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Thinc Design and Empire State Realty Trust (ESRT) have announced the completion of the reimagined Empire State Building Observatory, marking the culmination of the final phase of a four-year $165 million-dollar transformation of the iconic tower. Acting as Experience Designer on the project, Thinc... View full entry
A Robert A. M. Stern Architects-designed high-rise has recently reached completion. And with a timeline of almost three years, the project's realization has made it Chicago's tallest "strictly residential" skyscraper, with the program lacking hotel, office, and retail program types. The... View full entry
As with every single other thing about Seattle, there’ve been some developments in residential design since 2008 [...] Here are five opportunities, in the form of developments in residential architecture over the past 10 years as identified — and expressed — by some plugged-in visionaries. — The Seattle Times
The Seattle Times tracked 5 developments in residential design addressing housing issues in the city. For each trend they spoke with an architecture professional working in the field. Below are Seattle's identified trends and some of the visionaries addressing them: 1. Multifamily Housing Moves... View full entry
A large crack formed in a window at the sinking and tilting Millennium Tower over the Labor Day weekend, prompting officials there to block off part of the sidewalk on Mission Street as a precaution, NBC Bay Area’s Investigative Unit has learned. City inspectors issued a notice of violation on Tuesday, giving the Millennium management 72 hours to report back on the extent of the problem and the soundness of the building’s façade in light of the failure. — nbcbayarea.com
The latest safety concern over San Francisco's sinking Millennium Tower occurred Labor Day weekend when residents heard creaking sounds followed by a loud popping noise in the building. Soon after the incident a resident living on the 36th floor found a crack in his window. The high rise is... View full entry
The recently completed Bolueta high rise by VArquitectos is now the tallest reaching Passive House building in the world. Located in Bilbao, Spain, the project includes an adjacent 9-story building with 63 apartments dedicated for social housing. Bolueta by VArquitectos, located in Bilbao... View full entry
Sutton Place residents filed a lawsuit Sunday in a last-ditch attempt to stop a luxury condo tower from rising on East 58th Street.
The plaintiffs, a group called the East River Fifties Alliance, are residents from the surrounding neighborhood, including condo owners whose views would be blocked by a roughly 800-foot tower under construction at 430 E. 58th St.
— crainsnewyork.com
Construction on NYC's Sutton 58 condo project was previously halted after Sutton Place residents secured a rezoning proposal. The rezoning mandated squatter buildings making Sutton 58 noncompliant. Since then a city zoning board granted the project a reprieve, resulting in the resident's lawsuit... View full entry
Studio Gang reveals a new, 400-foot tall residential tower called "MIRA" for San Francisco's Transbay neighborhood. The building features classic bay windows staggered in a twisting design around the structure. "MIRA" high rise rendering by Studio Gang, located in San Francisco. Image: Studio... View full entry
Across Hong Kong, where almost half the population lives in government-provided housing, public housing complexes have become wildly popular Instagram destinations. Locals and tourists have flocked to estates around the city, craning their necks to get that perfect social media shot and irritating residents in the process.
The estates have drawn professional interest as well, featuring prominently in marketing campaigns and even a music video by the Korean boy band Seventeen.
— The New York Times
Hong Kong's public housing, largely built in the 1960's and 70's, has attracted widespread public attention for its aesthetic appeal. These modernist style high-rises photograph beautifully with colorful displays of clean lined symmetry. While these buildings are visually engaging, they also play... View full entry
The Austrian branch of Penda reveals a residential high-rise for Tel Aviv defined by arches and cascading terraces. The design responds to the broad display of the city’s Bauhaus era and responds to the city's climate challenges rather than opting for another glass tower. Tel Aviv Arcades... View full entry
If yesterday’s terraces were just little rectangular slabs tacked onto the sides of buildings — on which a tenant might cower, or perhaps more likely, rarely step foot — today’s are becoming increasingly generous and welcoming.
Some developers and architects are ushering in a new age of terrace design in a bid to provide more interesting outdoor space, capitalize on views and add greenery. In the process, they’re adding drama to the buildings themselves.
— NY Times
Via 57 West terraces (pictured above) are inset to the building by BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group). The firm names them “cockpits” due to their shelter against wind and noise. 305 East 44th Street terrace floor rendering. Image: Moso Studio.Terraces of 1,400-square-feet will be located between... View full entry
San Francisco lives with the certainty that the Big One will come. But the city is also putting up taller and taller buildings clustered closer and closer together because of the state’s severe housing shortage. Now those competing pressures have prompted an anxious rethinking of building regulations. Experts are sending this message: The building code does not protect cities from earthquakes nearly as much as you might think. — New York Times
Taking a hard look at San Francisco's building codes, this NY Times piece goes in depth on what it means for city high rises if the next big earthquake hit. From the 1906 earthquake and fire to current seismic safety, concerns revolve around the number of skyscrapers built on liquefaction zones... View full entry
Chicago-based architecture firm Studio Gang has signed on to design an eye-catching 26-story apartment and hotel tower in Chinatown.
The widely-respected firm has designed numerous projects in Chicago, San Francisco, and New York, including the expansion of the American Museum of Natural History. This would be its first in Los Angeles.
— la.curbed.com
Studio Gang has released plans to design a high-rise in Los Angeles' Chinatown, a space near the rapidly evolving Arts District downtown. The developer Compagnie de Phalsbourg, a French real estate investment company, brought on the firm to design the mixed-use building. The new project will... View full entry
Fifteen Hudson Yards, designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro in collaboration with Rockwell Group, has now topped out and stands over 900 feet tall. This is the first tower within the 28-acre NYC site with for-sale residencies. Sales for the 285 condominiums have now surpassed 50%, with the... View full entry
"By investing in Framework, our city will now be home to the first skyscraper made from wood in the United States. This project not only reflects Oregon’s leadership in the newly emerging wood products industry of Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), it also demonstrates our city’s commitment to finding innovative ways to quickly deliver affordable units during our housing crisis,” said Portland Mayor, Ted Wheeler. — Portland Housing Bureau
LEVER Architecture's project, Framework, has been awarded 6M from the city of Portland as a recipient of the City's "Fast Starts" Affordable Housing Program. The program aims at providing financial and city level assistance in the development and deployment of affordable housing projects that aim... View full entry
A surge of tall buildings, the vast majority of them housing rental apartments, is creating a densely populated, urban core [...] the Super Loop is patently un-super in at least one respect: It lacks a new version of the technological and aesthetic innovations that made Chicago's reputation as the cradle of modern architecture. As Mayor Rahm Emanuel prepares to host the second edition of a global architecture biennial [...], most of the new high-rises are based on tired commercial formulas. — Chicago Tribune
Chicago's Super Loop is gentrifying and becoming denser as apartment buildings are multiplying and younger generations are moving in. But, most of the new apartments in these high rises are quickly built concrete boxes with glass balconies. The ordinary character of new construction in Chicago's... View full entry
