Some big names were on hand last week to celebrate the opening of Gensler and Marvel’s noteworthy new Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) branch in the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. The upgrades now make it the second-largest in the BPL’s system and are part of a larger $52 million land-sale... View full entry
Garden officials said Fred Meijer insisted on surpassing accessibility standards, as demonstrated by a miniature version of Nina Akamu’s 1999 bronze 'The American Horse' that allows the visually impaired to feel the sculpture. Mr. Williams and Ms. Tsien designed the landscape without significant grade changes, eliminating the need for landings and handrails, as well as stairs or steep ramps between buildings. The subtle slopes allow every visitor to use the same paths for the same experience. — The New York Times
As part of the Times’ new dedicated series for Milan Design Week, Matt Shaw previewed Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects (TWBTA)’s renovation of the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan ahead of its opening on July 1st. The preview noted the... View full entry
Malls represent heavy investments in infrastructure, construction materials and place making that should not be discarded. The popularity of dead malls as sites for Covid testing and eventually vaccinations underlines these essential qualities: Easy road access, unencumbered indoor space, instant name recognition. Contemplating the mall’s roots in the garden is an opportunity not for picturesque nostalgia but for new solutions. — The New York Times
The author of the forthcoming title Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall, out next week from Bloomsbury, Lange crafts a nice rundown of dead mall spaces’ possible reuses as public gardens, apartment complexes, and even health care centers in a country where... View full entry
The UN’s official cultural body UNESCO has issued a new report documenting damage to an alarming amount of historic sites, monuments, and structures since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s criminal invasion of Ukraine began in late February. The organization has verified that... View full entry
The Dodge Momentum Index rose 7% in May to 176.2, up from the revised April reading of 165.2. The institutional component of the Index rose 9% and commercial planning rose 6%. May’s increase pushed the level of planning above the most recent cyclical high set in November 2021. Last month... View full entry
Odile Decq has just announced the completion of her latest residential tower project called the Antares Barcelona. Located along the Plaça de Llevant and characterized by a brilliant black, red, and white color scheme and layers of curved terraces, the tower rises 26 floors above Barcelona’s... View full entry
Australia’s first office tower with a “solar skin” is expected to be built next year in a landmark moment for the construction industry and decarbonisation efforts. The eight-storey building at 550-558 Spencer Street in West Melbourne will cost $40m and has been designed by the architecture firm Kennon on behalf of Dr Bella Freeman. — The Guardian
The first-of-its-kind structure for Australia will be covered by 1,182 solar panels with the equivalent thickness of a conventional glass façade. The cladding is called Skala, developed by German solar energy technology company Avancis. The system utilizes a thin-film PV module that sits atop a... View full entry
A team led by Morphosis is designing a new 12-acre arts and cultural district at the University of Texas at Dallas. Called the Edith and Peter O’Donnell Jr. Athenæum, the project will bring a second location of the Crow Museum of Asian Art as well as a performance hall and a planned... View full entry
This site, where an old building is being transformed into a charter school, has just distinguished itself from the 40,000 other major construction projects in New York City by having its third worker fatality in less than three years.
No other construction site in New York City has had this many separate fatal incidents since at least 2003, when the Department of Buildings began keeping electronic records. But despite the pattern of deaths, the consequences have been negligible.
— The New York Times
In full view of the Major Deegan Expressway, 20 Bruckner Boulevard, known throughout the New York area as the site of the iconic former History Channel (and later iHeartRadio) billboard, was once the ice storehouse of a former Yankees owner and is now being transformed into a charter school by... View full entry
New York City-based architecture firm Martin Hopp has completed the renovation of a 720-square-foot basement in Manhattan into a flexible and hyper-functional living and working space. Located in a 1930s building in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood, the garden-level apartment was in need... View full entry
In an amazing rebuke of their university’s purblind pursuit of the Munger Hall megadormitory project last week, students at the University of California, Santa Barbara staged a public forum in order to showcase research-based alternatives to the development and long-term strategic plan. Led by... View full entry
Not giving up is an important aspect of undergraduate learning, and the University of California, Santa Barbara is neatly reinforcing that lesson by offering a new preview of its besmirched Munger Hall megadorm project seven months following the initial public rollout. Billionaire donor Charles... View full entry
Northwestern Medicine plans to spend more than $100 million to build a 120,000-square-foot outpatient care center in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood — after facing past criticism that it hasn’t done enough to serve patients on the South Side. — Chicago Tribune
If approved by the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board, the proposed medical facility will be positioned on the 4800 block of South Cottage Grove Avenue. The center would include an immediate care center, primary care, specialty care, pharmacy services, mammograms, lab tests... View full entry
ZGF Architects has unveiled details of its Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, which has just broken ground in Los Angeles. The 200,000-square-foot facility will house 150 exhibits across three multi-level galleries and will serve as the permanent home of Space Shuttle Endeavour, one of three... View full entry
One of the leading academic art museums in the country has announced SO – IL will head a new expansion effort that will deliver the Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) with the first stand-alone structure in the institution’s storied history. Florian Idenburg and Jing Liu’s team is now... View full entry
