BIG will get to design 950-974 Market, a new development in San Francisco's Mid-Market Arts District. Prevailing over strong competitors like OMA and Snøhetta, this will be the first project for BIG on the U.S. West Coast. The 446,000 sqf (42,000 sqm) mixed-use development will include residential units, retail, arts space and theaters. — bustler.net
To celebrate Disney Hall’s tenth anniversary, architect Frank Gehry and Conductor Laureate for the Los Angeles Philharmonic Esa-Pekka Salonen reminisced on the building’s inspiration last night, at a discussion held at the Hammer Museum. Co-hosted by the LA Phil, far from the actual... View full entry
The tower would have only been 697 feet until the developers bought Steinway Hall — a deal that allowed for the building’s height to double, but also gave the Landmarks Preservation Commission the final say.
The approval was a no brainer, members said.
“It represents the best of both worlds of new construction and design and historic preservation,” Commission Chairman Robert Tierney said Tuesday.
Fellow commissioner Fred Bland called the combo “daring and smart.”
— nydailynews.com
Neiman Marcus, purveyor of luxury goods, now also sells luxuries of the architectural variety. As part of its holiday gift catalog, the high-end retailer is offering one night in Philip Johnson’s 1949 Glass House — for $30,000. — blogs.artinfo.com
Apple's proposed new spaceship-shaped headquarters got a super-charged blast-off Tuesday night when the Cupertino City Council voted unanimously to approve the 2.8-million-square-foot behemoth beside Interstate 280, fulfilling a dream of co-founder Steve Jobs, hatching an iconic landmark for Silicon Valley, and promising more congestion in an already traffic-challenged region for decades to come. — mercurynews.com
Chris Precht of penda / Vienna and Alex Daxböck sent us their recent project titled the "O", an elliptically shaped bridge proposal for the RIBA-sponsored Salford Meadows Bridge International Design Competition. For their entries, participants had to design a pedestrian bridge for Salford, England -- one of the fastest growing areas in the Manchester City Region. The winning bridge design will stand as a unique and iconic landmark for the site. — bustler.net
Plopped down on a former Marine Corp air station in the geographic middle of Orange County, nineteen solar-powered model homes line the runway to be judged in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2013 Solar Decathlon. For its first year held away from the National Mall in Washington D.C., the Solar... View full entry
Check out the "Second House First" exhibition, currently at the RAW Gallery of Architecture and Design in Winnipeg, Canada until Oct. 27, 2013.
Second House First gives an in-depth look into the cottages and cabins that surround Lake Manitoba in Manitoba, Canada. The exhibition explores and questions the growing differences between the cabin and the suburban house as well as the contrasting lifestyles of its residents.
— bustler.net
Contributors include Conrad Koslowsky (Roz Barr Architects); Frederik Bo Bojesen, (Herzog & de Meuron); Scrap Marshall, (UCLA AUD); Yannick Guillen, (YG), and Lisa Stinner-Kun (University Of Manitoba). View full entry
This week, as Goldberg’s famous work is pulled apart by wreckers, nothing about its loss seems symmetrical or graceful. Within 40 years, the building transitioned from a proud symbol of civic renewal and design innovation to the victim of old-fashioned Chicago politics. The controversy surrounding the demolition of Prentice, however, injected the preservation movement into an urban design discussion with a presence not seen in a long time. — nextcity.org
Related: As Prentice comes down, stakes rise on its replacement View full entry
New York City’s Department of Buildings issues more than 4,400 violations a year for illegally converted basements, cellars and attics that cannot be occupied because of health and safety hazards, like poor ventilation or a lack of multiple exits.
But with the scarcity of affordable housing in the city and with many New Yorkers already living in makeshift apartments, some housing advocates are calling for a new approach.
— nytimes.com
In 2009, a pair of academics, Kim Steele and Sherry Ahrentzen, collaborated on “Advancing Full Spectrum Housing,” a comprehensive design guideline for housing adults with autism. (An expanded book on the topic is scheduled to come out next year.)
Perhaps the first development to closely follow their template is Sweetwater Spectrum, a residence for 16 adults whose abilities and disabilities span the full range of autism.
— nytimes.com
Cornell University’s new architecture building designed by Rem Koolhaas’ Office of Metropolitan Architecture is a “disaster” says Cornell University architecture professor Jonathan Oschorn. “The code violations are egregious”, states Ochshorn. — businessofarchitecture.com
Photo by Theodore Ferringer View full entry
Meier supplied the project’s master plan, doing without the sculptural gymnastics he’s known for -- at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles and elsewhere -- to keep costs down.
The firm designed a clean-lined four-story box, one of the first two buildings that have opened for the present school term.
Rough and smooth brick patterns echo a mix of clear and translucent glass to make a surface composition as rich as a Mondrian painting.
— Bloomberg
Amelia Taylor-Hochberg, Editorial Manager for Archinect, traveled to Aedes Network Campus Berlin as a fly-on-the-wall, and reported back with 7 Lessons from the 3rd International Architectural Education Summit. These were; 1) The relevancy of the “Architect” is fleeting, 2) Kids... View full entry
Answer: Baku, Azerbaijan, where the government is spending an estimated $6 billion a year on architecture projects. As we wrote in February, Azerbaijan’s leaders want to make their capital city a destination for the rich and fabulous. The latest example: the Heydar Aliyev Center designed by Zaha Hadid, for whom it offered the rare opportunity of nearly total design freedom. Every roof and ceiling panel is different, Hadid says. — nytimes.com