“Despite its vast size, sub-Saharan Africa has never been proportionately represented on Unesco’s world heritage list…
Now, the first African to be made head of the world heritage centre has said that needs to change – and fast. Lazare Eloundou Assomo, a Cameroonian who led the reconstruction of the Timbuktu mausoleums after they were badly damaged in 2012 by Islamist fighters allied to al-Qaida, has said it will be a priority of his time in office.”
— The Guardian
Africa is currently the least represented continent (behind the Arab nations) in terms of the representation of cultural sites on the U.N. list, though it does account for 30% of all sites the organization considers to be endangered. Assomo was appointed as Director earlier this month and told The... View full entry
Stefano Boeri Architetti has released a short documentary on the Trudo Vertical Forest, which the firm bills as “the first social housing vertical forest in the world.” Built in the Dutch city of Eindhoven, the project draws its inspiration from the firm’s Bosco Verticale in Milan. View this... View full entry
For reasons both tragic and optimistic, 2021 was a year where regulations and policy were never far from the media spotlight. While this is true for instance due to the overhanging impact of COVID-19 on everything from school operations to international travel, 2021 was also a year that saw both... View full entry
More movement at the top of the academic landscape this week as Georgia Tech has announced University of Virginia urban and environmental planning professor Ellen M. Bassett as the next John Portman Dean’s Chair of the university’s College of Design. A former Fulbright Scholar... View full entry
On Tuesday, employees at the well-regarded firm SHoP Architects said that they were seeking to change the formula of long hours for middling pay by taking a step that is nearly unheard-of in their field. They are seeking to unionize. — The New York Times
The labor organizers at SHoP Architects, which recently became employee-owned, are proposing to join ranks with the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. Architecture, in general, is behind the rest of the economy in terms of similar efforts that could become more and... View full entry
UNStudio, in collaboration with Nihon Sekkei, has recently completed a brand new shopping center in Shanghai. Called the Shanghai Jiuguang Center, the project merges an advanced commercial ecosystem with a human-centric, customer-friendly destination. Nihon Sekkei was tasked with developing the... View full entry
A bright new spiritual center is finally open in Al Quoz, the industrial heart of Dubai. Dabbagh Architects is behind one of the first mosques in the Emirates ever designed by a female architect. Photo: Gerry O’Leary A masterwork of materiality and form, the newly-completed mosque... View full entry
Members of the architecture and urban planning communities are mourning the loss of Yale professor and influential New York city planner Alexander Garvin following the announcement of his death in Manhattan at the age of 80. A notoriously pedantic native New Yorker, Garvin earned both his... View full entry
The AIA Los Angeles chapter has issued an open letter to the President of the University of California, voicing opposition to the proposed UCSB Munger Residence Hall. The project, which has gained an intense media spotlight both within and beyond architectural spheres, would see the... View full entry
For many students, the nostalgic stereotype of sharinga utilitarian dorm with a new roommate or splitting a cheap off-campus apartment is an unattainable scenario.
According to a 2020 report from UCLA, 1 in 5 community college students, 1 in 10 California State University students, and 1 in 20 University of California students experienced homelessness that year.
— Bloomberg
California, which has become ground zero for the affordable housing crisis in America, has been boosting college enrollment (with some exceptions) resulting in separate 16,000-person-long waitlists across two systems for available space in dorm facilities which have added some 35,000 beds since... View full entry
With the holidays approaching, it's a good time to consider some of the latest opportunities on Archinect's job board. Check out our most recent weekly highlight of featured employers for a selection of exciting openings in New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto. For even more listings, visit... View full entry
The Cinerama Dome and the attached theater complex formerly known as ArcLight Hollywood plans to reopen, two people familiar with the matter told The Times on Friday.
There was no timetable for a potential reopening date, although one source who was not authorized to comment publicly said it could be as early as next year.
— LA TImes
The iconic movie theater was previously thought to be in peril following its operator Pacific Theaters April announcement in which they declared that the 58-year-old venue would not be reopening due to financial pressures caused by the pandemic. A permit filed on November 22nd included... View full entry
Museums in Denmark and the Netherlands will close as part of new coronavirus lockdown measures being imposed in both countries in reaction to the rapid spread of the Omicron variant of the disease. The announcements have been met with resignation and disappointment as it will mean further strain on the already stretched museum sector after nearly two years of sporadic closures and reduced capacity. — Artnet News
In London, the Natural History Museum is closed until December 27th due to staffing shortages caused by Covid. The Wellcome Collection and the Foundling Museum in London have also decided to shut down amid the surge. These closures come without the UK government declaring any mandates for these... View full entry
Zaha Hadid Architects’ Eleftheria Square in Nicosia, Cyprus has been inaugurated. The project intends to be the city's primary gathering space, establishing new connections to unite a divided capital. Image: Laurian Ghinitoiu / Zaha Hadid Architects Eleftheria Square is located near the... View full entry
If it were me and I was rebuilding in Paradise, which I would happily do, I would be thinking about creating the simplest structure I could, so I don’t have those places of accumulation...not having these weird intersections and roof planes. You know, this is really a complicated look, which is very popular in our modern culture right now, but it’s maybe not setting us up for the best success. I’d also be adding gutter guards of a non combustible material. — The Lookout
Zeke Lunder sat down with Eric Knapp and Yana Valachovic (both members of the California Fire Science Consortium) to talk about their recent paper, which reviews factors that drove structure loss during the 2018 Camp Fire. They also highlight three main priorities for designing or retrofitting... View full entry
