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What we’ve done is change the software of the city...We’ve changed how it behaves. We’ve changed how it responds to people who want to try things, do things, and run their own experiments...We don’t build anything, we don’t buy anything, we don’t own anything.” Renew’s annual budget barely cracks six figures — New Republic
Late last year, Greg Lindsay profiled Marcus Westbury and the work of Renew Newcastle. Does this "soft", and non-capital intensive model, suggest a way to avoid concerns over gentrification, privatized downtowns of privately owned public space, and trendy "pop-ups"? Can the lessons apply beyond... View full entry
Juxtaposed by modern architecture on the western side of the street, the circa 1842 working class terrace facades on the eastern side have been retained and restored in line with strict heritage conditions.
“Kensington Street’s integration with the Central Park precinct was of great consideration. We wanted to celebrate its difference in vernacular to the rest of the contemporary precinct but wanted to integrate it with quality landscaping and other infrastructure.
— Hospitality Magazine
Until several architectural firms were charged with restoring and revamping it, Kensington Street in Sydney's Chippendale area was a former bustling industrial zone fallen to ruin. Now the street (or at least, the design firms responsible for its transformation, including Turf Design... View full entry
The Pershing Square Renew initiative revealed Agence Ter and Team as the winners of the competition to redesign Downtown L.A.'s oldest public park, exactly two weeks after the four finalist teams delivered their final presentations. The winning consortium is led by French landscape practice... View full entry
A group of fourth-year Ball State architecture students are refurbishing a former meth house in the Thomas Park-Avondale neighborhood in Muncie as a studio project.
The studio class is working with ecoREHAB, a local nonprofit that provides sustainable rehabilitation of housing and neighborhoods. “The whole goal is to revitalize the community more so than to earn money,” said Taylor Sheppard, a senior architecture major.
— The Ball State Daily
For more on drugs in architecture:Narquitectura: Inside the Fortified Palaces of Mexico's Drug LordsPowering Mumbai with Magic Mushroomsa new memorial to the victims of [drug war] violence View full entry
In Tijuana, another architect is devising a plan to turn the Tijuana River channel into a solar farm that could provide power to as many as 30,000 homes.
Rene Peralta, co-founder of the Tijuana firm Generica and director of an architecture master's program at San Diego's Woodbury University, thinks that his city can transform this unwieldy piece of infrastructure into a renewable energy plant and water-cleaning station.
— The Los Angeles Times
February 2016 was the hottest month in several thousand years, so it seems like a good idea to start transforming erstwhile urban heat islands into power-generating rivers. Below, Generica's rendering of the proposed redesigned Tijuana river channel:For more on projects that turn seemingly... View full entry
'Preservation is good, but it doesn’t allow any opposing force,' says Bench. 'If you save a few beautiful buildings, it’s not as if the stuff that really should go then gets demolished. Instead, we end up putting the pressure on the buildings that are quite good, but not quite good enough to be deemed historical.' — The Guardian
Architects David Bench and Jonathan Chesley share the thought process behind their "Taking Buildings Down" competition proposal, which was one of the winning entries in the Storefront for Art and Architecture's Competition of Competitions in 2014."[R]ather than ask for new architectural... View full entry
Germane Barnes wants Opa-Locka to be known for something else...He knows [change] can happen because he lives there, and has seen the work of a group of artists and organizers slowly change the landscape...The city's history intrigued him, not merely because it seemed like a perfect case study for his thesis about revitalizing a community without gentrification, but because it also spoke to his own experiences. — Curbed
More on Archinect:In Chicago, forming economically integrated suburbs is more complex than it looksWelcome to Evanston, Illinois: the carless suburbiaBerliners are getting their hopes up for transformed Kulturforum arts districtWith a little compromise, illegal urban squats like Ljubljana's... View full entry
After [the 23-foot-tall air filter designed by Daan Roosegaarde] filters smog from the air, it compresses the collected waste particles into cubes that can be embedded into jewelry such as rings and cufflinks — and, hopefully, prompt further conversations about extreme air pollution. — Hyperallergic
For more on how designers are creatively tackling pollution:• Delhi’s air pollution is worse than Beijing's. A new app measures the air quality in real time.• Beijing mayor says air pollution makes his city "unlivable"• Air Pollution Google Earth Mashup View full entry
Munishwar Nath Ashish Ganju is a thought leader in Indian architectural philosophy...Based in New Delhi, Ganju cares about the fact that over a quarter of Delhi’s population lives outside the law in unauthorised colonies. He lives and works on the urban fringe, to demonstrate by example the principle of urban renewal by citizens. — Forbes
In a recent Forbes interview, esteemed architect M.N. Ashish Ganju looks back on his career over the last few decades -- from the history of Indian architecture, his most notable projects, to his current efforts to instill citizen-led urban renewal in the outskirts of the country.You can also... View full entry
A new development, 42 Crosby Street, is pushing the limits of New York City real estate to new heights with 10 underground parking spots that will cost more per square foot than the apartments being sold upstairs.
At $250,000 a tire, the parking spaces in the underground garage cost more than four times the national median sales price for a home, which is $217,800, according to Zillow.
— New York Times
The best thing about this article was the NYT pop up ad for luxury condos in Chelsea. View full entry
Most American cities paved over their streetcar tracks decades ago, deeming the services slow, rickety and inconvenient. Commuters have long preferred cars and buses. But streetcars—sometimes known as trolleys or trams—are making a comeback. Services are rolling out in at least 16 American cities, with dozens more in the works [...] The relationship between streetcars and development is not clear, say researchers funded by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). — the Economist
The world championship for the "72 Hour Interactions" realtime competition is taking place in Witten, Germany later this month! For 72 intense hours starting July 23 at 6 p.m., five international teams will venture out and transform Witten's neglected public sites through nothing other than creativity and architectural design — while having fun in the process. — bustler.net
Each team will represent one of the cities in the Ruhr valley: Hagen, Hattingen, Herdecke, Wetter and Witten. Sixty participants from abroad and from the region will transform neglected sites throughout the city through means of what the competition organizers describe as "gameful architectural... View full entry
While searching for images of highway interchanges in urban areas, I came across these historic aerial photos of Detroit on a message board, showing how the city fabric has slowly eroded. It’s a remarkable record of a process that has scarred many other American cities. — usa.streetsblog.org
Montenegro's "Treasures in Disguise" exhibition for the 2014 Venice Biennale looks to the country's former Yugoslavic past to provoke discussion of bringing renewal and examining the future possibilities of Montenegran architecture. The exhibition focuses on four historic buildings constructed between 1960 and 1986 that are perceived as cultural models of late modernism architecture. Built with optimistic intentions, the buildings were neglected and have been left to decay ever since. — bustler.net
Check out the projects in their current and original states.(Pictured above) Dom RevolucijeArchitect: Marko Mušić Kayak Club “Galeb” Architect: Vukota Tupa Vukotić Hotel FjordArchitect: Zlatko Ugljen Spomen Dom Architect: Marko Mušić To learn more, head over to Bustler. 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