Jakarta is perhaps the truest realization of a post-colonial cosmopolis. Many former colonial capitals stage a rivalry between quaint traditional centers and desperation-driven peripheries. But Jakarta can be understood not as a dialogue with its former foreign overlords but rather as a fiercely insistent projection of Indonesian independence. — Places Journal
In his latest article for Places, Joe Day examines the contemporary architecture of Jakarta through the framework of the utopian terms of the Five Pancasilas, the founding principles of modern Indonesia. Day traces the development of Indonesian architecture from founding president Pak Sukarno's... View full entry
Following their research into the Droneport—a project that explores the potential of an ‘infrastructural leap’ using cutting edge technology to surmount the challenges of the future—Foster + Partners is now working with Be Tomorrow UK, the UK arm of a leading autonomous drone software... View full entry
The museum showcases failures to provide visitors a learning experience about the important role of failure for innovation and to encourage organizations to become better at learning from failure. — Museum of Failure
This December, corporate flops will be showcased when the Museum of Failure comes to Los Angeles. Don’t let the name fool you. The Museum of Failure is a celebration of history’s failed products and services and the lessons learned from them. Exhibited at the A+D Architecture and Design Museum... View full entry
Harmoniously weaving together the art of dance and the science of mechanical engineering, Huang Yi performs a man-machine dance duet with KUKA -- a robot he conceptualized and programmed -- set to stirring cello by Joshua Roman. — Ted Talks
During aTED Talk event in Vancouver, British Columbia, Taiwanese choreographer and engineer Huang Yi performed an absolutely gorgeous pas de deux with an emotionally responsive, intricately reticulating single arm robot affectionately named KUKA. For this performance, KUKA was programmed to move... View full entry
This post is brought to you by klokers PLEDGE UNTIL THE 7TH OF DECEMBER TO RESERVE YOUR KLOK-08 AT $229 INSTEAD OF $442! KLOK-08 pays tribute to the Sixties, from where it inherited the spirit and aesthetic codes. THE SPIRIT: FREEDOM & NONCONFORMITY The creative and audacious 1960s broke the... View full entry
Its forms are basic, totemic: Euclidean shapes dredged from the long memory of the field. It sometimes relies on modules or grids. It’s often monochromatic. It’s post-digital, which means it rejects the compulsion to push form-making to its absolute limits that overtook architecture at the turn of the century. As a result, it sometimes looks ancient or even primordial. It never looks futuristic. — LA Times
Famed LA Times architectural critic, Christopher Hawthorne, released his view of contemporary architecture that culminates in it being classified as boring, and yet, that might be exactly what the architectural discipline ordered. As a reaction to 'hyperactive form-making,' Hawthorne argues that... View full entry
During LA CoMotion — a downtown event featuring the so-called city of tomorrow — a Los Angeles artist group is reframing what the city of tomorrow is by bringing the art to the screens and streets. A local group of Los Angeles video artists is making strides — and having... View full entry
The most radical art space to launch in Paris in decades will open next spring in a five-storey, 19th-century building in the Marais district. The Fondation d’Entreprise Galeries Lafayette, run by the eponymous French retail chain, commissioned Rem Koolhaas and his OMA company to renovate the historic building at 9 rue du Platre. — The Art Newspaper
OMA has placed a glass and steel exhibition tower in the building’s courtyard, which operates as a ‘curatorial machine’,” according to a project statement. This tower incorporates four mobile platforms that move in and out of sight, allowing 49 different spatial configurations. As the... View full entry
Within 40 hours of the project being announced in 2016, over 100,000 people had applied for citizenship on Asgardia's website. After three weeks, Asgardia had 500,000 applicants. — CNN
On November 12, a hard drive 'nanosat' containing the information of 18,000 newly naturalized citizens of Asgardia took off for its two-day flight to the international space station. The nanosat — it is roughly the size of a loaf of bread — contains 0.5 TB of data such as family photographs... View full entry
Archigram can be seen as part of several trends that influence metropolitan life to this day. One was the Pop Art movement, where color, dynamism, fashion, and disposability were presented in graphics as understated as a passing billboard. — CityLab
While history may be said to define us, it could also be that history paves the roads in which we will ultimately walk. Archigram, known for being an avant-garde architectural group formed in the 1960s and for its neo-futuristic, anti-heroic and pro-consumerist theoretical projects, may, in fact... View full entry
Tybot is a robot recently invented that can tie together steel reinforcement bars saving time and reducing risk in construction projects. Thousands of joints must be tied before pouring the concrete, however this step has traditionally been labor intensive, hazardous, and a cause for major delays... View full entry
Urban drivers spend an average of 20 minutes per trip looking for parking and studies have found that anywhere from about 30 to 60 percent of the cars you see driving around a downtown core are doing just that. The energy spent looking for parking burns 47,000 gallons of gas and generates... View full entry
The leads in those races have never flipped since polls closed Tuesday night. Denver city officials, including Mayor Michael Hancock, already were treating the Green Roof Initiative as though it would pass, given its growing lead with every release of results. — Denver Post
Jon Murray and Kieran Nicholson report the final, unofficial, results released by the Denver Elections Division. BLUF Denver voters passed the Green Roof Initiative and Mayor Hancock and the city are committing to "how best to implement it within the laws and property rights that people have, and... View full entry
Belmont Partners, an investment firm run by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, has bought 25,000 acres in Arizona to create a planned community reports KPNX. The large plot of land was bought for $80 million and is 45 minutes from Phoenix, within Maricopa County, in an area called the West Valley... View full entry
This post is brought to you by Autodesk Reality Capture Unless you’re designing a new building that’s slated for construction in the middle of a flat and empty landscape, context matters. Whether it’s a renovation, an addition, or new construction, the as-is geometry of adjacent buildings... View full entry
