Aleksandra Wasilkowska, the vice-president of the Polish Architectural Association in Warsaw, doesn’t care much for skyscrapers... Street stalls, collapsible tables, carts, and makeshift homeless shelters are but a few typologies of what [she] calls “shadow architecture” — the urban phenomena that follow the rise of an informal shadow economy. Its key figures include street peddlers and traders...not urban planners or corporate designers — Blouin Art Info
Alexandre Gady, conservationist, historian of French architecture and professor of modern architecture at the Sorbonne, argues that changing or “renewing” Paris diverts from its real need to look outwards. Paris, he says, is a “finished” city that does not need improving or anything more doing to it. “It’s not that we should be doing this or that – we should not be doing anything in central Paris ... any plan is a diversion from the need of the city to grow outwards,” [...] — theguardian.com
Previously: Paris row after HdM's Triangle skyscraper rejected View full entry
"The latest proposal for the aging Astrodome calls for converting the structure into an indoor park and civic space, including an indoor grassy lawn and an outdoor promenade lined with oak trees. An Urban Land Institute panel, comprised of urban planners, economists and designers from around the country, released its preliminary recommendations Friday at the NRG Center." — Houston Chronicle
For the latest Working out of the Box: Archinect talked with artist and architecture theorist, Santiago Borja. He relates that one thing he learned from architecture school is "a sense of structural logic that most artists lack. They imagine things they have no clue how to build. Having said... View full entry
Archiculture takes a thoughtful, yet critical look at the architectural studio. The 25-minute film offers a unique glimpse into the world of studio-based, design education through the eyes of a group of students finishing their final design projects. Interviews with leading professionals, historians and educators help create crucial dialog around the key issues faced by this unique teaching methodology and the built environment these future architects will create.
Read our interview with filmmakers David Krantz and Ian Harris about the film, from 9 years ago (!!!) here. View full entry
The Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio exhibition presents the design concepts behind the span of projects that British designer Thomas Heatherwick and his London-based studio have created worldwide. Currently at the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas until January... View full entry
August Perez III had an incredible impact on the way New Orleans looks today, from its skyline to Mardi Gras. Perez, one of the city's most important architects of the 20th century, passed away last week at the age of 81.[...]
Taking over his father's architecture firm in 1975, Perez quickly made his mark on postmodern architecture, teaming up with Charles Moore to design the Piazza D'Italia in 1978. The public plaza [...]remains one of the most defining pieces of postmodern design to this day.
— citylab.com
It is to serve this world that Second Home has come into being, a former carpet factory off Brick Lane in east London within whose seductive interiors a fragment of Superstudio’s techno-nomadism has, possibly, come to pass. [...]
The architects are José Selgas and Lucía Cano [...] who have just been announced as the designers of next year’s Serpentine pavilion. They bring to this, their first UK project, lightness and grace as well as invention, and an awareness of when to stop.
— theguardian.com
Related on Archinect:SelgasCano to design 2015 Serpentine PavilionAftershock #2: "Serendipity Machines" and the Future of Workplace Design View full entry
Sinan’s life was extraordinary, spanning the rule of three sultans, responsible for hundreds of buildings and for shaping the face of Istanbul even to this day, and he was considered on a par with Michelangelo in the West. — The Independent
In Elif Şafak's (pronounced Shafak)new novel The Architect’s Apprentice the city is the real star, the teeming bustle of the streets, the whorehouses and palaces, the markets and mosques, the dungeons and bridges. And as the narrative progresses, the work of Sinan, Jahan, and Chota the... View full entry
The undoing of the master narratives of modernism should not be taken as an opportunity for an architecture of spectacle and fantasy, but instead one that, utilizing the lessons of the past, speaks to the complexities of the present and the forces that shape us. It is crucial to deconstruct the idea that design can be universal and instead, to think in terms of an architecture that derives inspiration from the specificity of geography, culture and place. — huffingtonpost.com
Julia Ingalls almost had a hat-trick, publishing the finale to her Material Witness: exploration, this time on apocalypse & columns and reviving Archinect's UpStarts: (seen last in 2012) with a look at Paul Michael Davis Design out of Seattle, WA. Was I the only one who didn’t get the... View full entry
The American Museum of Natural History, a sprawling hodgepodge of a complex occupying nearly four city blocks, is planning another major transformation, this time along Columbus Avenue: a $325 million, six-story addition designed to foster the institution’s expanding role as a center for scientific research and education... — New York Times
Heads up to all you job seekers and active employers. Here's our weekly batch of employers for Archinect's Employer of the Day. If you've been following the daily feature on Archinect's Facebook page, Employer of the Day is where we highlight active employers and showcase a gallery of their... View full entry
It's a big day of announcements for the AIA! Earlier, Moshe Safdie was revealed as the 2015 AIA Gold Medal recipient. Other big announcements the AIA made today include Ehrlich Architects from Los Angeles as the 2015 AIA Architecture Firm Award winner. Considered the AIA's highest honor to an architecture firm, the award recognizes a practice that has produced consistently distinguished architectural projects for a minimum of 10 years... — bustler.net
Peter Eisenman also won the 2015 AIA/ACSA Topaz Medallion, which honors an individual for their significant involvement in architecture education for more than a decade as well as their widespread influential teaching to students.Edward Mazria won the 2015 Kemper Award, which recognizes an... View full entry
Moshe Safdie has been announced as the 2015 recipient of the AIA Gold Medal. Voted on annually, the AIA Gold Medal is regarded as the architecture profession's highest honor given to an individual. The medal honors an individual's exceptional body of work that has made a lasting impact on architectural practice and theory. Safdie will receive the Gold Medal during the 2015 AIA National Convention in Atlanta, Georgia. — bustler.net
These are a few of Safdie's works:Habitat '67 for Montreal's 1967 World's FairMarina Bay Sands in SingaporeThe Salt Lake City Main Public Library in Salt Lake City, UtahRead more on Bustler. View full entry
