For his latest project, Holiday Home – part of this year’s Folkestone Triennial (2 Sept to 5 Nov) – Woods has created six colorful bungalows, situated in unexpected locations around the town. — The Guardian
Richard Woods is known for his architectural installations that feature colorful, geometric patterns and playful decorative facades. For his latest project, the UK artist has installed six tiny, cartoon-like homes across the town of Folkestone. In his interview with the Guardian, the artist... View full entry
Museum creation has increasingly become a major cultural export for countries. The controversial Louvre Abu Dhabi is slated to open later this year and the Guggenheim has made attempts in recent years to open up satellite museums in both Helsinki and Abu Dhabi, to name a few. Now, the... View full entry
A real dump,” is how Donald Trump is said to have described the White House he inherited from the Obama administration. For a man used to inhabiting a penthouse fantasy land of golden columns, heaving chandeliers and cherubs tumbling from the ceilings, the decor at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue must have seemed a bit drab. So he took the opportunity of his summer vacation to call in the decorators for a $3.4m (£2.6m) overhaul, the results of which have been unveiled this week. — The Guardian
Perhaps because the president and his family don’t spend much time living in the White House, the interior changes, at least so far, have been few. Nevertheless, Trumps' recent redecorations include noticeable features like a change in wallpaper— from Obama's yellow candy-stripe to, handpicked... View full entry
The boat belongs in Washington, a city both blessed and socially determined by its rivers....Many of the most dramatic and some of the most exciting changes in Washington today are clustered along its rivers. The most visible transformation is the District Wharf development,...but projects like the 11th Street Bridge Park....transcend mere commercial development, and underscore the myriad possibilities of using the river as a means of connection, social equity and public discourse. — The Washington Post
The saga to save the Louis Kahn-designed floating concert hall, Point Counterpoint II, continues. It all began back in mid-July when Yo-Yo Ma made a plea in The New York Review of Books to salvage the barge facing demolition on account of the fact that the owners—Robert Boudreau, whom doubles... View full entry
50 Urban Blocks is the first in a collection of designing cards (available in English and Spanish) aimed to simplify architectural design, by a+t architecture publishers. This first set of cards contains 50 examples of how to design a block, how to organize space and ultimately how to build the... View full entry
Plans for the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park are being firmed up largely out of public view, and one watchdog group is sounding the alarm about the lack of transparency.
Decisions on the design of the center, the park’s golf course and even whether to eliminate some roads in the park are being worked out by the Obama Foundation, City Hall and the Chicago Park District.
— Chicago Sun Times
Designed by the New York-based firm Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, the Obama Presidential Center will consist of three buildings—a museum, a forum, and a library located near a lagoon that runs into Lake Michigan in Chicago's Jackson Park neighborhood. However, recently Jackson Park... View full entry
Mr Pouille posted pictures of the museum's exterior, including its 7,000-tonne dome, which shelters many of the museum's gallery spaces while creating a microclimate for its internal plaza areas.
They also show the Louvre Abu Dhabi's concrete beach, whose steps have been designed to act as an amphitheater-like public gathering space and viewing platform, just opposite the main museum complex.
— The National
Ludovic Pouille, the social media-savvy French ambassador to the UAE, has posted photos from his recent visit of Jean Nouvel-designed Louvre Abu Dhabi on Twitter. The opening of the museum is... View full entry
A collaboration between the sculptor and performance artist Nick Cave and the architect Jeanne Gang on a site-specific work for Chicago’s Navy Pier is part of the ongoing transformation of the historic waterfront space from tourist trap into cultural destination. — The Arts Newspaper
The performance will involve dancers wearing Cave's silver-colored Soundsuits while interacting with objects designed by Studio Gang as a part of the setting. Fabricating a changeable stage that could be used for other performance groups, Gang was inspired by the idea of a clearing for... View full entry
Southern California boasts the largest concentration of Iranians in the world outside Iran, and the county of Los Angeles houses the vast majority. The Fahrang Foundation—a non-religious, non-political, and not-for-profit foundation with a mission to celebrate and promote Iranian art and... View full entry
The terror cell that brought carnage to north-eastern Spain, killing 15 people and injuring more than 130, was planning attacks on a much larger scale, including the bombing of Barcelona’s Sagrada Família church, a suspect has told a court.
Mohamed Houli Chemlal made the admission after being brought before a judge in Madrid, Spanish media reported, quoting court officials.
— The Guardian
As the hearing progressed, police were attempting to reconstruct the final 96 hours in the life of the member of the cell who killed 13 people and injured more than 130 others when he drove a hired Fiat van along the crowded Las Ramblas last Thursday. View full entry
Australia's creative team for the 16th International Venice Architecture Biennale has been announced at events in Sydney and Melbourne. Baracco+Wright Architects will collaborate with artist Linda Tegg to cultivate and nurture thousands of temperate grassland species within the pavilion alongside... View full entry
The Broad announced today that it will present a new work from Venezuelan-born artist Carlos Cruz-Diez (b. 1923), in collaboration with the Cruz-Diez Art Foundation. Couleur Additive has been commissioned by The Broad as part of the Getty Initiative, Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a far-reaching... View full entry
It’s no paradise, as the rats, garbage, arson and violent backstories make clear. Yet against all odds, the men and women we meet in the film have managed to domesticate their underground wilderness. Hardworking and innovative, they cobble together the necessities and even a few small luxuries: a dartboard, toaster oven, dogs, cats and a gerbil named Peaches. — The Conversation
"The number of people facing housing insecurity, already on the rise, began to climb more steeply as a result of the Great Recession. This upward trend will likely be exacerbated if President Trump’s proposed cuts to food stamps, Medicaid and housing subsidies are enacted, which will force... View full entry
The county’s board of supervisors gave the green light to The Granny Flats Motion project on Tuesday, which would give homeowners up to $75,000 to build a backyard home—if they agree to rent it to a homeless family or individual. On top of that, the county will also streamline the permitting process, an arguably attractive incentive considering that most of these “accessory dwelling units” in U.S. cities are illegal. — CityLab
Los Angeles is undertaking a new effort to curb its ballooning homeless population—paying homeowners to build a 'granny flat' for a homeless family to inhabit in their backyard. According to CityLab, "The pilot, for which the county has earmarked $550,000, will grant two or three of such units... View full entry
In this article on the Huffington Post, Lance Hosey writes about the horror of watching white surpremacists marching in the Charlottesville Downtown Mall on August 11th and 12th of this year. The Mall, which was significantly redesigned in the 1970s, serves as a unavoidable visual reminder of the... View full entry