The Chicago Architecture Biennial and Mayor Rahm Emmanel announced the curators of the second iteration of the Biennial: the Los Angeles-based firm Johnston Marklee. The studio, which comprises Sharon Johnston and Mark Lee, will be assisted by Todd Palmer of the National Public Housing Museum, who... View full entry
Are you looking for just the right home for you, your corpulent husband, spoiled son, and abused nephew of mysterious provenance? Just can’t find the right-sized cupboard-under-the-stairs? Now you’re in luck: the 3-bedroom detached house used as the set of Harry Potter’s childhood home has... View full entry
It's been a tumultuous year for Cooper Union: after revoking and then reconsidering its free tuition policy for students last year, the institution saw numerous prominent trustees resign. Now, Cooper Union has appointed executive director of the William Penn Foundation Laura Sparks as its first... View full entry
Almost every kitchen counter in the United States is 36 inches tall. And 25 inches deep. Eighteen inches above the counters are the cabinets, which are 16 inches deep.
Where do these sizes and dimensions come from? Have they always been so exact?
— Atlas Obscura
"In 1938 Hitler’s chief architect Albert Speer hired Neufert to, as Speer put it, “oversee the standardization of building parts, and the rationalization to building methods.” He got to lead his own team of designers and technicians. They were called The Neufert Department.He created the... View full entry
Almost every kitchen counter in the United States is 36 inches tall. And 25 inches deep. Eighteen inches above the counters are the cabinets, which are 16 inches deep.
Where do these sizes and dimensions come from? Have they always been so exact?
— Atlas Obscura
"In 1938 Hitler’s chief architect Albert Speer hired Neufert to, as Speer put it, “oversee the standardization of building parts, and the rationalization to building methods.” He got to lead his own team of designers and technicians. They were called The Neufert Department.He created the... View full entry
After more than four years of wrangling over Frank Gehry's proposal for the Eisenhower memorial, the Eisenhower family has removed its objections to a modified version of the initial design. Although information about specific design changes and compromises was scant, according to Reuters the... View full entry
The Architectural League of New York is getting ready to kick off another eventful Beaux Arts Ball 2016: Tabula Rasa, taking place on September 30 at the new nARCHITECTS-designed A/D/O space in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Co-chaired by Calvin Tsao and Zack McKown, this year's Tabula Rasa theme is all... View full entry
For the past five years van der Vegt and Max Cohen de Lara, his partner at XML, have studied the halls of parliament of all 193 United Nations member states. In a new book, Parliament, the duo elegantly connects architecture to the political process.
All 193 assembly halls fall into one of five organizational layouts: “semicircle,” “horseshoe,” “opposing benches,” “circle,” and “classroom.” And these layouts make a difference.
— wired.com
If you can imagine how debating with someone seated beside you might feel different from arguing with someone standing at a pulpit, you can appreciate the impact.For more on the intersections of the architectural and the political, follow these links:Looking into the White House's “much longer... View full entry
Martino Stierli took over as MoMA's chief curator of architecture and design in 2015, when the museum was already undergoing major changes. Diller Scofidio + Renfro's redesign was underway, and the architecture and design galleries faced something of an uncertain future in the expanded museum... View full entry
Home design is among the many subtle and not so subtle indicators of cultural norms that tell us what the ideal family should look like. But more families — through choice and circumstance — are creating families in ways that don’t match up with the nuclear family ideal. In post-World War II America, marriage rates have decreased and more children are born to unmarried parents. Today there is no one family form in which the majority of kids grow up. — PS Mag
If you could throw out all the conventions and constructs and limitations of our current understanding of family, what would you create for yourself? And what’s stopping you?For more on the politics of home design, check out these links:If you can’t stand the domesticity, get out of the... View full entry
“Genetics, early experiences, family relationships and social settings can’t be addressed through urban design,” McCay explains. “But urban design can and should play a role, just as it does for physical disorders, which have equally complex causes.” [...]
But experts believe guidelines for healthy urban environments are currently failing to take this growing awareness into consideration. [...]
“understanding of these issues is not yet mainstream” in the architectural community.
— theguardian.com
Layla McCay, director of the Centre for Urban Design and Mental Health, outlines the various ways urban design and mental health intersect:Check out more videos from UDMH on their website.For more news on urban psychology:Measured Genius: One-to-One #29 with Pierluigi Serraino, author of 'The... View full entry
This week’s picks come with an energy and collaborative passion which is so characteristic of this time of year. With the London Design Festival raging on and the anticipation of a new season hanging thick in the air, it seems as though London has started afresh, seemingly recovering from... View full entry
Exhibitions from our founding in 1929 to the present are available online. These pages are updated continually. — MoMA
Go ahead and dig in! All there, including architecture. Now, that's a museum service. View full entry
"Humanity went through stone age, went through ice age, and today, going through plastic age. We need to find solution,” explains Robert Bezeau, the man intent on amending the global reach of plastic waste by building houses out of it. A transplant to Panama from Montreal, he has started... View full entry
In OMA and artist Taryn Simon's "An Occupation of Loss," professional mourners create unique performances of grief into an enormous sculpture of eight 45 foot concrete inverted wells that act as "a discordant instrument." It's not just for professional criers: during the day, visitors are... View full entry
