Charleston's Board of Architectural Review voted 4-2 Wednesday to allow what may be the most strikingly contemporary building ever placed before it.
Architect Brad Cloepfil of Allied Works Architecture said the board's approval of the proposed Clemson Architecture Center design may reverberate beyond its site at George and Meeting streets.
"What's exciting to me is it's a moment in this city. It's a pivot point," he said. "It just elevates the discussion of architecture [...]."
— postandcourier.com
Previously:New Clemson University architecture building set to test Charleston's limits on contextAfter hailstorm of complaints, board approves Clemson design View full entry
Although it can't compare to experiencing their grandeur in real life, Movoto gives a snapshot of 35 of the world's most recognized palaces in one interactive infographic. The Movoto team created the graphic and focused on analyzing palaces to catch a glimpse of the power, wealth, the rich... View full entry
Opening the Nest platform to outside developers will allow Google to move into the emerging market for connected, smart home devices. Experts expect that this so-called "Internet of Things" phenomenon will change the way people use technology in much the same way that smartphones have changed life since the introduction of Apple's iPhone seven years ago. — CBS News
HOK has just unveiled its design for the Obama Presidential Library. Although several institutions in Chicago have submitted their own bids for the new museum and library, the global architecture and engineering office states that it submitted this design in coordination with the Museum Campus Foundation, which is an organization comprised of a number of community groups located in Bronzeville. — chicago.curbed.com
The who-is-who of international contemporary architecture makes up the gross of the inaugural Mies Crown Hall Americas Prize shortlist. Announced this week by Illinois Institute of Technology Architecture Dean Wiel Arets and MCHAP Director Dirk Denison, the 36 shortlisted projects — selected from the 225 MCHAP nominees throughout the American continent — are being recognized as "Outstanding Projects." — bustler.net
Zaha Hadid has won the scheme to design a new parliament complex in Iraq – despite coming third in the original RIBA-run international competition. — BD Online UK
The news is also the first official statement that Assemblage, whose designs won the competition, will not get to realize their vision. This will be the second building Hadid will design in her native country after the 2012 announcement that she will helm the Central Bank of Iraq project.Hadid's... View full entry
Through case studies, surveys, and construction-cost analyses, the Cultural Policy Center report found that the museum building boom didn't bring the net benefit to communities predicted by the so-called Bilbao Effect. [...] Beyond the standard gentrification effect [...] supply may have outstripped demand over the course of the U.S. arts center building boom—leaving some cities with the responsibility to maintain or even pay for cultural centers that they don't entirely need. — citylab.com
Architect Peter Zumthor has dramatically revised his design for a new Los Angeles County Museum of Art, creating a new bridge-like section of the building that would span Wilshire Boulevard.
The new design is meant to address concerns that the original plan would encroach on, and potentially damage, the La Brea Tar Pits at the neighboring Page Museum, casting a shadow over the largest pit.
— latimes.com
Frank Gehry can expand his Paris portfolio this fall when the new building for the Fondation Louis Vuitton (previously) will open its doors to the public on Monday, October 27. The center seeks to establish itself as a new location in Paris for contemporary French and international art and... View full entry
About $570 million, or 94 percent, has been raised by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art for its 235,000-square-foot (21,800-square-meter) expansion and to add $245 million to the museum’s endowment. The $305 million wing designed by the Snohetta architecture firm is rising behind SFMOMA’s current home, opened two decades ago in the technology-heavy South of Market area, or SOMA. — bloomberg.com
Take one voguish designer, one national treasure and one icon-hungry mayor and what do you get? A floating forest across the Thames. But can anyone actually say what the £175m garden bridge is for? — theguardian.com
The Royal Institute of British Architects has announced the winners of the 2014 RIBA National Awards. With 44 buildings in the UK and 12 buildings elsewhere in the European Union, the selected projects will now have the chance to make the shortlist for the coveted RIBA Stirling Prize, awarded annually to the architects of the building that has made the greatest contribution to British architecture in the past year. — bustler.net
Here's a small image selection of 2014 Award Winners:London: TNG Youth and Community Centre by RCKa. Photo: Jakob SpriestersbachLondon: London Bridge Tower (The Shard) by Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Photo: Michel DenanceWest Midlands: Library of Birmingham by Mecanoo. Photo: MecanooLondon... View full entry
As militant Sunni fighters from the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (Isis) continue their assault on Iraq, following their recent take-over of Baquba, President Barack Obama has ordered the deployment of 275 combat-ready troops to help defend Baghdad and, in particular, the new and expensive... View full entry
Switzerland’s two largest art museums are building extensions, although Basel is moving faster than its neighbour and sometimes rival, Zürich. In Basel, construction is proceeding apace on the Kunstmuseum’s project, across the street from the original museum. [...]
Meanwhile Zürich’s Kunsthaus has become embroiled in a dispute which has halted work this month. The Swiss environmental group Archicultura is objecting, and permission to build is being withheld by a canton court.
— theartnewspaper.com
Imagined with bright pink and green lights, standing more than 150m taller than the Burj Khalifa and emerging from an island in a lake in central China, these plans for Wuhan’s Phoenix Towers seem a world away from grey old London.
Yet the ambitious design revealed this week has been put forward by the British architectural firm Chetwoods, and owes much of its inspiration to an award-winning project for a new, greener London Bridge.
— independent.co.uk
It remains to be seen if Wuhan's Phoenix Towers will enjoy a smoother run to completion than Hunan's failed Sky City project — once proposed as the world's tallest building. View full entry