Happy Humpday, and welcome back to another mid-week edition of AN’s daily round-up of newsworthy odds and ends.
Here’s what you need to know today:
Late Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts was a Frank Lloyd Wright admirer
Charlie Watts, jazz aficionado, Pentagram alum, and “heartbeat” of the Rolling Stones, died yesterday in London at the age of 80. As noted by Twitter user Library School Dropout, the legendary English drummer appeared to be something of a Frank Lloyd Wright fan, touring multiple Wright-designed homes including Fallingwater, the Hollyhock House, and the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo, where he was joined by bandmate Mick Jagger, while on tour in the United States.
Wright’s Armstrong House secures a new owner in Ogden Dunes, Indiana
In other Wright news, the Armstrong House, a 1939 Usonian dwelling designed by the famed American architect, has sold in the lakefront community of Ogden Dunes in Northwest Indiana, about 40 miles outside of Chicago. The home, which first hit the market for $1.2 million late last year, was acquired by new owner Brian Bobeck back in April but news of the sale has only been making the rounds recently.
Originally commissioned by Chicago ad man Andrew Armstrong, the 3,696-square-foot home has changed hands multiple times over the decade and has been subject to a handful of additions. Still, as noted by the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, “this special home has been carefully maintained” with original Wright features including “classics like board and batten woodwork, built-in bookshelves, and clerestory windows.” The Armstrong House is one of two surviving Wright-designed homes in Northwest Indiana, the other being the Ingwald Moe House in Gary. A third, the Wilbur Wynant House, was lost to fire in 2006.
H/t to The Times of Northwest Indiana
Airbnb will shelter 20,000 Afghan refugees
Online home-sharing platform Airbnb has announced that it will provide free, temporary housing to up to 20,000 refugees fleeing Afghanistan in the wake of the Taliban takeover. “As tens of thousands of Afghan refugees resettle around the world, where they stay will be the first chapter in their new lives,” said Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky in a statement. “For these 20,000 refugees, my hope is that the Airbnb community will provide them with not only a safe place to rest and start over, but also a warm welcome home.”
The emergency housing initiative is reportedly funded through contributions to Airbnb.org from both Airbnb and Chesky, as well as individual donors to the Airbnb.org Refugee Fund. Acting as a nonprofit arm of Airbnb, Airbnb.org was inspired by the goodwill of Airbnb hosts who opened their homes to strangers during the aftermath of Superstorm Sandy. The organization was formally launched several years after Sandy, in 2020, with the goal of providing free, safe accommodations to those in need of somewhere to stay during times of crisis, including COVID-19 frontline workers, asylum-seekers, and people displaced by natural disasters.
Rapper Young Thug wants to build “Slime City” outside of Atlanta
Atlanta rapper Young Thug wants to make the most of a singular gift that he received for his recent 30th birthday from manager Geoff Ogunlesi: 100 acres of undeveloped land just outside of Atlanta. Although the exact location of the sizable acreage, which per Urbanize Atlanta includes a “muddy lake and wooded hills,” has not been disclosed, it’s where Young Thug has envisioned building his very own mini-city, which, in reality, will likely pan out to be more of a sprawling subdivision. Young Thug has even bestowed his new present/property with its own name, Slime City, in reference to his “Slime” mixtapes from 2015 and 2016.
H/t to Urbanize Atlanta
Brazil’s Museu de Arte de São Paulo to undergo 75,000-square-foot expansion
The Lina Bo Bardi-designed Museu de Arte de São Paulo Assis Chateaubriand (MASP), a major art museum inaugurated in 1968 in Brazil’s most populous city, has announced a $33 million expansion project that will involve the construction of a 14-story new building to be joined to the iconic existing museum via tunnel. As detailed by The Art Newspaper, the new building will add 75,000 square feet to the storied institution, including seven new galleries, a restaurant, restoration facilities, and more. Bo Bardi’s husband, the author and curator Pietro Maria Bardi, was the first director of MASP; when the expansion project is completed circa 2024, the original museum building will be renamed in honor of Lina while the expansion will be named after Pietro.
