Back in 2008, Lego launched its series of architectural kits with structures such as the Empire State Building, Fallingwater, the Villa Savoye, and countless others. "Architects operate in grids and if you analyze these, in pen and paper over blueprints, then you can derive the best translation... View full entry
The [stabilization plan] calls for 52 piles to be drilled 250 feet down into bedrock to shore up the building, now leaning 17 inches to the north and west. The 2-foot-thick circular steel piles would be filled with steel reinforced concrete. Twenty-two would be sunk along Mission Street and 30 on Fremont Street. — The San Francisco Chronicle
The reinforcements will join the tower's existing 950-pile foundation in helping to stop the tower's drift. According to The San Francisco Chronicle, a report written by a panel of experts studying solutions to the sinking problem states, "In our professional opinion, once the... View full entry
The Cuomo administration is tapping two discretionary funds to steer nearly $47 million to an outlet mall on Staten Island, a multi-pronged subsidy that increased after the developers contributed $85,000 to the governor's campaign.
The Empire State Development corporation last month approved $21.9 million in subsidies for Empire Outlets [...] That's on top of a $25 million grant awarded last April by the state's Dormitory Authority.
— Politico
The recently-opened mall, designed by SHoP Architects, is part of a larger collection of waterfront revitalization and densification projects taking shape on Staten Island. View full entry
Six months after breaking ground across the street from the Walt Disney Concert Hall, construction has gone vertical for The Grand.
Over the past two months, a pair of tower cranes has been raised above the project site, which spans the full city blocked bounded1st Street, 2nd Street, Olive Street, and Grand Avenue.
— Urbanize Los Angeles
It has been exactly two months since the Gehry-designed The Grand development in Downtown Los Angeles completed a massive 15-hour foundation concrete pour for the project’s 39-story residential tower, and now, two tower cranes are driving the construction upwards, reports Urbanize LA. Related... View full entry
Now comes encouraging news of a Detroit program to take abandoned homes which can be saved into a land bank and then auction them off. The program is coupled with forgivable loans for repairs. — CNU
Detrroit is auctioning off vacant homes to "people who commit to fix them up and live in them." The implementation has supported Detroit's growing identity as a financially feasible place to "make a start with a home and a business." View full entry
When tracking the performance of cities across the United States, various factors come into play. Growth in population and employment are often the first to be researched and analyzed. However, not all cities are seen and discussed in the same light. CityLab co-founder and... View full entry
Weiss/Manfredi, Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS + R), and Dorte Mandrup have unveiled a trio of competing schemes for Los Angeles's La Brea Tar Pits, George C. Page Museum, and Hancock Park. The proposals are aimed at rejuvenating and updating the 12-acre park and its iconic tar pits... View full entry
For August, Archinect has explored a variety of topics relating to the changing landscape of the city of Detroit, including new initiatives in design and public policy, academics, and architectural practice. As we near the end of the month, our focus turns to the architects... View full entry
China may be the biggest consumer of sand right now, but the issue is a global one. A UN report published earlier this year showed that sand extraction is far outstripping the rates at which it is replenished. According to a team of scientists who recently wrote about the topic in Science Magazine ($) and The Conversation, “Sand and gravel are now the most-extracted materials in the world”–measured by weight, they surpass fossil fuels and biomass. — Forbes
Writing in Forbes, Laurie Winkless probes the far-reaching and destructive impacts of skyrocketing global sand consumption as the world's urbanizing cities demand more and more of the substance to fuel new construction. View full entry
Tatsuyuki Maeda, a member of the Nakagin Capsule Tower Building Conservation and Regeneration Project, hopes the building will be spared both for its place in architectural history and because of its popularity with tourists. If he had his way, it would not only be preserved but improved, restored to its original state. — CityLab
Reports about the fate of the Kisho Kurokawa-designed Nakagin Capsule Tower — and likely most popular example of the Japanese Metabolist Architecture movement — have been from swaying from planned demolition to possible protection in recent years. Marie Doezema's CityLab piece tries to... View full entry
Henson Developments, WKK, and IBI Group have unveiled designs for a 60-story Passive House tower slated for downtown Vancouver. If completed as designed, the wavy tower could become the tallest Passive House building in the world. The tower, according to renderings published by Narcity... View full entry
A startup called Bumblebee Spaces is trying to make micro apartments more appealing by adding movable furniture. Beds, wardrobe and drawers are stored up on the ceiling, to be lowered quietly on white suspension cords at the touch of a tablet, like a scene change on a theatre stage. In theory this frees up floor space. — 1843 Magazine
The Economist's 1843 Magazine delves into Bumblebee, a new San Francisco startup that aims to imbue tiny apartments with movable architectural elements. View this post on Instagram Bumblebee Spaces Open House on Saturday, 10/20. Come check us out, Seattle! View full entry
[...] the Erection Co. topped out Seattle’s 850-ft-tall Rainier Square Tower, with its radical composite steel frame dubbed “speed core,” in only 10 months. Steel erection began last October in the lowest basement.
The retail-office-residential building is on course for substantial completion next Aug. 13, according to Andy Bench, project manager for the developer, Wright Runstad & Co.
— Engineering News-Record
The NBBJ-designed Rainier Square Tower recently became Seattle's new second-tallest skyscraper after construction height passed 772 feet. Now its developer, Wright Runstad & Company, also celebrated the structure's official topping out at a height of 850 feet. Today we celebrated the Rainier... View full entry
Architects DSM Design Group and Marx Development Group have unveiled renderings for an undulating glass tower slated for New York City's Hudson Yards. The 487-foot tower design differs markedly from previous iterations of the project, which displayed more conventional and monolithic glass... View full entry
Cities and counties in Southern California will have to plan for the construction of 1.3 million new homes in the next decade, a figure more than three times what local governments had proposed over the same period, according to a letter released by state housing officials Thursday. — The Los Angeles Times
Previously, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG), a public agency that pursues regional planning efforts for Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Imperial counties, proposed zoning changes that would make room for just 430,000 new residences... View full entry
