Sinclair has been working with Airbnb over the past year on various pilot projects, with the official [temporary housing] project launching this summer. The ultimate goal is for one million Airbnb users to register as “hosts for good,” signaling that they will provide housing for people impacted by natural disasters or otherwise displaced. — Inhabitat
Sinclair will lead Airbnb's in-house humanitarian team as part of the company's goal to provide free, short-term housing for 100,000 people in need over the next five years. Airbnb announced the #weaccept project in a commercial (linked below) that aired at this year's Super Bowl, not long after... View full entry
Good walls make good neighbours – but not, it seems, when they are made entirely of glass. Five residents of the multi-million-pound Neo Bankside towers, which loom behind Tate Modern like a crystalline bar chart of inflated land values, have filed a legal claim against the museum to have part of its viewing platform shut down. They claim that its 10th-floor public terrace has put their homes into a state of “near constant surveillance”. — The Guardian
In an apparent case of art interfering with life, the owners of the apartments next to the Tate Modern's viewing platform are trying to legally erect some kind of visual barrier between them and the visitors of the museum (although the exotic technology of curtains has apparently not yet made it... View full entry
Harmonizing with architect John Russell Pope's neoclassical West Building, the award-winning East Building, which opened in 1978, was designed by Pei in the modern idiom of its time. Magnificently realizing the long-term vision of Gallery founder Andrew W. Mellon and his children, Paul Mellon and Ailsa Mellon Bruce, the East Building has taken its place as one of the great public structures in the nation's capital. — National Gallery of Art — Bustler
I.M. Pei's 100th birthday is tomorrow! In celebration of the legendary architect's birthday, the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. will host a public talk in the Pei-designed East Building featuring architect Perry Y. Chin – a longtime associate of Pei's — and Susan Wertheim, the... View full entry
From a Circadian Daylight Metric and Design Assist Tool to Trashwalls, the AIA has announced the five projects it has selected for its 10th annual Upjohn Research Initiative grants, and they're all fairly promising. Speaking broadly, the projects each propose investigating a particular aspect of... View full entry
It is one of history’s cruelties that Louis Kahn is almost better known for his unconventional domestic arrangements than for his architecture. Kahn gave us a remarkable string of masterpieces that includes the Salk Institute and the Kimbell Art Museum, and yet he was one of those shambling geniuses whose life was a mess of contradictions. While his commissions took him around the world, he managed to maintain three separate families at home in Philadelphia. — the New York Times
"He had a reputation for blowing deadlines and budgets, testing the patience of clients. No one was surprised to learn after his death in 1974 that his firm was deep in debt. The turmoil of his life came to overshadow his accomplishments."The author, Inga Saffron, reviews You Say to Brick: The... View full entry
Paul J. Newman, 49, is the president of Cohesion Studios. He’s also facing charges in three counties for pretending to be an architect. According to New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Newman worked on numerous housing projects in the Capital Region despite being neither licensed... View full entry
Every architect has to contend with gravity—but when David designed the National Museum of African American History and Culture, the challenges of that elemental force went far beyond the ordinary. How can a design acknowledge, and embody, the weight of this monumental history and yet transcend it right before your eyes? — Time
It feels like this is going to be yet another great year for David Adjaye. The architect, who back in January became Sir David Adjaye after receiving the Knights Bachelor award from the Queen of England, is the only architect on this year's "100 Most Influential People" list (a distinction... View full entry
In addition to conceptually representing the inherent creativity of play, this touring modular playground made up of 35 white cubes mounted on safety rubber also features inlaid LEDs and a smoke machine, making it ridiculously cool for its target demographic.As Stephan Gustin, one of the... View full entry
Like a miniature perfectionist city, the new Apple campus in Cupertino is made up of several different buildings: there's the familiar Norman Foster-designed "spaceship," as well as a massive parking garage that features gleaming solar panels atop the roof.This drone video reveals that very little... View full entry
As L.A. pats itself on the back for its freshly angular skyline, a new architectural trend — enabled by another city ordinance — threatens to turn the beating heart of modern Los Angeles into a cold, lifeless and unwalkable place. — The Los Angeles Times
This excellent piece by the aptly named Steven Sharp delves into the uglification of downtown Los Angeles via the "parking podium," wherein large buildings dedicate their first few floors to a parking garage to meet code requirements for parking, thereby plunging the pedestrian realm back into an... View full entry
Since April 1 a large number of the bars, pubs and liquor shops across India has gone out of business, thanks to a Supreme Court order that the outlets should be at least 500m away from state and national highways...The Aishwarya Bar in North Paravoor, a Kochi suburb has built a 250m-long maze-like walkway to the entrance, theoretically making it more than 500m away from the highway. — India Times
In a move that has even delighted the bureaucrats who initially drafted the rule that no bar could be within 500 meters of a highway, an Indian bar has managed to stay in business by virtue of building a 250 meter long maze that, like the snaking lines at an amusement park, greatly expands the... View full entry
Nicholas Korody started publishing excerpts from Archinect’s fourth live podcasting event, Next Up: Floating Worlds. Looking at potential roles for architecture in the contemporary neoliberal economy, with a focus on issues pertaining to gender and identity, the event featured... View full entry
This week, for our 100th episode of Archinect Sessions, we are excited to share our conversation with Archinect favorite Steven Holl. Our conversation spans a number of topics, including growing up in a small town in Washington state, his early career struggles, his inspirations, working in... View full entry
The AIA distinguishes new residential projects across the U.S. in their yearly Housing Awards. The competition recognizes single-family homes, multifamily residential structures, and specialized housing that exemplify high-quality housing design.For 2017, the competition jury chose winning... View full entry
By creating a machine that extrudes shaped clay, Assemble have created a factory that places an emphasis on the physical creation of one's environment (as well as the spontaneous ideas that can develop from working with materials and processes). It's a throwback to the late 19th/early 20th century... View full entry
