Three leading starchitecture firms – Rafael Viñoly Architects, Richard Meier & Partners Architects and Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates – have joined forces to collaborate on Waterline Square, a new residential development occupying five acres of land on one of the Upper West Side's last remaining waterfront development sites along the Hudson River. — Wallpaper
Our second conversation from 'Next Up: The LA River' is with Marissa Christiansen, Senior Policy Director of Friends of the Los Angeles River. FOLAR, as the non-profit is known, turned 30 this year, and was founded on the mission to "protect and restore the natural and historic heritage of the... View full entry
When Frank Gehry's office was first attached to the L.A. River's master plan and redevelopment, the river began attracting fresh attention over a project that had already been evolving for decades. This October, in an attempt to do justice to the river's complexity and history (and the... View full entry
I believe one writes because one has to create a world in which one can live. I could not live in any of the worlds offered to me — the world of my parents, the world of war, the world of politics. I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breathe, reign, and recreate myself when destroyed by living. That, I believe, is the reason for every work of art. — Anaïs Nin
I am writing in response to Robert Ivy’s post-election statement committing the AIA’s 89,000 members to working with Donald Trump. As an architect, as a woman, this AIA member makes no such commitment. The fact that in 2016 the very thought of an intelligent, talented, overqualified woman... View full entry
Dubai is set on getting its own hyperloop, and the Los Angeles-based Hyperloop One (formerly Hyperloop Technologies), in collaboration with BIG, is champing at the bit to make that a reality.The Dubai Roads and Transport Authority has agreed to review Hyperloop One’s feasibility study for a... View full entry
Speed, accuracy, and complexity don't have to be mutually exclusive in construction. At least, that's the theory behind augmented reality technologies that offer 3D glimpses of real-time construction sites, animated plans and even wall finishes (imagine holding up your phone In your abode and... View full entry
Designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning architect Richard Meier, the 556-unit building, 685 First Avenue, is going up just south of the United Nations headquarters on the westernmost lot of the long-dormant site, which stretches along the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive from 35th Street to 41st Street. It will be the first building that Mr. Meier, known for his Modernist style and white aesthetic, has designed in black. — The New York Times
Black glass curtainwall - bloomimages View full entry
the developer, Townscape Partners, agreed to reduce its tallest tower to 178 feet and add more affordable housing and more parking spaces. It will also provide $2 million to ease traffic congestion.
The project will have 229 residential units, including 38 for low-income families. There will be 65,000 square feet of commercial space and a pedestrian plaza.
— latimes.com
When Gehry's Sunset Strip development was approved by the L.A. City Planning Commission last August, the plan called for 28 affordable housing units (15% of the total stock)—a number that some at the Commission meeting were concerned set a "low bar" for a development of its size, stature and... View full entry
Despite its potential for easy refurbishment and adaptability, the Nakagin Capsule Tower has not exactly fulfilled the hoped-for mission of its designers. A team of documentary filmmakers recently attempted to stay in the tower, only to find the majority of its units without plumbing or much in... View full entry
Car and Driver caught up with Foxx in Pittsburgh. The DOT chief, previously mayor of Charlotte, North Carolina, reflected on the promise of autonomous and connected cars, the recent Smart City Challenge, the massive increase in traffic deaths, the potential of the shared vehicles unfolding right outside the window, and more. What follows is a transcript of our conversation, lightly edited for grammar and brevity. — blog.caranddriver.com
Related stories in the Archinect news:U.S. Transportation Secretary Foxx on the troubled relationship between infrastructure and race: "We ought to do it better than we did it the last time"Uber lets you hail its self-driving cars in Pittsburgh later this monthColumbus, Ohio wins DOT's $50M Smart... View full entry
YCombinator, the Silicon Vallley start-up accelerator and investment firm behind Airbnb and Dropbox, announced its entrepreneurial reach into city-building this past summer, with the goal to develop "a city for humans" with reduced housing expenses and a simplified planning code.Some SV... View full entry
The first set of renderings have been revealed for Two Trees' new 380,000-square-foot office building at Williamsburg‘s massive, under-construction Domino Sugar Factory complex. The images highlight how tenants can work with architects Beyer Blinder Belle to customize their spaces for “innovation” and “authenticity” in The Refinery. The interiors preserve the former industrial details, while incorporating creative perks such as suspended glass-and-steel office pods and an indoor skate park. — 6sqft.com
Each day, New York’s public garbage trucks collect nearly 7,000 tonnes of residential mixed solid waste. After finishing their routes, most of these trucks will deposit the garbage in one of New York’s waste transfer stations located throughout the city. From there, the garbage will eventually be loaded on to a barge or train and carried as far as 600 miles to its final stop. For most of New York’s mixed solid waste (about 80% of it by tonnage), this last stop will be a landfill. — the Guardian
"The remaining 20% will end up at a waste-to-energy plant, where it will be incinerated and converted into energy."For more on the infrastructure of waste, follow these links:Shitting Architecture: the dirty practice of waste removalGeotectura's ZeroHome turns waste into... View full entry
If Poundbury is a game, it is one that has become a good deal more convincing over time. For years derided as a feudal Disneyland, where Prince Charles could play at being planner like Marie Antoinette with her toy hamlet in Versailles, this supposed ghost town feels increasingly like a real place...[Strip] away the fancy dress and you find a plan that far exceeds the sophistication achieved by any modern housebuilder. — Olly Wainwright | the Guardian
“We are engaged in creating a convincing fake,” [Ben Pentreath, an architect who has worked in Poundbury] says. “All architecture is essentially wallpaper: underneath, it’s all the same stuff.”More New Urbanism:Scott Merrill wins the 2016 Driehaus PrizeIn Chicago, forming economically... View full entry
Hot on the heels of their lauded new National Museum of African American History, Adjaye Associates has been awarded a major new commission: the 760-acre masterplan for the second phase of the San Francisco Shipyard redevelopment.The Shipyard will house some 12,000 homes and apartments, a million... View full entry