Archive (“Architecture for Health in Vulnerable Environments”) proposes “bringing attention to the built environment and how it is a transmission vehicle for the spread and control of a respiratory illness like TB” [...]
Archive is starting small, with an as-yet-uninitiated project on respiratory health and indoor pollutants in Ethiopia and projects on TB awareness in London.
— nextcity.org
More on the intersection of architecture and public health:A story about death and architectureNew Parsons-led collaborative aims to make affordable housing healthierHow concrete floors can prevent child deaths in Bangladesh5 ways to build health into your architecture, as seen at GW’s new $... View full entry
Gornja Siga has come, over the last few months, to assume an outsize role in the imagination of many — not only in Europe, but also in the Middle East and in the United States...What novel society might be accomplished in a place like this, with no national claim or tenant? Such were the thoughts that had for some time inflamed the spirit of Vit Jedlicka, a 31-year-old Czech politician who traveled to the land earlier this year and, in broad daylight, planted a new flag in its unstable soil. — NY Times
The New York Times has posted a riveting portrait of the ongoing movement to establish a libertarian micro state in the borderlands of Serbia and Croatia. While unmentioned in the article, there's already fascinating connections between the potential state and the world of architecture.Last month... View full entry
At a macro level, Chicago is quite diverse. At a neighborhood level, it isn’t. — Five Thirty Eight Economics
How can a city be both diverse and segregated? In Chicago's case, the city is home to every major racial/ethnic group, but these groups rarely tend to live together in the same neighborhoods. In fact, on a neighborhood-by-neighborhood level, Chicago has one of the higher residential segregation... View full entry
The recent debate between Uber and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio over whether the ride-for-hire company was exacerbating Manhattan congestion was fueled by incomplete, misleading data. There was no way of knowing exactly where Uber cars and taxis pick up passengers, and so the city agreed to a study of Uber’s effects last month as part of its detente with the company.
Now, thanks in part to a Freedom of Information Law request, we have data. A lot of data...
— FiveThirtyEight
The folks over at FiveThirtyEight processed a nearly-overwhelming amount of data on Uber usage in New York City and got some pretty interesting (if not entirely surprising) results. At the top of the list, their research verifies the ride-share company's claims that their doing a better job in... View full entry
Slapped in the face is exactly how many Venetians are feeling by the tidal wave of new money. And the local tech boom, prompting 'Silicon Beach' references around town, is just one source of it — The Washington Post
More on Archinect:The rise and spectacular fall of Venice Beach's Pacific Ocean ParkAre apps the virtual gateway to physical gentrification?Oren Safdie's play "False Solution" finishes up its 3-week run this weekend in Santa MonicaThose hipster millennials might not be the true gentrifiers of U.S... View full entry
[Jon] Sojkowski worries that these building types, made with materials that are abundant in Africa and sustainable, will soon be lost to history because of a misconception that they are inefficient, outdated and only used by the poor. At one point during his research, he met a man who told him he wanted a Western-style metal roof. 'I asked him why, and he said, ‘Because then I would be somebody,' Sojkowski recalls. — CityLab
Since architect Jon Sojkowski launched his African vernacular architecture database last year, he has amassed a broad range of photos showcasing the traditional building techniques and materials from 48 countries. Photo submissions are also welcome.You can also check out video clips from... View full entry
From Kiev to Los Angeles, from mind-bending artist Dan Graham to stately architect Kevin Roche, the Graham Foundation has announced the 49 international winners of its 2015 Grants to Organizations. Each year, the Foundation gives out two sets of grants: one for individuals including architects... 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? Plus, with summertime in full swing, planning a vacation is on everyone's mind. Archinect got in touch with J. MAYER H. founder Jürgen Mayer H., who... View full entry
The truth is that Los Angeles, once a pioneer in defining the freeway’s place in urban life, has fallen behind other cities. From Dallas to Paris to Seoul, the most innovative ideas about freeways and how they can be redesigned are coming from places far from Southern California. It’s time for L.A. to catch up... — Los Angeles Times
Following his recent review of the 405 Freeway expansion through the Sepulveda Pass, Christopher Hawthorne sums up why the time is ripe for Angelenos to refresh their perspectives on the city's freeways.More on Archinect:Archinect's critical round-up: the week's best architectural critiques so... View full entry
Comedy troupe Cultivated Wit takes a humorous jab at megaprojects, outlandish crowdsourcing, and how much San Franciscans loathe Burning Man in a cheeky mock campaign that would support the construction of a 300-mile wall around the Bay Area to keep Burners out, forever. And all at a reasonable... View full entry
For a serious architect who has designed public housing in Dallas and a bridge in Slovenia, it may come as a surprise that Oana Stanescu’s best-known work is a 50-foot-high volcano that Kanye West ascended onstage during his grandiose Yeezus tour...Along with Dong-Ping Wong, her partner in the West Village architectural firm Family, Ms. Stanescu is making a name for herself in design circles for her ability to merge pop culture with utilitarian design. — The New York Times
For more Family on Archinect, you can check out Oana's archived Archinect School Blog, the +POOL, and the firm's other cool projects. View full entry
Over at the Los Angeles Times, Christopher Hawthorne eloquently pans the new addition to the 405 freeway, noting that "The expanded 405 might be the first L.A. freeway project to look haggard and disjointed the day it opened." His review comes at a time when infrastructure, especially in... View full entry
Zaha Hadid is the most famous woman architect in the world. Would women or, indeed, architecture, be better off without her pushily hard-won, global celebrity? [...]
Hadid began a global strut in billowing drapery by Prada or Issey Miyake. She became the champion of an architecture that was more about personal ‘vision’ than public utility. [...]
From the air, Hadid’s 2022 World Cup stadium with its almond-shaped opening and labial folds looks bogglingly like giant pudenda.
— spectator.co.uk
Sure, roasting starchitects is fun, and – at its best – can volley constructive criticism towards those architects most visible in the public eye as "Architects", ideally improving the profession at large. And then there's a piece like The Heckler's, which discredits any otherwise pointed... View full entry
Museum displays are typically meant to be seen and not touched, but a recent wave of exhibitions is upending those rules. Take DELQA, an interactive music and light installation opening in the New Museum's NEW INC space on August 6. Showcasing the music of Matthew Dear combined with Microsoft's Kinect technology, the project allows participants to touch, push and poke suspended mesh walls to manipulate a musical composition, creating their own unique experience of the space. — core77
If you're on the hunt for weekend plans in NYC, DELQA will be at the New Museum only from August 6-9!More on Archinect:How architecture helped music evolve - David Byrne Frank Gehry: Is Music Liquid Architecture?How an "egalitarian incubator" music venue hopes to revive Brooklyn's art... View full entry
The recent real-life sale of the character Jesse's house from the TV series "Breaking Bad" is a reminder of how many single-family properties have become cinematic icons (and how it's tricky for private residents to live in such public locales). Although the new owners of Jesse's house will... View full entry
