Architecture

We Can’t Decolonize Architecture Without Talking About Palestine

November 19, 2024 Palestine Collective, Next City. Organize! Architecture, Decolonization, History, Palestine

One year ago this month, Palestine Collective was born. We’re a group of more than 50 creatives in the U.K. who have the primary goal of normalizing support for Palestine in architectural and design circles, both in the academic and practitioner space. We came together in response to the censorship we were facing in our places of work and study when speaking on the human rights and spatial injustices faced by Palestinians. We have seen censorship of Palestine across top cultural institutions. London’s Barbican Centre, a prominent performing arts venue, backed out of hosting a London Review of Books lecture series over a talk called “The Shoah after Gaza.”

Why My Coworkers And I Unionized Our Architecture Firm

October 21, 2024 Je Siqueira, Jacobin. Strategize! Architecture, New York (NY), New York City (NYC), Unions, Worker Rights and Jobs

The first attempt to unionize a privately owned architecture firm since the 1970s started at SHoP Architects in New York City, where I was working at the time. This was part of a wave of nontraditional organizing efforts taking place around 2020 that included tech workers at Kickstarter and Google, baristas at various Starbucks locations, writers at Vice, and partners at Apple stores, just to name a few. During the summer of that same year, while most “nonessential workers” were working remotely under stay-at-home orders, some of us hit the streets of cities all over the country to protest police brutality and the assassinations of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.

An Atlas For Urban Commons Of The World

October 6, 2024 David Bollier. Create! Architecture, The Commons, Urban Design, Urbanization

Stefan Gruber, a Carnegie Mellon professor of architecture and urbanism, sees cities as a prime site of struggle between capitalism and commons, and at the same time more accessible than most national or international policy venues. "The history of urbanization is intricately entangled with the history of industrialization and capitalism," said Gruber, citing thinkers like Henri Lefebvre, David Harvey, and Manuel Castells. "Cities provide access to a high concentration of labor and production, infrastructure, trade, finance, and consumption markets." Yet even though cities have contributed to capitalist growth, Gruber noted, "they have also been the arenas where the contradictions of capitalism, such as inequities, the environment, and class struggle, have played out most visibly."

Keeping Cool Without Costing The Earth

July 5, 2022 Rapid Transition Alliance, Resilience. Create! Architecture, climate crisis, extreme heat, Renewable Energy

In May 2022 temperatures in India and Pakistan reached 50°C. Heat this fierce causes chaos to infrastructure, water security and also triggers irreversible cell damage within the human body. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) reported that this extreme event, which plunged nearly a billion people into heat stress, was made 30 times more likely due to climate change. And with extreme heat comes the need to keep cool. As the heat waves in India and Pakistan showed, the response for those that can afford it, is to buy an air conditioner (AC).

Beautiful Hobbit House Must Be Destroyed

August 4, 2014 Rachael Misstear, www.walesonline.co.uk Create! Architecture, Environment, Sustainability

A 'hobbit house' is now facing demolition after a council refused it retrospective planning permission. Pembrokeshire council planners ruled that the home in Crymych broke the rules for developing homes in the countryside. The decision was backed by nine councillors and four voted against the decision at County Hall in Haverfordwest. It comes after the planning committee visited the site of the eco-home in Glandwr earlier this month. Charlie Hague and Megan Williams built the eco-friendly house to live a self-sufficient lifestyle, winning fans across the world. They have spent years fighting against the demolition of their distinctive home, which was built on private land without planning permission. They received a demolition notice from the council as they failed to apply for planning permission. The couple said that the home has a low impact on the environment because of its unique construction, with its straw bale walls absorbing carbon.

Brettstapel: Important New Building Material

August 4, 2014 Lloyd Alter, www.treehugger.com Create! Architecture, Environment, Sustainability

Why this mountain bike center is built of Brettstapel, and why North American builders should be using this stuff. Coed-y-Brenin is a hugely popular mountain biking destination in Wales, " the original mountain biking centre, where it all began. From retro, rocky, classics to modern contempory trails, there are rides to satisfy first timers to seasoned pros!" Architype Architects have designed an extension to the original building that has a bike shop below and meeting rooms above. That's a fun use and it is an interesting building, but the real buzz is about the Brettstapel. Brettstapel is a method of making massive wood panels out of smaller pieces of wood, resulting in large panels that can be used as structural walls and slabs, much like Cross-Laminated-Timber (CLT). The use of CLT or other massive wood technologies can help substitute renewable wood for concrete, which has a very high carbon footprint, in many projects.

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