ST. PETERSBURG The citys Pier District, its 26-acres parceled into walkable segments, with features such as a solar-shaded marketplace and an occulus with water views through a man-made sloping lawn, owes its design to the collaborative efforts of architects from St. Petersburg, Tampa and New York.

The main teams original concepts survived an opinionated public concerned about what would replace the iconic inverted pyramid Pier of 1973. Four massive caissons from the pyramid survived to form the base of the new Piers fishing deck. Historic Pier pilings also were incorporated into the architects design, leaving them exposed in front of Tampa Bay Watch Discovery Centers wet classroom, an amphitheater-style seating area leading down to the bay.

It was five years ago that a committee selected the team of Rogers Partners Architects and Urban Designers and lead landscape designer Ken Smith Workshop from New York, along with Tampas ASD/SKY Architects, to design the main section of the project. They produced the five-level Pier head building that includes a fourth-floor restaurant, roof-top bar and a bay-level fishing deck.

The team also created such elements as the coastal thicket, an over-the-water deck through a landscape of native trees, shrubs and grasses.

Rob Rogers, founding partner of Rogers Partners, is pleased with the options the new $92 million Pier offers.

I think our goal would be that there is such a diversity of experiences and opportunity that you are going to want to go back over and over. And if youre a resident, you are going to go to the beach, the environmental center. You might fish out at the end, he said.

Vince Lee, an associate partner at Rogers Partners, and project director, said there are a number of ways to experience the Pier head building. It is kind of a microcosm of the whole Pier, in that there are multiple ways to use it and move through it, providing different experiences and views along the way.

Rogers Partners teamed up with ASD/SKY, which was responsible for renovations at Al Lang Stadium and is working at Sparkmans Wharf in Tampa.

As a team here locally, we were able to patiently manage all the public input and address many of the voices we heard, said ASD/SKYs John Curran, principal in charge and project director.

Our role as design partner was not only as a partner from a design standpoint, but taking our Florida experience in Florida construction and putting this into planning a building over water. We were there every day. ... I am pleased that my hand prints are all over it. And my kids are terribly excited.

Wannemacher Jensen Architects in St. Petersburg was the other local firm that had a part in creating the new district. The firm collaborated with W Architecture and Landscape Architecture of Brooklyn to design the area that links the Pier to downtown.

We complement each other, said Jason Jensen, Wannemacher Jensens president, noting that W Architectures focus is on parks and the environment.

Barbara Wilks, founder of the New York firm, said she was honored to work with the dedicated and passionate community of St Pete to re-imagine the new district. I am proud that we made a place that everyone can enjoy, while surrounded by native plants and animals of the Tampa Bay.

Jensen said his firm assisted with the master planning of the Pier approach, specifically the marketplace and Doc Fords Rum Bar and Grille. A goal was to create a space to appeal to a cross-section of the community, with a variety of experiences throughout the park, he said.

He said his firm believed that the marketplace should be a shaded structure and close to downtown and that it would be a fantastic way to initially present our city to visitors.

That the playground and family park did not exist in the original downtown master plan, he said, but he believed they were important elements to include to be a truly inclusive, family friendly district. The $1 million playground is shaded. We integrated it into the trees, Jensen said.

The installation of artist Nathan Mabrys 10-foot, origami-style metal pelican at the Piers entrance was purposeful. We worked with the artist and W (Architecture) to focus on that location as an entry plaza and to basically welcome visitors to the Pier with the market directly behind that feature, Jensen said. He predicts that it will become a premiere meeting point.

Their design also evolved to incorporate the Piers signature public art, Janet Echelmans aerial net sculpture that floats above the family park.

The placement of everything is unfolding a Pier experience for the community, Jensen said. Youre not revealing it all at one time. Sprinkle in the shade of the market, the trees of the playground, the plaza and you are coming across activities at walking-friendly intervals.

Public projects can be the hardest ones, but also the most satisfying, Rogers said.

I am proud of the fact that we maintained the design concept from the beginning, Curran said. The concept has always been strong enough to stay true, the idea of shade, cover and comfort, making sure we had a number of activities throughout the entire Pier, so that it was many experiences and not just a road to the end.

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The new Pier District owes its style to New York and Tampa Bay architectural teams - Tampa Bay Times

How Will Digitalization and Remote Construction Change our Habits as Architects?

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Architects dont make buildings. Architects make drawings of buildings. But of course, someone has to make the building. The construction industry is one of the largest economic sectors and we all interact with the built environment on a daily basis, but the actual work of getting a building from drawing to structure has barely evolved over the decades. While the rest of the world has moved into Industry 4.0, the construction sector has not kept pace. Architecture has begun to embrace some digitalization. After all, not many of us work with mylar on drafting tables anymore. So with the architecture industrys everlasting link to the construction industry, will the latter pick up some new technological tricks by association? And when it does, how will that change the role of the architect?

Large construction projects can often take 20 percent more time than scheduled and when they are finished, as many as 80 percent end up over-budget. Construction is one of the lowest profit-margin industries in todays economy. In the past 75 years, productivity has increased by up to 1,500 percent in the manufacturing, retail, and agriculture fields. Over that same time period, productivity in construction remained almost the same. The emerging field of Construction Technology, or ConTech, aims to change that and bring construction into the 21st century.

Remote work began in technology industries, but even before the current global pandemic, the use of remote working had grown by 400 percent over the years. Today, we all have even more incentive to work as digitally as we can. One of the most well-known technological advancements in the architecture and building world is BIM, Building Information Modeling. The remote collaboration capabilities of BIM are a great start toward doing less work on-site, but BIM goes far beyond a collaborative Revit model. BIM can help project managers make better decisions at every stage of construction, even increasing health and safety on the job site.

By using BIM to access and analyze all the relevant data for a project, including documents, regulatory information, and building manuals, the project team can identify critical health and safety hazards on a construction site ahead of time. Although construction work comprises only 10 percent of the workforce, its responsible for up to 40 percent of workplace deaths, even in industrialized countries.

Using techniques like visualization, simulation, and virtual prototyping, BIM allows architects to preview a series of potential scenarios before the process of building even starts, with the aim or foreseeing any potential dangers for crews before they are even on site. Further BIM tools like compliance checking, scenario planning, pre-fabrication tools, and clash detection minimize the day-to-day construction site risks. BIM can also be used for emergency preparedness and planning, as well as accident analysis in the event that one does take place. In one study about the use of BIM technology in construction, 37 percent of owners and contractors reported more than a 5 percent reduction in reportable incidents.

Beyond BIM, and in tandem with BIM, other technologies not specifically developed for the building industry can also be applied to construction, such as AR, VR, AI and even blockchain, to make remote construction a reality. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) can eliminate the need for architects and owners to make frequent site visits, as well as streamlining the construction process itself. Both AR and VR can help in conducting virtual site visits, saving time and money.

WhenAR capabilities combine with an on-site 3D camera, off-site members of the project team can stream 360 degree video and work through issues in real time, perhaps evenincluding aerial footage with the use of drones. Workers on-site can use AR to send enhanced field notes, videos, and other data to remote colleagues, promoting rapid digital collaboration. The high-quality data and information from the site that can be produced via these technologies can decrease in-person visits, save time and money, and improve knowledge transfer among the team.

Computer-performed analysis of a job site can even identify potential safety risk factors, which has the added benefit of minimizing any delays from dealing with hazards. AR/VR combined with BIM can then allow inspectors to more efficiently identify any remaining worksite danger. AR could also be utilized in the field for job training, for example an overlay that teaches how to use a particular piece of machinery. It could even allow contractors to see through walls as theyre working, streamlining coordination between multiple different trades.

Blockchain, which at first glance has little to do with the construction industry, could in fact eliminate paperwork and increase security throughout a projects completion. The simple definition of blockchain is that it is an incorruptible and decentralized public ledger to store digital information, which could help bring the construction sector into Industry 4.0. The process of bringing a project from concept to building involves a lot of paperwork and documents - bids, contracts, and forms of all types. Project managers could integrate BIM with blockchain technologies to automate and optimize many of these processes, while simultaneously cutting back on paper usage for a sustainable bonus. For example, smart contracts could allow a transparent exchange between parties without the need for a lawyer or a notary, simplifying and shortening the process.

To increase job site security, blockchain technology could be used to track all the workers on site each day through an ID card scan, automatically integrating with their payroll system and creating a secure log of who was on site and when. Sustainability measures such as lifecycle analysis of building materials could also be automated, creating a type of passport for each material to track information like ethical sourcing and embodied carbon. Each of these possibilities for utilizing blockchain technologies serves to streamline architects and project managers tasks and remove busy-work, allowing the team to focus on the bigger picture instead.

Even Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been suggested as a possible way to increase efficiency in the architecture and construction fields. Especially in creative fields like architecture, theres often debate about the real capabilities of AI and whether it could (or should) truly replace human work. In this case, the goal would be to simply automate some of the parts of architecture that dont require a creative touch. AI could compile building site information for example, such as temperature and weather data, or could automatically keep track of material ratings. Even systems such as smart lighting or smart stormwater management could be integrated from the beginning of design, significantly simplifying coordination efforts.

AI could also perform analyses that architects wouldnt otherwise have the time or inclination to consider. When integrated with BIM data, AI could analyze trends and inefficiencies from project to project, allowing architects to gain more insight from each building than theyd typically be able to and increasing the life-span and quality of future buildings. In terms of built structures maintenance, AI could also be utilized to track any facilities issues and monitor for problems and performance. Perhaps eventually AI could use data from how people interact with spaces to extrapolate entire smart city designs.

In most cases, were quite a distance from achieving that, but the technology exists to make it possible. From the beginning of a project, using VR to walk clients through a space, to the end where an AI system performs building commissioning and analysis, the ConTech possibilities are numerous. And whether or not we live to see robot bricklayers become mainstream, certainly there are opportunities to streamline, simplify, and enhance the construction process via digitalization. Architects can save time and money by performing virtual site visits, while the workers on-site can initiate a more productive and efficient discussion about issues via high-quality information capture.

Overall, ConTech advancements would decrease the amount of people on a construction site to the minimum needed to complete the physical work each day, yet not at the expense of seamless collaboration. In fact, technology-enhanced remote communication could improve real-time coordination efforts while embracing the time- and money-savings of remaining digital. Project safety and security would improve, eliminating those worries from the owners, architects, and construction managers. Monotonous, tedious tasks and paperwork could become automated and simplified, taking that off the architect's list of responsibilities as well. In an imagined "remote construction" future, the practice of architecture may be distilled to those tasks at the very heart of the profession, design and collaboration.

Read more about these topics on the dormakaba's blog.

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How Will Digitalization and Remote Construction Change our Habits as Architects? - ArchDaily

In 1992, when Los Angeles went up in flames in the wake of the Rodney King verdict, one of the buildings claimed by fire was a bank at the intersection of South Broadway and 45th Street, located on the border of Historic South Central and South Park.

The Broadway Federal Savings & Loan had once been a Woolworths building, but in 1955 it was transformed into a bank by Paul R. Williams the prominent and prolific Los Angeles architect who designed private homes for numerous celebrities (among them, Frank Sinatra, Barbara Stanwyck, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz), as well as churches, hotels, commercial buildings and even the font for the famous Beverly Hills Hotel logo.

Indeed, after the banks completion, Williams deposited his important papers there for safe-keeping.

So when the building went up in flames during the 92 uprising, so did much of the archival legacy of an architect who helped define the aesthetics of Southern California design though much of the 20th century. Not to mention the legacy of one of the countrys most notable Black architects with a rack of firsts to his name: the first licensed architect in California, the first African American to become a fellow of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the first to receive the AIA Gold Medal.

Or at least thats how the story went.

It turns out that the blaze that destroyed the Broadway Federal Savings & Loan didnt, as has long been reported, erase Williams legacy. While some of his business records were indeed lost in that fire, most of the architects thousands of original drawings were safe at another location.

Which means that there is a Paul R. Williams archive and it contains approximately 35,000 architectural plans, 10,000 original drawings, in addition to blueprints, hand-colored renderings, vintage photographs and correspondence. And, on Tuesday morning, the Getty Research Institute (GRI) and USCs School of Architecture are expected to announce a joint acquisition from Williams granddaughter Karen Elyse Hudson, who has long served as the principal steward of Williams work.

The Beverly Hills hotel in 1950, featuring a 1949-1950 addition by architect Paul R. Williams. He also designed the hotels distinctive signage.

(Julius Shulman / Getty Research Institute)

USC architecture dean Milton Curry, who was instrumental in facilitating the acquisition, says the archive helps fill the gaps of Los Angeles Modernism in the 20th century. It will also help illuminate Williams thinking and process.

This is one of the few Black architects operating at the scale and capacity that many of his white peers operated at, says Curry, who added, he accomplished a legacy that very few architects accomplished in their lifetime.

It also helps bring Williams work full circle: A native-born Angeleno, he studied architectural engineering at USC, graduating in 1919.

For the Getty Research Institute, the acquisition adds another important resource to an already prestigious archive that includes many of the key players of Southern California architecture in the 20th and 21st century, including Welton Becket (designer of the Music Center), Pierre Koenig (of the hill-hugging Stahl House), John Lautner (the spaceship-esque Chemosphere) and Frank Gehry (the ebullient Disney Hall).

This will really shed an incredible light on understanding architecture better in Los Angeles that it wasnt just individual architects, but a network of professionals, says Maristella Casciato, the GRIs senior curator of architecture. She notes that though Williams worked independently as the principal of his own studio, he also collaborated with many of the big Los Angeles firms of the era on major projects, including LAX.

A view of the Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz House in Palm Springs, designed by architect Paul Williams and completed in 1954-55.

(Julius Shulman / Getty Research Institute)

His archive also serves as a chronicle of almost a century of architecture in the region.

Williams was born in 1894 and died in 1980 and his career as a designer spans the graceful, undulating forms of Spanish Revival architecture to the more rectilinear shapes of Modernism at mid-century. (Think: the series of intersecting boxes that comprise his firms Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Building at W. Adams Boulevard and S. Western Avenue, completed in 1949.)

It captures the beginning of the jet age with the design of LAX, says Casciato. It captures this big change in the profession. It is a richness that I cannot even describe.

On the technical level, the level of detail, the crispness of the drawings ... it could have been drawn yesterday, adds Curry. He had a command.

Williams archive will also function as a cornerstone of the Gettys 2-year-old African American History Initiative. That program, led by curator LeRonn P. Brooks, has already acquired critical documents in other areas, including the archive of Los Angeles artist Betye Saar, a key player in the Black Arts Movement, and the photographic archive of the Johnson Publishing Company, the publishers of Ebony and Jet magazines. (That latter archive was acquired in collaboration with three other philanthropic foundations and is shared by the Smithsonians National Museum of African American History and Culture and the GRI.)

A view of the dramatic circular patio at the El Mirador Hotel in Palm Springs, designed by Paul R. Williams in the early 1950s.

(Julius Shulman / Getty Research Institute)

The acquisition couldnt come at a more critical moment as the nation reckons with centuries of structural racism.

Williams, Curry notes, bore the battle scars of racism.

The architect, quite famously, learned how to draw upside down so that he could sketch out ideas for white clients who may not have wanted to sit alongside him. And he often walked around construction sites with his hands clasped behind his back since he was unsure how a handshake from a Black man would be received.

The circumstance around which we find ourselves now give us additional impetus to reflect on the lack of diversity in our discipline, says Curry. At USC, we talk about the citizen architect. We have been pushing the notion that architecture has to be more inclusive. But this is an accelerant for us. The acquisition of Paul Williams archives is the moment to double down on creating diversity in our school.

We shouldnt, he adds, have to wait another 100 years.

From the Archives

Further reading on architect Paul R. Williams

See more here:
Architect Paul Williams archive acquired by Getty and USC - Los Angeles Times

The Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) unveiled its new Leo Burnett Canada designed logo and new website during a special online launch.

The logo shows the Ontario Association of Architects as a place to bridge communities. The central circle, which doubles as an O for Ontario, is representative of the community and inclusivity of the membership, the outer pieces framing this circle are representative of the architects space, and create two Asa nod to Association and the two member types: architects and architectural technologists (Lic.Tech.OAA).

The predominant brand colours are black and white for their contrast and clarity of information, along with an array of greys. Accessibility was key for the primary typeface, Akkurata grotesque sans-serif typeface created by Swiss designer Laurenz Brunner and released through the Lineto type foundry.

We are thrilled to have worked in partnership with the OAA to develop a timeless new identityan identity that ultimately distilled down to fundamental shapes representing space and community, says Lisa Greenberg, CCO of Leo Burnett Canada. Its an identity that can last a lifetime, just like structures and buildings.

The OAA also released a new website and design experience in collaboration with Enginess.io and Sputnik Design Partners. The organization re-envisioned its decade-old site to meet accessibility standards, provide clear information for both members and the public, improve transparency, and offer responsive design for tablets and phones.

We know our website is our digital headquarters. Its a space that is used by members to access an important body of knowledge as well as to build community, and its a place for the public to find information or gain a better understanding of this profession, its role, and the uniquely trained and skilled individuals who are part of it, says OAA President and architect, Kathleen Kurtin.

It has been an incredible journey and an extremely rewarding experience working together with the OAA in the creation of their new website, says Sputniks owner, David Sacha. Sputniks mission was to create an online presence that would better reflect the current vision and offerings of the OAA, while still delivering all the tools needed to support and engage the architectural community in Ontario. The result is one of collaboration and ingenuity that saw several creative disciplines working together to craft and engineer an artistic, engaging, and forward-thinking website.

Enginess Director of Digital Strategy, Simone Abel, calls the new website an impressive showpiece of a content- and user-first approach to digital experience design.

The new website comprises two separate, but connected, domains for public and member audiences. The OAAs mission of protecting and serving the public interest is made explicitly clear, allowing users to quickly learn about the architecture profession and the OAAs regulatory role, or gain more information about illegal practice, complaints and discipline processes, or registrar investigations.

Members of the public can find out how to become an Architect or Licensed Technologist OAA, with the website showing the paths to licensure for students and interns within Ontario, as well as for those currently studying or practising outside the province. The website also includes a directory that allows the public to search through the membership and those who hold status with the OAA.

The OAA Website offers access to the Practice Advisory Knowledge Basea digital library of resources, articles, tools, documents, and publications, searchable through key words, filters, and tags.

The site also includes updated information related to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, along with portals for resources related to carbon stability and sustainable design, as well as a database of the OAAs government relations outreach.

Link:
Ontario Association of Architects Launches New Logo and Website - Canadian Architect

(Credit: Unsplash)

This article is brought to you thanks to the collaboration ofThe European Stingwith theWorld Economic Forum.

Author: Gayle Markovitz, Editor, World Economic Forum

Racist statues are falling. In the past weeks since the killing of an unarmed African American man by a Minnesota police officer, the global rage at racial injustice and inequality has been visceral.

A number of statues and monuments to past heroes have been defaced, beheaded, drowned and dismembered. These are important acts. They highlight the relationship between symbols and ideas and epitomize the human need for ritual and meaning through memory, recollection and fantasy.

They also expose the uncomfortable fact that history is constructed and traditionally, there were winners and losers. These acts of revulsion signify a rejection of this binary understanding of the past. People are tired of myths and singular heroes and seek complex truths in new symbols that dont ignore the losers or the forgotten underbelly of history.

This is why cities, towns, museums and those responsible for designing infrastructure and public space need to rethink how we memorialize the past and develop new approaches to past mistakes that give current and future generations the means to move forward.

Here, David Adjaye lead designer of the Smithsonian Museums National Museum for African American History and Culture in Washington DC and architect of Londons forthcoming Holocaust Memorial explains why monuments need not be permanent and why we need to be ruthless with the truth to enable fractured communities to heal.

There is something very hopeful about the fact that this generation is saying, wait a minute. Thats not what we thought history was about. Its time to move on.

David Adjaye, Architect

Whats the significance of symbols, statues or memorials?

Adjaye: Theres a direct relationship between symbols and systems. We ignore the power of symbols and disregard the power of past symbols at our peril. Symbols construct our sense of ourselves and our beliefs. And what were now seeing is a disgust with the construction of monuments and narratives that glorified people and things that we thought were about a great history, only to find out that the underbelly of that history is steeped in horror, violence and blood.

Its also healthy for the system and for the city to continue to reconstruct and rethink these things. Monuments are not forever. They take us through transitions. The statues that are falling reference a mythical sense of time, which exists only in fantasy. The danger is that when these myths are made physical, they can project permanently into future generations, but the truth inevitably emerges into plain sight. And thats what were seeing now: you cant hide these things.

Does the rejection of racist statues in cities across the world mean that there is progress?

Adjaye: The rituals of cities and the rituals of spaces give meaning to our lives this is why monuments are so important. They capture memory and recollection, and they tell stories. But there is now a disregard for the power of singular monuments and an embrace of multiple stories including those that may have been lost. Were entering an age where there is a distinct departure from the god complex.

The spatial experience of being in the world is so rich that as designers, artists and architects, we have to make the city relevant and offer people a collective understanding of complex issues and challenges. These singular statues have become irrelevant because they tell only one story: stories that are often part of a fiction. This is deeply problematic for contemporary life in terms of trying to steer a course towards the world that we all want to live in. The projects that Ive been doing work against this kind of memory of the image as opposed to memory of the act.

Memory can also change. The idea of signs and monuments that are fragments within an unfolding story is interesting. These are important touchstones to teach people about values and morals. Theres nothing better than a society admitting mistakes. Nobodys perfect.

We need to establish new ways of being in cities and communities within a very complex and interdependent global world this is one of the struggles that as architects were trying to work through.

How do you design a contemporary memorial?

Adjaye: Its critical that the responsibility of the monument is not done with a sense of a fantasy. For me, its a cold analysis of past events and I use that information to show what went wrong. Theres no emotion.

In building the National Museum of African American History and Culture, it inadvertently also became a monument. The story had simply been held back for so long that just making a building didnt seem enough. It was about delivering a narrative and a formal message of the building as a device to talk about our moral compass.

It is now used as the backdrop for many of the anti-racist protests. So immediate histories are unfolding as the building evolves to convey new stories as well as old. For me, this is the ultimate success of a monument. It should enable a community to move forward by creating a historical marker, a social reference point and a generational moral compass.

What about systemic racism inherent in the design of cities?

Adjaye: The construction of racism in the construction of cities is seen all the time Johannesburg is probably the epitome. We know about Johannesburg because of the Apartheid story, but the architecture of segregation can be found in any society where theres been a dislocation between those who have and those who have not (either through marginalization, through skin colour or any other difference).

Infrastructure which seems apparently benign and of benefit to everyone has been used as a tool of separation to create communities of dependency and communities that are just on the edge of collapse.

So racism is not just a human hate issue. Its been deployed through every mechanism of how we construct and make our physical environments. Statues are just one of these mechanisms.

There were inherent mistakes made by generations, which fundamentally blocked the access and the opportunity of many people. Its incumbent on architects now to find fresh ways to bridge or create new relationships.

Whats the World Economic Forum doing about diversity, equity and inclusion?

The COVID-19 pandemic and recent social and political unrest have created a profound sense of urgency for companies to actively work to tackle racial injustice and inequality. In response, the Forums Platform for Shaping the Future of the New Economy and Society has established a high-level community of Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officers. The community will develop a vision, strategies and tools to proactively embed equity into the post-pandemic recovery and shape long-term inclusive change in our economies and societies.

As businesses emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, they have a unique opportunity to ensure that equity, inclusion and justice define the new normal and tackle exclusion, bias and discrimination related to race, gender, ability, sexual orientation and all other forms of human diversity. It is increasingly clear that new workplace technologies and practices can be leveraged to significantly improve diversity, equity and inclusion outcomes.

The World Economic Forum has developed a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Toolkit, to outline the practical opportunities that this new technology represents for diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, while describing the challenges that come with it.

The toolkit explores how technology can help reduce bias from recruitment processes, diversify talent pools and benchmark diversity and inclusion across organisations. The toolkit also cites research that suggests well-managed diverse teams significantly outperform homogenous ones over time, across profitability, innovation, decision-making and employee engagement.

The Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Toolkit is available here.

The past few months have seen an extraordinary shift in context and mood. The consequences of our actions are more questioned and the interconnectedness of everything is more apparent. With the internet were able to see the cataclysmic effects of all these things upon each other. So we suddenly share a collective consciousness through the medium.

Its forcing a global awareness in a way thats never happened before in the history of civilization. It will impact the way in which we make cities, how we legislate, how we make things, how we use materials, how we use resources. Something that was meant to be about separation, can suddenly become a tool of continuity within this changed context. Cities are always changing and symbols and signs are being re-appropriated.

There is something very hopeful about the fact that this generation is saying, wait a minute. Thats not what we thought history was about. Its time to move on.

Read the rest here:
This architect explains why racist statues are no longer relevant and describes how to replace them - The European Sting

The Bryson DeChambeau Show heads to the Motor City for this weeks Rocket Mortgage Classic. Its a new event for the PGA Tour star, but its played on a golf course designed by one of the games old masters. Not that DeChambeau seems too worried.

At his pre-tournament press conference at Detroit Golf Club, the bulked-up Bryson was asked about the Donald Ross track. Here was his response:

I think theres a lot of bunkers that are around like 290, so hopefully Ill be able to clear those and take those out of play, DeChambeau said. So, sorry, Mr. Rossbut it is what it is.

Hey, at least he called him Mr. Ross before obliterating his golf course. And its nothing personal. DeChambeau has been overpowering all PGA Tour venues since putting on some 40 pounds.

DeChambeau currently leads the PGA Tour in driving distance and hes second in strokes gained/off-the-tee. And hes not just driving for show as evidenced by him being a combined 46 under par in the three events since the season re-started earlier this month.

So again, its nothing personal, Mr. Ross, but hazards that are only 290 yards away arent even on Brysons radar anymore. And its a big reason why hes the overwhelming favorite to win this week.

View original post here:
Bryson DeChambeau is now trolling all-time great golf architects because of his length off the tee - Golf Digest

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This week, I give this platform to Christian Vasquez, the current President of UAP124, who writes about how its time for Filipino architects to come out of the shadows and claim their place in the regional design industry.

Dubais population of design and construction professionals is massively organic and quite competitive.

With the citys fast-paced development and the uniquely ambitious real estate market, being an architect in Dubai can be quite challenging; continuous investment in self-development is a necessity to keep up with this progressive notion.

Consequently, belonging to a community that promotes professional growth is an additive to keep up with the current and future trends within the industry.

The Global Filipino Architects community works to support the vast design talent that exists in the region and offer them a springboard from which to achieve greater success and career satisfaction.

A recent survey of the design industry found that almost three quarters of designers are from the West. But the Filipino architects community here believes it doesnt have to be this way.

Why does diversity matter? Aside from the ethical reasons too obvious to outline, inclusivity is also good for business. Diverse teams mean new approaches, new markets and wider perspective that allows for creative and out-of-the-box problem solving.

With more than 2,000 members of the United Architects of the Philippines in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE), this organisation continues to upskill its members with a series of programs focused on the progression of Filipino architects. UAP124 upholds the highest educational and professional standards and in doing so, not only does the organisation promote their home-grown talent, but also empowers the design community as a whole.

As the current president of UAP 124, I always call each individual to action and move forward in seeking professional growth and global competitiveness.

Platforms such as the UAP Awards were established to support our objectives. Last Year, the UAP Dubai Chapter hosted the UAP Dubai Awards at the Palazzo Versace. Across nine categories, the awards honoured Filipino designers, architects, projects and design-oriented companies employing Filipino architects. The winners were selected by a reputable international jury composed of top architects in the practice.

To be honest, Filipinos architects undergo extremely rigorous training back home. After a five-year bachelors programme in architecture, they need an additional two years of diversified industry experience before they can take the state board examination that will ultimately award them the title of Architect or Ar. The course and the standards of education are at par with leading architecture schools around the world.

Working in Dubai for almost a decade, I know Filipino designers contribution to the regional industry is monumental. They are recipient, adaptive and incredibly creative with the highest level of competency, reliability and dedication, but maybe a bit too humble. Here in Dubai, you need a voice to be heard. You need guts to get to the top.

Its about time we Filipinos change the way we think in order to shape our future outside the Philippines not only on the design stage, but in any profession or walk of life.

To become more valued and relevant in the Middle East, it is important that we elevate public awareness of our contribution to the industry, whilst protecting the profession and work towards sharing our knowledge, expertise and opinion with the wider community.

The timing is perfect. As the world marches towards greater and universal acceptance, equality and empathy, we have a global movement to inspire Filipino architects to work shoulder to shoulder with peers and colleagues from around the world and build a better tomorrow for all people.

Read more from the original source:
Design Diary: Giving voice to Filipino architects in the Middle East - Gulf News

On June 25, The Architects Newspaper officially launched Facades+ Online, the first digital version of our decades-old national conference series. The full-day event was split between a morning of keynotes and panels and concluded with a series of manufacturer-led workshops diving into the application possibilities and production complexities of sealants, glazing, and sintered stone.

COOKFOX Architects partner Pam Campbell kicked off the conference with her keynote address Restorative Environmental Design: Facades and the Human-Nature Relationship. The presentation focused on the firms body of work incorporating greenscaping and other natural elements within their facade and structural systems. Two panels followed the keynote; the first Achieving COTE: Facade Design and Energy Modeling at the Amherst Science Center included Payette principal and building science director Andrea Love, Payette senior associate Jeffrey Abramson, and Integral Group managing principal Bungane Mehlomakulu. The second, Thermal Bridging: Detailing Problems and Their Solutions, brought together Studio NYL founding principal Chris OHara and facade design director Will Babbington, and Sasaki associate principal and director of technical resources Bradford J. Prestbo. Each panel, an hour in length, incorporated a comprehensive presentation on the subject matter, a moderated discussion, and a robust audience Q & A.

Representatives from Tremco, Agnora, Cosentino, and Vitro Architectural Glass led hour-long workshops during the afternoon; ranging from Poking Holes in Your Air Barrier System, to Understanding Low-E Coatings.

ANwill announce further themed online Facades+ conference as the summer progresses. Currently scheduled for July 30 is Facades+ Online: Enclosure Innovations in the Midwest, which is co-chaired by Populous and will feature speakers from BNIM, Dake | Wells Architecture, Gensler, Hufft, The Matter Factory, and Walter P Moore.

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The Architect's Newspaper shifts to online programming with Facades+: Design a High-Performance Facade - The Architect's Newspaper

O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects has created ash-lined living spaces with expansive windows inside a gardener's home in Lewisham, southeast London.

Grove Park is an end-of-terrace house that was originally built back in the 1980s.

The wood-lined rooms that O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects has created are on the home's ground floor, which was extended by incorporating a small garage that was on site.

"The previous ground floor was in real need of repair, with both doors and windows, and the internal cellular, low-ceilinged, cramped and dark layout in bad shape," studio co-founder Amalia Skoufoglou told Dezeen.

Inside, there's a kitchen, a dining area that faces the street and a lounge which has been orientated towards the garden and the wild woodland that lies beyond.

This was done at the request of the client who, being a keen gardener, wanted living spaces to have a close visual connection with the outdoors.

The ceiling is supported by a full-length ash flitch beam a type of beam typically used in the construction of timber structures, which comprises a central steel plate sandwiched between two wooden panels.

Shorter ash struts extend perpendicularly from the central beam to form a series of rectangular openings.

These have been filled with ash wood panels that were prefabricated off-site, along with the window frames and doors.

"The interior spaces during the summer are surrounded by heavy foliaged trees and cast dark shadows on the interiors," explained Skoufoglou.

"Both maple and ash were considered at the outset for their light appearance and veining. Ash won out in the end because the external timber panelling and doors were made in Lithuania and ash is more readily available."

Ash-veneered plywood has then been used to craft the storage cabinetry in the kitchen and the central breakfast island.

Countertops and the splashback running behind the stove are made from creamy Shivakashi granite. The flooring throughout Grove Park is polished concrete, which was cast in-situ.

To reveal another perspective of the garden and bring in additional natural light, a huge picture window has been created in the wall opposite the kitchen.

It has a deep-set frame where a comfy seating nook has been built in.

Another picture window features in the ash-lined front wall of the lounge area, which is dressed with a tan-leather sofa and simple spherical pendant lights.

Large panels of glazing have also been inset in the door.

The project additionally saw the studio create a large master bedroom on the first floor of Grove Park house. It has its own en-suite, which has been finished with a freestanding tub and soft-beige tiling.

A stepped terrace has also been built in the back garden, made from red bricks to match the facade of the house.

O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects was founded in 2016 by Jody O'Sullivan and Amalia Skoufoglou.

The studio often uses wood in its work. Three years ago it created an extension for a home in northwest London, which featured oak louvres protruding from its front window. In 2018, it also decked out a skincare store in the English town of Stamford with ash and cane wood.

Photography is by Stle Eriksen.

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Grove Park is a wood-lined house by O'Sullivan Skoufoglou Architects - Dezeen

From converted caves to underground pools, here are seven hotels and houses on the Greek island of Santorinidesigned by local studio Kapsimalis Architects.

Saint Hotel, Odi

Stepping down towards the sea from the cliffs of the village of Odi, Saint Hotel features terraced patios with bright blue pools and white walls.

In total the hotel contains 16 rooms that occupy converted barns and cellars or have been dug straight into the cliffside. The suites open out onto private terraces separated by bright white walls, which havepools and loungers with views out over one of Santorini's volcanic bays.

Find out more about Saint Hotel

Holiday House in Fira, Fira

Kapsimalis Architects renovated this holiday home in Fira, adding two roof terraces that each have a plunge pool.

A further sunken pool in the basement sits under a vaulted white ceiling, visible through an arched window behind one of the home's beds.

Find out more about Holiday House in Fira

House in Pyrgos, Pyrgos

Informed by the machinery used to quarry pumice out of the volcanic soil of Santorini, House in Pyrgos rises like a fortress or a rocky outcrop from the landscape.

"All pieces of the architectural history of the island are subtly combined and embedded in this monolithic structure," said Kapsimalis Architects.

Find out more about House in Pyrgos

Two Holiday Residences in Fira, Fira

The underground caves of an old house in Fira were converted into a duo of holiday homes by the architecture studio.

A walled courtyard and an old donkey barn form part of the complex, which now has a series of pools in the sun or under a shady arch carved into a staircase.

Find out more about Two Holiday Residences in Fira

Summer Residence, Imerovigli

The studio turned an old cave house with an underground warehouse and bakehouse into a summer home with terraces that feature swimming pools in three different shapes.

"The main idea was to maintain the existing traditional architectural forms of the exterior, and to show up the diversity and the values of their interior spaces," said the studio.

Find out more about Summer Residence

Summer House on the Mountain, Profitis Ilias

The studio designed four holiday apartments in a two-storey building that nestle into the side of the Profitis Ilias mountain, close to the highest point of Santorini.

The building's white volumes were chose to echo the island's traditional architecture, while rocks excavated from the site were used to build the block's retaining walls.

Find out more about Summer House on the Mountain

Summer House in Santorini, Messaria

Sitting on a sloping plot outside the village, this house formed of stacked white cubes has views of the sea and a garden where the occupants to grow their own vegetables.

"The form is a synthesis of cubistic white volumes, as a contemporary translation of the traditional cubistic architecture found in the villages of Santorini with a clear influence from Modernism," explained the architecture studio.

Find out more about Summer House in Santorini

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Seven Santorini island retreats by Kapsimalis Architects - Dezeen