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I’ll pass by the abuse of metaphors (do milestones have hearts?) but not of trees, this being another case of certain designers’ mania for picking them up, moving them around and putting them where they don’t want to be.
Those words from the studio also take liberties with the idea of art. They call the Tree of Trees a “sculpture”. Boris Johnson may once have compared Heatherwick to Michelangelo, but David it is not.
— The Guardian
The Observer critic joined a plethora of online commentators that picked apart Heatherwick Studio’s “Tree Of Trees” Earth Day announcement by comparing it to last year’s fiasco surrounding the MVRDV-designed Marble Arch Mound, which he described as a “cartoon version of nature is... View full entry
David Adjaye and Ron Arad’s design for a UK Holocaust Memorial has been halted by the country’s High Court following a legal challenge. As reported by UK outlet Building Design, the £100 million ($130 million) proposal was ruled to have been in breach of a one-hundred-year-old law which... View full entry
HS2 Ltd., the British non-departmental public body behind the development of High Speed 2 (HS2) national high-speed railway, has released an updated design for its new terminus station at London Euston. Two new images, updated from 2015, show the concept design for the interior and exterior... View full entry
Humans have led nomadic lifestyles for thousands of years. We settle in one place, move to another–some of us never even settle at all. Our lives fluctuate, but save for the odd floating office or experimental walking house, our buildings remain anchored in place. Once they’re built, they only have two potential futures: demolish, or reuse. A new building in London, however, offers an interesting alternative: demount and move elsewhere. — Fast Company
The office building, designed by London-based architecture firm IF_DO, was made to be mobile, as it sits atop a “meanwhile space,” a location that hosts temporary buildings until the local council develops permanent plans for the space. This building will occupy the site in London's borough of... View full entry
A planning report for the scheme acknowledges criticism of the Sphere for its scale and massing, its impact on Stratford Station, and the impact of advertising on nearby residents. But it says the Sphere would ‘establish a strong sense of place at a scale that is not considered to be excessive, taking account of the established scale of surrounding buildings. — Architects' Journal UK
More than 1,000 objections were lodged against the project, which will come before the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC) for a final approval vote on Tuesday. Their voices echo the derision Guardian critic Oliver Wainwright and others have parroted against the giant LED display’s... View full entry
This megalopolis of engineering currently lies there, pristine, unspotted by gum or pigeon, with its 319-tonne trains gliding quietly through every few minutes, empty, so that those operating the system can familiarise themselves with the choreography of all that heavy metal. Electronic indicator boards announce their coming with white digits, a notch classier than the orange ones on the old tube. — The Guardian
Moore described the nearly empty £18.33 billion ($23.84 billion) project as an “alternative universe” before likening the transition between the new Elizabeth line and older Central Underground to a scene from (attempted architecture critic) Lewis Caroll’s Alice in Wonderland. The... View full entry
The London School of Architecture has announced a scholarship program for students from low-income households. The initiative will see three recipients each awarded £36,000 (approximately $47,000), covering the full fees and associated costs of the LSA’s two-year MArch program. The funding for... View full entry
The long-awaited inaugural phase of what will eventually serve as the future home of London’s Zaha Hadid Foundation (ZHF) is now set to go after the organization announced a new museum and research center initiative slated for two locations in the adopted hometown of its late namesake. The two... View full entry
The result was a beguiling cocktail – part bastion, part brutalist hanging gardens of Babylon – and it stood as the ultimate expression of the modern movement’s search for a monument.
The complexity of incorporating so many venues on so many levels across a 40-acre site has always made the place an infuriating labyrinth for the uninitiated, with successive decades of signage and way-finding strategies deployed in an attempt to ease the maze-like passageways.
— The Guardian
The Barbican’s important birthday comes ahead of next month’s revealing of the winner of the City of London Corporation-sponsored redevelopment contest. The Centre is celebrating with a weekend of special programming including a guest DJ’d after party. Previously on Archinect: City of London... View full entry
The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) has revealed a shortlist of seven teams in the running to lead the refurbishment and modernization of its 66 Portland Place headquarters in London. RIBA announced the planned redesign in October in a move that aims to reimagine the use of... View full entry
An important update has been issued to one of the most-watched cultural projects in the UK this afternoon after Selldorf Architects released their initial plans for the redesigned Sainsbury Wing at the National Gallery of Art in London. The firm was tapped in July to lead a multidisciplinary... View full entry
Social media is buzzing about the unreal damage to the O2 Arena's PTFE-coated glass fiber roof, which tore off during a live performance in the early morning hours Friday. A spokesperson for London’s Fire Brigade told the Evening-Standard there is no “actual collapse” of the roof or... View full entry
The first details for the design of the 2022 Serpentine Pavilion have been released. Designed by Chicago-based artist Theaster Gates, and titled Black Chapel, the scheme draws inspiration from the industrial kilns of the English midlands, resulting in a cylindrical wooden structure with a... View full entry
As a follow up to the recent surprising news that insurance giant Lloyd’s of London may be considering a potential exit from the award-winning Lime Street headquarters designed for them by late architect Richard Rogers in the late 1970s (opened in 1986), The Architect’s Journal UK is now... View full entry
An aging financial relic in London’s Canary Wharf is about to become the capital city’s next high-profile retrofit project thanks to a new plan from WilkinsonEyre. Architects’ Journal UK is reporting that the firm will lead a massive retrofit of the 21-year-old structure after the... View full entry
