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The A303 redevelopment proposal had originally garnered the attention of preservation advocates beginning in 2017 and eventually yielded a favorable ruling from the UK High Court in 2021, the same year UNESCO first threatened to add the site to its list of World Heritage in Danger. ... View full entry
The rush to blame the destruction that ensued in the wake of this month’s devastating 6.9 magnitude earthquake in Morocco on rammed earth and the region's other traditional earthen construction methods is a flawed conjecture, according to an explanation penned recently by University of York... View full entry
Conservators in Istanbul are racing to safeguard scores of at-risk heritage sites in the wake of Turkey’s deadliest earthquake in modern history, bracing for the probability of an even greater disaster in a city straddling an active faultline. — The Art Newspaper
Consequences of incumbent President Recep Erdoğan’s culture wars and the fallout of a “real-estate mentality that supersedes cultural heritage” have become unnecessary obstacles for volunteers who are up against the impossible challenge of securing 35,000 heritage sites around Istanbul... View full entry
A new report and exhibition inspecting the state of some of the most at-risk designs by Fredrick Law Olmsted and his successor firms have been released by The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF) in honor of the storied landscape architect’s 200th birthday. This year’s... View full entry
Today, it appears unchanged from the outside. But an entirely new building has been inserted within the existing footprint. Twenty-first century white cube galleries have been incorporated into the original structure, increasing the exhibition space by 40%. — The Art Newspaper
Following a major 11-year-long, $96 million restoration led by Rotterdam-based firm KAAN Architecten, the Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp (KMSKA) finally reopened in Belgium. Photo: Karin Borghouts KAAN Architecten’s work combined a renovation of the 19th-century neoclassical museum building... View full entry
MASS Design Group is celebrating the completion of the Ellen DeGeneres Campus of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund in Rwanda. Named in collaboration with comedian and television host Ellen DeGeneres, the 12-acre campus is located in the country's Musanze District and Kigali. The campus features three... View full entry
In response to the recent surprise demolition of Marcel Breuer’s Geller I house on Long Island, modernist conservation group Docomomo US has released its first-ever list of the 11 most threatened modern sites in the United States. Working on the advice of its chapter members, the group... View full entry
At least 18 “high street titans” – architecturally significant department stores that have fallen victim to profound changes in shopping patterns – are at risk of being permanently lost, according to a new report. But these “cathedrals of commerce”, as Émile Zola described them in his 1883 novel The Ladies’ Paradise, should be granted new lives – as art galleries, residential housing, community hubs and social spaces, says Save Britain’s Heritage. — The Guardian
The report Departing Stores: Emporia at Risk details the threats to department stores across the UK and what can be done to save these spaces. It covers 46 landmark department stores in town and city centers, some of which have been restored or developed while maintaining their architectural... View full entry
Cathedrals, churches and basilicas across Italy are at risk of being razed by earthquakes that could strike at any moment. But the government is on a mission to protect some of the country’s most significant and vulnerable religious buildings from disastrous seismic shocks. A new national project backed with €250m from Italy’s multibillion-euro pot of EU Covid-19 recovery funding is unprecedented in Europe for its scale and reach, officials believe. — The Art Newspaper
In one of Europe’s most earthquake-prone countries, the anti-seismic plan will allow the Italian culture ministry’s heritage safety department to distribute resources around the country that will mitigate the impact of future disasters. Straps and chains will be wrapped around bell towers... View full entry
On Thursday, USC announced that it had finalized the sale of the home to Richard E. Weintraub, president and CEO of the Weintraub Real Estate Group, a Los Angeles developer who has worked with historic properties in the past. (He and fellow developer Tom Gilmore helped bring the old St. Vibiana Cathedral in downtown L.A. back to life as a restaurant and events center.) — LA TImes
The home hit the market in July and has undergone extensive restorations in order to repair structural damage caused by the 1994 Northridge Earthquake. The need for additional repairs was reportedly behind the agreement reached between the school and Weintraub, which negotiated a reduction of the... View full entry
An initiative in Brighton aimed at helping protect the bee population could do more harm than good, scientists have warned. The council in Brighton has passed a planning condition that means any new building more than five metres high will have to include swift boxes and special bricks with holes known as bee bricks. They will provide nesting and hibernating space for solitary bees. — The Guardian
The mandate was first proposed in 2019 and then attached to all planning permissions after April 1, 2020. As reported by The Guardian, scientists warn that this move may not result in a notable difference for biodiversity, with some arguing that it could actually harm bees if the holes aren’t... View full entry
Anne Lacaton and Jean-Philippe Vassal have been formally awarded the 2021 Pritzker Architecture Prize at a special ceremony which took place on September 14th. The French architects were announced as recipients of the prestigious prize in March in recognition of their contribution to the built... View full entry
A home belonging to one of Los Angeles’ most storied architects is now one step closer to being saved following a unanimous vote by the Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission. The Jefferson Park home was Paul Revere Williams’ principal residence for nearly 30 years and has been... View full entry
LA's famed Taix Restaurant on Sunset Boulevard made headlines earlier this month after a strange ruling by the City Council to designate only certain elements of the century-old establishment a historic landmark in an unprecedented move that could have ramifications for preservation efforts in Los... View full entry
The Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday added the Reunion House, by prominent modernist architect, Richard Neutra, to the city’s list of Historic-Cultural Monuments. The hillside residence was built in 1950 and sits at 2440 Neutra Place in Silver Lake. It was built as a speculative... View full entry
