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The fate of the Nakagin Capsule Tower, designed by Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, one of the founders of the Metabolist movement, has sustained a strong following since the announcement of its proposed demolition in 2007. At first glance, it checks all the boxes of a futuristic... View full entry
An expected temporary closure for the oldest art museum in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area has many vying for the not-too-distant debut of what promises to be an instant architectural icon. The Gilcrease Museum began demolition of its existing building Tuesday in order to make room for a new... View full entry
Marcel Breuer's first binuclear house, Geller I in Lawrence, New York has been demolished in the dead of night. Geller I is largely considered the project that propelled Breuer to private practice in New York and prompted the Museum of Modern Art to commission Breuer to design an exhibition house in the museum’s courtyard entitled The House in the Museum Garden in 1949. — Docomomo US
The conservation advocacy organization chalked up the loss to a combination of changing local property dynamics and the inability of the town of Hempstead’s planning laws to prevent the destruction of a structure it says would have claims to both the New York State and National Register of... View full entry
Evergrande Group, the world’s most indebted developer, was last week ordered to demolish 39 buildings on Ocean Flower Island, a project comprising three man-made islands developed by the company in China’s southern Hainan province, within 10 days. — South China Morning Post
The developer was recently forced to hand over control of its $1.7B football stadium in Guangzhou after spending much of the past year attempting to stave off creditors looking to collect on the company’s reported $310 billion in liabilities, which has recently led to another round of public... View full entry
The development of a huge office campus in downtown San Jose can proceed and an old bank building can be demolished, a Santa Clara County judge has decided in a new ruling on the controversial building. A proposed development that would replace downtown San Jose’s decades-old CityView Plaza with a modern tech campus that could bring 14,000 jobs to the city’s urban core is at the heart of a legal action whose goal was to preserve a bank building designed in a “brutalist” architectural style. — The Mercury News
The ruling denies a petition filed by the Preservation Action Council of San Jose filed seeking to preserve the 1973 Bank of California building and alter the construction of the new office campus being developed by real estate company Jay Paul Co. The petition by the preservationist group claimed... View full entry
The proposals are for the redevelopment of the site to replace the poor quality, office use building that is set-back from the street behind a perimeter fence, with a high-quality building that will activate all three street frontages and provide multiple functions, including co-working, retail, roof terraces and central gallery atrium. — The Architects' Journal
According to the Architects' Journal whose offices would be affected by the planned demolition along with the London studio of C.F. Møller Architects, the new Piercy&Co-designed building aims to address "the challenges of climate change by creating an ultra-low carbon building and placing... View full entry
Two big name architecture firms are changing places on the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. The university has commenced demolition of its Tod Williams and Billie Tsien-designed Mattin Center that was originally completed on its Homewood campus in 2001. The demolition... View full entry
Owners of London's Grenfell Tower are expected to announce later this month that the tower will be demolished due to safety concerns. This decision comes more than four years following the fire that claimed the lives of 72 people. UK housing secretary, Robert Jenrick, has been notified... View full entry
The infamous Nakagin Capsule Tower has mesmerized architects, designers, and architecture enthusiasts for decades. Whether you're a fan of Japanese Metabolist architecture or not, many continue to share a fondness and adoration towards the mixed-use residential and office tower designed... View full entry
It was not the biggest or the best implosion ever.
An auction for the right to detonate the dynamite to begin the implosion of Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City, N.J., fizzled. [...]
The tower came down shortly after 9 a.m. amid a huge cloud of dust and an eruption of cheers.
— The New York Times
Opened in 1984, Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino was the first of Donald Trump's three casino ventures in Atlantic City. All three ultimately went out of business, and while the former Trump Taj Mahal and Trump Marina Hotel Casino found new owners, it was the literal end for the Trump Plaza building... View full entry
The dismantling of The Elion-Hitchings Building, near where Cornwallis Road meets the Durham Freeway, has been underway internally for several months. But now the demolition has reached the point where workers are pulling the building apart and hauling away pieces by the truckload.
Fans of the building and its architect, Paul Rudolph, had hoped to persuade its owner, United Therapeutics, to save it because of its architectural and historical significance.
— The News & Observer
Despite repeated calls to preserve and protect the Paul Rudolph-designed Burroughs Wellcome Building in Durham, North Carolina — a change.org petition launched by the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation in September has collected over 5,780 signatures so far — the demolition of this... View full entry
Some of the finest examples of brutalist architecture in the north of England are at risk of being torn down, according to a photographer who believes a crucial part of the country’s architectural history could be lost in the process.
Simon Phipps [...] said that a mix of mismanagement and a general undervaluing of brutalism was leading to unnecessary demolition.
— The Guardian
The Guardian has published a gallery of photographs by Simon Phipps who has been documenting northern England's concrete heritage for his new book Brutal North. View full entry
The board of governors (BoG) for Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has decided to withdraw an expression of interest (EOI) that was put out by the management last month inviting architects and designers to propose plans for demolishing dormitories in the campus built by American architect Louis Kahn and replacing them with new structures. — The Times of India
The school reversed its decision to demolish and replace 14 of the 18 dormitories built by Louis Kahn between 1962 until his death in 1974 following international outrage over the proposal. A change.org petition to save Kahn’s aging IIM Ahmedabad structures has already attracted more than... View full entry
The demolition of the former Trump Plaza casino will become a fundraiser to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Atlantic City that the mayor hopes will raise in excess of $1 million
Opened in 1984, Trump’s former casino was closed in 2014 and has fallen into such a state of disrepair that demolition work began earlier this year. The remainder of the structure will be dynamited on Jan. 29.
— AP
Get in line. View full entry
Another building constructed through Brad Pitt's Make It Right affordable housing initiative in New Orleans is in trouble: after complaints and lawsuits over "shoddy construction" of a number of houses were brought forward in recent years, leading to the demolition of one rain-damaged and rotting... View full entry
