AGO

@commit250 @JustinShubow @SecDuffy @USDOT Seems to be a poorly edited version of this photograph of the GG Bridge under construction. The original is much better.

@JustinShubow @SecDuffy @USDOT I’m stealing that pic. This fits perfectly with one of our gratitude messages about the men that built the Golden Gate. Do you have a source for the pic?

.@SecDuffy today announced the @USDOT's exciting new Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Challenge with $650,000 in prizes. The competition invites Americans, whether professionals or not, to submit design concepts—including bridges and transit hubs—that capture the spirit of the U.S. The Challenge seeks concepts that align with the Executive Order "Making Federal Architecture Beautiful Again," which promotes classical and traditional design over modernism. As chairman of the Beautifying Transportation Infrastructure Council, I urge all Americans who believe in beautiful, meaningful public spaces to seize this opportunity. The Challenge opens today with submissions accepted through May 13.

@JacobAShell Very astute point. The blame is not squarely on the architects tho- owners are more than happy to receive “minimum viable product” frame buildings w/ engineered cladding, flat plastic roofs, & overly efficient layouts. Bit of a chicken-egg situation.

Sometimes it does look cartoony and pastiche, and the difference is whether skilled artisans are used. That’s what the modern architects and their aligned institutions (Ivy League design schools etc) have always feared: power winding up back in the hands of those artisans.

@Eric_Erins The most crucial part! Build the unit spread you want to see in your community. I’ve heard from developers that lenders won’t lend unless the pro forma calls for predominantly 0 & 1-br’s. And then ppl wonder why middle class families move out of the city.

No studios or one beds. All 3 beds, a living room, a dining room, and a sunroom to top it off.

Drives me nuts we don’t build these anymore

@IohannesArnold @Eric_Erins I don’t think Sears was in the multifamily game. Nor were they messing with masonry. This was probably designed by an architect on behalf of a local developer.

@Eric_Erins So, the plan for this building, specifically, and most Chicago apartments was probably designed by Sears and still exists in some archive somewhere, right? How hard would it be to find one, scan it, and copy it?

Assorted English Colonial houses around the North Shore of Massachusetts. Late winter melancholy

@JacobAShell Loved Brand’s How Buildings Learn, and the chapter abt MIT Building 20 vs IM Pei replacement was a highlight. I don’t think the lesson was to preclude good institutional architecture; more a criticism of modern trends in such bldgs toward useless, overly precious statement pieces

Famously, MIT’s most innovative labs during and after WW2 were just a bunch of numbered warehouses. They were trying to discover the secrets of the universe not win New Urbanism prizes. The “cool futuristic” Frank Gehry architecture came later, when MIT had become decadent.

@Colin_d_m If such a plan requires turning all of pre-war NYC into Essex Crossing or Hudson Yards, then it’d be a hard flop.

Lifting all NYC zoning laws would usher in an American golden age but also hollow out much of America, like Tokyo did to Japan. How does Philly survive in a world where NYC rent is halved?

@SvN2rA09 @polemicarc harquitectes.com/en/proyectos/h…

@polemicarc Is this a garage?

Without discrediting slums and favelas, this is how my home would look if I'd be homeless and have to build it from scratch out of salvaged materials.

@polemicarc Bahaha. See what you mean, but I quite like this house design overall. H Arquitectes get a lot of mileage out of simple material relationships and clever space planning. Linking here to the project for those who care: harquitectes.com/en/proyectos/h…

@UrbanCourtyard I wonder if that spiral stair is a required secondary egress path. I think something similar could work here in NYC to enable dual-aspect apartments while satisfying the need for a second stair. Basically a nouveau fire escape.

Does your building have a quiet side? In courtyard block cities like Copenhagen, you can sleep with an open window because apartments typically have a back facing the courtyard. This is is a feature of perimeter blocks.

@gmoult I love the conceit… Here’s a sampling of what we bring to the table!

americans don’t want war with iran, we want a masonry exchange program

@wrathofgnon If the exterior is just meant to be a rendered finish, I’d like to see some rigid insulation board underneath that lime plaster, e.g. mineral wool. Fine with foregoing this step in the case of solid stonework etc, but for a wall assembly like this… why not?

"Biobric wall: 42.5cm thick aerated clay block wall with lime plaster on the outside and marmorino plaster on the inside. Base, sill and door frame in local limestore Built by students of The Prince of Wales's Crafts Apprentices' Residential Summer School, Lincoln, 2007."

@atlanticesque Case in point- the new Port Authority design. Imagine assessing the performance of the existing terminal and thinking “needs more transparency.”

Architect designs a beautiful public building—let’s say a library—open and airy and inviting. But once it’s built, it’s *too* open and inviting. It’s a security risk; guards can’t guard so many entry points. They put up ugly makeshift barriers everywhere. Library is now hideous.

@UrbanCourtyard Re: shared courtyard maintenance- it’s fascinating topic that I’d love for you elucidate. Clearly Scandinavia knows how. OTOH, there’s many examples of Euro bloc housing where the courtyards seem relatively overbuilt. Quick ex. here: Eixample, BCN. Still lovely but not verdant.

This quality of development is not consistent with areas of prioritize, centralized parking lots. There can be head in garage spots on the ground floor for the households that need parking, but the idea is that most smaller households do not need or want parking. It it is actually easy to imagine a shared courtyard with many landlords because it is very common in cities, such as Copenhagen, that have good HOA constructs that are designed precisely to deal with shared property like this

“What difference does it make if the courtyard blocks are made up of many different buildings, with a diversity of unit types, diversity of owners, and capacity for large family units—rather than one monolithic building developed by an institutional developer and composed entirely of small rentals that live like hotel rooms? What difference does it make?”

@UrbanCourtyard Getting rid of on-site parking certainly gets rid of the first problem lol. No argument there… Safe to say that most US cities will want/need the parking tho, so larger courtyard developments might work better in those markets, e.g Pittsburgh, Raleigh, etc.

@UrbanCourtyard I generally agree, and prefer plurality of landowners vs a few behemoths. However, larger developments can more easily provide parking (one centralized lot w/ a single entry and exit point). Also not hard to imagine issues with shared courtyard maintenance between 50 landlords!

Great urban neighborhoods are decentralized, pluralistic, and diverse spaces. When the building mass is chunked into many smaller buildings, there is more opportunity for local ownership, for a diversity of rental and owned units, for family-sized housing, and for usable yard space.

@Eric_Erins Dang

Kind of transfixed by this bizarre former coach house that hit the market down in Hyde Park for $371K realtor.com/realestateandh…

@stephwakefield_ Better off just burying the data centers and putting parks on top, imo. Esp. if they proliferate in the numbers people predict they will. Sprawling & bulky by necessity… Most would probably prefer if they were just out of sight.

I mean if they want to get really bold with data center architecture could consider Koolhaas/OMA’s Beijing CCTV Headquarters as reference

@PabloPeniche While beautiful, these structures are towers by functional necessity. Likewise, data centers are sprawling single-story structures in exurban hinterlands by necessity. Agree that more thought could be paid to their design, but the typology must by pragmatically grounded.

This is what data centers should be. Tokyo Tower and Tokyo Skytree are both broadcasting towers, but they’re ALSO landmarks people can be proud of, so beautiful that people travel to see them.

Construction productivity has been collapsing for decades. A few potential explanations come to mind: Huge proliferation of paperwork and “process work” compared to 1970s for similarly sized projects. Growth in Division 1 costs (staffing and site requirements) for similarly sized projects. Shift from reliance on professional stamps to years of multiple, overlapping reviews and inspections. Much longer construction schedules for similarly sized projects, despite (because of?) computer aided design. Proliferation of code- and planning-related design and construction complexity (compare wall sections from 1930s with what’s built today). Empire State Building drawings were completed in two weeks, construction in 14 months. This week someone in Toronto told me their contractor quoted four years or more for a 250,000 square foot tower.