one driving idea of the show holds firm, Bergdoll’s binder notwithstanding: Suburbs are generally an architect-free zone. Insofar as such creatures are spied at all, they’re employed to rubber-stamp a builder’s plans. Beyond that, they’re not wanted. Suburbanites are conservative, wherever they might lie on the political spectrum: There’s a good reason why builders have kept on churning out houses which have remained essentially the same for decades, even as they have grown steadily in size. — architectmagazine.com
Also see Archinect feature: The CRIT: Thoughts on MoMA's Foreclosed: Rehousing the American Dream View full entry
Swiss star architect Peter Zumthor has lost a battle for ownership of the spa and hotel complex in Vals, eastern Switzerland, which he designed.
The commune, which owns the complex, decided on Friday night to sell it to 35-year-old property developer Remo Stoffel.
— swissinfo.ch
The Self-Assembly Line is a large-scale version of a self-assembly virus capsid, demonstrated as an interactive and performative structure. A discrete set of modules are activated by stochastic rotation from a larger container/structure that forces the interaction between units. By changing the external conditions, the geometry of the unit, the attraction of the units and the number of units supplied, the desired global configuration can be programmed. — http://sjet.us
Skylar Tibbits and Arthur Olson, have presented a large-scale installation, The Self-Assembly Line, at the 2012 TED Conference in Long Beach, CA. The Self-Assembly Line is a large-scale version of a self-assembly virus module, demonstrated as an interactive and performative structure. A... View full entry
Viennese architectural firm Wolfgang Tschapeller ZT GmbH won the First Prize in an international competition that seeks to overhaul the campus of the Angewandte, a group of buildings that house the University of Applied Arts, as well as the Museum for Applied Arts in Vienna, Austria. johnszot commented "fucking hot, that".
Evan Chakroff writes about the work of the recent Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu suggesting the selection continues a trend in which "the Pritzker Committee has gravitated towards architects who produce work with an innate understanding of place, allowing their ties to local culture to infuse... View full entry
Limah Design Consultants begins Wayfinding for the 4.8 million sqm Knowledge Economic City (KEC) Madinah, Saudi Arabia. The City will feature residential, hospitality, commercial centres, research facilities, museums and shopping areas. The City will be positioned to serve Saudi Arabia’s... View full entry
“The city is better for the starchitect phenomenon,” said Jonathan J. Miller, the president of the appraisal firm Miller Samuel, “because it enhanced the mystique of New York’s residential housing market. But during the frenzy, those buildings were marketed as if they had inherent greater value, and the jury is still out on that.” — NYT
Vivian S Toy examines how in this current, post recession residential marketplace, starchitect buildings are providing an opporunity to test the value of a name. View full entry
yes, it’s satisfying to denounce nasty old men’s misogynistic ways, but perhaps we need more information about the cool women that were able to work things out. because we are cool, too. f’ing cool. — aml
Our friend Ana María León has things to say in this women's day about women architects. People can say there are no women architects but only architects, then, they are not telling the f'ing truth... View full entry
Craig Hodgetts credits the “unencumbered and exceedingly emotional” style of Miles Davis for shaping the direction of his architectural work. He also names the sounds of Vangelis and Terry Riley as inspirations in a guest DJ set that is a tribute to all kinds of creative work. — KCRW
Architect Craig Hodgetts, of LA design firm Hodgetts + Fung, is being featured today at KCRW's Guest DJ Project. View full entry
On Saturday, June 2 at 1:30PM, 197 graduate and 448 undergraduate students from Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) will receive their diplomas during RISD’s 2012 Commencement celebration. — risd.edu
At the ceremony, RISD will present honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees on to several special guests at its 2012 Commencement ceremony. The honorary degree recipients who are being recognized for creating groundbreaking work and making a profound impact on contemporary culture are: architect and... View full entry
NEWARK — Work has begun on an education-centered community featuring three charter schools and affordable housing for teachers in the city’s decayed downtown, with much of the design work done by the noted architect Richard Meier. The development, called Teachers Village, is expected to cost $149 million when it is completed two years from now. — The New York Times
The Basketball Arena, by architects Wilkinson Eyre, is one of two venues that can be taken apart into kit form and transported. This one, which seats 12,000, consists of a tent-like membrane stretched over a random arrangement of curved forms. The chief of the 2016 Rio Olympics has expressed an interest in taking it to Brazil — Guardian
From a octopus-tentacle shooting range to a multicoloured rubber bridge, Steve Rose looks at the hidden architectural highlights of London 2012 Olympics. While three major venues have dominated public and media attention; the main Olympic Stadium, the Aquatics Centre, and the Velodrome, Rose... View full entry
Chinese architect Wang Shu was this week named the 2012 Pritzker Prize winner. Will Galloway commented "unexpected but very coolio. i met wang shu last year at conference held by my uni her in tokyo. nice guy and very impressive presentation. love his work and his approach. i like that pritzker is not going after the usual suspects, personally."
Woody Evans a librarian living on the south side of Dubai., recently interviewed Sophia Vyzoviti an assistant professor of architectural design methodology at the Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly Greece, about Building Between Dimensions. They discussed augmented reality... View full entry
After getting her Masters of Architecture from MIT in 2001, she was an architect for Delson or Sherman, and then was a designer for Fresh, but she gradually started to lose interest in her projects at work.
“I decided I wanted to turn this passion of mine, to give my dog a well-balanced complete meal that made her healthy again, into a full-time job,” Liao said of her decision to quit her job at Fresh almost two years ago to start her own company.
— parkslope.patch.com
The Interior Design Department at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) has announced Diller Scofidio + Renfro as this year’s recipient of the Lawrence Israel Prize. [...]
Each year, the award recipient is invited to give a public talk on their work. Diller Scofidio + Renfro's talk will take place on Thursday, March 15 at 6 pm at FIT in the John E. Reeves Great Hall, Fred P. Pomerantz Art and Design Center, Seventh Avenue at 28th Street.
— bustler.net
Last week's LA Times article, "Architect of Hollywood Hills mansion damaged in fire, is charged in firefighter's death," stirred discussion, particularly among architects, as the individual who designed the home was not a licensed architect. Aside from requesting that the LA Times retract the word "architect" from the article, the [AIA|LA], in conjunction with [AIACC] Executive Vice President, Paul Welch, Hon. AIA, have released the following statement... — AIA|LA
Previously: Architect charged for the death of a firefighter Statement from AIA|LA... Editor, The recent Los Angeles Times article concerning the negligent activities of an individual purporting to be an architect, and how those activities resulted in the tragic death of Los Angeles Firefighter... View full entry