Wood fell out of fashion as a building material in the Soviet Union in favour of concrete. Now, architects across the new east are returning to wood for its many qualities including cost-effectiveness and sustainability. [...]
“Urban wooden architecture is something completely different. It is for the people, without any kind of pretensions for the long-term. It has no direct economic benefit, but it promotes unity and healthy communication.”
— calvertjournal.com
The topic of wood in the Archinect news:Ten Top Images on Archinect's "Wood" Pinterest BoardRise of the wooden skyscrapers: "Where all you need is a giant allen key to put it together."Bali’s fascinating bamboo architectureWooden textiles & low-poly landscapes View full entry
An underground leak has been discovered within the World Trade Center complex — and officials fear the seepage may be coming from the slurry wall that separates the newly rebuilt Ground Zero site from the Hudson River [...]
They fear that the slurry wall may not have been properly insulated, allowing water to seep through it, sources said. [...]
The wall’s emotional significance was immortalized when a portion was left exposed inside the National September 11 Memorial Museum.
— dnainfo.com
The Port Authority of New York maintains that there aren't any known issues with the slurry wall, but that engineering and construction officials were called in to follow up on workers' reports that they heard water rushing "behind the walls of lower concourses of the complex".More news on and... View full entry
Canadian space and defense company Thoth Technology is attempting to make reaching the stratosphere as simple as riding an elevator up a tower about 23 times taller than the world’s tallest building.
The Thoth space elevator patent, approved by the US patent office on July 21, specifies that the tower could be built on any “planetary surface,” (i.e. not just Earth), a sign that Thoth is thinking pretty far ahead. [...] the top of the tower will serve as a rocket launch site.
— qz.com
In slightly more recent-technology elevator news:ThyssenKrupp's cable-free elevator test tower tops out in less than 10 monthsJapan's simple logic for putting toilets in elevatorsInstallation of UltraRope elevators begins at Kingdom Tower View full entry
Islamic State blew up the ancient temple of Baal Shamin in the Unesco-listed Syrian city of Palmyra, the country’s antiquities chief has said. [...]
Baal Shamin was built in 17AD and it was expanded under the reign of Roman emperor Hadrian in 130AD. Known as the Pearl of the Desert, Palmyra, which means City of Palms, is a well-preserved oasis 130 miles north-east of Damascus.
— theguardian.com
Reports of the destruction of the Unesco-listed Baalshamin temple surfaced only days after the news broke that ISIS militants had beheaded Khaled Al-Asaad, a leading Syrian archaeologist and unrivaled Palmyra expert.Meanwhile destruction in the name of so called "cultural cleansing" is also... View full entry
A pedestrian bridge designed by Olafur Eliasson has opened in Copenhagen, inspired by the Danish-Icelandic artist's childhood in Iceland.
Reminiscent of sailing boats, Cirkelbroen, or circle bridge, is made of five circular platforms in different sizes, each with its own "mast", according to Danish foundation Nordea-fonden [...].
Spanning the Danish capital's Christianshavn canal, the bridge, some 40 meters-long (131 feet), has a section that swings open to allow boats to pass through.
— reuters.com
Olafur Eliasson in the Archinect news:Olafur Eliasson Wants You to Design Utopia (Out of Legos)Olafur Eliasson turns Louisiana MoMA into a 'Riverbed'Olafur Eliasson receives 2014 McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT View full entry
A new museum dedicated to the history and culture of Palestine over the last two centuries is due to open in May next year in Birzeit...In a controversial move, the planned launch date coincides with the 68th anniversary of the Nakba, when the Israeli state was established in 1948 and more than 750,000 Palestinians went into exile. 'The decision to open the museum on May 15 is designed to underline the enduring importance of the Nakba to the museum’s work,' says [museum director] Jack Persekian — The Art Newspaper
More on Archinect:Israel-Palestine: Hope through architectureGaza attacks: Lethal warningsAfter Banksy: the parkour guide to Gaza View full entry
the Pinnacle skyscraper grew to just nine floors before falling victim to financial wrangling. Often referred to as The Stump, its stunted lift core has stood as a concrete folly ever since work halted more than three years ago.
Its days are numbered. Scaffolding is now climbing up the core in preparation for demolition. The replacement building will have a very different design. The old core must be pummelled to rubble and a new one constructed.
— londonist.com
More from London's skyline:London's oligarch-transformation continues with a "sky pool"Artist Carsten Höller to wrap world's longest tunnel slide around the ArcelorMittal Orbit Tower in LondonWalkie Talkie Tower summons the elements again — this time it's wind!London is eating itself View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles.(Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect... View full entry
With the US median wage at $5,000 a year, New Yorkers spent 1/10 of their salaries on rent [in the 1950s]...These days a depressing number of young New Yorkers spend over half their income on housing. Rent hikes have transformed a once-democratic city into a playground for the privileged. — The Los Angeles Review of Books
Don't adjust for inflation: it will just depress you. This article in The Los Angeles Review of Books historically traces the drastic rise of housing costs for renters from the middle of the 20th century to the present day through a series of inflation adjustments, edgy banking moves, and the... View full entry
For the overseas investor who has it all, what better trophy to add to the portfolio of properties you will never visit than an apartment with its own “sky pool”? London may already have a fairytale Sky Garden, but now Irish developer Ballymore plans to introduce a “world first” all-glass swimming pool bridge between two apartment blocks in Nine Elms, allowing its residents to float 10 storeys up in the air.
-Oliver Wainwright
— The Guardian
In the 1920s urban "futurists" believed that Americans would be living and thriving in high-density vertical cities. Architect Harvey W. Corbett’s “May Live to See, May Solve Congestion Problems” is one such proposal that sees everything from homes, offices, schools, green space and even aircraft landing fields stacked on top of each other for the ultimate metropolis. — 6sqft.com
There's a thin line (or radius, in this case) between what enhances a design and what simply makes it look like it's trying too hard. In the case of buildings with circular openings on their exterior facades, the effect is often visually arresting, but is it good architecture? The COR building in... View full entry
They were once the tallest residential structures in Europe and a beacon of hope for residents of Glasgow’s slums. Now ... the remaining structures of the Red Road flats will, at last, be demolished. [...]
Built in the 1960s on Glasgow’s north-eastern edge, the flats were intended to house almost 5,000 people as part of an effort to ease overcrowding and combat slum conditions. But in the decades that followed, they were plagued by a range of problems, social and structural.
— theguardian.com
More news from Glasgow:Page\Park Architects to lead Glasgow School of Art restorationFaulty tower: Glasgow's £10m white elephantMackintosh’s best friend ...or worst foe? View full entry
Whenever one of the millions of buildings under construction flanking the High Line hit a certain height, the developer is required to put up a shed over the park [...] except, it seems, when it's for a building by [...] Zaha Hadid. Then it's not just a shed protecting passersby, it's a 112-foot long sculptural installation—in this case entitled Allongé—designed by Hadid to give a sneak preview of the swooping forms of her building, which has just hit High Line level [...]. — ny.curbed.com
Photos of ZHA's Allongé scaffolding/canopy by Scott Lynch. Head over to Curbed NY to see more images.The initial announcement of Hadid's High Line condo building on Archinect in 2013 was a topic not without much commentary. View full entry
David Manica, president of Manica Architecture, the firm designing the stadium, previously described the open-air venue as “like a luxury sports car” and “very aerodynamic.”
A brief video released Monday to promote the project described the stadium as “designed to be an instant classic.” Narrated by actor Kiefer Sutherland, it touted an on-site campus for the NFL that would “power every important league initiative for the next 50 years” as well as a farmers' market [...].
— latimes.com
One must-have LA feature the Times article glanced over is the "VVIP In-Stadium Valet Parking for Premium Fans." After all, who wants to self-park their special-edition Lamborghini next to a stinking Porsche Boxster and then schlep their personally-trained buttocks all the way to the friggin' sky... View full entry