The Venice Lagoon is the most endangered heritage site in Europe, declared the pan-European heritage organisation Europa Nostra at an event today [...].
Rising sea levels, swelling number of tourists, large cruise ships in the lagoon, the erosion of the sea bed, dredging deeper channels and the lack of an agreed management plan for Venice has created a perfect storm of threats to the city’s preservation.
— theartnewspaper.com
Previously in the Archinect news: Unesco threatens to put Venice on its Heritage at Risk listLeading museum directors, artists and architects call on Italian government to ban giant ships from VeniceHow We Picture a City: Venice and Google Maps View full entry
Abandoned commercial port turned progressive inner city district of Helsinki Kalasatama is being developed purposefully to test out new urban ways of being. First up for this pioneering zone: a Mobility-as-a-Service app, which is basically the Nordic version of Uber except it wants to integrate... View full entry
Restoring the fire-damaged Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School of Art isn't just about sourcing the appropriate physical materials, but introducing a spirit of rejuvenation to the younger set, too. “We want to make sure that the restoration of The Mackintosh Building can deliver... View full entry
WeWork’s inspirational mottoes—"Do what you love," "Thank God it’s Monday," among many others—its evangelical faithful, and gatherings like the summit all have religious echoes..."Start imagining it a bit bigger," Neumann says about WeLive, stoking his idyllic view, "an entire building. And then instead of having just one building doing it, five buildings doing it. Then you’ll be able to imagine what a WeNeighborhood or a WeStreet would be." — Fast Company
This in-depth profile of WeWork founder and (pro-capitalist) visionary Adam Neumann is worth the read. Whether you like to freestyle your work and life or prefer the centuries-old model of deeded quiet, WeWork (and now, WeLive) is making a previously unsustainable model profitable. Is Neumann just... View full entry
“The one thing that everybody's sort of excited about is this idea that the stadium is designed as much for the tailgating, the pre-game, as for the game itself,” Ingels says in the 60 Minutes promo. — CityLab.com
When sports fans think football, they think...moats? Although the proposed stadium for the still-offensively-named Washington Redskins hasn't officially found a site, team owner Dan Snyder is pushing for it to be located next to the Anacostia River, which would provide context for Ingels' moat... View full entry
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump dominated another round of primaries last night...further securing his position as the party’s frontrunner. His polemical campaign continues to provoke criticism from both his own party and from Democrats, as concern over his inflammatory, xenophobic and sexist rhetoric transforms into panic. The debate breached into architecture after a competition was announced last week for design responses to Trump’s call for a wall along the US/Mexico border. — Bustler
Bustler, Archinect's sister site, declined the opportunity to post a competition calling for design responses to Donald Trump's calls for a border wall, which has since generated a good deal of controversy. Read about why – then join the debate on Bustler.For related content, check out these... View full entry
Dubai's desire to become a (tasteful) global cultural center is gaining further traction with an OMA-designed events and project space for local art-scene hub Alserkal Avenue. The 1,000 square meter gallery features four movable walls which can either rotate or slide within a flexible floor plan... View full entry
As native Chicagoans, it’s not surprising that our family was keenly aware of architecture [...] While the architecture of Chicago made us cognizant of the art of architecture, our work with designing and building hotels made us aware of the impact architecture could have on human behavior. So in 1978, when we were approached with the idea of honoring living architects, we were responsive. — Thomas J. Pritzker — Forbes
A brief history on the family behind "the architecture profession's highest honor", and how the prize was established.For more, check out Archinect's most recent coverage on the Pritzker Prize:Why is the Pritzker such a big deal?Aravena's Pritzker: A Critical Round-Up"Making A Pritzker Laureate"... View full entry
Dark Souls and Bloodborne both put the player in decaying worlds and invite them to peel back layers of history. From the ruins of Firelink Shrine and its relationship to the Undead Church above it, to the various connections between Bloodborne’s Central Yharnam, Old Yharnam and Cathedral Ward, Hidetaka Miyazaki and his team of environment designers imply much of the game’s narrative through the clash between one architectural style and another; between one layer of history and the next. — Alphr.com
Perhaps you're ready to take a break from diving and dodging through problematic MEP in Rhino to enjoy the scripted unfurling of these (non-deadline driven) complex spatial narratives, some of which are inspired by the work of real-world firms like Herzog & de Meuron.What's new in... View full entry
A striking circular building at Darling Harbour will house a new City of Sydney library for the area’s existing and incoming residents, following an agreement with Lendlease.
The six storey community and retail centre, designed by Japanese architect Kengo Kuma, will be built by developer Lendlease at Darling Square.
— the City of Sydney
The Office of the Mayor of Sydney announced that the Japanese architect Kengo Kuma will design a new multi-use building at Darling Square that will include a two-level library. The developer Lendlease will build the timber-swathed structure.“I am very pleased that the City has reached an... View full entry
Not so long ago, American universities had a virtually unrivalled appeal. Students from around the globe aspired to study in the U.S. as the pinnacle of higher education excellence.
But now it seems they are losing their luster, as the world is falling out of love with American universities.
Research from the U.K. Higher Education International Unit reveals a sharp slump in the U.S.’s share of international students over the last decade.
— Forbes
According to the report, a primary reason for this trend is that universities abroad are improving. But it's hard not to wonder if there's more than just irony at play here, considering the huge bets many American universities have placed over the last few years on foreign "satellite" campuses and... View full entry
Amid the controversy that perpetually surrounds Planned Parenthood, it's easy to forget that the nonprofit organization is, first and foremost, a health care provider. It is the largest provider of sex education in the United States. Every year, 2.5 million people—men and women—visit its health centers for care and information. It administers life-saving cancer-screening tests and offers contraception. In some states, it's the only abortion provider... — FastCo Design
"In 2014, Planned Parenthood embarked on an ambitious collaboration with the global design consultancy Ideo to hatch plans that would help the nonprofit do what it does best: care for patients."For more design responses to public health challenges, check out these links:Turning the “ugliest... View full entry
Central Park Summer Pavilion Competition was open for international architects. The CPSP was envisioned as a meeting point for different cultural and leisure circuits, with the goal of using the same space for a broad range of daytime and nocturnal activities in a sustainable fashion that... View full entry
Larry Gagosian’s new 4500 square foot space, designed by Kulapat Yantrasast, is set to open up on May 18, 2016, on 657 Howard Street, right across the street from SFMoMA. The inaugural exhibition there will focus on the relationships between modern and contemporary sculpture and drawing, featuring work from Picasso and Joe Bradley, among others. — Art Forum
Interested in other content from the intersections of architecture and the art world? Check out these recent posts:Albright-Knox Gallery announces short list of firms for $80m expansion: Snøhetta, BIG, OMA, wHY, Allied WorksAs the Met moves into the old Whitney, can it shrug off the iconic... View full entry
Have you heard the latest wisecrack about Harvard? People are calling it a hedge fund with a university attached [...]
Though the exact figure is hard to determine, experts I consulted estimate that over $100 billion of educational endowment money nationwide is invested in hedge funds, costing them approximately $2.5 billion in fees in 2015 alone. The problems with hedge funds managing college endowments are manifold, going well beyond the exorbitant...fees they charge for their services.
— the Nation
"The time has come for students to connect the dots between ballooning student debt, the poor treatment of campus workers, and the obscene wealth of hedge fund oligarchs."A rallying cry for a divestment movement to oppose hedge funds and their involvement with academia, the article discusses the... View full entry