While Saarinen’s groundbreaking works gave him international prominence, many people don’t realize that his earliest architectural and design laboratory was in Michigan. — New York Times
John L. Dorman, for the travel section of the New York Times explored Michigan's modern architecture, and more specifically, buildings by modern architect Eliel Saarinen and his son Eero. He reports visiting the Saarinen's house designed by Eliel and the first buildings realized by Eero, such as... View full entry
The 5th issue of BRACKET just launched its Call for Submissions, and this time the theme is [On Sharing]. Electronic Submission System Launch: January 10th, 2018Submissions Due: February 4th, 2018, Midnight EST The following is the full submission brief: Bracket [On Sharing] Sharing is one of the... View full entry
Three weeks after the category four Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico on 20 September, devastating the US Island, knocking out power and killing an as yet undetermined number of residents, local museums are back to work and helping with community relief efforts. — The Art Newspaper
While the U.S. President spent his visit in double-hurricane-devastated Puerto Rico tossing rolls of paper towels into the crowd like t-shirts at a Knicks game, the island's museums are busy assessing the damage and getting their institutions reopened to the public. View full entry
Do you dream of reading and writing for three month in a London glass house? Designed by Lord Rogers in 1968, the Wimbledon house was gifted to Harvard Graduate School of Design in 2015 and now host the participants of the Richard Rochers Fellowship. Full release follows: Open to... View full entry
Once the renovation is complete, the four-storey building will be used as a venue for art exhibitions, installations and seminars that will be open to the public, as well as a philanthropic institution to help vulnerable people including refugees...any old material removed from the building will have to be taken away in barges along Venice’s canals, while new material will have to be brought in the same way. — The Telegraph
David Chipperfield will lead the painstaking renovation of the monumental Procuratie Vecchie in Venice's St. Mark's Square. When the project is complete in 2020, the building will be accessible to the public for the first time in some 500 years. View full entry
Russian president Vladimir Putin has warned 2018 World Cup officials that delays to preparations for the tournament are "unacceptable", although they are not yet "critical".
Russia will host its first World Cup from 14 June to 15 July using 12 venues in 11 cities across the country.
Putin, 64, said that while work was "entirely satisfactory" overall, "there are nevertheless some delays".
— BBC
With the world's biggest soccer event officially kicking off in June 2018, Russian President Putin is whipping his officials in formation to have construction on the twelve venues in eleven cities across Russia completed without any delays — and avoid the fiasco from the Sochi Olympic... View full entry
Officials at the Louvre have been accused of censorship after withdrawing a work from its Tuileries Gardens in Paris for being sexually explicit. The work by the Dutch art and design collective Atelier Van Lieshout, entitled the Domestikator, was due to go on show later this month as part of the Hors les Murs public art programme organised by representatives of the Fiac contemporary art fair (19-22 October). — The Art Newspaper
The Art Newspaper explains: "[...] the erotic nature of the large-scale architectural structure, the outline of which depicts a couple having sex, prompted the Louvre’s decision to bar the work from the gardens which are overseen by the museum." Louvre director Jean-Luc Martinez tried to defend... View full entry
The Obama Presidential Center will be transformative, just as it will be truly urban, only up to a point. It’s bound to disappoint anybody who forgets that Obama’s political strategy, as distinct from his larger role in the culture, has always been unshakably centrist. Because (among other reasons) his race continues to make him a lightning rod, a magnet for unhinged opinion, he has preferred the middle to the edge. — Los Angeles Times
Residents of the South Side in Chicago raise concerns about the location of the new center and complain that the Obama Foundation refuses to sign a Community Benefits Agreement guaranteeing construction jobs and other patronage to members of the South Side community. View full entry
Now, decades after the original hardcover edition sold out, the MIT Press is publishing a facsimile edition of the original large-format Cooper-designed edition of Learning from Las Vegas, complete with translucent glassine wrap. This edition also features a spirited preface by Denise Scott Brown, looking back on the creation of the book and explaining her and Robert Venturi’s reservations about the original design. — MIT Press
45 years after its first publication, the groundbreaking book, Learning from Las Vegas, is still read, purchased and studied by architecture and urban planning students, thinkers and practitioners around the world. Last year Archinect spoke with Denise Scott Brown about the Learning from Las... View full entry
This post is brought to you by Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc). Since its founding in 1972 as an independent school of architecture, SCI-Arc has developed a series of idiosyncrasies that have anecdotally permeated the broader architecture community. Prominent among these... View full entry
Want to brush up on the emerging talent from British architecture? Archinect readers now have a chance to win a copy of the latest volume of “New Architects: Britain's Best Emerging Practices”, thanks to Merrell Publishers. Cover of “New Architects 3”Since The Architecture Foundation began... View full entry
The most important rule was that entries be non-political. They were to express no opinion whatsoever about the rightness or wrongness of the Vietnam War itself. — Salon
As the article points out, May Lin's design of a series of slabs were conceived by Lin as dominos falling—a reference to the "domino theory," prominent from the 50s to the 80s, that posited that if one country in a region came under the influence of communism, then the surrounding countries... View full entry
The move would raise fascinating questions about the need to replicate habits that are tied to the layout of the current chamber – voting by trooping through “aye” and “no” lobbies, for example. Archaic linguistic protocols might seem doubly peculiar when expressed in a more modern setting. People’s behaviour is shaped by their environment and it is unlikely that parliamentary culture could be unaffected by transplant to a space unlike the unique one in which it has been nurtured. — The Guardian
The Palace of Westminster has been in a state of advanced disrepair for many years now. Though a plan for the building's massive £3.5bn refurbishment headed by BDP was announced last year, the government has avoided taking the decision to proceed. The main reason for the delay in action on... View full entry
Next Saturday, October 7 Woodbury University Hollywood Outpost will launch its second show of the Fall 2017 series. In line with the gallery's ambition to "demystify the discipline of architecture", the exhibition will present five videos that document the most recent and iconic projects... View full entry
Broken gargoyles and fallen balustrades replaced by plastic pipes and wooden planks. Flying buttresses darkened by pollution and eroded by rainwater. Pinnacles propped up by beams and held together with straps. — New York Times
The historic French monument, Notre-Dame de Paris, has suffered due to time, rain, pollution and wind. Built from 1160 to 1345, with restorations and additions in the mid 19th century by architects Jean-Baptiste Lassus and Viollet-le-Duc, the cathedral attracts 14 million visitors per year. Image... View full entry