HLM Architects’ Post

And may I say, what a fabulous building it is to work in. The sense of light and space is really significant, creating an excellent working environment.

There are quite a few of the gems of architectural design that have burned in the fires in LA. This article in the NY Times details some of the history and legacy. https://lnkd.in/gRSSC3Sd

Charles Eames famously said, "Recognizing the need is the primary condition for design." Architecture and community needs undoubtedly intersect. In the SEATTLE DAILY JOURNAL OF COMMERCE Affordable Housing feature, Ben details the City of Tacoma's Home in Tacoma (HITP2) efforts that aim to address the efficacy of jurisdictional codes. Sprinkling in personal anecdotes coupled with his experience on the city of Tacoma's Permit Advisory Task Force, Ben outlines the programs in place and efforts behind affordable housing in the City of Destiny. Read the DJC feature here - https://lnkd.in/g6gT-ke4

Olmsted Scholar Jorge Mayorga recently graduated with his MLA from the Illinois Institute of Technology. He aims to work with diverse disciplines to design landscape urban projects that enhance the resiliency of marginalized communities and cities throughout the world. As a co-founder and project leader of Human Scale, a design-build 501c3 not-for-profit organization, Jorge has committed his energies as a young landscape architect to designing and building functional and meaningful public spaces in Chicago neighborhoods such as Englewood, Austin, Pilsen, Little Village, and other historically disinvested communities. The completed outdoor community projects have helped improve the mental and physical wellness of veterans and neighbors, promote civic responsibility, highlight heritage and culture, and foster strong inter-generational relationships among the people Human Scale has worked with. Named for Frederick Law Olmsted, the LAF Olmsted Scholars Program is the premier leadership recognition program for landscape architecture students. Now in its 17th year, the program honors students who advance sustainable design and foster human and societal benefits through ideas, influence, communication, service, and leadership. #landscapearchitecture #landscapearchitecturestudents

Antje Steinmuller, Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning, University of Michigan’s new chair of architecture is rethinking housing through identity and density. Prior to arriving in Ann Arbor, Steinmuller served as chair of undergraduate architecture at California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco, among other leadership posts, where her decades of work as an educator, designer, author, and researcher had noticeable impacts on California housing policy. Her current research focuses on innovative housing typologies and the role design can play in mitigating the U.S. housing crisis. Shortly after the beginning of fall term, METROPOLIS connected with Steinmuller to learn more about her current and future work in this regard, and how she was settling into her new role. https://lnkd.in/eE45GSYq

Function and Beauty are important to the place we inhabit. 2021 AIA Iowa Impact Award Winner, Unitarian Universalist Society is a wonderful example of elegant spaces helping serve the mission of the people that use them. Deb Schoelerman of UUS says, "Persons with mobility challenges, hearing deficiencies, or other impairments are now able to participate in the activities of the UUS in ways that were not possible or convenient until we built our new building." Read more about the impact of Iowa Architects at https://lnkd.in/gwDsQkVe #IAArchitectureMonth

Chicago is the "City of the Century" for its legacy of innovation, resilience, and impact. Rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1871, it pioneered the modern skyscraper and set global standards in architecture. During the Industrial Revolution, Chicago became the country’s railroad center, driving the economy through manufacturing and trade. Culturally, the city shaped American music, introducing jazz and blues legends like Louis Armstrong. The 1893 World’s Fair showcased groundbreaking achievements, cementing Chicago as a leader in arts and industry. Social reformers like Jane Addams transformed the city, leading labor and civil rights movements that left a national imprint. Chicago’s constant reinvention—from revitalizing its waterfront to leading in tech and healthcare—reflects its resilience and ambition. Today, it stands as a symbol of progress, diversity, and innovation. #CityOfTheCentury #Chicago #Innovation #UrbanDevelopment #Architecture #Resilience #CulturalImpact #Leadership #Reinvention

Architectural Reflections: City Hall, Whitehall, and the Evolution of Political Power in the UK The GLA's move from City Hall to the Crystal symbolizes more than a change of address; it reflects broader questions about political power and its accessibility. City Hall, designed by Sir Norman Foster, represents transparency and public engagement. Its energy-efficient design underscores a modern governance approach. Moving to the Crystal, a sustainable design exemplar in Newham, is driven by financial pragmatism and promises long-term savings but raises concerns about diminishing the GLA's symbolic status and accessibility. In contrast, Whitehall Palace's historical grandeur epitomized royal authority. Its partial destruction symbolizes the impermanence of centralized power, highlighting the need for a balanced approach to governance. These narratives reflect the health of the UK's political landscape, emphasizing the importance of maintaining public engagement and trust to ensure a vibrant democracy. #CityHall #WhitehallPalace #PoliticalPower #ArchitecturalHistory #UKPolitics #DemocraticGovernance #SustainableDesign #HistoricArchitecture #TransparencyInGovernment #ConservativeVsLabour #PublicEngagement #UrbanRegeneration #IconicBuildings #PoliticalSymbolism #CivicArchitecture #GovernmentRelocation

This is only part of an article which perhaps explains why St Albans has not been able to produce a Local Plan since 1994, party political squabbling. Engendering a belief amongst residents that if you protest shout and scream you can stop all new developments and anger when obviously that fails. Look! St Albans came into being in Feb 2013 after a previous attempt to pass a draft Local Plan had failed to pass at Full Council in December 2012. Two further attempts since have failed. Our aim was to host design charrettes between landowners, developers and the community to co design concept plans using community co created and endorsed design codes. We have had our success in the shape of Oak Tree Gardens and well received co created concept Masterplan for the then City Centre Opportunity Site. Both charrettes were externally facilitated. However failure to keep the community involved and vested interests through to the pre application stage, together with change of administration, the scheme was dropped and an architectural competition ensued. Unless and until politicians can agree to work together with the community to produce a Local Plan St Albans is subject to a greater degree of development by appeal. Look! St Albans is calling for a reset button 🔘. Unless St Albans people are involved in a constructive way to build consensus, then we will carry on with the background of hostility and a lack of sympathetic designs to St Albans and types of homes that St Albans so desperately needs. All local people sympathetic to our ethos aims and objectives are welcome to join us to try to press the reset button.

For many years I’ve had an ambivalent relationship with a poem by Philip Larkin entitled ‘Going, Going’. Written in the year of my birth (1972) , it was a commissioned work that was meant to evoke an image of England that was rapidly disappearing, under the weight of ‘split level shopping, bleak high-risers, concrete and tyres’. Whilst it pines for an old England that has been seemingly lost (if indeed it ever existed), it neglects the cultural force of what replaced it. Larkin often played the game of despising Modernism, whilst deploying its devices, neatly camouflaged in his deft prose. England has changed, and in some cases for the better, and Modernism, whether you like or loath it, left us with a plethora of great things that were never meant to be so. Growing up in and around Birmingham, with its unique mix of the old and the new, it was buildings such as the New Street Signal Box (Bicknell and Hamilton), as well as Madin’s Central Library (demolished 2016) that made ‘Brum’ my kind of town (as Telly Savalas once famously put it), despite its excess of ‘concrete and tyres’. However, at times such as these, when our parliamentary cycle goes into overdrive, I always think of Larkin’s apt description in the poem of the governing class as a ‘cast of crooks and tarts’. This week we all get to decide whether we want them to continue to create the ‘first slum of Europe’ as ‘old Larks’ saw it, or something radically different, something that could be forged out of old England, and not just the misplaced nostalgia for its supposed loss! #heritage #conservation #architecture #modernism #birmingham #election2024 #thefabricofplaces