While the 2020 Venice Biennale was postponed, many look forward to what 2021 has to offer with the announcement of the event's opening date on May 22. Carrying on with the theme "How will we live together," Hashim Sarkis, curator of the exhibition, shared, "the world is putting new... View full entry
More than 50 countries are racing to vaccinate their populations to fend off the rising death toll of a third wave of infections. To supplement the existing network of hospitals, medical clinics, pharmacies and other healthcare facilities, many are establishing mass vaccination sites capable of processing crowds — often sports arenas, convention centers and stadiums, but also parking lots and deserted shopping malls. — Bloomberg CityLab
Bloomberg CityLab takes a look at how large sports, cultural, and civic facilities are being converted into mass vaccination sites in cities around the world. View full entry
Anthony Guzzone, former director of global construction at Bloomberg LP, has been sentenced to 38 months in federal prison for tax evasion stemming from his role in $6 million pay-to-play bribery schemes on Bloomberg construction projects in New York City. U.S. Department of Justice officials said Guzzone failed to report as income $1.45 million in illicit payments and gifts. — Construction Dive
According to Construction Dive, Guzzone must also pay $574,005 in outstanding taxes and interest and serve three years of supervised release after he completes his prison sentence. View full entry
Perkins&Will and the American Institute of Architects (AIA) this week released best practices for creating and implementing comprehensive diversity programs for U.S. firms. In a white paper entitled “Creating a Culture of Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Your... View full entry
The pandemic has underlined how broken the UK’s model for urban development is. [...]
It is hard to see now amid the depression and anger, but the pandemic did briefly show cities acting on the basis of general human need: rough sleepers being housed, mutual aid groups being set up, evictions being suspended. Yet the possibility of any long-term change is rapidly being lost.
— The Guardian
Tribune culture editor Owen Hatherly's new housing opinion piece for The Guardian. View full entry
Maintaining a corporate surveillance program that operates only in the shadows might nab the occasional miscreant, but it does little to promote positive conduct or to deter inappropriate use of corporate assets when employees are working from home. A more balanced approach should include clear communications with employees explaining the reasons for, and existence of, corporate monitoring programs. — Harvard Business Review
In a recent Harvard Business Review essay, two experts outline the need for transparency in corporations that monitor employee behavior, writing: "Being transparent about how you’re monitoring employees should be consistent with a transparent culture and a relationship of... View full entry
The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat has published its latest annual web report, Tall Buildings in 2020, with plenty of facts and figures on the state of the skyscraper construction industry during a year full of pandemic-related uncertainty. With 106 completions of buildings... View full entry
The AIA announced yesterday that ArchiPAC (the AIA's political action committee) had "paused all PAC activities and contributions indefinitely, pending further review of the political situation and to enable the development of protocols to address this and future events aimed to undermine American... View full entry
As we enter the Spring term, schools begin to roll out their events and lecture series. For most schools, much of their Fall and Winter lecture programming was spent adjusting and addressing current events happening across the nation. This year schools have taken what they've learned from last... View full entry
[...] a new Smithsonian administration has jettisoned the eye-popping elements of the $2 billion design by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, opting instead for a dramatically downsized version. Set to be presented publicly for the first time this week, the scaled-back plan focuses on the renovation and restoration of the James Renwick-designed Castle and the adjacent Arts and Industries Building (AIB), another National Historic Landmark designed by Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze. — The Washington Post
First presented in 2014, hotly debated in the following years, revised in 2018, and expected to start construction this year, some elements inside the Bjarke Ingels Group-designed $2 billion Smithsonian South Mall Campus redevelopment have been scaled back by the institution's new administration... View full entry
Blair Kamin, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, has announced that after 33 years, and nearly three decades in the role of the critic, he is leaving the paper. Kamin published this Twitter thread on Friday, January 8: 1/7 After 33 years at Chicago... View full entry
Less than 8% of sites on the National Register are associated with women, Latinos, African Americans or other minorities. [...]
The reason for this underrepresentation is an overly technical, legalistic approach to determining what merits designation.
— Los Angeles Times
Sara Bronin, a University of Connecticut Law School professor specializing in historic preservation law, penned an LA Times op-ed about the technical hurdles that have hindered many non-white historic sites to be designated for the National Register of Historic Places. "Preservationists have... View full entry
For the latest Studio Snapshot, Archinect spoke with Casper Mork-Ulnes, Founder and Principal of San Francisco and Oslo-based firm Mork-Ulnes Architects. citizen and Noah Walker both liked what they saw "That's some very nice work" aka "Wonderful projects." Mylla House, outside of Oslo, Norway... View full entry
The Anti-Racist School of Architecture Symposium 2021 will shine a spotlight on the intersection of architecture, race, and education. The Symposium aims to address the following topics: Injustices Black, Indigenous, and People of Color face in the architecture and design education... View full entry
For decades, psychiatric hospitals were grim settings where patients were crowded into common rooms by day and dorms at night. But new research into the health effects of our surroundings is spurring the development of facilities that feel more residential, with welcoming entrances, smaller living units within larger buildings and a variety of gathering spaces. — The New York Times
Architecture and interior design firms have reported an increase in demand for mental health facilities, writes Jane Margolies for The New York Times. "At the design firm Architecture+ in Troy, N.Y., one or two major mental health facilities are typically in the pipeline, with total... View full entry
