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Leading Canadian contemporary design magazine Azure recently concluded another successful edition of their AZ Awards. Claimed to be Canada's only international, multi-disciplinary design competition of its kind, the awards welcome architects, designers, manufacturers, and students from all design... View full entry
On a recent afternoon, the historian Robert Jan van Pelt was standing in a quiet room at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, explaining the significance of an unassuming steel-mesh column that visitors to this sprawling survey of global design might walk right past.
“This is one of the most deadly things so far created,” Mr. van Pelt said. And it was the handiwork, he noted, of an architect.
— the New York Times
"The column — painted, like everything else in the room, a pristine white — is a reproduction of one of the eight chutes used to lower Zyklon B poison pellets into gas chambers at Auschwitz."For more from the 2016 Venice Biennale, check out these links:Dispatch from the Venice Biennale: a... View full entry
Canada's University of Calgary paid almost $16,000 ($20,000 Canadian, ~£10,800) to recover crucial data that has been held hostage for more than a week by crypto ransomware attackers.
The ransom was disclosed on Wednesday morning in a statement issued by University of Calgary officials. It said university IT personnel had made progress in isolating the unnamed ransomware infection and restoring affected parts of the university network.
— Ars Technica
"It went on to warn that there's no guarantee paying the controversial ransom will lead to the lost data being recovered."Attacks with ransomware have become increasingly frequent. As the name suggests, ransomware allows hackers to take computers hostage until the user pays up. The... View full entry
Much will be published over the coming days about the Biennale's national pavilion winners—Spain’s “Unfinished” (with the Golden Lion) and Japan’s “en: Art of Nexus” and Peru’s “Our Amazon Frontline” (with special mentions). It is a phenomenon that conceals the terrain... View full entry
After a week of wildfires raging through the town of Fort McMurray and the surrounding area, more than 500,000 acres of forest and 2,400 buildings have been destroyed in Alberta, Canada. Rachel Notley, Alberta's premier, said that 90% of Fort McMurray remains intact, though several neighborhoods were complete losses...While the last fires in town are put out, and infrastructure repaired, more than 80,000 residents will have to wait at least another two weeks before they can return. — The Atlantic
More on Archinect:Fire on 50th floor of Chicago's Hancock Center left five people injuredTrial by fire: man waits out raging wildfires in concrete homeFlying firefighters: the jetpack is quickly becoming a realityIn case of fire, use elevators View full entry
Originally built as the U.S. Pavilion in the memorable World Expo of 1967, the steel structural frame of Buckminster Fuller's Biosphere remains standing to this day as a sole landmark in Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau. In planning for the 50th anniversary of Expo 67 as well as Montreal's 375th... View full entry
A University of Waterloo employee secretly arranged for his mother to be paid $148,000 from the school’s coffers, his fraud trial heard Tuesday. Jeffrey Lederer is charged with fraud, theft and uttering forged documents.
He was employed by Waterloo until 2011, when he was asked to leave his position as general manager of the university’s architectural school.
— CTV News
Although he's no Bernie Madoff, just how does the former General Manager's illegal fund finagling rank in the annals of architectural rip-offs?Here's a tour of recent questionable architectural appropriations:Sean John rips off Pentagram's poster for Yale School of ArchitectureGetting ripped off... View full entry
The City of Vancouver has reached an agreement with Canadian Pacific Railway that will transform a contentious stretch of old rail corridor into a public greenway.
Under the deal, the city will pay $55 million to purchase the land on the railway route, which extends for nine kilometres from False Creek near Downtown Vancouver to Marpole on the city's south side.
— CBC News
Once the unofficial home to community gardens and in situ artworks, under the city's plan the Vancouver's Arbutus Corridor will become a place for cyclists and walkers. It's not the High Line (although much like that project, Vancouver city officials would like to continue thinking that the rail... View full entry
The sentiment is warm and fuzzy. The design, however, is radical: BIG has imagined a complex that would be unlike any other building in the city – or, indeed, North America. The scheme blends an unusual stack-of-blocks form, and adds a complex weave of public and private spaces underneath and within the heart of the building itself...the effect [Bjarke Ingels] is going for is akin to 'a Mediterranean mountain town.' — The Globe and Mail
More recent BIG projects: BIG to design 2016 Serpentine Pavilion, alongside smaller "Summer Houses" by Kunlé Adeyemi, Barkow Leibinger, Yona Friedman and Asif Kahn BIG in Paris: Bjarke Ingels to design for Galeries Lafayette on Champs-Élysées BIG's concept for a spiraling-landscape tower in... View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2016Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming... View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2016Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming... View full entry
Allan Teramura, FRAIC, of Ottowa is known for his advocacy work for Aboriginal communities, as well as his contribution as one of RAIC's representatives at the COP21 Conference in Paris. He has also worked to form collaborations between the RAIC and multiple Canadian and international... View full entry
What went wrong in Winnipeg was not just about architecture, and 5468796 were stuck trying to make the best of a bad situation. The pulling out of government support to make Centre Village an actual co-operative changed the [project's direction]...'It’s time to get the peanut butter off our fingers,' said Ross McGowan, former chief executive and president of CentreVenture...He admits that a failure to understand the needs of the community took a considerable toll on the project. — The Guardian
Despite good intentions to help families in need, perhaps the worst nightmare an architect can face when designing affordable housing is realizing that the project — which would of course already be fully built — doesn't meet the actual demands of the community, and then some. That's basically... View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2016Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session. Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming... View full entry
The annual Phyllis Lambert Grant puts the Montreal design scene in the spotlight. Established in 2007 by the City and named in tribute to Montreal native architect Phyllis Lambert, the grant recognizes a locally based designer or firm — who has no more than 10 years of practice — for... View full entry
