Tadao Ando's first ever NYC building — the brutalist condo tower project 152 Elizabeth Street — is kicking into high gear with the release of new renderings, photos of the completed sales gallery, floorplans for the first residences coming on the market, the launch of a new website for the... View full entry
Patrik Schumacher continued the debate/discussion started by his mid-April Facebook post "In Defense of Stars and Icons" with an Op-Ed titled Beyond Stars, Icons and Much More. For her part Daniela Ghertovici agrees "with Schumacher’s assessment that ARCHITECTS DO NOT HAVE THE CAPACITY OR... View full entry
A groundbreaking ceremony yesterday marked the beginning of construction for the new Maggie's Centre Barts that's coming to Northeast London next year. The 18 Maggie's Centres across the UK offer free practical, emotional and social support for people with cancer and their loved ones. During the... View full entry
Taken out of its high-profile context, the BIG design for Two World Trade Center initially appears to be a graduate school placeholder: here are the initial seven blocks of program, with a light dusting of foliage on the exposed step-backs. The internet's critical reaction to the renderings... View full entry
The United States Embassy in Grosvenor Square, a Modernist concrete building in the heart of Mayfair, London’s most exclusive neighborhood, has been a potential terrorist target for years, creating anxiety for both employees and neighbors...So a new embassy [by KieranTimberlake] is under construction for a move by 2017, and the residents of Mayfair are relieved. But this being Britain, the new embassy has become the object of debate and, in some quarters, ridicule. — The New York Times
Related:KieranTimberlake’s U.S. Embassy in London celebrates groundbreaking View full entry
Dasha Zhukova’s Garage Museum for Contemporary Art is due to open the doors of its new $27m home in Gorky Park to invited guests on 10 June and the public two days later. The museum is housed in a Soviet-era pavilion that has been converted by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas [...].
In another riff on the building’s architecture, Garage will be hosting a conference in October on Soviet Modernism, a project of the Austrian curator Georg Schöllhammer [...].
— The Art Newspaper
To learn more about Garage's new Gorky Park building, click here.Previously on Archinect:Rem Koolhaas and Dasha Zhukova share what's in store for the new Garage MuseumGarage Museum Teaches an Old Building New Tricks View full entry
“The architecture becomes a solution to an almost unsolvable puzzle,” Ingels told me one recent morning. — WIRED Magazine
Last week Archinect broke the news that Bjarke Ingels' BIG had taken over the design of Two World Trade Center from Foster + Partners, and today BIG has released its first renderings of its proposed new design. Foster's slanted quadruple diamond crown has been nixed in favor of a stepped-back... View full entry
The Hotel Okura, built in 1962 in time for the 1964 Olympics, is slated to be torn down in September to make way for a bigger, fancier Okura, in time for the 2020 Olympics. (The less-good, less-famous southern wing of the old Okura, added in 1973, will be allowed to stay.) [...]
There will never be this particular hush again in the middle of Tokyo. You will have to have been there to know what you will soon miss.
— nytimes.com
Previously: Farewell to the Old Okura View full entry
Say what you want about One World Trade Center (and much has already been said here on Archinect), but it sure is a heck of a construction project.From the laying of the symbolic cornerstone on July 4, 2004 to the recent opening of One World Observatory on May 29, 2015, it took the tower eleven... View full entry
Can the field’s top minds change the way we think about a doomed housing project in Naples or the most abhorred skyscraper in Paris? Allow them to try. — The New York Times
Zaha Hadid, Norman Foster, Annabelle Selldorf, and (everyone's favorite) Daniel Libeskind are among the architects who sum up their thoughts on some of the most controversial buildings around the world. What's your take on these projects?More:Zaha Hadid, Piers Gough, other leading cultural figures... View full entry
Vancouver architect Michael Green is proposing to alter the iconic Parisian skyline — by building the world's tallest wooden building...'Just as Gustave Eiffel shattered our conception of what was possible a century and a half ago, this project can push the envelope of wood innovation with France in the forefront,' said Green in a press release. — cbc.ca
More about the project here.More:France Mandates "Green Roofs" for all new buildingsA New Use for the Eiffel TowerVancouver is the latest city to announce 100% green energy goalsCanadian Wood Council pushes for more wood architecture excellence in the latest Wood Design Awards2014 was the tallest... View full entry
Julia_Ingalls presented tips from firms about What should be in your portfolio. One common theme was that applicants aren't expected to tailor their work to the specific types of projects the firm undertakes. As Lorcan O’Herlihy explained "Don’t target work that mimics ours—we look for... View full entry
Tokyo is known for its mix of modern and traditional architecture, but for long-term residents it is easy to feel like the concrete is winning out. [...]
The buildings done by acclaimed Tokyo-based architect Kengo Kuma are different. [...]
Kuma’s campaign to bring Japanese-ness back to architecture has had fascinating results.
— qz.com
The Frick Collection has yielded.
Facing a groundswell of opposition to a proposed renovation that would have eliminated a gated garden to make way for a six-story addition, the museum — long admired for its intimate scale — has decided to abandon those plans and start over from scratch. [...]
With the proposed renovation, designed by Davis Brody Bond, the Frick, on East 70th Street in Manhattan, had sought to increase its exhibition space [...].
— nytimes.com
Previously: Leading artists call to action against the Frick expansion plans View full entry
Despite seeing completion last October, following orders from leader Kim Jong Un, only half of the units of a major apartment complex built near Pyongyang’s Taedong River are currently occupied. [...]
“The elevator runs only during breakfast, lunch, and dinner hours, so for long spans of time it will be impossible to get to the 40th floor,” the source said. “There isn’t even a place for people to put their bicycles, which are the most fundamental tools for people’s livelihoods.”
— dailynk.com