With each of us now living in socially distanced self-isolation, with shops shuttered, offices abandoned and urban centres reduced to ghost towns, it’s hard not to wonder what kind of lasting impact Covid-19 will have on our cities. Will homes need to adapt to better accommodate work? Will pavements widen so we can keep our distance? Will we no longer want to live so densely packed together, working in open-plan offices and cramming into lifts? — The Guardian
Writing in The Guardian, Oliver Wainwright takes a long look at the ways, past and present, that architecture has been shaped by concerns over hygiene, sanitation, and disease. View full entry
Rifat Chadirji, a world renowned international architect from Iraq, has passed away in London following a positive diagnosis for COVID-19. Chadirji was born in on December 6, 1926 and passed away April 10, 2020. Throughout a long career, Chadirji helped to develop and propagate a new... View full entry
After much listening, discussion, and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision not to build Black Rock City in 2020. Given the painful reality of COVID-19, one of the greatest global challenges of our lifetimes, we believe this is the right thing to do. — Burning Man Journal
Burning Man is the latest physical event casualty resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The event organizers announced that they will be canceling the physical build-out of Black Rock City this year, for the safety of the participants and community, and will be building the city virtually... View full entry
This post is brought to you by Land Art Generator Initiative The Land Art Generator Initiative and Burning Man Project have partnered to launch a multi-disciplinary design challenge—LAGI 2020 Fly Ranch—that will create the foundational infrastructure of Fly... View full entry
As design communities around the country come together to help fabricate new stockpiles of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), a team at Harvard University is undertaking its own PPE manufacturing operation. Representatives from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD), John... View full entry
The latest unemployment figures reported by the federal government show staggering job losses across the country in the wake of the COVID-19-induced economic shutdown. The US Department of Labor reports that 6.6 million Americans filed initial unemployment claims for the week ending April... View full entry
As COVID-19 related news floods the media, its effects on world health and the economy have left many feeling shaken. With the influx of information and resources out there, it may be challenging to sift through content that can provide a bit of reassurance and hope. Here at Archinect, our... View full entry
We can see our cities for the first time without the choking traffic, dirty air and honking horns that have so often made them intolerable.
Throughout the world, the coronavirus has forced extreme changes in our behavior in just days. And we’re already seeing the impact of those changes: On Monday, for example, Los Angeles had the cleanest air of any major city in the world.
— The New York Times
In today's NYT Opinion piece, Allison Arieff attempts to look at the benefits of the global social distancing experiment, from the cleaner city air through unprecedented street access for pedestrians and cyclists to potentially lasting design interventions in the public urban space. "Covid... View full entry
The Los Angeles County Museum of Art confirmed Tuesday that it officially began demolition work, part of the controversial $750-million project to build a Peter Zumthor-designed main building.
The work that began Monday focused on the museum’s 1965 Leo S. Bing Center, a 600-seat theater designed by architect William L. Pereira that has been used for film screenings, musical performances, talks and other events.
— The Los Angeles Times
A LACMA spokesperson tells The Los Angeles Times that demolition crews are adhering to social distancing guidelines during the demolition process in an effort to limit the spread of COVID-19. View full entry
Ed #3 ‘Normal’ published an excerpt from Ignacio G. Galán’s Interview with Jim LeBrecht about the recently released documentary, 'Crip Camp' exploring his experience at Camp Jened, a summer camp for people with disabilities aka a "crip camp" not a "straight camp". These issues are personal... View full entry
New York City officials are starting to lay contingency plans if deaths from the coronavirus outbreak begin to overwhelm the capacity of morgues: temporarily burying the dead on public land.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Monday that the city would consider temporary burials if the deaths from the coronavirus outbreak exceed the space available in city and hospital morgues, but it had not reached that point.
— The New York Times
A report from The New York Times highlights a recently proposed contingency plan that could utilize existing public cemetery facilities on Hart Island in The Bronx as temporary burial sites to help meet the city’s growing need for morgue and funerary spaces in the wake of the COVID... View full entry
Online courses, activities, and programming have increased as the globe adjusts to this "new normal" of social distancing measures and safety precautions amid the current pandemic. However, museums across the globe have shifted their efforts towards bringing art to the homes of millions of... View full entry
Across the country, design communities have mobilized to assist in the effort to fill supply gaps in Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for healthcare workers operating on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. Last week, Archinect reported on efforts at Princeton, Cornell, and... View full entry
Across the globe, industries are doing the best they can to respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic that is affecting millions of people daily. The architecture and design industry has stepped into action by providing aid and continuous assistant through the PPE fabrication and collaboration with... View full entry
The constant cacophony that has trumpeted Philadelphia’s remarkable construction boom has quieted. Towering cranes are still, jackhammers are silent, and construction vehicles have stopped their beeping back-up warnings.
And thousands of people in construction-related jobs are out of work.
— Philadelphia Inquirer
The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Michaelle Bond reports on how Pennsylvania’s strict construction shutdown is impacting building professionals, in-process projects, and, by extension, the state’s regional economy. Unlike other states, including New Jersey and California, where certain types... View full entry
