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Studio Gang has been selected to lead the Phase 1 Implementation of Denver’s Civic Center Next 100 revitalization plan targeted at its Greek Theater and Central Promenade along 14th Avenue. The firm received a $2.8 million design contract for the project and was chosen based on an approach that... View full entry
An immersive new VR experience tool developed by Arup called VR95 is helping architects and urban designers immerse themselves in the unique perspective of children in the hopes of creating a better environment for them to dwell in. Arup feels this is an important venture as... View full entry
As Moscow’s Zaryadye Park approaches its first birthday next month, the city’s chief architect, Sergei Kuznetsov, is defending the Diller Scofidio + Renfro-designed green space for an unexpected feature: its aphrodisiacal properties. Just a stone’s throw from the Kremlin, the firm’s carefully crafted experiment in “wild urbanism” has lived up to its billing, apparently, becoming something of a hotbed for outdoor lovemaking. — news.artnet.com
Moscow's one year old $245 million public park by Diller Scofidio + Renfro was meant to bring freedom of exploration and a feeling of comfort within the urban setting. The space provides visitors with an amphitheater, flora-covered terraces, green spaces with views of the city, and a 230 foot... View full entry
This partnership between human and machine is what lies ahead as automation tools permeate our lives at a quickening pace. As many worry about the potential for robots to steal our jobs (or lead a violent overthrow of society), the reality may be more nuanced: They may end up being something more like creative collaborators [...] We must re-tool the workforce, be ever learning, and open to rapid change to reduce the negative impact. — citylab.com
Brooks Rainwater asserts urban spaces as the testing grounds for the impending automation revolution and asks whether this will simply eliminate jobs or create new, better ones. While job displacement estimations vary, there is no denying the tremendous impact emerging technologies will have on... View full entry
Taking a photograph of architecture by using a camera is tantamount to placing a small architecture against another large architecture and having the small one swallow the larger one. — Places Journal
The Japanese word for buildings, tatemono, means “things that are standing.” On the occasion of a major career retrospective at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Naoya Hatakeyama considers the meaning and the practice of photographing the built environment, and the distinction between the... View full entry
Australia-based artist Joshua Smith expresses his love of decrepit urban spaces by recreating them in 1:20 scale. Building all of his miniatures from scratch, Smith designs every element himself. The artist's work is built on his past experiences as a stencil artist and gallery director. Inspired... View full entry
The first public parklet in downtown Portland, the installation is intended to help revitalize this stretch of SW Fourth Avenue in the heart of the SoMa EcoDistrict (for “South of Market Street”), giving students, faculty, and workers from surrounding offices a place to sit and enjoy their food-cart lunches in the sunshine, rather than racing back to their desks to eat. — pdx.edu
Downtown Portland is no stranger to green public spaces, but the recently opened Fourth Avenue Parklet has that ideal recipe for a do-good-feel-good collaborative project. Twenty-six architecture students from Portland State University spent 18 months to design and construct the parklet, which... View full entry
Six years after the project was first announced, Delft's new railway station hall opened its doors to the public this past Saturday. Designed by native Dutch firm Mecanoo, the new building purposefully nods to its cultural roots so that visitors arriving at the station will know from the get-go... View full entry
You don't have to be a New Yorker to submit design ideas for a river-to-river, auto-free light rail boulevard in Manhattan's iconic 42nd Street: Open to all architects, planners, and urban designers, the Vision42 design competition invites proposals from around the world to transform the street... View full entry
Meandering down a section of Robson Street on the iconic 800 block in downtown Vancouver, passers-by can sit, relax, play, and socialize on the "Urban Reef" installation. Designed by Kaz Bremner and Jeremiah Deutscher with local furniture collective Higher Works, Urban Reef won the inaugural VIVA Vancouver: Robson Redux design-build competition out of 78 submissions worldwide. — bustler.net
The competition had entrants create a temporary urban installation to transform the block to a welcoming public plaza from Canada Day (July 1) until Labor Day (September 1).More details on Bustler.Check out a timelapse video and the making-of teaser below. View full entry
Vision42's Design International Competition is inviting architects, planners, and urban designers worldwide to send their ideas for a river-to-river and auto-free light rail boulevard in New York City's 42nd Street.To address the iconic street's heavy traffic and noise, Vision42 set up the... View full entry
The 2014 European Prize for Urban Public Space adds a dose of reality to often romanticized European cities, showing that every city no matter where has its own set of pressing issues. The annual prize recognizes exemplary projects that have transformed and improved public spaces throughout the continent.
Starting with a total of 274 projects from 30 European countries, the international jury selected 25 finalists, and finally two joint winners and four special mentions.
— bustler.net
(Pictured above) JOINT WINNER: The Braided Valley, Elx, Spain - 2013AUTHORS: Francisco Leiva Ivorra, Marta García Chico, Prócoro del Real BaezaJOINT WINNER: Renovation of the Old Port, Marseille, France - 2013AUTHORS: Michel Desvigne Paysagiste MDP, Foster + Partners, TANGRAM, INGEROP, AIK... View full entry
The Foundry Square, a four-part mixed-use complex in San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) district, is currently in its final phase with the construction of Foundry III, which developer Tishman Speyer purchased in 2012. The target LEED Gold building will have 265,000 square feet of office space... View full entry
It is in empty spaces like [under Hong Kong's overpasses] that a group is campaigning for the government to build youth hostels, arts performance venues, offices for small- to mid-sized businesses and, most intriguingly, temporary housing. The group sees this unused land as an opportunity to alleviate Hong Kong’s problem of young people not being able to afford to rent in the world’s most expensive property market. — smartplanet.com
In a city whose residents are accused of disdaining public space, the orbiter's tour led Angelenos to crowd sidewalks 10 or 12 deep as well as drawing thousands of people who live north of the 10 Freeway to boulevards south of it. It packed gas stations and strip-mall parking lots with crowds. — latimes.com
