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In a surprising move, a federal judge ruled Tuesday that the city of Chicago was within its authority when it approved the Obama Foundation’s plan to build the Obama Presidential Center in Jackson Park.
After listening to nearly an hour of arguments on both sides, U.S. District Judge John Robert Blakey said construction of the sprawling Obama center campus can begin and dismissed the lawsuit filed by environmentalists that aimed to halt it.
— Chicago Tribune
Designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects, the planned Obama Presidential Center in Chicago's Jackson Park has faced strong opposition from the start and was barred from commencing construction due to the pending lawsuit brought forward by the group, Protect Our Parks. "Even though this... View full entry
Among the Inca archeological sites that abound in Peru, none draw nearly as many tourists as the famed citadel of Machu Picchu. [...]
Now, in a move that has drawn a mixture of horror and outrage from archaeologists, historians and locals, work has begun on clearing ground for a multibillion-dollar international airport, intended to jet tourists much closer to Machu Picchu .
— The Guardian
"In an effort to manage growing visitor numbers, Peru has tightened entry requirements to the site, limiting visits to morning and afternoon shifts after Unesco threatened to place Machu Picchu on a list of world heritage sites in danger," reports The Guardian. View full entry
The Administrative Court of Paris has approved Paris’ first skyscraper since Montparnasse in 1973, set to be located in the city's south. [...]
The ambitious building was first rejected in late-2014, and subsequently approved after some modifications by the Council of Paris mid-2015 by a narrow majority.
— The Urban Developer
Herzog & de Meuron's controversial Tour Triangle project is back from a lengthy legal hiatus and will—now officially backed by court approval—start construction later this year. Image: Herzog & de MeuronFirst unveiled in 2008, the 42-story triangle-shaped skyscraper wasn't an... View full entry
Last year, residents of Atlantic Plaza Towers, a rent-stabilized apartment building in Brooklyn, found out that their landlord was planning to replace the key fob entry system with facial recognition technology. [...]
But some residents were immediately alarmed by the prospect: They felt the landlord’s promise of added security was murky at best, and didn’t outweigh their concerns about having to surrender sensitive biometric information to enter their own homes.
— CityLab
"Housing complexes of low-income residents may be one early testing ground for residential applications of facial recognition technology," writes Tanvi Misra for CityLab. "But they’re not the only ones. Amazon’s doorbell company, Ring, is coming out with a video doorbell that incorporates... View full entry
The decision – that the Petronas Towers were indeed the world’s new tallest building(s), measuring 451.9 meters to the tops of their decorative spires – was based on the re-affirmation of a standard the Council had held for some 60 years. The antennae atop Sears Tower, which took it to an ultimate height of 527 meters, did not count toward its “architectural” height, because the antennae were not considered a permanent part of the building. [...]
It was not a popular decision in Chicago [...]
— Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat
Remember when the Southeast Asian nation of Malaysia laid claim to the title of "World’s Tallest Building" in 1996; daring to challenge Sears Tower's crown which had been the incumbent record holder since 1974? The Council for Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the organization responsible for... View full entry
Foster + Partners' design for a Tulip-shaped tourist attraction is being recommended for approval by City of London officials, reports Building Design. Sited next door to Norman Foster's Gherkin, the proposed viewing platform has received considerable pushback. Examples include opposition from... View full entry
A few weeks after being commissioned to design the 2019 Serpentine Pavilion, Junya Ishigami + Associates and the Serpentine Galleries are now under fire after it emerged that the big-name firm uses unpaid interns in Japan, the Architects' Journal reported today. An email sent by Junya Ishigami... View full entry
Residents of flats overlooked by the Tate Modern have lost their high court bid to stop “hundreds of thousands of visitors” looking into their homes from the art gallery’s viewing platform.
[...] the board of trustees of the Tate Gallery said the platform provided “a unique, free, 360-degree view of London” and argue that the claimants could simply “draw the blinds”.
— The Guardian
The judge presiding over the highly publicized case dismissed the residents' demands that parts of the 10th-floor public viewing terrace in the Tate Modern's Herzog & de Meuron-designed extension be closed off to prevent visitors from peeking through the floor-to-ceiling windows into the ritzy Neo... View full entry
Patrik Schumacher has sued to become the sole executor of Zaha Hadid's $85 million estate, applying to remove developer Peter Palumbo, Hadid's niece Rana, and artist Brian Clarke from the late Dame's will. Upon Hadid's death, Schumacher and five of the architect's relatives were each left a... View full entry
An exhibit traveling around China is facing legal action by the artists the exhibit claims to be showcasing. According to Nikken Asian Review, a Chinese company has been putting on pop-ups since April that have been displaying forged works meant to be by contemporary Japanese artists Yayoi Kusama... View full entry
Despite having been under construction for more than 130 years, Gaudí's Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona has lacked the proper paper work. Turns out, the Unesco world heritage site, attracting more than 20 million visitors a year, has never been granted a building permit, the BBC... View full entry
While the school district had tried repeatedly in court to stop Metro from building the subway underneath the high school’s campus, Korbatov’s “Stop the Purple Threat” campaign takes a different approach: Nab the attention of President Donald Trump and try to convince him to order the withdrawal of federal funding from the Purple Line extension. — Curbed LA
School district administrators also helped BHHS students organize a districtwide “walkout” that took place today in protest of the Purple Line extension, whose second phase is already underway. Here are some interesting Twitter updates from LA Times transportation reporter Laura J. Nelson... View full entry
Nearly everyone in Chicago is in favor of establishing the Obama library on the South Side. But now, “There’ll be more room for dissent, and more people in Chicago generally willing to speak their mind without fearing the Emanuel administration,” said Juanita Irizarry, executive director of Friends of the Parks, which has opposed the seizure of parkland. [...] Emanuel’s departure also gives hope to critics pushing for a more open process. — CityLab
In the ongoing controversy about the Obama Presidential Center's proposed site on Jackson Park, design journalist Zach Mortice writes about how critics of the library might have more opportunities to argue their case for a community benefits agreement (CBA) and transparency on the project... View full entry
A US businessman has pleaded guilty in a case involving the fraudulent winning of federal government construction contracts intended for companies run by women, ethnic minorities, former servicemen and disabled people. — Global Construction Review
Thomas Brock is accused of taking advantage of his wife, an Air Force veteran with a service-connected disability, and his friend Cory Adams, who is black, to apply for military construction projects meant for minority-owned companies. His schemes ran from 2002 to 2013, and totaled around $... View full entry
UC Berkeley Professor Nezar AlSayyad has been suspended for three years without pay for engaging in a pattern of sexual harassment and abuse of faculty power, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. AlSayyad, a tenured architecture professor and Middle East scholar, sexually harassed his former... View full entry
