Following delays caused by a lawsuit aimed at protecting the adjacent, city-owned Theodore Roosevelt Park, construction officially kicked off for the American Museum of Natural History’s new Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education, and Innovation. Designed by architect Jeanne Gang, the $383 million Center will add new galleries, classrooms, a theatre, and an expanded library while linking 10 museum buildings for better circulation throughout the campus. — 6sqft
A rendering of the Gilder Center's interior. Rendering by MIR and Studio Gang.Entrance to the Gilder Center from Theodore Roosevelt Park. Rendering by MIR and Studio Gang.Entrance to the Gilder Center from Theodore Roosevelt Park. Rendering by MIR and Studio Gang. View full entry
After her win, Stroker spoke to reporters about the lack of accessibility on Broadway. She said that most of the theaters’ backstage areas are not generally accessible to performers with disabilities.
“I would ask theater owners and producers to really look into how they can begin to make the backstage accessible so that performers with disabilities can get around,” she said, per The New York Times.
— Huffington Post
Ali Stroker became the first person to use a wheelchair to win a Tony Award during Sunday night's glitzy ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Her historical win — which was for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in the acclaimed Broadway revival of “Oklahoma!” — is a milestone in... View full entry
American homes are a lot bigger than they used to be. In 1973[...] the median size of a newly built house was just over 1,500 square feet; that figure reached nearly 2,500 square feet in 2015.
But according to a recent paper, Americans aren’t getting any happier with their ever bigger homes. “Despite a major upscaling of single-family houses since 1980,” writes Clément Bellet,[...], “house satisfaction has remained steady in American suburbs.”
— The Atlantic
For many homeowners in America, happiness is often incorrectly measured by how flatteringly the scale of one's home can be compared to those around them. Since the construction of Levittown and other post-war suburban developments, American homes have, on average, been built with incrementally... View full entry
Eight months after the discovery of cracked steel girders forced its closure, the Transbay transit center is safe to reopen, an independent panel of engineers and experts has concluded. The reopening is set for 6 a.m. July 1. — San Francisco Chronicle
A five-member peer-review committee appointed by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission has approved a series of recently-completed structural repairs made to the Pelli Clarke Pelli-designed Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco. Workers repair damaged structural beams at the Transbay... View full entry
The work of Scottish architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh belongs to the early modernist period, along with that of Austria's Adolf Loos and California's Irving Gill. Though Mackintosh built very few projects during his career, the few that have survived have continued to be of great importance for... View full entry
research from American and European scientists suggests that Texas — especially the waters along its coast — could be a pretty good place to store carbon from the petroleum industry. — Grist
In an effort to find new methods for storing carbon dioxide emissions, European researchers have been experimenting with injecting liquefied CO2 into the seabed surrounding former drilling sites in the North Sea. Studies so far show that leakages are minor and carbon sequestration potential is... View full entry
Dallas Area Rapid Transit has joined a national effort to explore how autonomous buses could shuttle people around cities in the future.
It is one of about a dozen transportation agencies that are part of the Automated Bus Consortium, which will research driverless buses and run pilot projects to better understand how they could be rolled out nationwide.
— Dallasnews.com
The consortium, whose membership includes the transit agencies of Los Angeles County and Atlanta, and the Michigan Department of Transportation, was created by AECOM and aims to begin testing a fleet of 75 to 100 full-sized automated buses in major cities by 2021 or 2022. Todd Plesko, Dallas... View full entry
The legislation would bring more value to historic tax credits and improve access to the credit and investment for smaller rehabilitation projects.
The legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives by Congressmen Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Darin LaHood (R-PA), Terri Sewell (D-AL) and Mike Kelly (R-PA). Senate introduction of similar legislation is expected within the next few weeks.
— ntcic.com
Efforts to expand the Historic Tax Credit (HTC) program have earned bipartisan support in the United States House of Representatives, where last month Congress members Earl Blumenauer (D-OR), Darin LaHood (R-PA), Terri Sewell (D-AL) and Mike Kelly (R-PA) introduced the Historic Tax Credit growth... View full entry
The co-living startup Starcity plans to build an 800-unit, 18-story “dorm for adults” to help affordably house Silicon Valley’s booming workforce. Dishotsky, the co-founder/CEO of the co-housing start-up Starcity, is now working to fill America’s housing-strapped cities with a scaled-up version of his childhood idyll. — CityLab
Said to be the an 18-story "dorm for adults" the co-living startup Starcity aims to "redefining the meaning of home." The co-founder and CEO Jon Dishotsky is an advocate for co-living due to his upbringing in suburban Palo Alto. If asked about his upbringing, Dishotsky will share the story of... View full entry
Nestled in the mountains near the northern coastline of Taiwan, just outside of its capital, is a tower that, once full, will house the ashes of 400,000 people.
At 20 stories tall, the True Dragon Tower is the biggest columbarium in the world. It’s a striking manifestation of two problems plaguing countries all around Asia—a rapidly aging population, and a lack of space for the dead in urban centers.
— Quartz
Cultures around the world are currently dealing with a problem unique to the 21st century: the excessive use of land to bury the dead in the past has left little more for future generations. While cremation and the spreading of ashes has long acted as a measure against leaving a permanent mark on... View full entry
Author William H. Frey, senior fellow for the Metropolitan Policy Program at the Brooking Institute, writes, "These trends are consistent with previous census releases for counties and metropolitan areas that point to a greater dispersion of the U.S. population as the economy and housing... View full entry
All the blueprints and material specifications needed to put it together are included in a cardboard box. They come both on a flash drive in PDF format and printed on 36-by-24-inch sheets. The company says that the package also includes reading materials about the house, discount codes to build some of the stuff you need at providers all around the United States, as well as a door knob, a hammer, and a hat with the company logo. — Fast Company
A company that once sold designer trailer homes switched gears after a stalled venture to focus their attention on helping homeowners design their ideal A-frame cabin. For how much you ask? $1,950. As ideal as that sounds, one may be waiting for the catch. However, when Everywhere Inc.'s... View full entry
The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT) announced Wednesday that it will open two new University Transportation Centers (UTCs), one at the University of South Florida (USF) and one at Washington State University (WSU). Each UTC will receive $7.5 million in grant funding for transportation research and education. — Smart Cities Dive
Initiated in 1987 by the United States Department of Transportation, the University Transportation Center (UTC) program aides to improve research and education in transportation in order to improve the durability and lifespan of transportation infrastructures. Data and other transportation... View full entry
She told reporters that the council had finally managed to "resolve a historical anomaly in the city -- that an emblematic monument like the Sagrada Familia... didn't have a building permit, that it was being constructed illegally," Agence France-Presse reported. — CNN
Despite being under construction for 137 years, Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, Spain has never had proper building permits. That is, until now. CNN reports that Barcelona's chief urban planner announced last week that the city council had finally awarded the committee... View full entry
An architect by training, Diniz will lead Central Saint Martins’ newest programme: a masters in biodesign that will launch in the new academic year. The school’s ambition is to educate a future wave of designers and entrepreneurs who can break down barriers between disciplines and lead advances in bio-materials. — Business of Fashion
Sustainability in fashion has become a growing trend in classrooms as well as the fashion industry. However, despite the industry's attempts it still struggles to understand and tackle the effects it has on the environment, several designers and students are reworking this approach. Architect and... View full entry
