The last deep-pit coal mine in the U.K. plans to shut its doors here next week, heralding the end of a centuries-old industry that helped fuel the industrial revolution and build the British Empire.
The shutdown [...] represents a victory for advocates of reducing carbon emissions after world leaders gathered in Paris to discuss how to combat global warming, with coal in the cross hairs. It also reflects a glut of energy on world markets, from crude oil to natural gas and coal itself.
— wsj.com
I hate this historical turn, which for me is contained most neatly in the High Line...The trend I mean is this: toward ersatz, privatized public spaces built by developers; sterile, user-friendly, cleansed adult playgrounds with generic environments that produce the innocuous stupor of elevator music; inane urban utopias with promenades, perches, pleasant embellishments, rest stops, refreshments, and compliance codes. — New York Magazine
Jerry Saltz analyzes how the rise of bad, privatized public spaces has actually been great for public art. However, these "nightmares of synthetic space" bring with them significant downsides such as a loss of "quietness, slowness, whimsy, stillness, different rhythms, anything uneasy... View full entry
Six months after the AIA voted in favor of the Equity in Architecture resolution, it looks like the organization is turning their words into actions. Most recently, they announced the establishment of the Equity in Architecture Commission, a 20-member panel of leading architects, educators, and... View full entry
No matter how prepared I think I am, December is always a frenzy. Between wrapping up end-of-the-year projects and remembering to buy wrapping paper, the days disappear faster than my coworker’s toffee. If you’re anything like me, the holidays are heralded by a panicky visit to the mall and a... View full entry
![Lafayette Towers, Lafayette Park, Detroit, Michigan. [Photo by Corine Vermeulen]](https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/ul/ules8xn98vo114zm.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=514 "Lafayette Towers, Lafayette Park, Detroit, Michigan. [Photo by Corine Vermeulen]")
[Detroit] will join 47 other cities from 33 countries as a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, which is made up of cities with a strong legacy in one of seven creative fields, from gastronomy and literature to design.
Member cities commit to collaborate, promote creativity and cultural industries, share best practices, strengthen participation in cultural life and integrate culture in economic and social development strategies and plans.
— crainsdetroit.com
Formed in 2004, UNESCO's Creative Cities Network (UCCN) identifies places that leverage creative practices as a major strategy for urban development, giving member cities opportunities for collaboration and promotion across cultural industries. Cities in the UCCN (there are currently 69) belong to... View full entry
Whatever you think of the initial "Tall Emblematic Structure in Dubai" prompt, there's no doubt that some fairly significant changes were made to Fernando Donis' winning design for the Dubai Frame and the actual monument as it is being constructed. As Archinect commenter Donna Sink noted, "The... View full entry
Elon Musk has plenty of other ideas. If anyone asks and he has a moment to explain, he'll talk distractedly of as-yet-unrealized concepts—a vertical takeoff-and-landing supersonic electric jet for long-distance travel; an entirely new form of transport that he's named the Hyperloop... He is a man with the rare problem of having more ideas for how to radically change our world than the time to realize them.
Still, you do what you can. And so this Monday evening, his mind is on space suits.
— GQ
Related:A look inside Tesla's growing Gigafactory: "It will blow your mind."Unpacking the Hyperloop's lofty promisesElon Musk launches Hyperloop Pod Competition to university students and engineersChallenging the space-age Manifest Destiny narrative, as Elon Musk vies to move humans to MarsDid... View full entry
Concern is growing over the threat to the Roman antiquities of Sabratha after Isil supporters temporarily occupied the Libyan town. [...]
After the recent destruction of antiquities by Isil extremists in Iraq (Mosul, Nineveh, Nimrud and Hatra) and Syria (Palmyra), there is great concern about Libya. Sabratha, a Unesco World Heritage Site, was a Phoenician trading centre in the fifth-century BC and later became an important Roman port.
— theartnewspaper.com
Previously in the Archinect news:The new Monument Men: with 3D cameras and GPS data against cultural annihilation in Syria and beyondISIS 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
When [Jonathan] Solomon asked Hadid about the Chicago Architecture Biennial, which features more than 100 works of contemporary design, including socially conscious works like Jeanne Gang's proposal to remake a Chicago police station in order to build trust between police and residents, the visitor damned the exhibition with faint praise.
"I think it's a cute show," she said ... The exhibition, she added, "doesn't give me an idea of what to expect in the next 10 years."
— chicagotribune.com
Hadid's comments on the Biennial resonated with what her office director and partner, Patrik Schumacher, had expressed earlier via a Facebook post, criticizing the lack of digital design work in favor of exhibitions that he said show "guilt and bad conscience" in the profession. After Hadid's... View full entry
The policy, limiting building heights of 75 to 240 feet within a half-mile radius of the Disneyland Resort, isn’t meant to keep outsiders from getting a peek at the rides and attractions.
Rather, the Disney Cone is aimed at limiting views of the outside world for the 25 million-plus annual visitors who walk into the parks for a sense of escape and fantasy – just as Walt Disney had first envisioned on Disneyland’s opening day, more than 60 years ago.
— ocregister.com
Chinese citizens have for decades been limited in public services they can access by their household registration [...]
The problem is especially acute for the millions of migrant workers who are often forced to either leave their children in the countryside or place them in unregistered and often sub-standard schools in the city. [...]
“The move is to improve basic public services in urban areas and provide conveniences for residential permit cardholders”
— theguardian.com
More news from China:Touring China's past, present, and future: an examination of "Architectural Guide China"Beijing's latest "airpocalypse" is bad enough for city to issue first ever red alertFour O Nine's Andrei Zerebecky shares his must-see architectural sites in ShanghaiExploring China's urban... View full entry
If you are trapped in the dream of the other, you are fucked. — LARB
ON 4 NOVEMBER 1995, Gilles Deleuze committed suicide by jumping from his Parisian apartment window. He left behind a philosophical legacy that went on to influence numerous academic disciplines: continental philosophy, cinema studies, literary theory, cultural criticism, social and political... View full entry
Over Skype from their homebase in Beijing, WAI Architecture Think Tank partners Cruz Garcia and Nathalie Frankowski spoke with Paul Petrunia, on our latest Mini-Session for the Next Up series. Their contribution to the Chicago Architecture Biennial, a rumination on manifestos, looks to the... View full entry
But if L.A. is going to remain a creative capital, its civic and cultural leaders are going to need to do more than offer really great talk about how great we are...This can start with the Otis Report on the Creative Economy...If this report is to be more than just a feel-good data dump, it could use some solid recommendations on how L.A. compares to other cities culturally and how we might improve the situation for artists and cultural organizations, both small and large. — Los Angeles Times
More about arts districts on Archinect:Venice Beach's ongoing grapple with the tech titan invasionDowntown LA's vision of an architecture and design super clusterHow one urban planner is helping revamp a Miami suburb "without gentrification"With a little compromise, illegal urban squats like... View full entry
A purple pedestrian bridge between two terminals that link Tijuana International Airport and San Diego over the U.S.-Mexico border opened to passengers Wednesday morning.
The Cross Border Xpress is the first project to join a site in the U.S. with a foreign airport terminal. [...]
The $120-million private venture aims to serve about 2.4 million fliers each year who usually would have to queue up in busy border crossings at San Ysidro and Otay Mesa on the California side.
— latimes.com
