The American Institute of Architects has revealed more details about this year's AIA Conference on Architecture: due to ongoing COVID-19 safety concerns, the event will be, for the first time ever, held entirely online over the course of four days spread across June, July, and August. Each... View full entry
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has announced over $90 million in grants allocated for affordable housing in Tribal communities. The funds, distributed to 24 Tribes and Tribally Designated Housing Entities (TDHEs) are intended to support the construction of new houses... View full entry
Block 185, the downtown Austin office tower project best known as the future home of Google, has made significant progress since its groundbreaking back in the downright prehistoric era of 2019 — and though it hasn’t reached its full height of 594 feet just yet, the 35-floor building’s ever-growing prominence on the downtown skyline is becoming increasingly difficult to overlook. — Towers
The 35-story Block 185 office tower, designed by Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects in collaboration with the local office of STG Design for developers Trammell Crow Company, will be Google's regional HQ in Austin. Completion is scheduled in 2022. Previously on Archinect: Pelli Clarke Pelli, Gensler... View full entry
It was midafternoon on a Monday and the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Frank Gehry — despite having just turned 92 in a pandemic, completed the top floor of his building in the Grand Avenue development, and prepared for a show of new sculpture at the Gagosian Gallery — had little interest in sitting back to reflect on this potentially meaningful moment in his life and career. — The New York Times
Frank Gehry in conversation with NYT culture reporter Robin Pogrebin. Touring the acclaimed architect's Los Angeles studio, passing models of small residential projects as well as enormous urban developments, the exchange touches on several completed and ongoing Gehry projects that have also made... View full entry
On Friday, the Make It Right Foundation sued its former executive director, Tom Darden III, along with the former treasurer and other officials, accusing them of mismanaging the $65 million project between 2007 and 2016. The suit, filed in in Civil District Court, also alleges that Darden and the others misled fellow Make It Right officials, including Pitt. — nola.com
The legal saga around the Make It Right Foundation continues: after facing a lawsuit of their own for delivering improperly constructed homes as part of the initiative's high-profile post-Hurricane Katrina housing initiative in New Orleans and then suing the architect responsible for the flawed... View full entry
In 2000, distinguished scholar, designer, inventor, and teacher Darell Wayne Fields, Ph.D. published "Architecture in Black." His book is a theoretical treatise that expands on the historical, philosophical, and semiotic texts regarding race in architectural discourse. It argues "architecture, as... View full entry
The developers of Waldorf Astoria Residences Miami, planned as the city’s tallest residential tower at 100 stories, are launching sales, The Real Deal has learned.
The luxury project, at 300 Biscayne Boulevard, will be the highest skyscraper south of Manhattan at 1,049 feet tall, the developers said. Property Markets Group, Greybrook Realty Partners and Hilton are partnering on the tower.
— The Real Deal
The ambitious project first appeared on Archinect as 300 Biscayne back in 2017. According to The Real Deal, Canada-based Uruguayan architect Carlos Ott designed the 1,049-foot-tall (320 meters) tower, and Sieger Suarez is the architect of record. A Waldorf Astoria-branded condo doesn't come cheap... View full entry
The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas announced today that it is planning an expansion overseen by its original architect, Moishe Safdie, that will allow significantly more room for showcasing its collection and for education, cultural programming and community events. — The Art Newspaper
Ten years after the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened in Bentonville, Arkansas, Safdie Architects has been tasked to lead a major expansion project that will increase the size of the institution by roughly 50%, adding new galleries, educational facilities, and community spaces... View full entry
More cities are incorporating biophilic design approaches for several reasons. While some firms genuinely practice regenerative and sustainable design methods, others could be placed into the category of "greenwashing" to satisfy trends and bolster their firm's PR efforts. However, according to... View full entry
Not so long ago, density was promoted as a way to enliven underpopulated cities, particularly their downtowns. Then it became a tool for fighting climate change. Now, density is increasingly seen as an equity issue. [...]
Two notorious projects help us understand the difference between density that enhances a neighborhood and projects that big-foot their surroundings.
— The Philadelphia Inquirer
In her latest column for the Inquirer, architecture critic Inga Saffron dissects two new mid-rise apartment building projects at opposite ends of Philadelphia (the "poop building and the Scrooge building," as she nicknames them) and how their individual approaches toward urban densification can... View full entry
For decades, ordinary residents have been pushed out of cities like London and New York to make room for offices and luxury apartments. But the pandemic has massively reduced demand for these same locations — turning city centers into ghost towns, full of shiny new buildings that no one needs. — Jacobin Magazine
Writing for Jacobin, Glyn Robbins dissects the pandemic's lasting effect on cities around the world where new luxury developments — too often favored over affordable housing solutions for the broader local community — are now faced with a sudden drop in demand. Related on Archinect... View full entry
Exhibit Columbus recently presented the featured designers of the 2020-2021 exhibition cycle in an accessible four-session virtual format. Curated by Iker Gil and Mimi Zeiger, this year's theme New Middles: From Main Street To Megalopolis, What Is The Future of The Middle City? highlights the work... View full entry
The International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam has announced the chief curator of its next edition: Derk Loorbach is the director of the Dutch Research Institute for Transitions (DRIFT) and professor of Socioeconomic Transitions at the Erasmus University Rotterdam's Erasmus School of Social and... View full entry
After 20 years of frantic city-building, rustic China is in a death spiral. Now architects are helping to reverse the exodus – with inspirational tofu factories, rice wine distilleries and lotus tea plants — The Guardian
Oliver Wainwright, The Guardian's architecture critic, on the new crop of Chinese architects seeking to create a renewed sense of local pride and cultural identity across the country's vast rural areas. "After an era of foreign architects using China as their playground," Wainwright quotes design... View full entry
It was a trip to the Arctic that gave a Los Angeles-based architect the inspiration for the new 36,000 sqft expansion of the Winnipeg Art Gallery opening this weekend in the nation's seventh-largest city. Qaumajuq, the Inuit art centre at the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Michael Maltzan... View full entry
