Michael Holt speaks to Bjarke Ingels, founder of Danish practice Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), about the exchange of skills and ideas that stem from international collaborations, and the potential for a hybrid of urban, landscape and architectural form at Barangaroo. — australiandesignreview.com
Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey built the Aluminaire House in 1931 for an exhibition in New York City mostly out of mass-produced building materials donated by manufacturers. The project became recognized as an exemplary prototype of modern building forms and techniques at the time, while also... View full entry
I was amazed at the sort of uncanny way in which his work tracks the arc of gay liberation, like early 60s pavillions that provided refuge from a hostile world and then as you go through the 60s and into the Stonewall period the houses become literally open and voyeuristic. Full glass facades facing the ocean - Christopher Rawlins — BBC News Magazine
Leigh Paterson visited Fire Island and talked with Christopher Rawlins author of a new book, Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction. The two discussed the culture of this gay community and the work of this relatively unknown modernist architect, who helped... View full entry
When driving through the streets of Los Angeles, one would expect the urban structures of a dynamic city to be as unique as its inhabitants. But that's not entirely the case, and why is that? The Architecture and Design Museum, Los Angeles poses that question--and what could have been--with their... View full entry
Why does the layout of cities matter so much in mobility?
Harvard's Raj Chetty says he and the other authors of the study were struck by the amount of variation in mobility across areas.
— marketplace.org
Richard Meier is the last of the New York Five architects to keep working in minimalist white. Now that theme will be towering over Tel Aviv - the American's luxury high-rise is almost finished. — Haaretz
Tate Britain has unveiled further details of one of the most significant redevelopments in its history, which includes the reopening of its entrance on Millbank and creation of a new spiral staircase. The £45-million revamp, overseen by architect Caruso St John, follows the gallery’s chronological rehang, announced earlier this year. — blouinartinfo.com
Engineers from Microsoft have made a new operating system which could enhance the control of the smart home. The new software will become a platform for making apps for “installation” to flats and houses which are furnished with different electronics and household appliances. — architechnologist.com
This software is available at lab-of-things.com. View full entry
For the latest edition of the Working out of the Box series, Archinect spoke with Spain-based Brazilian Creative Director/Creative Consultant Gustavo Almeida-Santos of studiogaas. Therein, we learn Mr. Almeida-Santos is currently attending ETSAM in Madrid, where he is enrolled in a... View full entry
A comprehensive report on the research into current public interest practices in architecture has recently been released and is now available at www.aia.org/aiaucmp/groups/aia/documents/document/aiab099531.pdf The research was funded by the 2011 Latrobe Research Prize $100,000 grant, awarded by... View full entry
Far from being anchored in the local context, the project (the disastrous City of Culture of Galicia outside Santiago de Compostela, designed by Peter Eisenman) has decapitated Monte de Gaias and replaced it with a phony landscape with curves like those of a fun-fair roller coaster. These cynical intellectual manipulations cannot mask the reality of structures resembling supermarkets twisted about with algorithms and camouflaged with a thin veneer of granite (imported from Brasil!). — Uncube
In a short sweet and illustrated article writer historian William J.R. Curtis puts several Bilbao effect projects in the trash can. It might as well be called "f..k content." View full entry
In the end, that may be the most astonishing feature of the hub; that a structure of such colossal proportions should be devoted to unobstructed public use. The main transit hall is 365 feet long — a block and a half — making it 90 feet longer than the main concourse of Grand Central Terminal. It is 115 feet wide, or just 5 feet narrower than the Grand Central concourse. — NYT
David W. Dunlap visited the still under construction World Trade Center Transportation Hub. Set to open in 2015, the station has an estimated $3.94 billion price tag but was originally priced at $2 billion. The project was also damaged as a result of Hurricane Sandy incurring as... View full entry
"To some degree, the very characteristics that promised to make the bubble easier to build ultimately handicapped its fund-raising ability. Because the structure was temporary — Mr. Koshalek envisioned inflating the pavilion designed by the New York firm Diller Scofidio & Renfro in May and October — the museum was able to avoid the layers of approval usually required for any structure destined for the National Mall." — The New York Times
In the words of Woody Allen, "What we have on our hands is a dead shark." As has been previously reported, the DS+R project for the Hirshhorn Museum in D.C. will not be moving forward. The reason for this failure is purportedly due to fundraising deficiencies and not aesthetics as the... View full entry
We never would have expected Tom Kundig to be embroiled in legal battle with a community of conservationists, but the characteristically eco-minded architect was slapped with a lawsuit a few weeks ago by residents of Methow Valley, WA. As it turns out, one of Kundig’s newest construction, dubbed the Flagg Mountain Hut, protrudes into the viewshed of a pristine ridge in the valley... the community is not happy with the project and they’ve launched a campaign asking the owners to move the hut. — inhabitat.com
Swedish architecture firm Equator, in partnership with Mojang – the creators of Minecraft, invited players of the popular video game to submit their ideas for an architecture competition that would be held within the game itself.
The Minecraft design competition, which runs until July 31st, is in line with a 2023 housing project by HSB Stockholm in Kungsbroplan. The housing company is holding an architectural competition for the project and wants to see ideas related to the future of housing.
— psfk.com
Equator and Mojang invite all minecrafters to a Minecraft Competition July 1 to July 31. HSB Stockholm has chosen a site, at Kungsbroplan in Stockholm, for its future project in 2023, where they want to see new ideas about housing in the future. But a good city is not just about housing, it... View full entry
