Archaeologists in Cambodia have found multiple, previously undocumented medieval cities not far from the ancient temple city of Angkor Wat...Some experts believe that the recently analysed data – captured in 2015 during the most extensive airborne study ever undertaken by an archaeological project, covering 734 sq miles (1,901 sq km) – shows that the colossal, densely populated cities would have constituted the largest empire on earth at the time of its peak in the 12th century. — The Guardian
“That survey uncovered an array of discoveries, including elaborate water systems that were built hundreds of years before historians believed the technology existed. The findings are expected to challenge theories on how the Khmer empire developed, dominated the region, and declined around... View full entry
"For us it's a prototype. For us, a prototype means it will have another life,”
“Right now, our summer house operates at a scale of something maybe like furniture or something like a small building, but a prototype is something that has a resonance, it's something that lives beyond its four months here, that will occur on a different scale, in a different place.”
— Archinect
Barkow Leibinger's Summer House is constructed with four structural bands made from plywood and timber. The piece is grounded by a bench, then strengthened by three central curves with a double layered free flowing cantilevered roof. The duo known for their research-led process and playful... View full entry
Smithfield market will be the museum’s new home, but which architectural vision should shape its future: the eye-catching one, the ghostly one, the corporate one … or the one that rings alarm bells?
Little detail has been revealed about the shortlisted schemes, which will go on public exhibition from 10 June to 5 August with a winner chosen by an expert panel later this summer.
— theguardian.com
Curb your cultural curiosities with the articles below: Inside Asif Khan's Serpentine Pavilion Summer HouseLondon's Natural History Museum to create outdoor exhibition spacesShortlist for new Museum of London revealed View full entry
The school collapsed on Tuesday after a heavy rainfall that took over most part of the Lagos including Makoko, a slum and highly populated part of the state [...]
“So as far as that floating school is concerned, it was erected without the permission of the state government.
“The simple answer to the floating school is that it is an illegal structure and it shouldn’t be there.”
— naij.com
Kunlé Adeyemi's floating school was built with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2013, to serve 100 elementary school students living in the Makoko slum on Lagos' waterfront. About 300,000 people are estimated to be living in the slum, which before the floating school... View full entry
In this video that blends time lapse and slow-motion techniques to fully showcase the visual splendor of the building, director Heidi Zuckerman of the The Aspen Art Museum speaks about how the "modesty" of Shigeru Ban's signature preferred materials perfectly suited the Colorado-based institution... View full entry
“While observing the building, we realized that the internal void was really a great quality to reveal, and so our building is really an inversion of that,” [Kunlé Adeyemi] explained.
“In a way, it’s a rotated from of the temple that highlights the interior space and also creates the fundamental purpose of what we think a summer house is: a place for shade and relaxation."
— Archinect
Kunlé Adeyemi of NLÉ's Summer House for the Serpentine Galleries is constructed in prefabricated sandstone blocks, similar to the stone used in Queen Caroline's Temple, the 18th century summer house that served as its inspiration.While known for his modernist designs, Adeyemi focused on the form... View full entry
Collective Architecture is branching out east with the official opening of a new Edinburgh office, necessitated by a growing portfolio of work across the UK stretching from the east coast to the north of England and London.
Director Jude Barber said ‘We are delighted that Collective Architecture continues to evolve and grow with our new studio in Edinburgh.”
— urbanrealm.com
Archinect's correspondent Robert Urquhart met with Collective Architecture earlier this year in Glasgow. Uniquly run as an employee-owned trust which so far no one has ever left; the firm already has an impressive body of work and has now been selected as one of three architects for the City of... View full entry
Last year, Greater Manchester’s economy outgrew that of inner-city London. Further devolution of powers from Whitehall are about to be realised, and the campaign for the title of first elected mayor of Greater Manchester has picked up pace.
However, Manchester is also about to contend with the capital in other ways. A major housing crisis lurks, and a growing deficit of office space needs to be dealt with. To make amends, Manchester’s skyline is heading for dramatic change.
— theguardian.com
Read more article concerning the housing crisis spreading across UK cities:To live in London you can't be a LondonerLondon fails to achieve any targets for affordable housingArchitects design ‘the house of tomorrow’ View full entry
The Office for Metropolitan Architecture...has been chosen to design the Albright-Knox Art Gallery’s first major expansion in more than 50 years...The comparatively delicate and more budget-conscious Albright-Knox expansion project, which is expected to cost about $60 million, will unfold on a small but famous plot of public parkland and will be attempt to fuse the architectural styles of three centuries. — The Buffalo News
More on Archinect:Albright-Knox Gallery announces short list of firms for $80m expansion: Snøhetta, BIG, OMA, wHY, Allied WorksShohei Shigematsu of OMA transforms the Met for the spring Costume Institute exhibitA tour of OMA's Pierre Lassonde Pavilion View full entry
By living above 800 feet, Estis and Enkin are two members of an unexpectedly exclusive group in Manhattan. In my estimation, no more than 40 people currently live above that line, scattered among just three buildings...
As my elevator descended and my ears popped, it occurred to me that I would almost certainly never take in such a view again. And in fact, maybe nobody will, if these apartments wind up becoming empty investments.
— The New York Times
In this elegantly observed and exquisitely written piece, Jon Ronson not only takes in the view of Manhattan at 800+ feet with visits to Trump World Tower, One57, and 8 Spruce Street but looks toward the future of a nation divided by an increasingly intractable wealth gap. Real estate of the... View full entry
With the working title Utzon, The Man Behind the Opera House, the film will tell the story of Danish architect Jørn Utzon, who was just 38 years old and relatively unknown when he won the international competition to design an opera house on Sydney’s Bennelong Point in 1957...
The Sydney Opera House was completed by Australian architect Peter Hall – a handover which ostracised Hall from the architectural community, and which his family believe led to his ruin.
— The Guardian
With a screenplay by Oscar-nominated Petter Skavlan, the film promises to get into some thorny emotional terrain. As producer Jan Marnell explains, “We have a world wonder. We have its creator – who wasn’t allowed to see his dream fulfilled. We have creativity versus bureaucracy and... View full entry
A teetering stack of fibreglass blocks has landed in Kensington Gardens, rising above the Serpentine Gallery in a stepped wall, before billowing out to form a cave-like space within...
From one side, it looks like a wall that has enjoyed a good lunch. The blocks stretch outwards in a swollen bulge, like a snake devouring its gallery-going prey. From the other, it looks caught in a stiff breeze, a pixelated curtain rippling in the wind.
— the Guardian
"In keeping with the best-observed-from-a-distance nature of other BIG buildings, the detailing is also a bit clunky, with each fibreglass frame bolted and bracketed in rather heavy-handedly, due to time constraints," writes Oliver Wainwright. "Still, the interior remains a stunning space, a... View full entry
When the architecture community learned of the passing of Zaha Hadid in late March, it came as a bit of consolation that her first and only building in New York, 520 West 28th Street, had already begun to take shape along the High Line, ensuring that her legacy would last in our skyline. In much welcome news, 6sqft learns today that yet another design of hers will rise just three blocks away in Chelsea. — 6sqft
The Moinian Group worked with the late Zaha Hadid on one of her final creations, 220 Eleventh Avenue in West Chelsea. The building will be a collection of loft-like condos and penthouses, as well as a cultural institution that will be a hub of the Chelsea art district. Construction is expected to... View full entry
The Turkish word for Gated Community is site, from the French cité, and they generally resemble the French highrises of the same name, rather than American tract housing. Towers and slabs stand shoulder to shoulder, dancing in a circle around the gardens they surround. — failed architecture
How to Make an Enclosed Paradise:Raze a blighted industrial site or neighborhood close to the city center, preferably along a new highway or metro line.Build an access road around the perimeter. Like a castle moat, this isolates your project from context and gives distance for height... View full entry
Julia Ingalls wrote about architectural solutions, four major U.S. cities have used, to address homelessness. no_form quipped "Giving homeless people housing solves homelessness. Wow, fucking brilliant. Took long enough to recognize the obvious." Plus, Nicholas Korody previewed Anupama... View full entry