Steven Holl Architects is gracing the campus grounds of the University of Iowa once again with the recently topped out Visual Arts Building. The firm -- in collaboration with BNIM Architects -- won the competition in 2010 to design the new arts facility, which will house the studio departments for... View full entry
To establish a use case it is essential to understand the ‘users’; the human beings who a service is supposed to help. This means really getting to know those people. The service should be built around their needs, not those of the city government or technology provider. — Ross Atkin
Written (at the suggestion of Bruce Sterling) at South By South West 2015. It is based on reflections on building several connected city services. h/t @Bruce Sterling View full entry
Last year, Chilean architect Smiljan Radić revealed his Serpentine Pavilion—an enormous shell-shaped structure perched atop jagged quarry stones in Hyde Park—as part of the London gallery’s prestigious architecture program. Thousands of visitors examined its translucent fiberglass walls over the course of the summer. This week, the pavilion will be unveiled at its new, permanent home, amid the spring gardens of Hauser & Wirth Somerset in Bruton, about two and a half hours from London by train. — Architectural Digest
The technology of supertall buildings is a bit like genetic testing or nuclear energy: a volatile form of power. Technological capacities have outpaced our judgment. We know we can do it, but we don’t know when not to do it. And so some endlessly wealthy mogul [...] will eventually move into a preposterously expensive penthouse so far above the Earth’s crust that the air is thin and gales hammer at the glass. A mile’s not science fiction. It’s not even an outer limit. — nymag.com
In 2010, a sanctuary in Santiago was completed in [Hurtado's] honor — at the very site where he founded the Hogar de Cristo back in the 1940s. The building was designed by Chilean architect Cristián Undurraga, of Undurraga Devés Arquitectos, and it is elegant and serene — a true space of contemplation. It also makes the most of simple materials: rough Béton brut concrete, glass blocks and blond wood ceilings that don't overwhelm the artifacts on display... — Los Angeles Times
Calming photos of the Santiago-based memorial museum, which Chilean architect Cristián Undurraga designed in honor of Jesuit priest Father Alberto Hurtado and his humanitarian work. View full entry
Once a free-flowing, biomorphic design inspired by the La Brea Tar Pits and the work of the Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer, the design has become noticeably more angular and muscular in recent weeks. It now features double-height galleries made of white or light-gray concrete and poking up above the roofline of the rest of the museum [...]
"No one will call it a blob anymore," LACMA Director Michael Govan said ... "Peter hasn't given up the curve. But he's really, really reined it in."
— latimes.com
Related news: Peter Zumthor pushes LACMA redesign to the curb to make room for tar pitsL.A. County supervisors approve initial funding for new LACMA buildingPeter Zumthor's $450,000,000 'Black Flower' for LACMA View full entry
After moving a few times in Cincinnati throughout the later half of the 20th century, the Contemporary Arts Center relocated into its current home at the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Arts in 2003. Designed by Zaha Hadid, who won the commission in the late 1990s, the... View full entry
There is always a delay between the time a trend begins to gain traction, and the time hipsters begin following it. This delay is caused because people can't be aware of what others are deciding, in real-time. As a result, hipsters gradually realise that the trend, and the decision has been made while making the same decision separately.
This leads to them gradually conforming towards what then becomes the mainstream.
— daily mail
Now, try to imagine "architects" instead of "hipster." Vertical farms? Poche? Blobs? Hedonistic urbanism? Parametric buildings? New Urbanism? Old Urbanism? Etc, etc,. View full entry
In an era when many architects are acclaimed for impressive rhetoric or jaw-dropping computer renderings — or both — [Ito] has earned his following in purely architectural terms. He knows how to build, to shape space in a way that respects traditional craftsmanship and seems utterly contemporary. [...]
That odd and productive co-dependence of design and place, architect and site, is a relationship that doesn't really exist in any other art form.
— latimes.com
“There was a time when you could not be poor enough, or rural enough, to want to live in a bamboo house,” says Ibuku founder Elora Hardy.
A former print designer for Donna Karan, Hardy now leads an Indonesian firm that creates innovative, luxurious structures out of cheap, sustainable, plentiful bamboo. In a talk at the TED conference last week, Hardy wowed the audience with spectacular images that defy traditional notions of house shapes and construction.
— qz.com
Learn more about Ibuku on the firm's Archinect profile. View full entry
Frank Gehry's Winton Guest House was recently announced to be up for auction on May 19 in Chicago. Designed for Mike and Penny Winton during the '80s in Lake Minnetonka, MN, the Guest House helped propel Gehry into international stardom in the '90s. Currently, the University of St. Thomas owns the... View full entry
Russian police say they're looking for the intellectually minded miscreants who graffitied "Kant is a moron"—along with a flower and heart—on the philosopher's home outside Kaliningrad.
With Arthur Schopenhauer dead for 155 years, however, authorities start off with few strong leads.
— theatlantic.com
The derelict house does look like an easy target for vandalism, but apparently the philosopher never even actually lived inside. The Atlantic points out that the local structure Kant lived in was destroyed sometime in the 19th century, and the tagged building was in fact a new one built on the... 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
When construction’s done in 2016, Teachers Village will consist of eight, low-rise buildings housing three charter schools and a daycare facility, 65,000 square feet of retail, and 205 residential units designed by the world-renowned Richard Meier, Newark’s native son and architect of the Getty Center in Los Angeles and the Barcelona Museum of Contemporary Art in Spain. — Politico
One lucky soul will get to enjoy an unforgettable night in one of Oslo's most iconic destinations later this month: the topmost floor of the JDS-designed Holmenkollen ski jump will be turned into a cozy, fully furnished Airbnb penthouse for the winner of a recent online contest.From the contest... View full entry