Snøhetta's new bench design for the United Nations, entitled The Best Weapon after Nelson Mandela's historic adage: "the best weapon is to sit down and talk," was commissioned by the Nobel Peace Center and is currently installed at the organization's headquarters in New York City. ... View full entry
Last week, Macy’s West Stores, Inc. filed suit against Stockdale, a Los Angeles-based real estate investment firm that took over the downtown property from Westfield in August 2018. The department store is asking a San Diego Superior Court judge to block the developer’s plan on grounds that it violates Macy’s lease agreement and an even more substantial contract, known as a reciprocal easement agreement. The latter document gives the retailer veto power over major property improvements. — The San Diego Union Tribune
A new lawsuit brought by Macy’s, a tenant at Horton Plaza, the spectacular postmodern shopping mall in San Diego designed by Jon Jerde in 1985, has cast doubt on plans for a significant re-do of the property. Horton Plaza in San Diego, Image By Sandy Huffaker, Jr. Photography - The Jerde... View full entry
Following in the footsteps of New York City, Indianapolis, Portland, and others, San Francisco's Market Street will soon be redesigned for use by buses, pedestrians, and cyclists. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency board of directors has unanimously approved the so-called... View full entry
Making a building is such a big thing. They impact people for generations and act as massive transfers of information. It’s very profound. You can’t think enough about what the responsibility is. — The Guardian
Writing in The Guardian, architect David Adjaye of Adjaye Associates shares his personal thoughts on architecture as it relates to the creation, maintenance, and longevity of memory by highlighting his firm's recently completed Linda Pace Foundation building in San Antonio, Texas. View... View full entry
A collection of new images have been unveiled by the architects at Olson Kundig highlighting the firm's recent restoration and renovations of the Seattle Space Needle. The $100 million revamp made its debut in 2018 and was overseen by Olson Kundig Design Principal Alan Maskin. This... View full entry
“This moment, the beginning of the 21st century, is a big moment to change the direction — toward sustainability and disaster relief,” he said. “This will continue as the main theme of this century.” Times had changed since the Modernist era: “Those times, people believed that they would have utopia some day. But we know that it’s not true. There’s no utopia.” — T Magazine
Nikil Saval, writing in T Magazine profiles architect Shigeru Ban in a wide-ranging article, shedding light on Ban's American education at the Southern California Institute of Architecture and The Cooper Union, highlighting the architect's ideological disagreements with Peter Eisenman... View full entry
With WeWork's corporate fortunes up in the air, the entity's umbrella organization, WeCompany, has begun to shake up its various elements and initiatives around the country. In Seattle, for example, a planned development with Martin Selig Real Estate for a 36-story co-working and co-living... View full entry
Brooks + Scarpa gave a first glimpse of their commissioned design to expand Orlando's Mennello Museum of American Art. Collaborating with locally based KMF Architects, Brooks + Scarpa will add 40,000 square feet to transform the current 12,000 square-foot building into a more inclusive... View full entry
Editor's Note: This story has been updated to include clarifying comments from Matthew Howland. ---- Cork House designer Matthew Barnett Howland recently had some thoughts concerning this year's Stirling Prize winner. According to BD, the finalist "was speaking at the Stirling Prize... View full entry
We're halfway through October, but Archtober 2019, New York City's month-long architecture and design festival, is showing no signs of slowing down. Archinect & Bustler have partnered with Archtober for the ninth year in a row and present you our weekly highlights from a packed calendar. Below are... View full entry
Oregon State University (OSU) has opened a new 17,500-square-foot research and fabrication lab designed by Michael Green Architecture (MGA) dedicated to mass timber design, engineering, fabrication, and construction. The A.A. "Red" Emmerson Advanced Wood Products Laboratory, as the... View full entry
Charles Jencks, the noted architectural theorist and historian, has passed away at age 80. RIBA Journal reported Jencks's passing via Twitter Monday morning. Jencks is the author of countless writings and works of criticism, including many important works from the 1970s that helped to define... View full entry
The Morphosis-designed Sunset Strip development Viper Rooms recently sparked much debate among Archinectors, and now it has ignited further dispute among WeHo residents. "Residents erupted in anger when West Hollywood city staffers announced Thursday night that the aesthetics of a... View full entry
For many, the long-standing neighborhood template of a home, backyard and garage on a lot was too intrinsic to the California lifestyle to upend.
But over the past four years, a suite of smaller proposals has quietly chipped away at zoning only for single-family homes, attracting comparably little blowback.
— latimes.com
California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed a series of bills into law that effectively eliminate single-family zoning across the state. The legislation, according to a report in The Los Angeles Times, allows property owners to build up to two additional residential units on any ... View full entry
Late last month, the Portland Bureau of Transportation received approval from the Federal Highway Administration to use red coloring on bus-only lanes. Since the use of red to designate bus-only lanes hasn’t been fully adopted into the FHWA’s Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD), cities that want to use the treatment have had to “request to experiment”. After going through an application process, Portland is now on the list of cities sanctioned to use the color. — Bike Portland
Bus-only lanes are sweeping the nation. With recent federal approvals in hand, Portland, Oregon is set to become the latest major American city to implement bus-only lanes in its downtown and suburban districts. View of suburban area bus lane network. Image courtesy of PBOT/Regional... View full entry
