Videos

UPDATE: REM's Kickstarter campaign was successfully funded!

There are only three days left for you to help fund the most highly-anticipated documentary film about the legendary Rem Koolhaas: REM. Directed by the architect’s son, Tomas Koolhaas, the film will explore an unprecedented perspective on what gives Koolhaas’ work function and purpose: how it is used by people. Learn more and donate to Koolhaas’ campaign here on Kickstarter.

The relationship between Architecture and Power has been the main character in the urban transformation with no space-time boundaries. Architecture has historically demonstrated its Power in creating different urban landscapes capable of influencing spaces that are lived.

In this interview in Metropolis Magazine, Raphael Sperry elaborates on the goal of his organization Architects / Designers / Planners for Social Responsibility to ban members of the AIA from designing execution chambers and certain forms of prisons. He explains why the AIA's existing charter should make this ban a no-brainer as well as highlights the success and support the campaign has received, even in unexpected places. You can read the full article here.

According to this article on Quartz, Facebook is now so widely-used (providing readily available information about the hometowns of millions - or even billions - of people) that it can help researchers analyze migration patterns and trends. Find out more here.

Mayor Bloomberg's decade long administration may be ending this January, but not before he ensures the approval of $12 billion worth of privately developed projects throughout New York City. Under Bloomberg, 40 percent of NYC has been rezoned, creating a hot-bed of new construction. From multi-million dollar research centers to multi-billion dollar neighborhoods — complete with luxury waterfront apartments, outlet malls and the western hemisphere's largest Ferris Wheel — each one of these megaprojects will undoubtedly transform NYC in the coming decades. Check them out here.

Like many in architecture, the Blindspot Initiative has grown tired of "the exclusive, winner takes all mentality of competitions." Instead, they value collaboration and open access to design ideas, and so are renting a studio in East LA for an exhibition that will display the work of 10 fringe (blindspot) designers, "presenting work on a neutral ground to encourage conversations and practice which lives outside the conventions of typical design outputs and practices." Visit their kickstarter project to learn more and contribute to their cause (and check out their video, after the break).

An interesting article on io9 unveils a curious law that can apparently predict the size of cities - a law developed by a linguist. The original version of Zipf's law states that in any language, the most common word was used twice as much as the second most common, three times as much as the third and so on. It seems though, that this law also applies to the populations of the cities in a given country. And the most interesting part? Nobody really knows why. You can read the full article here.

After a 12 year mayoral run, many have been wondering what Michael Bloomberg's next move will be. The answer: be mayor of every city (kind of). Bloomberg, along with most of his New York City Hall team (including transportation commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan), has shifted his focus to Bloomberg Associates, a consultancy group that - like an 'urban SWAT team' - offers advice to cities that call for it. For free. To learn more about Bloomberg's newest initiative, read the full article here on The New York Times.

The prognosis does not look good for Foster + Partners' plan for an airport hub in the Thames Estuary. The Guardian reports that the Independent Airports Commission has released an interim report, revealing a shortlist of potential options for the UK - and the Thames Hub (with an estimated price tag of £112bn) isn't on it. Yet hope (however slim) does remain for the proposal, as its persistent defender, London mayor Boris Johnson, has managed to convince the commission to revisit the idea in early 2014. Get the whole story at The Guardian.

December has been a month of disappointment for fans of Frank Lloyd Wright: first, a plan to build a house designed by Wright and adapted for the English countryside has been rejected by Wraxall Councillors (Bristol Post), who believe that Frank Lloyd Wright "can't be that influential". This was followed by the news that SC Johnson, the company for whom Wright designed the famous Johnson Administration Building, is trying to stop the high profile Sotheby's auction (ArtInfo) of a desk and chair designed for their building - claiming that the items were in fact stolen from them way back in the 1950s. More on the Bristol rejection here and the Sotheby''s controversy here.

Helene Combs Dreiling, FAIA, executive director of the Virginia Center for Architecture, has been inaugurated as the 90th president of the American Institute of Architects (AIA). She succeeds Mickey Jacob, FAIA, in representing nearly 83,000 AIA members.

“During my term as president, I want to look towards the future of our profession and society in general.  We need to stimulate research to benefit the design and construction industry, emphasize a culture in firms that nurtures emerging professionals and promotes diversity and inclusiveness for under-represented groups, and advance the profession in the eyes of the public,” said Dreiling. “Ultimately, our efforts will be focused on bringing a shift to our own professional culture – the way we think, act and behave to transform the way that our culture regards architects and architecture.”

Inspired by our wildly popular article "Why Japan Is Crazy About Housing," CNN has interviewed Tokyo-based author and architect Alastair Townsend in order to dig a bit deeper into why radical design has become more common in Japan. The video features interviews with the residents of House T by Hiroyuki Shinozaki Architects, who share what it's like to live in a multi-storied home with step ladders and no walls, as well as Sou Fujimoto, who takes us on a tour of his whimsical, tree-house inspired House NA. Watch the video after the break.

Satellite, an independent print magazine focused on cities, culture, and politics, is seeking submissions for its upcoming issue. Approximately a third of each issue focuses on a different city: to date, they have covered New Orleans, Montreal, and Toronto, and are now starting work on New York. They're therefore particularly interested in submissions pertaining to that city, but are happy to consider other topics as well.

In her article for BlouinArtInfo, Janelle Zara wittily recounts her experience at an architecture event in which 70% of the audience left before the night's end. The event? A talk, held last week in Miami’s Design District, between Kanye West and Pritzker laureate Jacque Herzog. Despite the audience's clear lack of interest, Zara insists the skippers missed quite the conversation: "Herzog’s half of the conversation lent it its gravitas; Kanye’s token Westisms provided the candy-coated sprinkles on top." Read the full post here.

Andrea Maffei Architect's competition entry for a new stadium for Ruch Chorzów, one of Poland‘s largest football clubs, offers a capacity for 12,000 and provision for up to 16,000 seats. The design encourages the stadium and its surroundings to act as a new civic point of reference for Chorzów as part of a wider complex of shops and restaurants. The architects' understanding of the movement of people on match days is complimented by the facilities that the new stadium will offer to visitors seven days a week, the design for which will provide Ruch Chorzów with a state-of-the-art football pitch and associated amenities.

US and Umicore Building Products, USA Inc., a leading specialist in innovative zinc products manufactured and sold by the Building Products Unit of Umicore, announced earlier this year the sixth edition of the Archizinc Trophy contest. The bi-annual contest, open to architects throughout the world, rewards the most attractive creations for the quality of their architecture and their integration into the environment. The competition aims to highlight zinc through appropriate new applications and awards prizes in five building categories: individual housing, collective housing, public buildings, commercial buildings, and people’s choice.

In 2014, the 24th Biennial of Design in Ljubljana (BIO), Slovenia, reinvents itself and launches an ambitious call for applications. Entering the realm of collaboration, where design is a tool to rethink everyday life, the Biennial is looking for individuals to shape possible futures for design.

On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, BIO builds on the event’s tradition and history, advancing into an experimental, collaborative territory where design is employed as a tool to question and transform ideas about industrial production, public and private space, and pre-established systems and networks. Organized by MAO, the Museum of Architecture and Design, BIO 50 is curated by Belgian critic and curator Jan Boelen, founder and artistic director of Z33 House for Contemporary Art, Head of the Master department Social Design at the Design Academy in Eindhoven, and chairman of the Flemish Committee for Architecture and Design.