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TECLA, the world’s first raw earth house constructed using 3D printing, is to be exhibited as one of 17 projects in the Build Better Now virtual exhibition at COP26. As we previously reported, the exhibition will also feature a sustainability-focused 360-degree virtual pavilion designed by Make... View full entry
In advance of the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) taking place in Glasgow, Scotland in November 2021, the UK Green Building Council has announced 17 sustainable projects to be displayed in an online exhibition. The exhibition, titled Build Better Now, will take place in virtual reality, and... View full entry
AMO, the research, branding, and publication studio of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), has taken over the fences of the United Nations headquarters in New York for a public exhibition that serves as a continuation of Countryside, The Future. Curated by architect and OMA... View full entry
It is unlawful for governments to return people to countries where their lives might be threatened by the climate crisis, a landmark ruling by the United Nations human rights committee has found.
The judgment – which is the first of its kind – represents a legal “tipping point” and a moment that “opens the doorway” to future protection claims for people whose lives and wellbeing have been threatened due to global heating, experts say.
— The Guardian
The Guardian reports that the United Nations human rights committee has issued a landmark ruling that could establish a precedent for granting asylum rights to people displaced by climate change. The non legally-binding ruling is poised to inform how the global community handles up what could... View full entry
Made official yesterday at the beginning of the new year, the US has now withdrawn from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Along with Israel, the two countries first announced that they would be leaving the organization in October of 2017, citing anti-Israel... View full entry
If you live or work in a city, then you probably see the impact of growing urbanization every day—gridlock traffic, construction cranes peppering the skyline, soaring housing costs. Sure, these are major challenges and annoyances for city dwellers, but they also represent a huge opportunity for the global architecture, engineering, and construction industry: one that requires building the future for a 10-billion-person planet. — autodesk.com
According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 68% of the world population are projected to live in urban areas by 2050. Autodesk explores the implications for architectural growth in this timeframe with market research firm Statista. Take a look at the projected... View full entry
Aecom has been appointed by the United Nations to work on the renovation of its European headquarters in Geneva. [...]
The UN is looking to upgrade the systems at its 100,000 sq m Palais des Nations complex, much of which was built in the 1930s.
Aecom will work with architects SOM and Burckhardt+Partner to renovate the power, cooling, security and IT systems.
— Construction News
Completed in 1938 as the League of Nations HQ, the expansive Palace of Nations building complex has been the home of the United Nations Office at Geneva since 1946 (Switzerland actually did not join the UN until 2002). The Aecom/SOM team is joined by Swiss firm Burckhardt+Partner. View full entry
The United States plans to withdraw from UNESCO, citing financial reasons, as well as what it said was anti-Israel bias at the U.N.’s educational, cultural and science organization. — the Washington Post
This morning, the U.S. notified the organization of their intention to withdraw at the end of 2018. Unesco, the United Nations cultural organization, supports a variety of programs promoting education, natural sciences, social/human sciences, culture and information around the world, but is... View full entry
The world heritage site status of Liverpool’s waterfront is in jeopardy after the city’s mayor, Joe Anderson, rejected a plea by UN cultural chiefs to halt development in the city [...]
Anderson said he would be writing to the UN body informing it that the city would not be complying with its request [...]
Heritage campaigners recently went to court in a fight to stop the demolition of 10 historic buildings near Liverpool Lime Street station in the buffer zone.
— The Guardian
More Liverpool-related architecture news on archinect:RIBA set to open national architecture centre in LiverpoolTurning the “ugliest building in Liverpool” into an exemplar of public healthAssemble wins Turner Prize, becoming first architects to win "UK's most prestigious art prize" View full entry
The more period commentary on these spaces you read...the more you see the hotel's owners are falling into the very trap the interiors were engineered to escape: banality, anywhere-ness, the flimsiness of changing fashion...Are the current going to rip out the mirror and replace it with barn wood and mason jars? Just wait. Stop the unpermitted demolition. Landmark this interior and, in doing so, remind people of its undated and undateable wonder. — ny.curbed.com
Alexandra Lange writes about the Ambassador Grill & Lounge and Hotel Lobby at the United Nations Plaza Hotel (now known as ONE UN New York), which is currently planned for reconstruction and where illegal exploratory demolition has reportedly begun. The remodeling plan has sparked outcry from... View full entry
On 22 October, [United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing Leilani] Farha challenged the General Assembly to promote urban development through the lens of human rights.
“Human rights can be transformational,” she said. “A human rights framework can provide the coherence and consistency sorely needed to achieve sustainable, inclusive cities for all.” [...]
“Human rights have been largely absent from discussions of urban development,” Farha cautioned.
— citiscope.org
A "special rapporteur" is "an independent expert appointed by the Human Rights Council to examine and report back on a country situation or a specific human rights theme." In a recent report to the U.N.'s Human Rights Council, which you can read in its entirety here, rapporteur Leilani Farha... View full entry
On September 27th, the MASS Design Group will officially present their idea for a Bauhaus-type school for Sub-Saharan Africa at the United Nations Solutions Summit. The proposed program would be based in Kigali, Rwanda and would purposefully "incubate local innovation towards tackling the biggest... View full entry
When the 70th regular session of the General Assembly convenes on Sept. 15, it will do so in a complex of buildings that hasn’t looked so good or felt so secure in generations.
“We now have a very safe compound,” said Michael Adlerstein, [...] executive director of a seven-year, $2.15 billion renovation, known as the capital master plan, that is nearing completion. More visible than anything else is the robust yet crystalline new glass facade of the 39-story Secretariat building.
— nytimes.com
New York’s United Nations Headquarters, completed in 1952, pioneered the global workplace. Now nearing the end of a $2.1 billion makeover, it’s again in the vanguard. [...]
It might have been easier -- and possibly cheaper -- to tear the whole structure down and start from scratch. However, for an organization for which precedent and symbolism govern every handshake, the historical meaning of the UN’s architecture still resonates.
— bloomberg.com
The new regional head office of the United Nations in Copenhagen, designed by 3XN, has just been inaugurated.
Check out the very impressive sculptural staircase in its core which, according to the architects, is designed to reflect the UN’s work to create global dialogue.
— bustler.net
