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After the discovery of inhumane living conditions at a south Texas temporary detention facility made headlines last week, the United States Department of Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) has moved to relocate upwards of 300 detained migrant children to other sites. The Associated Press reported... View full entry
Austin is planning to grow significantly over the next few years. 60,000 new units are planned for the city, to be complete in the next few years, according to KVUE. This month, the Austin City Council voted to support a new housing plan for the city that could bring up to 135,000 new... View full entry
A year ago, Kalahari Resorts and Conventions broke ground on what they billed as "America's largest indoor water park" in Round Rock, Texas. — MySanAntonio.com
A new convention center, hotel, and indoor water park complex slated for Round Rock, Texas, a suburb of Austin, is reportedly designed to be an "authentically African-themed all-under-one-roof experience." Kalahari Resorts, the group behind the effort, bills the forthcoming complex as... View full entry
The Rothko Chapel in Houston, founded in 1971 by the art patrons John and Dominique de Menil as an ecumenical site for both reflection and activism, will be closing on Monday for the rest of the year for the first phase of a $30 million restoration and campus expansion by Architecture Research Office. — The New York Times
New York-based firm Architecture Research Office (ARO) was selected in 2016 to be in charge of the restoration work. "During the closure, work inside the Chapel will include modifications to the entryway and vestibule, enhanced audio, security and fire systems, replacement of the existing skylight... View full entry
Texas, one of the gems of the Southwest, offers beautiful landscapes and a one of a kind history. As far as notable buildings are concerned, Texas is home to Renzo Piano's Menil Collection, I.M. Pei's Dallas City Hall, and Tadao Ando's The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. With structures as... View full entry
Not everyone loves cold weather. If you're a skilled architect looking for a warmer place to relocate to check out these architecture firms hiring in sunnier climates. Scroll down and be warmed by our list of future job prospects. Hainan Tongguling Hotel Resort Image © LOD | Laliving & OPR... View full entry
I’ve been poisoning my brain the last couple of weeks narrowing down 2000 prospective McMansions to 16. Please give me a round of applause for this immense personal sacrifice. Instead of ranking them myself like I usually do, I will be doing a bracket at the end of the next post where you can vote for the Most Terrible in Texas! (After all, everything’s bigger in Texas!) — mcmansionhell.com
McMansion Hell, a bi-weekly blog delighting in architectural education through ridicule, now brings us a Texas bracket. The top 8 worst McMansions of Texas suburbia have been chosen and properly mocked. Now it's your turn to choose which belongs at the innermost circle of hell. Here are a few of... View full entry
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will celebrate the inauguration of the Glassell School of Art this Sunday, May 20, marking the completion of the first phase of the museum's 14-acre redevelopment. The first phase also includes the BBVA Compass Roof Garden designed by Steven Holl Architects and... View full entry
Georgetown (pop. 67,000) last year became the largest city in the United States to be powered entirely by renewable energy.
Previously, the largest U.S. city fully powered by renewables was Burlington, Vermont (pop. 42,000), home to Senator Bernie Sanders, the jam band Phish and the original Ben & Jerry’s. Georgetown’s feat is all the more dramatic because it demolishes the notion that sustainability is synonymous with socialism and GMO-free ice cream.
— Smithsonian.com
In his piece for Smithsonian Magazine, Dan Solomon tells the story of Georgetown, TX's green energy transformation and its unexpected champion, Republican mayor Dale Ross—who is now friends with Al Gore and was even featured in his An Inconvenient Sequel documentary. View full entry
Looks like Houston has a giant, shiny bean-shaped sculpture of its own now. Completing its two-day installation today, “Cloud Column” by Anish Kapoor — the same artist who created Chicago's infamous “Cloud Gate” — is the first of two sculptures on the Brown Foundation, Inc. Plaza at... View full entry
ICON has developed a method for printing a single-story 650-square-foot house out of cement in only 12 to 24 hours, a fraction of the time it takes for new construction. If all goes according to plan, a community made up of about 100 homes will be constructed for residents in El Salvador next year. The company has partnered with New Story, a nonprofit that is vested in international housing solutions. — theverge.com
Today at SXSW, The first model is scheduled to be unveiled by Austin-based startup ICON. The company uses the Vulcan 3D printer in order to generate an entire home for $10,000 with plans to bring costs down to $4,000 per house. Using concrete rather than plastic, the model features... View full entry
The proposed $25 billion wall along the US/Mexico border raises questions that have proven divisive to society. [...]
In 2017 and 2018, AIA state components and chapters in Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas wrote resolutions and letters with the support of their boards of directors opposing a border wall and questioning its cost-benefit relative to infrastructure projects all over the country that they deem higher-priority.
— AIA
AIA state components and chapters in each of the four states bordering Mexico—Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas—are organizing their opposition to Trump's border wall proposal and have passed formal resolutions. "Robert Miller, AIA, 2018 president of AIA Arizona, led the charge in... View full entry
... not just a summation of his work’s themes but his masterpiece, the grandest exploration of pure color and form in a seven-decade career spent testing the boundaries of both. It is also the kind of ambitious fantasy that artists rarely get to execute... — T Magazine
M.H. Miller writes about Ellsworth Kelly’s "Austin," the artist’s final work and only building, which opens this month at the University of Texas’s Blanton Museum of Art. View full entry
In a 10-1 vote, the Austin City Council took the first step toward a boycott of any company that designs, builds or finances President Donald Trump’s $25 billion proposed border wall between Texas and Mexico. [...]
Four companies already have been tapped to design and build wall prototypes, including Texas-based Sterling Construction Company, Inc.
— KXAN
The Texas state capital is just the latest of several local and state governments having either passed or proposed legislation that would ban companies involved in designing, building, or financing Donald Trump's proposed border wall with Mexico from being considered for other public contracts. View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2018 Archinect's Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back regularly to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss... View full entry
