hearth architects has topped this family house in hikone, japan, with a gabled roof whose extended eaves create a sheltered veranda that acts as a transitional boundary between exterior and interior spaces. designed for a couple and their child, the residence occupies two plots, which results in having two street faades instead of one. facing the north and south roads, the two front elevations of the building respond to the surrounding context accordingly.

all images by yuta yamada

hearth architects has designed the house with two front elevations, each of which facing a different road and enclosing separate functions. the first one, which encloses the living, dining and kitchen area, looks toward the south and features a garden, whose privacy is secured through a concrete wall that defines the perimeter of the plot. topped with a large gable roof that seems to be floating above it, this side incorporates a sheltered veranda area that enables a smooth transition between interior and exterior spaces.

the second elevation, which face the north side, encloses more private areas, including a japanese-style room and a japanese garden, arranged to offer a relaxed atmosphere. inside, common living spaces are located in a double-height open plan space characterized by wooden beams, furniture, and floors. the tranquil interior is complemented by pops of green, found on the velvet couch and planted trees which grown inside the house.

project info:

name: hikone house

architect: hearth architects

location: hikone city, shiga prefecture, japan

main use: private house

structure scale: wooden two-story

site area: 342.21 m2 (103.51 tsubo)

building area: 141.60 m2 (42.83 tsubo)

total floor area: 183.00 m2 (55.35 tsubo)

sofia lekka angelopoulou I designboom

apr 17, 2020

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gabled roof with extended eaves tops hearth architects' hikone house in japan - Designboom

To put it lightly, the COVID-19 pandemic has precipitated more than just a passing hiccup in the daily business operations of architecture firms large and small. While the long-term implications of the deadly viral outbreak on the business of designing buildings have yet to be fully grasped, the immediate fallout has been nothing short of rollercoaster-like.

Yet for most practices, things are very much businesses as usual albeit with major alterations, particularly with regard to workflow and staffing. To help firms more smoothly navigate these turbulent and unpredictable times, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) has released a comprehensive Architects Guide to Business Continuity.

Geared to help guide firms through a wide range of adverse business conditions including for example, global pandemics, the 50-plus-page guide provides insight into how to broach a variety of crucial areasstaff management, supply chains, technology, stakeholders, all-important reputationwith minimal disruption.

The guide identifies, elaborates on, and offers guidance on how to respond to a range of potentially business-disrupting hazards including natural ones (sea-level rise, wildfires, drought, and other natural phenomena, many of them exacerbated by climate change) as well as anthropogenic hazards and system failures (cyber attacks, terrorism, arson, supply chain disruption, civil unrest, utility interrupt, pandemics, etc).

Firms across the country are facing pressures from all sidesfrom transitioning offices to teleworking models, to work stoppages, to repositioning their businesses to adapt to changing client needs, said AIA executive vice president/chief executive officer Robert Ivy, FAIA, in a press statement. This guide is meant to help firms be nimble during any kind of disruption, whether environmental or manmade. It also should support them in making informed decisions during economic uncertainties so they can be best poised to address the future.

Per a March 23 survey conducted by the AIA, 50 percent of firms polled reported 50 percent fewer projects compared to their expectations entering the month. Eighty-three percent of firms anticipated a decline in revenue for the monththat figure jumps to 94 percent when considering revenue declines in April. The survey also found major shifts in staffing operations with 48 percent reportingas of March 23that all employees entire, or almost all employees, were working remotely. Thirty-one percent of firms reported that only some staff had gone into remote work mode. Fifteen percent reported that some staff members were unable to work at all.

The AIA is providing a wide range of resources and helpful information to its members during the coronavirus pandemic across a range of areas. In addition to the operations-minded Architects Guide to Business Continuity, one notable resource headed by a special AIA task force is a Preparedness Assessment Tool meant to be used to evaluate potential alternative care sites for the treatment and isolation of COVID-19 patients. A collaborative database and complementary COVID19 ArchMap was launched so that architects, designers, engineers, and others can more easily share and compare best practices when establishing alternative care sites.

Every Friday, ANs own Coronavirus Column, penned by managing editor Jack Balderrama Morley, addresses a range of topics on how the pandemic is impacting both the profession of architecture and the built environment as a whole.

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AIA releases Architect's Guide to Business Continuity as firms struggle to adjust to new reality - The Architect's Newspaper

British and Irish architects, artists and critics have selected the buildings that they look forward to seeing again after the coronavirus pandemic.

At present, much of the world is on lockdown, with millions of people confined to their own homes and travel severely restricted. However, once the pandemic is over, people will once again be free to visit their favourite buildings.

"The feel of cool marble under bare feet" is how architecture critic Michael Sorkin begins his list of Two Hundred and Fifty Things an Architect Should Know.

Sorkin, who died last month from complications due to Covid-19, would have understood the need for all the new digital initiatives to satisfy our creative cravings, yet it is impossible to replace how being in the presence of buildings can make us feel.

Louis Kahn's Salk Institute in San Diego, with its extraordinary setting and views, as well as its immense physical form, is the most powerful reminder of the importance of the direct encounter, said architect Jamie Fobert who recalled seeing it for the first time:

"As I walked across the near-empty surface of this public space, I felt lifted physically and opened up emotionally," he said. "Like walking into a Superstudio montage, a tabula rasa with the ocean at its edge, it was at once a surreal and completely tangible experience."

Artists Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell, whose exhibition at London's Soane Museum sets out to explore what buildings can tell us about contemporary society, have also found themselves thinking how the setting is as important as the architecture.

For them, it's Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer's Niteri Contemporary Art Museum in Rio de Janeiro. "It positively lifts the spirits and soars aloft!" they said.

"It's one of the most beautiful, audacious, and energising buildings we've visited," they continued.

"Poised between the city and the sea, mountains and the sky, it perfectly expresses the optimistic energy of Rio, a city where it often feels as though anything is possible, a city that has the power to lift the spirits at every turn with the drama of its incredible natural setting."

The ability to connect emotionally to our environment is fundamental to human experience, yet it is only at times like that we ask why certain places make us feel alive and human.

Architect Farshid Moussavi cites Yokohama Port Terminal, her first building as Foreign Office Architects.

Precht designs Parc de la Distance for outdoor social distancing

She emphasises that public buildings also contribute to social values and the quality of urban life.

"Its floors seem caring as they are covered with wood that has been meticulously laid down to adapt to the building's undulating geometry," she said ofthe port terminal. " They invite you to sit anywhere and relax."

Architecture is also about bringing people together.

For Simon Conder, best known for a series of exquisite houses on the remote Dungeness Beach in Kent, OMA's Casa de Musica in Porto reminds of him our temporary social distancing. "It's the most magical and sociable building I have ever been to," he said.

Buildings that connect with nature don't always have to be far away from home.

Architect Sarah Wigglesworth points out that a connection with nature can be as simple as having a garden to look at during months of self-isolation citing Peter Aldington's house at Turn End in Essex.

"The key is the garden - which is gorgeous - and whose presence is felt everywhere," she explained. "The house itself is simple and homely but with beautiful light and views of all kinds of nature. This is so important for mental wellbeing and connecting us to the natural cycles of the seasons."

Ellis Woodman, director of the Architecture Foundation says the building most imprinted on his mind right now is the ByeongsanseowonConfucian Academy in Korea because of the way "the building tells you about your place within the immediate community and the wider world".

"It is somewhere where diurnal and seasonal changes are felt very intensely something I know I am really going to miss being stuck indoors for the next few months," said Woodman.

At the time of writing, the Venice Architecture Biennale is still due to take place in August this year, a city were where the combination of colour, surface and light is a permanent inspiration for architects. But for John Tuomey of Dublin based O'Donnell +Tuomey, the city he is thinking about most is Rome.

"In these days of solitary retreat and social isolation, I find myself dreaming of the streets of Rome, my mind's eye strolling through the crowded spaces around the Pantheon," he said.

Every architect knows the Pantheon but for Tuomey it's not merely the building but the surrounding streets what he calls the "the sweet sense of clash between monumental presence and the continuity of everyday existence" that he misses.

This, he says, is "architecture and the city working off each other, a perfect cocktail of transcendent awe and civic cheer, one that makes us live in hope".

35 architects and designers contribute video messages to help launch Virtual Design Festival

Architects and designers have been responding to the coronavirus pandemic in a variety of positive ways including building hospitals, designing prefabricated intensive care units and making face shields.

Dezeen has launchedVirtual Design Festival, the world's first digital design festival, as a platform to bring the architecture and design world together to celebrate the culture and commerce of our industry, and explore how it can adapt and respond to extraordinary circumstances.

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Architects and critics chose their feel-good buildings - Dezeen

Boston architect Eric Hweler has helped local doctors develop patient isolation hoods a new type of device that could save the lives of healthcare workers and "impact things worldwide" in the fight against coronavirus.

Made from a single sheet of folded plastic, the patient isolation hood has been developed from a standing start in just nine days and will be trialled at Massachusetts General Hospital from Tuesday.

The transparent, dome-like patient isolation hood (PIH) fits over a patient's head and shoulders, protecting hospital staff from virions, or virus particles, that are breathed or coughed out by people with coronavirus.

"The patient isolation hood is somewhere between a wearable and an architectural scale," Hweler told Dezeen. "It's like a small house that is placed over a patient's body during a risky procedure."

Doctors are particularly at risk during intubation, a procedure that involves inserting a tube into the airway in preparation for ventilation.

"If the patient is coughing, there can be a lot of aerosolized droplets that are spread, making the procedure risky," he added. A clear plastic shield around the patient can help control those aeroslized droplets."

The hood has been developed at breakneck speed by a group of doctors, engineers and designers meeting in a series of Zoom calls and Slack discussions.

"This is an open-source call that brings together designers from all over the world and is being prototyped in an extremely accelerated timeframe," said Hweler, a partner at Boston architect Hweler + Yoon Architecture.

"The speed and level of collaboration is unprecedented," he added. "About nine days before a first review at the hospital and hopefully 14 days for deployment. "

"This project sprung out of the previous efforts with PPE," added Hweler, who has helped develop open-source face shields for healthcare workers.

"We were wondering what else we could do, and the individual efforts of thousands of makers 3D-printing masks seemed to be overtaken by the onlining of companies with much larger volume capacities."

"We heard about intubation boxes or patient isolation hoods also being in high demand," he added. "The idea is to partially enclose a patient while a doctor performs an intubation procedure, which is to put a tube down the patient's throat."

"We sketched up some templates for a CNC and asked a plastics fabricator that we'd worked with before to cut and assemble a prototype," Hweler explained.

"We then asked around to see if there were local hospitals that were in need."

The idea for the hoods simultaneously emerged two weeks ago at Massachusetts General Hospital, where a Covid-19 innovations team co-led by Dr Sam Smith started to research better ways of protecting healthcare workers treating coronavirus patients.

"We felt strongly that there was some opportunity to better look at protecting physicians," Smith told Dezeen.

"In some countries, like in areas of Spain, it was one in eight getting infected while working with Covid patients."

Dr Wong, a physician at the hospital, came up with the idea of making lightweight hoods that could be placed over patients.

"I just said, hey, this is fantastic because it basically covers the patient who is breathing out all this, you know, aerosolized virus," Smith said. "And he makes a couple little slits in the back, puts his hands through, and he can do all the things he needs to do with better protection."

Engineers developed a prototype but "there was nobody on the design side, giving input to this, not even on the ergonomics," said Smith.

Smith made contact with Hweler via the innovation team's Slack channel, and the collaboration began.

Hweler and his team "immediately then started to have the input that I needed," Smith said.

"The success of this will be because the design is exceptional," Smith added. "Not only because it is simpler than we imagined, but is also more functional as a result."

The design "certainly could impact things worldwide" in the fight against coronavirus, Smith said, saving the lives of both healthcare professionals and patients, since the negative pressure inside the hood reduces the need to put patients on ventilators.

"We've actually started to find that you can get by without putting breathing tubes and putting them on a ventilator, and you're probably gonna cause less lung injury because of it," Smith said. "People may do better."

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Architect and medics develop plastic hoods to protect healthcare workers - Dezeen

Dreamnext Exhibition and Workshop / Kim Seunghoy (Seoul National University) + KYWC Architects

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Text description provided by the architects. The design began with the question of, what is the architecture that lies in harmony with its neighborhood and alleys. This petite architecture consisting of four stories and a single basement level communicates with its urban surroundings in various ways. The ground floor is an exhibition space for Dreamnexts design product as well as a workshop area for letter press.

This space, in which workshops and exhibitions co-exist simultaneously, itself becomes an impressive scene in the neighborhood. Instead of form, activities become its scenery. The main entrance in a form of a main gate invites pedestrians passing by. When the main entrance is entirely opened the interior space becomes part of the road. The basement is a multifunctional space which has a high floor height. This space provides for lectures and exhibitions. In every corner of the basement storage space has been designed to exhibit and store products of Dreamnext.

The sunken space with an outdoor staircase not only connects the basement to the ground floor, but also provides fresh air and daylight into the basement. The second and the third floors of the building are the workspaces of Dreamnext. Although it is a small space there were efforts made in order to maximize its spatial limitations. The floor area was maximized by building storage space into the walls, designing with minimal size of structure, and many other methods to create a larger floor space. The meeting room on the fourth floor, which has a rooftop garden, is the most spacious and comforting space out of the entire building. Regardless of its small space, it has a high ceiling, and a view which extends out to the vast urban scenery. The wooden deck of the rooftop garden brings joy to its tired staff.

A small house on a tiny plot. Nevertheless, exploring a unique structural system was vital to create substantial space. The second floor of the building is hung by a truss system on the third floor. Thus, tolerating minimal structural members to be placed on the ground floor, this allows the ground floor to generously open up to its urban surroundings. The purpose of structure is not only to provide for its structural functions but also to create an urban relationship, react to activities happening inside, and to reveal the structure on the exterior of the building. Building lifestyles, that is design. The building Dreamnext in Mangwon-dong contains the process of building. Design that builds lifestyles is what the members of Dreamnext practice on a daily basis.

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Dreamnext Exhibition and Workshop / KYWC Architects - ArchDaily

CLEVELAND, Ohio Jack Bialosky Sr., was an influential Northeast Ohio architect whose single-family houses introduced a sleek and stylish look to East Side suburbs after World War II.

Bialosky died Tuesday of natural causes at age 94 in the Judson Retirement Community in Cleveland, said his son, architect Jack Bialosky Jr.

His father was part of a generation of American architects who embraced modernism during the postwar economic expansion and whose work expressed a can-do spirit of optimism and uplift.

He was very facile, Jack Jr. said. He could make anything in a wood shop and he drew with incredible facility. He always thought his work should be an expression of the clients goals rather than his own.

Jack Sr. designed more than 60 single-family homes in the Cleveland area. His credits also include the 1954 Suburban Temple-Kol Ami in Beachwood, the 1976 headquarters for Progressive Corp. in Mayfield, plus headquarters buildings for Broadview Savings, and Leaseway Corp.

After graduating from Yale University in 1949 with a bachelors degree in architecture (later converted to a masters degree according to Jack Jr.,) Bialosky Sr. founded the firm now known as Bialosky Cleveland.

The firm operated for many years in a second-floor office at Shaker Square. Jack Jr. moved the firm several years ago to a new office at 6555 Carnegie Ave., where it has 66 employees. The firm also has a New York office operated by Jack Jr.s brother, William.

Bialosky Sr. was born in 1925 to Clevelanders Leon and Edith Bialosky and was a member of the class of 1943 at Cleveland Heights High School.

After entering the University of Michigan, where he hoped to play football, Jack Sr. was conscripted into the U.S. Navy, which sent him to Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where he played football and studied naval architecture.

He served aboard the U.S.S. Mindoro, an escort aircraft carrier, as the war was winding down, but did not see action.

After graduating from Yale, Bialosky joined architect Charles Cecil Coleman in a small practice focused on residential projects. Soon thereafter, he founded his own firm.

Throughout Jack Sr.s professional tenure he was known for his clean, modern, functional approach to design and a remarkable drawing talent, continuing to paint and draw in retirement. In later years, he learned Computer Aided Drafting, the family said.

Jack Sr. was married to former Marilyn Bartow Bialosky for 69 years. She died in 2018.

In addition to raising four children, the Bialoskys supported each others civic endeavors, the family said.

They were known for an impeccable sense of style, a passion for travel, and profound dedication to their synagogue (where they were founding members, educators, and trustees), family members said.

Jack Sr. served as Commissioner of the Shaker Boys League for 30 years. In retirement, he was appointed by Cuyahoga County as a trustee of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Public Square, and helped to oversee its renovation.

Survivors include Ellen Rice (Richard), of Denver; Jack Jr. (Ronni) of Cleveland; William, of New York; Richard (Karen), of Cleveland; and a step-brother, Daniel Lewis, of Miami. Jack Sr. had eight grandchildren. He was predeceased by his sister Mina Wirtshafter, of Cleveland.

A memorial service will be announced at a later date. Contributions may be made to Suburban Temple-Kol Ami, 22401 Chagrin Blvd., Beachwood.

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Cleveland architect Jack Bialosky, Sr., a designer of elegant modern houses that reshaped suburbs, has died a - cleveland.com

Helen & Hard architects new library made entirely out of glue-laminated timber fits between two existing buildings in Vennesla, Norway.The small town of Vennesla has a new library building which serves as an architectural link between the existing auditorium and vocational school.The brief was for a building that would invite people to come inside, and the architects succeeded in the task with a large glass faade that successfully reveals the large space inside the building when seen from outside and a form like something out of science fiction.The architects used a fluid, dynamic design, so that the project as a whole literally flows between the two existing volumes, with its 27 glulam beams connected by invisible joints and multi-faceted wrapper enriched by vertical strips, a total of 450m3 of timber: the only material used to make all the buildings components.Moreover, the beam-pillar structural combination is skilfully paired with a box, also made of timber, produced using CNC technology that effectively increases its volume. All this makes the beams much more powerful than they would have appeared if they had preserved their original slender proportions. The architects use this structural box to add technological and lighting infrastructure, running along the intrados of the beams to underline their design and give them a futuristic look. This design choice is underlined by the bookshelves, alternately transformed into built-in chairs, boldly connected to the foot of the pillars in a fluid, provocative design that gives the construction as a whole a very modern appearance.Timber also appears in other structural parts, such as the staircase, the elevator shaft, the faade and the roof, all demonstrating skilful use of this building material both inside and outside this unique building.

Fabrizio Orsini

Location: Vennesla, NorwayClient: Vennesla kommuneProgramme: library and culture houseStatus: completed 2011Area: 1938 m2Budget: 66,4 mill NOK (excl tax)Team: Helen & Hard; Siv Helene Stangeland, Reinhard Kropf, Hkon Minnesjord Solheim, Caleb Reed, Randi Augenstein.

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Helen & Hard architects' gluelaminated timber library in Vennesla - Floornature.com

After Covid-19, will Irish housing design change for good?

The past weeks have taught us more about our homes than we possibly ever wanted to learn. We may have discovered we love the way the light falls on a particular wall at around 3pm, or that were not so crazy about our bold colour choices in the livingroom. Many are learning that their photogenic and previously beloved open-plan cooking, eating and living rooms are a nightmare when youre all together 24/7. Virginia Woolf was wise when she wrote that everyone needs a room of ones own.

For families, schooling and working together has changed how we view the places we call home, while those living solo will have found out what people with disabilities always knew, as they come to see their own four walls anew, over and over again. Will Covid-19 change how we build? And if it does, what might things look like in the future?

As Nathalie Weadick, director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, puts it, designed space, internal or external, has never been tested like this before. This emergency shows architectures great central responsibility the potential to shape lives for the better.

So what do those who design our houses think about the changes that may come? And what might it all mean for the future of architecture in general?

Architect Emmett Scanlon says that it has never been more important for architects to find a collective shared voice, to advocate, criticise and shape how we move forward.

Architecture is for the public good, he says. It has a role to play in civic society, as health does. This is our greatest challenge: to rip architecture from the body of development, and build a new skeleton around it, to make a healthy, human, lively body, in which all things work together for longer.

Interestingly many of the architects I asked about these issues initially zeroed in on the importance of shared space and public space. Perhaps theres something about being housebound that makes you think of the outside world first. Or maybe limiting your outdoor life to a 2km radius underlines just how mean is the width of many urban pavements, and just how inadequate are so many of the citys green spaces. Or equally it could mean that, as human beings, we are both gregarious and private. Quite simply, to truly thrive, we need the best of both.

Ciarn Ferrie, Ciarn Ferrie ArchitectsThere was a recent report of a man in Toulouse who managed to run a marathon by running up and down his apartment balcony 6,000 times. It would be impossible to break into a run on most apartment balconies here. It is difficult to imagine how an apartment designed to Irelands minimum standards, to accommodate the bare essentials of a home sleeping, washing and eating could accommodate the needs of a couple working from home, with a child being home-schooled. Or how they could provide the necessary breathing space for an older couple who can no longer leave their home.

The housing stock that was built in the 1940s, 50s and 60s, by contrast, has proved much more robust and adaptable to different ways of living. There is some hope that amidst this crisis people are becoming more open to new ways of thinking, different lifestyles, different working arrangements including ones that we cant yet foresee. This will mean a move away from the idea that certain types of housing are for a particular demographic, at a particular stage in life, for example; that apartments are for young professionals who will eventually move onto a real house, and this means a move away from micro apartments.

It also brings into question whether the co-living model can ever be sustainable not just because of the size of the living units, but because of the implications for sharing living space with strangers in a post-pandemic world.cfarchitects.ie

Alice Casey, Taka ArchitectsObviously, everyones relationship to their home is under intense and unavoidable scrutiny at the moment. Im hoping that this situation might make ministers and policy-makers rethink their fairly recent reduction in space and quality standards for apartment design especially.taka.ie

Niall McCullough and Valerie Mulvin,McCullough MulvinThe situation challenges us; it challenges the idea that history is over, it challenges ideas of continual growth. I dont have a huge belief in millenarian concepts of change, that all will be adjusted after this. I think most things will go back to an approximation of where they were, but what might stay is a quality of doubt.

Confinement will undoubtedly sharpen views on space and functionality, how things work, how soundproof walls are, how poor planning and layout inhibit your life. Being asked to maintain distances makes you think of closeness. People will also become very conscious about the extent of private open space available to them in houses and apartments, and make closer judgements about how far public parks and open spaces are from them.

To take an alternative viewpoint, it could also lead people to think harder about leaving crowded cities and going to live in a broadband-friendly countryside; if that project works, it has the capacity to assist in repopulating small towns and villages, but there would have to be a complete revolution in the way those places are thought about. It could also help with one-off houses in the countryside not in building even more bungalows, but in the restoration of some of the many thousands of abandoned houses behind every second hedge.mccullougmulvin.com

Jennifer O'Donnell and Jonathan Janssens, PlattenbaustudioI guess were all resisting the idea of designing for a primarily interior world the thought is terrifying. But, with that said, I would use the old Berliner 'altbau' apartments as an example from the past of good apartment design. Where possible, all rooms were of more or less equal size within an apartment. Sounds wasteful, but it means flexibility, in that one person might choose to designate a room as their bedroom, another might make it their kitchen, a studio or an office.

The contrast to modern housing of course is that, for example, a box room or kids bedroom, planned to the size of a standard bed plus free space beside it, is limited in how its function might change over time. The Berlin altbau apartments typically have rooms of 20-30sq m, allowing practically endless combinations of how they might be used.

The current scenario we find ourselves in also argues against open-plan apartment design. This model was always unacceptable without some form of modulation between the different functions, but thats becoming even clearer now. Its important to consider how to mediate the proximity a person has to different spaces in their home, to ensure a person can retreat to a living space (not a bedroom space) without being in full show of the rest of their family, to be able to sit on the sofa and not see the dirty dishes in the kitchen. These sound like little things, but they make a difference to peoples psychological health.plattenbaustudio.com

Peter Carroll, A2 Architects, with Michael Pike and Grace Keeley of GKMPWe will need to build better, safer and more lovable places to live and work. A number of commentators have been arguing that density and crowding are the same they are not. One can have density without crowding; likewise, one can have crowding without density. We will need to have a conversation on doing density better. We have been designing cities and suburbs to give the car every advantage over public transport, walking and cycling.

Our housing stock will need to make greater allowances for adaptability at home. Working from the kitchen table is fine in the short term, but juggling the demands of a full house in an already confined interior with work and study is testing most households, especially at a time when mental health effects of mass isolation and anxiety are still unmeasured. When your daily commute shrinks to the distance between your bed and your kitchen table, the world can seem pretty small. Amongst us all, illness, anxiety and disrupted routines are focusing attention on the things that matter most in life, whether this is a loved one, a source of income, or even a sunny spot by a window.

In order to recover from this enormous economic shock we will need to embark on a massive public works building programme. The current relaxation of the EU rules about government borrowing and the prospect of extremely low interest rates for the foreseeable future makes this the ideal time to invest in the construction of the housing and infrastructure that we so desperately need.a2.ie; gkmp.ie

Dominic Stevens, JFOC ArchitectsI hope this lets us as a society realise (a) the value of the collective city, of public space, of gathering together to see a play, listen to a band, or go to a sporting spectacle; and (b) the value of quiet introspection, of local walks and non-consumption.

Having lived for years in Leitrim, I now live in an apartment building in Stoneybatter. Im fascinated by how I only meet my neighbours if I slow down and sit in the shared garden that forms part of the entrance sequence. This is an essential component of housing design, this careful ecology of shared space.

I dont believe we are going to see a society that stays two metres from one another. We are going to see a renewed delight in community, in neighbours. And yes, working sometimes from home will help all this, and stop housing from beingdormitories.jfocarchitects.com

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Architects on lockdown: 'We need to build safer and more lovable places to live and work' - The Irish Times

Kehlani delivered a dose of spring air on Thursday For those of us who don't have backyards, with "Everybody Business," a fresh single from the unnamed forthcoming album. The stunning self-directed video gives a golden-hour glimpse into the artist's world during quarantine. From the isolation of her own yard, Kehlani faces the public to reclaim her personal narrative.

"Everybody Business" marks a new chapter, and you can hear it from the jump. This shimmering ballad takes a step out of the dark, intoxicating surreality of 2019's While We Wait mixtape, shedding spacey synth swells for acoustic guitar and crystalline hi hats. The production is breezy, but by no means stripped down every second is filled to the brim with rhythmic momentum and the emotive power of Kehlani's pristine vocals. Lyrically, it's direct and lucid as ever, with her unmatched ease of delivery and a nod to Pharell's "Frontin'" on the hook injecting a carefree vibe to the song's important message.

Opening with a clip of people chatting about Kehlani's personal life and claiming she belongs "to the streets," the video claps back to set the record straight. Serving as director, we get the chance to see this world through her eyes and understand that she belongs only to her damn self. This glance into her perspective consists of selective intimacy and grounded truth-tellingsome shots have us peeking at the singer through leaves, as if we were part of the landscape, or lingering on her face as she crosses her driveway. Just as we are let into some of the most proximal mundane aspects of her existence, Kehlani looks into the camera and reminds us that we don't know her like that.

An especially poignant shot has Kehlani cornered by screenshots of negative comments that pile up on either side of her. With her back literally against the wall, she pushes the noise away and sighs, "breathe through it all." With the daily news cycle cornering each of us as we shutter in our respective homes, Kehlani's buoyancy and grace can be a lesson to carry us through. "Everybody Business" is a call to return to the things that center us and remind us of the truth: that the self is its own only architect.

Connect with Kehlani: SoundCloud | Instagram |Twitter |Facebook

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Kehlani is her own architect on "Everybody Business" [Video] - EARMILK

Nearly every industry is getting pummeled by the spread of COVID-19, and architecture is no exception. In late March, the American Institute of Architects conducted a survey of 387 architecture firm leaders, and the results suggest a deeply uncertain future for the profession. Two-thirds of the firms that responded said projects had either stopped or slowed down as a result of COVID-19, and a whopping 94% said they anticipate revenue to dip. Respondents expected their losses to only deepen in April.

The damage will be far-reaching, impacting individual practitioners, firms, and the profession at large. Firms are already furloughing workers and slashing pay. Foster + Partners, one of the most prominent architecture firms in the world, announced that its 1,400 workers would take a 20% paycut for three months. In New York, architects working on public projects have been ordered to suspend their design work indefinitely. Many architecture firms are small businesses, Dan Hart, AIAs at-large director, points out. Small businesses have been especially hard hit by the economic fallout from COVID-19.

Firms with public projects underway in international locations are potentially the most at risk, as 47% of them have instituted a no-travel policy indefinitely, according to the survey, making it difficult to visit sites and maintain construction schedules. Firms that focus on residential architecture may be in even hotter water; the survey suggests they have gotten far fewer inquiries for new design contracts.

Twenty-five percent of the firms that responded expect a 15% loss in revenue this month, and that number may only increase as stay-at-home orders continue. If other creative fields are any indication, layoffs could accelerate. The length, intensity, and uncertainty of this crisis will impact both the funding of and the opportunity for construction, Hart says. Gainful employment for architects is positively affected by shortening the impact of the crisis, flattening the infection curves, and introducing more certainty in containing the spread of the virus.

So whats to be done? In the short term, firms can take a few measures to offset the magnitude of their losses. Aside from applying for emergency loans through the governments Payment Protection Program to pay for salaries, insurance, rent, and other operating costs, small firms (less than 500 people on staff) are eligible for loan forgiveness and businesses that are forced to shut down completely can get a payroll tax credit.

Looking ahead, AIA CEO Robert Ivy says its critical for the government to put more provisions in place to protect architecture and construction jobsnot just for the industry, but for society at large. To jump-start the economy and bring architects and the critical design and construction economy back to life, we are strongly advocating for vertical infrastructure, buildings, to be included in any additional stimulus bill,' he writes in an email. The nation needs housing, healthcare, and health-related research facilities (a clear need at this time), and schools. Architecture can and should create facilities that allow us to grow and heal, stimulating the larger economy while creating safer, more healthful places.

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Architects are getting slammed by COVID-19: Survey - Fast Company