Over the past decade or so, bleacher stairs have become a ubiquitous marker of contemporary public architecture. It’s time for the trend to stop.
Its subsequent proliferation serves as a good example of how avant-garde design, or at least a consumerist version of it, filters down to the mainstream.
The broader point is that architects need to be more inventive as they plan new public spaces, and their patrons need to demand that those spaces are accessible for the entire population.
— The Dallas Morning News
The ubiquitous “bleacher stair” feature can be seen in designs for the Studio Museum of Harlem, Perez Art Museum Miami, and the new Gilder Center at the American Museum of Natural History (just by my count) and can be traced to Rem Koolhaas’ design for Prada’s NYC flagship in 2001, says... View full entry
University of Stuttgart professor Achim Menges has shared details of a new research-led observation tower project called Wangen Tower after its realization earlier this month at the regional garden showcase Landesgartenschau Wangen im Allgäu in southern Germany. The project is a collaboration... View full entry
Many modern companies “have as many conference rooms as there are executives,” [Kay] Sargent said, and it’s become a “dirty little secret” that conference rooms are the new corner offices. [...] When a high-ranking executive parks themselves in a big conference room or spreads their stuff across the long table in the office coffee shop, no one is going to tell them to leave. — The Atlantic
The influence that Google exerted over office design in the 2000s has been credited with starting the movement toward a post-COVID reality in which the private spaces within offices now occupy only 45% of the total footprint. (H/t CoStar.com from January) Still, The Atlantic’s Michael Waters... View full entry
The UK's Housing and Communities Secretary Michael Gove has approved the planned demolition of the Museum of London building and Bastion House near the Barbican. The go-ahead makes way for the revised Sheppard Robson and Diller Scofidio + Renfro-led scheme that would deliver a new office... View full entry
The New York City Department of Design and Construction has issued two new contracts for what will become the first two facilities in the city's progressive borough-based jails system. The bids from Leon D. DeMatteis Construction Corp. for the $3.9 billion new Queens jail and Transformative Reform... View full entry
This month at New York's Guggenheim Museum, artist Jenny Holzer is having her landmark 1989 light projection restaged in the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed building’s rotunda. The installation celebrates her innovative text-based art alongside pieces from the early 70s to today that... View full entry
A group of researchers from the Polytechnic University of Valencia say they have discovered a means for protecting buildings from structural collapse. In a new set of building science experiments conducted in June 2023, they carefully studied animal neurobiology. El País tells us: “The team of... View full entry
Reuters has published images of the DPRK's showcase architecture in a new photo essay titled 'Architecture of control: North Korea's bizarre, post-modern cityscapes,' which shows a rare glimpse at the post-modern building activity in Pyongyang. It comes as the state pursues a new building... View full entry
Work on the OMA-led new LANTERN project has been completed in Detroit’s Little Village neighborhood. The block-sized 22,300-square-foot complex serves as a new home for two local arts non-profits. Signal-Return, designed by Detroit-based M1DTW, and PASC (Progressive Arts Studio Collective) will... View full entry
Following our previous visit to Massachusetts-based Murdough Design, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Oregon this week to explore the work of Waechter Architecture. Launched in 2007, and based in Portland, the firm has built a portfolio orientated around clarity of composition... View full entry
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. Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Kitchen Spaces. Tip: use the handy FOLLOW... View full entry
BIG has designed a new remote hotel concept on Sagi Island, Japan, for the NOT A HOTEL brand, its sixth property overall. The new Setouchi project follows other hospitality designs from the firm, including the new Hôtel des Horlogers in Switzerland and Vollebak Island in Canada. Rendering: MIR... View full entry
Ayers Saint Gross has shared renderings of its new design in Charlotte, NC. Phase 1, which is set to open in 2025, includes two new buildings totaling 685,000 square feet, two parking garages with 1,100 parking spaces, and a central plaza. The project is part of The Pearl; a planned innovation... View full entry
Herzog & de Meuron is advancing on the construction of its new FORUM UZH design at the University of Zurich following a permit issuance for the project whose bid was born out of a 2018 international competition. Preparatory site work will begin in August for the new building, which replaces... View full entry
Norway’s new Kunstsilo Museum has opened to the public in the southern port city of Kristiansand. The new home for the private collection of Nicolai Tangen is the product of a six-year transformation authored by Spanish studios Mestres Wåge Arquitectes, Mendoza Partida, and BAX in a... View full entry
