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Work by one of the most influential modernist architects, Le Corbusier, has recently been added to the list of World Heritage Sites, operated by UNESCO (the UN Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization). Seventeen projects in seven countries were given this...
The Newport Street Gallery in Vauxhall, London, has quickly contributed to London’s skyline with its unique saw-toothed roof on one of the two new buildings flanking three restored industrial buildings from the Victorian era. And, having won the 2016 RIBA Stirling...
For one it is a ‘giant Easter cake’, for others it is visionary architecture: Antoni Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia, his unfinished cathedral in Barcelona, Spain. Archdaily reports the project, started 134 years ago, was apparently described as an ‘Easter cake’...
Do you believe a comfortable house in the suburbs will be to your children’s advantage, with enough space to play and enjoy the outdoors? Not necessarily so, says a new study by the Brookings Institution in the USA. According to Ars Technica it was found that growing...
The very high property prices in London are slowly pushing growth to outside the city. In a report in the Economist written before the British vote to leave the EU (23 June 2016), the ‘faulty land-use regulation’ is said to ‘throttle’ the capital. While the immense...
Two recent academic studies – the one still needs to be peer-reviewed – have tried to prove Jane Jacobs’ 1961 tenets on good city living. In her seminal book on urban planning, The Death and Life of the Great American City, Jacobs argued that four qualities...
Where the rest of the world sees tourism as creator of jobs and economic empowerment, the centuries-old city of Venice is suffering because of the negative side thereof. In the past 15 years the city got 16 new hotels along the Grande Canale – in turn losing...
The recent earthquake in Italy is described by a survivor as Dantesque, according to a letter in the New York Times. About 290 people died in the quake which measured 6.2 on the Richter scale. The writer, chairperson of the Italic Institute of America continues by...
As part of the 15th Venetian Architecture Biennale visitors to this city can attend a symposium on the role of museums in 21st century cities on 24 September. ‘Museum of the 21st century 'Content - Form - Impact'’ is the title of the simposium to be held in...
The Cape Winelands district has a deep and varied cultural heritage. To protect the heritage resources within the Stellenbosch municipal boundary, the Municipality is in the process of compiling a heritage inventory and management plan for the area. Read this document...
Enter this week for a free online course on the history of architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Read more about the course:...
Marius le Roux, previously director of the Stellenbosch Museum for 32 years, was honoured as a custodian of cultural possessions along with Simon Adams, Lourens du Plessis and Victor Honey. They received mayoral honours from the outgoing mayor, Condrad Sidego, in...
Fred Stephens, a conservationist and past chairman of the Stellenbosch Heritage Foundation, passed away. He arrived in Stellenbosch fresh out of school and spent a long and colourful life in the town. He wrote articles for local and regional newspapers, acted in...
The University of Cape Town is presenting a part time Master of Philosophy in Conservation of the Built Environment. Professionals and managers working in the built environment are increasingly being required to conserve or take account of heritage and heritage...
Planned Focus Group Meetings for the Winelands heritage resources inventory and the related plan for the Stellenbosch Municipal area, are scheduled at central venues for the following areas from Tuesday, 23 August until Wednesday, 31 August 2016. Franshhoek...
Amsterdam, known as one of the best cities to party, was the first big city to appoint a night mayor. But the parties - and the resulting economic injection it brings - have been a source of headaches for many an official and local. The easiest way to deal with this,...
The Architectural Review’s House of the Year has just been announced. The Cosmic House in Osaka, Japan, is an ‘exceptional example of moving the boundaries in an individual residential project,’ according to the judges. UID Architects is responsible for this series of...
The Stirling Prize shortlist has just been announced, with the new hopefuls and previous winners on the list. Two of the buildings are at Oxford University and a third forms part of the City of Glasgow College. According to Riba’s (Royal Institute of British...
The Danish architect Bjarke Ingels’ design for this year’s Serpentine pavilion is, according to various writers on architecture, the best in this project’s sixteen year history. Ingels, from the firm BIG, designed to curving ‘walls, leaning toward each other and...
In a video on the Venice architecture biennale by the magazine Monocle, the exhibition curated by the Pritzker Prize-winner Alejandro Aravena is one of the most socially loaded exhibitions yet. The title of the exhibition is “Reporting from the Front” and investigates...
The Switch House, Herzog & De Meuron’s new ‘wing’ to the Tate Modern in London, recently opened. The firm was responsible 22 years ago for the conversion of the Bankside Power Station into the Tate Modern, a project receiving about 5 million visitors...
Open Streets Cape Town recently hosted a successful discussion on the influence of technology on transport. At the end of May more than 60 people attended this event. Open Streets aims very specifically to reduce the transport carbon emissions in Cape Town by changing...
The urban design that dominated America post the Second World War, introduced loose standing houses and suburbs far from commercial points. Two books look at the decisions made and how it still influences our lives today. We are all well versed with the work of the...
The Iranian-born British architect Zaha Hadid recently died at the age of 65. She will be remembered for her designs dominated by challenging curves and confrontational lines. The honour shown to her after her death, is well earned. Zaha Hadid, much talked about...
By Suzanne Jacobs It doesn’t take an urban planner to know that an overabundance of modern condos, glassy office buildings, chain stores, and highly successful residents of a certain skin tone does not a great city make. (And someone should tell that to the developers...
Vox: energy & environment Updated by Joseph Stromberg This article is part of a series about the past, present, and future of commuting in America. For people who are constantly stuck in traffic jams during their commutes, there seems to be an obvious...
Fastcodesign.com: From autonomous vehicles to building codes, Sidewalk Labs is thinking about problems and solutions that could shape cities for centuries - by Diana Budds When Google's city-focused innovation company, Sidewalk Labs, launched in June of 2015, few...
arstechnica.com - by Annalee Newitz Imagine a high-density city, and you probably think of something like Mega-City One, full of pollution, poverty, and huge, ugly housing projects. But the reality, according to new research in urban studies, is that...
The Guardian Resilient people: Can local community cooperation be scaled up to create a participatory city? Neighbourhood-led pilot project the Open Works thinks so.. In February 2014, a pilot project was launched in West Norwood, south London, mobilising 1,000 people...
From: The New York Review of Books By: Michael Kimmelman The twenty-first century is the first urban century in human history, the first time more people on the planet live in cities than don’t. Experts project that some 75 percent of the booming global population...
