Archinect - News

Hood Century's solitary quest to preserve Black modernist heritage is spurring social media users to action

2023-01-18T13:20:00-05:00

Jerald Cooper, who lives in Cincinnati, wants to recognize and help preserve modern architecture and interior design that have added to the aesthetic and culture of many Black communities. His aim is to make architecture and design more accessible by using layman’s language to break down barriers typically set up by white academics with advanced degrees, and educate more people who are now empowered through social media to comment on the structural beauty of a modernist tower.

The music industry marketing consultant started the passion project after a treasured local West End church was demolished in order to make room for Populous’ $250 million new Cincinnati F.C. stadium in 2019, an act which he calls “infrastructural trauma.” Since then, he has grown an online audience of more than 83,000 followers with his Instagram account Hood Century, offering analysis that breaks down Black modernism into three categories: made for, handed down, and claimed.

The effort places him in line with others, such as the newly-funded Conserving Black Modernism project from the Getty and National Trust for Historic Preservation. Jerald Cooper represents the potential for social media adept architecture aficionados to combat what he called a “lack of knowing” in their own communities. As the former USC architecture dean Milton Curry says, “the complex story of Modernism cannot be fully revealed without new research on its impacts in and on the Black communities that it has t...

Editor's Picks #410

2015-04-06T10:10:00-04:00

For the latest edition of Working out of the Box Archinect talked with Abraham Burickson , founder of Odyssey Works.

He explained "Architecture school required total commitment, and in Odyssey Works that’s the case as well – absolute, total commitment. Because otherwise nothing new is possible, and it’s almost not worth it, that was the other thing I walked out of architecture with, that it’s not really worth it to go into any project without a total commitment."

Donna Sink commented "This was a great read, and I really appreciate the very close links to architecture and daily experience that somehow moves you out of a set mindframe and into a new one. Mr. Burickson is an excellent example of how it can be beneficial to get degrees in (or learn a lot about) other disciplines and apply a more general knowledge to our experience of living in a built world."

News

Reacting to the latest iteration of Peter Zumthor's design for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Evan Chakroff criticized "...

FRCH Design Worldwide upgrades Zaha Hadid's Contemporary Arts Center lobby in Cincinnati

2015-03-23T17:40:00-04:00

After moving a few times in Cincinnati throughout the later half of the 20th century, the Contemporary Arts Center relocated into its current home at the Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Arts in 2003. Designed by Zaha Hadid, who won the commission in the late 1990s, the building is the first U.S. contemporary art institution designed by a woman. Shortly after the building opened, Herbert Muschamp of The New York Times hailed the building as "the most important American building to be completed since the end of the Cold War.” The non-collecting museum has housed temporary exhibitions, installations, and performances.

Hadid envisioned the CAC building as an "urban carpet" that draws in pedestrians to experience the interior space by walking on a gently sloping meandering path. Aiming to connect the building's monochromatic exterior with its "playful" interior, FRCH added a cafe, lounge, and seating area in hopes to create a livelier and welcoming lobby for visitors. "We...

Repurposing Old Rail Stations in the Rust Belt: What Buffalo, Detroit, and Cincinnati can tell us about adaptive reuse

2014-09-08T13:39:00-04:00

The CTRC’s efforts are part of a larger phenomenon of rail station preservation occurring throughout the Rust Belt, including places such as Cincinnati’s Union Terminal, and Detroit’s Michigan Central Station. And while a geographic disadvantage and heavy rehabilitation costs make for an uphill battle, the Buffalo nonprofit and its ebullient members have high hopes for the future.

Get Lectured: University of Cincinnati, Spring '14

2014-02-05T13:03:00-05:00

Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter/Spring 2014

Archinect's Get Lectured is up and running again for the Winter/Spring '14 term! As a refresher from our Fall 2013 guide, every week we'll feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current season. Be sure to keep track of any upcoming lectures you don't want to miss.

Our next poster for this week comes from the University of Cincinnati, School of Architecture and Interior Design (SAID). Their two-sided poster shows the year's lecture events while the other side can fold up to reveal school acronyms. See it in action below.

Want to share your school's lecture series? Send us your school's lecture series poster and details to connect@archinect.com.

All lectures take place at 4:30 pm in DAAP Room 5401 unless noted: Aronoff Center for Design, 2624 Clifton Ave. Listed below are upcoming events only. Free and open to the public.

FEBRUARY

Feb 5
Michael Pyatok / Principal - Pyatok Architects

Feb 12
Stanley ...

LIVE·MAKE Industrial Arts Center Cincinnati Results

2013-02-13T14:29:00-05:00

Results have recently been unveiled in the international design ideas competition LIVE·MAKE Industrial Arts Center Cincinnati. The Cincinnati Chapter of the American Institute of Architects in partnership with the Over-the-Rhine Brewery District Community Urban Redevelopment Corporation had launched this competition as a call for architectural proposals of a membership-based facility that will [...] help shape a new economic opportunity for the city of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Cincinnati Tonkens House For Sale For First Time

2013-02-11T11:45:00-05:00

Designed by the legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1955 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991, the Gerald B. and Beverley Tonkens House was listed for the first time ever this week, with an asking price of $1.788M.