Though Detroit has recently been looking like it was hit by a convoy of mile-wide firenados, there remain signs of architectural grandeur illustrating why it was once known as the Paris of the Midwest. Perhaps nowhere is this faded beauty more palpable than in the large-format photography of Philip Jarmain, a Vancouver native who's spent three years shooting Detroit's sublime edifices, sometimes just months before they were wiped out by bulldozers. — theatlanticcities.com
Related: Can Detroit's Architectural Past Inspire It to Claw Back to Greatness? Petition to block the demolition of the State Savings Bank in Detroit Detroit’s Venal Art Sale No Fix for Urban Nightmare View full entry
In this pilot episode Robert Slinger talks about the Kreuzberg Tower, where he lived on the eighth floor for more than eight years. The project which consists of a tower and its two wings was a social housing project-cum-artist’s-residences built by the architect, educator and poet John Hejduk. — blog.architectuul.com
The winners of the "Designing Recovery" competition were announced earlier this month. Hosted by the AIA in partnership with Make It Right, St. Bernard Project, Architecture for Humanity and Dow Building Solutions, participants designed disaster-relief houses to aid survivors of recent natural disasters in New York City, New Orleans, and Joplin, MO.
Although there were only three competition winners, all entries that can be easily constructed will be built in these three communities.
— bustler.net
The winning proposals are: Resilient House by Sustainable.TO Architecture + Building for New York Shotgun [remix] by GOATstudio LLP for New Orleans CORE House by Q4 Architects for Joplin View full entry
"The concept of the building,'' said Oppenheimer, "is collaboration and fluidity. It'll provide a very open-spaced system, so that at one point in the day you may be in offices on one side of the circle and find yourself on the other side later that day.'' — mercurynews.com
Since October 2013, staying at one of the 1920s-style Bauhaus dorm rooms is even more of an experience: One room was accurately reconstructed with original objects and furniture. The rest of the rooms will be personalized to reflect a former habitant, beginning with Alfred Arndt, the couple Albers and Franz Ehrlich. — bauhaus-dessau.de
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 profiles!)... View full entry
In conjunction with the symposium, "Test Sites: Experiments in the History of Space", the California College of the Arts (CCA) Architecture Division will stage the first exhibition devoted exclusively to the recent works of artisans and historians who harness scents, essences and fragrances in the reconstruction and preservation of historical spaces — An Olfactory Archive. — California College of the Arts
Probably the most under-appreciated sense in the experiential toolbox (unless you count proprioception), smell is often maligned by aesthetic criticism as too ephemeral, too fleeting, to substantiate anything meaningful. But what if it opened the nostrils and minds of the sniffers to imagine... View full entry
Now, as just one more downtown tourist site lined up on the Ben Franklin Parkway, the Barnes "presents itself more as a historical artifact in an artificial, and not especially resonant, environment." — LA Times
Now that the Barnes Foundation has been in its conventional, museum-like new building in downtown Philadelphia for more than a year, one local critic is having second thoughts about the place. View full entry
We're happy to present "Hidden Treasures - Seoul Science Park" by Stefano Corbo, an architect and associate professor at the Faculty of Architecture in Alghero, Italy. [...] Corbo recently received an Honorable Mention for his proposal in the Mapo Oil Reserve Base competition we previously featured. — bustler.net
"Gone with the Fog" by UK-based architect Leo Sooseok Kim of MEDIUS Architects recently won first place in ArchTriumph's Venice Biennale Pavilion 2013 competition this past August.
[...] the structure also reflects the concept of sfumato -- meaning the pavilion doesn't look obstructive against the scenery of Venice and the St. Marco Square. At the same time, visitors on the observation deck are given clear views of the scenery around them.
— bustler.net
Converting old train stations into living spaces is all the rage in Germany. They're charming and, often, affordable -- but making these buildings livable can be more difficult than people anticipate. — spiegel.de
Japanese architect Fumihiko Maki has gathered a throng of designers including Toyo Ito, Sou Fujimoto, Kengo Kuma and Riken Yamamoto to oppose the design of Zaha Hadid's 2020 Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.
Maki, who was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1993, has organised a symposium where Japanese architects will protest against the scale of the proposed 80,000-seat stadium, which is set to become the main sporting venue for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic games.
— Dezeen
If Jørn Utzon did not exist, we would have to invent him. His story, mostly the legend of that single and singular building, the Sydney Opera House, provides the enduring foundational myth for all contemporary architectural practice. Utzon is our sage Kenobi, our renegade Solo, our heroic Skywalker, all in one. He looked the part, too: an architect out of central casting in the Gary-Cooper-as-Howard-Roark mould, as tall as Rem Koolhaas, as beautiful as Jacques Herzog, as Danish as Bjarke Ingels. — architectmagazine.com
The international architectural competition for Moscow's new National Center for Contemporary Arts (New NCCA) recently shortlisted ten firms for its second stage. Although not selected to move on in the competition, here is the New NCCA entry by Portuguese firm AND-RÉ. — bustler.net
Previously: Ten Firms Shortlisted for the Final Stage of Moscow’s New NCCA View full entry
"Beyond the Clouds" is a Smart Harbor competition entry by international award-winning experimental team Zuhal Kol, Carlos Zarco Sanz, and Jose Luis Hidalgo. Their proposal was listed as a finalist [...] earlier this year.
Focused on exploring the potential value of the world's harbors, the competition challenged participants to reimagine existing harbor sites into a modern recreational and tourist area -- with the freedom to interpret the meaning of recreation to their own accord.
— bustler.net