a marketable asset in the economy, which leads to wonder whether the online marketplace for short-term lodging hasn't changed the home for good. [...]
The AIRBNB Pavilion critically engages with the corporations owning the means of our identity, providing the infrastructure for our everyday lives and redefining the private realm and national borders.
— AIRBNB Pavilion
Initiated independently from the Venice Biennale, a concurrent exhibition known as the "AIRBNB Pavilion" will occur in the homes of neighboring Venetians from June 4th to 6th, during the Biennale's opening week. While not apparently affiliated (officially speaking) with Airbnb, the Pavilion means... View full entry
At the Barbican Center in London, the Curve gallery is an example of an unusually shaped art space in the middle of a traditional, rectiform center. Its 90-degree curved design, wrapping around the back of the performing arts center's main hall, has been by turns a challenge and a blessing, and its function continues to evolve even after 30 years' experience. — nytimes.com
On May 17, the yearlong series' final event, inspired by L.A.'s most prominent icon, the Hollywood sign, is being staged. Six projects will be installed on the Hollywood sign trail, where all of Los Angeles is laid out before hikers. Details are still being finalized, but the event could feature imaginary viewfinders designed by Elly Ward and mini-monuments erected by Elizabeth Timme, co-director of design office LA-Más. — latimes.com
Trek to the Hollywood signWhat: Installations along a trail near the Hollywood signWhere: Hollywood sign trail. Park in the Greek Theatre Parking Lot G in Griffith Park or at Griffith Observatory and take the shuttle to the Hollywood sign viewing area.When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. May... View full entry
She explains "Our role then, in Shenzhen, wasn’t to play cultural ambassador or artistic exposition-ers, but to effectively perform the moods of Los Angeles from a distance, through whatever interpretative media each individual deemed to be most fit"...
Amelia published What is the Los Angeles Biennale of Architecture / Urbanism? She explains "Our role then, in Shenzhen, wasn’t to play cultural ambassador or artistic exposition-ers, but to effectively perform the moods of Los Angeles from a distance, through whatever interpretative media each... View full entry
A German pensioner has been ordered to demolish her own home - because the house, built at the start of World War II, did not have planning permission. — thelocal.de
On the World Design Capital (WDC) website, Cape Town presents some remarkable shack design projects aimed to solve a nationwide slum problem. Yet even with more than 200 informal settlements and 600,000 residents waiting for formal housing, the Western Cape has been slow to implement the 'transformative design' it celebrates. [...]
The backlog hit 2.1m units in 2013 and at least 1.9 million people (more than 10% of all households) live in shacks or other makeshift dwellings.
— theguardian.com
Related:Apartheid ended 20 years ago, so why is Cape Town still 'a paradise for the few'?Vacation at a Fake Shanty Town With Luxury Amenities View full entry
“Where do you get your ideas for buildings?”
“Oh, I could never do what you do — you know, get up in the morning and go to my job and do my job there.”
“Sometimes I feel like I have a building in me.”
“What’s your favorite building to re-look at?”
“Oh, I’d love to design an office complex, but I’m just so busy.”
— the-toast.net
