Neal Curtis, Samuel Lemley and Madeline Zehnder conducted some keen literary sleuthing to discover Thomas Jefferson’s original intentions for the Dome Room, and then harnessed modern digital technology to bring the planetarium to life in a way that the University’s founder could not have imagined. “The concave ceiling of the Rotunda,” Jefferson wrote in 1819, “is proposed to be painted sky-blue and spangled with gilt stars in their position and magnitude copied exactly.” — University of Virginia
While planning the early stages of the University of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson envisioned a fantastical planetarium for the school's historic Rotunda. In 2019, that vision has been achieved as the Rotunda Planetarium, thanks to three Ph.D students from the school's English department, and a grant... View full entry
With Seattle's housing costs increasingly out of reach, it's no surprise that Amazon, one of Seattle's largest employers, is dabbling in housing issues itself. According to a recent article by Aria Bendix of Business Insider, Amazon is following through in a surprising way: By building a homeless... View full entry
We've seen some of pop culture's most prominent figures break into architecture in recent years. There was Brad Pitt's "informal apprenticeship" with Frank Gehry and his subsequent Make It Right Foundation. We have Kanye West, and his exploratory activities within the field of affordable housing... View full entry
In October, the National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) hosted their 47th Annual NOMA Conference in Brooklyn. With more than 1,200 registered attendees, this year's event was the largest for the organization. To conclude the conference, the organization celebrated a banquet... View full entry
Alexico Group, the development firm behind Tribeca’s 60-storey “Jenga Tower”, a Herzog & de Meuron-designed residential high-rise at 56 Leonard Street, announced that it will start installing a public sculpture by Anish Kapoor commissioned specifically for the building in the second week of November. — The Art Newspaper
Kapoor's shiny 56 Leonard bladder — resembling a smaller, squashed version of his Chicago "The Bean" landmark — made quite a splash in early renderings for the Jenga-like Manhattan condo tower in 2008, but overcoming various fabrication obstacles has not been easy and thus pushed... View full entry
Here's a phone number worth having on speed-dial. The Midnight Charette podcast recently launched a “Design Companion” phone hotline that welcomes architects, designers, or anyone else, to call in with questions, comments and the like, on buzzworthy topics relevant to the community. The... View full entry
With many corporations introducing alternative work weeks, some have begun to explore the idea of a 4-day work week in architecture. In a previous post titled, Can the 4-Day Workweek Become a Thing? many Archinectors jumped in to contribute their thoughts regarding the... View full entry
[A]lthough culture does play a role, it is park location, design and amenities that most influence use among senior citizens. “Often older adults feel not welcome in parks that are primarily designed for younger populations,” [Professor Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, a professor of urban planning at UCLA] says. “In other words, parks are not psychologically accessible to them.” — BBC
Inspired by the exercise “playgrounds” for senior citizens that are common in China, similar parks are being designed in cities worldwide. The article takes a look at the specific design elements that are needed to make these parks appealing to older adults, as well as why these parks should... View full entry
Development is in the works for another park-adjacent parcel near the Metro’s Gold Line station in Chinatown. An LLC submitted plans on Thursday to the city to build 243 live/work units on a property on North Main and Sotello streets, a block away from Los Angeles State Historic Park. — Curbed LA
According to Curbed, the site is currently in use as a produce distribution center. View full entry
The London fire brigade’s readiness for the Grenfell Tower fire was “gravely inadequate” and fewer people would have died if it had been better prepared, a long-awaited public inquiry report into the disaster that killed 72 people has concluded ... [despite] “compelling evidence that the external walls of the building failed to comply with requirements” of building regulations governing fire safety. — The Guardian
The Fire Brigades Union published a damning report in September that accuses former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's deregulation — followed, and reportedly amplified, by Tony Blair — of having gutted building and fire safety regulations. At the same time, firefighters are blamed for... View full entry
From Atlantis in The Spy Who Loved Me to Nathan Bateman's ultra-modern abode in Ex Machina, big-screen villains tend to live in architectural splendor. The villain’s lair, as popularized in many of our favorite movies, is much more than where the megalomaniac goes to get some rest. Instead, the homes of the villains are places where evil is plotted and where, often, the hero is tested... — Tra Publishing
By Miami-based architect Chad Oppenheim and editor Andrea Gollin, the new publication explores the architectural designs from fifteen films through architectural illustrations and renderings, photographs, essays, film analyses, and interviews. Some of the films featured include Dr... View full entry
Going to the park and playing in the playground is a memorable childhood past time. However, with the increase of risk-averse design, have these beloved spaces for children to frolic, climb, and fall become too dull for children? Oliver Wainwright of the Guardian addresses an... View full entry
Peter Zumthor's Therme Vals, the hotel and spa in Switzerland, was designed intentionally devoid of clocks so that visitor's sense of time would be suspended and immeasurable. Completed in 1996, there is a legend about a mountain in the village of Vals that is said to have a mountain that... View full entry
The Rocco Design Architects-designed tower, which will hold the Wesleyan House Methodist International Church, sits on a teardrop-shaped site in Wan Chai, Hong Kong. With 800 square meters of plot and 11,000 square meters of program, the task proved challenging for the design team. The resulting... View full entry
According to a recent article from The Boston Globe, due to city's "hot" real estate market, which has "prompted a number of developers to tear down and build up," the Governor's office now wants to get in on the action. On Wednesday, the Baker administration unveiled plans to redevelop the... View full entry
