Brightline West, an affiliate of Brightline, the country’s only privately owned passenger railroad, is planning a 170-mile high-speed rail line, which would connect Las Vegas to the Apple Valley community in San Bernardino County. Set to travel at a maximum speed of 200 miles per hour, trains on... View full entry
A vote taken last week by the Metro Board of Directors approved a nearly $900 million budget for the long-awaited rail link to LAX, setting the stage for work to begin for the new light rail station in coming months. The Airport Metro Connector, planned for a 9.5-acre site at the intersection of Aviation Boulevard and 96th Streets, will connect Metro's Crenshaw/LAX and Green (C) Lines with the airport's new automated people mover system. — Urbanize Los Angeles
Grimshaw Architects is in charge of the station's design. It will include: a 16-bay bus plaza with capacity for charging infrastructure, a multi-level active transportation and bike hub, a vehicle drop-off zone, a customer service center, public toilet facilities beyond the fare paid zone... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has announced the winners of this year’s Upjohn Research Initiative, providing up to $30,000 to four research projects advancing sustainable architecture and design. The four projects demonstrate a variety of approaches to tackling climate change, from... View full entry
The MIT Senseable City Lab has unveiled their “Favelas 4D” project, dedicated to mapping the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Using 3D laser scanning technology to analyze the urban landscape of Rocinha, the project seeks to understand and quantify the architectural logic of one of... View full entry
Governor Cuomo has unveiled two new reconstruction options for transforming Penn Station into "a world-class, 21st-century transportation hub."
New images released Wednesday afternoon show how transit officials hope to reinvent the dreary subterranean Midtown labyrinth into a modern, light-filled transit destination.
The proposal lays out two distinct options, both of which would retain Madison Square Garden, but also require its purchase.
— Urbanize NYC
The designs are the work of FXcollaborative and WSP. View full entry
Titled "On Cities," a new series of twenty masterclasses was released by the Norman Foster Foundation this week. Each half-hour video features a leading expert in the fields of architecture, urbanism, economics, and mobility, aiming to promote cross-disciplinary and trans-geographic exchange... View full entry
Pritzker Prize-winning architect Thom Mayne of Morphosis appeared before the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) again Tuesday to present an updated proposal for the restoration of an 1868 townhouse in Brooklyn, and the construction of a new 2,000-square-foot carriage house at its rear.
Mayne, who appeared with his collaborator, Ted Kane (who is overseeing the restoration), won the unanimous approval — and delight — of the LPC for his revised design.
— Urbanize NYC
Although 175 Park is a handsome design that melds well with its other supertall neighbor, One Vanderbilt, it positively overwhelms the Chrysler Building, which all but disappears in the illustrations. Most existing buildings, in fact, wane in the presence of 175 Park due to its bulk. — Urbanize NYC
!["Dubbed America's 'Black Wall Street' the 35-block Greenwood District surrounding the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Archer Street became a prosperous center for black commerce in the early 1900s [...] the Greenwood District was the richest African-American neighborhood in North America." Text and Image courtesy of Greenwood Cultural Center](https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/a1/a1e661195451876019391d9b4ec493be.jpeg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=514 "\"Dubbed America's 'Black Wall Street' the 35-block Greenwood District surrounding the corner of Greenwood Avenue and Archer Street became a prosperous center for black commerce in the early 1900s [...] the Greenwood District was the richest African-American neighborhood in North America.\" Text and Image courtesy of Greenwood Cultural Center")
The importance of rebuilding and reclaiming America's Black communities is essential to honoring and understanding how social justice and design reform can improve the systemic and racial histories of cities across the nation. The Greenwood District in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is no exception. On... View full entry
Here's our first look at One45, a nearly one-million square foot mixed-use development proposed for West Harlem...
A draft scope of work submitted to the city last Friday, reveals two new towers that would rise about 360 feet apiece and contain space for office, retail, residential, and a banquet hall/event area for community use.
The program also includes a brand new 48,000-square-foot space for the Museum of Civil Rights (MCR), a long-standing institution founded by Reverend Al Sharpton.
— Urbanize NYC
Amazon continues to makes headlines with its labor issues, workers' rights, and headquarters expansion. However, that hasn't stopped the multi-billion-dollar company from growing, for better or for worse. A recent news report from NBC News shared Amazon's moves towards purchasing empty shopping... View full entry
More cities are incorporating biophilic design approaches for several reasons. While some firms genuinely practice regenerative and sustainable design methods, others could be placed into the category of "greenwashing" to satisfy trends and bolster their firm's PR efforts. However, according to... View full entry
Not so long ago, density was promoted as a way to enliven underpopulated cities, particularly their downtowns. Then it became a tool for fighting climate change. Now, density is increasingly seen as an equity issue. [...]
Two notorious projects help us understand the difference between density that enhances a neighborhood and projects that big-foot their surroundings.
— The Philadelphia Inquirer
In her latest column for the Inquirer, architecture critic Inga Saffron dissects two new mid-rise apartment building projects at opposite ends of Philadelphia (the "poop building and the Scrooge building," as she nicknames them) and how their individual approaches toward urban densification can... View full entry
Tokyo’s Ginza shopping district is set to get an elevated “green way” similar to the High Line park in New York City [...], or Paris’ Promenade Plantée.
The plan is to turn a 2km urban motorway known as the KK Expressway into the “Tokyo Sky Corridor”. The linear park will then form a green loop around the outskirts of Ginza.
— Global Construction Review
The Tokyo metropolitan government has invited the public to submit feedback on the proposed Tokyo Expressway (KK Line) revitalization. View full entry
On March 31st, President Biden unveiled his $2 trillion economic plan to "reimagine and rebuild a new economy." The American Jobs Plan aims to "invest in America in a way we have not invested since we built the interstate highways and won the Space Race." During Wednesday's speech... View full entry
