The Architect's Newspaper

Open House New York (OHNY) is back with its annual weekend festival, offering a mix of paid and free opportunities to experience architectural landmarks and other institutions, some of which are usually closed to the public. From October 16-18, OHNY is unlocking 300 destinations across all 5 boroughs for behind-the-scenes tours and special activities.

“When we launched Utopian Hours ten years ago, it seemed unrealistic to build a festival around the excitement cities generate and the very meaning of what a city truly is,” Luca Ballarini, told AN in advance of this year’s festivities. The cofounders, Ballarini and Giacomo Biraghi, both of the urbanist agency Stratosferica, present Utopian Hours in Turin, Italy, on October 16 and 17.

While founding partner of the architecture and interior design studio Hendricks Churchill, Rafe Churchill, was thinking about his next move, his career path took an unexpected turn. Instead of settling into retirement, which never really seemed like an option, he ended up with a new project. When he originally purchased a 1829 building in the heart of Old Bennington, Vermont, he thought he would restore it and use it for the benefit of his alma mater, Bennington College.

When the Orange County School of the Arts (OCSA) first moved to downtown Santa Ana, California, it hardly had a campus” to speak of. Instead, its roughly 2,300 students in grades 7 to 12 occupied a loose collection of preexisting buildings. Outdoor space was limited to the exposed concrete surrounding a 75-car parking lot.

The right outdoor furniture encourages connection and engagement in parks, streets, and other common areas. These pieces stand up to the rigor of public use while also elevating typically overlooked spaces.

Building with glass is changing. Get closer to the technologies and people driving it at Top Glass West. Join glazing contractors, fabricators, architects, and facade designers in Calgary, Canada, on October 21 for four expert sessions covering building codes and standards, effective site inspections, aerogel in glazing applications, and tariffs affecting the glass industry. Plus, explore the latest supplier solutions on a packed trade show floor with 30+ exhibitors.

Oslo and New York–based studio Snøhetta unveils Sweetbird North, a mesh-draped tower in the Miami Design District, reflecting the neighborhood’s broader urban shift. On Wednesday, September 30, Snøhetta, alongside developers Dacra and Raycliff Capital, and Mayor of the City of Miami Eileen Higgins, . The 8-story mixed-use office and retail development will span approximately 120,000 square feet with roughly 22,500 square feet of ground-floor retail.

The new extension to the Southern Vermont Arts Center (SVAC) in Manchester is an architectural triumph. Fittingly, the natural progression of adding a gallery and storage was anything but easy. When architect Brian J. Mac and Vermont firm Birdseye proposed wrapping the building in Corten steel, a groundswell of donors, along with the Vermont Division of Historic Preservation, raised objections.

TGIF, etc. Happy birthday to Bjarke Ingels. As a gift, news broke on October 1 that BIG was awarded the commission to design a tower in Tirana. Already local news sources are reporting on apparent conflicts of interest and secrecy surrounding the commission.

Last week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration announced the start of the public review process for the 100 Gold Street redevelopment, which will soon give New Yorkers an opportunity to weigh-in on the multi-skyscraper development in the Financial District. A public hearing has been scheduled for October 29.