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Finding an affordable place to live is becoming an increasingly dire problem
for many Americans—from the growing homeless population to middleclass
families. The following special section explores the range of causes
and effects in a variety of challenged urban markets, and examines how
different municipalities are attempting to address this complex issue.
In cities across the country, a profusion of construction cranes points to a bustling building climate, which should make architects happy. Not so fast. Despite a sound economy, architecture is facing a reckoning. This special section examines firms of varying sizes and the challenges—and opportunities—they face today, with greater competition and client expectations, as well as an outmoded business model and the urgent need to evolve along with technology.
The romance of architecture is in its creative potential—a marriage of art and pragmatism. Of course, many architects suffer disillusion, especially in the early years of their career, where all they may be doing is door schedules into the small hours of the night. But for architects mastering their own projects—or bringing ideas into a collaborative process—where does the spark of creativity come from? How is it harnessed into the development of great design? In this special section, RECORD explores the science and psychology of creativity, as well as the approaches architects use to keep that spark alive.
Chicago is used to throwing big architecture parties—the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 and the Century of Progress in 1933. It’s high time for another. The Chicago Architecture Biennial, which opens this month, will celebrate visions of the future by showcasing more than 90 young international firms. On the following pages, Architectural Record explores the built environment and the cultural and social context for this major convocation, including a commentary on the city’s contribution to the skyscraper, an analysis of public housing today, and a look at the new parks and public spaces animating urban life.
Not so long ago, architects were struggling to keep their heads above water during the recession. Now huge investments in key sectors have led to a boom in design and construction. Is all this new money good for architects—and for architecture?
The six projects in this section show architects reaching out to a diverse range of communities, from urban neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and Los Angeles to rural villages in Zambia, Kenya, Senegal, and China. Engaging with the people who live in these places, the architects must deal with the particularities of culture, climate, and convention. If they do their jobs well, they create buildings that resonate with the users—turning the experience of going to school or getting medical treatment, for instance, into something more meaningful than just taking a class or getting vaccinated: they provide spaces for celebrations and social gatherings as well as the more mundane activities that are ostensibly the project's purpose. They combine traditional and modern strategies to produce buildings (as in the Artists Residence Center pictured above) that speak to the spirit of the people using them.
A microcosm of the world’s most architecturally significant K-12 schools, RECORD’s annual review looks at recent projects that exemplify good design as a crucial component in a school’s programmatic development. From an inner-city grade school in New York and a bucolic one on Washington’s Bainbridge Island, to a progressive high school for 1,200 students in Beijing, each demonstrates the value that thoughtful and sustainable architecture can have for the well-being of a community and the education of its children.
As the appetite for urban living in the U.S. increases, cities are facing a need for housing not seen in decades. In this special report, we look at three metropolitan areas working to accommodate growing populations. In Boston, as people follow the tech sector and other enterprises into the urban core, the city is reinventing its historic neighborhoods and creating new ones. Portland, Oregon, is racing to keep up with an influx of newcomers seeking the much-hyped quirkiness that the city has embraced as a brand. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans has emerged as a hub for new industries—from technology to film—attracting a population enchanted by its unique history and culture. Despite high demand pushing up housing costs, all three cities are struggling to maintain economically diverse communities—an essential ingredient of a thriving urban center.
In this special section, we look at many and various points where art and architecture overlap—but not without some friction. What follows is a short history of artists as architecture’s antagonists, a survey of new architectural projects in the service of art, and a look at the practices of contemporary artists and designers who borrow the tools and concepts of each others’ disciplines.
South America's largest country has long been home to a rich Modernist heritage. But under its 20-year military dictatorship and a later economic boom, that legacy was often obscured in the public realm. Now, as Brazil faces a slowing economy and pockets of civic discontent, it is stepping onto the global stage with next month's World Cup and the Summer Olympics in 2016. RECORD looks at the contemporary scene for design, planning, and infrastructure—and the opportunities and challenges for both local and international architects.
It was 60 years ago, at the start of his career, but the architect and educator John P. Eberhard remembers the very moment the idea came to him for what would be his seminal creation: the modular church.
In 1958, the Institute of Personality Assessment and Research (IPAR) at the University of California, Berkeley, embarked on an ambitious endeavor to closely study 40 of the most creative architects living in the U.S. or working in the country at the time.
Rumor has it that the quaint town inspired the architecture in Disney’s animated film Beauty and the Beast. But in a recent renovation of the city’s Musée Unterlinden, Herzog & de Meuron made a conscious effort to avoid the preciousness of a Disney film.
When it was founded in 1935, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) occupied one, then two floors of the War Memorial Veterans Building in the Hayes Valley neighborhood before moving into its purposebuilt, Mario Botta–designed home in nearby SoMa in 1995.
The completion of Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s (RPBW) Valletta City Gate comes 30 years after the architect was first invited to remodel the main entrance to Malta’s walled capital.
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