Drop by Hollywood’s finest art and architecture bookstore, Hennessey + Ingalls, tonight for a special event launching Shaping the City, a newly revised edition of contemporary urbanism case studies. The event will also feature a conversation with University of Toronto’s Director of... View full entry
The New Museum will be opening an incubator for art, technology, and design next summer in the institution's adjacent building at 231 Bowery in New York. SO-IL architects in collaboration with Gensler will design the new 11,000 sq.foot facility, which will be located inside a 19th-century... View full entry
A German biohacker by the name of Tim Cannon has cut open his arm and embedded a Circadia 1.0 computer that transmits his biometric data to his Android devices. [...]
“I think that our environment should listen more accurately und more intuitively to what’s happening in our body,” Cannon explained. “So if, for example, I’ve had a stressful day, the Circadia will communicate that to my house and will prepare a nice relaxing atmosphere for when I get home: dim the lights, let in a hot bath.”
— Geeky Gadgets
Celebrating over 25 years of educational and advocacy work, the Los Angeles Forum for Architecture and Urban Design will honor architect Michael Maltzan, FAIA, of Michael Maltzan Architecture at their annual ForumFest. The LA Forum is a discussion platform for local architecture and urbanism... View full entry
Could geography, by which we mean the physical geography and in particular the natural geographical features such as landforms, terrain types, or bodies of water that are largely defined by their surface form and location in the landscape, be the last hope of the planet's ever expanding, continuously transforming, and increasingly identical and indefinable urban territories to remain distinguishable and to gain a particular identity in the future? — Bernd Upmeyer, Editor-in-Chief, November 2013
NEW CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS FOR MONU #20 - GEOGRAPHICAL URBANISM Could geography, by which we mean the physical geography and in particular the natural geographical features such as landforms, terrain types, or bodies of water that are largely defined by their surface form and location in the... View full entry
In some of Detroit's most deserted and blighted neighborhoods, where residents see little more than hopeless despair, John Hantz spotted opportunity.
The wealthy businessman, founder of Hantz Group, decided to purchase and convert hundreds of acres of vacant city-owned plots into farmland.
It's taken five years, but this week Gov. Rick Snyder approved the sale of nearly 150 acres, 1,500 parcels, to Hantz Woodlands, a private business, for about $500,000.
— mlive.com
Los Angeles officials are seeking to transform a stretch of the river between downtown and Griffith Park into a civic attraction offering recreational opportunities and restored habitat. With their congressional allies — Democratic Reps. Lucille Roybal-Allard of Downey, Xavier Becerra of Los Angeles and Schiff — they are working to persuade the Army Corps to go with a $1.08-billion restoration project, with federal taxpayers and the city sharing equally in the costs. — latimes.com
The 5th Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture (UABB) will reflect on southern China's rapidly developed recent past, while focusing attentions on its postindustrial future. Co-organized by Shenzhen and Hong Kong, the biennale presents a variety of international studies on urbanism... View full entry
The Eternal Space will visually recreate the marvel of the former Pennsylvania Station using the actual photographs that documented the station’s demise. [...] Using the latest in projection technology these arresting photographs will speak to the tragic demolition of an American architectural masterpiece [...] On the 50th anniversary of that great loss, The Eternal Space will pay tribute to the station and the gifted photographers who worked to immortalize it. — theeternalspaceplay.com
Architects, historians, and all urban enthusiasts are invited to a free evening event that will acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the demolition of NYC's Pennsylvania Station on Nov. 6 at the AIA | NY Center for Architecture. Hosted by AIA | NY, the program will begin with a live reading of... View full entry
After a freewheeling round of discussions, Snøhetta’s New York office settled on a unique challenge: building a Lego structure that captured the plastic bricks’ unique relationship to gravity. “A Lego building has a lightness that a real building doesn’t have to contend with,” says Craig Dykers, Snøhetta’s co-founder. “We thought wouldn’t it be interesting to capture the feeling of gravity in a Lego block, where gravity actually has very little influence in many ways on its structure...” — wired.com
Snohetta found a delicate equilibrium with this boomerang-shaped tower. Photo: Gregory Reid SOM froze its unique LEGO infrastructure in a solid block of ice. Photo: Zack Burris View full entry
The Buffalo Planning Board will be reviewing plans to construct 48 apartments in eight new buildings next week. The complex at 270 Niagara Street sits in the shadow of City Hall. It currently contains 472 units on 9.5 acres and was completed in 1972. — Buffalo Rising
On Nov 6, 2013 in Buffalo the City Planning Board will meet to review plans submitted by Norstar Development that will demolish five buildings of the Paul Rudolph-designed Shoreline Apartments to make room for eight new residential buildings. The is being described as "Phase 1,"... View full entry
What if you could earn a degree as quickly or slowly as you can learn, regardless of whether you plodded through 80 hours in a classroom lecture?
That could be the next wave of higher education, as schools come under more pressure to cut costs while proving the value of expensive degrees and competing with the growing number of high-quality free online courses. Call it the decoupling of instruction and testing.
— Co.Exist
"Competency-based education" is the radical new initiative where students pay institutions (pending admittance) a flat, per-semester rate to attend whichever college courses they like. Degrees are awarded when a student passes a "competency" test, regardless of how many units they took or how... View full entry
For 100 years, the Los Angeles Aqueduct has delivered water to a thirsty city, wending its way for more than 200 miles from the Owens Valley, through canyons and deserts, down to the modern metropolis. A feat of engineering and a product of political maneuvering, it nurtured the region's growth while leaving conflict in its wake. — graphics.latimes.com
It's a good week for Olafur Eliasson: earlier today, we reported that the Rolex Arts Initiative had selected the Berlin-based artist as its Visual Arts mentor for 2014-2015, and now we found out that MIT's Council for the Arts will present him with the 2014, 40th anniversary Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts at MIT. The award includes an artist residency, pop-up exhibitions, a public lecture, and a $100,000 cash prize. MIT students will also get to work on Eliasson’s Little Sun project. — bustler.net
It isn't clear what the artwork will look like, though a person familiar with the matter said it would have a "gathering" theme. But it will be expensive: Mr. Ross, chairman of builder Related Cos., has told friends and associates the company intends to spend as much as $75 million on the centerpiece and surrounding public space. — online.wsj.com