In the East End, a plan for a home on Mobley Drive off Warm Springs Avenue spurred a group of neighbors to start organizing what the city calls a conservation district. The house would have been two stories and narrow, while most nearby homes are single-level ranch-style structures built in the 1950s. — Idaho Statesman
A 16-year-old ordinance in Boise that allows for the establishment of conservation districts is coming back in favor as neighborhood groups have figured out they can use it to quash projects they don't like. Conservation districts are similar to historic ones in that they define development... View full entry
This isn’t a new phenomenon for 2017–see Tiananmen Square, North Korea’s totalitarian buildings, Nazi architect Albert Speer. But this year we were reminded of architecture’s enduring power to be used as political propaganda thanks to Trump’s proposed border wall. — Fast Co Design
Architecture has played a fundamental role in the propagandized rhetoric of the Trump Administration. The aim of any kind of propaganda is to promote an idea or an ideology, and Trump and his administration have used architecture to promote their own program and ideology with an... View full entry
As the end of the year quickly approaches, many architecture schools from coast to coast are wrapping up their Fall 2017 lecture events. As you may have seen from Archinect's ongoing Get Lectured series, the graphic design of these posters are as diverse as the institutions they represent. The... View full entry
Architecture, like contemporary art in the 1990s and legal theory a decade before, faces a critical moment in theory and practice. What do black citizens of major U.S. cities and global cities have to look forward to in the coming century in terms of urban conditions and their agency in determining how these conditions change and transform? What does an approach to cities that takes into account black agency, social codes and aesthetics have to offer to city-making as such? — CNN
CNN Style highlights USC architecture dean and CriticalProductive editor, Milton S. F. Curry, and his recent role as lead organizer behind Spatializing Blackness, a three-part panel discussion on "contemporary thinking and creative work related to black aesthetics, urbanism and the lived... View full entry
Can you tell the difference between a Brakdak and an Afdak, a Sekwere or a Caka? Do you know your Domba hut from your Zulu one? An Inqolobane from an Indlu yezikhali?
Give yourself a pat on the back if you do. Truly, you deserve it. However, don't worry too much if you can't, as there's a new English-isiZulu architectural dictionary, just published by UKZN Press, which contains more than 1200 entries of local architectural terms.
— HuffPost
"I set out to study independent vernacular architecture in the 1970s, not realizing that a multitude of readings and meanings would emerge out of it," the book's co-author Franco Frescura, a former Professor and Chair of Architecture at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, tells HuffPost South... View full entry
Mayor de Blasio’s recent pledge to close the Rikers Island jail complex within ten years was met with celebration by many — and skepticism by others. After 85 years in the public imagination, it has become hard to believe that the East River behemoth could ever really be slain. But the reality of a post-Rikers future is coming into focus [...]. Rikers is toxic, and its era is done. A change is on the wind, it seems, and the island’s aura of inevitability is finally dispersing. — Urban Omnibus
In their Urban Omnibus essay, "A Jail to End All Jails," authors Jarrod Shanahan and Jack Norton take a closer look at the history and a potential future of one of the nation's most notorious prisons and the greater jail infrastructure of a city where the average daily incarcerated population was... View full entry
China’s State Council announced that “weird architecture that is not economical, functional, aesthetically pleasing or environmentally friendly will be forbidden.” Many architects and members of the public understood the frustration and bewilderment, even if they questioned the subjective nature of the official instruction. — The Economist
That was a close call, thankfully 'Weird Architecture' that is economical, functional, aesthetically pleasing and environmentally friendly is still completely accepted and encouraged. China may be forcing itself into a semantically and conceptually charge subjectivism that could potentially bring... View full entry
MacDonald Becket ’52, former chairman of the board and CEO of the architecture firm Welton Becket and Associates, died in Phoenix, AZ. He was 89. Becket, who graduated from the USC School of Architecture, was a driving force in the development of architecture in Los Angeles. Two of his major roles in California were coordinating the master planning and architectural implementations of the 260-acre Century City project and in the successful renovation of the state capitol building in Sacramento. — news.usc.edu
Among his many achievements, Becket was a founding contributor to MoCA's Architectural and Design Endowment in Los Angeles. He also designed the personal homes of former US presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Gerald Ford attesting to Becket's far reaching influence. View full entry
“Deals are my art form,” reads the opening paragraph of Donald Trump’s memoir, The Art of the Deal, and yet the US President seems to have produced quite a few sketches over the years, too. — The Art Newspaper
FreelandBuck has recently completed an 8,000-square-foot (or square-cubed) office interior/exterior for Hungry Man Productions headquarters in Los Angeles. Hungry Man asked FreelandBuck to potentially think outside the box and evaluate the traditional organization of an office. The result being a... View full entry
After an unconventional launch in 2014, the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Miami has opened its first permanent home—a new 37,500 sq. ft building in the city’s Design District. The privately-funded institution began operating in temporary quarters nearby in December 2014, shortly after it was founded by the former board of the Museum of Contemporary Art North Miami (MoCA NoMi) following a legal battle with the city. — The Art Newspaper
The new building in Miami's Design District was designed by Aranguren + Gallegos Arquitectos from Madrid and includes 20,500 sq. ft of exhibition space. View full entry
Housed under one checkered roofscape, the upcoming East Austin District by BIG is a new sports and entertainment hub for the evolving city of Austin, Texas. BIG recently unveiled their scheme for the massive 1.3 million square-foot campus, which will bring about the city's first professional... View full entry
London-based architect Miguel Bolivar recently released his side project Archisutra, an architecture and design take on the Kama Sutra. This manual gives you all the data with annotated scale drawings and informative descriptions including categorizations of 'Typical Location' and... View full entry
Yesterday morning construction topped off at the Statue of Liberty Museum, a brand new $70 million building on Liberty Island designed by FXFOWLE and ESI Design, marking a milestone before the 2019 opening. Diane von Furstenberg, who is still working to raise money for the museum, and Stephen Briganti, president of the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, signed their names on the beam symbolically hoisted to the top of the structure. — 6sqft
Rendering via FXFOWLEPhoto from topping off ceremony by Emily Nonko for 6sqftPhoto from topping off ceremony by Emily Nonko for 6sqft View full entry
What model best represents new visions and values of New York City? Cast your vote today for the new icons of New York and influence which souvenirs will represent the city next. The top three winners will be presented to the Mayor Bill de Blasio as New York City's newest icons. Midnight... View full entry