A proposed observation tower at the edge of Pacific Highway is a polarizing symbol of change that could make or break the larger, $2.4 billion redevelopment effort planned for downtown’s Central Embarcadero. — San Diego Union-Tribune
Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) and developers 1HWY1 have proposed a 500-foot cylindrical observation tower for San Diego's waterfront Central Embarcadero as part of a massive $2.4 billion Seaport San Diego project. The part-hotel, part-theme park development could include 385 hotel rooms, a... View full entry
“Timing in the apartment world is everything [...] The time of year we release a building and when we start putting tenants in it is critical for a project’s success.” — MFE
Behind every successful construction project lies a team of people working to complete a project deadline. However, with automation and building manufacturing on the rise, many question how these methods of construction will change the way buildings are designed and built in the future. Will these... View full entry
Segregated play spaces are to be banned in all future London housing developments, the Greater London Authority (GLA) has revealed this week.
The policy, part of the London Plan for developers and local authorities across the city, follows outrage across the political spectrum at the case of the Lilian Baylis estate in Kennington. [...] families living in the social housing side of the estate were not allowed to use the play area or any communal spaces on the development.
— The Guardian
"It is disgraceful that children who live in the same development would ever be prevented from playing together," London Mayor Sadiq Khan told The Guardian. The case of the segregated play areas at this London housing development (and several others) — only children from Lilian Baylis... View full entry
It is critical that we learn to distinguish and differentiate our roles from our self. We get into trouble when we lose ourselves in our role instead of thinking in a detached way about how the role is viewed by others...we forget that others in our organizations are reacting to the role we represent in their work lives, not necessarily the interesting and thoughtful people we think we are. — Harvard Business Review
When we identify who we are with what we do professionally, set backs at work can often prompt us to spiral down emotionally. When something is merely an organizational issue we take it as a personal issue. Harvard University Lecturer, Timothy O’Brien, talks about the importance of... View full entry
Louis Vuitton X brings together a remarkable collection of early twentieth-century special-order trunks, beautiful art deco perfume bottles and window displays commissioned and designed by Louis Vuitton's grandson Gaston-Louis, iconic Monogram bags reworked by renowned artists and designers such as Karl Lagerfeld, Rei Kawakubo, Cindy Sherman, and Frank Gehry, and original collaborations and commissions by artists including Yayoi Kusama, Richard Prince, and Zaha Hadid. — worldarchitecture.org
Fusing art and commerce, “Louis Vuitton X” is a pop-up exhibition currently at the 458 North Rodeo Drive building through September 15 in Beverly Hills. The glitzy pop-up space is a burst of color that showcases 180 items from Louis Vuitton's archives and traces the fashion house's 160-year... View full entry
In his 50-year career, Aalto completed some 300 buildings, most of them in Finland. That’s an embarrassment of riches for a country of just 5.5 million people. About half of them are landmarked, and 14 of them, including Säynätsalo Town Hall, have “national monument” status—meaning they are covered by the country’s Act on the Protection of Buildings. Yet many of Aalto’s structures have outlived their original purposes. — The Wall Street Journal
The Wall Street Journal just published a captivating long-read by Fred A. Bernstein about the challenges of preserving Alvar Aalto's sizable built body of work when some of the aging buildings no longer serve any practical purpose or become too costly to maintain, including celebrated structures... View full entry
The American Institute of Architect (AIA) has issued a statement denouncing the inhumane conditions that have been discovered over recent weeks across the country at the detention centers where undocumented immigrants and asylum-seekers are being detained. The conditions as described by numerous... View full entry
Despite recent warnings from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) of weakening billings numbers among architecture firms, the organization continues to forecast positive economic growth for the construction industry into 2020, with several caveats. According to AIA's Consensus... View full entry
As Los Angeles officials ponder ways to cut down on traffic in and around Griffith Park, an engineering firm hired by the city is analyzing the pros and cons of installing a gondola or similar aerial transit system that could ferry riders in and out of the park. [...]
City leaders ordered the study last year, after reviewing a list of 29 recommendations from an outside consultant brought in to analyze traffic issues in the communities surrounding the 4,511-acre park.
— Curbed LA
There's no shortage of aerial tramway schemes in Los Angeles these days. Pitched as possible measures to alleviate specific traffic hot spots, proposals for gondolas running between Dodger Stadium and Union Station, or up to the Hollywood Sign, and now along a number of potential routes in... View full entry
In this hyper-visual world, it's becoming more challenging to keep the general public informed and engaged with pressing issues, specifically issues relating to the environment. The quickly changing landscapes, rising sea levels, and temperature fluctuations should be enough of a warning for... View full entry
Architecture professor and light specialist Jeff Schnabel has been tapped to direct the School of Architecture at Portland State University. Schnabel is currently a professor at PSU and has engaged with various initiatives at the university for over a decade, including the creation of the... View full entry
On Friday June 21, Azure revealed the 20 winners of the 2019 AZ Awards, which represent exceptional work being created in global architecture and design today. — AZURE
This post is brought to you by AZURE This year, the AZ Awards received 1,175 submissions from 50 countries. To narrow down this unprecedented number of entries to a shortlist of 68 finalists, we gathered together a select jury of international experts in March at Azure’s offices in Toronto. The... View full entry
Authorities in San Francisco are making moves to bring a $600 million affordable housing bond to voters later this year. The bond, according a recent press release, would allow the city to "fund the creation, preservation, and rehabilitation of affordable housing in San Francisco." City officials... View full entry
As much as any single new building downtown, the tower dubbed the Avery embodies the grand, often clashing ambitions of today’s San Francisco. — The San Francisco Chronicle
John King, urban design critic for The San Francisco Chronicle, has weighed in on the recently-completed Avery tower complex, a 55-story high-rise block designed by Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) for the city's bustling Transbay neighborhood. King writes, "What sets the Avery... View full entry
"People know Mosul's Old City by its riverfront - it has some of the city's most important historic features," Fethi added, referring to the city's old wall, the citadel, palaces and other heritage sites along the Tigris' west bank.
"It [the council] should aim to preserve Mosul's heritage rather than turn [it] into another Dubai ... an absolute anathema to what should be done."
— Al Jazeera
Two years after Iraqi forces regained full control of Mosul from ISIL, local authorities are pushing a proposal to transform historic neighborhoods along the west bank of the Tigris river into a modernized “new city”, with high rises, large supermarkets and restaurant chains. Al Jazeera... View full entry
