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Today's News - February 20, 2007

As new planning rules take shape, Hume hopes "the bad old days of endless sprawl are over." -- For Farrelly, Green Cities conference in Sydney should make Australia green with envy. -- London "super-mosque: first approved, now to be rejected "to give the Olympics a clear run." -- Moscow's credo of "restoration by means of demolition" now puts St. Basil's in potential danger. -- Gehry does pro bono in Pasadena. -- Rochon cheers heroic architecture and a "thriller of a building" in the burbs (and a Montreal firm's much-deserved comeback). -- A rising star from Switzerland making his mark in Warsaw. -- He-said-he-said: Jenkins claims London's Regent's Park is being "flogged to the highest bidder"; park's executive says it must "adapt to new uses." -- Gallagher bemoans the Detroit region's loss of architectural "titans" (Birkerts chose Boston). -- NYC-based The Architect's Newspaper launches California edition. -- Call for entries: international student competition to design "Futures of Cities." -- Two new books look at an ongoing experiment to build an urban utopia in India, and an architect conjures the spirit of place.

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A space to grow without sprawl: ...rules governing planning have been rewritten. On paper at least, the bad old days of endless sprawl are over, replaced by a new regime that values higher density and higher quality development..."It's about greening as well as growth." By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

Green with envy, maybe, but more crazy than clever: If delegates to the Green Cities conference at Darling Harbour felt the irony of the situation, they didn't show it...any new building project starting today that isn't "as green as possible … will be functionally obsolete the day it opens and economically disadvantaged for its entire lifetime." By Elizabeth Farrelly -- Arup; Peter Head; Jerry Yudelson- Sydney Morning Herald

Supermosque for 70,000 'will be blocked': The Government source said that the planning application needed to be rejected "to give the Olympics a clear run" -- Mangera Yvars Architects- Telegraph (UK)

Repairs to Stalin's depot threaten St. Basil's: ...Kremlin's presidential properties department gave the order to turn the Lower Trading Rows into an upmarket hotel and auction house...defenders of Moscow's dwindling architectural heritage, wearily familiar with the city's post-perestroika credo of "restoration by means of demolition", are in uproar.- Telegraph (UK)

A new stage for a star architect: Frank Gehry signs on — pro bono — for an expansion and redesign at Pasadena Playhouse. -- Ron Frink Design- Los Angeles Times

The heroic comes to the burbs: The University of Toronto Mississauga boasts a thriller of a building. By Lisa Rochon -- Saucier + Perrotte- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Swiss rising star architect Christian Kerez has been commissioned to design the new Warsaw Museum of Modern Art -- Architekt ETH/SIA [images, links]- SwissInfo

Where I see sylvan mystery, ministers see AstroTurf and late-night drinking: A magical wilderness in central London is to be flogged to the highest bidder - in a flagrant breach of royal parks law. By Simon Jenkins- Guardian (UK)

Making sure Regent's Park exists for future generations: In order to preserve this exquisite green space, we must adapt it to new uses...where Jenkins and I disagree is how best to preserve this exquisite space. By Mark Camley, chief executive of The Royal Parks- Guardian (UK)

Region loses 3 design titans: ...for many reasons, contemporary architectural output is less individualistic, more homogenized, than what Neumann, Kessler, Birkerts and others of their generation turned out. By John Gallagher- Detroit Free Press

The Architect’s Newspaper Launches California Edition on February 21- The Architect's Newspaper (NYC)

Call for entries: International IFHP Ranko Radovic Student Competition: Futures of Cities; cash prizes; deadline: August 31- International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP)

Book review: "Auroville Architecture: Towards New Forms for a New Consciousness": An experiment in urban planning -- Roger Anger- The Hindu (India)

Book review: Designing a revolution: Architect conjures spirit of place: “The Archaeology of Tomorrow: Architecture & the Spirit of Place" by Travis Price...an amalgam of archaeology, ecology, mythology and modernism.- The Examiner

-- UNStudio: Tea House on bunker, Vreeland, The Netherlands
-- Gonzalo Mardones Viviani: 18th Fire Station, Vitacura, Santiago, Chile

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