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Today's News - Monday, May 19, 2008

EDITOR'S NOTE: Back again, then off again (early morning train to Yale)...much to catch up on...we'll return Wednesday, May 20.
-- ArcSpace brings us Safdie in Singapore and Viñoly and Turrell in California.
-- New urbanism doesn't bode well with Boddy, who finds it "city planning's equivalent of the 'compact SUV.'"
-- L.A. lays down the law re: McMansions.
-- Hume continues to fume about the state of the Toronto waterfront, but applauds residents who have started to colonize empty, long-neglected spaces.
-- For Kamin, adding a green toupee to Chicago Children's Museum is "still a bald land-grab."
-- He finds the Newseum "does the urban design basics well"
-- it's not "an icy prima donna" (though lacks "passion").
-- Heathcote visits Pei's new museum in Qatar: "This is real architecture."
-- Melbourne about to be "Fosterized" (no word why Hadid is no longer involved).
-- Can Maas massage design that put Cleveland museum cost "well north" of budget?
-- A new L.A. mall "may be a little creepy and architecturally unspectacular," but it's "a stunningly good piece of urban design."
-- Two new projects bring "a touch of class" to Leicester.
-- A "sore thumb" in Birmingham, U.K., becomes "an icon of urban cool."
-- Robin Hood Gardens: there's still hope; and ideas competition deadline extended.
-- Activists unite to save Boston City Hall from the wrecking ball.
-- An animated look at Abu Dhabi's future.
-- New Yorkers top the bill in AIA elections. -- Another takes the helm of PennDesign.
-- A Q&A with Philadelphia's new "Mr. Green."
-- Eisenman: technology is dumbing down design, students, and culture.
-- The AJ100 list: an analysis of the largest architects' practices in the UK.

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-- Moshe Safdie and Associates: Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
-- Installation & Exhibition: James Turrell Skyscape, Pomona College, Claremont, California
-- Rafael Viñoly Architects: UCLA NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), Los Angeles

New Urbanism's Moses comes to Tsawwassen: ...would like to turn these fields...into the hub of a new suburban community for 5,000 people...vision of leafy low-density suburbia...were pioneering only in the rustic architectural vocabulary that popped up in the drawings. Call it "pseudo-agro vernacular"... By Trevor Boddy -- Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ)- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Don't Supersize Me: Los Angeles limits McMansions, downsizes starter castles...approved its “Mansionization Ordinance,” also known as the Neighborhood Character Ordinance...- The Architect's Newspaper (Los Angeles)

How waterfront dream became a misty memory: How appropriate that it took a group of architects from Denmark to remind us that there's something rotten in the state of the Toronto waterfront. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

Where city fears to tread, locals see oasis in wasteland: ...Torontonians...know a good thing when they see it. So it should come as no surprise that residents have started to colonize those empty and long-neglected spaces that run beneath and parallel to the Gardiner Expressway. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

Even with new toupee, Chicago Children's Museum plan still a bald land-grab: ...the architects have created a new problem that underscores how bad urban planning almost invariably leads to bad design: The museum proposal...now resembles a private office building wearing a toupee. By Blair Kamin -- Krueck & Sexton- Chicago Tribune

News museum needs editing—and passion: Doesn't convey the power of journalism...Newseum...is a good neighbor, not a commanding presence. It lacks the passion behind great journalism—and great architecture. By Blair Kamin -- Polshek Partnership; Ralph Appelbaum Associates- Chicago Tribune

A monument to the possible: Standing on an artificial island off Doha’s harbour, Qatar’s new Museum of Islamic Art looks like a leftover from an epic Atlantean production...But as you approach, it gets better...This, you realise, is real architecture. By Edwin Heathcote -- I.M. Pei; Jean-Michel Wilmotte; Arata Isozaki; Rem Koolhaas- Financial Times (UK)

Melbourne, are you ready to be Fosterised? Foster+ Partners hired to put a signature stamp on Australia's biggest and most expensive office and housing projects at Melbourne's Docklands...will replace...Zaha Hadid...It is not clear why she is no longer involved.- The Age (Australia)

Estimate for new Cleveland Institute of Art building far over budget: ...recent estimate showed that the design would cost "well north" of the $55 million budgeted for the project...The question is whether Winy Maas...will continue on the project... By Steven Litt -- MVRDV; Burt, Hill- Cleveland Plain Dealer

Fear and Loathing in Glendale: The most anticipated new architectural development in Los Angeles? It's a mall. Sam Lubell critiques the $400 million Americana at Brand...while the project may be a little creepy and architecturally unspectacular, for a mall it represents a stunningly good piece of urban design. -- Elkus Manfredi- The Architect's Newspaper (Los Angeles)

The Renaissance reaches Leicester: Two ambitious new projects bring a touch of class to the East Midlands - and sharp contrasts to much of the town centre...Performing Arts Centre/'The Curve' [and] John Lewis store... By Stephen Bayley -- Rafael Viñoly; Foreign Office Architects (FOA)- Observer (UK)

Birmingham's Rotunda scrubs up well: ...sticking up like a sore thumb - or as the developers would prefer to see it, an icon of urban cool, the jewel in the city's diadem that is now the Bullring. By Maev Kennedy -- James Roberts (1965); Glenn Howells- Guardian (UK)

Cabe backs efforts to save ‘ground-breaking’ estate: Robin Hood Gardens may yet be saved after design review panel rejected the analysis of English Heritage, putting renewed pressure on architecture minister Margaret Hodge to list the seminal east London estate; Robin Hood Gardens ideas competition deadline extended to May 27 -- Peter & Alison Smithson- BD/Building Design (UK)

Activist group launches fight to save City Hall from the wrecking ball: ...while some deride the 1960s-era building as an unsightly concrete bunker, Citizens for City Hall calls it one of the most architecturally significant structures in the world. -- Kallman, McKinnell and Knowles (1968)- Boston Herald

UAE unveils ambitious masterplan for Abu Dhabi: Plans for emirate will see population triple to 3m over next 22 years [images, video]- Building (UK)

George Miller Named AIA President-Elect: First New York architect to hold top national office since 1971 -- Pei Cobb Freed- The Architect's Newspaper (NYC)

University of Pennsylvania Announces New Architecture Dean: Marilyn Jordan Taylor, FAIA, a long-time partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), will be the new dean of its School of Design ...replaces Gary Hack, who ends a 12-year tenure -- PennDesign- Architectural Record

Meet the city's new 'Mr. Green': Mark Alan Hughes will be the city's new sustainability director: "There's a place for everyone at the sustainabilty table."- Philadelphia Daily News

Eisenman: computers dumb down design: ...used the platform at RIAS 2008 to...blame modern technology and the media for creating a culture of “passivity” in architecture and public life; Eisenman's six point plan- BD/Building Design (UK)

The AJ100: an analysis of the largest architects' practices in the UK -- Hawkins\Brown; Foster + Partners; Make; RMJM; Pascall + Watson; etc. [links]- The Architects' Journal (UK)

Break, Pivot, Fuse: Conundrums of Shifting Space: The Daly Street Lofts by Joseph Giovannini: Live/work lofts take on a new life - temporarily - as experimental exhibition spaces open to the public for the next two weekends. [images]- ArchNewsNow

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