Using some of the same design techniques used for responsive air chambers in submarines, Carlo Ratti Associati has designed a floating plaza/mixed retail center that will float on and adapt to the water level depending on how many people are currently walking on it. The plaza, which is linked to... View full entry
Herzog & de Meuron's Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg will finally welcome its first guests on November 5, following nearly a decade tainted with cost overruns and planning delays. Located in the rapidly developing HafenCity district, the crown-shaped concert hall proudly announced its completion... View full entry
A Government minister has declared war on “brutalist” architecture, arguing that it is “aesthetically worthless” and embodies a “cult of ugliness”.
John Hayes, a transport minister, said in a speech that the Government would be the “vanguard of a renaissance” in architecture by rebuilding a Doric arch that stood outside London’s Euston station before it was demolished in 1962.
— The Independent
"Politicians speak a lot and sometimes they speak sense," the British Minister for Transport John Hayes states at the beginning of a speech that makes a case for a return to "beauty" in public architecture. Specifically, he takes aim at brutalist transit stations and promises to rebuild the... View full entry
Boxpark established itself in Shoreditch in 2011 and now, after five successful years, has opened a new venue in Croydon, designed by BDP. The venture is part of the council's plan to transform the borough and create new public spaces. Next to East Croydon station, the venue, like the original... View full entry
The ARE 5.0 is finally here, and it's eight hours and one division shorter than its predecessor. Additionally, new testing methods, including the soothing sounding drag-and-place, have been added to the exam. As a press release pithily explains: "ARE 5.0 features the latest graphic testing... View full entry
Paraphrased by the Washington Post, architect Terence Riley puts Miami's parking garages at the literal forefront of local urbanism: "In a city where everyone drives, the parking garage is the foyer." After all, Riley's firm, K/R Architects, curated the design of one of the city's most flamboyant... View full entry
Despite its potential for easy refurbishment and adaptability, the Nakagin Capsule Tower has not exactly fulfilled the hoped-for mission of its designers. A team of documentary filmmakers recently attempted to stay in the tower, only to find the majority of its units without plumbing or much in... View full entry
Work-life balance is always a question within our building, and within the industry at large. In a lot of ways, [architecture] really favors the young and childless. I'm recently married, and I don't have any kids yet. It’s really interesting to see people who eat, sleep, and breathe their work, but who then have kids (or something else about their life changes), and they have to draw back a little bit. — – architectural designer Julie Engstrom – theatlantic.com
More on work-life balance:Archinect & The Architecture Lobby wants to know how satisfied you are with your jobStruggles persist for women in the architectural workforceWork-life balance: how one architect collaborates with his teenage son View full entry
The clocks have gone back, we’ve had Halloween, it is well and truly ‘coat weather’, and Bonfire Night is coming fast; it’s time to start enjoying winter traditions! This week, go for a first skate in the middle of Canary Wharf on a glowing rink, or watch fireworks over some of the most... View full entry
The L.A. Forum for Architecture and Urban Design is hosting a silent online auction as part of their Fall Benefit starting now until November 13. When architecture is involved, the items up for bidding are bound to be an interesting mix — and the more than 80 items in this particular auction... View full entry
YCombinator, the Silicon Vallley start-up accelerator and investment firm behind Airbnb and Dropbox, announced its entrepreneurial reach into city-building this past summer, with the goal to develop "a city for humans" with reduced housing expenses and a simplified planning code.Some SV... View full entry
Fittingly, Zaha Hadid Architects' 15-storey, 15,000 square meter Jockey Club International Tower has raced ahead of all other structural competition, winning RIBA's award for International Excellence. Here, the ever observant Iwan Baan shows us why:And for good measure, here's a video tour: View full entry
After a long and obstructive political process (and some sad looking pics of Rahm Emanuel) George Lucas' Museum of Narrative Art decided to abandon its attempt to build in Chicago and now is looking toward the Golden State: specifically, Treasure Island in San Francisco and Exposition Park in Los... View full entry
He calls critics “dismissive” and “disdainful.” He accuses architects of “misguided political correctness,” and says they are guilty of “confusing architecture and art.”
Schumacher has turned his criticism on his own practice, rolling out plans for what he calls “Parametricism 2.0,” to better address the human factors like productivity, social interaction, culture, and well-being that detractors used to say Hadid ignored. “I have to step up,” Schumacher says. “I will build my own star power.”
— wired.com
More from Schumacher the Parametricist:Patrik Schumacher on the parametric future he plans for ZHAZHA after Zaha: Patrik Schumacher on Zaha and what's next for the firm, on Archinect Sessions #61Brexit: a chance to roll back the interventionist state and unleash entrepreneurial creativity –... View full entry
Oh, functionalism: enough already with the developer-driven efficiency that puts dollars ahead of human livability. Or so goes the critique that underlies the sculpture by NEON known as "Skin," a six-sided grid strung with 1800 pairs of skin-colored tights.Inadvertently reminiscent of films like... View full entry