"We found images with trash in it, and took the trash out, and we noticed a 30 percent increase in perception of safety. It's surprising that something that easy had that large an effect." So Phil Salesses, one of the authors of a PLOS ONE paper studying the perception of safety, class and uniqueness in city streets tells The Atlantic Cities. By comparing images from Google Street View of Boston and New York in the US and Linz and Salzburg in Austria, and photoshopping out individual elements (such as trash or graffiti) to fine tune the results, Salesses and his collaborators have gathered quantitative evidence to answer an often subjective question: what makes citizens feel safe? Learn more about Salesses' research at The Atlantic Citiesand read the paper here.
Before he leaves office at the end of this year, Mayor Bloomberg has high hopes that his Post-Sandy plans will get off the ground. Most of his ideas have been met with consensus, however, one has stirred quite a bit of controversy: adding acres of land to Lower Manhattan in order to create apartment/office towers-cum-levees.
Bloomberg, on the other hand, maintains that Seaport City, a kind of Battery Park City for Lower Manhattan, will not only provide storm protection, but (unlike many other proposals) actually generate income, thus offsetting the project's considerable price tag: "this approach would provide the protective value of a traditional levee while also providing new land on which commercial and residential buildings could be constructed, both to accommodate the City’s growth and to help finance the construction of the multi-purpose levee.” To really understand the feasibility of the project, however, the city of New York has just released a request for proposals from architects, planners and developers. More info, after the break...
The Bank of America Building, by Cook + Fox, is LEED Platinum. However, due to its use, it is one of the buildings that consumes the most energy in NYC. Image courtesy of Bank of America, via The New Republic.
"In architecture’s 'Mad Men' era, there was a woman." So begins David W. Dunlap's eloquent eulogy, published yesterday in The New York Times, to Natalie de Blois. Dunlap explores de Blois' significant contributions to Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill's iconic buildings, including the Lever House, as well as the significant hurdles she had to overcome. As SOM partner Nathaniel Owings wrote of de Blois in his autobiography: “Her mind and hands worked marvels in design — and only she and God would ever know just how many great solutions, with the imprimatur of one of the male heroes of S.O.M., owed much more to her than was attributed by either S.O.M. or the client.” Read the entire article at The New York Times.
Foster + Partners have completed their first project for a commercial aircraft: the first class cabin for Cathay Pacific's fleet of Boeing 777s. The firm is no stranger to the marriage of architecture and industrial design; they've not only designed yachts and private jets, but have also designed Cathay Pacific's business lounges at Hong Kong International Airport, even developing bespoke furniture (The Solus Chair) for them as well. See more images of the lounge, after the break...
While the final products of OMA's oeuvre are well-documented and widely published, a large portion of the Dutch firm's work goes unrecognized and relatively unnoticed: the contextual, solution-oriented research undertaken by AMO. Although OMA’s lesser-known twin, AMO is vital to OMA’s approach, allowing the firm to delve into a world of context and explore possibilities beyond the built form.
It was with this in mind that we sat down with Reinier de Graaf, a partner at the firm. In addition to the building and masterplan projects he also manages on the OMA side of things, de Graaf has been the director of AMO since 2002, overseeing a diverse portfolio of projects. Over the past few years, AMO's energies have fueled the creation of the curriculum at Strelka; a "roadmap" for a de-carbonized power grid for the EU; and an exhibition that celebrated the architect as civil servant.
From our very first question (what is OMA's mission?), de Graaf answered with his characteristic aversion to "general terms," explaining that "[OMA's] mission is to explore unexpected subjects [...] without a preconceived mission."
ArchDaily is looking for some awesome, architecture-obsessed Interns to join our team for Fall 2013 (August 19th – December 6th)! If you want to research/write about the best architecture around the globe – and find out what it takes to work for the world’s most visited architecture website – then read on after the break…
Alix Bossard shares this must-watch video that outlines Le Corbusier's five revolutionary principles of modern architecture. Using gorgeous motion design, the video briefly introduces us to everything from le Modulor to Villa Savoye and Les Cités Radieuses. Enjoy this two-minute recap of the career of one this century's most influential architects.
M@dison Building, a tech hub in Detroit. Image via Inc.com
While the rest of the world scoffs at Detroit’s recent announcement of bankruptcy (using it as an opportunity to bemoan how far the city - and the country - has fallen since its golden Motown days), many Detroiters themselves are embracing the move as a long overdue turning point.
Like Las Vegas, undergoing an urban patronage from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, Detroit has similarly been the focus of its own CEO: native-Detroiter and Quicken founder Dan Gilbert. By channeling over $1 billion dollars into the city, and inspiring others to follow suit, Gilbert is helping Detroit attract young, tech-savvy entrepreneurs. Throw in the lure of cheap land/rental rates, and it’s no wonder the city’s is host to a burgeoning tech scene.
The only thing that’s been getting in these techies' way - is the city itself. Which is why many are hopeful that Detroit’s bankruptcy is just the beginning.
UPDATED: Out of 52 exemplars of UK architecture, RIBA has chosen the six buildings that will compete for the prestigious RIBA Stirling prize (awarded to the building that makes the greatest contribution to British architecture that year). See the six contenders, including a video of each, after the break...
Most critics agree that this year's shortlist for the Stirling Prize is more "modest" than in past years - which is not to say that they didn't have plenty to say on RIBA's selection. Check out the critical responses from The Financial Times'Edwin Heathcoate, The Guardian'sOliver Wainwright and The Independent’s Jay Merrick, after the break...
In a move to tackle corruption and improve the image of the Communist Party (CPC), China's President Xi Jinping has banned the construction of government buildings for the next five years. The BBC reports that "Glitzy new government buildings, sometimes in impoverished areas, have been a source of public outrage." The ban also includes luxury renovations and expansions "done under the guise of repair work."
A stirring piece by the Philadelphia Inquirer Architecture Critic, Inga Saffron, calls for the preservation—both inside and out—of architecture under threat by “warp-speed gentrification.” Saffron uses as her examples two traditionally black, historic event halls, the Royal Theater and the Blue Horizon, that are “now controlled by developers who would gut their innards and insert soulless structures behind the thin veneer of their facades, a parking garage in the case of the Blue Horizon. That would leave the public with the equivalent of a cardboard cutout of the once-glamorous venues, perfect for photo-ops but lacking in architectural flesh and blood.” The article is a spirited call to preserve not just facades, but also the inner life of architecture: what, according to Saffron, makes a building vibrant and preservation-worthy in the first place.
TED has commissioned architect David Rockwell to mastermind a temporary, pop-up theater inside the Vancouver Convention Centre, designed specifically to "create an even more powerful connection between speaker and audience — and to allow the audience itself to immerse themselves more deeply in the talk.”
In an interview with Charlie Rose, Rockwell, who designed the interior of the Cosmopolitan Hotel in Las Vegas and the viewing platform at Ground Zero (on which he gave the TED Talk above), expresses his enthusiasm for the project, saying: "I have spoken [at TED] and have had that experience of: your talk is influenced by how you feel in the room. The environment affects how the talk evolves.”
The theater will house 1200 attendees in tiered seating areas that curve around the stage. The layout will be entirely flexible, allowing audience members to choose from multiple seating/standing options — from leaning on rails to traditional theater seats, sofas, or floor seating.
And this week's "punniest" title award goes to Fast Company (there was no contest, really). Beside the pun, of course, the article itself is pretty cool, outlining how Google Street View has followed-up on their latest intrepid capture of the Burj Khalifa with the 1889 classic: the Eiffel Tower. Read the article here and check out the fun video above!
BD Online reports that the British Council has shortlisted two teams who will compete for the honor of curating the British Pavilion at the 2014 Venice Architecture Biennale. With Rem Koolhaas at the helm of this year's Biennale (June 7 - November 23), the selected theme will be: ‘Absorbing Modernity: 1914-2014.’
Despite the last-ditch efforts of the Miami politicians to keep the drama going (including a presentation on the supposed superiority of the BIG plan, due to time-sensitivity and cost-efficiency) and even the surprising revelation that negotiations with the teams had been taped (we assume to monitor corruption, as accusations of back-handed deals have haunted the vote), the Miami Commissioners approved the South Beach ACE team over the Portman-CMC team (with BIG) in a five to two vote.
The 52 acre mixed-used development will not only include an iconic new convention center and hotel, but will revitalize this underutilized area of Miami Beach with a network of undulating, green spaces that integrate into Miami's urban fabric. As OMA Partner-in-charge of the project, Shohei Shigematsu, and Rem Koolhaas said in a statement: "We are thrilled to be chosen to develop one of the most significant urban districts in the US. Our design will reintegrate Miami's vital convention center with its neighbors, offering new facilities as well as amplifying the character of this exciting city."
+ POOL, the project (initiated by a duo of young architects) to float a public swimming pool in New York's Hudson River, has reached its latest kickstarter goal - making it the largest civic project to ever be crowdfunded online. As Architizer's Karen Wong reports, it's a remarkable gamechanger for architects (a profession where success often comes well into one's golden years) as well as public space in general: "It's a resounding demonstration of the public’s belief in young architects to rethink public space and manifest the untapped capital of waterways to benefit the common good." Read the full article here.
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