After staging [a 48-hr long continuous VR experience], [Thorsten] Wiedemann is convinced that “long period VR trips” are possible, and that current technology is sufficient for such purposes. The only problem was when he had a panic attack after the 25th hour, when he was pretty close to giving up.
“I had no physical problems, no burning eyes, killing headaches or nausea,” Wiedemann says. “The path to the future is now prepared..."
— the Creators Project
Related:This augmented reality helmet could revolutionize the construction siteRendered reality: the VR journalism of Emblematic GroupUsing virtual reality to bridge the gap between architect and client View full entry
In China each year, the Harbin Ice and Snow Festival features both buildings and sculptures constructed entirely of ice and snow, which are augmented with nighttime illumination. Here are a few highlights from this year's festival: China doesn't have a lockdown on spectacular ice and snow... View full entry
The hamburger stand is part of southern California’s rich tradition of roadside architecture. These buildings are typically 100 square-foot boxes, with an outdoor window to order and pick up food. Next to the structures are rudimentary dining areas, often consisting of no more than a plastic tarp and a few fold-up chairs and tables [...]
The hipsterfication of LA’s hamburger stands may... prove the final chapter in the saga of these half-century-old structures.
— The Guardian
Related:Regarding the remarkable range of prefab, self-built, movable, and vernacular dwellingsL.A. City Council Officially Votes Norms Restaurant as "Historic and Cultural Landmark"Moments in Fast Food Urbanism: First Taco Bell may be demolishedGoogie: Architecture of the Space Age View full entry
New York City once set the standard for subsidized housing. The city started out building and maintaining tens of thousands of apartments for working families, sponsoring job training and social programs. It ran a budget surplus. [...] Now the Village is like a gated playground for runaway wealth. Subsidized apartments all across town are converting to market-rate rentals and condos faster than City Hall can build affordable units or preserve old ones. — nytimes.com
Related stories in the Archinect news:NYC's public-housing woesThe promising affordable housing of Hunters Point SouthMy Micro NYC Apartment Complex Is Officially Renting View full entry
"Small houses can tell big stories," read the apt white words on the pamphlet's blue cover.
The shotgun house's Ocean Park neighborhood had once been full of such modest dwellings. It was a working-class place — home to carpenters and painters and people who washed other people's laundry.
But that kind of history most often is erased over time, as little houses make way for bigger ones. Ordinary people often don't chronicle their lives — and when they leave, their stories do too.
— LA Times
Related:"Stop the unpermitted demolition": Roche Dinkeloo's shiny UN Plaza Hotel lobby might be remodeledIt's easier now to tear down "historic homes" in Beverly Hills than before – is this progress or folly?Preserving a Home in All Its Marred GlorySelective memory: Old Penn Station, ruined... View full entry
Is there no architecture that can bare its soul without simultaneously crushing you with its ego, that stirs, moves, troubles, provokes, inspires? [...]
A glimmer of an alternative is suggested by Mavericks: Breaking the Mould of British Architecture, an installation opening next week [...]
The installation is designed by the architect Alex Scott-Whitby, previously best known for proposing that the spires of City of London churches be adapted to make creative workspaces.
— theguardian.com
"Mavericks: Breaking the Mould of British Architecture" runs at London's Royal Academy of Art from January 26 through April 20, and features the work of FAT, Robert Smythson, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Zaha Hadid, James Stirling, and many others.Related news:Richard Rogers' Homeshell built in... View full entry
The biggest names impacting New York’s skyline come together to discuss the projects that now epitomize the city, the ever-evolving real estate market and what’s next for New York’s neighborhoods. — 92Y
LHB has become one of the nation’s first design firms to incorporate virtual reality, or VR, across the sweep of its in-house teams [...]
“With VR, you can inhabit the space in full scale...You get a far more physical sense of what that space is going to be.” [...]
Virtual reality also has potential to be “the great equalizer,” LHB’s Fischer noted. A middle-school maintenance worker can put on a VR headset and notice design flaws that might go unnoticed by project managers.
— startribune.com
More from the VR-desk:Rendered reality: the VR journalism of Emblematic GroupAre virtual reality systems sexist?Using virtual reality to bridge the gap between architect and clientDrury architecture students are experimenting with virtual reality technology Oculus RiftSpacemaker VR lets designers... View full entry
Scott Merrill, winner of this year’s Driehaus Prize for his work under his firm Merrill, Pastor & Colgan, studied economics before getting an MArch at Yale, and found inspiration early in his career from Vermont's vernacular architectures. He began practicing solo in Florida in 1990, and... View full entry
Online visitors from around the world can now explore the interior of the iconic Frank Lloyd Wright–designed Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum through Google Street View technology. Additionally, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, in collaboration with the Google Cultural Institute, has made available over 120 artworks from its collection for online viewing. [...]
The Guggenheim’s architecture presented unique challenges for Google’s engineers and Street View team.
— guggenheim.org
Ready to immerse yourself? Click here to start your stroll down the rotunda.All images courtesy of Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Related stories in the Archinect news:Google is letting you visit museums around the world using Street View and YoutubeGoogle Street View captures beautiful... View full entry
As of the 2010 census, the vast majority of Shanghai’s population lived in suburban areas. Between 2000 and 2010, suburban areas grew by 50 percent or more, compared to the city’s central districts, which grew slower or in some cases even shrank [...]
The villagers who join the urban economy, then, don’t go downtown, but to the settlements that dot the fringes of the city. The industries that really help China to grow are here, too
— citylab.com
More related news:China to sustainably build 10 New York City's worth of space in the next decadeIn weaker market, architecture firms in China are cutting backChina hopes to improve its cities with newly released urban planning visionStudent Works: "Townization", a new Chinese urbanization... View full entry
Eventually, Saint Kjelds will be able to withstand — and even welcome — heavy rainfall and flooding. [...]
More parks like it are being built to purposefully turn into small ponds during heavy rains, allowing them to capture and retain water on site until the drainage system has capacity to handle it.
— citiscope.org
More news on cities' response to climate change:"King tides" give a glimpse of what the (near) future's rising seas will look likeJakarta, already 40% below sea level, is building one of the biggest sea walls on EarthUnchecked climate change will make the Gulf uninhabitable, claims new studyMajor... View full entry
Although Architecture for Humanity officially closed in 2015, a new international, volunteer organization that was affiliated with AFH called The Chapter Network is following in AFH's sustainable-development footsteps, and has chosen Garrett Jacobs as its executive director. Jacobs attended Tulane... View full entry
On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, volunteers put the finishing touches on small houses with the kind of basic amenities you don't see in Seattle homeless camps.
"The difference is you have electricity and a lock on the door," said Steve Tucker, a member of the Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, which is hosting what organizers are calling Seattle's first tiny house village.
— Kiro TV
Seattle joins several other pioneering cities and states across the U.S. that have chosen to provide housing for the chronically homeless. These programs have shown that the housing actually saves governments money and eventually reduces the overall rate of transient recidivism. Here's a sampling... View full entry
Iraq’s earliest Christian monastery has been destroyed by Isil extremists. [...] This seems to have occurred in September 2014, three months after the site on the southern outskirts of Mosul was seized by Isil forces. [...]
If the near-total destruction of Mar Elia is confirmed, 16 months after the event, it is worrying that it went unreported, since it suggests that other Christian sites may have also been destroyed without publicity.
— theartnewspaper.com
Related stories in the Archinect news:Fear grows over ISIS threat against Unesco World Heritage site in LibyaISIS militants have reportedly blown up Palmyra's Arch of TriumphISIS blows up 2,000-year-old Baalshamin temple in PalmyraISIS beheads leading archaeologist in Palmyra View full entry