VenhoevenCS and Ateliers 2/3/4/ Win Competition to Design the Aquatic Center for Paris 2024 Olympics

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Dutch architectural office VenhoevenCS with its French partner Ateliers 2/3/4/ have won the competition to design the Aquatics Centre for the Olympics Games of 2024 in Paris. The innovative sports center, connected by a new pedestrian bridge to the existing Stade de France, will host competitions for water polo, diving, and synchronized swimming. It will also be transformed into a Boccia stadium during the Paralympics. Designed for multifunctional use, the only building to be built for the Games, will remain for the people in Saint-Denis, after the event.

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Located in one of the most problematic neighborhoods in France, the project is an important investment in the future of Saint-Denis. Comprising also of green public space and a new bridge that connects the stadium with the Stade de France, the largest stadium in France, the project will lead to a building that offers an innovative and monumental Aquatics center to the people in Saint-Denis: a place to learn how to swim, to practice sports, to relax and meet. Moreover, this proposal also creates a connection, with the new heart of the future Eco neighborhood of La Plaine Saulnier.

In collaboration with Bouygues Batiment Ile de France, Rcra, Dalkia and the client Mtropole du Grand Paris, the winning proposal features a wooden roof, a suspended shape with minimal construction height that strictly follows the required minimum space for tribunes, people and sightlines, thereby minimizing the amount of air that needs to be conditioned during the coming 50 years. Doubling the required minimum percentage of bio-sourced materials, the project can host up to 5000 spectators around the multifunctional competition pool.

Showcasinghow sustainable design concepts can lead to a new architecture, one that contributes to improving the quality of life in our cities, the plan goes beyond environmental regulations and requirements, creating a livable and healthy city district for the people in Saint-Denis. Inspired by nature, VenhoevenCS and Ateliers 2/3/4/ generated space for one hundred trees that will be planted to improve the quality of life and air, stimulate biodiversity, and create new ecological connections.

Taking on the energy challenge, the project puts in place a smart energy system, where 90% of the needed energy can be provided with renewable or recovered energy. In fact, the solar roof will be one of the biggest solar farms of France and will cover 25% of all required electricity production, which is the equivalent of the electric power use of 200 households, and the water system re-uses 50% of the remaining water. Finally, other design criteria include upcycling, with furniture made out of wood waste coming from the construction site, and tribune chairs made out of 100% recycled plastic collected from schools in Saint-Denis.

Aquatics Centre Paris 2024

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VenhoevenCS and Ateliers 2/3/4/ Win Competition to Design the Aquatic Center for Paris 2024 Olympics - ArchDaily

We put a high value on nature, wild or tamed. We create arcadias, be they around country houses such as The Grange in Hampshire or in London square gardens. Victorian cities, with their millions of coal fires, were so polluted that we created suburbs all of which follow an ideal of leafiness whose ineffable expression is Hampstead Garden Suburb. Its significant, there, that garden was part of the name.

We are also a nation of gardeners, whatever the space available a balcony or a window box are enough of a canvas to paint some flower picture on. (I once worked with an editor who grew tomato plants in his office, oblivious to the effect of the grow bag on the walnut veneer of the early 18th-century bureau beneath it.)

Late Victorian England developed a style of gardening painterly, bosomy, uncorseted that remained the image of terrestrial perfection for more than a century. This was our thing. You can still see it at Gertrude Jekylls Munstead Wood. Derek Jarman even managed to magic plants out of the shingles that surround Prospect Cottage, at Dungeness: an extreme garden because of its unpromising position, a garden of consolation because of the circumstances in which it was made, after Jarman had been diagnosed with HIV.

Allotments are gardening democratised; they have an ethic and an aesthetic of their own. And it is not only spaces specifically reserved for plants and vegetables that are gardened in England, but whole landscapes; the lace of damson blossom that decorates the Lyth Valley in Westmorland every spring is the result of the conscious actions of farmers, over the generations, in planting and looking after the trees.

Do they do this purely for the value of the damson crop? I doubt it.

Beauty is a criterion for inclusion. There has to be Salisbury cathedral, built of a piece, unlike most medieval cathedrals, and seen across water meadows, as it was when John Constable painted it. Of all the lovely villages in the West Country I chose Blisland; Sir John Betjeman raved about the church of St Protus and St Hyacinth, carved with such labour out of the adamantine stone, where the painted screen, made in the 1890s, brought him to his knees.

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These are England's real crown jewels, the monuments and landscapes that make us who we are - Telegraph.co.uk

COME on, we've all done it - the second you've bought a lottery ticket, you're straight online, looking at what fancy, big houses you could buy with your millions.

Sadly, it's highly unlikely you'll ever be on the winning end of the lottery, but it's nice to dream, isn't it?

For a cool 925,000, you could be the proud owner of one of Walmersley's "most prominent homes."

Originally dating from 1926, the four bedroom house in Mather Road sits in a plot of around one acre, around a mile from Bury Town Centre and occupying a secluded position.

Estate Agents Pearson Ferrier said: "We understand the property was constructed as a mill owners house in line with the industrial heritage of the area.

"The current owners have just completed a total renovation programme and are to be commended on their attention to detail and sheer high standard of workmanship throughout."

The bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen renovation are all by Clive Christian and no expense has been spared in retaining as much of the character of the Art Deco period- while retaining all conveniences and appeal for modern day living.

Approached via remotely operated entrance gates the accommodation includes an entrance porch, inner hall, lounge, dining room, garden/sunroom, kitchen with 'Aga' and utility room.

To the outside there are gardens which have been designed by a prominent landscape architect, reclaimed York stone patio, two sheds - which are attached to the house, and a newly constructed garage complex built entirely in keeping with the character of the main house.

All in all - not a bad place to be living. You'll just have to cross your fingers extra tight the next time time the lotto rolls around...

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PICS: Inside the luxury Art Deco period home in Bury on sale for 925k - This Is Lancashire

Dezeen has teamed up with Exhibit Columbus to live stream four talks exploring how architecture and design can act as catalysts in the centre of the USA, with topics including indigenous design, climate resilience and technology.

Taking place fortnightly between 15 September and 29 October 2020, the talks form part of the Exhibit Columbus symposium titled New Middles: From Main Street to Megalopolis, What is the Future of the Middle City?

What is the future of the middle city?

Exhibit Columbus is an annual exploration of architecture, art, design, and community in the city of Columbus, Indiana. Previous editions have seen street installations by design duo Formafantasma and architect Snarkitecture, and a giant hammock by SO-IL.

The 2020-2021 edition, curated by Iker Gil and Mimi Zeiger, takes Columbus' central location in the heart of the USA as its departure point. Speakers include designer Radha Mistry, futurist Dan Hill and designer-activist De Nichols.

All four talks will be streamed at http://www.dezeen.com/exhibit-columbus.

"Exhibit Columbus' 2020 symposium New Middles, in partnership with Dezeen, gathers thinkers, designers, architects, artists, and landscape architects to discuss 'What Is The Future of The Middle City?'" the curators said.

"This question, posed from Columbus, Indiana in the middle of the US heartland and rooted in the Mississippi River watershed is one important to many urban centres locally and globally."

"The series builds on Columbus' role as a historic host and speculative think tank on design, asking the city and sister mid-sized cities to consider the role of design and architecture as civic catalysts, especially when faced with the most pressing issues of our time: from community health to climate change impact, from equity and social justice to emergent technology."

Thematic Conversations

The New Middles symposium will explore four topics: Futures and Technologies; Resiliency and Climate Adaptation; Arts and Community; and Indigenous Futures and Radical Thinking.

For each talk on Dezeen, referred to in the symposium programme as Thematic Conversations, there will be a corresponding Columbus Conversation talk later in the week hosted by Exhibit Columbus featuring winners of its annual prize. These conversations will be used to inform a series of public installations that will be unveiled next year.

"Each bi-weekly topic is structured as a call-and-response between Tuesday 'Thematic Conversations' hosted by Dezeen featuring national and international thought leaders, and Thursday 'Columbus Conversations' that localise the topics, bringing J Irwin and Xenia S Miller Prize recipients into discussion with local experts and community stakeholders around future-forward initiatives being undertaken in Columbus during its bicentennial year," the curators said.

"These dialogues serve as foundational research for all New Middles participantsas a kind of Exhibition Design Brief and 'Community Design Brief' that identifies topics, themes, and writings for community partners while growing exhibition participants' understanding of Columbus' culture and context as they conceptualise their commissioned installations for the fall 2021 exhibition."

Symposium aims to "positively move our cities forward"

The curators hope the symposium will address current local and global issues and help to shape the future of cities not only in central USA but also around the world.

"In a moment when we most need reflection, creativity, and innovation to envision new ways of being, New Middles considers Columbus a place to destabilise assumptions, and imagine new architectures and landscapes as a way to positively move our cities forward," they said.

Read on for details of the full programme of talks on Dezeen and find out more about the Exhibit Columbus programme at exhibitcolumbus.org.

New Middles: Futures and Technologies7:00pm, Tuesday 15 September 2020

The first live talk, called New Middles: Futures and Technologies, will take place on 15 September at 7:00pm UK time (2:00pm EST).

Moderated by Dezeen's founder and editor-in-chief Marcus Fairs, the talk will bring together futurists Dan Hill and Radha Mistry to discuss the uses of strategic foresight and storytelling in design. The panellists will also examine how current conditions in the Midwest might speculate the future of middle cities everywhere.

New Middles: Resiliency and Climate Adaptation7:00pm, Tuesday 29 September 2020

Exhibit Columbus curator Iker Gil will host the second conversation, in which designer Iaki Alday and landscape architect Kate Orff will reflect on how their practices respond to local and planetary climate crises.

The talk will focus on the Mississippi Watershed and the ecosystems and habitats of its plains. It will be broadcast on 29 September from 7:00pm UK time (2:00pm EST).

New Middles: Arts and Community7:00pm, Tuesday 13 October 2020

The third talk, New Middles: Arts and Community, will take place on 13 October at 7:00pm UK time (2:00pm EST). It will look at how arts spaces and cultural organisations are shaping the future of rural, urban and in-between places in response to recent calls for equitable civic space for a diversity of communities.

Hosted by Exhibit Columbus director Anne Surak, the panel discussion will feature architect and urban designer Paola Aguirre, artist-writer-researcher Matthew Fluharty and artist-cum-design strategist De Nichols.

New Middles: Indigenous Futures and Radical Thinking7:00pm, Tuesday 27 October 2020

The final talk in the series, New Middles: Indigenous Futures and Radical Thinking, will stream on 29 October at 7:00pm UK time (2:00pm EST). Itwill explore time, indigenous design, landscape and how alternative perspectives might reimagine North American narratives.

The panel will feature designer Chris Cornelius, The Land Institute founder Wes Jackson, artist-architect Joar Nango and speculative artist and designer Ash Eliza Smith. Exhibit Columbus curator and Dezeen columnist Mimi Zeiger will moderate the discussion.

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Exhibit Columbus online symposium on the future of central USA - Dezeen

On July 1, North Carolina governor Roy Cooper approved government funding for a new landscape in the heart of Raleigh designed by the late architect Phil Freelons team at Perkins and Will. Called the North Carolina Freedom Park, it will honor the African American experience.

Funding for the project had stalled along with the rest of the states budget in the Republican-controlled legislature, but after the nationwide Black Lives Matterled protests following the killing of George Floyd in May, legislators approved a special mini-budget that included funding for the park. The project could break ground in the coming months.

Its a major breakthrough for an initiative that has been in the works for years. The Paul Green Foundation, an organization created in memory of the Pulitzer Prize-winning North Carolinian playwright, whose work frequently focused on struggles for justice in a racist society, proposed the project in 2002. A board initially led by the late historian John Hope Franklin secured state approval for the park to occupy a one-acre site between the governors mansion and the state legislative building in 2011, and in 2016 the board issued a request for proposals for the parks design.

We did not want statues, said Reginald Hodges, former executive director of the Durham Literacy Center and a member of the parks board of directors. We wanted ordinary people highlighted, and a view toward the future.

Freelons team, from the Durham office of Perkins and Will, won with a design conceived as a kind of historical excavation exposing the buried histories and contributions of Black North Carolinians. The design features paths that cut through the landscape, bounded by retaining walls engraved with quotes highlighting the Black struggle, Hodges said.

Black contributions and the struggle for freedom have not been highlighted in Raleigh and North Carolina, in general, Hodges said. We see the park as a place where the contributions of African Americans in North Carolina and their struggle for freedom will be recognized and honored for their role in building our state.

After Freelon won the project, plans for the park evolved to include a flame-shaped sculpture inspired by a quote from North Carolinian civic leader, activist, and editor Lyda Moore Merrick: My father passed a torch to me, which I have never let go out. The Beacon of Freedom, as the perforated metal sculpture will be called, will be fabricated by Denver-based studio Demiurge. It will stand in the center of the park surrounded by the engraved walls and plantings executed by Durham-based landscape architecture firm Surface 678.

Freelon died in 2019, leaving the park in the care of Perkins and Wills urban design leader in North Carolina, Michael Stevenson. The project will be one of Freelons last executed projects, a fitting cap for a career that shaped many of the countrys most significant spaces dedicated to celebrating African American culture.

This park is about promoting an aspect of history that has not been as celebrated as it shouldve been, Stevenson said. Phils career was built on ideas about social justice and equity, and how architecture and design play a role in that. He believed that excellence in design was a critical aspect of promoting those ideas, and that people from all races and income levels deserved access to the best design and architecture have to offer. The Beacon will highlight that these struggles are ongoing.

While the governors approval of state funding is a large boost for the project, the board is still looking for an additional $1 million from private sources. Assuming that the money is raised and there arent significant coronavirus-related delays, the board is hoping to open the park at the end of 2021.

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Phil Freelon's legacy lives on in the North Carolina Freedom Park - The Architect's Newspaper

Denizen Bushwick features 911 apartments (20% affordable), 15 mega-murals, and 100,000 sf of outdoor space, including a 17,850-sf public park. ODA New York designed the entire 1.2 million-sf developmentarchitecture, interiors, and landscape designfor developer Rabsky Group. Indoor amenities include a bowling alley, pool, game room, boxing ring, chefs kitchen, rock climbing wall, spin studio, yoga studio, golf simulator, and movie theater. Rooftop amenities: a dining area with four kitchens, a mini-golf course, a hammock garden, a dog park, and a fully staffed garden with 250 native New York tree species and 1,200 species of shrubs and perennials, plus a rooftop farm. The enterprise sits on land once occupied by the Rheingold brewery (1854). At one time, Brooklyn was home to hundreds of breweries, among them Piels Bros., Schaefer, Liebmanns, and Pabst Blue Ribbon. For years, Rheingold, The Extra Dry Beer, hosted the annual Miss Rheingold contest. Brooklynites of a certain age will recall its classic jingle: My beer is Rheingold, the dry beer (bump-bump). Think of Rheingold whenever you buy beer. Also on the team: ADG Engineering (SE), Philip Habib & Associates (CE), MG Engineering (MEP), LaufsED (faade consultant), Schuco (curtain wall contractor), Azzarone Contracting Corp. (concrete contractor), and Woodworker (GC). The mural above is by Aaron Li-Hill, a Canadian visual artist based in Brooklyn, who took inspiration from historic Native American culture. The pool mural (opposite) is by Italian-born artist Pixel Pancho, whose Pixelpancho Studio is based in Miami. These and 13 others were commissioned for the project by ODAs nonprofit organization OPEN, founded in 2017 to support artists and neighborhood organizations.

Related Californias recently completed tower, Fifteen Fifty, rises 400 feet at 1550 Mission Street, San Francisco. Its 550 residences range in size from studios to three-bedrooms, plus a penthouse collection. Market-rate leases run $3,500 to $9,900/month; 20% of the units have been set aside for low-income families. Also featured: the 32,000-sf Equinox Van Mission Fitness Club, the new Bar Agricole tavern, a 12,000-sf private park, and an art collection by Jessica Silverman Gallery. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (architect) combined with Marmol Radziner (interiors and landscaping) and Build Group (GC) on the enterprise.

Booth Hansen Architects designed 61 Banks Street for developer Draper & Kramer. The 58-unit luxury apartment building is the first such construction on Chicagos Gold Coast in 35 years. Darcy Bonner & Associates (interiors), Jacobs/Ryan Associates (landscaping), and Leopardo (GC) contributed to the eight-story project. The two- and three-bedroom rentals and maisonettes feature Bosch and JennAir appliances, wine refrigerators, and Kohler and Toto bath fixtures.

The Harvey, Charlestown, Mass., is one of the first five-over-one wood construction projects and the first LEED for Homes Platinum (Multifamily) apartment building in the Boston region. Designed by CBT and built by Lee Kennedy Co. for Catamount Management Corp., the 177-unit community has five EV charging stations, storage for 184 bicycles, a dog wash and dog run, and a rideshare lounge.

Seattle-based Cocoon House supports homeless and at-risk youth through short- and long-term housing. Its new LEED Silver facility in Everett, Wash., provides meals, counseling spaces, a computer lab, classrooms, and recreation spaces for those transitioning out of homelessness. The 40 apartments are organized in neighborhoods of 8 to 10 units, each with a common kitchen, laundry, and living room. GGLO (architect) also did the interior and landscape design. Kirtley-Cole Associates was the GC.

The Related Group and Dezer Development completed the Residences by Armani/Casa, Sunny Isles Beach, Fla., with interior design by Giorgio Armani, architecture by Csar Pelli (1926-2019), and landscape architecture by Enzo Enea. The 308 condominiums start at $2.9 million and go up to $17 million for the 5,986-sf north-facing penthouse.

Two new affordable communities are located with a half-mile of a trolley stop and close to grocery stores, restaurants, and healthcare services in San Diego. Stella offers a mix of 80 studios and one-bedroom supportive housing units for formerly homeless persons or those with special needs. Bluewater has 80 one-, two-, and three-bedroom units for low-income families earning 30-60% of AMI. Developer Affirmed Housing partnered with Suffolk (GC), Studio E Architects, Kettler Leweck Engineering, IVY Landscape Architects, NEXUS for Affordable Housing, Interfaith Community Services, and Solari Enterprises.

Parq on Speer, Greystars 16-story residential/retail tower in Denvers Creative District, has been named to the 2019 Elite 1% ORA Properties list and a 2020 Kingsley Excellence Winner. Designed by Ziegler Cooper, the 302-unit community has townhomes, penthouses, and apartments from studio to three-bedroom. All residences have smart lighting, Nest thermostats, and Wi-Fi-enabled entry. Amenities: two dog runs, Peloton cycling, a yoga studio, a sports lounge, and a catering kitchen with microbrew taps.

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8 noteworthy multifamily projects to debut in 2020 - Building Design + Construction

The Gardens at Texas A&M is not currently hosting events, but remains open to visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Texas A&M Division of Marketing & Communications

With a hope to foster greater connections betweenThe Gardens and Texas A&M Universitys campus, Texas A&M AgriLife recently appointed Michael Arnold, professor of landscape horticulture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, to be the director of the public garden and green space.

Positioned with world-leading expertise in gardens and strong business acumen, Arnold will work to ensure the space continues to grow and serve the Texas A&M community.

Michael Arnold, director of The Gardens and professor of landscape horticulture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

Texas A&M AgriLife

Arnolds passions are a unique intersection of teaching and researching horticulture. A popular professor of plant materials at Texas A&M, Arnold is a former president and chairman of the board for theAmerican Society of Horticultural Sciencesand former chair of theTexas Superstarscommittee.

His research has primarily focused on the landscape establishment of container-grown plants and transplant establishment factors as well as new plant development. Now, he is looking forward to extending his passion of teaching and horticulture into the community.

I have unwavering confidence that Dr. Arnolds passion for horticulture, business savvy and dedication to teaching will elevate The Gardens as a destination, ensuring the space continues to grow as a unique treasure to this community, saidPatrick J. Stover, vice chancellor ofTexas A&M AgriLife, dean of theCollege of Agriculture and Life Sciencesand director ofTexas A&M AgriLife Research.

Arnold and Joseph Johnson, the manager of The Gardens who oversees the day-to-day construction, maintenance and management of the space, are looking forward to seeing Phase II the development of the 20 acres adjacent ot the Leach Teaching Gardens come to fruition. In conjunction with the landscape architect, White Oak Studio, the team is close to completing the program of requirements and will soon start feasibility studies.

Along with the continued planning for Phase II and a renewed focus on greater collaborations, Arnold and the rest of The Gardens team hope to encourage opportunities for classes and research groups across campus to utilize the space. He also hopes to extend the impact across the state and continue engaging with their many invaluable partnerships like theJunior Master GardenerandMaster Gardenerprograms.

Although The Gardens is not currently hosting in-person events due to COVID-19-related restrictions, it is open to visitors.

The Gardens is a great place to visit while conducting physically distancing, Arnold said. This semester, we are serving as an outdoor classroom space for courses from across campus and we are encouraging students to study while enjoying this beautiful green space. We have a great opportunity to be a safe haven for our students across campus who are looking for a bit of normalcy while coping with challenging times.

For those who cannot physically join us, we are continuing to offer online media experiences. Like we are every semester and especially with the current climate, we hope to be a valuable safe resource for all, he said. We look forward to the future when we can all join hands to continue building upon the wonderful efforts of all who have helped us achieve the dream of realizing The Gardens.

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The Gardens Looks To The Future - Texas A&M Today - Texas A&M University Today

While theres certainly no replacement for the intimacy of an in-person lecture attended by a captivated crowd, there is one distinct upside to having talks, symposiums, and other academic events be held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic: the potential for a significantly larger audience unrestrained by pesky practicalities like geographic locale.

With most major architecture schools having fully transitioned their event programming to an online format, their fall 2020 lecture line-ups are now more accessible than ever, allowing participants to attend lectures hosted by said schools by simply signing up and opening a new Zoom window at a designated date and time. Unless otherwise noted, all lectures mentioned here are free and open to the public with advance registration required. Most, but not all, are hosted on Zoom Webinar.

Below are a dozen lecture series scheduled for fall 2020, presented by the likes of Harvard GSD, the University of Southern California, the University of Pennsylvania, and more to get this very different academic season started. While topics vary, the worldand the United States, in particularis a much different place than it was in the fall of 2019 and thats duly reflected in the programming.

AN will continue to add to this list as more lecture series are finalized and announced. Specific dates and times can be confirmed on the events pages of each respective school/program.

The Bernard & Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at the City College of New York

For this years fall lecture series, the Spitzer School of Architecture is trying something a bit different with the new SCIAME Global Spotlight Lecture Series. Titled Far South, the series, curated by Associate Professor Fabian Llonch, presents talks with leading South American architects who, per the school, will discuss their work and the unique political and environmental challenges they face. Among the featured lecturers are Teresa Moller (Chile), Paulo Tavares (Brazil), Diego Arraigada (Argentina),and Patricia Llosa Bueno (Peru).

Carnegie Mellon University School of Architecture

Per the SoA at Carnegie Mellon, the schools fall 2020 lecture series will focus attention on architecture and activism, and the role that architecture can have towards social equity and spatial justice. Scheduled speakers include Mabel O. Wilson (Bulletproofing Americas Public Space: Race, Remembrance and Emmett Till), William Gilchrist (Urban Design as a Catalyst for Environmental Equity), and Toni Griffin (Design and the Just City).

Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

Launching September 21, the fall 2020 public lecture series at Columbia GSAPP is set to include Tatiana Bilbao, Toshiko Mori, Majora Carter, Stephen Burks, Yasmeen Lari, the Black Reconstruction Collective, and Bryan C. Lee Jr. of Colloqate, among others.

Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas

While additional details are forthcoming, the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design has added virtual lectures from Sara Jensen Carr, Mira Henry, Marion Weiss and Michael Manfredi, Lesley Lokko, Michelle Joan Wilkinson, and Irene Cheng to its event calendar for fall 2020.

Harvard Graduate School of Design

Kicking off on September 10 with a lecture from Linda Shi, assistant professor at Cornell AAP, on the intersection of social justice and urban flood mitigation, Harvard GSDs roster of fall 2020 public programmingall talks and webinars are held via Zoomalso includes conversations with, among others, Emmanuel Pratt, co-founder and executive director of Chicago nonprofit the Sweet Water Foundation; Edgar Pieterse, director of the African Centre for Cities at the University of Cape Town; and landscape architect Everett L. Fly.

Department of Architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

While additional details are still forthcoming, MIT Architectures fall 2020 lecture series is slated to include Walter Hood, Derek Ham, Charles Davis II,and Veronica Cedillos.

Rice University School of Architecture

Kicking off on September 2, Rice Architectures fall 2020 lecture series revolves around a central themeRace, Social Justice and Allyshipand includes Zoom-based talks from a range of academics, activists, and architects including Ana Mara Len, Jess Vassallo, and Ilze Wolff and Heinrich Wolff of South Africa-based firm Wolff Architects.

Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at Penn State University

With on-site events currently on hold, Penn States Stuckeman School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture has opted to livestream its fall 2020 lecture series. Scheduled speakers include Jenny Sabin, professor of architecture at Cornell AAP and founder of experimental architectural design studio Jenny Sabin Studio; Mark Jarzombek, professor of the history and theory of architecture at MIT; and Zrich-based architect and artist Pia Simmendinger.

University of Southern California School of Architecture

The USC School of Architectures fall 2020 virtual lecture series recently commenced with a lecture from Sara Zewde of Harlem-based landscape architecture, public art, and urban design practice Studio Zewde. Upcoming lectures will find architect Michael Maltzan, Yale professor and architectural historian Dolores Hayden, Tokyo-based structural engineer Jun Sato, and others taking the Zoom mic.

The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture

Described as playing an integral role in fulfilling the schools commitment to fostering intellectual curiosity and the open exchange of ideas, the University of Texas at Austin School of Architectures fall 2020 lecture series will be livestreamed on the schools YouTube channel and touch down on societys most pressing issues, including race and spatial justice, ecology and climate change, computation and the proliferation of new and emerging technologies, and more. Upcoming talks include Peter Eisenman in dialogue with Mario Carpo and a lecture from Oakland, California-based designer, urbanist, and spatial justice activist Liz Ogbu.

Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania

Beatriz Colomina, Howard Crosby Butler Professor of the History of Architecture at Princeton University, is slated to give the inaugural talk in the Weitzman School of Designs robust fall 2020 lecture series. As evidenced by its title, Architecture and Pandemics: From Tuberculosis to COVID 19, its a topical one. Other scheduled lectures tackle a wide range of topics outside of the pandemic including Non-Traditional Green Architecture (Michael Webb, cofounder of Archigram) and The Freedom Colony Repertoire: Promising Approaches to Bridging and Bonding Social Capital Between Urban and Rural Black Meccas from Andrea Roberts, assistant professor of Urban Planning at the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University.

Yale School of Architecture

Kate Wagner, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, Rebecca Choi, and Walter Hood are among those appearing on the calendar for YSOAs Zoom-based fall 2020 lecture series, which kicks off on October 1. Additionally, the first roundtable in an ongoing, open-to-the-public series of discussions organized by the M.E.D. Working Group For Anti-Racism will commence on September 9 with POLICING.

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Ease into autumn with these virtual lecture series and talks - The Architect's Newspaper

In less than two weeks, if the NFL moves forward as planned, SoFi Stadium will open in Inglewood after more than five years of design and construction.

Finally, the Rams will no longer have to play in the sun-baked L.A. Coliseum. Finally, the Chargers will no longer have to be squatters in the tiny Dignity Health Sports Park (formerly the StubHub Center and the Home Depot Center). Finally, owner Stan Kroenke will see his dream of a $2 billion (well, make that more than $5 billion now) sports and entertainment park begin to come true.

For the record:

12:42 PM, Sep. 02, 2020An earlier version of this article misstated the weight of SoFis Oculus screen as 2,000 pounds. It weighs 1,000 tons.

But heres the more important news: From a design and urban planning standpoint, SoFi is, potentially, revolutionary.

Thats because, in many ways, this stadium is not really a stadium. Its not a solid concrete and steel bowl where fans park cars and push their way in and out eight times a year. And its not a themed shopping mall and mini amusement park grafted onto a sports facility.

SoFi Stadium is a porous, indoor-outdoor, year-round complex featuring, yes, a 70,000-seat stadium and lots of parking, but also a 2.5-acre public plaza, an adjacent 6,000-seat performance space and a layered landscape filled with hills, trees, places to pause and sit and eat all connected to a vibrant 25-acre community park surrounding a 5.5-acre lake.

A view of SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

SoFi Stadiums landscape, designed by Mia Lehrers Studio-MLA, includes an arroyo and a Mediterranean biome plant palette.

(Studio-MLA)

The 300-acre complex, to be called Hollywood Park, is slated to phase in over many years more than 1.5 million square feet of retail, restaurant and office space (including the almost-complete NFL Network headquarters and studios), at least 2,500 townhomes and apartments and a hotel.

The idea of a stadium as the focal point for a mixed-use project is not new. So-called sports-anchored developments are becoming the norm nationwide, from Patriot Place in New England to the Arlington Entertainment District in Texas. But more than any of those developments (including downtown Los Angeles L.A. Live), this complex its stadiums faade curving like the sweep of the coast is authentically inspired by, and caters to, its setting.

We were trying to create an expression of Southern California, said Lance Evans, principal with HKS Architects. Something that would resonate with this climate and with this place.

This is something that only Dodger Stadium embedded into the earth, obsessed with the future and surrounded by palm trees, the landscapes of Elysian Park and, alas, a heroically scaled parking lot has managed to accomplish in terms of local sports venues.

Workers have been putting the finishing touches on SoFi despite the risk of COVID-19 infection (more than 50 have tested positive) and two deaths on the site, including one caused by a fall from the roof.

Under SoFi Stadiums fritted roof, Studio-MLA has created canyons planted with trees, creating a classic California indoor-outdoor environment.

(Studio-MLA)

Citing the pandemic, the Rams, Chargers and SoFi jointly announced Aug. 25 that games will be played without fans until further notice. Once fans are allowed to come, they will approach a stadium whose field level is embedded 100 feet into the earth, reducing the buildings bulk as seen from the rest of the neighborhood and making a trip inside reminiscent of a trek down bluffs to a beach in, say, Malibu. Along the way they will proceed via a fractured landscape of textured pathways, gardens, patios and food stalls, descending through what the projects landscape architect, Studio-MLA, calls canyons terraced trails filled with earthen mounds and plants and trees from around California, weaving in and out of the stadium.

Its all about how the stadium is part of the landscape and the landscape is part of the stadium, said Studio-MLA founder Mia Lehrer, who has designed green spaces for Dodger Stadium and for Banc of California Stadium in Exposition Park. She also is imagining the surroundings for the forthcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

In classic SoCal fashion, the stadium, its edges open to the outdoors along the sides, blurs the line between interior and exterior, inviting visitors, and views, inside. It pulls in ocean breezes through its aerodynamic shape, its permeable flanks, the lifting of its seating bowl above the ground-level concourse and massive (60 feet by 60 feet) adjustable openings in its roof that can slide like sunroofs on cars. These openings can tune the wind flow, according to HKS, which designed recent stadiums for the Minnesota Vikings, Indianapolis Colts and Dallas Cowboys.

The roof, which covers and unifies the stadium bowl, plaza and adjacent arena, is clad in ethylene tetrafluoroethylene, or ETFE, a tough, translucent plastic that, thanks to its dotted frit pattern, shades fans from about half of the suns heat. (If youve roasted at the Coliseum or at Dodger Stadium, you will appreciate that.) The ETFE also will allow concerts, community gatherings, e-sports, the Super Bowl and the Olympics to carry on in the rare case of rain.

Exterior of SoFi Stadium, designed by HKS Architects.

(SoFi Stadium)

The fritted pattern on part of the SoFi Stadium roof allows in fresh air while offering protection from the sun.

(SoFi Stadium)

One bummer: The roofs tempering of the sun means that the field had to be made of artificial turf, although such surfaces have progressed light-years since the days of AstroTurf.

The seating bowl itself is not revolutionary, but its proximity to the field is as close as the NFL will allow a good thing for fans. A massive, oval-shaped screen hangs from steel rafters, projecting images on both sides, which makes it readable from a wider range of sightlines and seat locations. It weighs more than 1,000 tons and traces the circumference of the field level, making SoFi the new champion of the NFLs Jumbotron wars.

The playing field and overhanging electronic display at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

The stadium sits under a major LAX flight path, and as seen from above that roof bears an uncanny resemblance to the Rams former shield-shaped logo. (Attempts to confirm this connection were rebuffed by both the designers and the developers, perhaps to protect the Chargers feelings?) But where the roof bends down, meeting the ground at a few distinct points, you can see its lightweight aluminum faade panels, consisting of thousands of unique triangles, perforated with millions of holes to admit breezes and create intricate dappled light patterns.

Connected to the stadium via textured pathways and a grove of palm trees is Lake Park, the other focal point of the development. The park has the potential to be a profound amenity for Inglewood.

An artificial lake which collects water runoff from around the complex was inspired by the lake at Hollywood Park Racetrack, which used to stand on the site. Its surrounded by a mix of flora thats even more robust than what is along the stadiums edge, including some plants that are quite exotic. Lehrer calls them Dr. Seuss plants, including the strangely fractured monkey puzzle tree and the jug-shaped bootle tree. All are part of the Mediterranean biome, an effort by Studio-MLA to connect Southern California to similar environments worldwide, including the Mediterranean region, the Cape of Africa and Chile.

For the SoFi Stadium landscape, Studio-MLA chose plants from the Mediterranean, the Cape of Africa and Chile.

(Studio-MLA)

Visitors can experience, among other things, long alles of trees edging the water, undulating arroyos, seats built into angled planters, impressive views across the lake to the stadium and a deck projecting over the water.

The park, and much of the stadiums periphery, will be open to the public every day, not just on game days, making the landscape part of the neighborhood. The complexs ability to host almost any type of event should help energize the site most of the year. It has the potential to become a real civic place, not just a sports-fueled fan zone. But just how civic is up to Kroenke and his team.

Despite many positive signs, much of the 300-acre site remains a question mark. The landscaping, as fantastic as it seems, is so young its hard to tell just how effective it will be. And its still unclear how much of the immediate stadium area will remain open when events arent taking place. Parking lots dominate the sites future development areas, and because of the incredibly uncertain economy, theres no guarantee that all of these elements ever will come. (Nor is it a sure thing that this development, if it does come, will be welcoming.)

Looking at toward the park at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

(Wally Skalij / Los Angeles Times)

Football is a sure thing, and the Super Bowl and the College Football National Championship seem likely, as do the Olympics. But many other events like those catering to the local community are a long way from being programmed. How will the place interact with the neighborhood around it, including the Forum to the north and a planned complex for the Clippers to the south? Also: Can a stadium with 260 luxury suites and 13,000 premium suites really be considered civic?

For now, public transit connections to the stadium are problematic. A so-called transportation hub along the sites west edge, amassing buses from nearby neighborhoods and the Metro Crenshaw Lines Downtown Inglewood light rail station (delayed until late 2021), is just a parking lot. (The Inglewood Transit Connector, an elevated tram running from the Metro station to SoFi, the Forum and other destinations, is still just a plan.)

Thanks to COVID-19, we probably wont know for more than a year how the whole complex performs. Not until a game day with actual fans, actual concessions, actual crowd noise, actual traffic.

So, like everything else in our current state of suspended animation, well have to wait and see whether SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park are a success, for fans, for the region, and for the concept that a stadium can become a true community asset. Well have to keep a close eye. Whats been achieved so far is impressive, but its just the beginning.

The fritted roof allows for SoFi Stadium to glow different hues of light at night.

(SoFi Stadium)

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Why SoFi Stadium is revolutionary for the NFL and L.A. - Los Angeles Times

William G. Bill McMinn, an architect and educator who served as dean of three architecture schools, died August 21 in Asheville, North Carolina, of complications from a stroke. He was 89.

In 1974, McMinn was named the founding dean of the School of Architecture at Mississippi State University (MSU), part of the College of Architecture, Art and Design, and stayed there until 1984. In 1997, he was named founding dean of the School of Architecture at Florida International University (FIU) now part of its College of Communication, Architecture + The Arts.

In between, from 1984 to 1996, he served as dean of the College of Architecture, Art and Planning (AAP) at Cornell University. While at Cornell, he founded the Cornell in Rome Program for students, taking advantage of the expertise of Professor Colin Rowe and others, and was instrumental in establishing an undergraduate program in the colleges Department of City and Regional Planning. He also helped raise funds to improve the colleges facilities and served on the board of the I. M. Pei-designed Herbert F. Johnson Museum on campus.

Bill McMinns contributions to the stature of the college cannot be overstated, write Meejin Yoon, Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of AAP, in an article posted on the schools website.

As a founder of the Cornell in Rome program, he enriched the lives of so many as the program has grown into a vital component of many architecture, art, and planning students education. He was a practitioner as well as an educator, and his influence will continue to be felt beyond scholarship to the underpinnings of the culture at AAP and well beyond.

According to the Cornell article by Patti Witten, McMinn was modest about his accomplishments as an educator, insisting that colleges cant really teach architecture. At best, he would say, we provide a place for students to discover it, Witten wrote.

Bill was the right person to start a program in Mississippi, said Robert V. M. Harrison, an early faculty member and founder of the schools advisory board, in an article on the MSU website.

He was a people person and brought in the right people. He had the knack to communicate with everyone. Architects,accreditation teams and legislators respected him. He got a full accreditation for the school at the earliest possible date, which is miraculous. A miracle worker.

As part of his effort to give the new Mississippi school a national presence and broaden the students perspective, former students and faculty members say that McMinn established a lecture series that brought big-name architects and critics to campus in the 1970s and 1980s, including Stanley Tigerman, Robert Venturi, Michael Graves, Rem Koolhaas, Charles Moore, and writers Ada Louise Huxtable and Paul Goldberger.

One story that has made the rounds for years is that McMinn was so eager to bring luminaries to campus that he would play one architect off the other, calling Michael Graves and telling him that Peter Eisenman was coming to campus and then calling Eisenman and telling him that Graves was coming.

McMinn was a strong supporter of architects who wanted to use their education to influence other fields, said alumnus Janet Marie Smith. She used her MSU degree to carve out an unconventional career in sports architecture, building or renovating stadiums including Oriole Park at Camden Yards in Baltimore, Fenway Park in Boston, and Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

After 12 winters in upstate New York, McMinn moved to Florida in 1996 to become director of FIUs program in architecture, then part of its School of Design.

A year later he was named founding dean of the FIU School of Architecture. Under his leadership, the school earned full accreditation from the National Architectural Accrediting Board, changing its status from a department to a school. McMinn initiated a competition that led to the construction of the Bernard Tschumi-designed Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture Building on the FIU Modesto Maidique campus.

According to FIU, the curriculum under McMinn incorporated pre-professional undergraduate programs in architecture and interior design, graduate programs in architecture, landscape architecture and environment and urban systems, and study-abroad programs. McMinn stepped down as dean in 2000 to return to teaching. He retired in 2004 and moved to North Carolina.

Born in Abilene, Texas, McMinn earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 1953 from Rice University and a Master of Architecture degree in 1954 from the University of TexasAustin. He began teaching in 1956 at Texas Tech University and then held teaching or department leadership positions at Clemson University, Auburn University, and Louisiana State University.

In 2006, he received the Topaz Medallion for Excellence in Architectural Education from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA), the highest award for outstanding contribution to architectural education in the U.S.

A Fellow of the AIA and the American Academy in Rome, McMinn received the ACSAs Distinguished Professor Award in 1991 and the Educational Leadership Award in Architecture from the AIA Miami chapter.

According to the AIA, he helped establish a School of Design at King Fahd University in Saudi Arabia, was a U.S.-appointed consultant to the School of Architecture at the University of Jordan, and helped improve the curriculum at Mimar Sinan University in Istanbul.

Bill McMinn has, throughout his career, served as a strong bridge between practice and education. His vision has always been to provide a seamless transition between the two realms, said John McRae, then-dean of the University of Tennessee College of Architecture and Design, in nominating McMinn for the Topaz Medallion.

I have known dozens of deans, said FIU president Modesto Maidique in his nomination letter. Seldom have I found one with the passion, dedication and sophistication that Bill exhibited during his tenure.

In addition to his teaching career, McMinn practiced architecture professionally from 1968 to 1971 as director of design at Six Associates in Asheville, North Carolina. In 1980, he was appointed to the National Architectural Accreditation Board and was elected NAAB President in 1983. He chaired NAAB reviews of 24 architecture programs, including those at Princeton, Columbia, Harvard, and the University of California, Berkeley.

Following his retirement to North Carolina in 2004, McMinn continued to advise on architectural design competitions and projects. He served as the professional advisor for a national competition to design a Performing and Visual Arts Center in Hendersonville, North Carolina, a contest that drew 58 entries. In 2004, he helped select the dean of the architectural school at the University of South Florida in Tampa.

Of all his achievements, one that made him especially proud was the Cornell in Rome program and the creation of the Cornell Center in Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, dedicated in 1997. In addition to Colin Rowe, early faculty members included architecture professor John Shaw and sculptor and fine arts professor Jack Squier. Roberto Einaudi was Cornell in Romes first director.

Bill was firmly convinced that Rome, this most ancient and complicated of cities, is the ideal laboratory for the disciplines of architecture, art, and planning, said Jeffrey Blanchard, the current academic director for Cornell in Rome, according to the AAP article. While Bills distinguished career as an educator unfolded in a number of institutions and was marked by many achievements and awards. I believe he always considered the creation of Cornells Rome program to be one of his most important and enduring accomplishments.

McMinn is survived by his wife of 64 years, Joan; his son Kevin, and his daughter Tracey.

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Noted educator and architect William Bill McMinn passes away at 89 - The Architect's Newspaper