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Today's News - Tuesday, May 27, 2008

-- ArcSpace brings us Libeskind in Kentucky, and Ehrlich in L.A.
-- Goldberger on Beijing's spectacular (and not-so-spectacular) Olympic architecture: "driven by image, not by sensitive urban planning."
-- Cheek finds "urban bland" instead of a promising "edgy attitude" in new Seattle neighborhood (at least it's pedestrian friendly - for now).
-- Sydney finally getting a mixed-use development the gets it right.
-- Kansas City's Power & Light District is "an urban-design standout" and a model for building pedestrian-friendly places.
-- London looking at buildings' surplus power to cool the subways ('er - underground).
-- A Nouvel skyscraper wins in Paris.
-- NYC may have to pick a replacement for the city's ugliest skyscraper.
-- London's 2012 stadium may move to Chicago in time for 2016.
-- Meanwhile, the 2012 Velodrome may ditch timber for steel (not all are pleased).
-- Campbell offers a new perspective on Boston's Brutalist City Hall: "Ugly people can be great. So can ugly buildings."
-- Has English Heritage bowed to political pressure on Robin Hood Gardens? One yea, one nay.
-- Philip Johnson's "little jewel box" still facing possible demolition.
-- Two brighter notes: The outlook for Rudolph's A+A building at Yale is anything but bleak. -- The market heats up for Frank Lloyd Wright.
-- Hawthorne on Huntington Art Gallery restoration: "stands out as a thoughtful alternative to high-design gigantism."
-- King joins Libeskind on a visit to his S.F. Jewish Museum.
-- Makovsky on the singular body of work by Hawaii's Ossipoff.
-- Winners all: NZIA Resene Supreme Awards, and Canada's 2008 National Urban Design Awards.

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-- Daniel Libeskind: The Ascent, Covington, Kentucky
-- Steven Ehrlich Architects: Robertson Branch Library, Los Angeles

Out of the Blocks: Beijing’s Olympic architecture is spectacular, but what message does it send? National Stadium...National Aquatics Center...are as innovative as any architecture on the planet...This is an Olympics driven by image, not by sensitive urban planning. By Paul Goldberger -- Herzog & de Meuron; PTW Architects; Pei Zhu; Sasaki Associates [slide show]- New Yorker

Urban Bland: South Lake Union's most interesting building is a temporary structure..."Discovery Center," a sleek shed designed to be unbolted and trucked away...slogan for the neighborhood, "Rethink Urban," seems to promise an edgy attitude that these boxes don't deliver. They are delivering some nice pedestrian-oriented streetscapes. By Lawrence W. Cheek -- Weber Thompson; Miller/Hull Partnership [images]- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

In the mix: After some early disappointments, multi-use developments are on the rise...Environmental considerations play a huge part in Sydney's newest mixed-use development, $345 million The Village, at Balgowlah. -- Allen Jack+Cottier; Oculus Landscape Architecture [image]- Sydney Morning Herald

Op-Ed: Power & Light District is an urban-design standout: If we’re lucky, it may also provide a menu of techniques for other architects faced with the challenge of building pedestrian-friendly places. The effective options are all here. What remains is for more architects — and their clients — to put them to wider use. By E. Thomas McClanahan -- 360 Architecture- Kansas City Star

Office schemes could offer solution to overheated tubes: Plan to use surplus power from nearby buildings is latest move in the struggle to cool the underground- Building (UK)

Jean Nouvel to build new Paris skyscraper: "Signal Tower"...set to rival the Eiffel Tower for domination of the city skyline. [images]- AFP

Giving Up the ‘Ugliest Skyscraper’ Title: There seems to be agreement in many quarters that the Verizon building at 375 Pearl Street is the city’s ugliest tower. But it is undergoing a facelift. Will another building get the honor? -- Edward Durell Stone; I.M. Pei [image]- New York Times

For sale: flatpack stadium suitable for Olympic Games: ...have opened talks with Chicago, one of the early favourites to host the 2016 games, which could result in the bulk of London's main stadium being dismantled, boxed-up and shipped across the Atlantic to be rebuilt. -- HOK Sport [images]- Guardian (UK)

2012 Velodrome set to ditch timber roof: Hopes that the London 2012 Olympics might be a beacon for the use of sustainable wood could be dashed after it emerged that the Hopkins-designed Velodrome is set to boast a steel roof rather than a timber one as originally planned. [image]- BD/Building Design (UK)

A new perspective on City Hall: Exhibition invites a reconsideration of the building...Even if you're in the majority who think City Hall in its present form is ugly, here's a thought: Ugly people can be great. So can ugly buildings...This amazing building deserves to be saved, not demolished or humiliated by conversion to a commercial use. By Robert Campbell -- Kallman, McKinnell and Knowles- Boston Globe

Has EH bowed to political pressure on Robin Hood? Yes, commissioners feared the reaction if they supported listing says Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society; no, this building just doesn’t make the grade, argues English Heritage chairman Sandy Bruce-Lockhart- BD/Building Design (UK)

A Tiny Masterpiece, Unloved, Faces Threat: ...an austere glass-and-concrete confection in New Canaan, Conn., that Philip Johnson called his “little jewel box,” built in 1953 for Alice Ball...faces the prospect of demolition... . -- Cristina Ross; Edward Durell Stone; Richard Neutra [images]- New York Times

Big makeover on campus: The outlook is anything but bleak...for the Art and Architecture building at Yale University...In marked contrast to the teardown phenomenon elsewhere, this landmark 1963 structure by modern architect Paul Rudolph is undergoing a spare-no-expense restoration. -- Robert A.M. Stern; Gwathmey Siegel- Chicago Tribune

Paying a Premium for a Wright Design: A renewed interest in midcentury modern American architecture has widened the pool of interested buyers, particularly for the Usonian Wright houses... [images]- New York Times

Huntington Art Gallery's grand plan: Beaux-Arts house is now historic in spirit yet contemporary in sinew...in an age of ever-expanding mega-museums, the restored gallery...stands out as a thoughtful alternative to high-design gigantism. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Myron Hunt (1911); Earl Corp.; Architectural Resources Group- Los Angeles Times

Daniel Libeskind visits his Jewish Museum; SFMOMA spaces out: "Cut: Revealing the Section" ...how architects look at space...concentrate on vertical slices of real and imagined structures. By John King -- Willis Polk (1907); Handel Architects; Cliff Lowe [images]- San Francisco Chronicle

Modern Paradise: Though largely unknown outside of Hawaii, architect Vladimir Ossipoff created a singular body of work that fully utilized the lush tropical climate of his adopted home. By Paul Makovsky [images]- Metropolis Magazine

NZIA Resene New Zealand Award Winners 2008 -- Architectus; architecture+; Patterson Associates; Plischke & Firth (1957); Ivan Mercep/JASMaD/Jasmax [links to images]- New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA)

Ontario projects dominate national 2008 National Urban Design Awards -- Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC); Canadian Society of Landscape Architects; Canada Institute of Planners (CIP); Goldsmith Borgal & Company/Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB)/architectsAlliance; Du Toit Allsopp Hillier/Du Toit Architects; Michael Van Valkenburgh; Diamond + Schmitt [images, link]- Daily Commercial News (Canada)

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