As retail moves evermore online, vacant storefronts have become ubiquitous sights in American cities and towns. Often located in formerly prime downtown real estate, the darkened windows have a knock-on effect, sapping urban vibrancy and sometimes falling into disrepair. Discourse surrounding the predicament of dead malls and traditional retail space is ongoing, but a one-size fits-all solution clearly isn't the answer here.
SANAA's new campus for the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem is now set for a 2022 opening. Initially proposed in 2013, the new project for Israel’s national school of art broke ground back in 2015. The campus is being built in the Russian Compound in Jerusalem’s City Center. The design will bring together 2,500 students and 500 faculty members as the school moves from the current Mount Scopus Campus. The new campus aims to revitalize the city center and connect to the urban fabric of Jerusalem.
The Architectural League of New York has announced the winners of it's 2019 Emerging Voices, an award given annually to eight individuals/practices based in the US, Canada, or Mexico. The Emerging Voices program, which is now in its 37th year, seeks to spotlight the distinctive design voices with the potential to influence the field of architecture.
The Emerging Voices award program has long been considered one of the most prestigious in North American architecture; a large portion of the 250 awarded practices are now well-known internationally.
Dubai Holding has released details of the latest skyscraper planned for the UAE metropolis, designed by Skidmore Owings and Merrill. The Burj Jumeira will soar 550 meters in the air, “inspired by the harmonious ripples of the UAE’s desert sand dunes and its flowing oases.” Inaugurated by the UAE’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum on January 31st, 2019, the new tower will be built as part of a vast development known as Downtown Jumeira, “a city of the future distinguished by its intelligent design and cohesive infrastructure and network.”
The tower’s façade is to be covered in digital displays that can be utilized for various occasions and celebrations, with a 450-meter-high sky lounge and sky restaurant complete with interactive surfaces. The tower will also contain multiple observation decks giving visitors 360-degree panoramic views of Dubai, rising from a base designed in the outline of the Sheikh’s fingerprint.
Artist Lee Simmons has unveiled a 17-ton, 50-foot sculpture in London’s Marylebone neighborhood. Titled Quadrilinear, the project is made of five layers of laser-cut steel standing four stories tall. The project is slotted through Schoen Clinic by ESA Architects, and was completed over a four-year period with Format Engineers. The stainless-steel column is based on deconstructed maps of historic Marylebone to engage the context, rhythm and fabric of the facade.
Farshid Moussavi Architecture has won a competition to design the first Ismaili Center in the United States. To be built in Houston, Texas on an 11-acre site along the Buffalo Bayou, the project will be completed with with AKT II, Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects and DLR Group. The team beat out a shortlist including David Chipperfield Architects, OMA and Studio Gang. As the seventh center built worldwide, the building will be a cultural and religious space for Houston’s Ismaili Muslim community.
Mextrópoli is a ludic and reflexive event that heightens the voices of architects, city planners and authorities to generate knowledge about the city that occupants inhabit. At Mextrópoli, public spaces are filled with pavilions, panel discussions that involve prominent actors in issues such as urbanism and public policy, as well as a strong selection of speakers. This program seeks to include all citizens. Students, activists, urban planners and architects are welcome to experience the extraordinary city.
In its sixth edition, the Mextrópoli Architecture and City Festival will propose new ways of thinking about the city as an open territory that is continually redefining its limits.
Danish architect and CEBRA founding partner Mikkel Frost has given a TEDx Talk arguing for the relevance of hand drawing in an increasingly virtual world. Titled “Let your fingers do the talking,” the talk presents hand drawing “not as a render killer, but rather as a lively and more open supplement to the close-to-nature visualization.”
During the talk, Frost explains the inspiration behind is drawing style, partly from the cartoon universe where messages are communicated with humor, few words, and simple expressions. A central part of the design process for every CEBRA project, Frost describes hand drawing as a visual language that is easily understood, open, and less conclusive that hyper-realistic visualizations.
The public will soon have the opportunity to experience the vulnerability and awe of briefly inhabiting an animal domain at the “Reverse Zoo,” LABIOMISTA. Translating to “mixture of life,” the 60-acre project is spearheaded by Belgian artist Koen Vanmechelen and is set to open in 2019.
Bjarke Ingels Group has designed an expansive cable-car system to connect to the new Oakland Athletics baseball stadium. The new stadium will replace the Oakland A’s existing 51-year-old Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum as a waterfront “jewel box” at Howard Terminal. At the Oakland A’s FanFest, the A’s President Dave Kaval unveiled the new Gondola connecting the Oakland Convention Center to Water Street at Jack London Square. The zero-emission transit line will provide residents and visitors with a way to see the A’s play in their future ballpark.
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The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) has announced an October 2019 opening date of its Diller Scofidio + Renfro / Gensler-designed extension, which will offer 40,000 square feet of gallery space for the iconic institution in Midtown Manhattan. The expansion features two key additions, with the Marie-Josée and Henry Kravis Studio creating a double-height space for live and experimental programming, and the Paula and James Crown Platform offering experimental, creative pace to explore ideas, questions, and processes that arise from MoMA’s collection.
The project has not been without controversy, with considerable backlash generated from the decision to demolish the American Folk Art Museum in order to make way for the new expansion. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times in January 2014, DS+R principal Liz Diller embraced the criticism, saying “we would be on the same side if we didn’t know all the details that we know.”
The curatorial team of the Chicago Architecture Biennial has announced the theme of the third edition of the event, to be titled "...and other such stories". The intentionally-broad theme proposes an investigation of architecture / the built environment not just as a form, but as a culmination of the conditions that shape it. ...and other such stories is a collaborative effort between Artistic Director Yesomi Umolu and co-curators Sepake Angiama (a curator focused on education) and Paulo Tavares (a Brazilian architect and academic).
The annual Anthology Architecture & Design Festival will take place in Fort Santiago, Manila. The three-day event showcases architecture and design within the Philippines and the Southeast Asian region and brings together practitioners and stakeholders to increase awareness about the relevance of architecture and design. As an incubator, the overall theme “Impact Architecture” will focus on the role of architects in the development of long-term, sustainable solutions to urban development, social inclusion, and cultural vibrancy.
Henning Larsen has been selected to expand and transform the French Opéra Bastille, the largest opera house in Paris. Designed with collaborators Reichen et Robert & Associés, dUCKS Scéno, Peutz & Associés Acoustic Consultants and CET Ingénierie, the proposal includes a redesigned and extended public foyer that will open to street-level activity, as well as expanded infrastructure and workshop facilities, and the addition of a new 800-seat auditorium for use as rehearsal and performance space.
Design group ENSSO has launched a “scale ruler fountain pen” for architects, featuring 12 imperial and metric scales. Having launched on Kickstarter, the pen is now available for pre-order, made from 100% space-grade aluminum.
Laser-engraved into the solid matte black aluminum are 12 scale markings, denoting 1:20, 1:50, 1:100, 1:200, 1:400, and 1:500, as well as 1/32, 1/16, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2, and 1. A German-made nib manufactured by Peter Bock Co. is available in fine, medium, or broad stroke.
The World Trade Center site is to create a memorial honoring the thousands of people who have been affected by illnesses related to the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks in New York City. As reported by Curbed NY via The New York Post, the Memorial Glade site will honor rescue, recovery, and relief works as well as survivors and downtown residents who got sick or died from 9/11-related illnesses.
The tribute, designed by 9/11 memorial architects Michael Arad and Peter Walker, will include a path lined with six granite slabs pointed towards the sky. According to the museum, the 17.5 ton stone monoliths “are worn, but not beaten, symbolizing strength and determination through adversity.” The pieces will also incorporate steel fragments from the World Trade Center.
Architecture and technology company AI SpaceFactory has completed the autonomous construction of MARSHA, a proposal for a Martian surface habitat for NASA. The 3D printed shelter is one of five finalists in an international competition to design and build a habitat for a crew of four astronauts on a mission to Mars. AI SpaceFactory formulated their own material – a “Martian polymer” that can be made from matter found or grown on the planet.
Los Angeles-based startup Fernish has raised $30 million to transform the $100 billion dollar furniture industry and rethink how people live today. The platform-based furniture subscription service allows users to subscribe to an entire room or specific pieces, and they can provide a range of curated designer collections. With trends around mobility and ownership, Fernish was designed for the 25 million young professionals renting their homes and planning to move within the next 12 months.
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_0002.jpg?1549394735 "Paulo Tavares, photographed by Gabriel Ribeiro. Image Courtesy of Chicago Architecture Biennial")
