Yesterday I checked out the exhibition "Otherworldly: Optical Delusions and Small Realities" at the Museum of Arts and Design. Below are some highlights from this highly recommended show. — archidose.blogspot.com
This was the city of the 20th Century, but surely nobody, neither utopians or dystopians, imagined that it would look like this. It was nobody's dream and at least in theory, nobody's nightmare. How did we get here? — BBC
In his colorful article, Owen Hatherley, architecture critic and occasional Archinect editor, confronts the ugliness and its legacy 20th century post modern style buildings left the cities with. View full entry
This is the first research practice dedicated to the ontology of space defined by mathematics. — designtopology.com
It's fun to design – even when you have to work for free ! In fact, a freebie “conceptual design” is what two Harvard-educated women produced for Barbie’s new home in a competition to build a dream home for the Mattel doll, sponsored by the American Institute of Architects. — Globe & Mail
Related: Winner of the AIA Architect Barbie Dream House Design Competition View full entry
The founder of Passivhaus and director of Passivhaus Institute PHI, Dr. Wolfgang Fiest, has just sent word that the Passive House Institute United States (PHIUS) will no longer be able to provide building certifications, and will no longer be considered a partner of the program. — Inhabitat
Peter Thiel is known for having big ideas before everyone else - he launched Paypal, funded Facebook, and is now interested in building his very own start-up countries in the far off, open ocean. The self-made billionaire is working closely with the Seasteading Institute to create sovereign nations in international waters, free from the laws of any country. — Inhabitat
PayPal founder Peter Thiel is working closely with the Seasteading Institute to create sovereign nations in international waters, free from the laws of any country. View full entry
If you're in the Los Angeles area these days, we highly recommend to visit the excellent exhibition Rethink LA: Perspectives on a Future City, currently displayed at the Architecture and Design Museum on Wilshire Boulevard. Images above: Rethink LA exhibition opening, August 4 (Photo courtesy of... View full entry
I am a fighter and you're not gonna get rid of me.. — LA Times
'The House of Davids has been an L.A. landmark of sorts ever since Norwood Young put a line of statues in his yard in 1997. Now he’s selling. He’s done with the Davids.' View full entry
I think most exciting thing for designers is this pure absence of design and this incredible presence of life. If you see that combination it is a very profound lesson, I would say. - Rem Koolhaas — OMAofficialchannel
Rem Koolhaas talks to camera about OMA's project in Kowloon, China known as WKCD, West Kowloon Cultural District. You can watch him speak about his 'village' concept, setting up an office on location with young Chinese staff, lessons learned from the context and his adherence to it. View full entry
Portal to the Point Project Advisor Paul Rosenblatt AIA, Principal of SPRINGBOARD Design, is pleased to announce the selection of five finalists for the Portal to the Point Design Ideas Exploration sponsored by Colcom Foundation. The finalists are: Marlon Blackwell Architect, MAYA Design, SCAPE Landscape Architecture, Weiss/Manfredi, and wHY Architecture. — SPRINGBOARD Design
Project Teams Selected for Portal to the Point: A Design Ideas Exploration Portal to the Point: A Design Ideas Exploration is an ‘Idea Generation Project’ funded by Colcom Foundation. Five multi-disciplinary teams have been selected to focus on public art and design in Point State... View full entry
My idea in the master plan was that this was a place of the spirit. This is where people perished. It was not a piece of real estate any longer. You could not put a building there. — featuresblogs.chicagotribune.com
Previously on Archinect: Water On at WTC Memorial & On the 9/11 memorial and its disappointments. View full entry
What hit me there was the awful anticlimax of repetition. A singular moment, the Big Bang that launched a fearful decade, is marked by déjà vu. “Never forget,” this monument exhorts—and then says it again — New York Magazine
Justin Davidson reviews Michael Arad's almost completed 9/11 memorial. He finds that while the original concept was noteworthy for its poetic simplicity, a thicket of bureaucracies, budgets, rules, security fears, agendas, and political interests have dogged virtually every step of the... View full entry
In a week dominated by images of buildings burning to the ground, there have been at least a few people out there still building the things. The press was granted a preview of King's Cross station's new concourse, ahead of its opening in time for the Olympics next year. Designed by architect John McAslan, it is a majestically conceived space which stands alongside the Grade 1-listed sheds and replaces the cramped and grotty 1960s extension that currently serves as the station's entrance. — guardian.co.uk
As Europe continues to battle economic and environmental gloom and doom, nations across the continent are re-evaluating how to build the cities of tomorrow with tight budgets and green mindsets. "We are at a key moment, where we as architects must become activists. We must innovate and help to find new solutions for how people can live well and do well," says Enric Ruiz-Geli, founding principal of Cloud9 architects in Barcelona. — online.wsj.com
Deltek's "Federal Architecture & Engineering Market Outlook, 2011-2016" report shows that while overall agency budgets are under tremendous pressure, policy initiatives that drive cost savings will create opportunities specifically for architecture and engineering firms, and provide modest federal market growth over the next five years. — marketwatch.com