Tag: california | ArchDaily

UIA World Congress 2026 and Henning Larsen's New Environmental Analysis Platform: This Week's Review

Reyyan Dogan — Thu, 02 Jul 2026 06:30:00 +0000

Recent events highlighted the many ways architecture responds to changing environmental, social, and cultural conditions. Major earthquakes in Venezuela, Japan, and Northern California renewed attention to the role of planning, infrastructure, and building practices in shaping resilience to natural hazards. As these questions continue to inform the built environment, the opening of the 2026 UIA World Congress of Architects in Barcelona brought together practitioners and researchers to discuss climate, housing, public space, and the future of the profession. Recent project announcements, preservation initiatives, completed works, and new design tools further reflected the range of approaches shaping architectural practice today, from heritage conservation and adaptive reuse to environmental performance and long-term planning.

One Day, Four Earthquakes: What Seismic Resilience Reveals About the Built Environment

Reyyan Dogan — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 06:30:00 +0000

Within a 36-hour window between June 24 and June 25, four significant earthquakes struck three different regions of the world. A magnitude 7.2 earthquake shook Japan's northeastern coast, a magnitude 5.6 event was recorded in Northern California, and two major earthquakes measuring magnitudes 7.2 and 7.5 occurred just 39 seconds apart along Venezuela's northern coast. Although their close timing prompted speculation online, seismologists confirmed that the events were unrelated, occurring independently along different tectonic plate boundaries.

Lorcan O’Herlihy, Founding Principal of LOHA, Passes Away at 66

Reyyan Dogan — Tue, 16 Jun 2026 06:30:00 +0000

Lorcan O'Herlihy, the Irish-born architect, educator, and founder of Los Angeles-based Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects (LOHA), has died at the age of 66. His death was confirmed by the firm on June 14, 2026. Over a career spanning more than three decades, O'Herlihy became known for advancing an architectural practice centered on housing, urbanism, and social engagement, helping shape conversations around density, affordability, and the civic role of design in contemporary cities.

Case Study Houses and the Myth of a Universal Domestic Ideal

Eduardo Souza — Sat, 23 May 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Sitting on low benches, casually talking, dressed in comfortable clothes, and surrounded by books, design objects, and works of art, Charles and Ray Eames appear in one of the most emblematic images of postwar modern domesticity in the United States. The house does not appear as an explicit architectural manifesto, but rather as an inhabited, appropriated, everyday space. Still, nearly everything in that scene functions as the condensation of a carefully constructed ideal: modern informality, the integration between architecture and daily life with the coexistence of industrial production. The photograph projects a way of living more than it represents a residence. And perhaps that was, from the very beginning, the central ambition behind the Case Study Houses.

From Spanish Presidio to the American Grid: The Hispanic Roots of San Diego’s Urban Core

Moises Carrasco — Sun, 17 May 2026 07:30:00 +0000

Very close to the Mexican border, in the southwest corner of the United States, lies the city of San Diego. Its urban history began in 1769 with the arrival of a Spanish military expedition commanded by Gaspar de Portola, which marked the first permanent settlement in the territory that was known as Alta California. However, unlike the more formally urbanized administrative capitals and towns of Mexico and Central America, San Diego was conceived as a frontier outpost. Today, it has become the second-largest city in California, just after Los Angeles, and its urban grid tells a story about the Hispanic heritage that is intertwined with the contemporary cultural environment of the United States.

ZGF Architects Nears Completion of Los Angeles Air and Space Center Housing Space Shuttle Endeavour

Antonia Piñeiro — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 05:30:00 +0000

The California Science Center is a dynamic destination where visitors of all ages can explore the wonders of science through hands-on exhibits, live demonstrations, innovative programs, and large-format films. The Center and IMAX Theater are located in the historic Los Angeles Exposition Park, where an expansion has been under construction since June 2022. The new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, designed by ZGF Architects, is a 200,000-square-foot addition that will nearly double the Science Center's educational exhibit space. The building was completed on April 13, 2026. Its centerpiece is the retired NASA spacecraft Space Shuttle Endeavour, used for missions from 1992 until its 25th and final mission in 2011.

Coachella 2026 Immersive Installations Explore Monumentality and Light Transparency in the California Desert

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 14 Apr 2026 05:30:00 +0000

The 25th edition of the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival returns to the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, from April 10 to 12 and April 17 to 19, 2026, bringing together more than 130 acts alongside an ambitious program of large-scale art installations. Presented by Public Art Company (PAC) and curated by founder Raffi Lehrer in collaboration with Goldenvoice Art Director Paul Clemente, this year's selection explores monumentality through luminance, transparency, and lightness of form. Set within Coachella's desert oasis, the installations invite visitors to engage physically and sensorially, responding to shifting daylight and the evolving atmosphere from sunrise to nightfall.

The Embarcadero Freeway: Elevated Infrastructure and Urban Regeneration in San Francisco

Moises Carrasco — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 07:30:00 +0000

In recent decades, cities across the world have seen an increase in the demolition of elevated concrete freeways. Taipei, Seoul, Portland, and Boston, for example, have all seen the rise and fall of these infrastructures to give way to parks and new urban regeneration ideas. In other cases, like Montreal in Canada, some people opposed the freeways even before they were built, effectively rerouting viaducts, preserving heritage, and freeing waterfront views. For San Francisco, in the United States, the story of the Embarcadero Freeway is one of those narratives that serves as a case study of the city's mid-century infrastructural ambition, people's reaction to the project, and its eventual reversal in favor of urban connectivity.

Zaha Hadid’s Legacy and Büro Ole Scheeren’s Róng Museum: This Week’s Review

Reyyan Dogan — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 06:30:00 +0000

As architectural discourse continues to expand across cultural, educational, and civic domains, this week's developments highlight how the discipline operates simultaneously through legacy, knowledge production, and large-scale public engagement. From reflections on influential figures and their enduring impact to evolving academic landscapes and new forms of cultural infrastructure, architecture is positioned as both a repository of ideas and an active agent in shaping contemporary identities. At the same time, projects spanning entertainment, museums, and waterfront developments point to a growing emphasis on hybrid programs and experiential environments, where architecture mediates between culture, public life, and global audiences.

Form, Function, and Funding: The High-Tech Urbanism of San Francisco

Olivia Poston — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 07:30:00 +0000

San Francisco is a city that has always remade itself under pressure. Its Victorian streetscapes have survived seismic retrofits and glass towers, its neighborhoods defined as much by change as by its resistance to change. But no force in the city's history has reshaped the built environment as completely, or as quickly, as the technology economy. What began in the postwar sprawl of Silicon Valley migrated north and inscribed its logic onto the skyline and the lives of residents. The result of this logic is an architectural culture of considerable technical refinement and refined material palettes, yet one that remains largely indifferent to the existing population.

From Desert to Forest: 8 Unbuilt Houses Designed as Contemporary Retreats

Nour Fakharany — Tue, 27 Jan 2026 05:00:00 +0000

Residential architecture remains one of the most active fields for unbuilt architectural exploration, offering a lens through which architects rethink how domestic space can respond to landscape, climate, and contemporary patterns of living. In this Unbuilt edition, submitted by the ArchDaily community, the selected proposals bring together a range of residential projects that engage with houses, villas, and retreats as sites of withdrawal, mediation, and everyday inhabitation. Rather than treating the home as a fixed or isolated object, these projects approach it as a spatial framework that negotiates exposure, privacy, and connection to place.

From Diplomacy to Mobility: Six Legislative Responses Cities Are Using to Confront Climate Change

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 20 Jan 2026 06:30:00 +0000

From building codes to mobility restrictions and new diplomatic roles within city governments, climate policy is increasingly being shaped at the local level through a widening range of legislative and institutional tools. Cities as varied as Sydney, Boston, New York, Paris, Miami, and dozens across Latin America are adopting targeted strategies that reflect their distinct environmental pressures and governance structures. These initiatives range from all-electric and net-zero construction requirements, to traffic-control measures designed to curb the social costs of private vehicle use, to emerging forms of urban diplomacy that coordinate responses to rising temperatures and biodiversity loss. Together, these approaches illustrate how territorial management is evolving in response to the accelerating climate crisis, and how local governments are experimenting with regulation and collaboration to confront challenges that are at once global and deeply place-specific.

California Changing: 50 Site of Climate Change in Augmented Reality

Rene Submissions — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 09:30:00 +0000

The state of California has emerged as a pioneering force in designing for climate change, yet it has also faced the devastating impacts of numerous climate-related disasters, including droughts, wildfires, and rising sea levels. This book offers a unique climate change tour, delving into architectural scale sites across the state. From innovative houses using sustainable techniques to historical locations ravaged by the combined forces of drought and wildfire, the book explores a range of poignant examples. The main visual contents are a set of architectural site illustrations that are each enhanced by an augmented reality component showcasing the interplay between

Expo Gold for Bahrain and Dubai's Gateway Metro: This Week's Review

Antonia Piñeiro — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 05:30:00 +0000

This week in architecture, global recognitions and new unveilings underscored the field's growing commitment to climate awareness, cultural continuity, and adaptive reuse. From Expo 2025 Osaka's closing ceremonies to international award announcements, the focus turned to architects and designers redefining the relationship between place, material, and community. Alongside these recognitions, major new projects, from Dubai to California, illustrated how design continues to evolve across scales: shaping cities, preserving heritage, and addressing urgent global challenges through context-driven architecture.

Framing Interiors and Landscapes in Aluminum and Glass to Master the View

Enrique Tovar — Wed, 24 Sep 2025 01:30:00 +0000

Windows have long held an ambivalent role in architecture, as they both define and enclose interiors while simultaneously creating a link to the outdoors. This dual function goes beyond simply meeting construction needs or providing daylight, directly influencing how occupants experience and engage with the views. The 20th century saw the introduction of materials such as steel, aluminum, and glass, which enabled different types of windows with thinner frames and expansive panes, enhancing transparency and reinforcing the visual connection with the surrounding setting.

AI-Powered Robotics Support Rebuilding Homes in Los Angeles Fire Zones

Reyyan Dogan — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 06:30:00 +0000

ABB Robotics and US-based construction technology company Cosmic Buildings have deployed a mobile robotic microfactory in Pacific Palisades, California, to support the rebuilding of homes destroyed by the 2025 Southern Californian wildfires. Designed as a temporary, on-site manufacturing facility, the system aims to reduce construction time, costs, and material waste while producing housing that meets high standards of safety and sustainability. By combining AI-powered automation with modular construction techniques, the collaboration demonstrates how robotic manufacturing can be adapted to remote and disaster-affected locations. The companies suggest that such approaches could become a key tool in delivering resilient, affordable housing on a large scale.

Desert X 2025 Exhibition Opens with 11 Art Installations in California’s Coachella Valley

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 06:30:00 +0000

Desert X is a site-specific international art exhibition taking place this year across the Coachella Valley, California. Its fifth edition, curated by Artistic Director Neville Wakefield and co-curator Kaitlin Garcia Maestas, opened on March 10, 2025, featuring eleven installations by international artists integrated into the desert landscape. Artists were invited to propose alternative ways of perceiving a world "increasingly encircled by the transformational effects of nature and humanity," through physical installations in specific locations within the California desert. In this context, architecture is understood as the most visible evidence of human transformation, while immaterial elements, such as wind and light, highlight the transformative effects not only of human activity but also of nature itself. The exhibition is free and open to all, running through May 11, 2025. Below are images and descriptions of the eleven art installations featured in this year's Desert X exhibition.

The Impact of Wildfires on Building Codes: Reflections on the Recent Los Angeles Fires

Jonathan Yeung — Mon, 27 Jan 2025 04:00:00 +0000

It has been nearly three weeks since one of California's most devastating wildfires began, triggering an immense effort to combat the blaze and mitigate further damage. As firefighters work to contain the remaining flames, the city braces for its first significant winter rainfall, raising concerns about flooding and landslides that may exacerbate the already extensive destruction.