The former President of Walt Disney Imagineering Bob Weis is joining Gensler as a Global Immersive Experience Design Leader, according to a statement released by the firm. Before the move, Weis spent more than 30 years at Disney. Having joined Walt Disney Imagineering in 1980, Weis became... View full entry
Lanfranco Cirillo, an Italian art collector who designed a mysterious 18,000 sq. m Black Sea mansion supposedly built for the Russian President Vladimir Putin, will be tried in absentia by an Italian court on financial charges next month. In an interview published by the ANSA news agency on Friday, the architect said that he currently resides in Moscow and claimed that an Interpol Red Notice effectively prevents him from returning to Italy to defend his name. — The Art Newspaper
As reported by The Art Newspaper, Cirillo is being investigated for an array of crimes, including fraudulent tax returns, money laundering, the illegal transfer of funds, and for violating the code of protection of cultural heritage. Last year, Italian officials raided Cirillo’s villa near... View full entry
New York City Mayor Eric Adams has unveiled an ambitious plan to help convert the city’s unused office spaces into apartment dwellings in an effort to bring online 40,000 new units of housing in the next decade. The plan, which includes a new study and 11 “concrete recommendations” made by... View full entry
A team comprised of ZGF and Barcelona-based firms MIRAG and Double Twist have been named as competition winners for the design of a net-positive research center in Barcelona. The team won the commission for the Mercat del Peix Research Center seeing off competition from a five-team shortlisting... View full entry
Anderton’s book provides further powerful evidence that density is not something to be scared of, but is fertile ground for architectural invention, creating more neighbourly, walkable communities, and ultimately making Los Angeles a more livable city for all. — The Guardian
The Guardian’s Oliver Wainwright joined Common Ground: Multifamily Housing in Los Angeles author Frances Anderton for a walking tour of select historic apartment buildings that included Richard Neutra’s 1937 Strathmore Apartments in Westwood (noteworthy as the first apartment Charles and... View full entry
On the first anniversary of the Twin Parks fire in the Bronx that killed 17 people, the Federal Emergency Management Agency will announce a new national plan to combat “America’s fire problem” using investigatory muscle granted by federal legislation that President Biden signed last month.
The legislation will give the United States Fire Administration the power to identify the causes of fires like the one at the Twin Parks North West housing complex.
— The New York Times
A year removed from the tragic blaze that took the lives of 17 people in the Bronx apartment complex once lauded by Paul Goldberger for its trend-bucking design, lawmakers in Washington have finally heeded the desperate pleas of public housing advocates who appealed for stricter safety... View full entry
As we start the new year, architecture schools still look for experienced professors, coordinators, fabrication managers, and other design faculty. For our latest curated jobs highlight, we feature seven architecture schools that have recently posted job opportunities on the Archinect Job... View full entry
Mecanoo has designed a distinctive residence with a striking double-curved roof and ceramic tile-covered façade in Schoorl, a village in northern Holland. Image: Ossip van Duivenbode, courtesy Mecanoo. Image: Ossip van Duivenbode, courtesy Mecanoo. Called Villa BW, it spans three floors, with an... View full entry
Following last week’s look at an opening for an Architect at the NYC Department of Citywide Administrative Services, we are using this week’s edition of our Job Highlights series to explore an open position on Archinect Jobs for a Shop Manager at Studio Sanford... View full entry
The Precast/Prestressed Concrete Institute has announced 25 winners and 8 Honorable Mention projects as part of this year’s PCI Design Awards, now in its 60th year. Projects from around the country, the UK, and Canada were selected by a panel of engineers, architects, and precast concrete... View full entry
The art and design lineup for this year’s Coachella festival has been announced ahead of the two-week event, which takes place in the modernism-rich Southern California hotspot from April 13th to the 23rd. This year’s festival will include installations from Maggie West, Kumkum Fernando... View full entry
Snøhetta and WERK Arkitekter have completed a new maritime center in Esbjerg, Denmark. The circular timber center, dubbed “The Lantern,” houses multiple watersport clubs, boat storage, training facilities, a large workshop, and social functions, and is described by its designers as “a new... View full entry
The winning entries for Toronto’s annual Winter Stations competition have been announced. Eight standout designs were selected for the competition’s 2023 edition. Since the competition's launch in 2014, it has welcomed colorful designs from a total of 90 different countries fostering tourism... View full entry
Kevin Daly Architects (kdA) recently celebrated the completion of their new Houston Endowment headquarters project, designed in collaboration with Mexico City-based studio PRODUCTORA. The 32,000-square-foot building stands beside the city’s Spotts Park and offers the 96-year-old Endowment a... View full entry
The Art Gallery of New South Wales, one of Australia’s most important art institutions, faces an especially acute cultural challenge. Museum building in a real-estate obsessed city that Mark Twain called “superbly beautiful” — in the sunny heart of a proud “sporting nation” — often requires overcoming a barrage of negativity. The Sydney Opera House was loathed before it was loved, and the Modern has traveled a rough road already. — The New York Times
The debate around SANAA’s newly-opened $344 million expansion in some ways mirrors the one leading up to the (then $102 million AUS) Sydney Opera House in the late-1960s, which, at the time. centered on a discussion over the value of cultural investments that culminated in philosopher Peter... View full entry
