The City of Chicago has named the Washington-based non-profit The Community Builders and the Chicago- and New York–based Studio Gang as the winners of its C40 Reinventing Cities competition, embracing the team’s design and development proposal for Assemble Chicago, a $102 million mixed-use project that will be made with a low-carbon concrete mix. Located in the heart of the city, the carbon-neutral, 20-story high-rise will make use of underutilized land and serve as a mixed-use hub that offers a ground-level, community-focused NeighborHub, a produce grocer, and a medical clinic.
Intended to house Chicago’s moderate- and lower-income workforce earning between 30% and 80% of the local median income, the design will include a 207-unit residential tower punctuated by exterior bays that create a ” rhythmic, vertically articulated façade,” according to a Studio Gang news release. [Studio Gang]
20 design and interiors firms including Herman Miller, Knoll (now owned by Herman Miller), Adobe, Fuseproject, and Pentagram have banded together to launch the Diversity in Design Collaborative, a group focused on “projects that address the immediate issue of the lack of representation of Black creatives in design in the United States,” according to a Herman Miller press release. Developed by Herman Miller, DID also promises to create an education and career pipeline for Black students interested in design through initiatives, partnerships, and other opportunities. “As a professor of design, who has not taught any Black students in the last two years, and only three students of color in total, I’m very excited about this initiative,” said Lesley-Ann Noel, DID adviser and Tulane University professor and associate director for design thinking for social impact, in the same release. “Access is an issue that we all can work together to overcome by creating many pathways into design for students of color, rural students, students with disabilities, and students who are facing barriers to access to great design education.” [Herman Miller]
The Hutchins Center for African & African American Research at Harvard University has named Sekou Cooke a 2021–2022 a W.E.B. Du Bois Research Institute fellow. Cooke is also the incoming University of North Carolina at Charlotte School of Architecture master of urban design degree program director and a former assistant professor at the Syracuse University School of Architecture. While in residence as the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellow, Cooke will work on a project titled 3D Turntables Remix: The Architectural Technology of Hip-Hop. [Hutchins Center]
The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards has released new data on the impact of COVID-19 on architectural licensure, finding that the number of newly licensed architects in 2020 decreased 40% from the previous three-year average. NCARB also reported decreases in Architectural Experience Program candidates and the delivery of the Architect Registration Examination, although the organization notes that its mid-year 2021 review “shows promising gains in several key areas,” according the NCARB press release. [ARCHITECT]
Christo pictured with the L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped concept (2019)
Sixty years after the late artist Christo first developed the concept for L’Arc de Triomphe, Wrapped, the built-environment artwork will finally be realized in on the Paris landmark. Per Christo’s request, his team will complete the piece in collaboration with the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, wrapping L’Arc de Triomphe in 25,000 square meters (270,000 square feet) of recyclable, silvery blue polypropylene fabric and 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) of recyclable red polypropylene rope. [Christo and Jeanne-Claude]
Blackspace, a collective of Black planners, architects, artists, and designers working to create and protect Black spaces, has organized a Juneteenth 2021 celebration titled “Imagining Black Utopias in the Afro-Now.” Individuals who identify as Black can register for the virtual event, which will include a series of workshops focused on uplifting “the spirit of community liberation manifested by Juneteenth as an inspiration for infinite Black utopias in the present and future,” according to an event description. [BlackSpace]
The European Space Agency plans to send a plywood 10-centimeter cube nanosatellite into orbit by the end of the year. Constructed using a specially dried and treated form of birch plywood with aluminum rails along the corners, the tiny satellite will carry cameras, a sensor, and a radio. [European Space Agency]
Yulia Puskhar
Plants convert sunlight directly into usable energy through photosynthesis. A group of researchers from Purdue University are hoping to leverage this ability of plants and develop a method of solar-energy generation that is “radically” more efficient than today’s photovoltaic cells, according to a Purdue press release. Currently, the researchers are constructing an “artificial leaf analog” that collects light, using its energy to split water and generate hydrogen, a form of energy. “With artificial photosynthesis, there are not fundamental physical limitations,” said Purdue professor and lead researcher Yulia Puskhar in the same release. “You can very easily imagine a system that is 60% efficient because we already have a precedent in natural photosynthesis. And if we get very ambitious, we could even envision a system of up to 80% efficiency.” [Purdue University]
Researchers from the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm have used whey proteins to develop a high-performance plastic foam that strengthens upon exposure to high temperatures, according to a press release from the university. With potential applications that range from packaging foam to thermal insulation, “this biodegradable, sustainable material can be a viable option for use in aggressive environments where fire resistance is important,” said KTH professor and researcher Mikael Hedenqvist in the same release. [KTH Royal Institute of Technology]
Fold House in southern Ontario, designed by Partisans
When Scott Friedmann’s guest house in southern Ontario guest house burned down in 2017, he asked the Toronto-based firm Partisans to design a striking replacement. The resulting 4,473-square-foot guest house includes a pool pavilion with a dramatically curving, oak-finished overhang. ARCHITECT contributing editor Ted Cushman dives into the project, detailing how Partisans brought the Fold House to life. [ARCHITECT]
In the ninth installment of ARCHITECT’s One Year Later check-ins with designers one year after the murder of Geroge Floyd, Moody Nolan CEO Jonathan Moody, AIA, talks candidly about his optimism and concern for sustained momentum in racial justice activism of the past year. “I worry that the momentum will fizzle or die if we lose focus on the great things that were started—and there’s still so much to do,” Moody says. [ARCHITECT]
ODA New York has a plan to revitalize New York’s Flower District in the city’s Chelsea neighborhood, presenting a slate of zoning proposals and urban interventions that would extend the area’s public realm. [ARCHITECT]
More about Herman Miller