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Borderlife is a street art intervention by Biancoshock in which three abandoned manholes in Milan’s Lodi district have been transformed into miniature dwellings. [...]
With Borderlife the street artist wants to make us aware about the distressing living conditions of many fellow humans who are forced to live in confined spaces, especially manholes. He got his inspiration from the reportedly hundreds of people that are occupying manholes and sewer systems in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
— popupcity.net
Images of the BORDERLIFE street art intervention via Biancoshock's website.Related stories in the Archinect news:Giant "calligraffiti" mural unites community in Cairo slumSubterranean theme park: photographer Richard John Seymour captures the new life inside an ancient Transylvanian salt mineWith... View full entry
HALF A CENTURY AGO, a group of 20-something architecture students from Florence decided to assume the small task of conceiving an alternative model for life on earth. Contemptuous of the long reign of Modernism, which they felt had sold itself as a cure to society’s ills and never delivered, they were jazzed by American science-fiction novels and the political foment of the 1960s. They gave themselves the colorfully assured name Superstudio... — the New York Times
Borders are often controversial and rarely flexible, but Ma Yansong of MAD has playfully reinterpreted them with his installation for the 2016 Salone del Mobile in Milan. “Borders are usually seen as something closed and unapproachable but I think it’s interesting to make borders attractive... View full entry
The basilica of Siponto [...] in Italy’s Puglia region, has long been easy to miss—just another church among the thousands around the country. But these days, the 12th century structure attracts a crowd, sometimes even queues. [...]
Adjoining the newly renovated basilica, standing on the ruins, towers a full blown cathedral—with its imposing arches, columns, and volumes—completely built in iron-wire mesh. It gives the appearance of a hologram, or a 3D charcoal drawing of a time that was.
— qz.com
Find more images of Edoardo Tresoldi's wire mesh sculpture of the Basilica di Siponto on Quartz. Related stories in the Archinect news: "Kinetic" steel museum in New Zealand pays tribute to illustrious sculptural artist Len LyeArtist Carsten Höller to wrap world's longest tunnel slide around the... View full entry
The Venice Lagoon is the most endangered heritage site in Europe, declared the pan-European heritage organisation Europa Nostra at an event today [...].
Rising sea levels, swelling number of tourists, large cruise ships in the lagoon, the erosion of the sea bed, dredging deeper channels and the lack of an agreed management plan for Venice has created a perfect storm of threats to the city’s preservation.
— theartnewspaper.com
Previously in the Archinect news: Unesco threatens to put Venice on its Heritage at Risk listLeading museum directors, artists and architects call on Italian government to ban giant ships from VeniceHow We Picture a City: Venice and Google Maps View full entry
The second-biggest Italian city is offering a monthly payment of 350 euros ($376) to every resident willing to host a refugee, or an asylum seeker, in their home.
The city of Milan announced Monday with a post on its Facebook page that soon local residents will be paid for giving shelter to one or more refugees.
— Vice
Related:Architectures of the DisasterHow Architects Can Help Nepal (And Learn From Past Disastrous Mistakes/Successes)Ai Weiwei documents life in Greek refugee camp on social mediaThe vast majority of Syrian refugees are seeking refuge in cities, not campsViennese student dorms may Passively House... View full entry
Health warnings have been issued this week as atmospheric pollution is set to rise to dangerously high levels on Thursday and Friday, with levels of breathable toxic particles reaching 100 micrograms per cubic meter.
In a bid to stop pollution reaching dangerous levels, the council is making the city's buses and metro free on Thursday and Friday to reduce the emissions caused by Turin's heavy traffic.
— thelocal.it
Other cities coping with mitigating air pollution:Beijing's latest "airpocalypse" is bad enough for city to issue first ever red alertCar-free events significantly improve air qualityDelhi’s air pollution is worse than Beijing's. A new app measures the air quality in real time.Giant bubbles... View full entry
Aldo Rossi’s addition to the San Cataldo Cemetery is a paragon of postmodern architecture, seeing the cemetery up close exposes some of the style’s major shortcomings.
[...] all you’ve got left is a half-empty, unfinished cemetery with assorted maintenance equipment left lying around. Perhaps you can keep drawing meaning from this decay. But lord knows it’s difficult to sustain a deep engagement with life and death after you’ve tripped over a garden hose.
— failedarchitecture.com
Related on Archinect:How a postmodernist department store is trying to become the youngest monument in PolandPostmodern No 1 Poultry divides architects in debate over recent heritageThey died as they designed: famous architects' self-styled gravestones View full entry
CoContest allows customers wanting to refurbish an existing space to put their project out to architects and designers, who in turn submit their design proposals [...]
Nine lawmakers – eight of them architects – have issued a parliamentary proposal urging the Economic Development and Justice Ministries to crack down on the crowdsourcing website, which they said was carrying out an illegal intermediation activity and denigrating professional architects in its publicity
— goodgearguide.com.au
Any business that's praised for being "disruptive" is bound to cause controversy – or else that establishment probably wasn't worth disrupting. CoContest, an Italian startup that aims to connect homeowners to a competitively-priced international roster of architects and designers, has received... View full entry
As the issue of bee population decline continues to gain more public attention, the United Kingdom's Milan Expo 2015 pavilion, "The Hive", pays tribute to the hard-working honeybees and their essential role of pollination in helping produce the food we eat. Once the 1,910 m2 pavilion officially... View full entry
James Biber can see Russia from his roof. Mr. Biber, the architect of the USA Pavilion at Expo Milano 2015, the world’s fair that is racing to meet its opening date on Friday, also has a good view of Kuwait next door and Iran across the street.
“It’s really a kind of identity parade,” Mr. Biber, 62, said about the jumble. [...] “It’s every nation attempting to express itself in a building. It is the very best and very worst of design you’re going to see in its concentrated form.”
— nytimes.com
Previously:Thinc Design's USA Pavilion exhibition presents America's role in the future of food for Milan Expo 2015A preview of Biber Architects’ USA Pavilion design for Milan Expo 201 View full entry
a huge sum representing 27 percent of all the architects on the Continent...more architects than there are in the United States — NYT
Stephen Hayman talked with Luciano Lazzari, an architect in Trieste who is also the president of the Architects’ Council of Europe. Late last year ACE released their biennial Sector Study of the profession. h/t @Geoff Manaugh View full entry
New York-based Thinc Design revealed their exhibition design for the USA Pavilion in the upcoming Milan Expo 2015 this May. Collaborating with Friends of the USA Pavilion, Thinc Design's exhibition highlights America's role in the future of the global food system, as a response to the Expo's... View full entry
A cash shortage in Rome could see the city’s fascist-era Square Colosseum sold to the fashion house Fendi, despite calls in the Italian capital to keep the building in state hands.
More than 70 years after the Palazzo della Civiltà del Lavoro was built under the orders of Benito Mussolini it could soon be reinvented as a home for luxury goods.
— theguardian.com
Late registration began today for Young Architects Competitions' Rome Community Ring. If you want a chance to win, make sure to register by January 19, 2015 and submit your entries by January 26, 2015.Students and professionals are encouraged to share their ideas on how to revive one of Rome's... View full entry