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Architect John Portman, often credited as the father of the massive hotel atrium, has passed away in his hometown of Atlanta, Georgia. No cause of death has been announced. His firm, John Portman & Associates, has released the following statement, along with a website celebrating his... View full entry
Beverley "David" Thorne, the last of the Case Study architects and the designer of Dave and Iola Brubeck’s modernist California and Connecticut homes, died December 6 in Sonoma, Calif. He was 93. [...]
Bev designed Harrison House, Case Study No. 26, in San Francisco in 1963.
— Enter Tint Name
Case Study House #26. Photo via csh26.info.The Case Study #26 "Harrison House" Thorne designed in San Rafael, California is the only Case Study House in the San Francisco Bay Area. View full entry
At the center of the royal funeral is a $30 million, nine-spire structure where the beloved monarch’s body will be cremated. For months now, legions of Thai architects, designers, artisans, and craftsmen have been working on the funeral complex in Bangkok’s Sanam Luang field. They’ve erected a series of golden pavilions festooned by thousands of elaborate sculptures, textiles, art works and sandalwood flowers. — Quartz
Architect Theerachat Weerayuttanon and art technician Korkiat Thongphut of the Thai Ministry of Culture — and fervent devotees of the country's late King Bhumibol Adulyadej — worked feverishly to present a crematorium design fit for a deity when they were tasked with the job only hours after... View full entry
Albert Speer Jr, the son of Adolf Hitler's chief architect who had his own accomplished architectural career but struggled to distance himself from his father's legacy, has died at the age of 83.
The architecture firm he founded, Albert Speer + Partner GmbH, said Mr Speer died on Saturday in Frankfurt.
— dw.com
On Tuesday Gunnar Birkerts, Detroit-based Latvian-American architect passed away at the age of 92. Born in 1925, in Riga, Birkerts was a graduate of the University of Stuttgart in Germany and immigrated to the United States in 1949. He began his architectural career with Perkins+Will before... View full entry
New York architect and cofounder of Kliment Halsband Architects, Robert Michael Kliment FAIA, 1922-2017, has passed away. Born in Prague in 1933, Robert was one of several hundred children whom the humanitarian Sir Nicholas Winton brought to safety in England during the Second World War. He was... View full entry
New York architect and professor Diane Lewis has passed away, The Cooper Union announced in a statement today. She was the first woman appointed to the school's full-time architecture faculty and tenured in 1993. Since then, she was a “beloved and influential voice” in the community, wrote... View full entry
Archeaologists have discovered what appears to be the first attempt at a smooth-sided pyramid in Egypt. The pyramid is estimated to be 3,700 years old (about 200 years older than Giza), and although no elaborately-outfitted burial chambers have been found yet, the team is still excavating in an... View full entry
Its architecture is painfully lost in its own time and its updates only confuse by neither integrating well into the original structure or standing out as truly contemporary. The pink kiosks, orange tiles, teal chairs and green paneled rooms, the purple plush seating in the JC Penny dressing room, and the bright blue tiered entryways are, along with other decor flourishes, seemingly random, with no coherent pattern. — NewCo Shift
Declaring that "the dying mall narrative" already peaked a few years ago, Tag Hartman-Simkins decides to photographically zero in on the details of an old mall in Galesburg, Illinois that is about to be torn down and replaced with an updated, outdoor mixed-use space. His careful observations of... View full entry
The cooling tower was being built in the city of Fengcheng in Jiangxi province when the scaffolding tumbled down [...]
Chinese President Xi Jinping urged local governments to learn from the accident and hold those responsible accountable. [...]
China has suffered several major work-safety accidents in recent years blamed on weak regulatory oversight, systemic corruption and pressure to boost production amid a slowing economy.
— ap.org
According to the Associated Press, the collapse is "the country's worst work-safety accident in over two years." The cause is currently under investigation.Related on Archinect:Five dead after eight metre concrete wall collapses in Birmingham, EnglandBerkeley balcony collapse investigation: no... View full entry
Landscape architect and innovative urbanist Diana Balmori has died at age 84, as announced by her firm's website. The Spanish-born Balmori, who founded her own firm in New York City at age 58, was known for her site-defining and inventive landscape architecture works, including the Abandoibarra... View full entry
The influential designer Jane Thompson passed away on Tuesday. Working fluidly across the fields of design, urbanism, and architecture, Thompson left a lasting mark on American visual culture.Thompson started her career as the assistant curator at the Museum of Modern Art, then led by Philip... View full entry
“One day at around eight in the morning, I was returning from the market when six of the developer’s thugs tackled me outside my home and pushed me into a car,” remembers Xi.
Several others, she says, climbed a ladder to her balcony. Xi says she screamed for her husband, but it was too late. There was a scuffle inside, and then black smoke poured out of their balcony window before the house went up in flames. Xi’s husband burned to death, and the developer’s men escaped.
— marketplace.org
Related stories in the Archinect news:How Chinese families are handling the country's ongoing mass evictionsPhotographer captures the changing face of ShanghaiNow THAT's a skywalk! Jin Mao Tower to open world's highest fenceless, all transparent walkway in Shanghai View full entry
Police were called to the Hawkeswood Metal recycling plant at 8.45am today after a large concrete wall containing metal collapsed.
Paramedics tried to free the men, including one who had suffered a heart attack, however West Midlands Police pronounced all five victims dead at the scene.
A sixth man was taken to hospital with serious leg injuries.
The victims have yet to be identified.
— globalconstructionreview.com
Police investigation is underway, but next to nothing is known at the moment as to why the wall at a Birmingham recycling centre collapsed. Responding to the tragedy, Brian Rye of the construction union UCATT commented: “Information on how and why this accident occurred is currently very... View full entry
On May 7, 2016, Joshua Brown, 40, of Williston, Florida was heading down the highway in his Tesla Model S, using the car’s autopilot mode, when he fatally collided with a tractor trailer. The truck took a left-turn in front of his vehicle, and according to a news release issued by Tesla... View full entry
