The AIA announced yesterday that ArchiPAC (the AIA's political action committee) had "paused all PAC activities and contributions indefinitely, pending further review of the political situation and to enable the development of protocols to address this and future events aimed to undermine American... View full entry
Facing challenges from a federal planning authority and advocacy groups, the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC is under pressure to revamp or justify elements of a significant redesign of its sunken sculpture garden. — The Art Newspaper
The heated debate over Hiroshi Sugimoto's plans to revitalize the sunken sculpture garden at the Hirshhorn Museum, completed in 1974 by Gordon Bunshaft, is dragging on. "At an online meeting on 3 December, the federal National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) approved Sugimoto’s... View full entry
The Vessel, the spiraling staircase at Hudson Yards on Manhattan’s Far West Side, was closed to visitors on Tuesday, a day after a 21-year-old man jumped to his death in the third suicide in less than a year.
It was unclear when the 150-foot structure, the vast development’s centerpiece, would reopen to the public.
— The New York Times
According to the NYT, the Vessel sculpture at Hudson Yards, which opened in March 2019, will remain closed "until further notice." View full entry
An active member of LA's architecture and design scene, Jia Yi Gu is appointed as the MAK Center for Art and Architecture director. After a long search by the Center, she will take on directorial and curatorial responsibilities with her wide-ranging expertise in architectural curation... View full entry
Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) was announced as the winner of the design competition to build Tower C at Shenzhen Bay Super Headquarters Base. The Shenzhen Bay Headquarters Base will be a business and financial center in Shenzhen serving the Greater Bay Area of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau. ZHA... View full entry
As we enter the Spring term, schools begin to roll out their events and lecture series. For most schools, much of their Fall and Winter lecture programming was spent adjusting and addressing current events happening across the nation. This year schools have taken what they've learned from last... View full entry
The mayor of Paris has said a €250m (£225m) makeover of the Champs-Élysées will go ahead, though the ambitious transformation will not happen before the French capital hosts the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Anne Hidalgo said the planned work, unveiled in 2019 by local community leaders and businesses, would turn the 1.9 km (1.2 mile) stretch of central Paris into “an extraordinary garden”.
— The Guardian
The Champs-Élysées, History & Perspectives study, led by French architect Philippe Chiambaretta of PCA-STREAM, explains the potential of the major urban overhaul: "The overall vision for the district located between the Champs-Élysées roundabout and the Arc de Triomphe builds up the... View full entry
As California hits a bleak coronavirus milestone this month, with nearly 10% of the population infected, organizers of Desert X in the Coachella Valley have announced that the forthcoming edition of the outdoor sculpture exhibition will be postponed until lockdown restrictions have been lifted in the state. — The Art Newspaper
Desert X would have opened for its third edition on February 6th, offering both digital and in-person experiences. "In light of the urgent health crisis and surge in cases of Covid-19, the only responsible way forward to protect our community, health care system, artists, visitors and all those... View full entry
[...] a new Smithsonian administration has jettisoned the eye-popping elements of the $2 billion design by Danish architect Bjarke Ingels, opting instead for a dramatically downsized version. Set to be presented publicly for the first time this week, the scaled-back plan focuses on the renovation and restoration of the James Renwick-designed Castle and the adjacent Arts and Industries Building (AIB), another National Historic Landmark designed by Adolf Cluss and Paul Schulze. — The Washington Post
First presented in 2014, hotly debated in the following years, revised in 2018, and expected to start construction this year, some elements inside the Bjarke Ingels Group-designed $2 billion Smithsonian South Mall Campus redevelopment have been scaled back by the institution's new administration... View full entry
Ready to take the next step forward in your architectural career? For this week's highlight of featured employers, we have selected five firms with current job openings in New York/Brooklyn and Los Angeles. For even more opportunities, visit the Archinect job board and browse our active community... View full entry
The Italian culture ministry is offering the €10 million project to the designer who can turn the clock back 2,000 years to when 35,000 Romans bayed for blood in the ancient stadium. — The Times
According to The Times, "Italy is looking for a brilliant engineer to reinstall the Colosseum arena floor, complete with trapdoors and the hidden lifts that allowed wild animals to leap out and menace gladiators." Previously on Archinect: Mayor-less Rome's logistical battle to invest in its... View full entry
Princeton University School of Architecture has appointed Jay Cephas as Assistant Professor of the History and Theory of Architecture, effective July 1, 2021. "We are thrilled to welcome Jay to the School of Architecture. The impact and originality of his scholarship will be transformative to... View full entry
After more than four years on the market, Tom Ford’s sprawling New Mexico estate has finally found a buyer. The property, better known as the Cerro Pelon Ranch, sits just outside Santa Fe in the Galisteo Basin area, and measures a whopping 20,662 acres. — Architectural Digest
The home features the Silverado Movie Town, which is built on the site in the 1980s, writes Joyce Chen for Architectural Digest. The set was originally used for the Western film Silverado, and later for films including 2011's Thor. Previously on Archinect: Tadao Ando's sprawling... View full entry
Critics, including some influential environmental groups, would prefer to see naturalization of the river itself. But during a recent Zoom call from his Los Angeles studio, a grin crossed the Pritzker Prize winner’s face as he shared his plans to transform the forlorn industrial confluence of the Los Angeles River and the Rio Hondo in South Gate into an urban cultural park like no other. — Los Angeles Times
It's been relatively quiet around the ambitious Los Angeles River revitalization project since Frank Gehry's firm was selected to lead the master plan effort in 2015. Now the Los Angeles Times has revealed an update — although sparse in detail — which instead of the naturalization of... View full entry
Blair Kamin, author and Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune, has announced that after 33 years, and nearly three decades in the role of the critic, he is leaving the paper. Kamin published this Twitter thread on Friday, January 8: 1/7 After 33 years at Chicago... View full entry
