Cool Spaces! is a primetime television series that will profile the most provocative architecture of the 21st century. Hosted by architect Stephen Chung, each hour show focuses on public spaces across the US and Canada, conceived by daring architects who push the boundaries of contemporary architectural design, materials and process. Produced for Public Television, Cool Spaces! offers viewers an experience of these public spaces as never before. — coolspaces.tv
Stephen Chung, architect and host of the tv show, tells Archinect, "We are trying to show non-architects that architecture is a pretty cool subject- and if they just give us a chance and take a look- they might agree." View full entry
The April 3, 1988, magazine's cover illustration showed bubble-shaped cars traveling in "electro lanes" on a double-decked, high-rise-lined 1st Street in downtown's Civic Center area. The cover's headline was "L.A. 2013: Techno-Comforts and Urban Stresses — Fast Forward to One Day in the Life of a Future Family." — latimes.com
To read the 1988 Los Angeles Times Magazine's future prediction, DOCUMENT: 1988 'L.A. 2013' essay, click here. View full entry
In our last news post, we reported about the city of Providence, RI winning the Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge. Besides raking in the $5M top prize money, Providence can now also marvel at another perk that comes with winning the Grand Prize: a stunningly beautiful award trophy... View full entry
It's the first official day of spring, and that means this year's crop of new developments is about to start hitting the market. They'll have a lot to live up to, because the season is starting off with a big one: 432 Park Avenue! The city's—nay, the western hemisphere's—future tallest residential building is now available. Or at least, two-thirds of the units are. — Curbed
The Rafael Vinoly-designed superscraper at 432 Park Avenue -- which, when finished, will be the tallest residential building in the western hemisphere -- has officially kicked-off sales. Prices for what's currently available? $20 million to $82.5 million. View full entry
Yet another treatise on Steve Jobs? As an “architect” — really? And with Apple seemingly waning, aren't we behind the curve on this? Suffice it to say that my interest is not solely in Jobs himself, but rather in the challenge he poses to the methods and purpose of an architectural historian.... But since architectural stories are surprising rare here on the edge of the continent, I need a shtick; no matter my connoisseur-ish personal tastes and leftist political dispositions. — Places Journal
What is revealed when we contemplate the late Steve Jobs not only as a technologist extraordinaire but also as a sort of architect? And if we then compare Jobs with another complicated virtuoso, Rem Koolhaas? On Places, architectural historian Simon Sadler argues "Jobs and Koolhaas both seem to... View full entry
While the old-school images might seem odd, the new production method and a barrage of features both seen and unseen will make the licenses, officials say, virtually impossible to forge. — nytimes.com
New York has unveiled a new design for their driver’s licenses, showcasing Santiago Calatrava's WTC Transit Hub in the background. View full entry
Big Air Package is the latest project from artist Christo installed at the Gasometer Oberhausen in Germany, a facility that still holds the record as the largest disc-type gas holder in Europe that was converted into an exhibition hall in the 1990s. Big Air Package is the largest ever inflated envelope without aid of a skeleton (Gasometer Oberhausen bills it as the largest indoor sculpture in history) and reaches 90 meters high, with a diameter of 50 meters and a volume of 177,000 cubic meters. — thisiscolossal.com
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) today issued the following statement in opposition to the Dwight D. Eisenhower Memorial Completion Act, introduced Wednesday by Rep. Rob Bishop (R-Utah). Among other things, the legislation would mandate an alternative to architect Frank Gehry's design for the Eisenhower Memorial and would eliminate further federal funding for the project. — aia.org
The 4,230-square-foot, four-bedroom, four-bath home—currently on sale through Crosby Doe Associates for $4,495,000—offers a rare opportunity to lay claim to a unique piece of Wright history. The house, located in Pasadena, California, was originally built for book dealer Alice Millard for $17,000. Wright once said, "I would rather have built this little house than St. Peter's in Rome." — online.wsj.com
Above freezing temperatures and continued rainfall has left the Fox River that runs next to the Farnsworth House in a state of rising flood waters today, March 11, 2013. The house is fully surrounded by river water, but neither the lower deck nor the upper deck has yet to be breached. — miesglasshouse.wordpress.com
“It is one of our great dreams at BIG that we are now able to design a building for and with the LEGO Group. I owe a huge personal debt to the LEGO brick, and I can see in my nephews that its role in developing the child as a creative, thinking, imaginative human being becomes ever stronger in a world in which creativity and innovation are key elements in virtually all aspects of society,” says Bjarke Ingels, founder and partner, BIG. — lego.com
Using advanced aeronautical design software, Mark Burry and other architects have been able to reverse engineer Gaudi's models from leftover shards. Today, Burry is among a group of architects leading construction on the church's central tower, which, when completed, will stand 566 feet above the ground, making it the tallest church on Earth.
But the fact that they had to use 21st century software to realize a 19th century vision stands as testament to Gaudi's avant garde design language.
— theverge.com
Even though its current owner has boring plans to turn it into flats and a shopping complex, architects can't resist imagining new uses for Battersea Power Station. Architecture firm Atelier Zündel Cristea (AZC) is the latest, rendering a future station that's both a museum of architecture and a giant rollercoaster. — wired.co.uk
The huge Palm Springs estate of Bob Hope, the comic icon of midcentury film and television, and his wife, Dolores, is being brought to market for the first time this month, at an asking price of $50 million.
Perched high in the exclusive Southridge community, with panoramic views of the Coachella Valley, including the city of Palm Springs and the San Jacinto Mountains, the 23,366-square-foot home was designed in 1973 by the California Modernist architect John Lautner.
— nytimes.com
The award-winning firm of world renowned Seattle architect Jim Olson has been selected to design the new Museum of Art at Washington State University. — news.wsu.edu
