the new [Affordable Requirements Ordinance] would require that at least 25 percent of affordable units be built on site, removing the ability to opt out totally. [...]
Developers would also be allowed to meet the affordable unit requirement by building or rehabbing on other lots within a mile of the main site. The aim is to create affordable units in the neighborhoods where they’re most scarce, rather than to continue to concentrate them in the city’s poorer communities.
— nextcity.org
Sinan’s life was extraordinary, spanning the rule of three sultans, responsible for hundreds of buildings and for shaping the face of Istanbul even to this day, and he was considered on a par with Michelangelo in the West. — The Independent
In Elif Şafak's (pronounced Shafak)new novel The Architect’s Apprentice the city is the real star, the teeming bustle of the streets, the whorehouses and palaces, the markets and mosques, the dungeons and bridges. And as the narrative progresses, the work of Sinan, Jahan, and Chota the... View full entry
The Economist Intelligence Unit puts Melbourne in first place, followed by Vienna, Vancouver, Toronto, Adelaide and Calgary. There is never any mention, on any list, of London or New York, Paris or Hong Kong. There are no liveable cities where you might actually want to live. [...] Liveability, it seems, is defined by a total absence of risk or chance, pleasure or surprise. It is an index of comfort, a guide to places where you can go safe in the knowledge you’ll never be far from a Starbucks. — theguardian.com
An illegally built corridor connecting two high-rise buildings in a residential area on Dongge Road of Nanning, Guangxi has become a cause for concern after images of the thing were posted online. The corridor joins two separate apartment buildings and was constructed and used by only one tenant. — shanghaiist.com
You know how you’re supposed to turn out the lights when you leave a room to save energy? New York City Council member Donovan Richards wants the owners of many of the city’s office buildings to start doing the same—on a much bigger scale.
Richards [...] has introduced a bill that would prohibit owners of approximately 40,000 New York commercial buildings from illuminating the interiors or exteriors of their structures once workers have gone home for the night.
— citylab.com
Google announced today it’s making a platform available to museums that enables them to build mobile applications that take advantage of Google technology, including Street View and YouTube, to bring their exhibits to anyone with a smartphone. Through partnerships between museums worldwide and the Google Cultural Institute, there are now 11 museums and cultural institutions that have participated in this pilot project to date; their apps are live now on Google Play. — techcrunch.com
With a nod to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s affordable housing plans, New York City’s Department of City Planning is inventing a “new neighborhood” to take what it thinks is a promising section of the Bronx from parking lots to high-rises. While the city has promised to make community outreach a cornerstone of its plans, the idea of a “new neighborhood” has left many who live there seeing Brooklyn-infused foreshadowing. — nextcity.org
For centuries, the spatial layout of house design in Iran reflected the patriarchal structure of the society through the rigid segregation between the andaruni and biruni, private and public space. [...] Modern architecture is also considered erotic because, unlike the spatially introverted pre-modern architecture of Iran, it faces outward with windows that shamelessly offer strangers a peek at the buildings’ private parts. — Your Middle East
On November 8th, a group called the North East L.A. Alliance (NELA Alliance) held a public art performance titled “Procesion de Testimonios: Evicting Displacement,” which sought to bring attention to changes in Highland Park. The procession began along the most visibly gentrifying corridor, York Boulevard, and the group served mock eviction notices to businesses the group didn’t feel were “culturally inviting, affordable and displaced long-time businesses,” according to organizer Melissa Uribe. — nextcity.org
"Programming Natural Affect" was one of the collaborative workshops during the Media and Architecture Bienniale 2014 last month in Aarhus, Denmark. Organized by Anna Ulak and Philipp Rahlenbeck of openconstructs, the workshop focused on fusing the organic properties of nature and the built urban... View full entry
Out of a super-star list of competitors, a team led by Steven Holl Architects won the competition to design the North Wing -- or the Dr. Bhau Daji Lad Museum -- of the Mumbai City Museum in India. The museum is one of India's leading cultural institutions and is undergoing a renewal process to establish itself as a cultural destination. The new 275 crore (approx $44.3 million) building will include new galleries and facilities. — bustler.net
The Steven Holl Architects team included local architects Opolis Architects, Guy Nordenson & Associates as structural engineers, and Transsolar as sustainability consultants.Learn more about this project on Bustler. View full entry
[Jeanne Gang] had just come back from a trip on which she’d been using binoculars with Swarovski lenses and had become intrigued by the optical aspect of the crystal company’s output. She had also become interested in James Balog’s Extreme Ice Survey, a long-term project that documents glacier shrinkage using time-lapse photography [...]
One challenge the studio faced was communicating the size of the glaciers photographed by Balog, and the extent of the devastation caused by global warming.
— designmiami.com
The Galapagos Art Space, a performance center and cultural staple in Brooklyn for nearly 20 years, will close this month, another casualty of rising rental prices that its founder says are making it difficult for independent arts organizations to survive in New York ... Galapagos helped put Williamsburg on the art map when it opened there in 1995 ... Although the last night of programming is likely to be Dec. 18, the center will have a second life — more than 600 miles away, in Detroit. — nytimes.com
During its time in Brooklyn, Galapagos Art Space produced more than 7,500 shows. Hopefully, its legacy of progressive programming – from films to musical events to visual art exhibitions to burlesque – will continue after the space moves to Detroit. The new home of Galapagos Art Space includes... View full entry
It's not going to look like 'Apocalypse Now' by any stretch of the imagination.
The Marine Corps has held similar training in recent years in Atlanta, Memphis and other cities. The military worked closely with the Los Angeles Police Department and notified property owners so no one will be caught off guard
— CBS
Message and the purpose is clear. US Government is training for urban warfare and large cities are the training grounds. Once we are done with foreign urban centers perhaps the idea is to "bring it on home."Of course, it's all under the disguise of fighting terrorism (or is it... View full entry
“I think it’s definitely derivative of the Gardens by the Bay concept,” Chris Wilkinson, one of the British architects responsible for the “super-trees” in Singapore’s Marina Bay, told The Daily Telegraph.
“You’d have expected them to have come up with something a bit more original.”
— telegraph.co.uk
"Super Trees", Singapore, designed by Wilkinson Eyre Architects View full entry