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Billionaire Charlie Munger is bankrolling the design of a massive dormitory at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The $1.5 billion project comes with a major catch — 94% of the dorm's single occupancy rooms have no windows. A consulting architect on the university's Design Review Committee quit in protest of the project, in a resignation letter obtained by CNN Business and reported by the Santa Barbara Independent... ...In addition to being Warren Buffett's right-hand man, Munger is an amateur architect. He has no formal education in the field.... the 97-year-old vice chairman of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway, donated $200...

Just a point of curiosity. I've been reading up on how buildings can be designed to draw heat from the ground and have it sent upwards, which keeps the ground floor cooler. So, I'm just wondering how often southern homes make use of this design and why it isn't used more?

The foundations of a 1,000-year-old church built by German Emperor Otto I (also known as Otto the Great) were rediscovered by archaeologists under a cornfield in Helfta, Germany, in late June, according to the State Office for Monument Preservation and Archeology in the country’s Saxony-Anhalt region. Based on the foundations, the church was 66 feet wide, and it existed alongside a massive cemetery containing at least 70 graves. Numerous artifacts, including coins, utensils, jewelry, and other accessories, were also found last month. The church was built in the 10th century and was continuously occupied for 500 years, perhaps even once...

Classical architecture is not a partisan issue. President Thomas Jefferson, founder of the Democratic Party, was an enthusiastic champion of the Greek Revivalism thankfully still visible in both the capital and his Monticello home. When he designed the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, he took great care in the landscaping and architecture, knowing their likely effects on generations of young minds. Fifty years later, President Abraham Lincoln insisted that construction of the Washington Monument and U.S. Capitol continue despite the bloody and costly war taking place sometimes just 50 miles from the seat of government. Public beauty in civic buildings,...

Amazon on Tuesday unveiled second phase of development of its new headquarters in Arlington, Virginia Plans are to build three 22-story office buildings totaling 2.8 million square feet for some 13,000 employees Centerpiece is a 350ft high glass tower called The Helix, with two walkways lined with trees and plants Sprawling 2.5-acre campus includes outdoor amphitheater and green space for concerts, farmers' market Area will also hold childcare center, dog run, food truck area and a 20,000sq ft community space Amazon plans to break ground on second phase of project early next year; First phase under construction The first buildings...

A Turkey-based architecture firm is proposing some big changes to the New York City skyline. The Sarcostyle Tower, designed by Hayri Atak Architectural Design, looks like no skyscraper on the face of the planet, with its curved, sloping design and sinuous curves. “Sarcostyle” is a filament that makes up striated muscle fiber, and it’s easy to see where the building gets its name, given its anatomically inspired form. Seesaws at U.S.-Mexico border win prestigious UK design prize According to Atak, one of the “impressive” effects of the building is “that it creates an image in the mind that is tangent...

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered as follows: Section 1. Purpose. Societies have long recognized the importance of beautiful public architecture. Ancient Greek and Roman public buildings were designed to be sturdy and useful, and also to beautify public spaces and inspire civic pride. Throughout the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, public architecture continued to serve these purposes. The 1309 constitution of the City of Siena required that “[w]hoever rules the City must have the beauty of the City as his foremost...

Since the overwhelming majority of Americans have proven time and time again that they prefer traditional architecture, why do government agencies force ugly buildings on the American people? A new study finds 72 percent of Americans prefer traditional architecture for U.S. courthouses and federal office buildings, including majorities across political, racial, sex, and socioeconomic categories. The survey was conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of National Civic Art Society and polled more than 2,000 U.S. adults. These findings come in light of the possibility of a Trump administration executive order, appropriately named Make Federal Buildings Beautiful Again, that would...

Stephen Maciejewski dropped to a knee on a Center City sidewalk Wednesday morning and gently scooped up a yellow-billed cuckoo that had smashed into a skyscraper and died on its way to Central America or the West Indies. “This probably happened yesterday,” said Maciejewski, a 71-year-old retired social worker and volunteer for Audubon Pennsylvania. He labeled a plastic bag with the time, date, and location, tucked the slim migrator into it, and continued his rounds. Maciejewski gets emotional when he speaks about all the birds he finds, but nothing, he says, prepared him for what happened Friday. “So many birds...

REASON #1: ARCHITECTURE Of all of the points that I will make, this is the easiest to understand because it is so visible: we see its evidence every day. The power and beauty of classical architecture is everywhere, from grand buildings like our Supreme Court to our humble everyday homes. The Greeks discovered the proportions that are most pleasing to the human eye which, they tell us, are based on nature’s greatest work of art: the human body. Scale, mass, proportion, and symmetry—the principles of classical architecture—were worked out by the Greeks in great detail and built upon in succeeding...

While the country was riveted by the President’s impeachment trial, a Washington rumor was quietly bubbling about a potential executive order that, if implemented, would profoundly affect the future of federal architecture. RECORD has obtained what appears to be a preliminary draft of the order, under which the White House would require rewriting the Guiding Principles for Federal Architecture, issued in 1962, to ensure that “the classical architectural style shall be the preferred and default style” for new and upgraded federal buildings. Entitled “Making Federal Buildings Beautiful Again,” the draft order argues that the founding fathers embraced the classical models...

Modernists are trying to reverse trends in cultural-heritage preservation by subtle interventions in several key conservation standards of the European Union. Writing from Norway, Audun Engh of the International Network for Traditional Building, Architecture & Urbanism (INTBAU) warned me today that the modernists plan to “introduce recommendations that modernism (‘contemporary design’) should be a required style for new construction at EU-funded cultural-heritage sites.”

The office building, located at 51 West 52nd Street at the corner of Sixth Avenue, has served as CBS’ headquarters since it was completed in 1964. ViacomCBS will look to divest Black Rock, the New York headquarters of CBS. ViacomCBS CEO Bob Bakish made the announcement at the UBS Global TMT Summit in New York Monday. “Black Rock is not an asset we need to own and we believe that money would be put to better use elsewhere," he said. The Eero Saarinen-designed office building, located at 51 West 52nd Street at the corner of Sixth Avenue, has served as...

While promoting his book “Southern Exposure” about architectural design on the South Side, former Sun-Times architecture critic Lee Bey questioned both the design of the Obama Presidential Center and its proposed placement in Jackson Park. “The design of the library, I do not like. I think that that tower is foolishness. I think the design is foolishness,” Bey said. “It’s clad in limestone or granite; it’s shoved in this park. If it’s going to be in a park, I think I say in the book, it needs to be a more organic and alive building.” He further questioned the necessity...

Concrete is the second-most used material on earth. It is also the second-largest emitter of CO2, with cement manufacturing accounting for 5 to 7 percent of annual emissions. The continued popularity of concrete as a material of choice in the design and construction industry, coupled with increasing unease of the environmental consequences, has put concrete firmly in the spotlight of innovation and experimentation. As a result, designers, architects, and researchers around the world are generating multiple visions for what the future of concrete in architecture could look like. Concrete has been a material of choice for architects and builders for...

I. M. Pei, who began his long career designing buildings for a New York real estate developer and ended it as one of the most revered architects in the world, died early Thursday at his home in Manhattan. He was 102. His death was confirmed by his son Li Chung Pei, who is also an architect and known as Sandi. He said his father had recently celebrated his birthday with a family dinner.

French architects have revealed a stunning set of plans to redesign the Notre Dame Cathedral's fire-ravaged roof as a greenhouse. The proposal was shared after French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe proposed 'an international architecture competition' to rebuild the iconic cathedral's spire which was completely destroyed in the fast-spreading blaze on April 15. Prime Minister Philippe shared his wish that the cathedral should be 'adapted to issues of our time' and architects Studio NAB have come with the concept of turning the damaged roof into a giant greenhouse as a homage to the importance of nature. The French studio showed off...

President Macron’s speech to the French nation about the fire that destroyed so much of Notre Dame contained a terrible threat: he said that the cathedral would be rebuilt, to be even more beautiful than before. This might seem an innocuous, even laudable aim, but the announcement of Prime Minister Édouard Philippe that a competition would be held to design “a spire suited to the techniques and challenges of our time” should send a chill down the spine of anyone familiar with the efforts of modern architects in Paris, the effects of which can be seen all around the city....

"The reconstruction of the cathedral was a symbol of the resurrection of Russia, a sign of hope for better times for the people who had turned away from God, but are now returning to Him." On December 5, 1931, the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow was destroyed by the Bolsheviks. It was built more than half a century after Russia's 1812 victory over the French, and was in use for about the same length of time. Under the Soviets, this cathedral, Russia's largest, was destroyed in just one day. In its place, they planned to build a Palace...

A property owner who illegally demolished a 1936 Twin Peaks house designed by a renowned modernist must rebuild an exact replica of the home rather than the much larger structure the property owner had proposed replacing it with, the City Planning Commission ruled this week. In a unanimous 5-0 vote late Thursday night, the commission also ordered that the property owner — Ross Johnston, through his 49 Hopkins LLC — include a sidewalk plaque telling the story of the original house designed by architect Richard Neutra, the demolition and the replica. The commission directive, unprecedented in San Francisco, comes more...