ION Architecture - NEWS

Let's face it; almost everyone is on Instagram these days, so it's no surprise that academic institutions have invested in this social media platform as well. Not only has  it changed the way architecture is being viewed and experienced , but it's also changing the way prospective students are exploring their academic decision making possibilities.  From highlighting the best student work to showing off exciting exhibitions, and providing snapshots into daily studio culture images, the following academic Instagram profiles know how to keep their audience engaged and curious about what will be posted next! Whether you're a prospective student, a current student, or a fellow architecture professional looking for inspiration and design eye candy, here are Archinect's 9 Instagram profile picks you shouldn't miss!  *Profiles are listed in no particular order. The Ohio State University’s Knowlton School of Architecture Instagram Handle: @knowltonarchitecture Pro

“No Section 8.” You’ll find those words on rental listings across the country. Landlords use them to deter people who rely on the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly known as Section 8, from applying for their units. Starting in January, a new California law will make that discrimination illegal. A new law is slated to take effect in California on January 1, 2020 that will prevent landlords in the state from discriminating against federal housing voucher recipients.  The measure caps off a better-than-average year for tenants rights activists across the country—at the local level, at least—in America’s major cities that includes the passage of significant new rent control ordinances in New York State. In addition, at the national level, a slate of rent control and pro-public hosing initiatives have also shined a light on several facets of the ongoing struggles to reign in housing costs across the country.  National rent control takes a step forward as AOC unveils

[...] sobering reality of selling a “starchitect”-designed home: They might have gotten what they paid for in their house’s dramatic lines, luxurious materials, and prestigious pedigree, but when it comes time to sell, the market is often unforgiving. Bloomberg on the challenging business of selling luxury homes, custom-designed for their initial owners by famous architects, including a few properties in the U.S. by Rafael Viñoly, Steven Holl, Annabelle Selldorf, and Pritzker Prize laureate Tadao Ando. Related: Does owning a Frank Lloyd Wright home come with a secret curse? Alexander Walter via Archinect - News http://bit.ly/2MM63rj

It's been another busy year for architecture and design competitions worldwide, and Bustler kept you in the loop about the latest challenges and noteworthy results.  From the need to create innovative housing solutions , to designing touristic landmarks in Iceland and Abu Dhabi , the library of the future , all the way to recurring audience favorites, like eVolo's Skyscraper Competition , Laka's Architecture that Reacts , and Fairy Tales , the Competitions section on Bustler hosted an eclectic mix of challenges this year. Out of the hundreds of design competitions that happened over the last 12 months, we compiled a list of the Top 10 Competitions of 2019. Have a look. Need to get the word out about an architectural competition that isn't listed on Bustler yet? Click  here  to submit it directly. Alexander Walter via Archinect - News http://bit.ly/2sFdfyz

We've covered a sprawling variety of urban planning stories on Archinect this year, but as the new decade is mere hours away from the land of the densification-averse, we'd like to raise our glass and salute the fine people at Planning Peeps for tirelessly brightening our days with the memes even Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses would get a good chuckle out of. Here is just a small selection of our favorites this year: Longing for more? Find the complete treasure trove on the Planning Peeps Facebook page . Alexander Walter via Archinect - News http://bit.ly/2sBfuTw

Need some troll-ish ideas for designing your next staircase? From vertigo-inducing carpet to confusing angles to optical illusions no one asked for, this Twitter thread — aptly titled "Stairs designed by a serial killer" — might spark some inspiration, if not a chuckle or a scoff.  Photo via Twitter. Photo via Twitter. Photo via Twitter. Photo via Twitter. Photo via Twitter. Photo via Twitter. While we're at it, feel free to add any staircases from hell that you've encountered in the comment section below. Justine Testado via Archinect - News http://bit.ly/2SShT7d

The Arkansas-based architect is undergoing a court case regarding his work and designs for the Saracen Resort Casino in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Blackwell filed a suit against HBG Design, Saracen Development and John Berrey, chairman of the Quapaw tribe’s business committee. A distinguished architect who recently won the AIA's highest honor for his work earlier this month claims that his designs were "stolen." According to a recent report from the Arkansas Times the lawsuit explains, "the agreement wasn’t honored and Blackwell’s copyrighted designs were “stolen” for use on the project and Blackwell wasn’t paid. The suit says further that HBG had “poisoned” the Blackwell firm’s relationship with the Quapaw tribe and Blackwell had been removed from the project." Max Brantley, of the Arkansas Times, was able to receive a prepared statement from John Berrey, chairman of the Quapaw tribe's business committee.  "We think that Mr. Blackwell is a very tale

Chiara Zonca est une photographe d’art basée dans l’Ouest canadien. Elle explore la terre comme un paysage de rêve intemporel, laissé intact par les humains, dont elle se sert pour raconter des histoires. « Moon Kingdom » est un voyage émotionnel à travers les paysages du désert de l’Atacama au Chili. En prenant des photos surréalistes qui auraient pu être prises sur une autre planète, elle partage sa perception de cet endroit surréaliste, sans aucun signe de civilisation. , Lola, via Fubiz Media http://bit.ly/2tmHH09

Phoenix Rising, another work of art at SunRay Shire, home of @sunraykelley and Bonnie Howard, natural builders who have hosted many travelers from all over the world in the unique structures on the land. This quiet retreat is only 15 minutes to the quaint town of Sedro Woolley in Washington state . via Cabin Porn http://bit.ly/2rNGkHK

There were highs and lows for New York real estate this year. Sales records were broken, but the overall market hit the brakes, even as mortgage rates stayed low. Design took center stage in many new developments, and Hudson Yards opened to great fanfare. The New York Times takes a look back at the 2019 real estate highlights in the nation's biggest city. The roundup features a number of property stories that were also published (and some hotly debated) on Archinect, including the recently opened, Robert A.M. Stern-designed 220 Central Park South with its record-setting $238 million penthouse sale in January, rapid-fire completions and topping-outs this year at the Hudson Yards development (did someone say Vessel ?), and the steadily slowing condo sales despite record-breaking residential construction in New York City. If the astronomical NYC property price tags leave you dizzy and unbalanced, revisit the pre-Christmas announcement of Mayor de Blasio pledging to end &#

“The themes of nature, rebirth and regrowth made it perfect for a landscape memorial,” said Affleck. They aimed to incorporate plants and materials that fit seamlessly into Connecticut’s natural environment, like the sycamore tree. The designers also spent time discussing grief with people in their own lives who have experienced it. They came to the conclusion that everyone heals differently. A proposal created by Ben Waldo and Dan Affleck of SWA Group in San Francisco has been selected as the winning design for the Sandy Hook memorial in Connecticut. The memorial design features a circular reflecting pool at the center surrounded by peaceful gardens and meandering pathways that will allow visitors to "engage with the site in a way that is unique to them,” Waldo says in the Hartford Courant. If Newtown residents vote to fund the memorial, construction will start in December 2020. Plans call for the memorial to open to the public on December 14, 2021. Waldo and Affleck's

The restoration of the cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, which was badly damaged by fire on 15 April, has entered a new and delicate phase. This involves removing a vast and heavy scaffolding structure at roof level that became fused by the intense heat. It had been erected before the fire in order to carry out restoration work on the 19th-century roof spire, whose dramatic collapse was seen on screens around the world. For The Art Newspaper , architect Francesco Bandarin gives a detailed account of the crucial next step in the efforts to restore the fire-damaged cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. "The removal of the scaffolding requires three levels of steel beams to be positioned around its exterior to form a stabilising 'belt,'" Bandarin explains this next phase which is scheduled to take until April. Alexander Walter via Archinect - News http://bit.ly/2F3LZfE

The reconfiguration of these mundane sites into spaces of political expression show how Hong Kong’s public space “is clearly made by the people, not something simply given by the state, and certainly not to be taken for granted,” said Jeff Hou, a professor of landscape architecture at the University of Washington and the co-editor of City Unsilenced: Urban Resistance and Public Space in the Age of Shrinking Democracy. Justine Testado via Archinect - News http://bit.ly/2tglXTX

Syd Mead, the legendary science fiction illustrator responsible for concocting the retro-futurist conceptual drawings that inspired movies like  Blade Runner ,  Aliens , and Tron  and other seminal sci-fi films, has passed away at age 86.  Mead passed away in his Pasadena, California home on December 30, 2019  according   The Hollywood Reporter.  Mead’s death follows a three year struggle with lymphoma, according to Mead’s spouse, Roger Servick,  THR reports.  Mead studied at ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena after three years of service in the United States Army, graduating in 1959. Following this period, he designed cars for Ford Motor Company’s Advanced Styling Studio before setting out on his own as a freelance illustrator, a career-altering trajectory that eventually situated him as a conceptual artist for Hollywood-produced films, including  Star Trek: The Motion Picture ,  Blade Runner ,  Tron ,  Aliens ,  Mission to Mars ,  Mission: Impossible III ,  Elysium , and 

The new breed of airports take that altered reality and alter it some more, to create their own version of the world. If you want to be dystopian, airports are prototypes for sinister societies of the future, products of the military-entertainment complex where dictatorial government colludes with big business to create controlling environments. Where individuals are pacified by distractions and ruled by technology. The Observer 's Rowan Moore takes a critical look at the newest global breed of airport architecture, including the recently opened Beijing Daxing and the brand new Singapore Jewel Changi , in the face of climate change, commerce, and mass surveillance. "It is sometimes pointed out that a modern airport occupies the ground area of a traditional city and has a comparable daytime population," Moore writes. "With its shops and parks, and its settings for romance and afternoons out, Changi is taking on more of the functions of a city, too." Alexa

Located at the Dubai International Financial Center stands an eye-catching pavilion designed by the Middle East Architecture Network (MEAN) . Known for their evocative designs using computational design and digital fabrication techniques, their most recent project, Deciduous, highlights the studio's passion for experimentation with fabrication and materials.  Image © Naaro Image © Naaro According to a project statement by MEAN, "Deciduous is composed of a hybrid of 3 different sustainable materials: CNC-milled Birch plywood flooring, Robotically 3D-Printed Concrete Base, and a series of branching 3D-Printed PETG stems, a plastic polymer up-cycled from 30,000 discarded water bottles.” The goal of the pavilion and its unique material construction is to aid spectators by revisiting their "relationship with nature, through an experience reminiscent of walking through an abstracted botanical form," according to the designers. Image © Naaro Video Documentin