The ax blade of residential high-rises that slices the borough drives from Brooklyn Bridge Park through Downtown, grazing Fort Greene and reaching into Prospect Heights...the best way to preserve low-rise Brooklyn is for the Wedge to succeed by growing up rather than out. A great skyline remains concentrated and confined, its towers made meaningful by borders, its scale a contrast to be savored, not feared. — NY Magazine
Justin Davidson examines the current and future state of high-rise construction in Brooklyn. View full entry
Ozymandian in their hubris and decay. There are over 2,000 buildings, most of them havelis, covered inside and out with frescoes that depict scenes from battle, myth, the ancestries of their owners and the coming of the Europeans. The havelis are mostly empty now, and their desolation, combined with their scale and opulence, produces a feeling of wonder. — NYT - T Magazine
Aatish Taseer extols, the faded opulence of, the painted houses found in the desert of Marwar, Rajasthan. View full entry
No one benefits from continuing their seemingly unending litigation to protect a parking lot — Chicago Tribune
It's like these cities think that he's building a Death Star..... View full entry
Visually changing skylines aside, new sky-high structures get a shot at prestigious recognition in the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat's Tall Building Awards. The yearly awards highlight noteworthy tall-building projects worldwide and the impact they have on inhabitants and their urban surroundings, as well as innovative design and construction methods that push the industry forward. — Bustler
A little sneak peek:Best Tall Building - Middle East & Africa: The Cube, Beirut10 Year Award: Hearst Tower, New YorkUrban Habitat Award: Wuhan Tiandi, WuhanSee the rest of the winners plus the Best Tall Building regional finalists over on Bustler.Previously on Archinect:A glimpse at the... View full entry
A spec office is not how a superstar usually makes a debut. [...]
Ingels hasn't reinvented the form with 1200 Intrepid, but he does manage to inject it with an impressive level of pizzazz, imagination, and even refinement. [...]
The optical effects are mesmerizing. If you stand at the corner and look across the breadth of the facade, the front wall appears to be tumbling to the ground like a collapsing row of dominos. The curves are reminiscent of a Richard Serra sculpture.
— philly.com
Related on Archinect:Inside Bjarke Ingels' Serpentine Pavilion: "The work becomes a pure manifestation of that architect."Bjarke Ingels Group + AECOM join forces with Hyperloop"The first major architect who disconnected the profession completely from angst": Rem on BjarkeBIG unveils moat-encircled... View full entry
On Friday, President Obama formally [declared] the Greenwich Village bar and its surrounding area the Stonewall National Monument, and creating the first National Park Service unit dedicated to the gay rights movement.
According to the White House, the monument designation will consist of 7.7 acres, protecting the tavern, Christopher Park across the street, and several other streets and sidewalks where spontaneous protests were held for equal rights in 1969.
— The New York Times
More on Archinect:Queer Space, After Pulse: Archinect Sessions #69 ft. special guests James Rojas and Susan SurfaceThe enduring significance of gay bars in American citiesObama administration to designate Stonewall as America's first LGBT memorialHow LGBT Acceptance Is Redefining Urban AmericaU.S... 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... View full entry
In a ceremony packed with construction workers, news crews, and real estate folk, the final bucket of concrete made its way to the top of 3 World Trade Center, marking the topping out of this 1,079-foot supertall tower. The 80-story building was designed by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and spans 2.5 million square feet. Once complete in 2018, it will be the fifth tallest tower in New York City. — Curbed NY
↑ Silverstein Properties Chairman Larry A. Silverstein (right) and Port Authority of New York & New Jersey Executive Director Pat Foye at the topping out ceremony signing the final bucket of concrete.↑ This rendering shows what the completed 1,079-ft tower will look like.Related... View full entry
As white-shoe law firms shrink and expanding tech companies in L.A. increasingly move into restored warehouses or historic buildings, commercial skyscrapers around the country are struggling to find tenants. [...]
That leaves the owners of aging all-office high-rises like the U.S. Bank Tower looking for ways to produce new revenue [...]
OUE is not the first company to see a possible revenue stream in the desire of adults to pay money to act like children in downtown settings.
— latimes.com
More on what's happening in Downtown Los Angeles: The West Coast's tallest tower is getting a glass-bottomed slide on its 69th floorMia Lehrer + OMA win over Eric Owen Moss, Brooks + Scarpa, AECOM to design DTLA's new public parkAgence Ter and Team wins Pershing Square Renew with “radically... View full entry
RIBA President Jane Duncan said:“The RIBA is a global organisation that supports its members, validates schools of architecture and champions the importance of a quality built environment around the world. UK architecture talent is incredibly resilient and we will continue to ensure that our... View full entry
All the progress we have made will now be put on hold and the government’s attention will be diverted while we try and work out how to deal with Brexit. - Rob Naybour, Weston Williamson + Partners
Today marks a historic turning point for the UK and European Union - the UK has voted to quit the EU. What lays ahead no one is really sure; Cameron has already resigned this morning and discussions for a second Scottish referendum have begun. The majority within the architecture industry... View full entry
Never has an attraction promised so much yet delivered so little. It was the roller coaster without a ride, the helter skelter without a slide, a £20m mountain of steel leering above London’s lean Olympic stadium as a mocking monument to the vanity of the city’s former mayor, Boris Johnson, and its funder, the steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal [...]
As Guy de Maupassant said of the Eiffel Tower, being inside the Orbit is the best place to be – because it’s the only place you don’t have to look at it
— the Guardian
Ouch.Yet, it's not all bad: "...when you’re hurtling down through the structure’s contorted loops on the new corkscrew slide that opens this weekend, all this can be momentarily forgiven," opines Wainwright.In related news:Carsten Höller to unveil his ArcelorMittal... View full entry
After winning the competition way back in July 2009, OMA's Pierre Lassonde Pavilion is ready to make its public debut tomorrow. Nestled within Quebec City's 17th-century architecture and located at the historic National Battlefields Park, the Pavilion is the shiny new kid on the block with its... View full entry
The 2016 RIBA Awards competition continues! A few weeks after the London Award announcements, the Institute just revealed 46 buildings as National Award winners. The RIBA National Awards celebrate the UK's most outstanding buildings, while offering insight into construction, design, and investment trends in the country. An array of stunning projects by leading designers made the cut in this year's Nationals, with UK universities and colleges winning much of the jury's favor this time around. — Bustler
Here's a few of the winning projects:Essex University - Albert Sloman Library and Silberrad Student Centre by Patel Taylor | Colchester, England.Outhouse by Loyn & Co Architects | Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, EnglandStanbrook Abbey by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios | York, Yorkshire... View full entry
While pronounced ocular structural features are not unheard of (consider the exterior of DS+R's Broad Museum) Winy Maas, co-founder of MVRDV, is drawing attention to his firm's mirrored spherical auditorium sited in the almost complete 34,200 square meter Tianjin Library. “The Eye is the... View full entry