Because the repetitive patterns of urban architecture break the rule of nature, it is more difficult for the human brain to process them efficiently. [...] over the last 100 years, the design of buildings has been departing further and further from the rule of nature; more and more stripes appear decade by decade, making the buildings less and less comfortable to look at. — CNN
Whether these new apartment buildings can endure another major storm does not seem to be a concern for most residents, who are glad to have new options in inventory-starved markets. Critics, though, ask whether the neighborhoods can withstand the surge of new development and the stress it will add to an already strained infrastructure. These new buildings might remain unscathed in a flood, they say, but what about the damage caused by the torrent around them? — The New York Times
Continuing with designing for space, Foster + Partners will showcase their vision of life on Mars and the Moon as part of the Future Lab showcase at the 2018 Goodwood Festival. The firm will show a range of models, robotics, and futuristic designs to explore the future of life in space... View full entry
Speculations for the topping out of the 73-story 30 Hudson Yards have been swirling for the last couple months, and now the fateful day has finally arrived. [....] YIMBY received confirmation that the tallest building of the Hudson Yards mega-development has finally reached its pinnacle, with an American flag rising above the building’s parapet. — New York YIMBY
Visualization of the Hudson Yards development with the KPF-designed supertall 30 Hudson Yards tower in the foreground. Image: KPF.Now only 50 Hudson Yards remains to be finished from the phase one batch of Hudson Yards towers. "Phase two will see the construction of several new retail... View full entry
Tate St Ives has been announced as Art Fund Museum of the Year 2018, the largest and most prestigious museum prize in the world. Anne Barlow, director of Tate St Ives, was presented with the £100,000 prize by artist Isaac Julien and the ‘world’s best teacher’ Andria Zafirakou at an award ceremony at the V&A, London. — Art Fund
"Tate St Ives tells the story of the artists who have lived and worked in Cornwall in an international context," said Stephen Deuchar, chair of the judges. "The new extension to the gallery is deeply intelligent and breathtakingly beautiful, providing the perfect stage for a curatorial programme... 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
MAD Architects, headquartered in Beijing, is making progress on its first U.S. project, Gardenhouse in Beverly Hills (first announced on Archinect in 2015). The playful 18-unit residential project along Wilshire Boulevard just topped out and aims for completion before the end of the year—then... View full entry
A very special kind of Bauhaus experience awaits visitors here: overnight accommodation in the studio building. In the recreated studios, the atmosphere of the Bauhaus remains palpable today. Everything from the floor plan and the materials to replicas of the original furniture has been returned to its original state in meticulous detail. — Bauhaus Dessau
As the Bauhaus approaches its centennial next year, what better way to emerge oneself in the essence of Modernism than enjoying an overnight stay in the school founder's most iconic creation, the Walter Gropius-designed Bauhaus building complex in Dessau, Germany. The Bauhaus Dessau studio... View full entry
As architects and architectural designers, a balanced relationship between client and architect needs to be addressed. Being a fresh graduate and only being part of the work force for collectively under a year, I’ve begun to understand that these relationships must be tailored per architect... View full entry
I’ve been poisoning my brain the last couple of weeks narrowing down 2000 prospective McMansions to 16. Please give me a round of applause for this immense personal sacrifice. Instead of ranking them myself like I usually do, I will be doing a bracket at the end of the next post where you can vote for the Most Terrible in Texas! (After all, everything’s bigger in Texas!) — mcmansionhell.com
McMansion Hell, a bi-weekly blog delighting in architectural education through ridicule, now brings us a Texas bracket. The top 8 worst McMansions of Texas suburbia have been chosen and properly mocked. Now it's your turn to choose which belongs at the innermost circle of hell. Here are a few of... View full entry
In their latest collaboration with Apple, Foster + Partners envisioned the tech giant's new retail store near Macau's Sands Cotai Central resort as a luminescent “paper lantern” that reveals a “tranquil oasis” inside. According to the design team, the store can offer a sense of calm and... View full entry
Three nine-foot-high, 300-square-foot rooms stacked atop one another, along with two interior bricked-in patios on the first floor furnished with clay pots of cacti and other regional plants, which offer the only visual disruption of the house’s earthen hues and exacting lines. Inside, the brick walls are adorned with little but the shadows of the day’s moving light. — T Magazine
Luisita Lopez Torregrosa traveled to Mexico City, to profile Taller / Mauricio Rocha + Gabriela Carrillo and their Studio Iturbide project, built for Rocha’s mother, the photographer Graciela Iturbide.via Ben Sklar View full entry
Earlier this year, Barcelona-based architect Carme Pinós was selected as the designer for the 2018 MPavilion, and now we've also received first renderings of the origami-like temporary structure in Melbourne's Queen Victoria Gardens. Rendering. Image courtesy of MPavilion."The design for... View full entry
Daniel Burnham’s ghost and his much-quoted exhortation to “make no little plans” haunt the just-released, utterly underwhelming design for a vertical expansion of Chicago’s Union Station.
To put things in Burnham-speak, these plans are little — very little.
There’s nothing wrong with the idea of putting a 330-room hotel in the upper floors [...] The trouble is a planned apartment addition that would plunk a squat modernist box atop the existing structure’s neo-classical pedestal.
— Chicago Tribune
Tribune critic Blair Kamin comments on the latest expansion plans by Riverside Investment & Development for Chicago's iconic Union Station, which were unveiled Monday night. "The juxtaposition of past and present isn’t as violent as the spaceship-like seating bowl that’s plopped atop the... View full entry
This metallic box is the new $21m home for the AM Qattan Foundation, an arts centre that its founders hope will stand as a “beacon of culture” in the occupied West Bank.
“It has been years of fighting to achieve anything close to the standards we wanted. There are defects, but it is the best we could do while building under (Israeli) occupation,” [says achitect Juan Pedro Donaire, whose firm designed the new building]
— The Guardian
