The New York Times has made a map of every building in the United States. Using a neural network to analyze satellite imagery, the team's program then traced the shape of buildings across the country. Users can enter a city, zip code, or address, and explore these areas in detail. It's pretty... View full entry
“Given the diversity of the buildings emerging within the Qianhai area, our preference was for a simple, bold, and confident insertion into the existing master plan,” says Spence. “The formality derives from the existing road grid and building plots, combined with our desire to maximize the area of raised green park linking the city to the bay. It creates a new horizon against which people can orientate.” — Fast Company
In the bustling city of Shenzen, the growing metropolis that bridges Hong Kong to China's mainland, an exciting sky garden project will bring the city's transportation infrastructure to the sky. The team at Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners are creating a mile long elevated pathway. The main... View full entry
Desire paths have been described as illustrating “the tension between the native and the built environment and our relationship to them”. Because they often form in areas where there are no pavements, they can be seen to “indicate [the] yearning” of those wishing to walk, a way for “city dwellers to ‘write back’ to city planners, giving feedback with their feet”. — The Guardian
Ellie Violet Bramley pens an ode to "desire paths"—organically grown foot paths off the prescribed paved sidewalks; pedestrians' yearning for urban movement outside of the planned city order. Example of an urban desire path getting paved in Chicago. Photo: Paul Sableman/Flickr. View full entry
Krier himself may not be fascist. Nor are most of the people involved in reconstructing the Garrison church or the new Old Town. But the defence of the political neutrality of architecture is wearing thin. — the guardian
In 1991 Max Klaar, a retired German lieutenant-colonel, presented the municipality of Potsdam with a replica of a famous carillon, which from 1797 to 1945 had played themes by Bach and Mozart (Papageno’s Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen from The Magic Flute) from the tower of the city’s Garrison... View full entry
Created for the annual exhibition House Vision, the prototype is a thought experiment in the way people live in super-dense cities. [...] It’s a common problem in big cities all over the world, and Hasegawa’s design is meant to balance space-saving with privacy, transforming a 1.5-story space (which are common across the city) into a usable space for four. — Fast Company
Highly-dense cities are common through out countries like China and Japan. Popular apparel and houseware brand, Muji, are taking creative steps in tackling long commutes and dense city living most employees face. Partnering with Japanese architect, Go Hasegawa, Muji's apartment prototype aims to... View full entry
In the 18 months or so since dockless bike-share arrived in the US, the service has spread to at least 88 American cities. (On the provider side, at least 10 companies have jumped into the business; Lime is one of the largest.) Some of those cities now have more than a year of data related to the programs, and they’ve started gleaning insights and catering to the increased number of cyclists on their streets. — MIT Technology Review
Technology Review writer Elizabeth Woyke looks at ways how city planners in Seattle, WA and South Bend, IN use the immense stream of user-generated location data from dockless-bike-sharing programs to improve urban mobility — and how hackers could potentially access and abuse this (supposedly... View full entry
Building codes and standards in many countries require engineers to consider the effects of soil liquefaction in the design of new buildings and infrastructure such as bridges, embankment dams and retaining structures — The Guardian
After the devastating earthquake that hit Indonesia, scientists are relating building collapses to soil liquefaction. When overly saturated soil is heavily loosened by intense seismic activity, particles in the soil lose its bond and contact with each other. Thus resulting in its loss of stiffness... View full entry
They were planned after the second world war to whisk people above car-choked streets in the financial district, but remained unpopular and half-built. Now, pedestrian walkways are being reimagined for a 21st-century city — The Guardian
The "pedway" made its structural debut as a solution to providing a walkable, streamlined path for pedestrians in London's car stricken streets. However, what was devised as a plan to create an efficient walkway system, turned into an under appreciated and underwhelming concept. Examples of... View full entry
In the language of climate change, “adaptation” refers to ways to blunt the immediate effects of extreme weather, such as building seawalls, conserving drinking water, updating building codes, and helping more people get disaster insurance. [...]
But some researchers are going further, calling for what some call the “deep adaptation agenda.”
— Bloomberg
Bloomberg's Climate & Environment Reporter, Christopher Flavelle, lays out a range of climate change projections—from the general consensus to the more pessimistic—and how an array of 'deep adaptation' measures could help to mitigate the damage. "Rather than simply asking people to water... View full entry
This week, the Navy Yard released new renderings and an expanded master plan that shows a 30-year plan for the complex. Developed with the multidisciplinary design firm WXY, the master plan includes three new buildings totaling 5.1 million square feet [...]. The plan also includes increased public access to the complex, including retail and open space, and improved wayfinding and circulation. The expected cost is $2.5 billion, coming on the heels of a nearly complete $1 billion expansion. — Curbed NY
Curbed New York has a lengthy piece up about the recently unveiled new master plan for the 300-acre Brooklyn Navy Yard megadevelopment. Rendering: bloomimages; Image via BNYDC/WXY architecture + urban designMembers of the public are invited to join a series of tours of new projects... View full entry
The space under elevated highways are often dark, industrial, and empty. With so much capacity to create a vibrant public space, organizations and cities are exploring ways for creative development in the otherwise unused area. — PopUpCity
Underpasses are often overlooked for their building potential, but cities like Toronto and Zurich are redefining the creative opportunity of these spaces. Underpass design is a great way for cities to enrich these often vacant industrial spaces and create areas for community engagement and... View full entry
Get a bird's eye view of the new Inglewood Stadium with this 360-degree image, courtesy of architectural photographer Hunter Kerhart.
The stadium, which is the centerpiece of a $5-billion redevelopment of the former Hollywood Park racetrack, will feature 70,000 seats when it opens in 2020. The HKS Architects-designed facility is expected to serve as the home of the Super Bowl in 2022, and will also play a prominent role in the 2028 Summer Olympic Games.
— urbanize.LA
urbanize.LA recently published new drone's-eye-view construction photos of the impressive $5 billion Hollywood Park site—soon to be home of the shiny new Los Angeles Rams and Chargers NFL stadium (designed by HKS Architects) and a sprawling mixed-use development with office buildings by... View full entry
The architect of the unbuilt Chicago Spire is among the designers vying for the massive O’Hare International Airport expansion project.
The Zurich-based firm of Santiago Calatrava, whose projects include an airport in Bilbao, Spain, and the over-budget World Trade Center transportation center in New York, was one of 12 teams that responded to the city’s Thursday deadline to submit qualifications for the $8.7 billion expansion [...].
— Chicago Tribune
According to the Chicago Tribune, the list of teams bidding for the $8.7 billion Chicago O'Hare International Airport expansion includes big-name firms such as SOM, Perkins+Will, Bjarke Ingels Group, Santiago Calatrava, Gensler, HOK, Fentress Architects, JAHN, Epstein, and Studio Fuksas. View full entry
The damage from the housing crisis — a toxic combination of frenzied buying, rampant construction, predatory lending and investment excess — was extensive. Of the 23,000 single-family homes in the 89031 ZIP code, more than 7,500 have had at least one foreclosure since 2006, according to Attom Data Solutions. — NYT
A team including; Matthew Goldstein, Robert Gebeloff, Ross Mantle and Matt Ruby released a deep dive into the community of North Las Vegas. The global financial crisis of 2008 impacted it greatly and though the local housing market has strengthened and it is today one of the fastest-growing cities... View full entry
Two historic New York City theaters are getting ready to shine brightly under the Times Square spotlight once again. This week, developers behind the Times Square Theater and the Palace Theater, unveiled ambitious renovation and expansion plans for their establishments. — ny.curbed.com
The Palace Theater redevelopment includes raising the structure about 30 feet to accommodate retail space below and an 18,000 square foot wraparound sign. The existing DoubleTree hotel above the theater will be demolished to be replaced by a 46-story tower including retail, dining, and a... View full entry
