At least 52 people were killed when a crane crashed in Mecca’s Grand Mosque on Friday, Saudi Arabia’s civil defence authority said on its Twitter account.It said 30 people were injured.
The Muslim annual Haj pilgrimage is due later this month and Saudi authorities go to great lengths to be prepared for the millions of Muslims who converge on Mecca.
— theguardian.com
Gehry feels his work is never perfect, never finished.
"It can never be perfect," he says. "By definition it can't because we're defective creatures."
— NPR
As part of an interview about Paul Goldberger's forthcoming biography "Building Art: The Life and Work of Frank Gehry," Frank Gehry revealed the emotional underpinnings of his practice, going so far as to turn down work that would unduly hamper his emotional expression. As the interview notes... View full entry
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo has suggested the area around the Tour Montparnasse skyscraper could become the Times Square of the French capital. Now its owners plan to try and make that dream come true. [...]
The owners of the 59-storey building are due to launch an international architecture competition next year to revamp the brown tower block and the shopping mall at its base with a major makeover that could cost up to €700 million.
— thelocal.fr
Related on Archinect:Top architects defend some of the most hated buildings in the worldParis approves its first skyscraper of the 21st centuryMVRDV approved to redesign the '70s Vandamme Nord block in Montparnasse, Paris View full entry
Using high-resolution ground penetrating radar, archaeologists have discovered a series of up to 90 standing stones buried in the earth less than 3 kilometres from Stonehenge. Archaeologists speculate that the stones, which form a rough 'C' shape underneath the 4,500-year old Durrington Walls... View full entry
A South Bay developer is reimagining an outdated Cupertino mall by building the world’s largest green roof on top of it.
The Vallco Shopping Mall, bought by Sand Hill Property Company for $316 million last year, is destined to become a 30-acre elevated public park that will connect shops to offices, trails and vineyards.
The $3 billion design was inspired by “starchitect” Rafael Viñoly, who is working alongside Olin Landscape Architects to replace most [of] the Valleco Shopping Mall...
— CBS
Prospects look promising right now for the Glasgow School of Art as their plan to restore the historic Mackintosh Building from a devastating fire last May pieces itself together. After months of debate about whether to restore or replace the Mackintosh, locally based Page\Park Architects won the... View full entry
![Casa DATRI & DASA in Amanali, Tepeji del Rio, Mexico by [mavarq]; Photo: Jaime Navarro](https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/2j/2jjw8lgknpilbc1v.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=514 "Casa DATRI & DASA in Amanali, Tepeji del Rio, Mexico by [mavarq]; Photo: Jaime Navarro")
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 western Europe, the bus stop is the most humble of building types, a meanly utilitarian structure that adds little or nothing to the roadside. But in the old Soviet empire, from the shores of the Black Sea to the Kazakh steppe, the norm is “wild going on savage”, as Jonathan Meades writes in a beautiful new photobook featuring 159 bus stops, each illuminating “the Soviet empire’s taste for the utterly fantastical”. — theguardian.com
Find more of these beauties photographed by Christopher Herwig for the new book Soviet Bus Stops over at The Guardian.Related stories on Archinect:Community Bus Stops Transform BrazilWorld Class Architects Design Bus Stops in AustriaHigh Tech Bus Stop in Paris by Patrick Jouin View full entry
Moscow's landscape is filled with Soviet-era buildings, many of them shuttered after the privatisation programme of the Nineties. Built for the people's benefit, they are now shut away off from public access, patrolled by security guards, most of whom never dream of exploring the upper floors.
But it is the roof of the Moscow pavilion that brings us here. Because of its concave shape the roof looks like a giant skate ramp. My friends and I want to see if it can perform like one too.
— calvertjournal.com
Head over to Calvert Journal for many more stunning photos by Pasha Volkov.In other daring-Russian-kids news on Archinect:Skywalking - hacking architecture in RussiaHong Kong, from the perspective of crazy, fearless Russian kids View full entry
When the 70th regular session of the General Assembly convenes on Sept. 15, it will do so in a complex of buildings that hasn’t looked so good or felt so secure in generations.
“We now have a very safe compound,” said Michael Adlerstein, [...] executive director of a seven-year, $2.15 billion renovation, known as the capital master plan, that is nearing completion. More visible than anything else is the robust yet crystalline new glass facade of the 39-story Secretariat building.
— nytimes.com
A City of London skyscraper, nicknamed the Walkie Talkie, has won the annual Carbuncle Cup, awarded to a building judged to be the UK's worst.
In its short history, the 37-storey office tower has melted parked cars and critics have compared its three-storey roof garden to an airport terminal.
Thomas Lane, who runs the awards, said the carbuncle "crashes into London's skyline like an unwelcome party guest".
— bbc.com
Previously:Walkie Talkie Tower summons the elements again — this time it's wind!'Walkie Scorchie’ building given permanent sunshadeRafael Viñoly-designed "Walkie Talkie" skyscraper melts car with light reflections'Prison-like' student housing wins Carbuncle Cup for Britain's worst building of... View full entry
When Barack Obama's people announced last week that they are searching worldwide for an architect for the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, they won no points for transparency. [...]
Having consulted sources, I can now name 11 of the firms and observe that they are A) Of high caliber; B) Represent a broad geographic and aesthetic spectrum; and C) Include the established firms one would expect to be invited.
— chicagotribune.com
Rumors have been running wild which architects were among the 50+ selected firms to receive RFQs from the White House for the design of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago.While Martin Nesbitt, chairman of the Barack Obama Foundation, remains tight-lipped about names of the invited... View full entry
For almost twenty years, The Finnish Committee for the Restoration of Viipuri Library worked to restore Alvar Aalto's rarely seen Viipuri library. Located in Vyborg, Russia, which was under Finnish rule when the library was originally conceived (hence its occasional moniker of the Vyborg Library)... View full entry
A shortlisted finalist in the 2015 World Architecture Festival awards, CRG Architects' Bamboo Skyscraper is not only noteworthy for its unusual choice of material, but its vision of what constitutes a skyscraper. Instead of focusing on a single prominent tower, the design is a cluster of... View full entry
Mitsubishi Estate Co. says it will construct a 390-meter-high building, making it Japan’s tallest, as part of redevelopment project near Tokyo Station.
The structure will overtake the 300-meter-tall Abeno Harukas in the city of Osaka.
Mitsubishi Estate hopes the new building will serve both as a centerpiece of a major business district and tourist destination, officials said Monday.
— japantimes.co.jp
More recent Tokyo architecture news:It's lights out at the old Okura: reconstruction of the iconic Tokyo hotel starts next weekNot over yet: Zaha Hadid releases 23-minute film pushing for Tokyo Olympic StadiumTokyo begins farming produce beneath its subway lines View full entry
