“With today’s groundbreaking, we’re taking a major step forward in the transformation and rebirth of the Far West Side of Manhattan,” Mayor Michael Bloomberg said from the podium at the corner of 33rd Street and Ninth Avenue. — New York Observer
Hudson Yards is not the only megadevelopnment underway on Manhattan's Far West Side. Brookfield Properties (owners of the World Financial Center, Canary Wharf and Zuccotti Park), broke ground on Manhattan West, a 5.4-million-square foot development on a 5 acre site over a set of Penn Station rail... View full entry
Richard Meier & Partners’ mixed-use building was selected in an international competition topping submissions by Foster + Partners and Zaha Hadid Architects. The challenge, Bernhard Karpf, associate partner-in-charge, said was to create a hybrid building that was “like a city in itself,” which creates “property lines” that carves out distinct areas for rentals, offices, and shops, but still comes together in a unified and coherent design. — The Architect's Newspaper
Brooklyn-based design firm Situ Studio is the winner of this year's annual Times Square Valentine Heart Design. Over the last five years, the Times Square Alliance has invited architecture and design firms to submit proposals for a romantic public art installation celebrating Valentine's Day in Times Square.
This year's winning design, Situ Studio's Heartwalk, will be unveiled on Tuesday, February 12, 2013, and remain on view until March 8, 2013.
— bustler.net
Indicating his ambitions for the next showcase in 2014, Koolhaas said he planned to ‘give a new look’ to architecture’s basic elements ‘to see if we can discover something new about architecture.’
The festival’s board, chaired by Paolo Baratta, formally appointed the star architect to the role today.
— architectsjournal.co.uk
Canada’s biggest city is getting even bigger, with a pace-setting number of skyscrapers set to join the city skyline.
According to a Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) report dubbed “Canada Rising,” Toronto is leading the western world in terms of new buildings 150 metres or taller currently under construction.
— DesignBuild Source Canada
Designers for The Wave, Muscat, were tasked with the challenge of engineering a luxury, mixed-use development stretching along six kilometres of natural beach coastline between Al-Athaiba and Al-Mawelah while ensuring it was protected as much as possible from the Sea of Oman. — DesignBuild Source
"In offering an alternative view, Wang disputes that the power and prevalence of huge new building projects are the only or inevitable architectural products his country has to offer" — Guardian
Last year Rowan Moore had a chance to speak with Wang Shu (winner of the 2012 Pritzker Architecture Prize) when he was in London for the Sustaining Identity conference at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The conference sought to bring together acclaimed international architects whose work... View full entry
A growing number of small urban spaces are creating landscaped gardens that stretch beyond floor pots, with greenery growing upwards along walls and fences.
This new trend toward ‘vertical gardens’ is renewing apartments, offices and restaurants inviting greenery to flourish in small spaces.
— DesignBuild Source
Those outside the design industry may often wonder what makes for good architectural design. Most laypeople would say good design is aesthetically pleasing and unique, but their assessment would likely end there. — DesignBuild Source
Manchester Airports Group (MAG) has outlined redevelopment plans worth £650 million to create Airport City Manchester, a future ‘aerotropolis’, close to Manchester Airport, the UK’s third busiest airport. — DesignBuild Source
The skyline of Chile’s capital city, Santiago, has a new addition with the Gran Torre skyscraper casting a two-kilometre shadow across the historic city.
The 70-storey residential building stands more than 300 metres tall, making it the tallest building in South America. The five-ton steel structure cost an estimated one billion dollars to build and tenants are expected to move into the building next March.
— DesignBuild Source
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. Today's top images (in no particular order) are from the board Interiors. ↑ Rome Residence in Los... View full entry
China is also the land of the knock-off: knock-off designer handbags, knock-off blockbuster movies on DVDs, etc. But now, it seems the knock-off has gone off the charts in terms of proportion: entire buildings. — theworld.org
As we have previously mentioned, Zaha Hadid is the latest victim of piracy in China, with a upcoming copy of her Wangjing Soho complex... scheduled to be completed before the original. NPR explores this issue with McGill architecture prof Avi Friedman. View full entry
Below are the 12 most visited People Profiles during 2012. For a full list of all of our top 12 lists for 2012, click here. 1. Orhan Ayyüce 2. Tyler Hopf 3. Joann Lui 4. Natalie Hardbattle 5. Sean McGuire 6. Kimberly V.K.H. Nguyen 7. Donna Sink 8. Betsy Cole 9. Artur Nesterenko Alexandrovich... View full entry
Unpaid interns are common in architecture firms, but recent lawsuits brought by interns across other industries may have the architecture industry forking out some cash.
In many industries, the term ‘intern’ is often used to describe someone who works for no pay, but the NCARB’s IDP has been trying to detach interns from the assumption by architecture firms that they are willing to work for free. The council defines architectural internships as post-graduate, pre-registration professional work.
— DesignBuild Source