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Nature is poised to reconquer Madrid. Faced with rising summer temperatures, Spain’s capital has announced plans, reported in today’s El Pais, to seam the city so thoroughly with new green patches that its face could be quite transformed.
City parks will be expanded and restored, and 22 new urban gardens created. Vacant public land will be freed up to create community gardens while the banks of the city’s scrappy Manzanares River will be thickly planted with trees...
— City Lab
According to the report, other components of the initiative include funding and encouragement for green roofs and façades. Plants beds would be added to paved squares and ponds may be created to catch excess stormwater like in Copenhagen. Madrid's location – perched high on a plateau that... View full entry
In 2003 in Utah, government officials decided to try a radical solution to homelessness: giving people who would otherwise be on the street permanent housing. Twelve years later, the surprisingly cost-effective program is a success: almost all of the people given homes remained in them, and the... View full entry
People caught running unlicensed apartments through websites will be offered the chance to have 80% of their fine canceled if they allow the city council to use the apartment as social accommodation for three years...When the three years are up the landlord [can] either pay off the fine through his or her own funds and reclaim possession of the apartment or continue offering the property as social accommodation until the council receives the equivalent of full payment of the fine. — Business Insider
More on Archinect:Airbnb now open for business in Cuba, despite anemic internet accessAirbnb rentals cut deep into San Francisco housing stock, report saysMonterey Park City Council adopts tougher penalties for landlords of illegal boarding homesAirbnb celebrates London's Deregulation Act with... View full entry
There were never any construction plans or official permission. Everything is in my head. I am not an architect or a stonemason. I have never had any training in the building profession. My basic education was interrupted by the Civil War. I was inspired by books about cathedrals, castles and other religious buildings and they gave birth to my own work...—Don Justo Gallego Martínez — thisbigcity.net
Born into humble means in the Spanish town of Mejorada del Campo in 1925 and having worked as a farmer and a bullfighter, Don Justo Gallego Martínez lived in a Trappist monastery for eight years until he was forced to leave when he contracted tuberculosis. Don Justo, who never had any training... View full entry
For Málaga’s mayor, Francisco de la Torre, the rebirth of Hotel Miramar is a sign that his €100m gamble on rebranding the city is paying off. During his 15 years in office he has lead an aggressive campaign to turn Málaga into a place brimming with culture. [...]
His campaign reached new heights this week with the opening of the first foreign outposts of two high-profile museums: the Centre Pompidou Málaga and the Málaga branch of the St Petersburg State Russian Museum.
— theguardian.com
Previously: Centre Pompidou to cover France with pop-ups View full entry
Earlier today, the Serpentine Galleries in London released the first images of the 2015 Serpentine Pavilion, designed by the Spanish firm of SelgasCano headed by José Selgas and Lucía Cano. In keeping with the criteria of the annual program, this will be the first UK project by the... View full entry
Archinect's Architecture School Lecture Guide for Winter-Spring 2015Archinect's Get Lectured is back in session! Get Lectured is an ongoing series where we feature a school's lecture series—and their snazzy posters—for the current term. Check back frequently to keep track of any upcoming... View full entry
Fuensanta Nieto and Enrique Sobejano of Spanish practice Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos were announced as the recipients of the 2015 Alvar Aalto Medal. First awarded in 1967 and designed by Alvar Aalto himself, The Alvar Aalto Medal is given to individuals in recognition for their significant... View full entry
The Museo Universidad de Navarra, a brand new gallery designed by the renowned Rafael Moneo, may lead to a stampede of art lovers every bit as important to Pamplona as the running of the bulls [...]
The architect is Rafael Moneo, a Pritzker prizewinner and native of Navarre province. [...]
If the architecture of the new gallery is not as eye-catching as Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim, the collection is more impressive [...].
— theguardian.com
SelgasCano of Madrid will be designing the fifteenth Serpentine Galleries Pavilion in London's Kensington Gardens. For the past 15 years, the Serpentine Galleries has invited architects like Sou Fujimoto, Jean Nouvel, Herzog & de Meuron with Ai Wei Wei, Peter Zumthor, SANAA, Zaha Hadid, and most recently Smiljan Radic to design the temporary outdoor structure, which continues to be an anticipated summer event every year. — bustler.net
Like every year, the outdoor structure must be a flexible multi-functional social space with a cafe. SelgasCano have yet to submit their design plans.Here's a glimpse into some of their previous works:Plasencia Auditorium and Congress Centre, Cáseres, Spain 2005/2013Factory Mérida, Badajoz... View full entry
Friday, October 3:Eisenhower Memorial clears key hurdle on Gehry design: In a positive step for the Memorial's Approving Process Odyssey, the National Capital Planning Commission has OK'd the Commission on Fine Arts (the other federal body that must approve the design) to vote on the... View full entry
El Hierro, the most remote of Spain's Canary Islands, is now billing itself as the world's first energy self-sufficient island that has never been hooked up to a power grid [...] This past summer, El Hierro inaugurated the Gorona del Viento power plant, a $110 million wind and water turbine farm. By the end of this year, the plant will generate all of the island's energy needs of up to 48 gigawatt hours per year. — NPR
Not only will El Hierro be the first energy self-sufficient island, it's will also exclusively make use of renewable energy sources, a mix of wind and hydro-power. Previously, the island – the most remote of the Canary Islands – couldn't hook up to the Spanish grid and had to barge in about... View full entry
[Calatrava's] at work in the new transit station at the World Trade Center in New York, but that project is massively over budget and behind schedule and it's highlighted some of Calatrava's legal troubles back in Spain. [...]
The architect was supposed to be in Spain this week testifying as a suspect in a fraud case. Prosecutors say he got 3.6 million dollars to design yet another Spanish convention center that was never built, but Calatrava didn't show up for his court date.
— npr.org
From the horizon, the new Botín contemporary art center hovers over Santander’s agate-colored bay like a fleet of spaceships poised for a close encounter. [...]
The $106 million center — designed by Renzo Piano, the Italian architect, to jut over the bay — is the latest private museum emerging in Europe that matches star architects and dramatic designs with billionaires who have huge ambitions and brands to promote.
— nytimes.com
As the state has withdrawn, Santiago Cirugeda has stepped in to turn abandoned sites in Seville and other Spanish cities into dramatic art spaces that are inspiring a new breed of architect — theguardian.com