NBWW BLOG…

Charlotte and Clementine Fiell pick five women who transformed design from their book, Women in Design, and explain what made figures like Apple icon designer Susan Kare and architect Zaha Hadid revolutionary. Augusta Pownall The recently published book, Women in Design: From Aino Aalto to Eva Zeisel, by mother and daughter duo Charlotte and Clementine Fiell aims to redress the balance of current scholarship about the history of design.”The role of women in design has always been woefully under represented in museum collections and exhibitions as well as in the existing literature,” the authors told Dezeen. “That was one of the reasons why we decided the time had come to redress the situation and uncover the ‘hidden’ history of women working in the design...

From Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, these hotels have recruited top designers and firms, such as Roman and Williams, Jacques Garcia, and Martyn Lawrence Bullard, to create spaces that are as memorable as the cuisine By Elizabeth Stamp Matador Room (Miami) Celebrated chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten puts a new spin on the midcentury supper club at the Matador Room at the Miami Beach Edition. Guests can dine on the lush terrace or in the sunken oval dining room, which is illuminated by the space’s massive original chandelier. The menu combines South American, Carribiean, and Spanish flavors and features creative takes on pizza and tacos alongside seafood and steaks. Congratulations to the Matador Room at The Edition for this outstanding recognition – NBWW, design architects for...

FESTIVAL OF THE TREES The Festival of the Trees is a fundraising event coordinated by Florida International University’s Interior Architecture Department and its advisory board. Each year South Florida’s architecture and design community demonstrates its support for quality interior architecture education through their annual participation in the Festival of the Trees event and auction. In its 33 years, this annual holiday extravaganza has raised over $350,000 in funds that benefit Florida International University’s Interior Architecture Department and its talented students. Each year, Festival of the Trees sponsors underwrite designers who design and build their unique holiday creations and donate them to the event. The “trees” are then displayed and auctioned at the gala...

Researchers at MIT have discovered a way to turn plants into sources of light and are imagining a new conception of architecture revolving around them. By Drew Zeiba Could the solution to more sustainable buildings be what’s planted in and around them? Researchers at MIT have discovered a way to turn plants into sources of light and are imagining a new conception of architecture that would integrate them into everyday spaces as a more sustainable alternative to electric lighting. In 2017 MIT chemical engineer Michael Strano devised a method to make plants glow without genetic modification. Plants are submerged in a solution filled with nanoparticles that have been enriched with an enzyme called luciferase, which is what allows creatures like fireflies to give off light. High pressure...

A new book surveys the stunning work of Ezra Stoller, the most prominent photographer of 20th-century American architecture A major moment in Stoller’s early career was being contracted by news agency Underwood & Underwood to photograph the pavilions of the 1939 New York World’s Fair, including Alvar Aalto’s Finnish Pavilion. By Elizabeth Stamp Throughout his more-than-50-year career, Ezra Stoller captured American’s most important modernist structures, creating images nearly as iconic as the buildings they depict. In the new book Ezra Stoller: A Photographic History of Modern American Architecture ($125, Phaidon), architect and architecture writer Pierluigi Serraino dives into the photographer’s vast archive, showcasing 450 images, some well-known, others rarely published. By...

In or around New York? Here’s a roundup of the most interesting design, sustainability, and social theory events going on. AN has assembled another collection of exhibitions, lectures, and conferences in the coming week that feature artists, architects, policymakers, and thinkers reflecting on aesthetic, social, ecological, and design strategies for the modern world. If you’re in or around New York City, stop by and enrich yourself. Check out the events below: Rashid Johnson, The Hikers at Hauser + Wirth Hauser & Wirth New York, 22nd Street Opening reception: November 12, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. November 12 through January 25, 2020 Rashid Johnson‘s The Hikers show includes ceramic tile mosaics, collaged paintings, a large-scale bronze sculpture sprouting plants, and an installation...

The 67th annual edition of our program for innovative unbuilt work will now be accepting entries through Nov. 22. By ARCHITECT Staff The deadline has been extended for the 2020 Progressive Architecture (P/A) Awards, which recognize unbuilt projects that demonstrate overall design excellence and innovation. Now, entries will be accepted until Nov 22, 2019. Last year, the jury recognized 10 projects in the 66th edition of the program. Winning entries of the 67th Annual P/A Awards will be published in the February 2020 issue of ARCHITECT. Interested in submitting your project to the 2020 awards program? Here’s how to enter: 1. Visit the Progressive Architecture (P/A) Awards website: paawards.com 2. Read all about the eligibility guidelines, the categories, the submission process,...

Jeffrey Soffer closed on a $1.175 billion refinancing of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, marking the latest restructuring of debt for the beachfront resort. By Katherine Kallergis Jeffrey Soffer closed on a $1.175 billion refinancing of the Fontainebleau Miami Beach, marking the latest restructuring of debt for the beachfront resort. … The Soffer family-led Turnberry Associates paid $325 million for the Fontainebleau Miami Beach in 2005 and paid another $15 million for a nearby lot where an expansion is planned. Turnberry then spent $650 million on gutting and renovating the 1954 historic hotel, which ranks as the largest hotel in Miami-Dade County. Designed by architect Morris Lapidus, the Fontainebleau sits on more than 15 acres of land with 11 pools, a 40,000-square-foot spa,...

Plus, a floating system for cleaning plastic from rivers, the Kendeda Building for Innovative Sustainable Design at the Georgia Tech is completed, and more design-tech news from this week. By Katharine Keane The V&A Dundee in Dundee, Scotland, has unveiled a new installation by Gramazio Kohler Research and students of the MAS Architecture and Digital Fabrication at ETH Zurich to highlight collaboration between humans and robots. Called Up-Sticks, the architectural commission features more than 2,000 spruce planks and beech dowels that the team designed and assembled using computational strategies and robotic technologies. “Up-Sticks is an informal turn of phrase to express leaving your home in haste,” said V&A Dundee project curator Mhairi Maxwell in a press...

The National Council of Architectural Registration Boards found that 76% of respondents believe that licensure makes consumers feel safe. By Madeleine D’Angelo In a Nov. 1, 2019 study commissioned by the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards (NCARB), 89% of U.S. voters supported architectural licensing, viewing the process as “an important factor in protecting the public health, safety, and welfare,” according to a NCARB press release. The study, conducted by the New York–based Benson Strategy Group, polled almost 1,000 voters on their perception of the architecture profession, including its regulating and licensing standards. The majority of voters in the study favored licensing, with 89% agreeing that architects should be licensed given the nature of their...

As the world is continuously transforming and expanding, the amount of data and information created every day is also increasing constantly. Human intellect today is expected to evolve at the same rate as our world to continue our journey into the future. Despite all the information, reading and self-learning remain the most powerful tools available to mankind to consume knowledge. Learning bolsters awareness, exposure and productivity, which in turn results into development. Despite its importance, education is still inaccessible to many communities in remote locations around the world. Self-learning, especially through reading, is crucial for the society’s development. It is necessary to have places promoting education and self-learning to educate the local population within the...

The U.S. Green Building Council has certified and registered more than 100,000 commercial LEED projects. By ARCHITECT Staff The following is a press release from the U.S. Green Building Council announcing it has more than 100,000 registered and certified commercial LEED projects worldwide. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is celebrating a new LEED milestone, announcing it has surpassed 100,000 registered and certified LEED commercial projects. “In 1998, we created LEED to measure and define what green building meant, and to provide a roadmap for developing sustainable buildings,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO, USGBC. “Today millions of us are living, working, and learning in LEED-certified buildings around the world. These spaces are using less energy and water,...