The red began appearing in the Yangtze, the longest and largest river in China and the third longest river in the world, yesterday near the city of Chongquing, where the Yangtze connects to the Jialin River... and officials have no idea why. — abcnews.go.com
It's common when we discuss the future of maps to reference the Borgesian dream of a 1:1 map of the entire world. It seems like a ridiculous notion that we would need a complete representation of the world when we already have the world itself. But to take scholar Nathan Jurgenson's conception of augmented reality seriously, we would have to believe that every physical space is, in his words, "interpenetrated" with information. All physical spaces already are also informational spaces. — theatlantic.com
Drawings showing a futuristic raised glass open-top tunnel, that have drawn comparisons with New York's High Line, could become a reality as soon as 2015.
Sam Martin, 43, the landscape architect who came up with the idea with a colleague two years ago, said discussions between the Mayor and Network Rail were 'going well' since an initial meeting in May and that feasibility studies over potential sites were already underway.
— dailymail.co.uk
The practical problem to solve in meditation space is making it as quiet as possible, making the architecture as quiet as possible. The architecture has to come to rest if you want the mind to come to rest. And the architecture has to be, doesn’t have to be, but it’s best if it’s holding you to the ground as opposed to ascension. — Metropolis Magazine
Metropolis conducts a Q&A with Michael Rotondi on the design of sacred spaces. What he says is a beautiful way to look at architecture, meditative space and ourselves. View full entry
IT has become fashionable in many architectural circles to declare the death of drawing. What has happened to our profession, and our art, to cause the supposed end of our most powerful means of conceptualizing and representing architecture?
The computer, of course.
— nytimes.com
Michael Graves pens an opinion piece for the Times. View full entry
[FLW's] entire archive is moving permanently to New York in an unusual joint partnership between the Museum of Modern Art and Columbia University’s Avery Architectural & Fine Arts Library, where it will become more accessible to the public for viewing and scholarship.
The collection includes more than 23,000 architectural drawings, about 40 large-scale, architectural models, some 44,000 photographs, 600 manuscripts and more than 300,000 pieces of office and personal correspondence.
— nytimes.com
Those residents, unable to move back into houses they still have to pay for, have spent nearly a year in legal limbo...
More than 2,000 developments begun during that period have turned into “ghost estates,” ...Others, built under a system that allowed developers to “self-certify” — meaning that they could unilaterally declare, with only minimal government oversight, that their properties complied with building codes — are now falling apart, even while residents live there.
— NYTimes
A look at how self-certification helped developers cut corners during Ireland's construction boom, leaving home-owners homeless and trapped in a legal bind. View full entry
"Zawia#00:Change discusses the significantly changing realities imposed on all social, political and economic systems and their influence on design disciplines. Zawia#00:Change will attempt to demonstrate whether architects are ready to embrace changing ideals and new modes of operation, and whether they are willing to help better people’s lives rather than focusing on glorifying design or architecture." — www.zawia.co
Zawia is a periodical, English and Arabic publication and collaborative events on architecture, design & urbanism. The first volume Zawia#00:Change is out now! It features contributions from Saskia Sassen, Stefano Boeri, Joseph Grima, WAI architecture think tank, Carlo Ratti, Markus... View full entry
Architecture Biennale Venice 2012: Questions without answers by Jaakko van ‘t Spijker As opposed to what certain critics and commentators have suggested in about the opening week, they actually were there, the exhibitors with sociopolitical engagement asking relevant... View full entry
Opening on September 15, “The Source” is a six-screen installation housed in a circular pavilion built by architect David Adjaye on Liverpool’s Albert Dock, for which Aitken has filmed conversations with 15 creatives including musician Jack White, architect Jacques Herzog, contemporary artist Thomas Demand, actor Tilda Swinton, photographer William Eggleston and the artist Mike Kelley, who died soon after the interview. — ft.com
Jeff Halper of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) argues that, seen in their totality since 1967, these home demolitions amount to an intentional "policy of displacement". — AlJazeera
As all the hoopla winds down on Venice Biennale about social movement/architecture/urban design and dance parties, another year passes without doing anything about the eradication of Palestinian homes in occupied territories. Spontaneous Interventions..? Nah. It is all... View full entry
Swishing below, all but invisible from the park and motorway above, is the Los Angeles river. A river with water, fish, tadpoles, birds, reeds, banks, a river that flows for 52 miles skirting Burbank, north Hollywood, Silver Lake, downtown and Compton and empties into the Pacific Ocean.. A regular river, except that to most it's a secret. I ask three other people and receive the same blank looks until finally a park ranger confirms that, yes, there is a river at the bottom of a ravine 150' away. — guardian.co.uk
Sejima’s protégé will not be named until next month, although the young architect’s workload has already been prescribed: he or she will contribute over the course of a year to “Home for All,” a project helmed by Sejima and other Japanese architectural luminaries in response to 2011's tsunami and the ensuing housing crisis. — artinfo.com
What constitutes a modern professional workplace is changing rapidly, and Gensler, the San Francisco design and architecture firm, is betting those changes will factor more heavily not only into clients’ interior design decisions, but every single real estate decision they make.
That bet led Gensler to hire a well-known name locally in both design and real estate circles: Robert A. Peck.
— washingtonpost.com
“Snøhetta’s extensive experience with ambitious waterfront projects and its world-class architects’ familiarity with San Francisco through their work on the SFMOMA expansion was a huge factor in our decision,” said Joe Lacob, Co-Executive Chairman and CEO of the Warriors. “All you have to do is look at what they’ve done for the new National Opera House in Oslo and the Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt to see what is possible at Piers 30-32.” — nba.com