Plans for what could become one of Downtown’s most unique-looking skyscrapers received unanimous approval today from the city’s planning commission.
With cantilevered swimming pools jutting out of its upper floors, the tower proposed for across the street from Pershing Square has been said to look like an in-progress game of Jenga. Commissioner Samantha Millman called it an “ambitious and audacious project.”
— Curbed LA
The Arquitectonica-designed 53-story hotel and condo tower with its precariously cantilevering glass-bottom swimming pools (hey, it's LA!) first appeared on Archinect last fall and quickly became the subject of much debate. Additional renderings were released in May this year. Image courtesy of... View full entry
In a recent news article from MIT News, architectural historian Timothy Hyde explains why "every building is ultimately a compromise.” Hyde shares, “It’s a compromise between the intentions of architects, the capacities of builders, economics, politics, the people who use the building... View full entry
We get it. It can get a little overwhelming keeping up with the dozens of new architecture competitions launching worldwide on any given week — let alone having to stay on top of the multiple deadlines for each and every one. That's why Bustler is here to help! At the end of every week... View full entry
In case you haven't checked out Archinect's Pinterest boards in a while, we have compiled ten recently pinned images from outstanding projects on various Archinect Firm and People profiles. (Tip: use the handy FOLLOW feature to easily keep up-to-date with all your favorite Archinect profiles!)... View full entry
Released this month, California Concrete: A Landscape of Skateparks, takes the birthplace of skateboard culture and celebrates the dynamic landscapes created by Cali's expressive skateparks. Amir Zaki, creator of the book, is an artist and photographer who grew up skateboarding and has spent... View full entry
The Bauhaus arrived in Dessau with a bang. The world’s most influential art school may have been born in Weimar, but it came of age when it moved in 1925 to what was then Germany’s “silicon valley.” A new Bauhaus museum in Dessau tells the story of how the socially-engaged school of architecture and design flourished briefly until growing pressure from the Nazis forced it to leave for Berlin. — artnet
Courtesy Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau / Foto: Thomas Meyer / OSTKREUZ, 2019 The design of the new Bauhaus Museum Dessau emerged from an international competition held in 2015 with the proposal "Black Box" by emerging Barcelona-based addenda architects (then González Hinz Zabala) winning the... View full entry
Under the 25-year deal with developer 8minute Solar Energy, the city would buy electricity from a sprawling complex of solar panels and lithium-ion batteries in the Mojave Desert of eastern Kern County, about two hours north of Los Angeles. The Eland project would meet 6% to 7% of L.A.'s annual electricity needs and would be capable of pumping clean energy into the grid for four hours each night.
The combined solar power and energy storage is priced at 3.3 cents per kilowatt-hour [...]
— Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti praised the approved Eland Solar and Storage Center as an integral part of the city's climate commitment to reach 55% renewable energy by 2025, 80% renewable energy by 2036, and 100% renewable energy by 2045. "Located on 2,650 acres in Kern County, California, the... View full entry
Mariam Kamara, the founder of Niger architecture and research practice Atelier Masōmī, was recently named a 2019 laureate of the Prince Claus Award. The yearly awards are presented to individuals, organizations, and groups for their outstanding achievements and positive impact in the field of... View full entry
For the month of September, Archinect is placing a special Spotlight on Chicago, highlighting important regional projects—including the Chicago Architecture Biennial opening next week—profiling local firms and practitioners, and delving into some of the most pressing issues in... View full entry
According to the team's Kickstarter page, Scribit is a write-and-erase robot that allows you to draw any content sourced from the web—and update it in real time. See the video below for some words from Italian architect Carlo Ratti, the inventor of the new technology: View full entry
When you have two concrete parallel walls, like we do in our rehearsal spaces and then in the Justice Forum [an intimate theater space], parallel walls are really bad for acoustics. You get a condition called flutter echo, where you have two sound waves bouncing off two parallel hard surfaces. So we had to break that sound up. What we needed to do was create a random texture which would diffuse and break up the sound. That’s where we came up with crinkled concrete. — CityLab
In a recent interview with CityLab, Steven Holl Architects' senior associate Garrick Ambrose discusses a design solution the firm created in order to mediate acoustics within their newly opened Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts expansion, The REACH, in Washington, D.C. Image ©... View full entry
The Trump administration officials who came to town to study homelessness spent Monday and Tuesday meeting with officials from Mayor Eric Garcetti’s office, checking out the Jordan Downs public housing in Watts and touring the long-entrenched epicenter of the crisis, skid row. There was even a trek to Pomona.
An administration official said the purpose was to gather information so that President Trump could begin to develop a plan to address the “tragedy.”
— The Los Angeles Times
The tour comes as the Trump Administration's controversial Opportunity Zones program designed to funnel investment to underserved areas gains steam and as the administration potentially looks to rewrite "regulatory barriers" for affordable housing projects nationwide. According to... View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2019 With a new school year already here, it's time for Archinect's latest edition of Get Lectured, an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back... View full entry
This Friday, the University of Pennsylvania will hold Designing a Green New Deal, a day-long symposium aimed at articulating a design perspective for "a still-abstract set of proposals for decarbonizing the economy, eliminating poverty, creating green, working-class jobs, and retrofitting... View full entry
Construction on the long-anticipated Google Charleston East HQ is making steady progress. The campus, designed by BIG and Heatherwick Studio, will be partially accessible to the public and will include a series of pavilions, cafes, shops, as well as retail and plenty of landscaping for both... View full entry
