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
A spoof Guggenheim website, globalguggenheim.org, went live this morning with a satirical “Sustainable Design Competition” for the global museum’s embattled Abu Dhabi branch. The website, a slightly modified replica of the official Guggenheim version, features images of Saadiyat Island, where the museum is to be built, overlayed with the hashtag #futureguggenheim, as well as references to Gulf Labor’s ongoing 52 Weeks campaign. — hyperallergic.com
Caissons are a technology borrowed from bridge building, and they are what makes this project possible. The engineers will drill them anywhere from 40 to 80 feet into the Manhattan schist (the dense, metamorphic bedrock that supports the city’s soaring skyline). The caissons are meticulously arranged in the narrow spaces between the tracks. Above, the they will connect to deep-girdle trusses – some up to 8 stories tall – that control and redirect the towering weight overhead. Finally, the slab. — wired.com
“We've never been this vulgar,” says the practice's founding partner Rem Koolhaas, sitting in the building's boardroom, flanked either side by neat men in military denim jackets, like officers from some future fashion police. [...] brazenly conflating G-Star's brand values with their own, aligning their manifestos, house styles, ways of working and even presenting a shared aesthetic of raw industrial chic – with concrete and steel fragments of OMA buildings overlaid on to G-Star models. — theguardian.com
Since the Civil War, the majestic dome of the U.S. Capitol has symbolized the unity of the United States, despite the discord in the government it overlooks. [...]
But the dome has lately grown as fractured as the federal government, and Tuesday the Architect of the Capitol announced that a $59 million project to save it would begin next month. [...]
There are now hundreds of cracks and deficiencies, and water already has stained parts of the Capitol’s interior.
— The Washington Post
The wait is finally over. After a unanimous decision from the jury, Rem Koolhaas of OMA has the winning design for the new Berlin Media Campus of German publishing house Axel Springer. OMA's concept won against those of two notable finalists, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and Buro Ole Scheeren. A contract will be issued once it has been decided if and when the construction project can be implemented. — bustler.net
Find out more on Bustler. View full entry
In collaboration with the Preservation League of New York State and New York Landmarks Conservancy, along with $39 million of private, state, and federal funds, Common Ground and Beyer Blinder Belle (the architects behind the Grand Central Station renovations) were able to successfully convert the decrepit building back into a livable residence with 416 single occupancy apartments. — untappedcities.com
For the latest edition of In Focus: Archinect talked to London-based Italian photographer, Agnese Sanvito. She described how she started taking pictures while studying Fine Arts in Bologna. Plus, in the the latest edition of Student Works: Amelia Taylor-Hochberg Editorial Manager for... View full entry
Latino Placemaking goes beyond creating great public spaces. It also includes cultural identity, which is shaped by needs, desires, and imagination. The Latino quest for cultural identity parallels the African-American Civil Rights Movement of the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, which has its genesis in protests – many of which were carried out in public spaces. — pps.org
The long-delayed 9/11 Memorial Museum will open to the public on May 21, after a six-day preview period during which it will be open round-the-clock for people directly affected by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, including victims’ family members, first responders, and lower Manhattan residents. [...]
The museum, designed by the New York-based architecture firm Davis Brody Bond, was constructed around the largest, monumental artifacts [...].
— blogs.wsj.com
A curvy futuristic $450M building meant to remake Seoul into a global design capital opened to the S. Korean public Friday after years of debate about its impact on a historic city precinct. And not everyone is happy with the outcome.
Designed by award-winning architect Zaha Hadid, the Dongdaemun Design Plaza is a stark contrast to its neighbourhood, which is better known in Seoul for its links to a royal dynasty that ruled for half a millennium and as home to one of the city’s oldest markets.
— o.canada.com
Rooftop farms have been established all over the world to enable growing food in dense urban areas. In Japan, a whole new kind of an urban rooftop farm was opened recently. Soradofarm is an urban agriculture project that uses the rooftops of train stations to accommodate urban gardens for waiting train passengers that want to use their transfer time to relax and train their gardening skills. — popupcity.net
Once complete the tower will be the world’s tallest, beating current record holder the 828m-tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
Client Jeddah Economic Company has not yet confirmed the exact height of the tower, but has indicated it will be over 1km tall.
In December, contractor Saudi Bauer completed piling work for the tower, including sinking 270 piles up to a depth of 110m.
— bdonline.co.uk
Seventy-six people were injured when part of the roof came down during a performance of The Curious Incident of The Dog In The Night-Time in December.
BBC Radio 4's You and Yours has seen a letter from Westminster City Council saying hessian wadding embedded in the ceiling was getting weaker over time.
The material's deterioration led to the collapse, the council said.
— bbc.com
Previously: London theatre collapse: scores injured at Apollo in West End View full entry
Rice University has picked the New York architectural firm Diller Scofidio & Renfro to design an opera theater scheduled to open in 2018.
The 600-seat theater will stand in what now is a parking lot between Alice Pratt Brown Hall, the home of Rice's Shepherd School of Music, and Rice Stadium. Besides serving the school's Opera Department, the theater will be used for chamber music concerts and other events, Rice said.
Charles Renfro, a 1989 Rice graduate, will be the lead architect.
— chron.com