“I’m looking for subtle signifiers of an exuberant bygone optimism,” [Photographer Tag Christof] said. “Whether people realize it or not, the things I photograph are the direct result of a system that defines progress only in economic terms.” Christof...has spent the last five years crisscrossing the country in an effort to document architectural sites vanishing from the landscape. — The Outline
Whether you spent your teenage years moodily occupying the food court or have experienced malls primarily as ruin porn, the architectural significance of these former bustling commercial centers can't be overstated. A kind of high water mark of capitalism, the shuttered and demolished malls... View full entry
Construction began this summer on a public mountain town that will straddle a 10,000-acre site between three skiing bowls. In 2013, Powder Mountain was purchased by Summit, a company—or, perhaps more accurately, a collective—founded in 2008 by five 20-something friends who want to “catalyze entrepreneurship” and “create global change.” — The Atlantic
The company plans to build 500 single-family houses along with a village for amenities and a place to house the organization's non-profit arm. The founders hope that the skiing mecca—an hour's drive north of Salt Lake—will become a year-round community for innovators and other creatives "to... View full entry
This post is brought to you by The Architectural League Join friends and colleagues for Alchemy, the 2017 Architectural League Beaux Arts Ball taking place at Building 28 in Brooklyn’s Navy Yard. This year’s theme celebrates the transformation from one state to another, the quicksilver... View full entry
Chicago is one of the global centers of the architectural world, not only for its rich history, but also as a stage for continuous innovation and design exploration. This lineage is a major part of why The Chicago Architecture Foundation (CAF) has decided to create the Chicago Architecture Center... View full entry
Art thrives when it collaborates with or takes inspiration from other discliplines, a tenet that is physically expressed in the new campus of the Emily Carr University of Art + Design, located on the east side of downtown Vancouver. Designed by Diamond Schmitt Architects, the campus reflects the... View full entry
Justine Testado featured the 'Spaceships' series of Hamburg-based Lars Stieger. RaúlGHO commented "Tal vez, el arquitecto diseño el detalle esperando que así se descubra, como una nave espacial de serie de televisión." Plus, Matthew Allen reviewed the exhibit ‘architecture, architectural... View full entry
As aid workers and Texans begin to take stock of the destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey, museums across Houston, the fourth biggest city in the country and one of the areas hardest hit by the storm, are starting to reopen.
Gary Tinterow, the director of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), announced Friday that the institution would partially reopen on Tuesday 5 September with free admission through Thursday, 7 September. He offered the museum “as a place for reflection and renewal.”
— The Art Newspaper
While a leisurely visit to the museum may not be on the minds right now of Houston residents hit the hardest by Hurricane Harvey, reopening its cultural institutions is an important first step for the city to start the long process of recovery and breathe new life into the civic spirit. View full entry
Paul J. Newman, 49, was discovered back in April to have been practicing as an architect despite lacking both a license and registration. The investigation, dubbed "Operation Vandelay Industries," found that Newman, stealing the license number of a registered architect and forging a NY State... View full entry
Richard Neutra’s glass and steel Chuey House in the Hollywood Hills is being marketed as a ‘tear down’ for $10.5m.
The architect designed the midcentury modern home for poet Josephine Ain Chuey in 1956, and it has since passed down to her niece and nephew, who filed for bankruptcy in June. It’s now being sold as a ‘truly unique development opportunity’, with no mention of its architectural merit – just its ‘spectacular’ Sunset Plaza Drive location and ‘unmatched panoramic views..."
— The Spaces
Iconic, elegant, and now endangered: one of the works of the masters of mid-century modern architecture has been listed more for its lot than for the exquisitely cantilevered structure itself. After its completion, Josephine Ain, who was living with her husband Richard Chuey, wrote to Neutra... View full entry
In the meta news category, Bjarke Ingels' full-scale "Lego House," inspired by the titular rectangular building blocks and slated to open later this month in Denmark, now apparently has a miniature version in the form of real Legos that will be available for sale only at the Lego House. According... View full entry
Yamazaki’s residency is part of the program’s ambitious and multi-dimensional schedule for 2017-18 that opened in April with New York City-based composer Laura Kaminsky and virtual artist Rebecca Allen and continued with Brazilian percussionist Cyro Baptista in July, which included the unveiling of “Beat Blossom,” Buffalo sculptor Shasti O’Leary Soudant’s public art installation in the Percussion Garden of Artpark, in Lewiston, New York. — UB News Center
As part of its Creative Arts Initiative (CAI), the University at Buffalo will have Rima Yamazaki, an independent documentary filmmaker specializing in contemporary art and architecture, in residence Sep 1 to Oct 31. Yamazaki directs, films and edits all of her work. Her new documentary on... View full entry
Housing has instead become one of the primary drivers of global capitalism, through commodification and financialization, making its function as real estate more important than its use as lived, space. It is the result of spatial developments being market-driven. Madden and Marcuse: “housing is not produced and distributed for dwelling at all,” but “as a commodity to enrich the few.” — Failed Architecture
The German documentary City for Sale that came out last year and the recently released book In Defense of Housing are the perfect match for anyone who wants to learn about the broken nature of housing markets, the crisis currently happening in all big cities worldwide. City for Sale consists of... View full entry
First, given their robust physical characteristics, like, reinforced concrete, between 18-30 feet high, the concrete border wall prototypes are designed to deter illegal crossings in the area in which they are constructed.
Second, the concrete border wall prototypes will allow CBP to evaluate the potential for new wall and barrier designs that could complement the wall and barrier designs we have used along the border over the last several years.
— U.S. Customs and Border Protection
On Thursday, CBP announced that it had awarded contracts to build several 30-foot-high concrete wall prototypes, which are supposed to inform future design standards and will likely continue to evolve to meet the U.S. Border Patrol’s requirements. The four companies that will build the... View full entry
“The Structure of Design: An Engineer's Extraordinary Life in Architecture” examines the long career of Leslie Earl Robertson, one of the most celebrated structural engineers in modern architecture. Thanks to publisher The Monacelli Press, Archinect is giving away five copies of the book to... View full entry
The program was tested in states like New York, California, Texas, Illinois and Pennsylvania and involved viaduct construction, pavement rehabilitation and highway development projects. The study was extended for five years in January, just before President Trump took office.
Advocates of local employment allowances say hiring from the neighborhood helps offset longstanding racial and gender imbalances in the construction industry.
— The New York Times
The Trump administration is relinquishing another Obama-era regulatory provision, which was proposed in 2015 aiming to allow cities to set aside work for local residents on federally funded public works projects. No reason has been given for the Department of Transportation termination of the... View full entry