The Spanish NGO Heritage for Peace has published a report on the impact of recent Israeli airstrikes on Gaza’s cultural heritage. The report, released on November 7th, claims that over 100 cultural heritage landmarks have been damaged or destroyed as of publishing. Reports of subsequent damage... View full entry
Conceivably, as one architect speculates, The Line will be “a Noah’s Ark for the happy few”, a privileged AI-controlled citadel set in an inhospitable desert. Otherwise it will be clickbait visible from space, two vast and pointless lines of glass whose colossal construction cost would defeat the Vision 2030 plan to reduce dependency on oil revenues. What’s more likely is that it will never be completed. — The Guardian
The Observer architecture critic blasts The Line as nonsensical, poorly conceived, a youthful self-promotional tool of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and ultimately mocking the leader’s claims that it is “designed to protect and enhance nature” before predicting much of it will never be... View full entry
Another high-end luxury resort complex has been revealed in Saudi Arabia as part of the country’s NEOM megadevelopment on the Gulf of Aqaba. The new Siranna development will include a 65-key hotel in addition to 35 “exclusive” residences geared toward tourists and complement the previous... View full entry
MVRDV has completed work on a vibrant new conversion project in Berlin called HAUS 1 that reworked an aging office building from 1997 into a new hub for innovation and community. Other than the eye-catching canary color finish, the project is visually dominated by an extended grand external... View full entry
Rotterdam-based Studio RAP has transformed a boutique facade in Amsterdam with 3D printed ceramic tiles. The Ceramic House sits along the city’s famous P.C. Hooftstraat shopping street, and according to the firm, “reshapes architectural expression by seamlessly blending tradition and... View full entry
Gensler Principal Steven Paynter shares an update announcing important statistical findings related to his firm’s work surrounding the adaptive reuse and conversion of office buildings worldwide. The data report has been updated to reflect changes in office conversions. The firm shares that an... View full entry
Two weeks after London Mayor Sadiq Khan announced his refusal of planning permissions for the controversial MSG Sphere development planned in East London, the UK’s housing chief has issued a rebuke that may leave some glimmer of hope for the project’s eventual realization. Several UK-based... View full entry
Vancouver-based Omer Arbel Office (OAO) has completed work on their award-winning project 75.9, a new construction of a private home located adjacent to a hayfield in rural British Columbia. The design scheme won in the 'Future Project House' category at the 2019 World Architecture... View full entry
Peterson Rich Office (PRO) has been announced as the architect of a major renovation at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City that will overhaul its Fifth Avenue entrance, gift shop, and other public areas over a period of several years. The Met says this work will be conducted in two... View full entry
Studio Gang has revealed plans for the new home of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival in Upstate New York. Located in the town of Garrison, the 13,850-square-foot performing arts space is set to become the first-ever LEED Platinum theater design in the United States when it is completed. ... View full entry
It will soon become nearly impossible to install fossil-fueled appliances to heat new homes and businesses in Washington. [...]
The codes will require new homes and buildings to meet the same total energy performance as those built with electric heat pumps while allowing builders flexibility to choose appliances. Basically, if builders choose gas appliances, they will need to make up the efficiency losses elsewhere in the construction.
— Seattle Times
The state’s building code update puts them in league with California, Maryland, and major cities New York, Los Angeles, and Boston to have adopted similar policies. The new amendments offer a “watered-down” alternative to a proposed electric heat pump mandate that was abandoned in the... View full entry
Diamond Schmitt Architects has designed a new campus expansion plan for McGill University in unison with LemayMichaud that will help advance the study of earth systems and environmental health while restoring several historic buildings and the university’s connection to Mount Royal Park. One of... View full entry
A team comprising Foster + Partners, CannonDesign, and Gilbane Building Company has designed a major healthcare addition to Mayo Clinic’s campus in Rochester, Minnesota. The project, titled 'Bold. Forward. Unbound. in Rochester' features two new high-rise clinical buildings at the center of the... View full entry
Charles Munger, the billionaire investor whose proposed design for a monolithic, partly windowless dormitory at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) was the subject of a public controversy that drew critical ire and the eyes of outside media, passed away yesterday at his home in... View full entry
Late SCI-Arc founding director Ray Kappe’s final residential design has hit the market in Venice Beach, California, for a listed price of $4.2 million. The 2,482-square-foot home has three bedrooms and was originally built in 1947. Kappe began the commission in 2019 (the same year he passed... View full entry
