International architectural and design consultancy SPARK, alongside ARUP, has brought an eye-catching, youth-focused mall and education hub to the heart of Singapore’s Selegie Arts District. Situated between the adjacent School of the Arts Singapore (SOTA) and several long-standing shopping... View full entry
Progress on the 5 World Trade Center (5WTC) project by KPF moves forward after a press conference announcement on July 27 from New York Governor Kathy Hochul. In an effort to build more affordable housing in Lower Manhattan, the news reported by The Real Deal states that the... View full entry
Construction work has been coming along in California at the $750 million makeover of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Urbanize LA reports. The outlet just shared new aerial progress photos by Hunter Kerhart of the new amorphous two-story David Geffen Galleries building, which now... View full entry
Appearing to substantiate reports that UCSB’s controversial Munger Hall proposal has been scrapped, the university issued a formal “request for qualifications” this week for architectural firms to design a new student housing project at the same campus location previously reserved for Munger Hall. — Santa Barbara Independent
After Santa Barbara Independent Executive Editor Nick Welsh hinted at the end of the infamous "Dormzilla" student housing plan in a scathing editorial in mid-July, UC Santa Barbara's recently published RFQ for the "construction of the UCSB Student Housing Infill and Redevelopment Project" at the... View full entry
The Norman Foster-designed Spectrum Building was used as a backdrop for A View to a Kill (1985), the fourteenth installment in the James Bond series. The single-story warehouse, distinguished by its bright yellow steel masts, is a high-tech architecture icon. Now, it has been reported that... View full entry
Following last week’s visit to Connecticut-based Joeb Moore & Partners, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to Southern California this week to explore the work of Bergmeyer. From their studios across Los Angeles, Boston, and Columbus, Bergmeyer has built a diverse portfolio around... View full entry
The Minnesota Zoo Treetop Trail, the world’s longest elevated pedestrian loop, is officially open to the public. The project, which saw 1.25 miles of a former monorail structure repurposed into a walkway, will take guests 32 feet above the ground and provide new views of and experiences with the... View full entry
Robert A.M. Stern Architects (RAMSA) has shared design details of the new Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at the University of Notre Dame ahead of the project’s first phase opening in South Bend later this fall. The 70,000-square-foot facility is built to hold a growing collection of over 31,000 art... View full entry
Yet the courthouse reveals the limits of what architecture can do. Its spatial clarity and sedulous details don’t resolve some issues with where it is placed. This is a spectacular execution of a flawed recipe. [...]
Then there is a larger question: Is a centralized courthouse a good idea in the first place?
— The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail architecture critic Alex Bozikovic reviews the massive new RPBW and NORR-designed Ontario Court of Justice project, calling it characteristically calm, natural, and “friendlier” than other contemporary North American courthouse designs owing to a well-articulated... View full entry
TenBerke has announced a new dormitory project for the University of Washington in Seattle co-led with local mainstays Mahlum Architects, a leader in green building design. The scope of the new Haggett Hall project encompasses a 200,000-square-foot residential hall with 800 beds and a... View full entry
Giannone Petricone Associates has completed Stock T.C, a “culinary emporium” designed to offer a selection of high-quality ingredients, ready-to-eat foods, and an inviting dining experience. Situated in a historical postal station in Toronto, Canada, the space includes an open market at... View full entry
A lot of work has gone into it. It’s like a painting. So the glass is offset in places to take the light a certain way and separate that surface from the rest of the building. A lot of care has gone into organizing that visually. It’ll become apparent over the years. You’ll see it and you’ll say: Oh, that’s what he was doing. — The New York Times
Gehry, whose family left Toronto for Los Angeles in 1947, also detailed his misgivings at the city’s contemporary development. The landscape has taken an even more markedly vertical turn since the beginning of 2021 thanks to a “race to the top” among developers (including the backers of the... View full entry
Niall Patrick Walsh spoke with Neil Leach, author of Architecture in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: An Introduction to AI for Architects, as part of the ongoing Archinect In-Depth: Artificial Intelligence series. Therein he provocatively suggests: "I think the model of the self-driving car is... View full entry
These conversions seem like a win-win: turning a plethora of barely used office space into desperately needed urban housing.
But converting offices into apartments is easier said than done. And while it's easy to imagine the process behind conversions, like adding in walls and plumbing, it gets complicated.
— NPR
Various cities across the United States have been turning to office-to-residential conversions as a way to address declining city cores that have yet to reach pre-pandemic levels. As noted by NPR, San Francisco is making way for these conversions by adjusting current building codes and getting rid... View full entry
These kinds of guidelines cite “sustainability,” but miss a larger point about housing in Minneapolis. While it’s true that some types of texture and massing look “cheaper” than others, there are legitimate questions about whether or not newer types of building materials — EIFS, metal cladding, and the like — are more climate friendly and affordable than other materials that seem more traditional. — MinnPost
EIFS (aka “synthetic stucco” or “Exterior Insulation Finishing Systems”) are but one material in the proposed bans put forth by city planning officials in Minneapolis recently in an attempt to formalize a set of 2014 guidelines. EIFS capabilities have advanced beyond a widely-known... View full entry
