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Today's News - Monday, December 17, 2007

ArcSpace brings us to New York, Spain, and a Pei sketchbook. -- Ourossoff on why starchitects working with developers is not necessarily "a Faustian bargain." -- An extensive report on Abu Dhabi's "startlingly contrarian gambit" to build green and build its architectural cred. -- Rochon finds "inspired hospital design is wishful thinking," and cheers Safdie for "refusing to call bubble diagrams architecture." -- Talks with UNESCO re: Gazprom tower fail to produce a resolution. -- Two architects disagree about whether UNESCO exerts too much power over cities. -- It's glass vs. sandstone in debate about gigantic mall makeover in Sydney. -- Heathcote practically swoons for Nouvel's new MoMA tower: the "most radical skyscraper in New York since the Chrysler Building." -- Campbell finds "no preening architecture" in the New Museum (and he likes that). -- Boddy picks his Dwelling of the Year: a "model for Vancouver's eco-dense future." -- AECOM acquires China's largest firm. -- Design for Asia Awards shows the region's growing taste for style. -- More picks for the best of the year: Hawthorne: "there were some beams of light in an otherwise dim annum," and he revisits the Getty Center 10 years later. -- Woodman offers similar yet different takes on U.K.'s highs and lows. -- Heathcote offers birthday greetings to Niemeyer; and the master plans to remain a living legend for a while.

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-- SANAA: New Museum, New York, NY
-- Competition winner: Coop Himmelb(l)au: Center of Performing Arts, Zarautz, Spain
-- The Architect’s Studio: I.M. Pei Concept Sketches: Musée d’Art Moderne

Let the ‘Starchitects’ Work All the Angles: A big name on the blueprint doesn’t mean sellout at play. It may mean visionary at work. By Nicolai Ourossoff -- Koolhaas; Nouvel; Calatrava; Gehry; Prix [slide show]- New York Times

Guess Who's Building a Green City: In a delicious irony, Abu Dhabi is pouring oil billions into a zero-emissions metropolis in the desert...dubbed Masdar...one part of a startlingly contrarian gambit...; Abu Dhabi Builds Its Architectural Cred: ..building boom...rivals that of Dubai, but Abu Dhabi is banking on ambitious green architecture -- Foster + Partners; MIT; Gensler; Arquitectonica; Hadid; Nouvel Ando; Gehry [slide shows, links]- BusinessWeek

Why is hospital design so unhealthy? Under the newly imposed regimes now taking Canada by storm, an architect's role is reduced to compiling binders full of bubble diagrams and measured distances between a nursing station and a patient's room...A hospital that helps to heal through a gentle, meaningful design? Don't hold your breath...there are some exceptions... By Lisa Rochon -- Moshe Safdie; Farrow Partnership; Eberhard Zeidler- Globe and Mail (Canada)

St Petersburg risks its world heritage status over Scots-designed £1bn-plus, 396m Okhta Tower...Unesco now appears to be on a collision course with RMJM and Gazprom after talks in Moscow last week failed to produce a resolution.- The Herald (UK)

Does Unesco exert too much power over cities? Unesco is a threat to communities’ democratic wishes, argues Robert Adam, while Colin Amery believes it is an essential voice of sanity.- BD/Building Design (UK)

Looks are everything in chic city makeover: It's the great glass v sandstone debate, but whichever prevails, Pitt Street is in for a big facelift...Westfield wants sleek glass, Fifth Avenue, a New York-style. But, unusually for the shopping centre giant, it may not get its way. -- John Wardle- Sydney Morning Herald

A dreaming spire for Manhattan: ...Jean Nouvel has proposed the most radical and striking skyscraper to trouble New York's low-drifting clouds in a generation...it will arguably be the most radical skyscraper in New York since the Chrysler Building. By Edwin Heathcote- Financial Times (UK)

Museum design works on multiple levels: New Museum of Contemporary Art...a lot of architectural ingenuity has been expended to create a successful result with a tight budget on a difficult...site. There are no frills here. But everything works...There's no preening architecture here, just a building that is handsome, memorable, and serviceable. By Robert Campbell -- Sejima/Nishizawa/SANAA- Boston Globe

A challenging site brings out the best: Concord Pacific's four tower Spectrum took a chunk of derelict land and created a model for Vancouver's eco-dense future. By Trevor Boddy -- James KM Cheng Architects; Jones Kwong Kishi; Hancock Brückner/IBI/HB Architects [slide show]- Globe and Mail (Canada)

U.S. architecture, engineering tycoon acquires Chinese CityMarkArchitects and Engineers: ...acquisition is believed to be the first time that a non-Chinese company has acquired full ownership of a Chinese design firm with a Class A architectural and engineering license... -- AECOM- Xinhua News (China)

Asian Design Comes of Age: From architecture to lingerie to digital cameras, the products created by this year's Design for Asia award-winners represent the region's growing focus on style. --Takaharu + Yui Tezuka architects; Edward Ng; Studio Mumbai Architects; Ho Kwoncjan; Rossanu Hu/Lyndon Neri [slide show]- BusinessWeek

The Best of 2007: Year's designs help L.A. build its architectural momentum: With the exception of Steven Holl's extension to the Nelson-Atkins Museum...no building by a prominent architect to debut this year escaped critical complaint...it seems we expect more of our high-design buildings than ever. Or perhaps...we're getting tired of the iconic-building model...it's about time, isn't it? By Christopher Hawthorne -- Piano; Cloepfil; SANAA; Coop Himmelb(l)au; Daly Genik; Ken Smith; Mia Lehrer; Enrique Norten; Gehry; Arquitectonica; Lorcan O'Herlihy [slide show]- Los Angeles Times

The Getty Center at 10: Still aloof, yet totally L.A.: Design questions raised at the center's birth on a hilltop remain relevant as its relationship with the city evolves...permanently altered the way we think about new high-profile buildings here. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Richard Meier; Michael Palladino; Thierry Despont- Los Angeles Times

BD's buildings of 2007: Ellis Woodman looks back at the architectural highs and lows of 2007: "Hadid’s ever-diminishing Aquatic Centre speaks volumes about the ineptitude of public clients"; top architects pick their favourite buildings of the year -- Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Muf; Buschow Henley; FOA; dRMM; Caruso St John; SANAA; Reiach & Hall; van Gameren Mastenbroek- BD/Building Design (UK)

Review of the year: Architecture: Why are so many of our world-class architects working elsewhere. This year will not, I fear, go down in the annals of British architectural history as a vintage one. By Ellis Woodman -- David Chipperfield; Buschow Henley; De Rijke Marsh Morgan; Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; Hadid- Telegraph (UK)

Happy century, dear Oscar: The man of whom Fidel Castro once said: "Oscar Niemeyer and I are the last Communists on this planet" celebrates his 100th birthday...Contemporary architects...have been inspired and encouraged by his daring and his quest for an extravagant but humane beauty. By Edwin Heathcote- Financial Times (UK)

'People Need Beauty': Architect Oscar Niemeyer Turns 100: the last surviving founder of architecture's Modernist movement, turned 100 on Saturday. The grandfather of Brazilian architecture is a living legend, and plans to remain so for a while. [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany)

Welcome to the Neighborhoods: Jones Lang LaSalle Americas Headquarters...addresses corporate agility through space planning... -- IA Interior Architects [images]- ArchNewsNow

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