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Today's News - Monday, October 1, 2007

ArcSpace tools around Barcelona. -- Call for entries: "What If New York City..." competition for post-hurricane provisional housing. -- Two environmentalists may anger their brethren, but new book "could turn out to be the best thing to happen to environmentalism since Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring.'" -- The two offer a "manifesto for a new environmentalism." -- For Gould, LEED "has been a useful consciousness-raising tool," but it's not the only way to go green. -- Two projects in Yemen and Dubai deliver "a coherent sustainable strategy" that is not about "dripping buildings in the latest renewable 'jewelry.'" -- Cups made with corn starch a fifth inning recycling stretch: Boston's Fenway Park joins the green revolution. -- The next few years will determine if Toronto will be "the envy of the civilized world or just another urban casualty," says Hume. -- Meanwhile, the city hosts Walk21, but Hume fears city fathers will just talk the talk. -- Lewis on phasing big developments and the importance of achieving critical mass by opening day. -- L.A.'s downtown is "moving from Skid Row to Banana Republic at warp speed." -- Glancey is "heartbroken" about the probable loss of a "cinematic, sculptural, heroic - and one of the most dramatic public buildings from the 1960s": a bus station to be replaced with same-old-same-old mega-project. -- Germany's Arp Museum: Meier's "newest coup." -- Saffron goes behind the scene with Barnes Foundation's "low-key designers." -- An expanded mission and a heightened presence in store for Philadelphia's new Jewish History Museum. -- Kamin offers two takes on Calatrava's "total design" approach for Chicago Spire. -- Davidson's take on the co-opting of Jane Jacobs. -- Ouroussoff on "Piranesi as Designer": "shows us that fantasy can have a more lasting impact than a concrete monument to the ego."

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-- kk Letter: Three days in Barcelona: Miralles/Tagliabue/EMBT; Arata Isozaki; Jean Nouvel; Herzog & de Meuron; Gaudi
-- Design Hotel: Hotel Omm, Barcelona -- Juli Capella; Sandra Tarruella/Isabel López; Beth Figueras

Call for entries: "What If New York City...": competition for post-disaster provisional housing for NYC in the aftermath of a Category 3 hurricane; 10 prizes of $10,000; registration deadline: November 23- NYC Office of Emergency Management/Rockefeller Foundation/Architecture for Humanity-NY

Two Environmentalists Anger Their Brethren: "Break Through: From the Death of Environmentalism to the Politics of Possibility" by Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger...Green groups may carp, but the truth is that the book could turn out to be the best thing to happen to environmentalism since Rachel Carson's Silent Spring.- Wired

Second Life: A manifesto for a new environmentalism: The highest objective...must be to bring down the real price of clean energy below the price of dirty energy as quickly as possible...we'll need a new paradigm centered on technological innovation and economic opportunity, not on nature preservation and ecological limits. By Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger- The New Republic

Green approval can be incentive but shouldn't be the only reward: My take is that LEED has been a useful consciousness-raising tool...But as with so many good ideas, its champions often tend to oversteer. By Whitney Gould -- Randy Udall/Auden Schendler; Linville Architects; Kubala Washatko Architects [images, links]- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A rubbish concept? ...two unique projects that demonstrate clearly the alternative approaches a company can take to conserve energy through the use of intelligent design and application of basic physical principles, coupled with knowledge of material behaviour. -- Whitby and Bird- ArabianBusiness.com

Tracking the shape of things to come at Harvard: Exhibition is built around green design: The architecture on display is the architecture of the future. At least, I hope so. By Robert Campbell -- Behnisch Architects; Transsolar ClimateEngineering- Boston Globe

Fenway park goes green: ...joining the green revolution through a partnership with National Resources Defense Council (NRDC)...For fans, that may mean drinking beer out of plastic cups made with corn starch...and maybe even a new tradition - a fifth inning recycling stretch.- Boston Herald

Toronto's bright future (or not): Depending on decisions we make in the next two or three years, this city could become the envy of the civilized world or just another urban casualty. By Christopher Hume -- Richard Florida; Frank Gehry; Will Alsop,;Daniel Libeskind; Ken Greenberg; Joe Berridge/Urban Strategies- Toronto Star

Nuit Blanche proves pedestrian plan needed: ...was a resounding success – though one might question why the city didn't close more streets to accommodate the huge crowds...So it's somehow appropriate that an international conference on pedestrianism should have been organized in Toronto this week. Walk21...will draw experts and participants from around the world. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

Big Developments Need Good Timing, Not Just Good Location: Success...may depend on having a vital, sufficiently dense mix of facilities and amenities available on opening day.The Washington region offers several examples of large developments where quickly achieving critical mass guided phasing policy. By Roger K. Lewis- Washington Post

Angelenos' New Refrain: 'I Love (Downtown) L.A.': City's Once-Wasteland Is Hipster Heaven...There is a life cycle to cool, a kind of evolution: From poor to edgy and arty, to funky to established. And in downtown L.A., it's moving from Skid Row to Banana Republic at warp speed.- Washington Post

'A baroque cathedral for buses': It is cinematic, sculptural, heroic - and one of the most dramatic public buildings from the 1960s. Jonathan Glancey is heartbroken to hear that Preston bus station is to be demolished -- Keith Ingham/BDP (Building Design Partnership); Ove Arup- Guardian (UK)

Arp Museum Opens With Architect Richard Meier's Newest Coup: When Bonn lost out to Berlin as Germany's capital city, the government compensated the Rhine region by picking up the huge tab for the museum and its new extension... [images]- Deutsche Welle (Germany)

The low-key designers behind the new Barnes: In case you think landing the commission to design a glamorous new home for Philadelphia's Barnes Foundation might go to the heads of architects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, here's a bit of perspective... By Inga Saffron- Philadelphia Inquirer

Short move, but big promise for Jewish History Museum: With a translucent glass skin that grants anyone on Independence Mall a glimpse of what's going on inside and an illuminated, simulated eight-foot flame near the top of the structure, the building will give this little museum...an expanded mission, a heightened presence... -- Polshek Partnership; Gallagher & Associates [image]- Philadelphia Inquirer

Some Spire occupants may take dim view of 'total design': ...here was Calatrava, showing off two full-scale apartment mock-ups that he had laid out...Was this deja vu all over again -- a return to the good (and bad) old days of "total design"? Yes and no. By Blair Kamin- Chicago Tribune

Blair Kamin's design appraisal: Details are key when buying art as living space: ...details clearly reflect the vision of architect Santiago Calatrava. His artistic hand is literally all over the building, in door handles modeled on clay he gripped that bear his imprint. [links to images]- Chicago Tribune

See Jane Be Co-opted: "Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York" at the Municipal Arts Society... shows how Jane Jacobs became famous for the wrong things. By Justin Davidson- New York Magazine

For Piranesi, Imagination Trumps Classical Boundaries: ...portrait of a radical intellectual figure...remind us that an architecture of the imagination can resonate through the centuries with as much force as a monument chiseled in stone. By Nicolai Ouroussoff -- Robert A. M. Stern; Michael Graves; Daniel Libeskind; Peter Eisenman; Robert Venturi; Denise Scott Brown [slide show]- New York Times

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