Short on space, the city-state has since its independence been reclaiming land to build the nation and to rewrite 'unhygienic' episodes of its history. — Failed Architecture
In his essay for Failed Architecture, William Jamieson, a PhD candidate in Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, takes a look at Singapore's monumental land reclamation efforts since 1965, the ecological, urban, and cultural implications, and the inevitable erasing of heritage. ... View full entry
After 14 years as the Los Angeles Times' resident architecture critic, Christopher Hawthorne is moving on to become chief design officer for the city of Los Angeles. Announced this morning, Hawthorne explained that "beginning next month, [he'll] be working in the mayor's office to raise the... View full entry
Fifteen Hudson Yards, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, has now topped out and stands over 900 feet tall. This is the first tower within the 28-acre NYC site with for-sale residencies. Sales for the 285 condominiums have now surpassed 50%, with the... View full entry
In the maddening gap between how this place functions and how inventors and engineers here think it should, many have become enamored with the same idea: What if the people who build circuits and social networks could build cities, too? Wholly new places, designed from scratch and freed from broken policies. — The Upshot
In Emily Badger's latest piece for the Upshot, she investigates the Tech Industry's newest sector of disruption, the City. From Alphabet company's proposal for Sidewalk Labs in Toronto to a proposed smart city in Arizona, Silicon Valley is looking to build urban utopias of their own. While the... View full entry
If no one in 2018 would argue, as a young writer named David Brodsly did in 1981, that the "L.A. freeway is the cathedral of its time and place," or that it's the spot where Angelenos "spend the two calmest and most rewarding hours of their daily lives," as British architectural historian Reyner Banham put it with almost laughable enthusiasm a decade earlier, there's no doubt that both the practical and metaphorical meanings of the freeway continue to preoccupy Southern Californians. — Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times architecture critic Christopher Hawthorne reflects on Southern California's ongoing love-hate relationship with its freeways. View full entry
Elon Musk’s tunnel-boring project has received more vague government approval for its equally vague plans to build an underground hyperloop between New York and Washington, DC. Last week, Washington, DC’s Department of Transportation issued a preliminary permit to Musk’s Boring Company to start digging at an abandoned lot in the northeast section of the city, according to The Washington Post. — The Verge
The extend of the building permit for Musk's The Boring Company is still vague though and currently limited to an empty parking lot at 53 New York Avenue NE next to a Mc Donald's. As the Washington Post reports: "The District’s Department of Transportation is figuring out what other permits the... View full entry
Making the case that infrastructure itself can be exclusionary is hardly straightforward. Many of the worst decisions in US planning were made decades ago to intentionally disenfranchise, marginalise and separate communities; policies such as redlining and “blight clearing” are well-documented embarrassments. But many decisions that segregated communities were unintentional. The stop sign and one-way street might seem benign, but they shape our lives in ways we sometimes don’t even realise. — The Guardian
Through focusing in on 5 case studies where communities have been obliterated by infrastructure decisions, the direct impact of highways and walls take on greater levels of meaning and urgency. The power of city planning also comes into greater consideration presently as the US takes on a massive... View full entry
Harvard GSD awarded the 13th Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design to The High Line in New York. The Green Prize committee awarded the $50,000 prize to the Friends of the High Line for their continued stewardship behind the project, which has long been hailed as a model example of urban... View full entry
William Kaven Architecture have just released additional renderings of the firm's redevelopment proposal for Portland's Broadway Corridor, giving a more complete picture of their broader scheme. In addition to the initial release of Portland's tallest towers last November, the firm has now... View full entry
Released last fall, the Regional Plan Association’s (RPA) Fourth Plan includes 61 recommendations focused on improving and expanding the area’s deteriorating infrastructure, transportation, and affordability, much of which revolves around climate change and its transformation of the region — Curbed
Released last fall, the Regional Plan Association's (RPA) Fourth Plan includes 61 recommendations focused on improving and expanding the area’s deteriorating infrastructure, transportation, and affordability, much of which revolves around climate change and its transformation of the region... View full entry
Underwater bedrooms, ‘Lohan Island’ and snow all year round – a decade after it was scuppered by the financial crash, the fantasy archipelago of 300 artificial ‘countries’ is back in business. Has anybody learned anything? — The Guardian
Remember The World? Dubai's lofty vision a decade-and-a-half ago to recreate the globe's map with artificial, celebrity-owned islands dredged from the Gulf floor that was just as grandiose and monumental as its financial crash in 2008? Well, it appears to be back in business again. The Guardian's... View full entry
At Leicester magistrates court, Herzallah and Almasri, of Enderby, Leicestershire, were each ordered to pay a £770 fine, legal costs of £1,252 and a £77 victim surcharge. — The Guardian
A couple, who had disguised housing on their property with a fake garage door, has been fined by Leicester Magistrates Court. The case was brought about by the Blaby district council after they were notified about unauthorized work being carried out at the couple's home and discovered the hoax... View full entry
Local multidisciplinary creative firm DFA has come up with a concept for the rehabilitation of Chelsea's rapidly disintegrating Pier 40 that would provide housing and other services but would also adapt to the predicted rising sea levels of future NYC. The future-proof housing, commercial, and recreation complex would rise from the Hudson River and be able to remain above water in the event of rising sea levels while addressing the city’s dire need for affordable housing. — 6sqft
Renderings courtesy of DFA Renderings courtesy of DFA View full entry
MONU magazine's current issue #27 on "Small Urbanism" shows how small things can have a great impact on city life and planning, exploring themes such as micro-occupations as political protest, urban furniture to recover public spaces and fight criminality, acupunctural interventions for refugee settlements or tiny models used for military strategies. — MONU
There are architectural spaces that capture you through their smallest details. Almost five years ago, I visited the Crematorium building by Asplund in the Woodland Cemetery, in Stockholm. After crossing the artificial landscape along a seemingly introverted building, I remember entering a... View full entry
How do you restore community? Do you honor local context? Or do you bulldoze everything and try to start again? Few places embody that choice more starkly than Botanical Heights, the St. Louis neighborhood formerly known as McRee Town. Looking east from Thurman Avenue, one sees gated blocks of... View full entry
