The Art University Bournemouth’s new drawing studio, designed by alumnus Sir Peter Cook, is to be officially today by Zaha Hadid. It is the first purpose-built drawing studio to open in the UK for 100 years and is the renowned architect and founding member of radical collective Archigram’s first building in the country.
The curved studio has been designed to emphasise natural light [...] there is a large circular north-light and a rear clerestory, which provides softer light.
— itsnicethat.com
Here are a few more images of the delightful little structure (via CRAB studio's website):Related news and feature stories on Archinect:Conversation with Peter Cook on the State of ThingsIn new exhibition, Sir Peter Cook reflects on architecture's possibilitiesExtraordinarily Beautiful... View full entry
ICYMI Will Galloway penned a reflection on a workshop he instigated at Keio University, with members of Assemble, Paloma Strelitz and James Binning (pre Turner Prize). The studio ended with students building a very rough and very temporary Onsen. The three later discussed, the history of... View full entry
The hub opens on Thursday, or at least a part of it is opening, including most of the main hall, or Oculus, as it’s called. And at first blush, Mr. Calatrava’s architecture can almost — almost — make you forget what an epic boondoggle the whole thing has been. That virgin view, standing inside the Oculus and gazing up, is a jaw-dropper. — The New York Times
For a blow-by-blow of how Santiago Calatrava's transit hub came to be, check out Archinect's previous coverage:Port Authority officially confirms March opening date for WTC Transportation Hub OculusLeaking water delays opening of World Trade Center Transit Hub's luxury shopping mallMassive 'spine'... View full entry
The people of Geneva have narrowly rejected a controversial plan to extend and renovate the city’s Musée d’Art et d’Histoire by the French architect Jean Nouvel. The “non” camp won the public vote on 28 February with 54%.
Ateliers Jean Nouvel in Paris designed the planned extension, which was approved by Geneva’s municipal council last May, in collaboration with the local firms Architectures Jucker and DVK Architectes.[...]
The council must now launch a new competition for the museum.
— theartnewspaper.com
Related Nouvel stories in the Archinect news: Jean Nouvel in NYMag profile: "I create a film in my head."Jean Nouvel's super-tall 53W53 MoMA tower is "still an art"Jean Nouvel loses court case over 'sabotaged' Philharmonie de Paris View full entry
The Albright-Knox Art Gallery wants to create a public space that could rival Canalside while expanding and remaking one of the city’s most recognizable institutions.
And gallery officials are looking to some of the most respected architects in the world to make it happen.
They have narrowed the list of potential architects for the gallery’s upcoming expansion project to five firms with experience building in challenging urban environments.
— the Buffalo News
Located in the historic, Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Delaware Park, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery is one of the major cultural hotspots of New York State's second largest city. Now, the contemporary and modern art gallery plans a major expansion of its facilities, which originally opened in... View full entry
Google has been granted planning permission for an office in the King’s Cross area of central London.
The 180,000-square-foot building, which is to be known as “S2”, will be designed by UK firm Mossessian Architecture. [...]
It will be based near the site of the firm’s defunct Google Glass store and DeepMind, its artificial intelligence start-up. [...]
The property is expected to be completed by 2017 “at the earliest”.
— globalconstructionreview.com
More news on Google's architectural exploits:Is Thomas Heatherwick designing Google's London HQ?Googleplex expansion pivots BIG and Heatherwick design onto new siteGoogle loses to LinkedIn in Silicon Valley HQ pitchCritical response to Googleplex expansion focuses on suburban development, not... View full entry
Bank Tower owners OUE Limited announced today a new addition to the Skyspace observation deck tourist attraction that's guaranteed to give it that "thrill factor": a 36-foot long glass slide that will allow brave souls to slide from the 70th floor to the 69th along the outside of the building.
Called the Skyslide, the chute will be made of clear glass four inches thick [and] sit about 1,000 feet above the ground
— la.curbed.com
Don't look down. Related on Archinect: Glass Cracks Below Tourists in Chicago SkydeckChinese glass-bottom walkway cracks below tourists – 3,540 feet above groundChina opens 590-foot-high glass-bottom bridgeSurvey: Why glass? View full entry
Last week Port Authority decided not to hold an opening ceremony for Santiago Calatrava’s World Trade Center Transportation Hub (followed by their sudden flip flop), citing the fact that it was six years delayed and that final construction costs came in around $4 billion in taxpayer dollars, twice what was projected. But it’s hardly the only public project to face delays and skyrocketing costs. In fact, it’s not even close to being the worst of the lot that are draining tax payer dollars. — 6sqft.com
3 Sutton Place, a planned 950-foot-tall, 68-story Manhattan condo tower, won’t be materializing along the East River. After defaulting on $128.8 million in loans from lender Gamma Real Estate, developer Bauhouse Group‘s site at 426-432 East 58th Street will face foreclosure sale February 29th.
The site currently houses three contiguous five-story apartment buildings, which Bauhouse purchased to make way for the massive Foster + Partners-designed midtown skyscraper project.
— BuzzBuzzHome
Interested in other articles about Foster and Partners? Check out some of our past coverage:Masdar abandons its dream of becoming the first zero-carbon cityNorton Museum of Art breaks ground on Foster + Partners-designed expansion projectThe selective amnesia of Foster + Partners' Maspero Triangle... View full entry
The utilitarian décor is in keeping with Bourgeois’s pragmatic nature...She was always interested in architectural spaces, and the rooms of 347 West 20th Street can be compared to her other artistic creations — NYT
Arthur Lubow highlights the work of the Easton Foundation, a non-profit started by the artist Louise Bourgeois. Begining this summer, the house will be accessible to the public, through tours arranged on the foundation’s website, theeastonfoundation.org. It is being maintained as closely as... 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
"Does the Bauhaus really offer total liberty, or is it a place of oppression where all intimacy in banished, and the group triumphs over the individual?" asks the narrator midway through the English version of the acclaimed documentary The Dessau Bauhaus. The 28-minute film about Walter Gropius'... View full entry
Escalating their battle to stamp out an unprecedented spread of street encampments, city officials have begun seizing tiny houses from homeless people living on freeway overpasses in South Los Angeles.
Three of the gaily painted wooden houses, which come with solar-powered lights and American flags, were confiscated earlier this month and seven more are planned for impound Thursday, a Bureau of Sanitation spokeswoman said.
— The Los Angeles Times
Does providing homes for the homeless solve the problem? Studies would indicate that it does, based on our coverage of the development of programs across the globe to help provide permanent, individualized shelter for the homeless, including those in Utah, Seattle, and London.Here's a... View full entry
“The combination of the course offerings on a regular basis in subject-area courses, housing studios, design-build, as well as programs for both students and the primary faculty involved—that we feel is unique,” says UO architecture professor Michael Fifield. — Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture, American Institute of Architecture
The University of Oregon Department of Architecture was recognized in January as among the finest in the country for its housing design education.UO architecture faculty members Michael Fifield, Peter Keyes, and Rob Thallon, who spearhead the UO Housing Specialization Program, received the... View full entry
Bjarke Ingels' unfurling wall-based pavilion joins four summer houses—designed by Asif Khan, Kunlé Adeyemi, Barkow Leibinger, and Yona Friedman—to create this year's Serpentine Architecture Program. Each of the four summer houses riffs on the adjacent Queen Caroline's Temple designed in... View full entry