Regardless of the pricey remediation, the 41-acre property has long been considered a key element to the large-scale ecological restoration of the LA River. The city purchased the G2 parcel in March, paying nearly $60 million. — Curbed
The city’s bureau of engineering recommends engineering firm WSP, with Landscape Architect Mia Lehrer, for the transformation of the G2. WSP and Lehrer are collaborating with Mujeres de la Tierra, a non-profit public health organization based in Cypress Park, on the project. Part of Taylor... View full entry
I’m particularly interested in how sustainable buildings might affect the experience of landscape differently — actually better, differently — because, as a human being, I’m hoping for more sustainable architecture, and, as an academic (and as an architect), I’m thinking the consequences should be revolutionary to architecture. — Places Journal
Unlike earlier technological revolutions — the development of the steel frame, or the invention of concrete — sustainability in architecture has not yet had any significant, self-identifying formal consequences. Instead, the experience of sustainable space has to be hyper-mediated. In his... View full entry
The Russian President Vladimir Putin opened Zaryadye Park near Red Square on 9 September, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro, creators of New York’s High Line, but what Moscow city officials are lauding as a “new symbol of Russia” preservationists are decrying as a travesty that impinges on the Kremlin and St Basil’s Cathedral, two of Russia’s most sacred landmarks. — The Art Newspaper
Diller Scofidio + Renfro's Zaryadye Park proposal for an ambitious replacement of the colossal Soviet-era Hotel Russia near the Kremlin in central Moscow won the international competition back in 2013 with a "wild urbanism" concept. Rendering of DS+R's Zaryadye Park project in central Moscow... View full entry
The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), the world largest museum of contemporary art from Africa and its diaspora will open to the public on September 22. The Zeitz MOCAA is located in former grain silo of the V&A waterfront, in Cape Town, South Africa. Zeitz MOCAA Picture... View full entry
Creative studio DFA is proposing a 712-foot public observation tower in Central Park that would double as a sustainable filtration system to clean the hazardous Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir and turn it into a non-toxic, useable freshwater pond. Though meant to be temporary, the prefabricated tower would be the world’s tallest timber structure if completed, featuring a 56-foot-wide viewing platform and a glass oculus that showcases the tower’s functional elements. — 6sqft
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They are in that fertile period — agewise, it typically runs from the mid-40s to mid-50s in architecture — when the profession’s next generation of leadership begins to make its mark. — The New York Times
NADAAA, Atelier TAG, SHoP Architects, Oyler Wu Collaborative: these are among the firms highlighted in this piece in the New York Times, which surveys the architects who are currently primed to "lead" the profession. Los Angeles-based pair and married couple Johnston Marklee, who are heading up... View full entry
“I’m looking for subtle signifiers of an exuberant bygone optimism,” [Photographer Tag Christof] said. “Whether people realize it or not, the things I photograph are the direct result of a system that defines progress only in economic terms.” Christof...has spent the last five years crisscrossing the country in an effort to document architectural sites vanishing from the landscape. — The Outline
Whether you spent your teenage years moodily occupying the food court or have experienced malls primarily as ruin porn, the architectural significance of these former bustling commercial centers can't be overstated. A kind of high water mark of capitalism, the shuttered and demolished malls... View full entry
A surge of tall buildings, the vast majority of them housing rental apartments, is creating a densely populated, urban core [...] the Super Loop is patently un-super in at least one respect: It lacks a new version of the technological and aesthetic innovations that made Chicago's reputation as the cradle of modern architecture. As Mayor Rahm Emanuel prepares to host the second edition of a global architecture biennial [...], most of the new high-rises are based on tired commercial formulas. — Chicago Tribune
Chicago's Super Loop is gentrifying and becoming denser as apartment buildings are multiplying and younger generations are moving in. But, most of the new apartments in these high rises are quickly built concrete boxes with glass balconies. The ordinary character of new construction in Chicago's... View full entry
Chicago is one of the global centers of the architectural world, not only for its rich history, but also as a stage for continuous innovation and design exploration. This lineage is a major part of why The Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) has decided to create the Chicago Architecture Center... View full entry
First, given their robust physical characteristics, like, reinforced concrete, between 18-30 feet high, the concrete border wall prototypes are designed to deter illegal crossings in the area in which they are constructed.
Second, the concrete border wall prototypes will allow CBP to evaluate the potential for new wall and barrier designs that could complement the wall and barrier designs we have used along the border over the last several years.
— U.S. Customs and Border Protection
On Thursday, CBP announced that it had awarded contracts to build several 30-foot-high concrete wall prototypes, which are supposed to inform future design standards and will likely continue to evolve to meet the U.S. Border Patrol’s requirements. The four companies that will build the... View full entry
Derek Hoeferlin, associate professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, along with research assistants Jess Vanecek and Rob Birch, both master’s degree candidates in the Sam Fox School, has won first prize in the... View full entry
Where we would be without the energetic (if usually misinformed) enthusiasm of youth? Apparently, without the Centre Pompidou as we know it. In this comprehensive and enjoyable profile in The Guardian, Richard Rogers reflects on his early days as an architect after he and his freshly-made friend... View full entry
Rain continues to fall in Houston, Texas, a city which may see up to 50 inches of precipitation over a span of five days thanks to the aftereffects of Hurricane Harvey. Unfortunately, the continued flooding has been exacerbated due to some decades-long, head-in-the-sand urban planning, the history... View full entry
Megacities—those urban centers crammed with more than 10 million people—would be well served to double down on their arboreal assets, according to a new paper in the upcoming issue of the journal Ecological Modeling.
A team of researchers led by Theodore Endreny of SUNY’s College of Environmental Studies and Forestry sought to quantify how leafy infrastructure pays dividends in 10 chock-full cities—and the extent to which those benefits could compound if those urban areas planted more trees.
— Citylab
You can check out the research paper here, as well as this 2015 report about the health benefits of more greenspace in urban centers. View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)... View full entry
