A long-in-the-works plan to link Houston and Dallas with high-speed rail is making steady progress as backers for the project announce that they could be one year away from breaking ground. Earlier this year, Archinect reported that Texas CentralTexas Central, the group advocating for and... View full entry
L. Jane Frederick, principal at Frederick + Frederick Architects in Beaufort, South Carolina, has been inaugurated as the American Institute of Architects (AIA) president for the year 2020. Aside from running an award-winning practice and being a Fellow of the AIA, Frederick has played various... View full entry
A year after breaking ground at 5790 W. Jefferson Boulevard, the arrival of a tower crane signals that construction is ramping up at the Eric Owen Moss-designed Wrapper development.
The project, located just west of Metro's La Cienega/Jefferson Station, is being developed by Samitaur Constructs - the local real estate investment firm behind a slew of abstract office complexes in Culver City's Hayden Tract.
— Urbanize LA
The exoskeleton wrapping the 17-story tower like giant rubber bands enables the interior spaces to be column-free, some even with double-height ceilings, reports Urbanize LA. Image: Eric Owen Moss/Zimmerman Visual, via wrappertower.com Image: Eric Owen Moss/Zimmerman Visual, via wrappertower.com... View full entry
Inspired by the recently unveiled Tesla Cybertruck, Lars Büro has imagined a Cybunker, "a modular architecture that can be deployed as a hi-tech depot, an ADU, or an off-grid residence." Made with a rigid steel "monocoque" structure, the aerodynamic module is able to withstand grueling... View full entry
Now that California has reached 1 million solar roofs, some activists are looking at battery storage as the next frontier for lawmakers.
Dan Jacobson, director of Environment California, thinks the state should aim to install 1 million batteries by 2025. Those systems could store solar power for use in the evening — and help homes keep the lights on when utility companies intentionally shut off power to reduce the risk of wildfire ignitions.
— The Los Angeles Times
Writing in The Los Angeles Times, Sammy Roth reports on California's 1 million solar rooftop achievement, the culmination of a solar incentive plan initiated by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006. According to the report, there are now more than 1,046,792 solar installations in the state... View full entry
Greenhouse gases are still rising globally. Some advocacy groups are demanding that these emissions be eliminated entirely within a decade, requiring a scale of industrial and political mobilization matching or exceeding that of World War II. — The New York Times
In order to clean up the electricity grid by 2030, the scale of construction programs required would be a "national project on an immense scale," The New York Times reports. American workers would need to build about 120,000 new wind turbines and around 44,000 large solar power plants to accompany... View full entry
Save LACMA, a non-profit entity that has formed in response to public outcry against the controversial Atelier Peter Zumthor-led replacement proposal for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) campus, has announced that it is considering placing a ballot measure on the 2020 ballot that could... View full entry
There’s no question Austin is a boomtown.
A record-breaking 8.1 million square feet of office buildings is under construction in the capital city, according to CoStar Group Inc., as developers and investors try to capitalize on rising prices and continued demand for space. Austin ranks No. 2 in the country for office construction, behind Nashville — although the Texas capital has the momentum to overtake the Tennessee capital in the coming months.
— Austin Business Journal
The list of new Downtown Austin towers — under construction or proposed — contains the Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects-designed Block 185 for Google, the 36-story Indeed Tower, the Quincy by Ziegler Cooper Architects, the 66-story 6 x Guadelupe as well as a new University of Texas... View full entry
Built in 1961, John Lautner's Hollywood Hills Wolff Residence is up for sale, with a $6.5 million asking price. Reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, Lautner drew inspiration from the work of his mentor. In 2006, the structure was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural... View full entry
In London, where it is often difficult, if not nearly impossible, to build new ground-up residences, many architectural firms specialize in helping families give their "traditional"-looking homes contemporary updates. Initiatives like New London Architecture (NLA)'s annual "Don't Move... View full entry
In their latest art installation, New York-based practice Hou de Sousa colorfully reinterprets the building blocks of our universe: Atoms. Simply titled "Atomic," the installation was designed for this year's Georgetown GLOW, Washington D.C.'s only curated exhibition of outdoor public light-art... View full entry
A recently unveiled mixed-use complex located at 80-100 Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn envisioned by Alloy Development aims to embrace the coming era of sustainable building design. How? As New York YIMBY reports, the sizable, multi-building development is designed to bring a double-dose... View full entry
A jury has awarded the Washington State Department of Transportation $57.2 million in damages, after a two-month trial over delays in the downtown Seattle Highway 99 tunnel project.
The verdict, reached Friday against the tunnel contractors in Thurston County Superior Court in Olympia, represents the entire amount the state requested at trial.
— Seattle Times
Remember Bertha, once the world's largest tunnel-boring machine which, very inconveniently, broke down in 2013 after hitting a pipe while digging the Seattle Tunnel, delaying the megaproject for more than two years? A jury just sided with the Washington State Department of Transportation that the... View full entry
Fragile and flammable, Eucalypti have been implicated in worsening wildfires across the world. But there's little consensus over their culpability, value, or future in California's landscape. Defenders and opponents each say that science and history are on their side. — The Guardian
A long-simmering battle over the current and future status of California's Eucalyptus trees is close to bubbling over again, as the increasingly present risk of catastrophic fire events pits Eucalyptus lovers against native plant enthusiasts who would like to see the tinder-producing groves... View full entry
After 15 years with HarperCollins, Lynn Grady joins Princeton Architectural Press as publisher, an appointment made effective early last month. Grady has more than 30 years of experience in the trade publishing world, delivering books such as Notorious RBG, Together We Rise, Rejected... View full entry
