Mr. Calatrava was paid approximately 94 million euros (about $127 million) for his work. How could that be, Mr. Blanco asks, when the opera house included 150 seats with obstructed views? Or when the science museum was initially built without fire escapes or elevators for the disabled? — NYT
Suzanne Daley visits Valencia, Spain a city that embraced Santiago Calatrava and is home to the huge (86 acres) City of Arts and Sciences, complex. Since completion of the project, costly oversights and repairs have engendered complaints and criticism of architect and his, some say overly formal... View full entry
In the latest Showcase feature Archinect highlighted, the Louisiana State Museum and Sports Hall of Fame by Trahan Architects. The building which opened this past June, is located in the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase on the banks of the Cane River Lake. The project engendered lots... View full entry
A source from Columbia University has shared with Archinect that Mark Wigley, the Dean of Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, will step down from his position at the end of the academic year. Wigley has been a formidable presence as dean for nearly... View full entry
Check out our latest roundup of Kickstarter fundraisers that we picked from Archinect's curated Kickstarter page! 1. Made in the Lower East Side: miLES Storefront Transformer by miLES The Made in the Lower East Side (miLES) Storefront Transformer is a portable 6-ft cube that can be easily set up... View full entry
In creating associated descriptive metadata, in tagging building entries to describe their materials, types, and, perhaps most especially, their styles, the author of metadata is practicing the historian’s craft and engaging in the historian’s stock in trade. "Name it, then we’ll know what it is," Reyner Banham suggested at the end of “The Great Gizmo.” We can name it metadata creation, but we already know what it is: architectural history. — Places Journal
For several years Gabrielle Esperdy has been part of a team working on the development of SAH Archipedia — an online encyclopedia of American architecture sponsored by the Society of Architectural Historians. Here she explores the critical challenge of creating structural and descriptive... View full entry
For the sake of argument, let's say that Bashar al-Assad is on the phone. He wants her to build him a prison in Damascus. "Well, I wouldn't mind building in Syria," she shrugs. "I'm an Arab and if it helps people, if it's an opera house or a parliament building, something for the masses, I would do it. But if someone asks me to build a prison, I wouldn't do it. I wouldn't build a prison, irrespective of where it is, even if it was very luxurious." — the guardian
She won't build a prison? How many buildings have been designed, and constructed where the intent is one thing, and the ultimate use has been for something quite nefarious? I don't care who she builds for, ultimately she has to live with those decisions, but she can't be this naive, and expect... View full entry
TED Cities in partnership with the Ford Foundation present "TEDCity2.0", happening at TimesCenter in New York City tomorrow, Friday, Sept. 20. From 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Eastern Time, TEDCity2.0 event will focus on encouraging global conversation about the future of the world's cities. Also on the same... View full entry
After an evening aboard the USS North Carolina, the Raleigh architect took home AIA NC’s highest honor as well as four awards for his firm’s completed projects. September 19, 2013 (Raleigh, NC) -- After what turned out to be a very big night for his small, Raleigh-based firm... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the August ABI score was 53.8, up from a mark of 52.7 in July. This score reflects an increase in demand for design services (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings). The new projects inquiry index was 63.0, down from the reading of 66.4 the previous month. — calculatedriskblog.com
Well-designed places can promote health, and design professionals can create them. Health depends... on wholesome places, not just for individuals, but across entire communities, and health professionals can recognize and support them.
Accordingly, two worlds need to come together: the world of design, in which architects, planners and their colleagues create places; and the world of health, in which doctors, public-health officials and their colleagues fight injury, illness and disability.
— seattletimes.com
Howard Frumkin, dean of University of Washington’s School of Public Health, and Daniel Friedman, Ph.D., architect and former dean of the UW College of Built Environments, discuss the importance of architects and health specialists working together to create healthier spaces. View full entry
Art Critique Of Gramsci Monument: A Work in Public Space by Thomas Hirschhorn at Forest Houses, the Bronx, New York. — newcriterion.com
Thomas Hirschhorn’s Gramsci Monument, a temporary public art work sponsored by the Dia Foundation now on view at Forest Houses in the Bronx, reportedly cost $500,000 to construct.1 If you try accounting for its material costs in plywood, nails, tarps, and packing tape, and still come up... View full entry
The new Court of Justice building in Hasselt, Belgium designed by a team comprising, Berlin-based J. MAYER H. Architects and local firms a2o-architecten andLensºass architecten, officially swung its doors open to the public on September 13th. Donna Sink felt "This looks SO BEAUTIFUL! I saw it from the Hasselt train station last March and it literally took my breath away - it makes a great statement on the skyline. To see the interiors and details are so well considered makes me happy".
John Southern penned a review of (a book I have been wanting to read, since I first saw a blurb for it a few weeks ago) Joe Day's "Corrections and Collections: Architectures for Art and Crime" (2013, Routledge). Therein he concluded "Joe Day makes it clear that we are... View full entry
Failed Architecture is a research platform that aims to open up new perspectives on urban failure – from what it’s perceived to be, what’s actually happening and how it’s represented to the public. Supported by a website, travelling workshops and a series of lectures, the research collective seeks to develop ongoing and open conversations with experts in the field of architecture and planning and the public at large. — failedarchitecture.com
Our next Just Launched competition is Autodesk's "Transformation 2030: A Student Design Challenge", in collaboration with Architecture 2030 and the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS). The Challenge gives architecture and engineering students the chance to use their skills to help transform Hunts Point in New York City's South Bronx, a community that has been dealing with high unemployment rates and has over half of its residents living under the poverty line. — bustler.net
I think it is a compliment that our very best architects make people seem stupid. — Mark Wigley introducing Jacques Herzog at Columbia GSAPP
