In 1958, Frank Lloyd Wright broke a personal record with a cottage he designed for Seth Peterson, a longtime admirer of his work. At just 880 square feet, the home along Mirror Lake, in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, is the smallest residential building Wright ever touched. But it isn’t his smallest structure. Instead, that honour goes to a doghouse, which Wright conceived in the mid 1950s and is now on display at the Marin Civic Center, in San Rafael, California. — House & Garden
In the early 1950s, Robert and Gloria Berger commissioned Wright to design a Usonian-style home for their family in San Anselmo, California. In 1956, their 12-year-old son, Jim Berger, wrote to Wright asking for plans for a matching doghouse for his Labrador... View full entry
Construction of Studio Gang’s planned Parcel F contribution to the Mission Rock development is officially underway in San Francisco, filling in the final puzzle piece of a 28-acre mixed-use scheme led by Tishman Speyer and the local Major League Baseball affiliate San... View full entry
Factory-produced homes can produce up to 45% less carbon than traditional methods of residential construction, according to new research by academics from the University of Cambridge and Edinburgh Napier University. A study found that two modular housing schemes designed by HTA Design, consisting of a total of nearly 900 homes, saved a combined 28,000 tonnes of carbon. — Building
The two schemes studied were the 44 and 38-story Ten Degrees towers in London’s Croydon borough, the world’s tallest completed modular building, and The Valentine, a 10-story student housing project in London’s Redbridge. Both were completed in 2020. The report found that... View full entry
The Line, as the car-free linear city that will form the backbone of Neom is known, could cost up to $200 billion to build, the prince said last year, though that was before the plan changed to include gigantic horizontal buildings.
The buildings would be “different heights as you go,” adapting to the landscape, with their final size determined by engineering considerations and the terrain, Al-Nasr said.
— Bloomberg
The OPEC nation has thus far been mum as to the new plan’s details but says it will be funded in part through an increase in surplus revenues overseen by the Public Investment Fund, which is managed by NEOM’s CEO Al-Nasr. It is yet unclear whether Bechtel, who previously signed on their... View full entry
ICYMI, Sean Joyner debunked Architecture’s Mythological Work Culture. Given the clear "disconnect between the traditional professional ethos and the advent of the current zeitgeist" he argues "It is time to value people over projects, individuals over industry, compassion over concept." Not... View full entry
But Mr. Schiffman said he had no active role in those projects, a statement that raises questions about whether the buildings were approved for construction without the oversight and involvement of a registered architect — a requirement in New York State to ensure that buildings are properly designed and do not pose a safety risk. — The New York Times
The New York Times has obtained a document showing that the credentials of a retired architect in his mid-80s were used to fake his approval of building designs that he did not review. Warren L. Schiffman has been designated as the architect of record on an under-construction, 642-feet-tall hotel... View full entry
Terminal C, Delta’s new dedicated terminal, is now complete and open for business at LaGuardia Airport. The $4 billion terminal spans 1.3 million square feet and represents Delta’s largest-ever airport investment. New facilities include 37 gates, 36 full-service check-in counters, 49 self-service kiosks, 16 bag drop counters, 11 security screening lanes with room for five additional lanes in the future, and 13 restrooms. — New York Yimby
This is the latest milestone in the six-year, $8 billion reconstruction of LaGuardia Airport (LGA). It follows the recent opening of a second skybridge as part of the HOK and WSP-designed Terminal B renovation. For this project, LGA Terminals C and D will be consolidated into a single terminal... View full entry
Grimshaw has released the final designs for City Rail Link (CRL), the largest infrastructure project ever in New Zealand. Situated in Auckland, it includes three train stations, designed in collaboration with WSP as part of the Link Alliance, a consortium of seven companies delivering the main... View full entry
Ahead of June 11th's anticipated debut of the new National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design in Oslo, architectural photographer Iwan Baan has traveled to Norway to preview one of the year's most important cultural projects. His photos reveal the slate grey... View full entry
Cityzenith, a Chicago-based digital twin platform, announced last week that it is partnering with the Los Angeles branch of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Better Buildings Challenge to help construct a digital twin, or virtual replica, of a section of the city to help make its buildings more sustainable and reduce carbon emissions. — Construction Dive
The project will initially center on the downtown Los Angeles neighborhood of Bunker Hill. Cityzenith’s SmartWorld digital twin product will be implemented to enable building owners to simulate their financial paths to net-zero emissions. This is part of Cityzenith’s "Clean Cities &mdash... View full entry
The new 20,000-square-foot Children’s Institute (CII) campus in Los Angeles designed by Frank Gehry is set to open later this month. This is the non-profit’s first-ever purpose-built home in the community of Watts. Located at Success Avenue and East 102nd Street in South Los... View full entry
Some big names were on hand last week to celebrate the opening of Gensler and Marvel’s noteworthy new Brooklyn Public Library (BPL) branch in the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. The upgrades now make it the second-largest in the BPL’s system and are part of a larger $52 million land-sale... View full entry
Garden officials said Fred Meijer insisted on surpassing accessibility standards, as demonstrated by a miniature version of Nina Akamu’s 1999 bronze 'The American Horse' that allows the visually impaired to feel the sculpture. Mr. Williams and Ms. Tsien designed the landscape without significant grade changes, eliminating the need for landings and handrails, as well as stairs or steep ramps between buildings. The subtle slopes allow every visitor to use the same paths for the same experience. — The New York Times
As part of the Times’ new dedicated series for Milan Design Week, Matt Shaw previewed Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Architects (TWBTA)’s renovation of the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, Michigan ahead of its opening on July 1st. The preview noted the... View full entry
Malls represent heavy investments in infrastructure, construction materials and place making that should not be discarded. The popularity of dead malls as sites for Covid testing and eventually vaccinations underlines these essential qualities: Easy road access, unencumbered indoor space, instant name recognition. Contemplating the mall’s roots in the garden is an opportunity not for picturesque nostalgia but for new solutions. — The New York Times
The author of the forthcoming title Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall, out next week from Bloomsbury, Lange crafts a nice rundown of dead mall spaces’ possible reuses as public gardens, apartment complexes, and even health care centers in a country where... View full entry
The UN’s official cultural body UNESCO has issued a new report documenting damage to an alarming amount of historic sites, monuments, and structures since the beginning of the Russian Federation’s criminal invasion of Ukraine began in late February. The organization has verified that... View full entry
