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As part of the London Design Festival, the designjunction 2015 tradeshow brings together a stellar international group who are at the top of their game in contemporary interior design. Taking place at The College and the Victoria House along London's Southampton Row from September 24-27, visitors... View full entry
A City of London skyscraper, nicknamed the Walkie Talkie, has won the annual Carbuncle Cup, awarded to a building judged to be the UK's worst.
In its short history, the 37-storey office tower has melted parked cars and critics have compared its three-storey roof garden to an airport terminal.
Thomas Lane, who runs the awards, said the carbuncle "crashes into London's skyline like an unwelcome party guest".
— bbc.com
Previously:Walkie Talkie Tower summons the elements again — this time it's wind!'Walkie Scorchie’ building given permanent sunshadeRafael Viñoly-designed "Walkie Talkie" skyscraper melts car with light reflections'Prison-like' student housing wins Carbuncle Cup for Britain's worst building of... View full entry
In 2003 in Utah, government officials decided to try a radical solution to homelessness: giving people who would otherwise be on the street permanent housing. Twelve years later, the surprisingly cost-effective program is a success: almost all of the people given homes remained in them, and the... View full entry
Now in its fifth edition, the designjunction tradeshow is back for 2015 on September 24-27, this time at The College and the Victoria House in London's Southampton Row. As part of the upcoming 2015 London Design Festival, designjunction will showcase the latest products and cutting-edge designs... View full entry
the Pinnacle skyscraper grew to just nine floors before falling victim to financial wrangling. Often referred to as The Stump, its stunted lift core has stood as a concrete folly ever since work halted more than three years ago.
Its days are numbered. Scaffolding is now climbing up the core in preparation for demolition. The replacement building will have a very different design. The old core must be pummelled to rubble and a new one constructed.
— londonist.com
More from London's skyline:London's oligarch-transformation continues with a "sky pool"Artist Carsten Höller to wrap world's longest tunnel slide around the ArcelorMittal Orbit Tower in LondonWalkie Talkie Tower summons the elements again — this time it's wind!London is eating itself View full entry
For the overseas investor who has it all, what better trophy to add to the portfolio of properties you will never visit than an apartment with its own “sky pool”? London may already have a fairytale Sky Garden, but now Irish developer Ballymore plans to introduce a “world first” all-glass swimming pool bridge between two apartment blocks in Nine Elms, allowing its residents to float 10 storeys up in the air.
-Oliver Wainwright
— The Guardian
Founded five years ago, Assemble forged their reputation using otherwise valueless materials (demolition waste, reconstituted foam) and places (the abandoned gas station, the nook beneath a highway overpass) to develop ingenious temporary venues [...]
Their practical vision has more to do with how buildings are used than with their grandeur; and it is often the users, as much as the architects, who steer the projects.
— T Magazine
Assemble has been gaining a lot of attention recently for the inventive, recession-friendly approach to architecture. From converting an abandoned gas station into a cinema to placing a folly under a highway overpass, they're discovering new and unexpected modes (and locations) for architecture... View full entry
Regulations have progressively made homes more sustainable and energy-efficient, and voluntary codes take these standards further. Architects like to push them further still [...]
There are now housing associations and developers who can see the point of good design, and others who can’t quite, but still feel as if they should employ it. The public, too, perhaps encouraged by the TV programmes of Kevin McCloud, are more open to contemporary architecture.
— theguardian.com
According to The Guardian's Rowan Moore at least, who takes the long-view on how Britain's public housing policy and execution have changed in the last 50 years.Related on Archinect: 4 Public Housing Lessons the U.S. Could Learn From the Rest of the WorldLondon is eating itselfHousing mobility... View full entry
Julia Ingalls reviewed "Work on Work" the current exhibition at Los Angeles’ Architecture + Design Museum, co-organized by Gensler and UCLA’s cityLAB. Therein she writes "This feeling of being at an un-airconditioned business conference is not helped by the next section of the exhibit, in... View full entry
the government’s recent planning policy – which could have resulted in property developers dodging up to £1bn in affordable housing payments – has been definitively quashed following a High Court ruling. [...]
the “vacant building credit” let developers convert empty buildings into housing without making the usual Section 106 contributions for affordable homes.[...]
The ruling was described as a “victory for common sense [that] will help generate more affordable homes in London”
— theguardian.com
More on housing policy in the UK:The Guardian reveals how developers play the planning system to get around affordable housingLondon is eating itselfCornered: London Building Innovatively Addresses HomelessnessActivism targeting London's housing crisis bubbles to the surfaceLondon's traditionalist... View full entry
The architect behind the new Jack the Ripper museum in east London has said he was duped over the purpose of the project, after what was billed as a museum of women’s history became an attraction about Britain’s most notorious murderer of women. [...]
"We really ran with it. We did it at a bargain-basement fee, at cost price because we thought it was a great thing to do."
"You do rely on the moral fibre of your client but you should also be able to rely on the planning system"
— theguardian.com
the place where cities get “remade” is in the public rather than private sphere. Part of the problem, then, with privately owned public spaces (“Pops”) ... is that the rights of the citizens using them are severely hemmed in. [...]
[Pops] feel too monitored, too controlled, to allow this communal activity to simply unfold. London, and many other cities, are failing miserably to enable diversity in people’s engagement with such spaces.
— theguardian.com
More news from the public space:Urban design influences how public protests can take rootChristopher Hawthorne on the recovery of public space in Los AngelesLocals welcome The 606, a.k.a. Chicago's "High Line", but anxiety for its future remainsNot all sidewalks are created equal in D.C. View full entry
This week, the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in London announced that “the world’s longest and tallest tunnel slide” will wrap around Anish Kapoor’s “ArcelorMittal Orbit.” When the sculpture went up in 2009 after winning a design challenge, it proceeded to receive mostly scathing reviews — and a spot on the shortlist of the 2012 Carbuncle Cup [...]. Today, Kapoor revealed that the slide is actually a work of art, designed by none other than Carsten Höller at Kapoor’s own invitation. — hyperallergic.com
In other artsy-slide-related news on Archinect:Artist Carsten Höller to install massive slides on London's Hayward GalleryCarsten Höller Is Installing a Slide at New Museum View full entry
Kings Cross, a northern-London borough with an industrial history, has been undergoing massive redevelopment efforts since the turn of the millennium. Since then, the area has been referred to as an ongoing construction site, as a university, schools, affordable housing, and a public swimming... View full entry
London is ready to join the design biennale club as it begins working toward launching its very first international design biennale at the Somerset House on September 7-27, 2016**. Modeled after the biannual Venice architecture and art events, London plans to gather up to 40 countries that will... View full entry
