It has been argued the cities in the Midwest are on the “decline.” Populations in urban centers like Detroit, Buffalo, and Cleveland are shrinking as old infrastructure decays. However, the newly relocated Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative takes an unorthodox approach to these “shrinking cities” and addresses the so-called problems as opportunities to engage in research [...]
On June 28, 2011, San Sebastian (Donostia in Basque) was awarded the title of European Capital of Culture in 2016 for Spain, and on May 10, 2012, Europe confirmed it. San Sebastian is a city of 180.000 inhabitants located in the northen coast of Spain and will host the 2016 title along with the Polish [...]
In a desert climate, such as Tempe, Arizona, rain is sparse. At only 4.5 inches per year, it is a very dry place. The city gets water, nevertheless, as is demonstrated by the unusual amount of lawn-grown grass surrounding the suburban and urban sprawl. The question then is how? How do residents get the water [...]
As cities grow and change over time, cultural icons sometimes fall victim to the march of “progress.” However, one of Cleveland’s most iconic structures, the West Side Market, has remained proudly on the corner of Lorain Avenue and West 25th Street for one-hundred years. Originating with an open air market in 1840, and moving to [...]
When the opportunity arose six months ago to blog for Global Site Plans, I jumped at the chance. At the time I had recently finished a Diploma in Architecture at a University in the United Kingdom and was brimming with enthusiasm and ideas about the world of architecture, but was desperately struggling to find a [...]
For my final post, I’d like to thank everyone for reading my blogs over the last six months, I hope they brought a new and Scottish perspective to Global Site Plans; I certainly enjoyed writing about issues I care about. Many thanks to Global Site Plans and especially Renée van Staveren for giving me this [...]
Where would GSP readers assume influential Austrian architecture firm Coop Himmelblau would execute its first American project? Not quite New York or Los Angeles, Akron, a rust belt city in Ohio, is the unlikely host of Wolf Prix and Helmut Swiczinsky’s bold new addition to the Akron Art Museum. Coop Himmelblau has a successful history [...]
It is almost guaranteed that at some point every Architect across the United Kingdom has despaired at them. Building regulations regarding the access to and use of buildings, otherwise known as Approved Document M are more often than not, at the least, a minor annoyance, if not a full blown architectural headache. With a continuous [...]
The sky is limitless, they say. So if there’s no space to your left, or to your right, or below, then look up! Land, limited in the City of Los Angeles, is slowly becoming a commodity. And as new land becomes occupied by never-ending construction projects, it’ll eventually vanish so we need start thinking straight, [...]
Taksim Square, in Istanbul, Turkey, is one of the liveliest public spaces in the city. It was a part of the modernization project of the newly-formed republic in the late 1930s. Like many other parts of the city, it was based on the plans of Henri Prost, the prominent representative of the French school of [...]
A new urban planning and development scheme is being implemented in Cleveland, Ohio that will dramatically change the look and accessibility of the city’s underutilized waterfront. Located on the shores of Lake Erie, Cleveland Ohio’s lakefront has long been neglected with little commercial development and fewer public spaces. EE&K architects of New York, in conjunction [...]
It is pretty well acknowledged that the Internet has changed the world, with easy, universal access to information and instant communication across the planet. But how has it impacted the daily life of an architect? Has it changed the way they work? And is the full potential of the Internet being utilised? Habits are changing. [...]
Since its inception in 1967, out of the merger between Western Reserve University and Case Institute of Technology, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio has struggled to pull together a unified campus from its former fractured halves. This urban planning quagmire will soon be solved this spring with the addition of the Tinkham Veale [...]
Modern art finally has a place to call home in Nottingham, United Kingdom. Opened in November 2009, Nottingham Contemporary, designed by architects Caruso St John has proved to be very popular; attracting just under 300,000 visitors through the doors in its first year. But what is it that visitors actually go to visit? Do they [...]
Are you interested in sustainability, but not sure where to get the latest information, sample products, and meet like-minded people? The upcoming Ecobuild conference in London, United Kingdom could be just the event for you. Ecobuild is, put simply, the place to go to update your environmental expertise and put yourself ahead of the competition [...]
In Germany, during the cold war, the concept of the “ghost” station developed as a solution to a curious urban planning quagmire. As travel with Berlin became more restricted, the combined Berlin subway lines, referred to as the U-Bahn and S-Bahn, underneath the city had to be divided between east and west. In doing this [...]
Times are hard. There are very few places in the world unaffected by the economic downturn. And nowhere has this impact been felt more harshly than the construction industry, which has left a generation of architecture graduates trapped in limbo, struggling to get a foothold in the industry. In the United Kingdom the Royal Institute [...]
Something very strange is happening in Liverpool, England. In a remarkable piece of urban planning one of the most recognisable areas of the city has been changed forever by one piece of modern design. Is this beneficial to Liverpool, or has this attempt at contemporary architecture within a historically sensitive setting ruined a section of [...]
Can you imagine a small apartment, let’s say about 344 square feet, transforming into 24 different rooms? It’s possible. Well, at least when architects and engineers choose to focus on such a concept anyway, but the fact is that it has been done. Space is becoming more of a commodity, particularly within the city, such [...]
This May 2012, craftsmen from across the United States and Canada will descend on Port Townsend, Washington to discuss a building tradition developed in the 12th century, timber frame construction. The first question the uninitiated may ask is, “What is timber framing?” This construction method uses heavy wood joined together in intricate joints to create [...]
