As the search for more affordable real estate in New York City pushes deeper into neighborhoods that were once considered out of the way, bicycle lanes are taking on new importance. Since 2007, the city has carved out more than 350 miles of bike lanes in the five boroughs, according to the Department of Transportation. As a result, the distance from the nearest subway or bus stop has become less of a drawback for the two-wheeled set, particularly in transit-challenged areas of Brooklyn. — nytimes.com
EMG set up EMGdotART Foundation [in 2012] – the first art and culture foundation established by a Chinese enterprise, to have a permanent gallery and headquarters in the heart of Venice, Italy."More than roofs, doors, courtyards or staircases, adaptation is fundamental for the understanding of... View full entry
For Catalonia's second year exhibiting at the 2014 Venice Biennale as a Collateral Event, they will showcase the evolving state of local contemporary Catalan architecture in "Grafting Architecture: Catalonia at Venice." The proposal won in a juried competition hosted by the Institut Ramon Llull. The exhibition examines pivotal projects that blend the traditional and the contemporary throughout the last century of Catalonia's architectural history. — bustler.net
Learn more about the exhibition on Bustler. View full entry
I saw him a week ago [Tuesday], and he was sitting at his desk going through some of the thousands of letters and notes that people have sent to him wishing him well. He just had this incredible spirit about him, this attitude that everything was going to be all right. He was amazing.” — Artinfo
The 14th International Architecture Exhibition at the Venice Biennale wouldn't be complete without its International Jury. Just recently, the Board of Directors appointed this year's jury members upon the recommendation of Biennale Director Rem Koolhaas. — bustler.net
The 2014 jury features:Kunlé Adeyemi (Nigeria) is a prominent architect with experience in India, Korea, Africa, and Europe Francesco Bandarin (Italy) is former director of UNESCO's World Heritage Centre and now UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Culture and has been instrumental in... View full entry
How exactly did the faceless tower block become the inspiration for contemporary Russian visual culture?[...]
Large estates are like fractals, or a space created by facing mirrors. Building 8 is exactly the same as building 14, and its young inhabitants must perhaps have the same preoccupation: to someday acquire a similar cell in one of these purpose-built units around town. Can creativity come from places like that? In contemporary Russia, somehow, it does.
— theguardian.com
Cyprus took an allegorical approach with their 2014 Venice Biennale pavilion, titled the "Anatomy of the Wallpaper". Curated by architects Michael Hadjistyllis and Stefanos Roimpas, the Wallpaper symbolizes the reconstruction of the island's complex national identity that has been affected by outside influences throughout its history. To convey Cyprus' multi-layered history, the pavilion will be covered in the timeless and appropriate medium of collages. — bustler.net
More details about the pavilion on Bustler. View full entry
In the Korean Peninsula's response to the 2014 Venice Biennale theme of rediscovering national identity through architecture, the "Crow's Eye View" pavilion explores the divided state of North and South Korea, and extends that discussion to the global state of architecture itself. The multi-themed pavilion uses architecture as a key to discovering new narratives of the peninsula's complex past, present, and future in an architectural and social perspective. — bustler.net
Find details of the pavilion on Bustler.Related: A rare look at North Korean architecture, brought to you by non-Koreans View full entry
By most measures, the museum, designed by Davis Brody Bond and Snøhetta, has met the difficult challenge of telling the emotionally charged story of 9/11 at Ground Zero. The gift shop, however, has detracted from the achievement, with tabloids and blogs lambasting the “darkness” hoodies, toy firetrucks, “survivor tree” earrings, and 9/11 cheese plate for sale in the gift shop. — businessweek.com
Massimo Vignelli, the award-winning designer whose influential signature minimalist style balanced architecture and graphic design in the later half of the 20th century, has died at the age of 83 after a long-term illness. Born in Milan on Jan. 10, 1931 and inspired by Mies van der Rohe and Le... View full entry
Brash, baroque and steeped in native Andean symbols, the mini-mansions are a striking sight on the caked-dirt streets of El Alto, the inexorably expanding sister city of Bolivia's capital.
They attest to a new class of indigenous nouveau riche, many of them merchants who converted street stalls into fortunes. [...]
The mini-mansions mesh modern and traditional architecture and flaunt, above all, two things: their owners' wealth and their Aymara heritage.
— usnews.com
As modern Philadelphia shapes its future, some of its citizens have turned to the artifacts of its former prowess for inspiration. Much as the High Line in New York is widely believed to have been partially responsible for the reinvigoration of not only a derelict site but also its surrounding neighborhood, a portion of elevated rail track in central Philly known as the Reading Viaduct has been hoisted into public view as a potential catalyst for urban transformation.
Berlin voters on Sunday decided leisure comes first and blocked plans to develop a big part of the former Tempelhof airport, the hub of the historic 1948-49 Berlin Airlift. [...]
Official results based on more than four-fifths of ballots cast showed that over half of voters backed a referendum to preserve the airport as a leisure space. City officials had wanted to use about a third of the land for housing because of Berlin's growing population.
— therepublic.com
Our next featured pavilion for the fast-approaching 2014 Venice Biennale hails from Down Under in New Zealand, who will be participating in the keystone event for the first time. Curated by award-winning Auckland architect David Mitchell, the New Zealand exhibition is titled "Last, Loneliest, Loveliest" from Rudyard Kipling's The Song of the Cities poem. — bustler.net
As a response to Biennale Director Rem Koolhaas’s theme, "Absorbing Modernity: 1914-2014" that addresses the homogeneity of modernism, the New Zealand exhibition puts the country's distinct architectural scene in the spotlight -- from its traditional yet overlooked Pacific roots to dominant... View full entry
The Philadelphia Museum of Art will soon debut Making a Classic Modern: Frank Gehry’s Master Plan for the Philadelphia Museum of Art, an exhibition showcasing the first images of Frank Gehry's master plan to renovate the museum. The exhibition will also feature large-scale models, site plans, sections, and renderings. The exhibition opens July 1 through September 1 at the Dorrance Galleries. — bustler.net
After PMA selected Gehry Partners -- who is working with OLIN -- in 2006 to design the multi-phased plan for the landmark, the core phase focuses on reorganizing and expanding the building's interior, adding more than 169,000 square feet of space. The additional space will allow the Museum to... View full entry