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Last week at the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan, the UNEP-hosted Global Alliance for Buildings and Construction (GlobalABC) announced the formation of the Intergovernmental Council for Buildings and Climate (ICBC) in order to administer goals set forth by the Chaillot Declaration from earlier... View full entry
A £10 billion ($13.4 billion USD) master plan for London’s Earl’s Court district has been submitted to planning officials in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea before the commencement of construction on its first phase in 2026. The plan covers 7.5 million square feet and includes 4,000 new... View full entry
Related and Wynn’s new proposal would sweep away the years of civic engagement that led to a 2009 rezoning of the proposed development site.
We have just one chance to get this right. Related and Wynn’s new plan fails the test of sensible and authentic urban design and must be fought with the same spirit that brought the High Line to life 25 years ago.
— NY Daily News
Leading with the claim that Related "wants to undo the agreement and rezone the site again", two founders of The High Line (Joshua David and Robert Hammond) say they are opposing the next phase of Hudson Yards’ redevelopment. The $12 billion plan, the details for which became a bit... View full entry
Last month, the [UK] government announced a task force to develop a strategy for new towns — settlements of more than 10,000 homes — and make recommendations for their locations within a year. The government has not set a target for the number of towns and acknowledges that they will take a long time to deliver. — The New York Times
Britain, short on more than four million homes, is mulling a revival of its post-war New Towns after a decisive Labour Party victory vaulted progressive leadership into power with a mandate to combat its ongoing housing crisis. Prime Minister Keir Starmer recently told the BBC that he is a... View full entry
Chicago’s most infamous vacant site of the 21st century is finally getting a tower. But will we be getting the architect’s best vision — or just half of a good design? A look at some recent history of large projects in the city offers some guidance, and reason for concern.
I have no reason to doubt Related’s stated intention to build both towers, but if history is a guide, it’s more likely than not that the single tower will never see its sibling.
— Chicago Tribune
The Windy City's newest architecture critic, Edward Keegan, explains 400 Lake Shore Drive (designed by SOM's Chicago office with David Childs) against five other similar projects that never saw the original vision of their architects fully realized. He says a potential void might become a... View full entry
The Tower of London’s status as a world heritage site may be at risk due to the influx of new skyscrapers in central London. UNESCO has requested that the UK government submit a State of Conservation Report that addresses the historic site’s preservation and the threat of increased high-rise... View full entry
The crisis of housing in New York City isn't going anywhere soon: The latest data from a key city agency has revealed a pronounced stalemate in the number of new apartment buildings currently planned for construction in all five boroughs. A lack of tax incentives, including the expiration of rule... View full entry
A decade ago the only way to secure a bed in Sydney’s brutalist icon, the Sirius building, was a proven need and time on the social housing waitlist. Now the price of admission starts at $1.55m – for a studio apartment. [...]
Advocates who fought to save the building from the wrecking balls and from being sold see it now as the pinnacle of privatisation that failed the state’s most vulnerable.
— The Guardian
The fate of Sydney’s martyred Rocks mirrors closely that of London’s Trelick and Balfron Towers, and the future of Singapore’s once caste-busting social housing system. As of our last reporting, the brutalist landmark has (finally, and forever) been saved from the wrecking ball — only... View full entry
A new report on California’s entrenched housing crisis from the state's independent Little Hoover Commission has identified the 54-year-old California Environmental Quality Act (or CEQA) as the greatest barrier currently in the way of architects and planners looking to meet the demand for... View full entry
Details of the planned Wynn New York City resort scheme from Related Companies and the Oxford Properties Group have been released, along with new renderings and further details about the final Phase 2 building segment at Hudson Yards. The three-tower scheme chosen from the set of alternative... View full entry
The next chapter in New York’s Hudson Yards has been revealed, with developers filing a bid for a potential mixed-use casino complex. Related Companies and Wynn Resorts submitted plans as part of an environmental impact process last week with the New York City Department of City Planning... View full entry
The City of London Corporation has revealed new images depicting the 2030 skyline of the Square Mile ahead of the completion of a planned cluster of tall buildings that are expected by the end of the decade. The plans depicted include the 11-building ‘City Cluster’, which strategically closes... View full entry
But joining the fraternity of cities with supertalls can also be a dubious distinction: Real estate is a lagging indicator, and skyscrapers often arrive after the boom is over, looming half-empty as monuments to a bust. Others, however, are convinced that Austin’s high-rise stampede is just getting started.
Given the city’s emerging significance as a next-gen manufacturing hub this building boom could defy the skyscraper effect.
— Bloomberg
With a slate of high-rises and supertalls, including KPF’s Waterline design and the record-setting Wilson Tower from HKS in the works, Bloomberg asks if the pace of development can be sustained amidst tech’s downturn and the annals of urban economic history. The salvation apparently lies... View full entry
New York City Mayor Eric Adams unveiled his administration’s three-pronged plan to “Get Stuff Built” this month as a possible answer to skeptics who had previously doubted his ability to tackle what is becoming its largest existential challenge. True to its moniker, the plan calls for... View full entry
Snøhetta has shared designs for its largest structure in Japan to date with the Shibuya Upper West Project. Made for Tokyu Corporation, L Catterton Real Estate, and Tokyu Department Store, the roughly 1.26 million-square-foot mixed-use development will add a cultural complex, retail, a... View full entry
