Tuesday, June 18, 2013

EDITOR'S NOTE: We head to Denver tomorrow morning for the AIA convention, and will not be posting again until Monday, June 24. So we leave you with lots of thoughtful reading (and calls for entries) to keep you busy while we're gone...

Click here to see today's news:
Weinstein has a few pointed questions for Krier, Stern, and Rybczynski re: Albert Speer's monumental classicism (sure to ruffle some feathers?). -- Badger offers an interesting take on Kuper's argument that global cities are turning into "vast gated communities where the 1% reproduces itself": "perhaps things don't have to turn out this way." -- Dunlop finds OMA and BIG's big plans for the Miami Beach Convention Center to be "sleek and smart with an extraordinary level of intelligence and promise," but there's a "fundamental flaw in the process" that makes it "one of the better examples of cart-before-the-horse urban planning in our recent history." -- Betsky was more than a little disappointed in the conversations at the Mies van der Rohe Prize conference: "The best thing to emerge? Barcelona itself." -- Bey cheers McPier officials' redraft of their search for a new Chicago arena designer "aimed at also getting top-drawer architects who have never designed sports facilities...'the Jeanne Gangs of the world.'" -- Hume x 2: he's saddened by the planned "façadomy" (a.k.a. façadectomy) of an Art Deco gem in Toronto: "In terms of development; it has much to recommend it. In terms of city building; not so much." -- He hails the Elementary Teachers' Federation of Ontario new HQ that is "one of those rare architectural projects that offer a glimpse into our possible if not probable future." -- The University of Toronto taps NADAA to lead the team to design its Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design's new home that will include "a stunning work of contemporary architecture." -- Biomimicry Chicago's Prairie Project should be a model to mimic everywhere. -- Rainwater says it's time to "shrink America's waistline and grow the economy. What would it take? We need a design diet." -- A good place to start would be the Fit City 8 conference in NYC on Monday (available via livestream should you not be able to attend) + You can take in "FitNation," a groundbreaking exhibition "that showcases the ways design, policy, and grassroots strategies are promoting physical activity as part of daily life." -- Kimmelman has only a few small quibbles with MoMA's Corbu show: "A little pruning might have helped. But as an omnibus, long overdue, the show is riveting, fun, a landmark." -- Davidson x 2: a "virtuoso of light and disturber of visual fields" (a.k.a. Turrell) transforms the Guggenheim rotunda "into a vacant, shimmering cocoon." -- He gets some very interesting (and sometimes amusing) feedback from husband-and-wife teams re: "the beauty - and complexity and contradiction - of designing with a spouse." -- Bergdoll's eloquent tribute to (and fond memories of) Mather, still hoping "to catch a glimpse of him in the mirrors of the AA bar." -- ASLA announces 2013 Honors - our heartiest congrats to them all! -- A good reason to be in L.A. this weekend: Dwell on Design 2013, "where prefab comes to life and design luminaries [like Michael Graves] debate the issues of today." -- Call for entries: Designing Recovery Post-Disaster Housing Competition + AIA 2014 Institute Honor Awards + 2013 IFI/WING Global Student Design Competition.

Simultaneously hopeful and wistful, The Getty Museum's exhibition is about the evolution of a modern city seen through its architecture, confirming the truly layered nature of Los Angeles.

 
by Julie D. Taylor

April 19, 2013