“It is amazing,” said Mr. Piano...“Looking back, I counted, and I said, ‘Is this true?’ ” — NYT
Ted Loos sat down with Renzo Piano to discuss his firm's design for an expansion to the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, opening on Nov. 27. They also discussed the firms history of 25 major museum projects either underway or built, and how Piano has seemingly become the go to "starchitect" for... View full entry
Eric Ho watches the boom on the Lower East Side...and sees...Detroit. Specifically...vacant storefronts — more than 200 of them in the area east of the Bowery and south of 14th Street.
How was it possible, he thought, that in a neighborhood where space was at such a premium, so much of it was sitting idle? ...an architect who once intended to design housing for disaster zones,, he thought: What could be done with them?
— New York Times
RIBA and the London School of Economics (LSE) have yet to announce the winning team this November for their New Global Centre for Social Sciences competition.
As part of the decision-making process for the winning design, the LSE hosted a public exhibition from Oct. 7 - Oct. 18 where visitors had the opportunity to vote for their favorite one. All designs have remained under anonymity.
— bustler.net
The finalists are: Grafton Architects, Ireland Heneghan Peng, Ireland Hopkins Architects, UK OMA, The Netherlands Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, UK As we wait for the announcement, check out the finalist proposals and let us know in the comment section if you can guess who designed what... View full entry
When it comes to dining out, it's no question that the architecture and interior design matter just as much as the food you're eating. As a fun Friday project, we're featuring the Workshop Kitchen + Bar by SOMA in Palm Springs, CA. The project recently won Best Designed Restaurant for the Americas region in the international 2013 Restaurant & Bar Design Awards we covered back in September. — bustler.net
Previously: Winners of the 2013 Restaurant & Bar Design Awards 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 profiles!)... View full entry
After two years of planning, Reiser + Umemoto announced the groundbreaking of the Kaohsiung Port Terminal happening this month in the city of Kaohsiung, Taiwan. The architecture firm won the 2010 international competition to design the cruise ship terminal and port service center.
Reiser + Umemoto also celebrated the groundbreaking of another major Taiwanese development they won, the Taipei Pop Music Center, on June 19, 2013.
— bustler.net
Estimated costs for the European Central Bank's new headquarters in Frankfurt have more than doubled. As has been happening with so many major projects in Germany, its construction has been plagued by poor planning, oversight and execution -- and endless delays. — Der Spiegel
Previously: Starchitect Trio: The Men Behind Germany's Building Debacles View full entry
A 28-year-old Richard Meier received his first and by far most modest commission from the artist Saul Lambert back in 1962. “Lambert had purchased a very small site on the ocean, on Fire Island,” says Meier, “and said, ‘We don’t have very much money—actually, we have $9,000 to spend on the construction of this house. Could you design something for us?’ ” — New York Magazine
"Echoing Plateau" by Toshiki Hirano was one of twelve semi-finalist entries for the Waterfront Gateway Design competition to redevelop the waterfront and downtown communities in the historic City of New Rochelle in New York. Unfortunately, Hirano's team had to decline continuing in the competition when the team ran into issues finding a developer to work with after the first stage. — bustler.net
Correction: The article previously (incorrectly) stated that "Echoing Plateau" was one of the four finalist entries — the text above and the title have since been updated accordingly. View full entry
The only geodesic dome movie theater in the world, Becket’s design was inspired by Buckminster Fuller—and the nation’s midcentury obsession with landing on the moon. Built to resemble a giant spacecraft, the Dome boasted futuristic floating stairways—a first for any movie theater at the time. Simultaneously projected images using three 35mm cameras were so cutting-edge, the Dome’s own original projector—the Norelco Universal—would win a Technical Academy Award in 1963 [...]. — Los Angeles Confidential Magazine
For those who do not believe travelers’ tales, there is the Chinese government’s own report, from 2010, concluding that home ownership rates in China were then nearly 90%. This compares with a world average of 63% and a U.S. average of 65%. — Forbes
Anne Stevenson-Yang (co-founder and research director of J Capital Research Ltd.) penned an op-ed regarding the status and future of the Chinese housing market. The gist - massive urbanization has led to a vast oversupply according to the governments own figures and she predicts that "these... View full entry
The tiny Austrian village of Krumbach has commissioned international architecture firms to build avant-garde bus stops.
The "Bus:Stop" project was conceived by Krumbach's cultural association, which hired prominent Austrian architect Dietmar Steiner to act as curator. Though he counts major architects from around the world among his contacts, he chose to maintain a boutique feel: "No starchitects, just small offices with sculptural interest."
— spiegel.de
"Google Barge...A floating data center? A wild party boat? A barge housing the last remaining dinosaur? Sadly, none of the above. Although it's still early days and things may change, we're exploring using the barge as an interactive space where people can learn about new technology."
Please forgive me, but if you decide to build what looks like quite a substantial structure out on the water, you might have some vague idea of what you're going to do with it.
— news.cnet.com
Previously: San Francisco's bay barge mystery: Floating data center or Google Glass store? View full entry
Facebook is taking its friendship with Frank Gehry across the Atlantic, reportedly signing the Los Angeles architect to work on new office space in Dublin, Ireland, where the company already has a major presence. He will also design new office space for Facebook in London. — latimes.com
Previously: Facebook's positive experience with Gehry in California leads to commission to design new NYC office View full entry
China's wealthy patrons like Mr. Lu's family are underwriting a major cultural boom, spending billions of yuan on grand buildings to showcase impressive collections of art, antiques and other cultural rarities. Their largesse and ambitions echo American industrialists who sponsored the arts in the early years of the 20th century... — online.wsj.com
Recently in The Wall Street Journal, reporter Jason Chow interviewed real-estate developer Lu Jun and his son Lu Xun who finally opened the Sifang Art Museum for its first exhibition this past weekend in Nanjing, China after 10 years of construction. Spearheaded by Lu Jun and curated by... View full entry