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Today's News - January 16, 2007

California architects doing good in Darfur. -- Loblolly house makes high-tech green building a prefab snap. -- Left Coast vs. Right Coast: L.A. architects have more "room to dream" than NYC architects. -- Duany takes on critics of new urbanism, avant-gardist architects, and environmentalists. -- Becker wonders if Chicago Spire developer is "visionary or delusional" (and offers a sharp exchange with Kamin). -- Meanwhile, Kamin passes out grades for new campus architecture: "To icon or not to icon?" (and gives an A+ to Holl in Iowa.) -- Old money vs. new Foster tower in NYC: the "plate tectonics of power" are shifting. -- Using a "velvet hammer," NYC's planning commissioner scores (mostly) thumbs-up as "the curator of a living, breathing city." -- "Disneyfication" 40 years ago meant something very different than it does today. -- An architect calls for creativity to transform the Modernist City Hall into a civic center for a contemporary Boston. -- Orbitz new Chicago HQ "s not your daddy's workplace." -- Experts look at New York City's plans for a new way to play. -- Dyckhoff finds hope in AR Emerging Architecture Awards winners in the "unflashy virtues of integrity and respect for the user." -- Libeskind on the difference between architecture and theater. -- At home with Marc Newson. -- Campbell finds de Botton tome "the best introduction to architecture I have ever seen."

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Architect bringing expertise to Darfur: Simple materials go to build clinic for refugees -- Nader Khalili; Iliona Outram; California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (Cal-Earth)- San Bernardino Sun (California)

Plug+Play Construction: Panels stuffed with wires and pipes, preassembled on a factory floor, make high tech green building a snap...The big home builders...are watching. By Andrew Blum -- KieranTimberlake / Loblolly house [images]- Wired

A Tale of Two Urban Plans: It would seem then that there is a kind of gravitational drag that weighs down on architects in New York that is not present in Los Angeles...In Los Angeles, architects and buildings have the necessary room to dream. By James Gardner -- Ebenezer Howard; Lewis Mumford; Robert Moses; Frank Gehry; Richard Meier- New York Sun

Andrès Duany, Riverfront Gambler: Planning guru guiding Vancouver's East Fraserlands fends off critics..."I'd like to know why the New Urbanists are being tarred [as agents of] gentrification..." -- James Cheng Architects; Hughes Condon Marler- The Tyee (Vancouver)

Calatrava Spire Shrouded in Irish Fog: Step aside Donald Trump. Garrett Kelleher may be the most confident developer on the face of the earth. Is he visionary or delusional? By Lynn Becker -- Perkins + Will [images]- Repeat (Chicago)

Bold new look on campus: A+ or F? For the architects of today's college campuses, the question isn't "To be or not to be," it's "To icon or not to icon?" ...today's fresh icon can turn out to be tomorrow's out-of-date period piece. By Blair Kamin -- Holl; Mayne; Gehry; Graves; PSA-Dewberry; Koolhaas; Jahn- Chicago Tribune

Dazzling moves for University of Iowa building: ...new art and art history building...is that rare thing: A strong design that overwhelms neither its site nor its users...It isn't just an object; it's a place -- precisely what campus architecture (actually, all architecture) should be. By Blair Kamin -- Steven Holl; Herbert Lewis Kruse Blunck- Chicago Tribune

Old Money and New Construction: In New York, a Proposed Condo Tower Pits the Rich and Famous Against the Rich and Famous...The plate tectonics of power in New York in fact are shifting. -- Norman Foster- Washington Post

Once at Cotillions, Now Reshaping the Cityscape: Amanda M. Burden...meticulous focus on the details...using to profound effect in subtly reshaping New York through her role as city planning commissioner..."In a funny way she’s the curator of a living, breathing city."- New York Times

Definition of 'tasteful' has changed a lot in past 40 years: Does taste in buildings vacillate like hemlines? By Robert Behre- Charleston Post and Courier

Op-Ed: New, improved modernity: ...with enough creativity the present City Hall can be transformed into a civic center for contemporary Boston. By David Fixler/Einhorn Yaffee Prescott; DOCOMOMO- Boston Globe

Orbitz design takes off: ...new home of the online travel agency...is not your daddy's workplace. Alternately sleek and spare, refined and raw, it's a series of canny juxtapositions of design elements... By Kevin Nance -- Ken Locascio/OWP/P Architects- Chicago Sun-Times

Can Johnny Come Out and (Be Taught to) Play? New York City’s new ideas about structured fun might make parents happy. But children could have other ideas. -- Rockwell Group [imagae +audio slide show]- New York Times

Building on the human touch: AR Emerging Architecture Awards honour the unflashy virtues of integrity and respect for the user...This is what real architecture is about...humanity. By Tom Dyckhoff -- Miro Rivera Architects; Anna Heringfer/Eike Roswag; Sou Fujimoto- The Times (UK)

AR Awards for Emerging Architecture [links to details, images]- The Architectural Review (UK)

The difference between architecture and theatre. By Daniel Libeskind- All About Jewish Theatre

Smooth Move: At home with Marc Newson, an industrial designer who has always been ahead of the curve. [slide show]- New York Times

Book review: Why we like the buildings we like: A thoughtful and provocative book ["The Architecture of Happiness," by Alain de Botton] explores the origins of differing tastes in architectural styles...the best introduction to architecture I have ever seen. By Robert Campbell- Boston Globe

-- Richard Meier & Partners: Eli and Edythe Broad Art Center, UCLA, Los Angeles
-- Steven Holl Architects: T-Houses, Copenhagen

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