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Was the street art covering 5Pointz, a largely empty warehouse in Long Island City, Queens, significant enough to preserve under US federal law? A federal judge in Brooklyn in currently considering the arguments in a case that tests the limits of the Visual Artists Rights Act (Vara), and could soon decide whether a developer Gerald Wolkoff and his companies violated the act when he tore down the graffiti-covered building to construct residential towers and what, if any, damages they will pay. — The Art Newspaper
Wolkoff granted permission to artists to paint on the building in 1993, when Long Island City wasn’t hot property....Fast forward to 2013, New York real estate was exploding. The building’s location was highly desirable. — Quartz
5 Pointz, located in Long Island City, was an American mural space considered to be the world's premier graffiti mecca. Bought by developer Jerry Wolkoff in 1971, the building's exterior was graffitied over with a myriad of street art when Wolkoff started leasing space as artists' studios in the... View full entry
Jason and Jodi Chapnik, who live in a multi-million dollar home on Strathearn Rd., filed a lawsuit against their neighbours for remodeling a nearby property on Vesta Dr. to look “strikingly similar” to their house. — The Star
The couple sued their neighbors for $2.5 million—$1.5 million in damages, $20,000 in statutory copyright damages, $1 million in punitive damages, and a mandatory injunction on the defendant to change the design of the home. The lawsuit was filed against their neighbor Barbara Ann Kirshenblatt... View full entry
The alleged deception: The retailers market and sell the hefty lumber as 4x4s without specifying that the boards actually measure 3½ inches by 3½ inches...The retailers say the allegations are bogus. It is common knowledge and longstanding industry practice, they say, that names such as 2x4 or 4x4 do not describe the width and thickness of those pieces of lumber. — Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel
Taking literal interpretations to a new, class-action-lawsuit extreme, a group of men are suing Home Depot and Menard's for failing to specifically label their 4 X 4s as being 3.5" X 3.5" (one can only imagine the litigious hurt and fury when these men discover that Aunt Jemima's Syrup is not made... View full entry
Taking the view that the owner of the Philharmonie had modified and thus defiled his architectural work, Jean Nouvel had sued ... asking the court to order the owner to perform all works necessary for the restoration of his work so as to comply with the architectural plans he had initially drawn. [...]
The case at hand renews the debate on the difficulties of granting remedies which constitute an acceptable way to balance the proprietor's rights and the moral rights of architects.
— lexology.com
Get caught up on Nouvel's dispute with the Philharmonie:Jean Nouvel loses court case over 'sabotaged' Philharmonie de ParisJean Nouvel files for court order against Philharmonie de Paris disputeJean Nouvel boycotts opening of his Philharmonie de Paris View full entry
The curvy, twisted glass facade of media mogul Barry Diller’s IAC Building on West 18th Street and 11th Avenue is facing a sticky problem: The window sealant has become a dripping, opaque blob, according to a lawsuit.
“Nearly all of the windows have significant and visible defects,” the building’s owners claim in the suit against Permasteelisa North America, the company that installed the unique facade of the building designed by the acclaimed architect.
— nypost.com
More Gehry-news on Archinect:Frank Gehry and Maya Lin to receive Presidential Medal of FreedomFrank Gehry might bail on the U.S. now that Trump's been electedFrank Gehry's Sunset Strip mixed-user unanimously approved by L.A. City CouncilGehry's modified Eisenhower Memorial design accepted by... View full entry
It’s the all-too-common hazard that buyers of multimillion-dollar homes often overlook: Disagreements between homeowners can turn even the nicest neighborhoods into war zones. These disputes can happen anywhere, but in wealthy communities, the tendency to lawyer up quickly can ignite small sparks into all-consuming conflagrations. Collateral damage to neighbors can include legal costs, a soured neighborhood feeling and more difficulty in selling homes. — wsj.com
Related stories in the Archinect news:Don’t Like Your Neighbors’ House? Sue Them.Hearing begins for "modernist" North Carolina home threatened with demolitionCouple sues architect for allegedly copying their dream house View full entry
Peter Marino, the leather-clad architect best known for his collaborations with fashion labels, was sued last year for racial discrimination by a former employee. Now, he's accusing the employee of making homophobic slurs, according to a report by the New York Post.Deirdre O'Brien worked for... View full entry
Whatever the outcome, we will learn from their actions. I am confident that those who committed wrongdoing will be held accountable, and that any malfeasance will come to light. I am also confident that the final story will adequately celebrate all the good that AFH did. — medium.com
Garrett Jacobs, executive director of the Open Architecture Collaborative, responded to the $3M lawsuit against AFH via a statement on medium, taking care to make clear as crystal the fact that while OAC grew out of AFH, it is "unequivocally an independent organization, a California LLC and Public... View full entry
This week on the podcast, Julia Ingalls joins us to discuss the byzantine considerations behind how architects charge for work, and shares some helpful guidelines from her recent piece about how residential architecture fee rates are determined.We also dip into the recent $3M lawsuit against... View full entry
The founders and board members of Architecture for Humanity (AFH), the influential and accoladed non-profit organization, is being sued for $3M for alleged mismanagement of funds, according to an exclusive report published by Architectural Record. The report helps shed light on the circumstances... View full entry
The couple claims the firm Pereiras Architects Ubiquitous and property owners Daniella and Ari Schwartz accessed their exclusive plans in property records last August through the Lawrence buildings department — without their permission.
“There is no doubt that you have accessed and intentionally copied the plans of the Fortgang residence intending to create a replica of our clients’ home and distinctive exterior,” the Fortgang’s lawyer Steven Stern wrote in a cease-and-desist letter
— nypost.com
Rivka and Seth Fortgang from Long Island had their custom 4,400 square foot house built in 2004, in the neighborhood of Five Towns. After learning Pereiras Architects Ubiquitous were building a very similar looking house a mile away, the Forgangs sued. Rivka Fortgang, an interior and exterior... View full entry
City attorney Mike Feuer has filed criminal charges against Carol Jean Alsman, a local property owner, for allegedly forcing out tenants in rent-controlled units and then listing the units for rent on Airbnb. [...]
[Feuer’s] office has lodged civil complaints against three other Los Angeles property owners for allegedly using their buildings as illegal hotels [...]
“In a city with a profound shortage of affordable housing, unlawfully converting rental units to operate hotels has got to stop”
— qz.com
Related on Archinect:After allegations of racial discrimination and #AirbnbWhileBlack fallout, Airbnb looks inwardAirbnb invests in a blockchain futureAirbnb intentionally misconstrued data to "garner good press", according to new reportBarcelona plans shakedown scheme against unlicensed Airbnb... View full entry
Former Princeton architecture dean Alejandro Zaera-Polo filed a lawsuit to the Superior Court of Mercer County earlier this week against Princeton University, claiming that the school is guilty of libel and breach of contract. Zaera-Polo was asked to resign from his position by President... View full entry
The Los Angeles Business Journal reports in this week's issue that the filmmaker, Steven Slomkowski, sought to get out of the project after the suicide of Mark Stahl, one of three siblings who control the property, also renowned in architecture lore as Case Study Home #22. Slomkowski sued in 2014, alleging that the surviving siblings, Bruce and Shari Stahl, got cold feet over depictions of Mark and their late father, Buck. The Stahls countersued... — LA Observed
When it's not involved in documentary-driven legal feuds, the iconic Stahl House frequently serves as a backdrop for a variety of fictional films, including Atom Egoyan's "Where The Truth Lies," and "Galaxy Quest:"For more on the intersection between architecture and cinema:"The Dessau Bauhaus"... View full entry
