San Francisco Should Always Have a Subway Under Construction

A couple of years ago, I was with my friend Adam Cohn when he made this simple yet important declaration — “San Francisco should always have a subway under construction.” My first reaction was to think of every possible objection to the concept — too expensive, too disruptive, too controversial, too many difficulties siting subway stations and determining alignments. But, I quickly realized that the statement was both insightful and correct.
San Francisco is experiencing unprecedented growth. The city has 200,000 more people than in the early 1980s and 100,000 more than in the early 2000s. We are growing by about 10,000 people a year and are projected to add another 150,000 residents by 2040. We see the results of this growth on our streets every day, with more and more auto congestion and a harder time for our extensive bus network navigating the streets and meeting schedules. Indeed, Muni buses travel at the slowest average speed of any urban bus system in the country, at just over eight miles per hour on average.

Read more
  • Published in Art
No Comments

Hidden Barriers to Construction Innovation

Form Us With Love recently created the Nest Collection for +Halle. The series provides an unpronounced divider to the traditional lounge area, by simply creating layers of both high and low seating. The heights offers a sense of privacy, whilst maintaining the comfort of a relaxed armchair.

“With Nest, you can create a perfect room-in-a-room feeling without having to add traditional tall room dividers or high back sofas,” commented Martin Halle, Brand and communication director at +Halle. “When first installed it was evident that people were sitting next to each other-at different levels-without being affected by their neighbors. With a minimal expression, the Nest Collection, keeps the room open in a new way.”

Fascinated by the typologies of pedestals, such as the Umpire’s chair on a tennis court, Form Us With Love has experimented with a lofty landscape, adding the element of dignity and softness to a seat with a view. “Our ideas of different height layers led, as they often do, into deeper research,” explained John Löfgren, Creative Director at Form Us With Love. “We analysed the activities and behaviours of a public spaces, and the upholstered furniture vs. bar stool seating scenario. Instead of putting the two characteristics next to one another, we merged them-creating a tall vertical Nest.”

Read more
No Comments

Drones Building ROI at Construction Sites

Archtober is accepting nominations for projects to be included in New York City’s month-long festival of architecture and design. Each day in October 2016, the event will feature a Building of the Day as a noon-time, architect-led tour.

Building of the Day tours are the centerpiece of Archtober. With the goal of making exemplary architecture and the work of architects more accessible to the general public, the lunchtime tours, led by the project’s architect, generate international publicity and provide a platform for engagement in important issues in the New York City built environment.

The building can be located in any of the five boroughs of New York City and does not need to be a recently completed project. The building must be available for a lunchtime tour during October 2016. The building should be nominated by the architect, who is responsible for clearing the copyrights of the images submitted. The deadline for submissions is Friday, April 29.

Read more
No Comments

Smart Construction Sites with Connected Sensors

L A M P (Lighting Architecture Movement Project) is calling for entries for its fourth annual international lighting design competition.

The competition challenges designers to approach their light fixtures with the guidance of a singular word.

This year’s theme is Cosmic. There are three categories for submission: student, emerging, and established designers.

Submissions will open on June 1st and close on August 15th, 2016.

Read more
No Comments

Evolo Skyscrapers: Limited Edition Book

Established in 2006, the eVolo Skyscraper Competition has become the world’s most prestigious award for high-rise architecture. The contest recognizes outstanding ideas that redefine skyscraper design through the implementation of new technologies, materials, programs, aesthetics, and spatial organizations.

Studies on globalization, flexibility, adaptability, and the digital revolution are some of the multi-layered elements of the competition. It is an investigation on the public and private space and the role of the individual and the collective in the creation of dynamic and adaptive vertical communities.

Over the last six years, an international panel of renowned architects, engineers, and city planners have reviewed more than 4,000 projects submitted from 168 countries around the world. Participants include professional architects and designers, as well as students and artists. This book is the compilation of 300 outstanding projects selected for their innovative concepts that challenge the way we understand architecture and their relationship with the natural and built environments.

Read more
No Comments