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Today's News - Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Not-so-good green news with a decidedly British accent: Forum for the Future's Sustainable Cities Index holds a few surprises. -- Another report says even the greenest are energy hogs. -- The bad news: looks like the British government is making a U-turn re: renewable energy targets. -- Meanwhile, the public is asked to vote on which environmental project should get £50 million. -- On a brighter note: Brad Pitt's Make it Right plans to make things better (and greener) in New Orleans. -- New Zealand's first über-green office building ready for its close-up. -- Another take on Grand Rapids' über-green museum. -- In Kazakhstan, Astana's "veneer of bling" is a "surreal architectural collision of money and power." -- Urban gentrification needs a new name ("frontier middle classes")? -- Kamin visits Greensboro, NC, and finds downtown design good (mostly -- but would you put it on a post card?). -- Ohr pods returning to Ohr-O'Keefe. -- Q&A with MoMA's Bergdoll re: women in modernism. -- Stern promises "'no Bombast or boredom" for Bush Library. -- Ehrlich wows them in New Zealand with his "multi-cultural Modernism." -- Against the odds, two Japanese architects put people first. -- An ode to Gaudí: is he the greatest urban architect of modern times? -- Kahn's "facade for the sky." -- Buyer beware: there might be good buys at auction of Mies photos, but some call their origin "mysterious" and "fishy."

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And the winner of the award for the greenest city in Britain is ... Bradford: Yorkshire mill town tops environmental impact list. Liverpool ranks lowest despite salmon in Mersey- Guardian (UK)

Greenest UK cities still consume too much: WWF report places Newport and Plymouth at top of green league table but warns energy needs are too high..."Ecological Footprint of British City Residents"...- Building (UK)

Labour's plan to abandon renewable energy targets: Leaked documents detail strategy for climate change U-turn..."effectively abolishes" its targets to rapidly expand the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.- Guardian (UK)

How would YOU spend the Lottery millions? For the first time, the public is to be asked to vote on which environmental project should get £50m of lottery cash. As the televised contest is launched, we reveal the short list in the battle to win The People's Millions- Observer (UK)

NOLA Gets Boost from Brad Pitt's Housing Group: ...a plan to replace 150 destroyed houses in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward with new, environmentally sustainable ones that cost less than $200,000 each. -- Billes Architecture; Concordia; Eskew+Dumez+Ripple; Trahan Architects; Adjaye/Associates; BNIM; Constructs; KieranTimberlake; Morphosis; MVRDV; Pugh + Scarpa; Shigeru Ban; William McDonough- Architectural Record

Meridian Energy’s New Eco Home Makes Good Business Sense: New Zealand’s first purpose-built green office building, on Queens Wharf in Wellington, will be officially opened on 24 October. -- Marc Woodbury/Studio of Pacific Architecture; ESD; Warren and Mahoney; eCubed; Stephenson & Turner- Scoop (New Zealand)

GRAM Green: Grand Rapids Art Museum in Michigan, Kulapat Yantrasast of wHY architecture designs what is set to be the nation's first LEED-certified art museum. -- Workshop Hakomori Yantrasast (wHY); Maya Lin [images, slide show]- Architect Magazine

One man's grand ambition gives veneer of bling to an ancient land: This is Astana, the shockingly new capital of Kazakhstan and showcase for the Dubai-style ambitions of its President, Nursultan Nazarbayev...surreal, architectural collision of money and power... -- Norman Foster; Kisho Kurokawa; Amanzhol Chikanaev/AstanaGenPlan- The Times (UK)

The new gentrifiers: Farmers' markets, "loft living" and resident parking are...signs that the "frontier middle classes" are moving in...For this idea of the self-contained urban village...an edgy, cosmopolitan alternative to the suburbs, while remaining at one remove from its social problems - belongs to the outmoded metaphor of "gentrification"- New Statesman (UK)

Critic calls downtown design good — mostly: ...Blair Kamin spared us insults — well, maybe all but a gentle few...said Greensboro seems to be doing well architecturally and needs to rise to an even higher level.- News & Record (North Carolina)

Ohr pods will be returning to Ohr-O'Keefe Museum in Biloxi: ...downed by Hurricane Katrina...are due to arrive the first week of November...will be in place by Christmas and museum leaders are ready to start the party. -- Gehry Partners; Guild Hardy Architects; A. Zahner Sheet Metal- SunHerald (Mississippi)

Designing Women: The Beverly Willis Architecture Foundation and the Museum of Modern Art team up to discuss women in modernism...Q&A with Barry Bergdoll...brings a fresh perspective... -- Liz Diller; Billie Tsien; Margaret Helfand; Zaha Hadid; Marilyn Taylor; Toshiko Mori; Nasrine Seraji- Metropolis Magazine

‘No Bombast or Boredom’ for Bush Library, Says Stern: Shrugging off controversy, architect discusses his latest high-profile commission..."Make sure everyone knows I haven't designed the building just yet." -- Robert A.M. Stern- Architect Magazine

Cross-cultural Modernism: Steven Ehrlich...calls his particular style of architecture, multi-cultural Modernism.- Times (New Zealand)

Takaharu and Yui Tezuka: Architects who put people first: ...cityscape has more or less been dictated by contractors, urban developers and the ever-changing (and constricting) construction laws that benefit the construction industry instead of the city's residents. -- Tezuka Architects; Kashiwa Sato- International Herald Tribune

Heaven on Earth: Antoni Gaudí was a fervent Catholic whose fantastical buildings burst with colour, freedom and hedonism - is he the greatest urban architect of modern times? Jonathan Jones sings his praises- Guardian (UK)

Facade for the sky: Louis Kahn believed that a building is a spiritual act and should transcend its functional requirement...Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, U.S. to many reflects the best of what architecture can offer...World Monuments Fund (WMF)...has recently placed the institute in its watch list of endangered sites.- The Hindu (India)

Mies van der Rohe Photo Auction Raises Questions: Images are exceptionally rare, but curators call their origin "mysterious" and "fishy."- Architect Magazine

-- wHY Architecture: Grand Rapids Art Museum, Grand Rapids, Michigan
-- Riding the LA Metro -- Tanzmann Associates; Siegel Diamond Architecture; Dworsky Associates; Miralles Associates; Escudero-Fribourg Architects; Diedrich Architects; Ellerbe-Becket; Anil Verma Associates; Arquitectonica

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