DESIGN DISPATCH

A Bold-Hued Supportive Housing Complex in L.A., and Other News

Our daily look at the world through the lens of design.

A supportive housing complex in South L.A. by Lehrer Architects and Restore Neighborhoods Los Angeles. Image courtesy of Lehrer Architects

The Design Dispatch offers expertly written and essential news from the design world crafted by our dedicated team. Think of it as your cheat sheet for the day in design delivered to your inbox before you’ve had your coffee. Subscribe now

Have a news story our readers need to see? Submit it here

Lehrer Architects completes a bold-colored supportive housing complex in South L.A.

“Lehrer Architects, an award-winning L.A. practice that’s garnered considerable attention of late for its Monopoly-esque tiny house villages that have sprung up in multiples across the San Fernando Valley, has completed a new project with a similarly playful approach that brings bold colors, geometric patterns, and a sense of community to an overlooked and awkwardly shaped infill site that would otherwise sit unused. While the transitional housing villages for homeless Angelenos mentioned above are largely located in North Hollywood, the firm’s latest candy-colored housing project, the Willowbrook Apartments, can be found in the South L.A. community of the same name.” [H/T The Architect’s Newspaper

Rosalie Genevro will depart the Architectural League of New York after 37 years.

“The executive director of the Architectural League of New York, Rosalie Genevro, who brought an association of architects founded in the 19th century firmly into the 21st through a vibrant program of exhibitions, lectures, conferences, competitions, grants, research, and advocacy, will step down in June 2023. Genevro shepherded the League—begun by two dozen New York architects in 1881—into realms that advanced the shifting values of the profession, with an increasingly strong focus on sustainability, equity, cities, and communities. An architectural historian and urbanist, Genevro has led the League since 1985.” [H/T Architectural Record]

Duo Towers in Paris. Image courtesy of Ateliers Jean Nouvel

Two leaning towers by Jean Nouvel will rise over Paris’s Montparnasse neighborhood.

“Did Paris just get a modern-day leaning tower of Pisa? That’s what some are billing the new Tours Duo, French architect Jean Nouvel’s shimmering inclined towers that have injected new life into a historic arts district in Paris. Speaking to Dezeen about his desire to respond to the Left Bank area, Nouvel said, ‘It’s about building its summit, its culminating point for the beginning of the century. It is also about creating a character, a singularity that is in relation with the reality of the site, that reveals its particular beauty, that relies on it to invent and strengthen the attractiveness of the place.’ At between 28 and 39 stories, respectively, the twin towers cast a long shadow across the Left Bank, an area once famous for its artistic activity around the Montparnasse neighborhood.” [H/T Artnet News]

Google is adding hotel health, safety, and sustainability information to search results.

“Googling your next potential hotel stay? The search giant will now serve up information on a hotel’s sustainability and health and safety programs right there in the search results. The search knowledge panel, positioned on the right of the screen, shows hotel details if you scroll down below Maps and pricing. Health and safety information includes things that were introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic, like enhanced cleaning of common areas, high-touch items being removed from common areas, physical distancing, hand sanitizer stations, disinfected key cards and no-contact check-in.” [H/T Cnet]

Norman Foster will launch a new set of sustainability principles written by the UN.

“The United Nations has written a set of ‘principles for sustainable and inclusive urban design and architecture’ for architects to sign up to called the San Marino Declaration, which architect Norman Foster is set to launch. Set to be ratified in the republic of San Marino next month, the declaration outlines a set of standards that architects and other built environment professionals should adhere to.” [H/T Dezeen]

vanessa german and Cauleen Smith, winners of this year’s Heinz Award for the Arts. Photography by Joshua Franzos

Cauleen Smith and vanessa german receive the prestigious Heinz Award for the Arts.

“Cauleen Smith and vanessa german have been named the 2022 recipients of the Heinz Award for the Arts. The unrestricted $250,000 cash prize, given annually by the Pittsburgh-based Heinz Family Foundation to ‘honor individuals whose work and accomplishments are producing an impact that endures,’ is one of the world’s largest. Past awardees include artist Sanford Biggers, cartoonist Roz Chast, Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Rita Dove, and interdisciplinary artist Ralph Lemon, among others.” [H/T Artforum]

In Sydney, a Queen Elizabeth mural is painted over with colors of the Aboriginal Flag.

“A mural of Queen Elizabeth II in Sydney’s Inner West has been painted over with the colors of the Aboriginal Flag. The piece of street art near Sydenham train station was painted by British artist Stuart Sale following the late monarch’s death this month. Images of the mural taken on Thursday—Australia’s National Day of Mourning for the Queen—show it has been painted over with the colors of the Aboriginal Flag. The painting had earlier been defaced with what was described as a ‘horrible’ epithet, which was later tidied up.” [H/T 9 News]

Neptune’s rings captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. Image courtesy of NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Today’s attractive distractions:

Millennials have abandoned the guest room as the housing crisis continues.

Could a Heineken ad from 2017 hold the key to reducing partisan divides?

A new image from the Webb Telescope captures a clear view of Neptune.

New Hampshire artists transform a building into a real Donkey Kong level.

All Stories