In 2017, the last year for which data are available, 183 people died in Texas in occupations relating to construction, installation, repair, maintenance and extraction, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That’s one every two days.
This rate may underestimate the scale of the problem, as the deaths of workers without papers may not be reported to authorities.
— Global Construction Review
A report from Global Construction Review delves into troubling data coming out of Texas, where official construction-related deaths number in the triple digits. One potential reason for rising deaths in construction and related industries could lie in lax inspections. According... View full entry
Every summer, a new cohort of graduates enter the workforce. Eager to learn and grow, many will get their first taste of professional life. It is an exciting new chapter for many of them. But what are these emerging practitioners looking for in their new careers? As firms struggle with retention... View full entry
There is the vision of parks, and public space more generally, as space free from institutional control or coercion—from police, or parks ambassadors, and encroaching privatization. And then there is the vision of public space as controlled and orderly, for passive use, or for recreation and entertainment. 'Users of this space must be made to feel comfortable, and they should not be driven away by unsightly homeless people or unsolicited political activity...' — The Local
With the privatization of spaces steadily increasing the idea of a genuine public space seems to be an ideal of the past. The importance of public space, specifically public parks is an integral part of a thriving city and community. However, laws and new policies are being re-configured to... View full entry
Michael Riscica, the founder of Young Architect has created a new kind of architecture conference. One that is geared specifically for the emerging generation of students and professionals. From his past experiences participating and speaking at architecture conferences, Riscica has... View full entry
The Chicago-based company Johnson Publishing, which filed for bankruptcy in April, has sold the archive of images from Ebony and Jet Magazine to the J. Paul Getty Trust, which, according to court documents filed Wednesday night, paid $28.5 million at auction in the Windy City yesterday. The archive includes millions of iconic images of African American figures like Muhammad Ali, Martin Luther King Jr., and Billie Holiday. — ArtNews
A consortium led by the Getty Foundation has acquired the iconic Ebony and Jet magazine archives. The group includes the Ford Foundation, the Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Julie Bosman of The New York Times reported via Twitter that the... View full entry
More than 8,000 structures are moved each year, due to development, environmental hazards and historic preservation, according to Tammie DeVooght Blaney, executive director of the International Association of Structural Movers. Industry leaders estimate that high-end, single-family homes at 4,000 square feet or greater account for about only a dozen of these moves annually. — The Wall Street Journal
Oceans are rising, hillsides are collapsing, and low-lying neighborhoods are flooding, so what are rich people doing? Relocating, of course. The Wall Street Journal takes a look at the logistically complex world of McMansion-moving, profiling a series of contractors and building movers... View full entry
A vice chairman of the Whitney Museum of American Art stepped down on Thursday after months of protests over his company’s sale of tear gas, culminating in the withdrawal of eight artists last week from the prestigious Whitney Biennial exhibition. — The New York Times
The decision came days after London-based Forensic Architecture joined seven other artists in withdrawing from the 2019 Whitney Biennial exhibition. Kanders struck a petulant tone in his resignation letter, saying, “The targeted campaign of attacks against me and my company that... View full entry
Smart cities make two fundamental promises: lots of data, and automated decision making based on that data. The ultimate smart city will require a raft of existing and to-be-invented technologies, from sensors to robots to artificial intelligence. For many this promises a more efficient, equitable city; for others, it raises questions about privacy and algorithmic bias. — New York Times
Promises for a better, smarter city have flooded media headlines, but if these so-called "smart cities" are said to be the answer, can the general public adapt to these infrastructure dreams? In a recent piece by Shoshanna Saxe for the New York Times, the experienced civil and mineral engineer at... View full entry
Boris Johnson has a mammoth task on his hands as soon as he enters No.10.
Brexit, climate change and ensuring the UK has a safer, high-quality built environment must be priorities.
— RIBA
The assumption of Boris Johnson to the prime ministership of the United Kingdom has come with no honeymoon period, it seems. This week, as Johnson's selection was formalized, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) issued a pointed and lengthy list of concerns facing the nation's building... View full entry
Forensic Architecture has announced its decision to withdraw from the 2019 Whitney Biennial. The London-based research group has also requested to replace its 10-minute video about the global spread of tear gas and bullets produced by companies linked to Whitney Museum vice chairman Warren Kanders, with new evidence they’ve found that directly links the weapons manufacturer to violence on the Israeli-Palestinian border in Gaza. — Hyperallergic
The fallout over the unethical business ties of certain members of the Whitney Museum of American Art's board of trustees continues unabated. Forensic Architecture's decision to join seven other exhibitors in withdrawing from the prestigious 2019 Whitney Biennial exhibition comes as the art... View full entry
An organization that relies upon individual goals or performance benchmarks to evaluate employees...needs to be careful to design competitions and structure comparisons that thwart the efforts of some workers to sabotage their colleagues. Otherwise, saboteurs may bring down everyone’s numbers — including their own. — Stanford Business
Associate professor, Szu-chi Huang at the Stanford Graduate School of Business has been studying how competitions within the workplace materialize among larger teams. She explains that competition inside companies "is something that needs to be carefully structured and managed." And that while... View full entry
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) is a nonprofit organization that focuses on education and research initiatives supporting responsible land use and sustainability practices. This year the J.C. Nichols Prize has been awarded to Chilean architect Alejandro Aravena. In a recent press release ULI... View full entry
Louis Vuitton X brings together a remarkable collection of early twentieth-century special-order trunks, beautiful art deco perfume bottles and window displays commissioned and designed by Louis Vuitton's grandson Gaston-Louis, iconic Monogram bags reworked by renowned artists and designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Rei Kawakubo, Cindy Sherman, and Frank Gehry, and original collaborations and commissions by artists including Yayoi Kusama, Richard Prince, and Zaha Hadid. — worldarchitecture.org
Fusing art and commerce, “Louis Vuitton X” is a pop-up exhibition currently at the 458 North Rodeo Drive building through September 15 in Beverly Hills. The glitzy pop-up space is a burst of color that showcases 180 items from Louis Vuitton's archives and traces the fashion house's 160-year... View full entry
In this hyper-visual world, it's becoming more challenging to keep the general public informed and engaged with pressing issues, specifically issues relating to the environment. The quickly changing landscapes, rising sea levels, and temperature fluctuations should be enough of a warning for... View full entry
Authorities in San Francisco are making moves to bring a $600 million affordable housing bond to voters later this year. The bond, according a recent press release, would allow the city to "fund the creation, preservation, and rehabilitation of affordable housing in San Francisco." City officials... View full entry