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From masterplans to reconfigure London after the Great Fire of 1666 to contemporary responses to earthquakes and tsunamis, the exhibition considers the evolving relationship between man, architecture and nature and asks whether we are now facing a paradigm shift in how we live and build in the 21st century. — BBC News Magazine
Paul Kerley talked with curator Jes Fernie, about a new exhibition, Creation from Catastrophe, at the Royal Institute of British Architects. View full entry
Robots will take over the courtyard of London’s V&A Museum this summer to build a pavilion inspired by flying beetles.
The installation – designed by architect Achim Menges – features an undulating canopy of tightly woven carbon fibre cells, drawing on the shells of insects called elytra. Visitors will also be able to watch the robots in action over the course of the summer as they continue to add new sections to the evolving ‘Elytra Filament Pavilion’.
— the Spaces
For more robo-news, check out these links:The dawn of construction worker robots?3D printing will recreate destroyed Palmyra archMIT presents 3D printer that can print 10 materials simultaneously without breaking the bankAnother study warns that 3D-printers pose potential health risks for usersNew... View full entry
Based in London, Elsie Owusu OBE runs her own firm (Elsie Owusu Architects), is a national council member at the Royal Institute of British Architects, and is vice chair at the London School of Architecture. But it’s likely that many Archinectors hadn’t heard of Owusu until December of last... View full entry
The number of premature deaths attributed to particulate pollution has risen, government figures show.
According to Public Health England, the percentage of premature deaths attributable to minute particles known as PM2.5s rose to 5.3% in 2013 in England from 5.1% in 2012. The death rate in London rose to 6.7% from 6.6%. The figures follow significant improvements in air quality across England in 2010 and 2011.
— the Guardian
Related:New Delhi mandates odd-even car rationing to fight world's worst air pollutionReducing Turin's smog with free public transitBeijing's latest "airpocalypse" is bad enough for city to issue first ever red alertCar-free events significantly improve air quality View full entry
Is there no architecture that can bare its soul without simultaneously crushing you with its ego, that stirs, moves, troubles, provokes, inspires? [...]
A glimmer of an alternative is suggested by Mavericks: Breaking the Mould of British Architecture, an installation opening next week [...]
The installation is designed by the architect Alex Scott-Whitby, previously best known for proposing that the spires of City of London churches be adapted to make creative workspaces.
— theguardian.com
"Mavericks: Breaking the Mould of British Architecture" runs at London's Royal Academy of Art from January 26 through April 20, and features the work of FAT, Robert Smythson, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Zaha Hadid, James Stirling, and many others.Related news:Richard Rogers' Homeshell built in... View full entry
Researchers at University College London (UCL) claim that a “revolutionary” new type of window could cut cleaning costs in tall buildings and reduce heating bills by up to 40% thanks to a new combination of nano-scale engineering inspired by the eyes of moths, and thermochromic coating.
The prototype, revealed today, has conical nanostructures engraved on its surface that trap air and prevent all but a tiny amount of water coming into actual contact with the glass.
— globalconstructionreview.com
"The lead UCL researcher said this would be a big draw for high-rise building owners, since the cost of cleaning the windows surpasses the cost of installing them after the first five years."Related news stories on Archinect:MIT researchers have created a new material that stores and releases... View full entry
One can now find the place where many South Londoners took refuge during World War II. The tunnels at Clapham, now open to the public for the first time, once catered for over 8,000 people.
After lying dormant for 70 years, the tunnels and beds left untouched have been reopened.
— Architect's Newspaper
Related:• NBBJ proposes 3 moving walkways to replace London's Circle Line• Cut away confusion from your NYC commute with these beautiful subway maps• How Engineers Are Building a New Railroad Under New York City View full entry
Hey London, how do you feel about a major span across the Thames being corporately sponsored? Because that's what's going to happen with the Garden Bridge.
It's just been announced that Sky, the media behemoth owned by Rupert Murdoch, has given an undisclosed amount to the Garden Bridge Trust. But this is no altruistic gesture: one of the gardens on the bridge "will be named by Sky".
— Londonist
As the article notes, there are a slew of issues – besides aesthetic ones – plaguing the newest Thames crossing. First, Sky is set to sponsor the bridge. Second, attendance projections suggest that queues will be necessary and South Bank will get even more crowded (so much for expediting... View full entry
...the Paddington Place scheme – a huge development around the eponymous London station intended to include a 72-storey tower designed by Renzo Piano... [has] drawn the ire of Sir Terry Farrell, the famous architect and local resident who was also, slightly awkwardly, previously in charge of the developers’ masterplan for the area.
Farrell, known for designing the MI6 building on the Thames and Charing Cross station, made his views known in a dense, 1,500-word objection...
— the Guardian
Whereas residents were once all long-term tenants, in the 35 years since Margaret Thatcher encouraged people to buy – and therefore sell – their council flats and houses, the population of places like this has become ever more transient.
In particular, homes that were once council properties are now often owned by buy-to-let landlords who rent them out on a short-term basis.
— The Guardian
Designing out homelessness appears to be part of a wider ambition to make consumers and investors feel secure, while avoiding direct human intervention. [...]
It is an indictment of our communities that we have come to identify street homelessness as a form of “disorder” – a sign that something is amiss or dangerous in our public spaces. Yet the reality is that these kinds of design and security measures are put in place because of the breakdown of these very communities.
— theconversation.com
This piece by Rowland Atkinson (Chair in Inclusive Societies) and Aidan While (Senior Lecturer in Urban Studies and Planning) at the University of Sheffield gets at how exclusionary design towards the homeless and so-called "rough" sleepers (those who sleep in the city's streets) is a sign of... View full entry
The Royal College of Art has announced the appointment of Dr Adrian Lahoud as Dean of the School of Architecture.
Currently Head of the Architecture programme, Dr Lahoud joined the College in September 2015. Previously he led the MArch in Urban Design at The Bartlett, University College London. [...]
The appointment represents the conclusion of an international search. Dr Lahoud will take up his new position in January 2016.
— Royal College of Art
If there is one thing Britons dislike more than their country’s housing shortage, it is the idea of building more houses. Even as a lack of homes has sent prices through the roof... cities have remained ringed by protected “green belts” of land that are off-limits to developers. Attempts to build on them provoke outcry. But on December 7th the government published a consultation on letting councils allocate “appropriate small-scale sites in the green belt specifically for starter homes”... — the Economist
Alongside the companies shortlisted for the management services, four of the UK’s largest architectural practices have been shortlisted to provide architectural advice. The companies shortlisted are Allies & Morrison, BDP, Foster & Partners and HOK.
[...] The report, produced by Deloitte Real Estate, Aecom and HOK, stated that the major works would cost between £3.5bn and £5.7bn and take between five and 40 years to complete.
— construction-manager.co.uk
Related news on Archinect:With London's Palace of Westminster crumbling, the British government may have to find a new homeLondon skyline campaigners' dismay as Unesco ignores risk to Westminster View full entry
After a decade of outlandish proposals for the City, Parry has come up with a refreshingly blunt stick of a building for the centrepiece of the district’s “cluster” of office blocks. [...]
“The thing that’s most interesting in all this is urban design,” says Parry, deflecting the discussion away from the fact that he is penning the City’s tallest totem. He’s more concerned with fixing the human experience at street level: “The project is really all about public space.”
— theguardian.com
Soon to join the "great dinner party in the sky," between Rogers Strik Harbour + Partners' Cheesegrater and Foster + Partners' Gherkin, 1 Undershaft will be as tall as The Shard (the maximum height limit for the city). According to The Guardian, the building was also designed to have a triangular... View full entry