The Queen has appointed Tim Knox, 55, the director of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, to be the new director of the Royal Collection Trust. He has been the museum’s director since 2013 and is an architectural historian and country house curator. [...]
His early career was spent at the Royal Institution of British Architects. He then served as the head curator of the National Trust (2002-05), from which he went on to be the director of the Sir John Soane’s Museum (2005-13).
— The Art Newspaper
"The Royal Collection is one of the world’s greatest, comprising more than a million objects from all aspects of fine and decorative art," The Art Newspaper writes. "It is not the personal property of The Queen, but is held in trust by Her Majesty for her successors and the nation." View full entry
But speaking out is just a beginning. Others undergoing experiences similar to mine need assurance that protecting themselves and demanding fairness will be supported, regardless of who the perpetrator is, or how his work is perceived. They need to know that strengthening society’s capacity for fair, thoughtful treatment of everyone is also a valuable contribution, and not a threat. — Medium
Danila Soleri, in a poignant and exposing open letter published on Medium, titled "Sexual abuse: it's you, him, and his work" has accused her father, Paolo Soleri, of sexual abuse. The open letter walks us through the psychological, emotional and tangent emotions and repercussions of such an... View full entry
Some of the world's biggest architecture firms have been competing for plots in this winter's tastiest property market -- the Gingerbread City.
Recently opened at the Museum of Architecture in London, the miniature metropolis is brimming with contemporary -- and almost entirely edible -- buildings.
Around 50 companies specializing in architecture, engineering and landscaping have baked and built structures for the project.
— CNN Style
Photo: Luke Hayes.If you're in London this week, make sure to get into the holiday spirit the architectural way and stop by the Museum of Architecture's Gingerbread City before it closes this Friday — and nothing but cookie crumbs will remain. Competing gingerbread bridges (gingerbreadges?) by... View full entry
Dan Becker, president of the Safe Climate Campaign, told E&E News that "a sewer problem at HQ headquarters has resulted in poop exploding out of water fountains." — The Outline
In a somewhat unusual, and fitting turn of events, the EPA's offices are beginning to speak up and not necessarily in the most conventional way. The building itself has found its mode of most eloquent communication by using sewer plumbing inadequacies to flood the Washington offices with black... View full entry
Construction at the site of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox National Shrine at Ground Zero in New York City has been halted by the main construction company because the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America has defaulted on payments, according to a letter sent by the company to its subcontractors working at the site. — Pappas Post
Image: Greek Orthodox Church in AmericaThe Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America acknowledged the payment issues and responded in a statement: "In light of recent financial difficulties at the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, and in order to make certain that all operations and funds are... View full entry
Four walls and a roof, a basic bathroom and a kitchen sink. Basic access to electricity (a couple of sockets "here and there") and no flooring or wall coverings. This is what the non-for profit developers Naked House – created by a London-based startup – is proposing as an alternative to the £484,000 standard cost of a home for fellow members of generation rent. — Independent
If you thought coming home with Ikea boxes made for an exciting afternoon of assembly, a London based startup, Naked House, is thinking of you. The concept of the startup is to allow the owner to have full control of the interior creation of their homes. With the current thread of DIY reaching... View full entry
Many non-architects have found it difficult to understand the show, which is titled “Make New History” and displays more than 140 designs from over 20 countries at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St. The wall labels, which are supposed to help viewers understand what they’re seeing, are often written in jargon-laced archi-babble. Without guides to translate, many visitors would be lost. It’s the equivalent of putting a hurdle between the audience and the material. — The Chicago Tribune
Disengaged from the public, inaccessible, and impenetrable are just some of the newly minted adjectives being used to describe Chicago's second Architecture Biennale, Make New History. This should not come as a surprise, the show has had a lackluster reception on multiple fronts and while the... View full entry
An 800-foot-tall centerpiece is coming to Detroit's resurgent downtown as the city continues to build momentum about three years after exiting the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history. — Chicago Tribune
Detroit continues its steep climb back to normalcy and growth. As one of America's hardest-hit areas by the Great Recession, Detroit unemployment was running nearly three times as high as the national average in 2009 at a staggering 28 percent — and the city was bleeding population, losing... View full entry
Last month, Archinect released the very first issue of “Ed”, our new print quarterly journal. Filled with engaging visuals throughout, this issue — “The Architecture of Architecture” — features thought-provoking essays by Troy Conrad Therrien, the Feminist Architecture... View full entry
Each year, the NLA (New London Architecture) runs a competition celebrating the best in home extensions and improvements. Now in its seventh year, the 2018 shortlist shows more than ever the value of good design in home improvements, and how architects can work with tight constraints to create... View full entry
At $1 billion, it is the most expensive embassy ever constructed. But its designers say the new American chancery on the Thames River marks a paradigm shift: The U.S. Embassy here will exude openness while hiding all the clever ways it defends itself from attack.
After decades of building American embassies that look brutalist or bland, like obvious fortresses, the soon-to-be-opened chancery in London is a crystalline cube, plopped down in the middle of a public park, without visible walls.
— washingtonpost.com
Image via the U.S. Embassy in London's TwitterThe KieranTimberlake-designed U.S. Embassy in London is preparing for its grand opening on January 16, and the building pleasantly departs from the increasingly common drab 'fortress' chic that American chanceries in cities with heightened risk of... View full entry
The Serpentine Pavilion 2017, designed this year by Germany-based architect Francis Kere, will be moved to Malaysia by early next year.
“Thanks to the generous donations by a group of philanthropists, Ilham Gallery now has a prestigious architectural commission in its collection.
“It was a surprising yet very welcome bit of news to be the new custodian of this exciting work,” said Ilham Gallery director Rahel Joseph.
— The Star Online
In an exciting and unexpected outcome, Francis Kere's serpentine pavilion will be given renewed life with a permanent move to Kuala Lumpur next year. With the final site still unknown, the transition was made possible by a plethora of donations and support. The short shelf life and physical... View full entry
“I try to be the face that I was looking for growing up,” Brown said. “So if I go into a room or an auditorium and just one person is interested in architecture, then I’ve accomplished my mission.”
The name comes from a milestone this past August, when the 400th African-American woman became licensed as an architect. There are 110,000 licensed architects in the country.
— Michigan Radio
Raised in Detroit, architectural designer Tiffany Brown won a 2017 Knight Arts Challenge grant for her project “400 Forward”, which aims to bring in more black girls and women into the field of architecture and urban planning. According to Brown, only 0.3 percent of U.S. architects are black... View full entry
Kengo Kuma is one of Japan’s most significant living architects, thanks to his sophisticated integrations of traditional architecture with up-to-the-minute technologies. Unusually sensitive to materiality and technique, Kuma’s designs are irresistibly tactile, often resembling hand-woven... View full entry
This isn’t a new phenomenon for 2017–see Tiananmen Square, North Korea’s totalitarian buildings, Nazi architect Albert Speer. But this year we were reminded of architecture’s enduring power to be used as political propaganda thanks to Trump’s proposed border wall. — Fast Co Design
Architecture has played a fundamental role in the propagandized rhetoric of the Trump Administration. The aim of any kind of propaganda is to promote an idea or an ideology, and Trump and his administration have used architecture to promote their own program and ideology with an... View full entry