After the University of Applied Arts Vienna chose a winner for its campus redesign competition in 2012, the proposal is just now being made a reality—much to the disappointment of another prominent Viennese institution, Coop Himmelb(l)au.The University selected Riepl Kaufmann Bammer... View full entry
Brokers say the very top of the market — consisting of eight- and nine-figure homes — is faring the worst as slowing economies overseas and volatile stock markets have spooked buyers. The supply of homes for the rich exploded as builders aimed at the high end after the financial crisis. — NYT
Robert Frank highlights a worrisome pileup in the overinflated; luxury housing, megamansions and penthouse market. View full entry
An apartment building known as the “holy land of manga” due to its famous former tenants is to be rebuilt and opened as a museum of manga and anime in Tokyo’s Toshima Ward.
Tokiwaso, which was demolished more than 30 years ago, will be reconstructed in a park [...] Past occupants included “God of manga” Osamu Tezuka, the author of “Astro Boy,” who lived there in the 1950s; Fujiko Fujio of “Doraemon” fame; “Cyborg 009” creator Shotaro Ishinomori; and “Osomatsukun” artist Fujio Akatsuka.
— asahi.com
Related stories on Archinect:Tour hundreds of Japanese architectural models by the likes of Shigeru Ban and Kengo Kuma at Tokyo's 'Archi-Depot'Logo design chosen for 2020 Tokyo OlympicsStudent Works: Jimenez Lai View full entry
The couple claims the firm Pereiras Architects Ubiquitous and property owners Daniella and Ari Schwartz accessed their exclusive plans in property records last August through the Lawrence buildings department — without their permission.
“There is no doubt that you have accessed and intentionally copied the plans of the Fortgang residence intending to create a replica of our clients’ home and distinctive exterior,” the Fortgang’s lawyer Steven Stern wrote in a cease-and-desist letter
— nypost.com
Rivka and Seth Fortgang from Long Island had their custom 4,400 square foot house built in 2004, in the neighborhood of Five Towns. After learning Pereiras Architects Ubiquitous were building a very similar looking house a mile away, the Forgangs sued. Rivka Fortgang, an interior and exterior... View full entry
The duo asked themselves the question if London will still be the capital of creativity, arts and crafts in 10 years time. Rising rents for residential and work spaces, combined with an increasingly unaffordable education system, are making the city less and less accessible. According to Boano and Prišmontas, London has always been a center for creativity, but the recent financial pressures have turned ‘creativity’ into an industry that can only be joined by people who are able to afford it. — popupcity.net
At this unstable time, the capital's creative industry must be entrepreneurial and work together to remain the best, are we up to the challenge? Read more stories of ingenuity in the UK here:The Hive pavilion moves to Kew GardensDigital Elytrons. Latest Architecture Technology at the V & A... View full entry
A top businessman has offered to help restore the home of [Thomas Blake Glover] a Scottish pioneer who became one of the most famous merchants in Japan [...]
If anything can be done to restore Glover House we will be prepared to do it and we have made an offer to contribute to the house reopening in his memory [...]
the building would be turned into an “ideas hub”, which could be used to strengthen business links with Japan - with a particular focus on the oil and gas industry.
— The Scotsman
The home of Thomas Blake Glover in Japan gets 2 million (!) visitors a year and is an important heritage site, representative for the scottish-japanese history of industrialisation.The Glover's house in Aberdeen is in a reversed situation. It has fallen into a state of disrepair and is in... View full entry
[...] during a visit some months before the Brexit vote, I armed myself with a detailed map and trolled all over South and Southeast London — a conglomeration of formerly independent villages, boroughs, towns and green spaces that have long since been incorporated into London
[...] the neighborhoods that make up the great London patchwork quilt are ephemeral, especially now, as the immigrant communities of London wonder what the post-Brexit future will bring.
— The New York Times
Read more about the effects of Brexit for architects on archinect:Architects react to shocking EU referendum resultProperty funds suspend trading in biggest seize-up since financial crisisCreative Currency, post-BrexitPost-Brexit pessimism causes precautionary job lossesAfter Brexit, “the... View full entry
The Economist Plaza was designed by Alison and Peter Smithson in the 1960s and still serves as a seminal example of an inviting and approachable urban space in Central London. The project is successful because it bravely addresses the clash between the aesthetic of the Smithsons and the... View full entry
Bowie hated it. Peep Show besmirched it. The London suburb may get a bad rap in popular culture, but now there is the chance to see a different side. [...]
Watson is helping to organise tours of Croydon taking in architectural highlights such as NLA House (now No 1 Croydon), sometimes known as the ‘threepenny bit’; [...]
The National Trust is turning to Croydon after its successful tours of London’s brutalist concrete buildings, places it argues should be cherished as much as Croydon’s towers.
— The Guardian
The phenomenon is propelled largely by the same factors that are making it more difficult for artists themselves to live and work in the city: a concentration of global wealth with its eyes trained on real estate and luxury developers trying to stand out to attract a piece of that wealth. — NYT
Randy Kennedy tours some of the most recent examples of luxury commercial and residential architecture in Manhattan that incorporate "public" artworks. View full entry
Hillary Clinton's latest ad campaign features an architect who claims Donald Trump almost put his firm out of business."Donald Trump hired my small business to design a clubhouse for the Trump National Golf Club," states Andrew Tesoro of Andrew Tesoro Architects. The ad intersperses Tesoro's... View full entry
Christopher Hawthorne, in keeping with his exploration of the ever evolving urban identity of Los Angeles, reached out via the L.A. Times to Michael Maltzan to see if the architect had any ideas about transforming L.A.'s freeways from noisy polluting agents into civic amenities. Maltzan has... View full entry
Very few people have a neutral reaction to Eric Owen Moss: in his conversation and his work, he can be abrasive, challenging, enlightening, and inspirational. For its part, Austria awarded him with its Decoration of Honor for Science and Art on June 21st, celebrating five decades of practice that... View full entry
To most people, zoning and land-use regulations might conjure up little more than images of late-night City Council meetings full of gadflies and minutiae. But these laws go a long way toward determining some fundamental aspects of life: what American neighborhoods look like, who gets to live where and what schools their children attend.
And when zoning laws get out of hand, economists say, the damage to the American economy and society can be profound.
— the New York Times
"Studies have shown that laws aimed at things like “maintaining neighborhood character” or limiting how many unrelated people can live together in the same house contribute to racial segregation and deeper class disparities. They also exacerbate inequality by restricting the... View full entry
Kew Gardens has been home to many notable sculptures and architectural pieces such as Henry Moore’s “Reclining Mother and Child” and Marks Barfield Architect’s “Tree Top Walkway”. So it was no surprise when it was chosen to showcase “The Hive”.The Hive is the award-wining pavilion... View full entry