Current seismic codes require public buildings to be built strong enough so they don’t fall down in a quake. Now, some emergency preparedness advocates want to raise the bar. Not only should essential buildings resist collapse in a strong earthquake, but also newly constructed schools, in particular, should be built so in the immediate aftermath they can be counted on to serve as relief centers. — Oregon Capital Chronicle
The article mentions the AIA Oregon chapter’s efforts to push lawmakers towards adopting more stringent building codes in preparation for a cataclysmic 9.0 Cascadia earthquake. Some relatively cheaper proactive measures, such as tsunami towers, are being enacted, but the 1,000 or so schools... View full entry
Site preparations are underway in Los Angeles in advance of the 50-month construction phase that will bring the Foster + Partners-designed One Beverly Hills residential towers to a plot adjacent to the Beverly Hilton and other area hospitality icons. Gensler is serving as the project’s executive... View full entry
UNStudio released renderings of its newly commissioned mixed-use design at the site of the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre in China. The Hiwell Amber Centre project was announced in October 2023 and will be built on a site located in the heart of Hangzhou’s new city center, Qianjiang... View full entry
Oklahoma City could soon be home to the country’s second-tallest structure if plans for a new 1,750-foot skyscraper designed by the California practice Architects Orange (AO) are approved along with a larger $1 billion entertainment district proposal from developer Scot Matteson. The tower is... View full entry
UCLA has purchased the former Westside Pavilion shopping mall near its campus, reports The Real Deal. The 580,000-square-foot office known as One Westside was formerly been leased to Google for a 14-year term, but was left vacant as the company’s staff reductions began in January of this... View full entry
Just three large office towers — of more than 500,000 square feet — are being built across New York City, with two expected to open in 2024 or 2025 and nothing else projected to go up for years. Normally, a handful of sites that size would be in various stages of construction, with at least one opening every year since 2018, according to JLL, a real estate services firm. — The New York Times
Due to an obvious confluence of interest rates, office vacancy records, and construction costs, the Times says Manhattan is “entering its most significant office construction drought since after the savings and loan crisis in the late 1980s and early ’90s.” Recent superlatives like BIG’s... View full entry
In a conversation with Niall Patrick Walsh, Natasha Sandmeier considered the potential up-side(s) to the growing abilities of Artificial Intelligence "I do not believe there are many creatives who aspire to draw door details for three months or to endlessly clean up red-line drawings. Yet, these... View full entry
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) have shared photos of their new U.S. DOT Volpe National Transportation Systems Center project in Cambridge, Massachusetts following the building’s formal public inauguration in September. The 13-story, 410,000-square-foot building reclaims an existing 14-acre lot... View full entry
A new prototype demonstration of different burgeoning smart building technologies is coming to the campus of Toronto Metropolitan University as part of a cross-institutional effort that will result in the construction of a new 3,229-square-foot Smart Campus Integration and Testing Hub (SCITHub)... View full entry
A plan to transform the former Hilton Hotel at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City into supportive housing has been announced as the inaugural effort of the important new Housing Our Neighbors with Dignity Act (HONDA) program by Mayor Eric Adams. Aufgang Architects will be... View full entry
Hong Kong-based Ronald Lu & Partners has completed a residential development in Kowloon described as a “real forest building.” Named Garden Crescent, the scheme was designed with the philosophy of “nature on every doorstep.” Image credit: Ronald Lu & Partners Image credit: Ronald Lu &... View full entry
Bangkok-based Chat Architects has completed a bamboo fishing pavilion off the coast of Thailand. Named the Angsila Oyster Scaffolding Pavilion, and located off the historic Angsila fishing village, the pavilion aims to revitalize the area’s struggling fishing and seafood industry through the... View full entry
Wrapping up a year in the wake of the recently concluded COP28 UN climate summit that resulted in, well, mild levels of agreement on the role of fossil fuels, it is possible to sense a slightly increased urgency toward this most pressing planetary issue on a high-minded diplomatic level. As we're... View full entry
Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) is progressing towards the completion of its new 600 W. 125th Street off-campus Harlem housing project for Columbia University in collaboration with CetraRuddy. Once complete, the 34-story dorm is set to host 142 apartments for graduate students and... View full entry
The number of schools with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac), which the Health and Safety Executive has said is now 'life expired' and could collapse 'with little or no warning,' has been steadily rising since the government announced the sudden closure of more than 100 schools at the end of August, just days before the start of the new academic year. — The Guardian
There are now over 230 schools and colleges listed on the government’s register of buildings under consideration for Raac replacement and repair. The challenge is twofold at present, with contractors' inability to hasten repairs before 2026 being made worse by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's cuts... View full entry
