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A City Council committee could take the first steps Tuesday toward mandating that developers include affordable units in new housing complexes to be built in several East Austin neighborhoods.
The proposal by Council Member Greg Casar, who chairs the council’s Planning and Neighborhoods Committee, comes as soaring rents have pushed poorer and minority residents out of the city.
— My Statesman
The plan would mark a significant shift in direction from the current, incentive-based approach that allows developers to build larger buildings in exchange for including affordable housing units. As it stands now, developers can also pay a fee to the city's housing fund in order to build... View full entry
Jim Williamson, an associate professor of architecture at Cornell University, has been named the new Dean of the Texas Tech University College of Architecture. Williamson will assume his new position on Aug.1.
Williamson, who earned his bachelor’s degree in architecture design at Texas Tech, has been at Cornell since 2001.
— ttu.edu
Related stories in the Archinect news:Dean Frederick Steiner leaves UT Austin for Penn Design due to new "campus carry" gun lawIla Berman named dean of University of Virginia School of ArchitectureDeborah Berke named Dean of Yale School of Architecture, will succeed Robert A.M. Stern in 2016 View full entry
The decision to leave an energetic city known for its young, well-educated population offered a stark illustration of how strenuously the companies oppose new rules that would require them to perform fingerprint background checks on drivers.
Ending the service also meant that about 10,000 drivers would be out of work, Taylor Patterson, an Uber spokeswoman, said.
“Folks are devastated,” she said. “People are saying, ‘I don’t know how I’m going to pay my rent.’”
— nytimes.com
In cities like Austin—with no comprehensive rail service, a dominant car culture and a large youthful population—ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft are omnipresent. Lyft sponsored the city's huge annual SXSW festival in 2016, and as the city has been growing "faster than any other... View full entry
bastardized visual language has become the de facto standard of Dallas residential architecture development. The explanation for its ever-increasing prevalence, however depressing, is fairly straightforward. Developers find something that’s profitable and want to reproduce it. Risk-averse banks are happy to lend them money given their track record, at least in the short term. Architects, stuck with low budgets, tight schedules, and conservative developers, serve to please and follow convention. — artsblog.dallasnews.com
"But Dallas architecture shouldn’t be a joke, and it doesn’t have to be. A look at recent developments in Los Angeles, a historically auto-centric city faced with similar growth challenges, suggests how Dallas might break the vicious cycle in which it is mired."Related stories in the... View full entry
We’re growing faster than any other metropolitan area in the country, and we have been for the last five years...And the challenges are, with all the growth that we’re having, we’re going to stop being the city that we imagine that we are, that we remember being. We have to grow to be the city that we still recognize. So those challenges are not optional challenges for us to deal with, they’re the challenges for us to deal with. — Metropolis Magazine
As Austin rapidly becomes an "it" city, how will the city keep its character? Metropolis talks with Austin Mayor Steve Adler about the multiple challenges ahead.More on Archinect:Seven U.S. cities competing to be the "smartest" in urban transit systemsGuns in the Studio: Texas' new campus carry... View full entry
Frederick Steiner's deanship at Penn Design will begin on July 1, succeeding Marilyn Jordan Taylor. In a piece published in The Texas Tribune, Steiner reportedly rejected offers for positions at other schools in the past, but was provoked to reconsider in light of a new law allowing concealed... View full entry
Houston's architects obviously do not read poetry.
None of the corporate buildings, apartments and hotels being built now seems like something we'll be proud of 20 years from now. Of course, that's assuming that those buildings even survive 20 years in a city that is characterized by destroying its architectural past. [...]
But maybe we citizens can influence the builders. We can tell them how ugly their buildings are. We can refuse to rent space in them.
— houstonchronicle.com
Related stories in the Archinect news:Museum of Fine Arts Houston unveils its Steven Holl-designed $450M expansion planThe Astrodome: The World's Largest Indoor Garden?Looking to Houston — Yes, Houston — as a Model for Better Street DesignThe Bayou Greenways Plan: A Game-Changer for Houston? View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2016Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming... View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Fall 2015Archinect's Get Lectured is ready for another school year. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any... View full entry
Design Marfa is ready to share fresh insight into desert-living design in their 2015 Symposium and Home Tour, happening on September 18 and 19 at the Crowley Theatre in the Texan town of Marfa.Hosted by Design Marfa — the non-profit who created the Marfa Multi-Family Housing Competition — the... View full entry
Design Marfa — the non-profit that hosted the Marfa Multi-Family Housing Competition this past fall — announced the details to their 2015 Symposium and Home Tour taking place September 18-19 at the Crowley Theater in the Texan desert town of Marfa. Although the topics focus on desert... View full entry
In Orange, Texas, the Texas Division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans just built a large Confederate memorial park, complete with a classical-ish monument featuring 13 columns—one for each of the states in the short-lived, and utterly defeated, Confederate States of America. [...]
And this being Confederate sympathizers, they did not hesitate to build the memorial where the highway meets Martin Luther King Jr. Drive.
— citylab.com
Related:Building the First Slavery Museum in AmericaHow America is failing to preserve its historic slave markets View full entry
UT Arlington’s longstanding schools of Architecture and Urban and Public Affairs are in the final phase of an integration that will strengthen academic and research opportunities under the new College of Architecture, Planning and Public Affairs. [...]
The College will incorporate six professional degree programs – urban planning, public administration, public policy, architecture, landscape architecture and interior design.
— uta.edu
Because of its size and intense radiation, Texas leads the nation in solar energy potential, but the solar industry has long struggled to get a foothold in the state... and solar energy currently makes up a tiny percentage of the state’s energy portfolio. That’s beginning to change. Improving technology has driven down the price of solar power, making it more competitive with other resources — even without incentives, developers say. — The Texas Tribune
The municipal utility of Georgetown, a Texan city of about 55,000, recently signed a 25-year contract with SunEdison to buy 150 megawatts of solar power as well as 144 megawatts of wind power from the EDF Renewables wind farm through 2039 -- reportedly being the first city-owned utility to take... View full entry
Yearning for the chance to design a public installation? Register now for the Field Constructs Design Competition before the final submission deadline on April 1, 2015 at 11:59 p.m. EST.The international open competition is currently accepting proposals for a temporary outdoor installation that... View full entry
