To describe John Cary simply as an author would be a disservice. John is a unique individual in the world of architecture. For 20 years, since he was a student, he has been on a non-stop mission to make the world a more just place with the power of good architecture and design. On this week's show... View full entry
Peaking at 236 metres high, One Lansdowne will be taller than any Canary Wharf tower block and only eclipsed by The Shard, which is 95 floors and 310 metres. — The Construction Index
The British are notorious for giving funny nicknames to their buildings. The construction of the One Lansdowne has not yet started, but Londoners have already noticed the tower's resemblance to a Rampant Rabbit sex toy. Platinum Rampant Rabbit VibratorImage CZWG ArchitectsThe asymmetrical... View full entry
Shanghai’s spectacular skyline is studded with buildings shaped by architect Peter Guo-hua Fu. Now the McGill alumnus is setting his sights on a new project: taking McGill’s long history of world-class architecture education to the next level. — McGill
Peter Fu, architect and president of K. F. Stone Design says ‘McGill gave me a chance to change my life. Now that I have the chance, I really want to pay it back’. To honor the gift, McGill School of Architecture will be renamed the Peter Guo Hua Fu School of Architecture . View full entry
In a way, heritage preservation is the least of Vancouver’s worries. Without more funding and stronger policy protections from the push-pull of global capital, Vancouver and cities like it will struggle to sustain urban life in all its social and economic diversity – the thing that makes them vibrant – let alone guarantee their architectural heritage. — The Guardian
The Empire Landmark Hotel, a brutalist tower from the 1970s, and landmark for the city of Vancouver, will close on September 30th. The tower will be demolished to construct new luxury condos. Architectural heritage preservation is threatened by the ever rising cost of land and property in... View full entry
A recent, worrisome working paper released by the National Bureau of Economic Research reported on the tinder of the last conflagration...It was buyers from the top and middle top who account for the skyrocketing rate of default — and it wasn’t that they were buying bigger family homes that they couldn’t afford. It was that they were buying additional houses to flip for a profit — NY Magazine
Caitlin Flanagan looks at the gangbusters growth of "flipping" shows on HGTV and wonders if they are perhaps a signal of the next boom/bust cycle in US housing market. View full entry
In collaboration with the Eames Office, UNIQLO will launch its SPRZ NY EAMES Collection starting September 25, 2017. This collection will celebrate the groundbreaking contributions of Charles and Ray Eames to modern design, art, and culture. — Eames Office
The Japanese clothing company creates collaborations with famous fashion designers, museums and artists, and now also with architects. If you have always wanted a t-shirt with the image of a piece of modern furniture on it, this is your chance! Courtesy of Eames Office View full entry
Street art is the ultimate form of democracy according to the curators of the new Museum for Urban Contemporary Art that has just opened in Berlin. But does street art belong in exhibition halls? [...]
Construction for the Urban Nation Museum of Urban Contemporary Art began in May 2016. A late-19th century house in the Berlin district of Schöneberg was redesigned by German architecture studio Graft.
— Deutsche Welle
Image: Graft, via dw.com. In Deutsche Welle's interview with Yasha Young, the artistic director of the new Museum for Urban Contemporary Art, Young defends the need for a permanent home for street art: "Yes, street art belongs to the street and should stay there. The label "Museum for Street Art,"... View full entry
In Archinect's latest giveaway our readers had the chance to win a brand new K-series watch by Glasgow based design studio Instrmnt. Unlike their previous watches this series has an Italian made NBR compound rubber strap and new colour palette made up of fixed dilutions of 100% black. In case you... View full entry
Yesterday, Mexico City was struck by a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake. As of today, over 200 people have been reported dead as rescuers continue their efforts to recover those still trapped in the rubble. Dozens of buildings in and around the city were reduced to rubble and many more, severely... View full entry
This post is brought to you by designjunction. Now in its seventh year, designjunction returns to Kings Cross this September (21-24) as part of the annual London Design Festival. The 2017 edition of the show will present more than 200 international design brands, hundreds of product launches... View full entry
There has never been a more important time in society to celebrate what unites us rather than divides us, and that can be through culture and, more simply, through the creation of public spaces where people can come together. — CNN Style
Amanda Levete reflects on the Brexit referendum and the election of Donald Trump. She argues for the responsibility of architects to create spaces of intersections and conversations across thresholds in the contemporary political climate. View full entry
It’s hard to escape the irony that the U.S., which will need something like 43 million new housing units to keep up with population growth in the next 35 years, is using space to build apartment-size garages, even as trends in ride-sharing and self-driving cars cast a measure of uncertainty on American car culture. — Bloomberg
Despite housing shortages and rent increases, 24% of the new homes completed in 2015 in the US included a garage for 3 or more vehicles. Since 1992, when the census started tracking this, more 3-car garages than 1-bedroom apartments have been built. With the ever-increasing need for housing, and... View full entry
For nearly three weeks in the spring of 2008, residents and passersby near Convent Avenue and 141st Street in Harlem craned their necks to take in a peculiar sight. Positioned atop a 38-foot structure of crib piles, shimmies, and steel beams was a two-story yellow house originally built for Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury and future Broadway musical sensation. — Mental Floss
Built in 1802, the Hamilton House has been moved twice since then, first in 1889, and more recently in 2008 when it was raised on a 38-foot tall structure before being moved slowly down the street to St. Nicholas Park. The National park services considered cutting the house in half or removing... View full entry
Returning to the second edition of the Chicago Architecture Biennial is Athens-based architecture studio Point Supreme. Known for their signature rendering style of collage, which produce colorful tableaus weaving together historical elements, memories and dreams from their native city, the... View full entry
“Who owns what? And why?” Despite their apparent simplicity, these questions strike at the heart of the disparities and violences that mark the contemporary city. Raised by the architecture studio Brandlhuber and the artist Christopher Roth, they also summarize neatly the work on display: a... View full entry