What did Pritzker Prize winner Frank Gehry get when he designed the Stata Center, an exuberantly whimsical academic complex for MIT? A very large check, plus a major lawsuit, alleging negligence and breach of contract due to rampant leaks, mold, cracks, drainage problems and sliding ice. Sometimes the most inspired designs can go awry. And when they do, some clients lawyer up. Here are 9 fascinating examples.
Users can compare their green canopy to cities across the world. Image Courtesy of MIT Senseable City Lab
Researchers at the MIT Senseable City Lab have launched a new platform using Google Street View data to measure and compare the green canopies of major cities across the world. Treepedia, created in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, is an interactive website which allows users to view the location and size of their city’s trees, submit information to help tag them, and advocate for more trees in their area. In the development of Treepedia, the Senseable City Lab recognizes the role of green canopies in urban life, and asks how citizens can be more integral to the process of greening their neighborhoods.
Mapacad is a website that offers downloads of .dwgs of dozens of cities. With 200 metropolises in their database, the founders have shared a set of their most-downloaded cities.
The files contain closed polyline layers for buildings, streets, highways, city limits, and geographical data--all ready for use in CAD programs like Autocad, Rhino, BricsCad and SketchUp.
The Boston Society of Architects (BSA) has announced announced Mecanoo and Sasaki as the winners of the 2016 Harleston Parker Medal for their design of the Bruce C. Bolling Municipal Building. Awarded each year by the BSA and the City of Boston, the prestigious award honors “the single most beautiful” building or structure built in the metropolitan Boston area over the past 10 years.
As long as there have been buildings mankind has sought to construct its way to the heavens. From stone pyramids to steel skyscrapers, successive generations of designers have devised ever more innovative ways to push the vertical boundaries of architecture. Whether stone or steel, however, each attempt to reach unprecedented heights has represented a vast undertaking in terms of both materials and labor – and the more complex the project, the greater the chance for things to go awry.
Design Biennial Boston, photography from 2015 installations
The fifth Design Biennial Boston will recognize emerging architects, landscape architects, and designers who have created inspiring and innovative practices in New England. The program showcases the most significant design leaders among the region's early-career, independent professional talent through a juried exhibition, publication, and site-specific public installation on Boston’s Rose Kennedy Greenway. Up to four winners and one runner-up will be selected for 2017, based on a review of portfolios of prior work. Each winner will create an installation with a budget of up to $10,000 and gain access to the Autodesk BUILD Space in Boston’s Innovation and Design Building.
Over the last few years, the way Americans move around has changed remarkably, especially among young people. Previously the automobile was people’s preferred, if not the only, option. Now they are choosing to walk, bike, or use public transport according to recent studies.
This difference in preferred transportation methods has generated many benefits not only for residents but also for cities, in both economic and social terms.
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has selected this year's winners for the TAP/CCA Innovation Award, which highlights new practices and technologies that advance project delivery and life-cycle management of buildings. Categories for the awards, conferred by the AIA's Technology in Architectural Practice (TAP) Knowledge Community and the Construction Contract Administration (CCA) Knowledge Community), include Stellar Design, Project Delivery & Construction Administration Excellence, Academic Program/Curriculum Development, and Exemplary Use in a Small Firm. Voting is open from now until November 18th for favorite projects among the winners.
In Hidden Dimension, Boston-based Russian photographer Anna Yeroshenko converts a series of architecture photographs into three-dimensional structures. The work is intended to transform the viewer’s perspective of forgettable utilitarian buildings and encourage a closer look at the physical and social impacts of the built environment on our everyday lives.
Boston-area architects, engineers, contractors, designers, and students attending schools of architecture, engineering, and design participate in this annual charity event in which teams compete to display colossal sculptures made out of canned goods. Founded in 1992, Canstruction’s mission is to highlight the issue of hunger across communities, collect food for distribution to thousands and to showcase the creativity of the design industry.
Image: Steve Oles’ prospective drawing of the Grand Louvre for I.M. Pei
Considered one of the world’s premier architectural illustrators, Paul Stevenson Oles FAIA has worked as independent architect, professor, author, and illustrator in the Boston area for over 40 years. This fall, BSA Space hosts a comprehensive exhibition featuring selections from the best drawings of Oles’s 50-year career, highlighting the legacy and value of hand drawing in a digital age.
Image: Courtesy of Historic New England, photography by Justin Goodstein.
Haymarket, The Soul of the City presents images by photographer Justin H. Goodstein, as well videos featuring the sights, sounds, and voices of Haymarket that reflect the stories of long-time vendors and more recent immigrants who have created a diverse cross-section of cultures at the site. Interviews conducted by Historic New England’s Ken Turino document the market’s history, special holiday foods, and specific challenges facing the market today.
Image: Courtesy of Historic New England, photography by Justin Goodstein
In association with Haymarket, The Soul of the City on view at BSA Space this fall, this engaging presentation looks at how Boston’s Market District evolved from a small central location for peddlers at Town Dock to today’s busy market of halal butchers, artisanal cheese mongers, and Cambodian fruit sellers.
Image: Steve Oles’ prospective drawing of the Grand Louvre for I.M. Pei
Considered one of the world’s premier architectural illustrators, Paul Stevenson Oles FAIA worked as independent architect, professor, author and illustrator in the Boston area for over 40 years. Join Oles for a special presentation as he explores his work featured in the exhibition Truth in Architecture at BSA Space, and provides a brief but intimate history of his remarkable career.
Image: Courtesy of Historic New England, photography by Justin Goodstein.
Don't miss the opening reception for Haymarket: The Soul of the City. This special event is the first opportunity to view the exhibition while enjoying complimentary drinks.
Haymarket: The Soul of the City presents images by photographer Justin H. Goodstein, as well videos featuring the sights, sounds, and voices of Haymarket that reflect the stories of long-time vendors and more recent immigrants who have created a diverse cross-section of cultures at the site. Interviews conducted by Historic New England’s Ken Turino document the market’s history, special holiday foods, and specific challenges facing the market today.
Arquitectonica has released the plans for Pierce Boston—its first building in Boston—a luxury residential condominium in Boston’s Fenway neighborhood. With the recent large-scale real estate boom, the Fenway area is undergoing a massive transformation, with Pierce Boston to become the first building of its caliber in the neighborhood.
In an effort to balance new luxury with the existing iconic fabric of the area, the building is designed in simplicity with contemporary materials, so as to modernize the building against its context. Glass and metal will panel the façade, with the metal paneling patterned down to the scale and texture of a more traditional masonry brownstone. “As the building comes to grade and its opacity increases, it more closely reflects the history of the neighborhoods within which it rises” explained the architect in a press release.
Boston City Centre, Boston City Bridge, credit: Phil Songa, Flickr, modified. Used under Creative Commons
Boston has repeatedly reinvented its urban fabric to accommodate a growing population, the needs of business and industry, and the development of public and private transportation. From the first subway through the Big Dig, Boston has led the nation in transforming its cityscape. Join the BSA Foundation and Boston By Foot on this guided walking tour to uncover some of Boston’s many layers and explore its physical evolution, from the first American subway to the rise and fall of interstate highways to the recovery of Boston harbor.
Image: Detail from 1844 map showing the Bulfinch Triangle in Boston, George W. Boynton, credit: NewtonCourt, Creative Commons License, modified.
Known as America’s first architect, Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844) defined the Federal style of architecture and the physical fabric of Boston, capturing the vision and spirit of the young Republic. As an architect, town planner, and selectman, Bulfinch designed some of the city’s most enduring buildings, including iconic Beacon Hill mansions and the area now known as the Bulfinch Triangle near the Boston’s TD Garden. Join the BSA Foundation and Boston By Foot for an exploration of some of his greatest works, including the Massachusetts State House, the sites of Boston’s first theater and first Catholic cathedral, and the Tontine Crescent—his architectural masterpiece and ultimately his financial ruin.
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