Canadian wildfire smoke continues to blow over much of the U.S., raising air pollution to harmful levels for construction workers. Now, the impact of the fires is likely to raise U.S. lumber prices, too. — Construction Dive
As reported by Construction Dive, Canada’s devastating wildfire season, which has been felt across North America through declined air quality, has impacted the largest amount of land ever recorded in a single year. As a result, lumber prices are expected to rise as Canada supplies approximately... View full entry
“Underground climate change is a silent hazard,” he said. “The ground is deforming as a result of temperature variations, and no existing civil structure or infrastructure is designed to withstand these variations.” — NBC Chicago
NBC Chicago reports on research from Northwestern University Assistant Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering Alessandro Rotta Loria and his findings on the effect of density and subterranean heat in the city’s downtown Loop, where temperatures have been shown to be... View full entry
NCARB has released its twelfth annual data report, NCARB by the Numbers, highlighting key trends in architectural education and licensure. The report, derived from NCARB’s database of over 128,000 licensure candidates and architects, shows a 9% rise in the number of architecture license... View full entry
Dorte Mandrup has announced their team’s success in an international competition to design the Nunavut Inuit Heritage Center. Located in Iqaluit, Canada's territorial capital, the facility is set to be a cultural bridge promoting Inuit heritage and facilitating “healing and reconciliation... View full entry
The World Architecture Festival (WAF) is continuing to ramp up for November’s three-day conference in Singapore with the announcement of shortlisted finalists for this year’s INSIDE World Festival of Interiors, featuring some of the best new interior design projects from over 70 emerging and... View full entry
Following last week’s visit to Los Angeles-based Lorcan O’Herlihy Architects, we are moving our Meet Your Next Employer series to New York this week to explore the work of Resolution: 4 Architecture. Founded in 1990 by Joseph Tanney and Robert Luntz, the firm describes itself as “dedicated... View full entry
The M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust gave the Seattle Aquarium a $1 million grant toward the construction of the new Ocean Pavilion, the Trust announced Tuesday. — The Seattle Times
The grant will support the completion of the Seattle Aquarium’s new $160 million Ocean Pavilion, which was designed by LMN Architects. The expansion will add 50,000 square feet of exhibits, theatrical spaces, and support areas. It will integrate a series of public pathways that provide vertical... View full entry
The winners of this year’s World Architecture Festival WAFX Awards have been announced, featuring a total of 34 projects from top design firms across the globe whose work addresses a range of important contemporary environmental issues and other social concerns.Designs in eight categories... View full entry
AI developers Stability AI have announced the release of Stable Doodle, a sketch-to-image tool that “converts a simple drawing into a dynamic image, providing limitless imaging possibilities to a range of professionals and hobbyists.” Accessible through Stability AI’s Clipdrop platform... View full entry
Saudi Arabia's megaproject Neom is seeking to raise 10 billion riyals ($2.7bn) in loans, according to a report in Bloomberg published on Monday.
The early stages of the $500bn planned city will be financed by money raised from local lenders, according to sources familiar with the matter who spoke to Bloomberg. Banks are currently in negotiations with Neom, and the loan could be completed in the next few months.
— Middle East Eye
A separate $3 billion loan will be required for Shushah Island, the luxury resort component of the $500 billion megadevelopment whose record-setting centerpiece is promised for 2025. Another $800 million was secured recently towards the development of Sindalah, which is set to be the project’s... View full entry
When asked about why skywells have caught more attention of modern Chinese people, Wang [Zhengfeng] says that the courtyard is also designed to serve as a gathering space for families or communities, and comes with ritual meanings. "Perhaps changes in the way of life could also trigger vernacular nostalgia among people living in concrete and glass forests.”
"It won't be easy to be sustainable by learning from the past without reflecting on our current behaviours."
— BBC
Lightwells are of course, a common passive cooling method in modern Western designs, but in China, their popularity is partly driven by a budding “vernacular nostalgia” for traditional features and concepts. The government’s push towards greener building standards and a 2060 net zero carbon... View full entry
The 2023 edition of the Architecture At Zero celebrates another successful year of innovation and competition as student and professional teams submit their design proposals to help reimagine a teaching and innovation farm lab in Allensworth, CA. What makes this competition brief distinct is... View full entry
Rex Heuermann, an architect who had lived most of his life in Nassau County and worked in Manhattan, was taken into custody in connection with at least some of the killings, said an official with knowledge of the case. — The New York Times
The 59-year-old was the owner of a Midtown Manhattan-based consultancy practice that offered “concept-driven designs at multiple scales from educational facilities, residential works, as well as mix use and office design, public works, and master planning,” according to its website. Heuermann... View full entry
Of the two bills before Congress, one has flowery language about the need to “uplift and beautify,” “inspire the human spirit,” “ennoble the United States” and “command respect from the general public.” The other codifies old guidance that directs federal builders to “reflect the regional architectural traditions,” to emphasize “the work of living American artists” and to not have bureaucrats force an official style on the folks who do the designing. — Politico
The duel between the Democrats’ updated ‘Democracy in Design’ (S.366) and the Republican-backed ‘Beautifying Federal Civic Architecture Act’ (H.R.3627) that was introduced in May recently got the attention of a (paywalled) Wall Street Journal op-ed along its way to spurring action on the... View full entry
Archinect's Lexicon focuses on newly invented or adopted vocabulary within the architectural community. For this installment, we're featuring an artificial intelligence term that has been cited in our recent feature articles with both Matias Del Campo and Genevieve Goffman. A "Generative... View full entry