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Architects Declare has published an open letter to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, setting out the group’s position on the environmental cost of skyscrapers. The letter, published on the Architects Declare website, was originally sent to CTBUH in July but has now been made... View full entry
Norman Foster is in San Marino this week to present what he says is a new set of sustainable urban design principles to the 83rd meeting of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe’s Committee on Urban Development, Housing, and Land Management. The so-called San Marino Declaration... View full entry
Norman Foster’s commentary on urbanism is in the news cycle once again after the architect made an appearance in Glasgow as part of this week’s United Nations COP26 climate summit. The comments roiled many in the social media universe, who pointed to Foster’s continued insistence... View full entry
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), in partnership with Architects Declare, has announced the program for the Built Environment Summit 2021, a two-day, partially in-person conference taking place on October 28 and 29, 2021. The event comes following the publication of RIBA and... View full entry
I would argue that everything has a footprint, and in relative terms, the carbon footprint of air travel is relatively small. That does not mean it shouldn’t be addressed, but I do feel passionately that we have to address the infrastructure of mobility. — Bloomberg
Norman Foster's airport projects have drawn in an increasing amount of business for the 54-year-old firm in the last two decades. Foster went as far last year as to withdraw the firm from Architects Declare, the group his firm joined the year prior to promote a broader set of climate change... View full entry
In just two days, Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) becomes the second Architects Declare co-founder to leave the advocacy group, following Foster + Partners' withdrawal yesterday. In a statement released by Architects' Journal, ZHA said that "climate change is a defining challenge of our... View full entry
One of the UK’s most famous architects has withdrawn from an environmental coalition in a dispute about the destructive role of aviation in the escalating climate crisis. [...]
The decision follows a row over Foster and Partners’ work on airports around the world – seen by critics as incompatible with tackling the climate and ecological emergency.
— The Guardian
Airport designs have been key projects in Foster + Partners' portfolio for years, with prominent recent commissions and competition entries in Saudi Arabia, Marseille, Chicago, Mexico City, and Beijing. Following Foster's decision to withdraw from his initial commitment, Architects Declare issued... View full entry
Previously on Archinect, we reported the announcement of three architecture schools pledging climate action. Since then, two more schools of architecture have joined. On October 30th, US Architects Declare confirmed that Woodbury School of Architecture and the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee... View full entry
In the summer of 2020, U.S.-based practices took action and signed on to join the international pledge for climate action. With the U.S. Architects Declare movement growing since May and over 284 signatures added to the list, three architecture institutions have signed on to the movement... View full entry
Climate-conscious architects in the United Kingdom are speaking out against British architect Norman Foster as efforts to have architects disengage from air transport projects intensify. Last week, Archinect reported news of a high profile airport commission taken on by Foster + Partners for a... View full entry
The Architects Declare movement has spread across the globe as over 20 countries have joined the fight to address climate change and biodiversity issues. The United States has announced its pledge to join. With 92 signatures collected from U.S.-based architecture practices like Perkins... View full entry
London-based architecture practice Foster + Partners recently announced its goal to "outline a holistic sustainable approach" towards its projects as a way to measure "embodied and operational carbon in each project." Aiming to use their international stature and design prowess to... View full entry
Architects from around the world are continue to sign onto the Architects Declare Climate & Biodiversity Emergency call. The most recent national delegation to join the call comes from Germany, where at least 38 firms—including GRAFT, Kéré Architecture, Max Dudler, and... View full entry
New Zealand architects have had enough. With the effects of climate change impacting the globe, several nations have declared an urgent international climate emergency. After UK architects issued the Architects Declare initiative in May 2019, several other countries such as Italy, Norway, Canada... View full entry
The Royal Architectural Institute of Canada’s (RAIC) Committee on Regenerative Environments is calling on the country's architects to join architects from around the world in formally committing "urgent and sustained" climate action. The call makes Canadian architects the latest group to take up... View full entry
