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Daily digest: Offshore wind gathers steam in New York, a spinning house in Bosnia, and more

You Spin Me Right Round

Daily digest: Offshore wind gathers steam in New York, a spinning house in Bosnia, and more

Both New York City and State are ramping up their offshore wind farm investments. (Nicholas Doherty/Unsplash)

Good morning and welcome to yet another roundup of the art, architecture, design, and sustainability news you should know as we continue to plow through the week.

Here’s what’s happening today:

New York City announces record investment in offshore wind farms

New York City is betting big on offshore wind farms to generate clean energy for America’s largest city. Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a major $191 million investment to build out the city’s wind infrastructure over the next 15 years. Through the new Offshore Wind Vision (OSW) plan will ramp up the city’s commitment to manufacturing and installing critical wind infrastructure locally, but also job training, education, and related research efforts to help meet the 100 percent renewables by 2040 target, and carbon neutrality in 2050. In related news, the Sunshine Wind farm being raised 30 miles off the coast of Long Island’s Montauk Point is moving along and is expected to supply power for 600,000 homes once completed. On October 8, development partners Orsted and Eversource announced an $86 million contract to train workers and build out the project.

A man in Bosnia built a spinning house as a gift for his wife

A man in Srbac, Bosnia, went one giant step beyond flowers and built a house that can spin 360 degrees as a gift for his wife. The 72-year-old Vojin Kusic, having already built one home for his family in the past, constructed a new house that can spin around and afford his wife whatever views she’d like across every room. The modest two-story building sits on a plinth and is rotated by a combination of electric motors and repurposed military transport wheels.

H/t to AP News

The next big trend for high-end homes is ultra-large aquariums

First, it was paying thousands of dollars to raise and transplant full trees into their sprawling homes, and now there’s a new trend the ultra-wealthy are jumping on: fish tanks that rival professional aquariums. Sometimes spanning lengths of up to 15 feet and containing either fresh or saltwater (an even larger investment), the custom installations can reportedly weigh up to 75,000 pounds, making high-rise construction a tricky, expensive endeavor that requires the floor to be reinforced first, and cost up to $750,000. The tanks, which can range all the way up to thousands of gallons, are often intended as statement pieces and displayed prominently or built into custom millwork.

H/t to the New York Times

Owen Luder, the “unluckiest architect” in Britain, dies at 93

Brutalist architect Owen Luder, who made his mark across London with concrete theaters, housing complexes, parking garages, and more (with many of them subsequently demolished), has passed away at the age of 93. Luder was the president of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) on two nonconcurrent occasions, from 1981 to 1983 and a decade later from 1995 to 1997. Dezeen has broken down some of Luder’s most significant projects, and which were demolished—leading to his informal nickname as England’s “unluckiest architect.”

H/t to Dezeen

OMA completes the first phase of its Kaufhaus des Westens mall overhaul in Berlin

OMA has completed the first phase of its massive overhaul of Berlin’s famed Kaufhaus des Westens department store, capping a five-year renovation. In the age of online commerce, OMA wanted to reorganize the shopping space to emphasize experiences and draw back visitors. To that end, the biggest change is a central, six-story void punctuated by cross-laminated timber escalators that spiral across every floor. There’s no word on when work on the project’s second phase will commence.

H/t to Archinect

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