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Daily digest: The National Building Museum honors SOM, squishy furniture is “in,” and more

Come On And Slam

Daily digest: The National Building Museum honors SOM, squishy furniture is “in,” and more

The Great Hall at Washington, D.C.’s historic Pension Building, home to the National Building Museum. (National Building Museum/Kevin Allen)

Happy Thursday, welcome back to another roundup of news you need to know. Interested in reading more about the reaction to New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission approval of a housing complex at the Seaport Historic earlier this week? The New York Times spoke with residents who weren’t thrilled about the parking lot’s fate.

Here’s what’s going on today:

The National Building Museum hands the 2021 Honor Award to SOM

The National Building Museum in Washington, D.C., is giving the 2021 Honor Award to Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM). The award, which has been handed out nearly every year since 1986 (last year’s ceremony was canceled for obvious reasons), acknowledges the winner’s contributions to the broader field of architecture. Starting May 19, the museum will use the award as a launching point for climate-related events and lectures. The full schedule is available here.

In a year of strife, we’re all turning toward big, squishy furniture

As much of the workforce still hasn’t returned to the office, we’ve all gotten used to hanging out in more comfortable clothes in the confines of our own homes as a balm to the turbulent times we find ourselves in. Form follows function, and accordingly, the next big design trend is big, squishy furniture that looks inviting and feels just as nice.

H/t to the New York Times

A noose was found at an Amazon construction site in Connecticut

Echoing the string of hateful messages and symbols that popped up at construction sites last summer as the country was wracked by protests against racial injustice, work came to a standstill at an Amazon fulfillment center project in Windsor, Connecticut, on April 27 after a noose was discovered. Two days later, five more similarly tied ropes were found around the site. The contractor, RC Andersen, is offering a $5,000 reward for information on who may have placed them.

H/t to Construction Dive

Art on theMART will bring presidential gravitas to Chicago this summer

Chicago’s Art on theMART returns for another year, and the theMart (formerly the Merchandise Mart) will once again play host to art projected across its massive facade. This summer, the building will be getting some special guests; Kehinde Wiley’s official portrait of former President Barack Obama and  Amy Sherald’s portrait of former First Lady Michelle Obama will be projected across the building from June through September. Starting in July and running through September, several of Frida Kahlo’s most famous pieces, including self-portraits, will also be projected.

H/t to the Chicago Tribune

Check out this basketball-inspired house for a former NBA player in Los Angeles

The aptly titled Dunk House in Los Angeles County’s Manhattan Beach certainly lives up to its name. The home, designed by Studio Malka Architecture for a former NBA player, extends the on-site basketball court up onto the cantilevering second-floor volume where the hoop is anchored. The second most eye-catching feature is the sky-blue color.

H/t to Designboom

Rio Grande flood barriers damaged by border wall construction will be repaired

A 13-mile section of flood protection levees lining the Rio Grande river in Texas will be repaired after being cut through for U.S.-Mexico border wall work initiated under former President Trump. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has started patching the large breaches after residents complained that they feared a catastrophic collapse.

H/t to Engineering News-Record

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