Global architecture and design firm Callison announced today that it will be acquired by ARCADIS (Euronext: ARCAD), the leading global natural and built asset design and consultancy firm. Callison plans to join ARCADIS, which also owns the built asset consultancy firm EC HARRIS, architectural design firm RTKL, and Asia's leading construction program planning and value management consultancy Langdon & Seah, in the third quarter of 2014. — WSJ
Seventeen years ago, when Kazakhstan moved its capital here, the city of Astana didn’t even exist. [...]
But after years of rapid economic growth fueled by Kazakhstan’s oil and gas riches, the skyline of Astana [...] is now punctuated by gleaming skyscrapers and Western-style shopping malls. The city has become a hotbed for architectural experimentation, attracting big names like Norman Foster and Manfredi Nicoletti who have transformed it into what locals now call “Manhattan on the Steppe.”
— nytimes.com
More big players wanting a slice of that yummy Astana cake: Kazakhstan’s Astana World Expo 2017 Competition Attracts Big International Names View full entry
Nicholas Korody penned, Shitting Architecture: the dirty practice of waste removal. Therein drawing lessons; from Slavoj Zizek on the toilet and Timothy Morton (of Object-Oriented Ontology [OOO]) on sustainability as the preservation of the status quo, he argues that "Under the weight of the... View full entry
As the state has withdrawn, Santiago Cirugeda has stepped in to turn abandoned sites in Seville and other Spanish cities into dramatic art spaces that are inspiring a new breed of architect — theguardian.com
Despite its echoes of Paris’s architectural past, Frank Gehry’s latest museum project—the Fondation Louis Vuitton, opening this fall in the Bois de Boulogne—is like nothing the city has seen before: muscular and delicate, utilitarian and fantastic, a marriage of cultural ambition and private enterprise. Paul Goldberger looks at the genesis of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault’s partnership with Gehry, and the triumphant result. — vanityfair.com
Previously: Gehry-designed Fondation Louis Vuitton to open this October View full entry
Friday, August 15 Farewell to the Old Okura: The famous Hotel Okura, built in the 1960s in a distinctive fusion of modern and traditional Japanese styles, is closing in response to prohibitive earthquake retrofits and larger, newer hotels in the area.Samsung Acquires SmartThings, A Fast-Growing... View full entry
It relates to scale, who's going to be there, what reflects the culture and interests of the community. People's first notion about a park is Central Park — big, grassy, lush. So adjusting expectations about that aesthetic, we have a hard row to hoe in L.A. This is the era for our city to think about parks and the river and the urban forest as all one thing. — latimes.com
For the latest edition of Student Works: Justine Testado spoke with project architect, Duncan Baker-Brown, about The Waste House, designed/built by faculty and students from the Faculty of Arts and City College Brighton & Hove. Olaf Design Ninja_ did some quick math "The numbers tell... View full entry
Regardless, there are two paths forward. One is to scrap the project and start over with an open public competition, which would cost around $17 million, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The other is to push forward with the existing plan to finalize the memorial design and begin breaking ground.
We favor the latter. [...] And the current design is nowhere near a “monstrosity,” as some have called it; it is a novel take on memorialization [...].
— washingtonpost.com
Previously View full entry
Andraos, an associate professor of architecture, planning and preservation at GSAPP since 2011 and a principal at WORKac., will succeed Mark Wigley, who announced he would retire at the end of the 2013-2014 academic year [...]
“Columbia is already a leader in addressing the challenges of high-speed urbanization around the globe and I believe it can lead in recasting architecture in dialogue with our urban societies and the natural environment,” Andraos said in the release.
— columbiaspectator.com
Just shy of the new academic year, Columbia's GSAPP has appointed Amale Andraos to succeed Mark Wigley as Dean, effective this fall. Andraos is a firm presence in New York architecture and beyond, as principal of WORKac alongside her husband, Dan Wood (both previously profiled in our UpStarts... View full entry
It has been the setting for music videos, TV commercials and scenes from the '80s movie "Less Than Zero." Now, the unusual Los Angeles home by influential architect John Lautner is slated to go on the market for $7.5 million.
Known as Silvertop, the house has a striking design: It is made up of a series of interlocking half-circles, with a massive, arched concrete roof over the living room.
— online.wsj.com
Can't get enough of that good Lautner stuff? Read Orhan Ayyüce's tale of the Concannon Residence. View full entry
Readers respond to a letter by Peggy Deamer, an architect, calling for less arrogance and more collaboration in architecture. [...]
It is not only the public that is fed up with this idea of The Architect, but also the profession itself. Having watched ourselves increasingly backed into the corner of aesthetic elitism, we are now more interested in models of practice that do away with the egos and the glamorous buildings they are associated with.
— nytimes.com
Previously:NY Times Enters the "Starchitect" DebateInvitation to a Dialogue: Less Ego in Architects View full entry
Pretty much every architect in the alphabet has produced a chair, a miniature version of their particular aesthetic. [...]
Buildings are all very well, but it seems you haven’t truly made it as an architect until you’ve given us something to sit on. [...]
“Mentally, it’s a very good exercise, to go from [designing] a building to the smallest bit in a building,” [Alex Michaelis] says. “You go back to the detail of the human body."
— moreintelligentlife.com
While most attention falls on the national pavilions at the Venice Biennale, the city itself hosts an uncertain number of simultaneous, satellite events, operating somewhat under the public's radar but still orbiting around the Biennale's curatorial center. There are the Biennale-recognized roster... View full entry
Our friends at PAR — or Platform for Architecture + Research — were announced as the 2014 recipient of the Presidential Emerging Practice Award from the AIA Los Angeles. In a constantly evolving setting like the City of Angels, the award is the highest honor that the AIA|LA Presidential Board presents to an emerging architecture firm in recognition of consistently creating innovative work. It also highlights individuals who take leadership roles in advancing the architectural profession. — bustler.net
An evening awards ceremony will take place at the Million Dollar Theatre & Grand Central Market in downtown Los Angeles on October 29, 2014.PAR Founding Partner, Jennifer Marmon:Find out more on Bustler. View full entry