News Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced that Zaha Hadid Architect's design for the Tokyo Olympic Stadium would be scratched in favor of a complete redesign. Prior to the cancellation Tadao Ando (chairman of the design committee) stated "We shouldn’t drop Ms. Hadid’s design... View full entry
Balconies in Berkeley must now pass a safety inspection every three years, and new ones must be built of rot-proof wood or steel, under measures passed Tuesday as the campus community addresses the deaths last month of six young people and grave injury of seven more. [...]
With pressure from one council member and the lawyer for one of those killed in the June 16 tragedy, the City Council agreed to shorten the time between mandatory inspections [from five] to three years.
— latimes.com
The deadly balcony collapse that took place almost exactly a month ago today prompted an investigation into Berkeley's building codes and safety inspections, culminating in this new inspection practice. Primary in the discussion of safe and best building practices here on Archinect was the use of... View full entry
After multiple reassurances that Zaha Hadid Architect's design for the Tokyo Olympic Stadium would continue, despite skyrocketing costs since its 2012 announcement and constantly decreasing public favor, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced today that the stadium would be scratched in... View full entry
World-famous architect Tadao Ando was astonished to learn that the design he chose for the new National Stadium would cost ¥252 billion to build, he said at a press conference Thursday, where he spoke for the first time since the swelling cost became an issue. — The Japan News
According to Reuters, the massive ballooning in the construction costs of Zaha Hadid's relatively unpopular proposed design for Japan's National Stadium are not the fault of the chairman of the design committee, Tadao Ando: "Soaring construction and labor costs, along with a rise in Japan's... View full entry
To the amateur eye it can be puzzling, but with some education about its juxtaposition of traditional design against more complex forms, its status as a groundbreaking residential design becomes clear. — Realtor.com
Naturally paired, but too quickly equated. Photographer Robin Hill takes on the iconic and somewhat contending Farnsworth House and Glass House in his photo series, "Side by Side: The Glass Houses of Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson". With eighteen magazine-ready spreads, Hill matches shots of... View full entry
Berlin has just said “yes” to Communist-era blocks and “no” to more new skyscrapers. On Monday, the city announced that it was listing some key Communist-era structures in Alexanderplatz, East Berlin’s central square, as historical monuments. It is an irremovable nail in the coffin of a 22-year-old plan to demolish the square and replace it with a “little Manhattan”—a set of 10 new 150-meter high towers. — citylab.com
"Alexanderplatz won’t stay entirely unchanged. Two new towers will still be built, one of them a twisting number from Frank Gehry."Previously:Berlin's Alexanderplatz high-rise developments continue to take shapeBerlin hopes Germany's tallest residential tower has the 'Bilbao effect'Berlin After... View full entry
The price tag for 2020 Tokyo Olympic stadium is now a whopping $2.1 billion. That’s more than the stadiums for the past three summer Olympic stadiums combined. That’s pretty silly! So is the stadium’s new Photoshop meme. — kotaku.com
With the current estimated cost for Zaha Hadid 's stadium design clocking in at more than $2 billion (that's $700 million more than the initial estimate), a recent poll by Japanese news network NHK found that "81 percent of respondents say they disapprove of the plan to build the stadium without... View full entry
It might be the City’s most contested site. A new call to list No 1 Poultry, designed by architect Sir James Stirling and one of the last monuments of postmodernism, has revived a debate about the position and the protection of recent heritage.
A proposal by Perella Weinberg [...] to make changes to an imperfect building has provoked the Twentieth Century Society to call for its listing at Grade II*, the second highest status available (and the highest possible for such a recent structure).
— ft.com
Related:Robin Hood Gardens residents dare Lord Rogers to spend a night in the blighted estateHow a postmodernist department store is trying to become the youngest monument in Poland View full entry
work stalled after concerns from regulators over the safety of the skyscraper and its environmental impact and funding.
With no progress on the project in sight, villagers nearby have started to raise fish in its 2.6-hectare water-filled foundations [...]
One villager started to raise fish in March and has invested over 20,000 yuan in his business. “I raise fish on the construction site. It is not in secret, neither have I ever been stopped”
— scmp.com
Construction on the would-be world's tallest building, known as Sky City in Changsha, China, began in 2013, under leadership of Broad Sustainable Building. Sky City made headlines not only for its proposed record-breaking height, but for the speed at which it was to be completed – Broad... View full entry
Hot young Spanish architects José Selgas and Lucía Cano of SelgasCano have designed a pop-up exhibition pavilion for the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art's latest exhibition, Africa: Architecture, Culture, Identity. Made of low-cost materials, such as scaffold poles and plastic sheets, which the architects have jazzed up inspired by traditional sub-Saharan settlements, the pavilion is due to travel to Kenya. The show in leafy Humlebaek near Copenhagen closes at the end of September. — theartnewspaper.com
SelgasCano's airy, bright and colorful pavilions are a sought-after commodity this summer: less than a month ago, the practice unveiled its completed design for the 2015 Serpentine Pavilion in London.To learn more about the Africa: Architecture, Culture, Identity exhibition, click here. View full entry
You don’t have to be religious to appreciate the Tree Church in Ohaupo, New Zealand. A heavenly 100-seat chapel set among a 3-acre landscaped garden, the church boasts walls made of living trees planted around an iron frame. In 2011, Barry Cox, who runs a tree relocating business, decided that his backyard was missing an old stone church like the ones he had studied and admired on travels to Europe. — Slate
Get a glimpse inside the Tree Church in the video below.And here's more tree love and cool churches on Archinect:Tree-hugging in the modern ageIt's official: trees are good for your healthNew photos of E. Fay Jones' Thorncrown Chapel unveiled to mark 35th anniversaryGreat Synagogue of Edirne in... View full entry
Julia Ingalls explored how a firm the size of Gensler manages to maintain a cohesive studio culture. midlander wondered "when did Gensler get so big? I feel like I never heard of them until 10 years ago, then suddenly they were everywhere? Was it organic growth or have they been buying up local... View full entry
After occupying a lower-level space in one of Pratt Institute's athletic buildings, prospects are looking bright and shiny for Pratt's Film/Video Department as it settles into its new home on 550 Myrtle Avenue in Brooklyn. The 15,000 square-foot facility was fully gutted and redesigned by... View full entry
Marina City, the iconic Chicago riverfront complex famed for its corncob-shaped towers, could soon be on the way to becoming an official city landmark. [...]
Goldberg's design, a poetic expression in concrete that combined residential, commercial and entertainment uses to form a "city within a city," is one of the most recognizable images on the Chicago skyline.
— chicagotribune.com
Other Goldberg buildings in Chicago weren't so lucky: the Prentice Women's Hospital could not be saved from the wrecking ball — despite enormous public outcry. View full entry
