Stephen Ashton, Howard Raggatt, and Ian McDougall have left a lasting impression in the Australian contemporary architecture scene since they founded Ashton Raggatt McDougall in 1988. Since then, ARM has built projects that the Australian Institute of Architects describes as “some of the most extraordinary [if not sometimes controversial] buildings in the short post-colonial history of [the] country.” — Bustler
ARM's contentious body of work recently earned them the 2016 Gold Medal in the Australian Achievement in Architecture Awards. Here's a glimpse of their work:Photos by John Gollings.Find out more on Bustler. View full entry
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Shigeru Ban is once more jumping into disaster-relief efforts. The cardboard-wielding starchitect traveled to Ecuador earlier this week [...] to provide architectural training and brainpower in the wake of the deadly earthquake April 16 earthquake, which has killed more than 650 people and displaced another 26,000 from their homes. — curbed.com
The Colegio de Arquitectos del Ecuador Provincial de Pichincha issued this statement on its website (Google-translated from the original Spanish text):"The Association of Architects of Ecuador, Pichincha Chapter (CAE-P) and the Pan American Architecture Biennial of Quito, officially announced the... View full entry
It once seemed like a herculean, if not insurmountable, challenge – raising $600 million or more for an ambitious modernist building to serve as the new home for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
Skeptics abounded when plans were first announced three years ago. But momentum now seems to be shifting in LACMA's favor with the announcement this week of two major donations that will push the fundraising campaign near the halfway point.
— Los Angeles Times
The donations together amount to the largest the museum has ever received. Elaine Wynn, a major collector and co-chair of the museum, pledged $50 million. Former Univision chairman A. Jerrold Perenchio has promised to give $25 million for the project.Both donations hinge on the successful launch... View full entry
If you want evidence that London’s renters are being taken advantage of, look no further than a new social media campaign. Launched Monday, the #rantyourrent hashtag encourages London’s overcharged and poorly housed tenants to visually detail the bad conditions they’re expected to put up with in return for large sums of monthly rent.
The results, detailed in a new Tumblr called Vent Your Rent, make for sobering viewing.
— citylab.com
More articles on London and the housing crisis here:The root of London's housing crisis lies beyond its bordersLondon's housing crisis is creating a chasm between the rich and poorLondon's Bleak Housing View full entry
[Project leader Zena] Howard focuses on all of the aspects of the National Museum of African American History and Culture, but hones in on the porch, which happens to span 200 feet and it serves as an transitional space between the outside and inside of the museum.
“I think that the porch is…quintessential America,” [...]
“This project—not only given the scale, the complexity, the political and contextual sensitivities—is an amalgam of all the problems that we, as architects, love to solve”
— blackyouthproject.com
Related on Archinect:What architecture means to Zena Howard, project leader of the National Museum of African American History and CultureDavid Adjaye talks about woven architecture and his new D.C. museumObama to speak at African American history museum’s groundbreakingWatch: First Look at the... View full entry
As the Nepalese government continues to face criticism for the slow pace of the country’s reconstruction, Nepal’s prime minister Khadga Prasad Oli announced today that the reconstruction of key heritage sites in Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur is to finally begin, the Associated Press reports. — The Art Newspaper
A year after the devastating quake, there is some good news in Nepal. As this article notes,The World Monuments Fund (WMF) also announced today that it, in collaboration with American Express, was financing the rebuilding of the 16th-century Char Narayan Temple, which was reduced to rubble by the... View full entry
On the long approach from the sea, the flowing, horizontal silhouette of this all-concrete structure, bracketed fore and aft by leaning walls, stands out from the heavyset classicized buildings along the waterfront promenade [...]
Prime Minister Matteo Renzi visited the site on Sunday, calling it a masterpiece. The absence of Ms. Hadid, 65, who died on March 31 without ever seeing the finished terminal, was keenly felt both days.
— NYT
The city of Salerno, some 60.5 km south of Naples, gained a major new architectural icon this week. A 50,000 sq. ft., €15 million maritime terminal, it's also the first project by ZHA to be inaugurated after their principal Zaha Hadid passed away last month.Before the inauguration ceremony... View full entry
Forget the life and death drama of heart transplant surgery—what about the insane pressure to expertly fold a piece of origami in under 15 minutes? Located in Japan's Okayama prefecture, Kurashiki Central Hospital is holding fierce recruitment competitions in which surgeons must assemble tiny... View full entry
[Yale students:] Why do you think architecture is important, and who do you think it serves, other than the golf players? (laughter)
[Stern:] Architecture is everything about the man made environment. Some of it achieves the level of high art, some of it is good solid meat and potatoes, which is very important after all. You don’t want to sit down to a dinner of foie gras every day in the week. Sometimes you want to have bangers and mash. [...]
Architecture is an art—high and low.
— yalepaprika.com
Related on Archinect: Robert A.M. Stern to step down as Dean of Yale School of Architecture"Unfashionably Fashionable" - Justin Davidson on Robert A.M. Stern’s BuildingsRobert Stern refuses to sign petition for Pritzker to grant joint prize to Denise Scott BrownThe 30-Minute Interview - Robert... View full entry
Harnessing the collective intelligence of plant behaviour, the reEarth project explores new forms of bio-cooperative interaction between people and nature, within the built environment.
Echoing the architecture of Buckminster Fuller, the geodesic sphere, is both exoskeleton and ecological iconography. Its core of twelve garden modules, each carrying native British species on outwardly-extending linear actuators allow the structure to become mobile by shifting its centre-of-gravity.
— interactivearchitecture.org
Find relating articles here: Science Nonfiction: bringing emerging technologies into the UK's architecture educationInnovation with a heart: Guto Requena's technological and emotional designsThis augmented reality helmet could revolutionize the construction site View full entry
The sudden death of Dame Zaha Hadid could not also mean the end of Zaha Hadid Architects. With major projects still ongoing all over the world, the firm had to keep things running strong, focusing on the future while managing grief. After working with Zaha for nearly thirty years, Patrik... View full entry
School of Architecture Dean Norman Millar, who previously taught at SCI-Arc, UCLA, Pasadena Art Center and was active on both the San Diego and Los Angeles campuses of Woodbury, succumbed to pancreatic cancer on April 14. He was 62 years old. Named "Educator of the Year" in 2014 by the AIA|LA... View full entry
Contrary to many, maybe including himself, I do not consider Bjarke Ingels the reincarnation of this or that architect from the past. On the contrary, he is the embodiment of a fully fledged new typology, which responds perfectly to the current zeitgeist. Bjarke is the first major architect who disconnected the profession completely from angst. He threw out the ballast and soared. — TIME
"With that, he is completely in tune with the thinkers of Silicon Valley, who want to make the world a better place without the existential hand-wringing that previous generations felt was crucial to earn utopianist credibility," writes Rem Koolhaas for TIME's 2016 list of the "100 Most... View full entry
Zaha Hadid Architects issued a formal statement announcing that the firm will continue to move forward, with Patrik Schumacher acting as de facto leader. In addition to finishing the 36 projects they had started or had under contract before Dame Hadid died on March 31st, ZHA will also be taking... View full entry
Described in a press release as a "spacious and distinctively contemporary gateway to the institution's existing complex of buildings," the new Pierre Lassonde Pavilion of the Musee National des Beaux Arts du Quebec by OMA appears to have an exceedingly functional quality. Admittedly, the building... View full entry
