The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) registered positive growth for American architecture firms during the month of November 2019. According to a newly published report from the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the ABI scored at 51.9 last month, signaling the second month of modest... View full entry
A long-in-the-works plan to link Houston and Dallas with high-speed rail is making steady progress as backers for the project announce that they could be one year away from breaking ground. Earlier this year, Archinect reported that Texas CentralTexas Central, the group advocating for and... View full entry
L. Jane Frederick, principal at Frederick + Frederick Architects in Beaufort, South Carolina, has been inaugurated as the American Institute of Architects (AIA) president for the year 2020. Aside from running an award-winning practice and being a Fellow of the AIA, Frederick has played various... View full entry
A year after breaking ground at 5790 W. Jefferson Boulevard, the arrival of a tower crane signals that construction is ramping up at the Eric Owen Moss-designed Wrapper development.
The project, located just west of Metro's La Cienega/Jefferson Station, is being developed by Samitaur Constructs - the local real estate investment firm behind a slew of abstract office complexes in Culver City's Hayden Tract.
— Urbanize LA
The exoskeleton wrapping the 17-story tower like giant rubber bands enables the interior spaces to be column-free, some even with double-height ceilings, reports Urbanize LA. Image: Eric Owen Moss/Zimmerman Visual, via wrappertower.com Image: Eric Owen Moss/Zimmerman Visual, via wrappertower.com... View full entry
Now that California has reached 1 million solar roofs, some activists are looking at battery storage as the next frontier for lawmakers.
Dan Jacobson, director of Environment California, thinks the state should aim to install 1 million batteries by 2025. Those systems could store solar power for use in the evening — and help homes keep the lights on when utility companies intentionally shut off power to reduce the risk of wildfire ignitions.
— The Los Angeles Times
Writing in The Los Angeles Times, Sammy Roth reports on California's 1 million solar rooftop achievement, the culmination of a solar incentive plan initiated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. According to the report, there are now more than 1,046,792 solar installations in the state... View full entry
Save LACMA, a non-profit entity that has formed in response to public outcry against the controversial Atelier Peter Zumthor-led replacement proposal for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) campus, has announced that it is considering placing a ballot measure on the 2020 ballot that could... View full entry
A recently unveiled mixed-use complex located at 80-100 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn envisioned by Alloy Development aims to embrace the coming era of sustainable building design. How? As New York YIMBY reports, the sizable, multi-building development is designed to bring a double-dose... View full entry
Fragile and flammable, Eucalypti have been implicated in worsening wildfires across the world. But there's little consensus over their culpability, value, or future in California's landscape. Defenders and opponents each say that science and history are on their side. — The Guardian
A long-simmering battle over the current and future status of California's Eucalyptus trees is close to bubbling over again, as the increasingly present risk of catastrophic fire events pits Eucalyptus lovers against native plant enthusiasts who would like to see the tinder-producing groves... View full entry
The McHarg Center at the University of Pennsylvania has published a digital atlas that attempts to communicate the wide-ranging implications of both climate change and a potential Green New Deal for the United States. A color-coded breakdown of land uses across the country that includes... View full entry
Potential carbon tariffs have been an active topic at the United Nations climate conference that wraps up this weekend in Madrid, where nearly 200 nations have been at odds over how to counter the continued global rise of greenhouse gas emissions. And some diplomats say it’s inevitable that governments will turn to trade barriers in the effort to fight climate change. — Politico
Politico reports that as international cooperation toward achieving global carbon reduction goals falters in the face of a climate change-denying American presidential administration, European countries are considering implementing carbon tariffs on imported goods to force a change. The... 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. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)... View full entry
University of Pennsylvania Professor David Leatherbarrow has been awarded the 2020 Topaz Medallion by the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA). The award is presented by the two organization every year to superlative educators... View full entry
Piers Taylor of Invisible Studio said the newly elected government: [...] "We are left now with our country in tatters, and no hope, no future and no sense that our government will ever be anything other than a horrendous concoction of idiotic, self-interested, self-serving and morally bankrupt half-wits. We deserved better: we had our chance, and we’ve blown it. Now for two decades or more of discontent." — Architect's Journal
Architects in the United Kingdom are not taking kindly to the electoral rout taken by the nation's liberal political parties in this week's election. The conservative electoral victory guarantees that Brexit will finally come to pass; UK Architects have strongly opposed the measure... View full entry
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), James Corner Field Operations (JCFO), and Two Trees Management have unveiled a masterplan for the Brooklyn waterfront that could bring two residential towers and a 6-acre park to the area. Diagrams highlighting the conceptual approach to the site and urban... View full entry
Some know it as “The Beverly Hillbillies” mansion, others as Chartwell. Now, it has a new name: California’s chart-topper.
The Bel-Air residence of late media mogul A. Jerrold Perenchio has sold for the highest price in California history, about $150 million. The buyer is Lachlan Murdoch, son of Rupert Murdoch and co-chairman of publishing company News Corp., The Times has confirmed.
— Los Angeles Times
The spacious estate at 875 Nimes Road in Bel Air, also known as "The Beverly Hillbillies" mansion from the 1960s TV show, finally changed owners for an undisclosed amount, which sources familiar with the deal told the LA Times, was around $150 million. While the deal would easily beat the previous... View full entry
