The Guggenheim plans to research “productive and hospitable office space designs”, staff will be glad to hear, and it is also considering whether to hold a competition to find an architect.
The expansion plan comes just over 60 years after the Guggenheim commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design its original space and more than a decade after it abandoned a scheme for a second, Frank Gehry-designed museum downtown.
— theartnewspaper.com
Every night in Tokyo, the few remaining residents of the Nakagin Capsule Tower bed down to sleep in the once-futuristic white pods they call home.
Unlike the tiny, coffin-like cabins of Japan's numerous capsule hotels, where office workers who have missed the last train can catch a few hours' sleep, the 140 units at Nakagin represent a special part of the history of architecture, and one that is worth protecting against plans to tear it down, say campaigners.
— globalpost.com
"We're going to collect donations from all over the world. We're trying to buy each capsule one by one. Each room counts as one vote, to decide what to do," said Masato Abe, founder of the Save Nakagin Capsule Tower Project. View full entry
The dominant architectural site in [Mecca] is not the Sacred Mosque, where the Kaaba, the symbolic focus of Muslims everywhere, is. It is the obnoxious Makkah Royal Clock Tower hotel, which, at 1,972 feet, is among the world’s tallest buildings. It is part of a mammoth development of skyscrapers that includes luxury shopping malls and hotels [...] The city is now surrounded by the brutalism of rectangular steel and concrete structures — an amalgam of Disneyland and Las Vegas. — NY Times
After 10 years, Kohn Pedersen Fox's Riverside 66 in Tianjin, China successfully reached completion as scheduled and officially opened to the public on September 26. The grand opening also marked the completion of the final phase of the main pedestrian He Ping Lu boulevard, which aims to become the... View full entry
Renowned Brazilian architect Isay Weinfeld has been commissioned to design his first NYC-based building, a 36-unit luxury condominium project called Jardim. Set to be built on 527 West 27th Street in West Chelsea, Jardim will be surrounded by other recent starchitect-designed projects like the... View full entry
When Michelangelo painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he did so, for the most part, using the light of the sun that streamed through the windows of the building. And for the past 500 years since then, viewers have admired the results of that work, for the most part, with the help of that same light source. Starting next month...the famous ceiling will be getting a new look in the form of new lights. Some 7,000 LEDs, to be precise [...] — The Atlantic
In a move that could dramatically change Los Angeles’ skyline, city leaders announced Monday that helicopter landing facilities will no longer be required atop new buildings.
The fire code requirement has been criticized for contributing to the “flat-topped” look of Los Angeles’ skyline, particularly in downtown.
Los Angeles was the only major U.S. city with such a rule, which has been in place since at least the 1970s.
— dailynews.com
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
After it was built, some tenants pushed to have the building painted dark brown so it would look more "finished." Architect publicly protested this step, and the bank remained its simple, and quite effective, Brutalist self.Take it for what it is. I think it is 10 stories too short.Under The Radar... View full entry
AMP Capital has named 3XN as the architect for the 49-story, 102,000sm 50 Bridge Street tower and master plan for the Quay Quarter Sydney (QQS) precinct. 3XN was selected via a multi-stage international competition, the fourth it has won this year, which included two Prtizker Architecture... View full entry
Sean Smith continues his series, in which three architects discuss their transition from student to professional. Therein, Eric Höweler of Höweler + Yoon makes the point that much of running a firm is about finding work; "In school everyone wants to be designers and have their own practice... View full entry
A triplex penthouse at Zeckendorf Development Co.’s tower under construction on Manhattan’s Upper East Side will be offered for sale at $130 million, making it New York’s most expensive apartment listing.
The 12,394-square-foot (1,151-square-meter) property will span the top three floors at 520 Park Ave., where sales will begin the first quarter of next year, Arthur Zeckendorf said in an interview today.
— bloomberg.com
Ateliers Jean Nouvel's new National Art Museum of China (NAMOC) in Beijing will be quite the culture giant. Built in 1963, the new NAMOC will be 130,000 sq. meters to house its various collections of 100,000 pieces from the 1500s to contemporary times. Jean Nouvel and the Beijing Institute of... View full entry
Apple has previously advertised the environmentally conscious features of Campus 2, most notably on the recently updated environmental section of its website, which states that the building will be "powered by 100 percent renewable energy sources" and rely on natural ventilation instead of temperature control during 75 percent of the year. Apple will also be installing more than 300 electric vehicle charging stations on the campus and planting more than 7,000 trees on the grounds. — theverge.com
There are houses, and then there’s Ricardo Bofill’s house: a brutalist former cement factory of epic proportions on the outskirts of Barcelona, Spain. A grandiose monument to industrial architecture in the Catalonian town of Sant Just Desvern, La Fabrica is a poetic and personal space that redefines the notion of the conventional home. — nowness.com