Therefore it ought to be recognized that even in the entire second half of the 20th century, the true way to try to find out what architectural theory means ought to be figured out by reading historians. In a way, historians are depositaries, they have defined the paradigm of what could be considered ‘modernities,’ something that has changed radically in this new century. — magaceen.com
"The ever diminishing role played by theory and thought in professional practice is, according to Frampton and Moneo, one of the principal challenges that contemporary architecture is faced with. Add to this the great transformations taking place in society, the economy, and architecture itself... View full entry
WeWork has plans to launch a private elementary school for “conscious entrepreneurship” called WeGrow in a New York City location next year. The company has even tapped Danish architect du jour Bjarke Ingels to design the first school, dubbed “WeGrow," which will likely be within their new Fifth Avenue headquarters. “In my book, there’s no reason why children in elementary schools can’t be launching their own businesses,” said co-founder Rebekah Neumann. — 6sqft
Rendering by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Source: WeWorkRendering by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Source: WeWorkRendering by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). Source: WeWork View full entry
Brand Barcelona’s comeback begins with a contribution from its heaviest hitter: Antoni Gaudí. Almost a century after his death, the architect of La Sagrada Familia is still synonymous with the city. On 16 November, Gaudí’s first house, Casa Vicens, begun in 1883, will open permanently to the public for the first time. — The Guardian
With tourism considerably down due to mass demonstrations and political unrest, Catalonia's capital Barcelona is hoping to lure more visitors back when a stunning architectural gem in the Gràcia district opens to the public on November 16: Casa Vicens, a summer house for wealthy industrialist... View full entry
The Royal College of Art (RCA) has submitted proposals to Wandsworth Council for a £108 million state-of-the art building for postgraduate students and entrepreneurs, which will secure the RCA’s future in Battersea and deliver new studios, workshops and incubator units required to support its future growth. — Royal College of Art
Exactly one year ago, Herzog & de Meuron was announced as the competition-winning architects for the Royal College of Art's new £108 million Battersea South campus. The project, sitting adjacent to RCA's existing Dyson, Woo and Sackler Buildings, reached another milestone this week with the... View full entry
As part of their yearly innovators issue, which will hit newsstands tomorrow Nov. 4th, the Wall Street Journal has named Diller Scofidio + Renfro their 2017 Architectural Innovator of the Year. The 36 year old firm has "gone from downtown phenomenon to international powerhouse" the magazine... View full entry
MVRDV, in collaboration with local architects Tianjin Urban Planning and Design Institute, has completed the much anticipated Binhai Public Library in Tianjin, China, and first photos reveal a mountainous topography of curved bookshelves creating an amorphous atrium that holds a spherical... View full entry
From Zaha Hadid’s bulbous plaza to a ‘library’ of flora planted across a skygarden, the South Korean capital is using its architecture festival to look to the future – and atone for the costly sins of the past — The Guardian
The Guardian architecture critic Oliver Wainwright is in South Korea's capital reporting from the inaugural Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. "There are over 200 biennales already, so we had to do something different," he quotes the event's curator Hyungmin Pai. "We see it as a kind of... View full entry
A revised proposal for the Moinian Group’s supertall in Hudson Yards, 3 Hudson Boulevard, calls for a slightly less-tall tower. A redesign from FXFOWLE now brings the total square footage to 2 million square feet from a previous 1.8 million and lowers its height to 940 feet tall from... View full entry
Yale has just completed two new residential colleges near the heart of campus: a superblock of neo-Gothic fantasy. This reversion to an archaic visual language exemplifies a troubling trend. With their new architecture, universities all too often abdicate leadership in promoting artistic innovation as they pander to plutocratic donors. — Places Journal
Columnist Belmont Freeman takes a critical look at Yale's RAMSA-designed Benjamin Franklin College and Pauli Murray College in his latest piece for Places. While Freeman marvels at their extraordinary evocation of tradition, he argues that their historicism represents a missed opportunity to... View full entry
Last week FixNation and Architects for Animals joined forces to raise funds for FixNation’s critical charitable services for Los Angeles’ homeless cats, including spaying and neutering (check out the projects from last year). To raise awareness cat shelters were designed and constructed by... View full entry
Archinect is excited to announce a new partnership with PLANE—SITE, a Berlin-based creative agency working at the interface of urban form, cultural space and social life. Every three weeks, starting today, we will be sharing a video from the Time-Space-Existence project, a series of videos... View full entry
Students and faculty from the University of Virginia created a temporary addition to Thomas Jefferson’s vision for a living and learning community. The final product – a series of interlocking arches made of nontoxic, recyclable polypropylene plastic – is very different from the neoclassical style that Thomas Jefferson admired. However, Jefferson, who had a chemistry lab installed in the Rotunda, likely would have been fascinated by the technology used in its production. — UVA Today
"I cross a bit my fingers,” Renzo Piano told me. “It may work. We shall see.”
We were standing inside the concrete shell of the main auditorium of the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, an ambitious but troubled project that after a series of delays is expected to open in 2019. [...]
Construction workers hammered away all around us, producing a ring of noise that occasionally made it tough to hear Piano, who at 80 speaks more softly than he once did.
— Los Angeles Times
LA Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne dissects Renzo Piano's third Southern California project, the troubled Academy Museum of Motion Pictures which — plagued by delays and controversy — is currently under construction right next to his other two completed buildings, the... View full entry
Easton Helsinki, a shopping centre by Lahdelma & Mahlamäki in Itäkeskus, Helsinki, opened its doors to the public today. The 66,000m2 development is the first phase in a larger urban plan and looks to celebrate the identity and culture of Helsinki’s eastern districts. The project... View full entry
Pier 55, the elaborate $250 million performing arts center on an undulating pier in the Hudson River, is back from the dead.
Forty-three days ago, Barry Diller, the entertainment mogul behind the plan, pulled the plug on the project [...]
Now, in an agreement brokered by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, Mr. Diller agreed to revive the project, known as “Diller Island,” and opponents who had filed a series of lawsuits to stop the plan agreed to drop their legal battle.
— The New York Times
In never-ending-money-and-politics-tale news: "Diller Island," the controversial Pier 55 park structure floating in New York's Hudson River, isn't so dead after all after reports of a Governor Cuomo-brokered agreement between billionaire financier Barry Diller and opponents surfaced yesterday. "In... View full entry