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Today's News - August 9, 2006

Starchitects now less reluctant to design green. -- Seattle takes lessons from Europe and Portland for Green Factor program. -- Is Wal-Mart's sustainability initiative a new dawn or a big yawn? -- Farrelly asks if architects can be morally good - as architects. -- Architects create an artful project outside of Moscow to inspire social and environmental conscience. -- Architects in Helsinki are wary of "wow." -- Budapest, on the other hand, is all for it (who could resist something by "Her Majesty, the Grand Lady of Decon"?). -- Las Vegas looking forward to its own Bilbao moment. -- New York region needs to radically re-think its land use policies. -- Inclusionary zoning has good intentions, but a bad idea (if you're a builder). Portland launches a racy Vision Vessel. -- UConn builds its own college town. -- African Institute of Science and Technology in Nigeria picks Fuksas from an impressive shortlist. -- Three who know discuss Ground Zero memorial.

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Starchitect power: Save for...a few...the world’s most famous architects had been historically reluctant to integrate green design practices into their projects...Green building’s negative stigma appears to be eroding as part of a “cultural shift”... -- Koolhaas; Foster; Fox + Flowle [FXFowle]; Renzo Piano; Ken Yeang; William McDonough; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Council on Tall Buildings [images]- Sustainable Industries Journal

Seattle Green Factor would change urban landscape design: Proposed city program would require vegetation for new development in neighborhood commercial areas...based on European approaches to urban sustainability...- Seattle Daily Journal

Grand experiment: Is Wal-Mart’s sustainability initiative a new dawn or a big yawn? SIJ visits the mega-retailer’s experimental store in Colorado. [images]- Sustainable Industries Journal

A smart clubhouse today, world peace tomorrow: What does it mean to be a good architect? Can architects be good, morally, as architects? Or only as humans who happen to design buildings? By Elizabeth Farrelly -- Sam Crawford; Peter Stutchbury- Sydney Morning Herald

It Takes a Village...A tiny village in the Kaluga region...Nikola-Lenivets now stands for art with a social and environmental conscience...17 architects and architectural bureaus, all from Moscow except for one team from the Netherlands... -- Taf; Alexei Kozyr; Timur Bashkayev; Pavel Lisykhin/Project Meganom [images]- Moscow Times (Russia)

"Wow" architecture does not fit comfortably into the Helsinki skyline: Deputy Mayor...would like to see an example of jaw-dropping architecture in the capital: Finnish architects rather turn up their noses at the international wow-architecture trend...regard it as overly self-indulgent and self-serving. -- Kaarin Taipale; Juha Ilonen; Herzog & de Meuron; Gehry; Hadid; Libeskind- Helsingin Sanomat (Finland)

A touch of superstar-arhitecture in Budapest: Orco Property Group might break the barrier that kept the stars in front of the doors until now. They did not hesitate to invite Her Majesty, the Grand Lady of Decon, Zaha Hadid... -- Eric van Egeraat; Jean Paul Viguier; György Fazakas; József Finta; Hani Rashid [images]- Homegarden (Budapest)

Alzheimer's Institute destined for landmark status: Gehry-designed building will be more than a medical facility... Officials are hopeful that the project will launch a downtown renaissance.- Las Vegas Business Press

Planning Groups Say Region Must Rethink Policies on Land Use: ...the New York region, faced with some of the highest housing costs in the country, needs to radically rethink its approach to land use, transportation and school finance. -- Citizens Housing and Planning Council; Regional Plan Association- New York Times

Economist blasts housing rules: 'Inclusionary zoning' won't work"...laudable goals, but negative "unintended consequences." -- National Association of Home Builders- Orlando Sentinel

Urban Discourse: An unorthodox project encourages the residents of Portland to participate in the shaping of their city. Vision Vessel...part of a wide-ranging initiative to reform the city’s vaunted urban-planning process...designed to rocket democratic discourse into the podcasting age by fusing racy design and dirt-cheap technology. -- Ryan Lingard/Brad Demby/BOORA [images]- Metropolis Magazine

University of Connecticut Decides to Build Its Own College Town: ...plans to demolish the meager downtown [Mansfield], which looks more like a makeshift set for a Hollywood western than a New England college center, and build a town from scratch. -- Frank Gehry; Herbert S. Newman & Partners- New York Times

Fuksas to Design African Institute of Science and Technology (AIST) in Nigeria: ... 2.6 million-square-foot, $360 million complex...- Architectural Record

What Have We Learned: James E. Young, Michael J. Lewis, Paul Goldberger on the process of memorializing and the Ground Zero Memorial [audio - scroll down]- WNYC (public radio)

Fine Tuning: Utah State University Performance Hall: Inspired by the surrounding mountains, a new building establishes a campus arts precinct that bridges the town/gown divide. -- Sasaki Associates [images]- ArchNewsNow

-- Inauguration: SANAA/Kazuyo Sejima + Ryue Nishizawa: Zollverein School, Essen, Germany
-- Under construction: Rem Koolhaas/OMA: Coal Washing Plant, Zollverein Mining Complex, Essen, Germany
-- Master Plan: Rem Koolhaas/OMA: Zollverein Mining Complex, Essen, Germany

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