L: SHoP’s Uber HQ, via Curbed; R: Peterborough Lift Lock National Historic Site, via Archdaily.
Road to Riches: Ride-sharing platform Uber will be moving into an über-cool new headquarters in a couple of years’ time thanks to SHoP Architects. The New York-based studio unveiled brand-new renderings of the office complex in San Francisco where 3,000 employees will soon be driving the app-based black-cab service toward global domination.
Canoe Believe It?: Six firms have been shortlisted in the competition to design the new Canadian Canoe Museum to be sited at the Peterborough Lift Lock (pictured above): Heneghan Peng Architects, Kohn Pederson Fox, Bing Thom Architects, Provencher Roy et Associés Architectes, Patkau Architects, and 5468796 Architecture. We’ll find out who will be paddling away with the commission when the winners are announced this fall.
Past in Peril: Reports suggest that ISIS forces in the Syrian city of Palmyra may not destroy its ancient architecture, as many have feared. The UNESCO World Heritage site has been at the mercy of the militants since they seized full control of the settlement last week, having already bulldozed many archaeological sites in neighboring Iraq.
L: Nile Niami’s massive mansion © McClean Design; R: Barry Diller’s Heatherwick-designed Pier 55, via the Architectural Record.
Jewel of the Nile: Film producer and property developer Nile Niami has big plans for his latest project … really big plans. Construction of his latest house has begun, a 100,000-square-foot residence that will be the largest mansion in U.S. history. If this tickles your fancy, you should probably start saving now: it will hit the market at a projected $500 million come 2017 (for reference, Michael Jackson’s 2,700-acre Neverland Ranch just hit the market, via Sotheby’s, for $100 million).
Money Talks: Speaking of unimaginable wealth, billionaire Barry Diller has been chatting to the Architectural Record about all things architecture, including his adoration of Heatherwick and Gehry … and his lack of love for Jean Nouvel.
The Only Way is Up: The Guardian took a ride up this time-traveling elevator to the newly opened observation deck of One World Trade Center, which opens to the public today — according to Ed Pilkington, it is a space that looks to the future rather than the tragedies of the past, celebrating Manhattan in a high-tech “paean to height.”
Invisible No More: The third biennial IDEAS CITY Festival is happening as we speak: between Pitching the City tonight and the two-square-block street fair tomorrow, of which Foamspace is just one of the hundred participants, the New Museum’s celebration of urbanism has the theme of “Invisible City” and is not to be missed!
Eye Candy
Beauty in Decay: Fans of ruin porn, you’re in for a treat. A group of filmmakers have completed Project Senium, a spine-chilling short film that explores the eerie atmosphere of an abandoned insane asylum, combining some spectacular drone footage with good old-fashioned urban exploration.
Image at top: rendering of Uber Headquarters, © SHoP Architects PC viaCurbed SF.