The Architecture and Construction News Roundup

The latest news and data from the architecture and construction industry

In Data:

Architecture and Construction News in Numbers

100,000

The number of new council homes the UK should be building each year for the next three decades, according to TV celebrity architect George Clarke. Clarke has launched a campaign urging the government to take action on the issue, including a petition that has already attracted over 130,000 signatures. He has also urged the government to review Right to Buy legislation as part of the campaign.

2.4 million

The number of monthly online searches for the late Zaha Hadid, who is the most popular starchitect in the world according to a ranking system by Monograph. The ranking system, which uses the STAR model developed by MIT’s architectural data team, places Norman Foster in a distant second, followed by Le Corbusier, Bjarke Ingels and Renzo Piano.

7 minutes 30 seconds

The time UNStudio’s design for the world’s first cross-border cable car will take to carry passengers between Russia and China. The project, which has won an international competition, will see the two cities of Blagoveshchensk, Russia, and Heihe, China, connected across the Amur River. The cable car will consist of two lines and four cabins, each with a capacity for 60 passengers.

£1.1m

The amount required to restore and gain legal protections for the Undercroft, a global skateboarding destination located beneath the Southbank Centre in London, the UK. The space, which is also considered a brutalist landmark, narrowly avoided closure and conversion to retail environment in 2013. It re-opened in late July following a fully crowdfunded campaign.

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£24,000

The amount a fake architecture practice has been fined by UK courts. Hanzo Design, led by Tatsiana Aliaksanava, was given the fine at the end of June for misusing the title of architect after being convicted of four counts of the same. The company, which had claimed to employ ‘experienced architects’ despite having no registered architects on its staff, previously ignored multiple warnings from the Architects’ Registration Board (ARB).

Top Stories:

The Key Architecture News This Month

César Pelli, 1926 – 2019

César Pelli, an acclaimed Argentine-American architect specialising high-rises, has died at the age of 92. Pelli made a name for his design of some of the tallest buildings in the world, including the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the Torre de Cristal in Madrid, Spain, and the Salesforce Tower in San Francisco, USA. He was awarded the AIA’s Gold Medal in 1995 and the Aga Khan Award in Architecture in 2004.

Source: Archdaily

Foster + Partners’ Tulip Rejected

The controversial Foster + Partners design for a 305.3m viewing tower in central London, known as The Tulip, has been rejected by London mayor Sadiq Khan. Intended to feature a gondola ride surrounding its exterior, the tower had been criticised for its resemblance to a sex toy and for the intention to charge for entry. Khan axed the plans over a lack of public benefit and for failing to meet the standard of “world class architecture”.

Source: Dezeen

Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, 1941 – 2019

Italian architect Cristiano Toraldo di Francia, founder of groundbreaking Italian architecture practice Superstudio, has died. His practice is considered one of the most important in postwar Italy, with his work credited with transforming how architecture is discussed, conveyed and evolved, particularly around the exploration of utopias as a means to reinvent the world and highlight problems within existing systems.

Source: Archdaily

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