GM, my fellow procrastinators ☕️
Weβve got high highs, low lows, and creamy middles to dive into this week, so letβs skip the small talk and LFG 😤
This Week in History 🗓⏱📜
1984: On this day, we pour one out for a Certified Real One™ Louis RΓ©ard, who passed away on September 16, 1984. You may Louis as a productive but relatively unknown french automobile engineer through the 1920s and 30s. But rather, we stan Louis because of his foray into fashion design, as he is the creator ofβ¦
The Bikiniβ¦ 👙
In 1946, RΓ©ard changed the world with his innovation on the bathing suit, hiring a nude dancer- Micheline Bernardini (a true queen)- from the local casino to model it, and having skywriters pen the message βsmaller than the smallest bathing suit in the worldβ written in the clouds to advertise his masterpiece.
A true legend 🫡
In The Headlines: Whatβs On Deck? ⚾️
– Whatβs Google Building Now? 👀
– Lights Out at the Eiffel Tower🗼
– Recession Worries Continue 📉
– Whatβs The Buzz at the New Insect Hotel 🦟
– Another edition of Who Said What?🗣
– and this weekβs featured new building in Drop it Like its Hot 🔥
Letβs make like an early 2000s pop hit by P!nk and get this party started 🎉
Whats Up at the Eiffel Tower? 🗼
The latest victim in Europeβs mounting energy crisis? The Paris Skyline. Rumblings from city hall say Parisian officials will be shutting the lights off at 23:45 from now on, rather than the usual 01:00. Sounds like the fun police- errβ¦ policier amusante– are behind this one.
But fr tho, hate to see another major city to start going to bed before midnight, but thereβs bigger concerns than jolies lumiΓ¨res. The debate rn is whether the choice is just symbolic or whether itβs practically necessaryβ either way, when the most beautiful lightshow on the continent is shutting down early, it shows thereβs work to be done fr.
The Grand Bug-&-Pest Hotel 🐞🏨
Thereβs literally nothing worse than checking into a hotel room and seeing bugs. Unless youβre in this new spot in Helsinki, where the bugs have the right to drop a brutal Yelp review if they come into their room and see you. Well maybe not, but u catch my drift.
Thatβs right, Finnish architects Maiju Suomi and Elina Koivisto have teamed up to create the Alusta Pavilion, the worldβs first official* hotel for bugs. While theyβre not taking bookings atm, thereβs some real BUZZ around this one.
* βofficialβ because weβve all been to a hotel or two where the bugs seem to outnumber the people amirite!?
This environmentally-friendly sustainability measure will rock until at least October 2023, and hopes to rejuvenate the local bee population and then some.
Construction & Recession 🙈
If you needed a new source of anxiety, youβre welcome. According to Architects Journal, the figures are grim for those in architecture and construction:
The latest figures released by industry tracker Glenigan reveal that the value of work commencing on site fell 35 per cent during the three months to the end of August to stand 30 per cent lower than the same period a year ago.
First thingβs first: Do not shoot the messenger. Then, letβs hope that some of the factors said to be accelerating the looming recession (does it count as looming if itβs already starting? lmk), primarily related to the Ukraine / Russia war, straighten out sooner rather than later, for everyoneβs good 🙏
Silicon Valley: Aesthetically Interesting? Can It Be? 😳
For all the perks that come along with being a Google employee at their HQ (big money, hella clout, amusement park rides at work, etc. etc. etc.) one of the drawbacks has long been the Silicon Valley suburbs that most full-timers end up stuck living in. Yeah, things could be worse, but they could also be much more interesting.
Silicon Valley suburbs, in all their⦠glory?
So, looks like olβ Googleβs taking the bull by the horns and teaming up with Lendlease to develop not only 15,000 units of housing over the next 15 years, but to do so in a way that cooks up some cultural spaces and downtown vibesβ¦
ngl, looks kinda dope.
Who Said What?! 🗣🎙
βLike many professionals, the views of colleagues are seen as the highest level of praise. However, buildings arenβt usually designed for fellow professionals. Beyond the client, theyβre often designed for as-yet unknown present and future users and, importantly, for the thousands of people who will see them every dayβ¦β
– Robert Adam dives into the question βWhoβs it all for?β in this provocative thinkpiece
βBuildings are vessels of human possibility and architecture can open the door to entirely new experiences. I stress βopen the door,β because it isnβt a determinant. Architecture doesnβt determine how we live, but it can create possibilities or shut them down.β
– Blair Kamin answers a similar question to the one above in a very different way, discussing his book βWho is the City For?β
βRefurbishment is for wimps. Fearless developers aim to tear down and build twice the size.β
-Peter Bill is spitting in this takedown of retrofits
🔥 Dropping While its Hot: New Structure of the Week 🔥
Are you kidding? NOAβs βHub of Hutsβ at Hotel Hubertus in South Tyrol is next-level.