The Ron Arad and David Adjaye-designed UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in London is facing another legal challenge this week after years of back-and-forth between a slate of opposition groups and the UK government. The Times of Israel is reporting that a High Court judge has granted... View full entry
Zaha Hadid Architects has shared an update about its latest venture in the Chinese entertainment capital of Macau. The multibillion-dollar project has topped out on Phase 2 of its Hollywood-themed twin-tower resort called Studio City. The resort was built to expand developer Melco Resorts &... View full entry
In this latest weekly highlight of featured employers, we are showcasing five architectural, urban, interior, and experience design firms with current job openings in New York City/Brooklyn, Seattle, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, San Francisco, and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. For even more... View full entry
When The Detroit Free Press wrote a profile of Mr. Johnson in 1963, he declared his commitment to modernism and his extreme distaste for ornamentation and pastiche — “dishonest copies of the past,” as he put it.
He particularly disliked colonial architecture. “We’re not living a colonial life, we’re not using colonial materials and we don’t even believe in colonialism,” he said. “Why should we design a colonial church?”
— New York Times
In California’s Inland Empire, dozens of mega-warehouses for Amazon, UPS and other companies are choking the cities with traffic and air pollution. Some argue that the jobs warehouses provide aren’t worth the cost, while others say it’s online shopping that’s the real problem. — Los Angeles Times
Despite the boiler-plate promise of adding jobs to the community, warehouse-laden tracts have been dumping an increasing amount of pollutants into the atmosphere in the form of increased truck and air cargo traffic and propelled in part by a sharp rise in online shopping. Amazon opened its... View full entry
An architectural homecoming is in store for Rice University as one of Houston’s native sons has returned to his alma mater with a new arts facility unveiled this past week by Diller Scofidio + Renfro. DS+R Partner and Rice alumnus Charles Renfro will be the lead architect on the new Susan... View full entry
Architects, officials, and villagers confirm the trend: People are discarding traditional materials, mostly mud, in favor of concrete, as soon as they can afford it. As living standards increase making concrete more accessible, some of the world’s hottest, poorest landscapes are rapidly morphing from brown to cinder block grey. — National Geographic
Architects like Francis Kéré have been attempting to buck the trend of using concrete by experimenting with upgraded versions of terrestrial materials like mud bricks that simultaneously provide tools for community-building in developing countries like Burkina Faso. Facade detail of Kéré... View full entry
Just in time for the holiday shopping season, a new list from therichest.com has ranked the world’s top ten architects in terms of their total net worth. Big A architecture remunerates extraordinarily well for some, with the total list’s net worth nearing three-quarters of a billion... View full entry
As part of the AEC sector’s effort to decarbonize in light of the industry’s contribution to climate change, architects, engineers, and researchers are increasingly devoting efforts not only to the design of space but to the composition of materials, structural systems, and façades. In the... View full entry
This idea was met with skepticism and didn’t move beyond the whiteboard. Last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed legislation creating a right to housing, saying he worried it would be too expensive. During that time, Steinberg continued chewing on the idea, looking at places such as New York City and Scotland for ideas on how to enact legislation that would compel government to act and aid homeless people. — The Los Angeles Times
California is home to more than one quarter of the nation’s homeless population. If approved, the law would guarantee the right to housing with a dual “obligation” that requires the individual to accept whatever living situation is offered. The law would take effect beginning in 2023. ... View full entry
Relph’s collection might be described as the first post-internet expression of the genre. The images mostly show buildings that are, in one sense, real or in the process of becoming so. But the rendering posters, created by design firms and developers, are also highly fictive, cinematic branding documents created to comply with a city law requiring public images of buildings under construction. — The New York Times
The arch flaneur Nick Relph has been documenting the city’s whirlwind transformation since the Gulliani administration and, for the past seven years, incorporating a VuPoint digital scanner into his work to produce a physical record of the changes that first made its debut in 2015 in MoMA... View full entry
Mecanoo has shared updated imagery of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, D.C. the firm revamped together with OTJ Architects. Photographers Robert Benson and Trent Bell have provided new photos detailing the modernization of the landmark building that was completed in... View full entry
The debate surrounding Herzog & de Meuron's Tour Triangle is picking up this week amidst news that the €670 million ($757 million) project will begin construction within the next month in spite of a torrent of backlash that has beset the development since its announcement in 2008. As the plan... View full entry
Despite some ongoing litigation, New York City took a major step this week toward making outdoor dining a permanent part of the city's infrastructure. On Monday, the City Planning Commission voted unanimously for a zoning text amendment that will create a clean slate for the city to develop and regulate a permanent program, and will ultimately allow more restaurants to set up outdoor dining structures across the city. — Gothamist
The amendment removes geographic restrictions on where outdoor dining spaces can be located in New York, making the application process for sidewalk and roadway eateries much simpler. The City Council and mayor will now have to approve the text amendment. Confidence that it will go through... View full entry
Goettsch Partners has announced the completion of the Pepper Family Wildlife Center, a $41 million renovation, restoration, and expansion of the historic lion house at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo. Image: © Tom Harris The new 54,000-square-foot facility nearly doubles the size of the... View full entry