The International Architecture Biennale of Rotterdam has announced the appointment of Maarten Hajer as Chief Curator of IABR–2016–. The theme of the seventh edition of the IABR will be “The Next Economy” and it will open in May 2016. — IABR
One of the most prolific and progressive architecture and urban design biennales in existence, IABR announced yet another building block for a better world, better discourse and more meaningful step towards the future of our cities, resources and the environments that are in development. Titled... View full entry
Execs of the Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center have officially shelved the starchitect’s design planned for Ground Zero. Gehry drew up plans for the art center over a decade ago and very few moves were made to bring the project to fruition...The snub, which actually wasn’t communicated to the architect directly, seems to not have affected him much, and he had some choice words for the board’s President, Maggie Boepple. — 6sqft
We cannot rely on visionaries and authoritarians to generate more, and better, housing. They might deliver, with enormous risk and perseverance, through personal connections and their willingness to invest their own equity or to defer their developers’ fee, as BHC has done. But visionaries and authoritarians are few and far between. Rather, we need to formalize ways of rethinking and requantifying net-to-gross, studio-to-three-bedrooms, block-and-plank formulas. — urbanomnibus.net
... the 92-year-old structure had fallen into disrepair since it stopped transmitting TV signals in 2002. Plans to dismantle and relocate the tower were announced earlier this year, prompting Norman Foster, Rem Koolhaas and other architects to petition Vladimir Putin to save it. Moscow's city council has now announced that the tower will be preserved at its current site. — newscientist.com
Friday, August 29:MIT's MindRider helmet draws mental maps as you bike: The prototype is currently being used to create a mental-map and guidebook for NYC, and an upcoming Kickstarter campaign will attempt to fund the project for commercial sale.In Beirut, a grassroots push for more grass... View full entry
In use since September 1, 2014, an elementary school in Tiantai, Zhejiang province, built a 200-meter running track on the roof of its school building. In "School puts running track on its roof" Chinese architect Ruan Hao [LYCS Architecture], chief architect of the teaching building, said "that... View full entry
The latest edition of the Working out of the Box: series featured, Julia Watson (landscape architect turned sacred space conservationist) of Studio Rede. jla-x had two comments; first, that the interview with/work of Studio Rede is "Fantastic!" and second "love this series". Plus, Nicholas... View full entry
Google's satellite imaging allows us to virtually tour remote or inaccessible locales the world over, and with recently improved resolutions and initiatives from the Google Cultural Institute, our gaze can go farther and more intimately into places we may never physically visit. Google's interest... View full entry
“More is more,” was the motto of Deborah Sussman, the graphic designer behind this brilliant visual riot, who died last week at the age of 82. Trained in the office of Charles and Ray Eames, she took their love of colour and pattern to new heights, establishing a studio with her husband, Paul Prejza, that would tackle everything from shop fit-outs to city wayfinding, sprinkling her distinctive brand, like sugary confetti, from Philadelphia to Santa Monica. — theguardian.com
One week ago: Deborah Sussman, designer, has died at age 83 View full entry
From the horizon, the new Botín contemporary art center hovers over Santander’s agate-colored bay like a fleet of spaceships poised for a close encounter. [...]
The $106 million center — designed by Renzo Piano, the Italian architect, to jut over the bay — is the latest private museum emerging in Europe that matches star architects and dramatic designs with billionaires who have huge ambitions and brands to promote.
— nytimes.com
Today is day two in court for architect Louis Cherry and his wife, Marsha Gordon, for the hearing that will decide the fate of their new home in the historic Oakwood neighborhood of Raleigh, North Carolina. Back in March, a neighbor complained that the "modernist" style of Cherry's home didn't... View full entry
City Hall on Thursday rejected the designs of the Kimball Art Center's expansion proposal, determining they do not meet the municipal government's strict Old Town guidelines.
It was a significant setback as the not-for-profit organization attempts to press ahead with an ambitious redo of the high-profile intersection of Main Street and Heber Avenue. [...]
The Kimball Art Center selected a renowned Danish architectural firm, Bjarke Ingels Group, to draft the designs.
— parkrecord.com
Previously: BIG is named winner of the Kimball Art Center Transformation Project Design Competition View full entry
The critic Martin Filler has acknowledged a significant error in a scathing article he wrote for the New York Review of Books about the architect Zaha Hadid. — artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com
Full statement to New York Review of Books...In my review of Rowan Moore’s “Why We Build: Power and Desire in Architecture,” I quoted comments by the architect Zaha Hadid, who designed the Al Wakrah stadium in Qatar, when she was asked in London in February 2014 about revelations a week... View full entry
Friday, August 22:Zaha Hadid sues architecture critic Martin Filler over book review: Hadid is responding to allegedly defamatory comments made by Filler regarding her 2022 World Cup stadium in Qatar.The Demolition of 5 Pointz Has Begun: The "Graffiti Mecca" was slated for demolition last... View full entry
Help save one of America’s architectural gems; Frank Lloyd Wright’s Spring House in Tallahassee, Florida. We at the Spring House Institute are trying to raise money through a crowdfunding campaign to acquire the House from the original owners - the Lewis'. The house was recently listed on the... View full entry
