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Today's News - Thursday, January 3, 2008

Can LEED get beyond its faulty check-list mentality? -- Russell lauds young architects and non-profits leading the way to renewal in New Orleans. -- Good design beginning to take hold in affordable housing. -- Ouroussoff is concerned by Niemeyer's tinkering with his own masterpieces. -- Tel Aviv's growing appreciation of its historic buildings. -- A growing movement to preserve Lutyens' New Delhi. -- Maggie's Centres as "Britain's best patron of new architecture." -- Coming soon: "tower of tomorrow" that will do "everything a tree can do except replicate." -- Leeds in line to get Europe's tallest residential tower. -- Gazprom tower plans continue to rile. -- Only a year late: Auckland Art Gallery wins second battle over modern addition (the fight may not be over). -- Gardner finds "geek chic" on Bond Street, and a new bank building that perplexes. -- Bernstein rediscovers a "heroine of Chicago architecture." -- A review of last year's top planning issues. -- Glancey looks forward to the new year. -- In "Architecture of the Absurd," Silber "sets a standard for arrogance far exceeding that of his subjects." -- Calls for entries we couldn't resist: Back-of-the-Envelope Bush Library Design Contest and DWR Champagne Chair Contest.

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It's Way Too Easy Being Green: The decidedly dupable system for rating a building's greenness... Critics of LEED—many of them architects who were green before green was cool—see a system that's easy to game and has more to do with generating good PR than saving the planet.- Slate

Along Ravaged Gulf, Young Architects, Nonprofits Lead Renewal: New Orleans is a perfect lab to test eco-housing and storm-proofing and to advance cost-cutting construction systems such as modular. These are innovations the whole country can use... By James S. Russell -- Architecture for Humanity; Nguyen/MC2 Architects; Global Green; Workshop/apd; Make It Right; Eskew + Dumez + Ripple; Shigeru Ban [imges]- Bloomberg News

Architects Bring High Design To Affordable Housing: The interest in design comes as affordable housing is increasingly being mixed in among middle class and even luxury homes. -- Helmut Jahn; Pugh + Scarpa; Michael Maltzan; Polshek Partnership; Runberg Architecture Group; Della Valle Bernheimer; Michael Willis Architects; Ward + Blake Architects [images]- Wall Street Journal

Even if His Own Work Isn’t Broken, a Brazilian Architect Fixes It: ...the greatest threat to Oscar Niemeyer’s remarkable legacy may not be the developer’s bulldozer or insensitive city planners, but Niemeyer himself...this poses an uncomfortable dilemma: At what point do we...have an obligation to intervene? Or is posing the question an act of spectacularly bad taste? By Nicolai Ouroussoff [slide show]- New York Times

Tel Aviv Develops Its Past Into the Future: ...with the proliferation of...skyscrapers has come a new appreciation for the city’s historic buildings. By Esther Hecht -- Eli Atia; Yaski Sivan Architects; Pei Cobb Freed; Dov Hershkovitz (1920s); Judah Magidovich (1920s); Danielah Smits-Possek; Richard Meier; Preston Scott Cohen; Massimiliano Fuksas- Architectural Record

Amnesty Plan for Relics of the Raj: Although the works of Edwin Lutyens in New Delhi can serve as reminders of imperialism, some architects want to rescue his vision from looming destruction. [images]- New York Times

Maggie's Cancer Caring Centres: Places of peace and inspiration: A cancer charity has become Britain's best patron of new architecture. By Ellis Woodman -- Maggie Keswick Jencks; Charles Jencks; Richard Murphy; Frank Gehry; Zaha Hadid; Richard Rogers; MacCormac Jamieson Prichard; Kisho Kurokawa; Piers Gough; Wilkinson Eyre; Foreign Office Architects (FOA)- Telegraph (UK)

'Tower of tomorrow' [to be] unveiled at World Future Energy Summit: ...a skyscraper that can do "everything a tree can do except replicate"... -- William McDonough- 24dash.com (UK)

Leeds gets Europe’s tallest residential tower: Ian Simpson-designed Lumiere twin towers will rival Manchester’s Beetham Towers [images]- Building (UK)

Gazprom Tower Threatens to Deface St. Petersburg: ...the last place where a giant example of standard commercial architecture should be allowed to dominate what is a site of rare refinement and beauty. By Colin Amery -- RMJM- Bloomberg News

Auckland Art Gallery wins second battle: Work can begin on the $96.4 million revamp...after the Environment Court approved plans to lower the roof line on a modern addition. -- Archimedia; Francis-Jones Morehen Thorp (FJMT)- New Zealand Herald

Geek Chic Architecture: ...48 Bond St. is now approaching ripeness...perhaps a little less interesting or beautiful than it thinks it is...But it is sufficiently engaging...to serve as an improvement on the standard fare that is usually served up to New Yorkers...A new building on Lexington and 79th Street perplexes me. By James Gardner -- Deborah Berke; Studio A- New York Sun

Rediscovering a Heroine of Chicago Architecture: If women are underrepresented in the architecture profession in 2008, a century ago they were hardly represented at all. Which makes Marion Mahony, the first woman to obtain an architecture license in Illinois, seem all the more remarkable. By Fred A. Bernstein -- Frank Lloyd Wright; Walter Burley Griffin [slide show]- New York Times

Top Planning Issues of 2007: the trends and issues that defined the year in urban planning [links, podcast]- PLANetizen

Highlights of 2008: Architecture and design: The year has much in store for lovers of design and architecture, from the re-launch of a motoring classic to a salute to one of the greatest designers of all time, Le Corbusier... By Jonathan Glancey- Guardian (UK)

Book review: "Architecture of the Absurd": by John Silber: Today's star architects are accused of placing form far ahead of function...In a book devoted to architectural indulgence, Silber sets a standard for arrogance far exceeding that of his subjects. By Mark Lamster- Los Angeles Times

Call for entries: The Back-of-the-Envelope Bush Library Design Contest (U.S. residents only); deadline: February 1- The Chronicle of Higher Education

Call for entries: Annual DWR Champagne Chair Contest: Create an original miniature chair using only the foil, label, cage and cork from no more than two Champagne bottles; deadline: January 7- Design Within Reach

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