Our urban centers were not designed with cyclists in mind; we’re a car-centric society. American cities can try piecemeal approaches, but the reality is that sharing the road is only a small part of the solution. Bikes and cars need their own dedicated thoroughfares to keep everyone as safe as possible, and to encourage people to choose clip-in pedals over gas ones... — Wired
San Francisco recently announced plans – under the initiative Vision Zero SF – to aggressively tackle traffic-related deaths in the city. Part of that plan includes incorporating elevated bike lanes, with Market Street as a pilot project. But according to Jordan Crucchiola, who invokes the... View full entry
Privatisation in the 90s has resulted in a reduction of public buildings and an escalation in large, corporate ownership — the guardian
"today, rather than a space for including people from many diverse backgrounds and cultures, our global cities are expelling people and diversity. Their new owners, often part-time inhabitants, are very international – but that does not mean they represent many diverse cultures and traditions... View full entry
This week's One-to-One guest is Jenna Didier, founder of the Materials & Applications research and exhibition space in Los Angeles. Didier started the driveway-sized venue in the front yard of her Silver Lake home in the early 2000s, looking for a space to establish community and exchange for... View full entry
The team will examine the spatial experiences of people with Alzheimer’s and the installation will be accompanied by a social media campaign designed to extend the reach of the work beyond the Biennale. [...]
The scheme was set to be a test case for future developments and was seen as an opportunity to ‘improve the quality of life of a marginalised group by reaching towards an understanding of the deep human mystery of how we place ourselves in the world.’
— architectsjournal.co.uk
More design work responding to the symptoms of Alzheimer's:Showcase: Antoine de St exupéry home for dependent elderly people, by Naud & Poux ArchitectesInside the Dutch Village Where Everyone Has DementiaDesigning for Seniors and Soldiers, Toward a "Silver" Architecture View full entry
"Do you believe in infrastructure?” asks Norman Foster, with challenge in his voice. He does. Infrastructure, he says, is about “investing not to solve the problems of today but to anticipate the issues of future generations”. [...]
“I have no power as an architect, none whatsoever. I can’t even go on to a building site and tell people what to do.” Advocacy, he says, is the only power an architect ever has.
— theguardian.com
Related news on Archinect:Prairie futurism: designs revealed for the new Chicago Apple storeThe In Crowd: review of "Conversations with Architects: In the Age of Celebrity"The selective amnesia of Foster + Partners' Maspero Triangle District Masterplan View full entry
The number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. illegally has declined. In 2014, 5.6 million unauthorized immigrants from Mexico lived in the U.S., down by about 1 million since 2007. [...]
Mexican unauthorized immigrants are more likely than unauthorized immigrants overall to work in the construction industry ... Among Mexican unauthorized immigrants ages 16 and older who were employed in 2012, 19% worked in construction and 13% worked in a wide range of businesses
— pewhispanic.org
The Wall Street Journal previously reported on the trend of declining Mexican-born workers in the U.S. construction industry, leading to a total loss of half a million laborers since 2007. According to a Pew Research Study in "Hispanic Trends" from March of 2015, citing the most recent data... View full entry
No two people, let alone architects, perceive even the most frequented cities in the same way. How do designers experience their cities as locals?The coastal city of Seattle, Washington is not as "sleepy" as some would assume. It's full of gems that the architecturally inclined traveler can... View full entry
between population gains and the popularity of fully self-driving mobility services, we’ll see the total number of vehicle miles grow by 1 trillion. (Half of the 1 trillion it attributes to population growth.) For perspective, U.S. residents drove 3.1 trillion miles in 2014.
KPMG expects this growth to come from trips taken by the very young and very old, who can be immobile only due to their inability to drive. By having access to a self-driving shuttle, a world of opportunity would open up.
— washingtonpost.com
We discuss the implications of autonomous vehicles in the built environment with Geoff Manaugh on our latest podcast episode, "In LiDAR We Trust".For more on self-driving vehicles:Tokyo's 2020 Olympics won't have Zaha, but it's looking like there will be "Robot Taxi"Milton Keynes invests in... View full entry
As architects, we are living at a time of shifting paradigms. [...] It’s why I’m so interested in how architects and urban planners engage with other fields – economics, security, the environment and so on. Our challenge must be to go beyond architecture and speak the languages of these other disciplines, before translating our discussions into formal design proposals. [...] Our ultimate focus is still on form, but what informs this has expanded dramatically. — theguardian.com
Just a few key takeaways from Alejandro Aravena's piece for The Guardian:"As curator of Reporting From The Front, I want to reverse the idea that the Biennale only deals with issues that are of interest to other architects. We have begun by identifying problems that every citizen can not only... View full entry
Since July, the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) has been working with an anonymous architectural firm to hash out a new concept for the Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center, and now, nearly five months later, the Performing Arts Center board has finally released the name of the lead architect: Brooklyn-based studio REX led by Joshua Prince-Ramus, a former protégé starchitect Rem Koolhaas. — 6sqft
When executives at Taco Bell found out that the Downey building that housed their first restaurant was at risk of being demolished, they ordered the store “to go.” The birthplace of the Mexican fast food chain, located on Firestone Boulevard, is up on rails and ready to roll. Founder Glen Bell built the mission style building in 1962 and on Thursday night at 10:30, store “Numero Uno” will begin the 45-mile ride to company headquarters in Irvine. — Los Angeles Magazine
The original Taco Bell was initially threatened with demolition back in January. For all the best coverage of food-related design, do check out:• Upstarts: Design, Bitches• A Journey from Architecture and Design to Gourmet Dog Food• How architects are redesigning schools that encourage kids... View full entry
Long-time Archinector and BLDGBLOG-runner Geoff Manaugh joins us on the podcast this week to discuss his piece on "The Dream Life of Driverless Cars" for the New York Times Magazine. Referencing work like that of London-based design studio, ScanLAB Projects, who use LiDAR (light + radar)... View full entry
"You repress almost everything to produce a building," states Daniel Libeskind during a long and wide-ranging conversation with the architectural historian Gillian Darley in the context of the exhibition Childhood ReCollections: Memory in Design at the Roca London Gallery."Everything is repressed... View full entry
Pedestrian crossings made up of fragments of famous works of avant-garde art have appeared in a residential area in the Russian city of Khimki, located just northwest of Moscow.
Fragments of the work of Piet Mondrian, Kazimir Malevich and Vasily Kandinsky feature on five pedestrian crossings in the “Gorod Naberezhniy” complex, chosen for their frequent use. Together with the zebra stripes, there are signs which provide information about the artwork and artist.
— calvertjournal.com
Related in the Archinect news:New photo book documents the beautifully outlandish architecture of Soviet bus stopsHumanizing street design with 'shared space'Follow the yellow wooden road into Rotterdam's new Luchtsingel pedestrian park View full entry
The Milwaukee Art Museum is due to reopen on 24 November after a 14-month, $34m renovation that brings the institution back from the brink. When the museum made the unorthodox decision to begin planning an expansion at the height of the recession in 2009, mould flourished, floors buckled and ceilings leaked in the two buildings that housed the permanent collection. [...]
Roberts says: “People who know our museum will not believe that this is the same museum.”
— theartnewspaper.com
Related news on Archinect:Private money attracts big-name architects to design new museums in BeirutLeading up to its September-20 opening, Christopher Hawthorne reviews the new Broad museumA black museum for "The White City of the North": Moreau Kusunoki Architectes selected to design Guggenheim... View full entry