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Following four days of widespread scorn after attempting to block a new state law allowing duplexes on single-family lots by declaring itself a “mountain-lion habitat,” the wealthy Silicon Valley enclave of Woodside has backed down.
At the end of a town emergency Town Council meeting Sunday night, almost all of which was held in closed session to discuss potential litigation, city officials announced they would begin accepting applications for new duplexes.
— LA Times
Woodside’s tired attempt at circumventing two of the most important and proactive laws in favor of affordable housing in recent memory drew an incredible amount of ire online before being withdrawn Sunday night following a letter from Attorney General Rob Bonta warning the town that “there is... View full entry
Yet today these two pieces of fascist architectural propaganda are the centrepiece of a bold artistic experiment in addressing the debate around contested monuments, one which offers a template for other communities divided over whether to tear down or keep up monuments with racist, imperialist or fascist connotations. — BBC
Bolzano, the capital city of the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy, has become an important case study over its demonstrated ability to thoughtfully frame several of its local fascist monuments in a contemporary light that presents the public with a challenge to improve its own... View full entry
A Mexican multi-millionaire is building a replica of his northern Mexico mansion to serve as a museum for his art collection, an endeavor criticized because it is funded in large part with public money. — ABC News
The millionaire in question, Mauricio Fernández Garza made his fortune selling beer and petrochemicals, which facilitated the collection of art and ancient fossils now valued at around $120 million. Garza was the three-time mayor of the tony Monterrey suburb where the house is located when plans... View full entry
What would the news be without controversy? You could say it’s way too much of a focus in the overall media landscape, and our small corner of the business certainly is not immune to its pull either. Coming out of the pandemic-dominated 2020 has provided us with quite a bit of contentious... View full entry
The AIA Los Angeles chapter has issued an open letter to the President of the University of California, voicing opposition to the proposed UCSB Munger Residence Hall. The project, which has gained an intense media spotlight both within and beyond architectural spheres, would see the... View full entry
France’s National Heritage and Architecture Commission approved proposals by the diocese of Paris to bring a more modern look to Notre-Dame before its planned reopening in 2024, including the installation of contemporary artworks and new lighting effects. Opponents say the changes will debase the 850-year-old cathedral and disturb the harmony of its Gothic design. — The New York Times
The controversial refurbishment struck a chord with many in the past two weeks who responded to publicized details with claims that the new ecumenical design authored by Father Gilles Drouin was sacrilegious, and incongruous with the Catholic tradition. Much of the church's nave, transept... View full entry
More architects are speaking out in the controversy surrounding the planned Munger Hall development at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Santa Barbara Independent is reporting that eight architects representing several different UC campuses sent administrators a letter dated... View full entry
Will the fire-ravaged interior of Notre Dame cathedral in Paris be more like Disneyland than France’s most emblematic place of worship when it reopens after a major restoration? So fear the outraged critics of a new interior design for the monument which was presented during a video conference earlier this year. — The Art Newspaper
Father Gilles Drouin is the man behind the new interiors, which he says are meant to respond to the multicultural visitorship that was originally not taken into consideration by the church, which spoke to a largely Christian audience before the fire. Critics have panned Drouin’s vision... View full entry
The debate surrounding Herzog & de Meuron's Tour Triangle is picking up this week amidst news that the €670 million ($757 million) project will begin construction within the next month in spite of a torrent of backlash that has beset the development since its announcement in 2008. As the plan... View full entry
The American Institute of Architects Santa Barbara (AIASB) has sent an open letter to the Chancellor of the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) in opposition to the controversial Munger Hall student residence. The letter, delivered in email format, was led by AIASB President Tai Yeh and... View full entry
The swirling controversy over the University of California, Santa Barbara’s proposed plan to add billionaire real estate investor Charles Munger’s massive self-designed dormitory building to its exhausted stock of student housing has been addressed by the university in a campus-wide Q&A... View full entry
According to documents obtained through a public records request and provided to Motherboard, a subsidiary of Vice, architecture and design firm HDR Inc. has been working with the government to monitor the social media of activist groups opposed to plans calling for the construction of jails... View full entry
Within hours following New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s resignation from office after a slew of sexual harassment accusations, Port Authority workers issued a letter to executive director Rick Cotton calling for the termination of the former governor’s controversial LaGuardia AirTrain... View full entry
He [Kahn] was enthusiastic about welcoming “another world-class venue to the capital, to confirm London’s position as a music powerhouse” when the sphere was announced in 2018; yet the following year, his planning officers’ first report concluded that it did not comply with his own London Plan. He is in a bind. Will he side with the Labour borough and listen to the locals, or back his development corporation in the hope of using this brash bauble to buff the capital’s post-Brexit brand? — The Guardian
The Guardian critic Oliver Wainwright explores the sordid dealings behind the gigantic $1.8 billion orb he describes as "the apogee of 360-degree advertising, the ultimate building-as-sign […] the stuff of Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown’s neon-soaked dreams." The MSG Sphere... View full entry
David Adjaye’s proposed UK Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre in Westminster, London is going forward after gaining approval from the Minister of State for Housing Christopher Pincher this week. The memorial has drawn a considerable amount of backlash in the Commonwealth since being... View full entry