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There's still time to apply for the AA School of Architecture 2015 Summer DLAB :: RED workshop. Starting July 27 through August 14, the summer program emphasizes the integration of algorithmic / generative design methodologies and large scale digital fabrication tools. Student participants get to... View full entry
It might be the City’s most contested site. A new call to list No 1 Poultry, designed by architect Sir James Stirling and one of the last monuments of postmodernism, has revived a debate about the position and the protection of recent heritage.
A proposal by Perella Weinberg [...] to make changes to an imperfect building has provoked the Twentieth Century Society to call for its listing at Grade II*, the second highest status available (and the highest possible for such a recent structure).
— ft.com
Related:Robin Hood Gardens residents dare Lord Rogers to spend a night in the blighted estateHow a postmodernist department store is trying to become the youngest monument in Poland View full entry
The City of London Corporation has promised a more "rigorous" assessment of developers' predictions of ground winds, following complaints about strong gusts outside the 20 Fenchurch Street Building, better known as the Walkie Talkie.
"I almost got blown over the other day walking up past the building," a sales assistant working nearby said earlier this year. "When I got around the corner it was fine. I was scared to go back."
— bbc.com
It's not the tower's first run-in with the laws of physics:Rafael Viñoly-designed "Walkie Talkie" skyscraper melts car with light reflections'Walkie Scorchie’ building given permanent sunshade View full entry
The project, called Underline, will include the underground’s first music commission and a plan by the Turner prize-nominated architectural collective Assemble to improve what is regarded as one of the most unloved station exits on the entire network, at Seven Sisters in north London. — theguardian.com
Organized by "Art on the Underground", a group that curates contemporary artworks for display in the London Underground, the new project will bring a variety of art, music and architectural interventions to the Victoria Line. Commissions selected to be part of the Underline are not simply public... View full entry
[London Mayor Boris] Johnson, who uses the city’s bike-share system to commute to work most days, told the Guardian that he would welcome the quieter, greener buses on his city’s streets, saying current buses are like “throbbing, belching machines that emit their fumes like wounded war-elephants”. — qz.com
Since 2008, London Mayor Boris Johnson has introduced over 1,300 hybrid buses onto city streets, and all-electric single-decker buses have been in use since 2013. It was previously thought that all-electric double-decker buses weren't feasible – their size makes them too difficult to efficiently... View full entry
Opening in October, Newport Street Gallery is the realisation of Hirst’s long-term ambition to share his diverse collection – which includes over 3,000 works – with the public. [...]
Designed by architects Caruso St John, Newport Street Gallery spans 37,000 square feet, which includes a restaurant and shop. Its construction has involved the conversion of three listed Victorian buildings [...].
— Damien Hirst
Previously: Damien Hirst's gallery development draws closer to completition View full entry
100%DESIGN is packing an extra punch of color this time around. Since its humble beginnings in a tent along London's King's Road back in 1995, 100%DESIGN has grown year after year into the UK's largest trade show that promotes global top-notch design and creativity. Over 20,000 attendees in the... View full entry
Although the cranes swing, much of the new living zones now being created range from the ho-hum to the outright catastrophic. The skyline is being plundered for profit, but without creating towers to be proud of or making new neighbourhoods with any positive qualities whatsoever. If London is an enormous party, millions of people are on the wrong side of its velvet rope. — theguardian.com
Rowan Moore sets a signpost in London's rampant development, checking in on the industries and businesses struggling in the midst of city-wide growth. Moore points out that while things like a bevy of cranes and a thriving multicultural food scene may look like more feathers in London's urban hat... View full entry
Seen exclusively by the Guardian, the document sheds new light on why so little affordable housing is being built across England; why planning policy consistently fails to be enforced; and why property developers are now enjoying profits that exceed even those of the pre-crash housing bubble. — theguardian.com
And the affordable housing crisis is certainly not restricted to the greater London area as many recent headlines on Archinect show:No room for affordable housing in SF? Build it in Oakland"We've got enough millionaires": George Lucas wants to build affordable housing on his own landDevelopers in... View full entry
Lots of summer blockbuster news to discuss on this week's podcast. The winner of the Helsinki Guggenheim competition was announced (a young husband-wife firm from Paris took the cake), SelgasCano's "psychedelic chrysalis" Serpentine Pavilion opened, and Andres Jaque's COSMO for MoMA PS1's "Warm... View full entry
In this first year of Build Your Own Pavilion, young people aged 8 to 14 are invited to submit their Pavilion designs online and at workshops across the UK during the summer of 2015. The platform and workshops give an insight to the basic principles of architectural design and workshop students will be given the Pavilion brief and a toolkit that begins with sketching by hand, working with simple modeling materials and progressing to 3D design and print technologies. — serpentinegalleries.org
Earlier this week, London's Serpentine Galleries launched the much anticipated 2015 summer pavilion — a vibrant and playful space slug designed by SelgasCano.To celebrate fifteen years of pavilions (and continuing the theme of "playfulness"), the Galleries also launched Build Your Own Pavilion... View full entry
When Lord Rogers launched a campaign to save one of London’s most notorious housing estates from demolition, he was adamant that it was a desirable place to live. [...]
It is a claim he may regret. Unhappy residents of the estate have challenged the peer to be true to his word and swap his £12 million Chelsea townhouse for a few nights in one of their blighted flats.
— telegraph.co.uk
Previously: Robin Hood Gardens Set For Demolition View full entry
As the central theme of the London Festival of Architecture (LFA) in its 2015 edition, “Work in Progress” welcomes a discussion on the changing nature of the workplace and its impact on the city. The Festival, which opened on June 1st, hosts a series of events in both cultural and academic... View full entry
[...] has ordered a review of the procurement process for London’s garden bridge design after the Architects’ Journal revealed apparent irregularities in the tendering process. [...]
Heatherwick’s £173,000 fee was more than three times more expensive than the £49,939 offer by Wilkinson Eyre, and more than 11 times that of the £15,125 offer by Marks Barfield.
[...] cost of the project could fund 30 new London parks or 30 times the amount of open space the bridge would provide.
— theguardian.com
Previously View full entry
A few weeks after the Royal Institute of British Architects announced the winners of the 2015 regional London Award, the competition continues with the announcement of the National Award winners. Thirty-seven projects from throughout the UK including England, Northern Ireland, Wales, and Scotland... View full entry
