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Today's News - July 25, 2006

Images of Tate Modern's new glass pyramid just released. -- Brooklyn's battle between beauty and blight rages over Atlantic Yards; claims of eminent domain might join the fray. -- Major, radical developments in Edinburgh bring into question why one architect has been handed the reins with little public discussion and civic watchdogs "have attacked the proposals with uncharacteristic vehemence." -- King takes on "who's hot and who's not" in the "strange world of fame-driven architecture." -- In Seattle, architects who actually put the "new" in New Urbanism (now, if they could only make it affordable). -- In Algiers, the Casbah is "literally imploding from neglect." -- New respect for renewed City Hall in Philadelphia. -- Extreme makeover challenge: how to recycle a Minneapolis skyway. -- Pearman's take on V&A's new Islamic art gallery: it shines in both its content and "enlightened patronage" of young, untested architectural firm. -- Things are looking up for Cornell museum expansion - 33 years later (better late than never). -- A major metamorphosis for Bronx Museum. -- At JFK, an iconic stained-glass facade soon to be reduced to souvenir keychains. -- For Kamin, new street furniture program may be "tailored to Chicago's classically-inspired streetscape," but he gives a "big, fat Bronx cheer" for the barrage of advertising that comes with it. -- "Arresting as it is," Koolhaas's Serpentine Gallery "isn't always beautiful." -- Corporate social responsibility comes of age. -- Call for Entries: Tiles of Spain Awards.

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Tate Modern unveils growth plans: ...a £215m glass building, which will increase the size of its exhibition space by 60%...hoping to open the building in time for the 2012 Olympics. -- Herzog & de Meuron [images]- BBC News

Blight, Like Beauty, Can Be in the Eye of the Beholder: Of all the real estate jargon exchanged over the proposed [$4.2 billion] Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn, no term has evoked quite such unruly passion as "blighted."- New York Times

Architect's heart of glass: Edinburgh...is about to embark on a series of radical developments that will affect the look and shape of some of its most historic sites...When we learn...that all these sites have been put in the hands of one architect, Allan Murray...we may legitimately ask some questions about why he has been so favoured.- The Scotsman (UK)

Contemporary Jewish Museum's architecture may prove temporal: But in the architectural game of who's hot and who's not...[Libeskind's] once-startling moves bring a sense of deja vu. Fair? Perhaps not. But welcome to the strange world of fame-driven architecture... By John King -- Meier; Gehry; Koolhaas; Calatrava- San Francisco Chronicle

A big vision for humane, compact city living fuels firm: What a shame it is that the New Urbanists have adorned themselves and their nostalgic, reactionary neighborhoods with that snappy, forward-sounding label, because it's architects like Ray and Mary Johnston who actually deserve it. By Lawrence W. Cheek [images]- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

The Crumbling of the Casbah: Preservationists agree a historic hillside section of Algiers is worth saving, but it's falling down anyway....once home to pirates and freedom fighters, it is literally imploding from neglect... -- Nabila Oulebsir; Casbah Foundation [images]- New York Times

People Stop Fighting Philadelphia City Hall: Hiding for more than 100 years behind a drape of grime, an "ugly monstrosity" may finally achieve the grandeur that was intended...renewal of a landmark that once seemed too big to maintain and too expensive to tear down. -- Vitetta- New York Times

A disconnected skyway: Downtown architectural firm considers new options for an 'icon' of the skyline...purchased in a blind auction. -- Ed Baker (1970s); CityDeskStudio- Downtown Journal (Minneapolis)

Eastern Eye: the new Jameel Gallery at London's V&A museum...our national museums are pointing out that this great art was mostly produced at a time of religious tolerance, of cross-cultural fertilisation...V&A deserves applause...for entrusting the new gallery...to a young, promising practice...
By Hugh Pearman -- Softroom [images]- HughPearman.com (UK)

Cornell University's Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art receives $150K for expansion...is a little closer to the $12 million needed...$8 million has already been raised. -- Pei Cobb Freed- Ithaca Journal

Extensive Changes at a Bronx Museum: ...bracing for a metamorphosis...opening a $19 million expanded space on Oct. 7...the glass-and-steel addition will nearly double the museum’s size. -- Arquitectonica- New York Times

Demolishing a Celebrated Wall of Glass: American Airlines is razing Terminal 8 as part of a $1.1 billion expansion...The stained-glass facade...once the largest stained-glass installation in the world...will soon be reduced to souvenir key chains. -- Robert Sowers (1960) [image]- New York Times

Signs of the times -- Chicago sidewalks for sale: Always, there's a trade-off and a constant chipping away of spaces and places where one can escape the incessant barrage of someone selling you something. By Blair Kamin -- Project for Public Spaces; J.C. Decaux; Robert A.M. Stern- Chicago Tribune

Blowup: Rem Koolhas based his design for the Serpentine Pavilion on the idea that for both form and content, the sky's the limit...Arresting as it is, this pavilion isn’t always beautiful. By Pilar Viladas -- Cecil Balmond; Thomas Demand [images]- New York Times

Corporate Social Responsibility comes of age: ...more than half of the world's 250 largest companies now issue separate corporate social responsibility reports as standard...as stakeholders become as concerned with how profits were earned as they are about how much was earned.- AME Info (United Arab Emirates)

Call for Entries: Tiles of Spain Awards of Architecture and Interior Design competition; deadline: October 31- Interior Design Newswire

"G" is for Genome (and Green): Terrence Donnelly Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Research: A new campus building is a symbolic and physical bridge between an academic community the city -- architectsAlliance; Behnisch Architekten [images]- ArchNewsNow

-- Competition winner: LAB architecture studio, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW Australia
-- Schwartz/Silver Architects: Shaw Center for the Arts, Baton Rouge, Louisiana

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