Advocates for the preservation of modernist landscapes in Washington have taken on another fight. After beating back the National Geographic Society’s plan to demolish “Marabar,” the 1984 sculptural installation by Elyn Zimmerman on its campus, they are now battling the Hirshhorn Museum’s proposal to redo its sunken sculpture garden by the architect Gordon Bunshaft and the landscape architect Lester Collins. — The New York Times
As the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. gears up to restore its existing Gordon Bunshaft-designed facilities, landscape preservation advocates have voiced concerns over parallel plans to alter and reconfigure a series of Lester Collins-designed gardens that surround the iconic circular... View full entry
In a press statement delivered this week by the American Society of Landscape Architects, the organization announced they are canceling the annual conference that was set to take place in early October. Originally scheduled to be an in-person event taking place in Miami Beach, growing... View full entry
Florida's new Public Financing of Construction law requires contractors on publicly funded coastal projects to study how those projects could be impacted by sea level rise before starting work. — Construction Dive
Construction Dive reports that project studies will need to estimate the increased storm risk during a 50 year lifespan for these structures as well as the likelihood of substantial flooding that could take place on a project site over the next 50 years. The new law also requires that designers... View full entry
Progress is being made toward enacting the Great American Outdoors Act, a legislative effort recently passed by the United States Senate and due to be taken up by the US House of Representatives next week that could begin to address the $11 billion backlog of road, building, and facilities... View full entry
Climate-conscious architects in the United Kingdom are speaking out against British architect Norman Foster as efforts to have architects disengage from air transport projects intensify. Last week, Archinect reported news of a high profile airport commission taken on by Foster + Partners for a... View full entry
Columbia University President Lee C. Bollinger has announced the creation of the new Columbia Climate School, the first new school at the university in 25 years. The school will focus on research initiatives targeted toward generating scholarship and pedagogical momentum around the issue of... View full entry
Last week, President Donald Trump's unveiled the Executive Order on Building and Rebuilding Monuments to American Heroes, a measure that sets out to create a new "National Garden of American Heroes" to be filled with statues depicting "historically significant Americans. ... View full entry
The Practice for Architecture and Urbanism (PAU) has unveiled a plan envisioning how Manhattan's streets might transform to minimize auto dependency while embracing the widespread availability of dedicated bus and bicycle lanes as well as more generous pedestrian infrastructure. The so-called "Not... View full entry
Over the holiday weekend, President Donald Trump announced the creation of a new "National Garden of American Heroes" that will contain statues depicting "historically significant Americans" and other historical figures like Christopher Columbus. The order comes as protest movements and... View full entry
ODA Architecture designed a proposal to build a mixed-use district in Queens that would encompass five blocks. Dubbed “Innovation QNS,” the $2 billion project would bring 2,700 units of mixed-income housing, 250,000 square feet of creative office space, 200,000 square feet of retail, a new school, two acres of public open space, and new neighborhood amenities to Astoria. — 6sqft
Following a rare show of bipartisan support, the Bird-Safe Buildings Act of 2019 has passed the United States House of Representatives and is now headed for consideration by the Senate. The bill would require "each public building constructed, acquired, or of which more than 50% of the facade is... View full entry
The NYU Tandon School of Engineering, T.Y. Lin International, and Sam Schwartz Engineering have unveiled a proposal for a new bridge connecting Queens and Manhattan. The so-called "Queens Ribbon" proposal is part of a larger set of pedestrian and bicycle bridges proposed by the design... View full entry
The basic model at Northeast Bunkers is a cylindrical steel vessel eight feet in diameter, in 13- or 20-foot lengths, welded from quarter-inch plate steel and equipped with an entrance hatch on top. Standard features include rust-resistant exterior paint, cedar plank flooring, zero-VOC (volatile organic compounds) interior finishes, two vent ports, floor hatches for storage, and an emergency exit hatch. — The New York Times
Writing in The New York Times, Mira Ptacin surveys the growing demand for underground bunkers across the United States as disease, social unrest, and political instability push some people to prepare for potential worst case scenarios, both real and imagined. Brian V. Camden, principal of... View full entry
Recognized for their distinct approach within architecture and landscape design, Snøhetta has published a new book highlighting their efforts to "recognize a potential to further challenge existing industry standards by developing new Lean key principles in the complex merge of design... View full entry
The aftermath of George Floyd’s death while in police custody has created a moment for radical truth-telling. So here’s some ugly truth about the city of Los Angeles: Our freeway system is one of the most noxious monuments to racism and segregation in the country. — The Los Angeles Times
Mattew Fleischer, Senior Digital Editor of The Los Angeles Times pens an editorial for the newspaper highlighting the indefensible, racist legacy of highway construction in American cities. Citing historical research regarding the ways in which highway construction and urban renewal... View full entry
