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Nestled in the mountains near the northern coastline of Taiwan, just outside of its capital, is a tower that, once full, will house the ashes of 400,000 people.
At 20 stories tall, the True Dragon Tower is the biggest columbarium in the world. It’s a striking manifestation of two problems plaguing countries all around Asia—a rapidly aging population, and a lack of space for the dead in urban centers.
— Quartz
Cultures around the world are currently dealing with a problem unique to the 21st century: the excessive use of land to bury the dead in the past has left little more for future generations. While cremation and the spreading of ashes has long acted as a measure against leaving a permanent mark on... View full entry
Hugely influential architect, and godfather of Chicago's architectural community, Stanley Tigerman has passed away. The provocative, and famously salty, architect blazed a singular trail within late-20th Century architectural design by fusing the technical prowess of modernist era design with... View full entry
Ieoh Ming Pei, among the most well-known names in architecture, passed away overnight at the age of 102. Le Grand Louvre, Paris, France, 1989It was first announced online by Paul Goldberger, in this heartfelt tweet: Some sad news: I’ve just learned that I.M. Pei died last night, at 102. The... View full entry
Dayton worked with renowned architect Frank Gehry in Los Angeles before striking out on his own in 1997.
With its angled exterior walls made of galvanized steel, Gehry's influence is evident in the MacPhail building on Second Street in downtown Minneapolis.
At its grand opening in 2008, Dayton told MPR News that his goal for the project was to put music front and center.
— MPR
The idea of death and dying is a rather bleak subject. Many avoid discussion of the matter at all costs, while others plan to prolong its advancement as years pass. However, regardless of one's preconceived notions, death is a necessary part of life. Yet, perhaps our relationship and understanding... View full entry
From VSBA Architects: Trailblazing architect, and 1991 Pritzker winner, Robert Venturi has passed away on Tuesday at the age of 93. He is survived by his wife and life-long business partner Denise Scott Brown. Their firm Venturi Scott Brown Associates, now VSBA Architects & Planners based in... View full entry
The culture of fear and intimidation on construction sites has led to basic safety precautions being overlooked. Nashville is currently the most dangerous city in the south for construction workers, according to a report released in May 2017 by the Partnership for Working Families, Workers Defense Project and the University of Illinois at Chicago professor Nik Theodore, titled Build a Better South: Construction Working Conditions in the US South. — The Guardian
The Build a Better South: Construction Working Conditions in the US South study examined construction industry labor conditions across six key cities in the southern United States: Atlanta, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, Miami, and Nashville. "Among workers who had been injured during the past year... View full entry
In the words of the late Dick Rittelmann (1938-2015), friend and collaborator, and cofounder of Burt Hill Kosar Rittelmann: “The breadth and complexity of BCJ’s work over the years is a testimony to the skills of Jon Jackson as not only a great individual architect, but of a manager, mentor, motivator, and collaborator. Jon has matured from one who creates great architecture to one who creates the environment in which great architecture can occur.” — Bohlin Cywinski Jackson
Bohlin Cywinski Jackson announced today in a press release that retired principal Jon Jackson passed away last Friday, August 17. A Pittsburgh-area native and a highly respected figure in Western Pennsylvania and national design communities, Jackson and his work — which focused on... View full entry
Many funerary homes still around these days typically feel stuffy and gravely outdated, like you suddenly stepped back into a previous century. Based on their personal experiences, architects Michiel Hofman and Barbara Dujardin of the Amsterdam-based firm HofmanDujardin took their own approach... View full entry
Constance Adams, an architect who gave up designing skyscrapers to develop structures that would help travelers live with reasonable comfort on the International Space Station, Mars or the moon, died on Monday at her home in Houston. She was 53. — The New York Times
With architecture degrees from Harvard and Yale, Constance Adams worked—in the traditional sense of the profession—for César Pelli, Kenzo Tange, and German firm Josef Paul Kleihues, before applying her skills in various NASA design programs for space habitats (including the three-level... View full entry
“From Bauhaus to Our House,” Mr. Wolfe attacked modern architecture and what he saw as its determination to put dogma before buildings. Published in 1981, it met with the same derisive response from critics. “The problem, I think,” Paul Goldberger wrote in The Times Book Review, “is that Tom Wolfe has no eye.” — The New York Times
Tom Wolfe, an innovative journalist and novelist, died on Monday in Manhattan at the age of 88. Wolf lived in New York since joining The New York Herald Tribune as a reporter in 1962, and went on to influence what is known as New Journalism. Inciting hostile reactions to some of his work, Wolf... View full entry
The news of British architect Will Alsop's death over the weekend was met with an outpouring of sympathy from fellow architects and journalists around the web. A recipient of the RIBA's Stirling Prize for his Peckham Library building in 2000, an avid painter, and master of seemingly floating... View full entry
Los Angeles, Richard S. Weinstein liked to say, “is full of holes.” He meant it as a compliment — at least to a degree.
After working early in his career as an advisor on urban design to New York City Mayor John Lindsay, Weinstein, who died Feb. 24 in Santa Monica at 85, moved to Los Angeles in 1985 to become dean of the Graduate School of Architecture and Urban Planning at UCLA. After 10 years in that role, he spent another 13 as a professor in the department.
— Los Angeles Times
Christoper Hawthorne describes the supportive relationship Richard Weinstein had with another innovative L.A. architect at UCLA at the time, Thom Mayne, quoting him: “He [Weinstein] thought of architecture as a noble profession. Can you imagine?” View full entry
Mr. Cooper began his career in 1958 as overseer for architect Eero Saarinen in the construction of Washington Dulles International Airport. [...]
Mr. Cooper was best known for his work on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the Korean War Veterans Memorial, dedicated in 1982 and 1995, respectively.
— The Washington Post
Kent Cooper's architecture firm, Cooper-Lecky, became the architects of record for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. While Maya Lin's now iconic design for the memorial was chosen as the competition winner in 1981, Lin was an architecture student at the time and not a licensed... View full entry
Architect Robert Frasca, FAIA, founding design partner of Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects (ZGF) and an influential figure on Portland and Oregon's architectural scene for several decades, has died on January 3 at the age of 84. ZGF has released the following obituary: It is with great sadness that... View full entry
