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Today's News - Wednesday, May 28, 2008

-- Britain's plan for a 21st-century town to be "built around a temple to turbo-consumerism" (a.k.a. a mall).
-- Hume on the bleakness of auto-centric Scarborough.
-- U.K. Housing Associations told to buy cheap not green.
-- Speck speculates about campuses as "petting zoos" for starchitects.
-- The evolution of blobitechture.
-- German critics trounce the new U.S. Embassy in Berlin.
-- Nouvel's Paris tower: lots of reports - we picked the one with lots of pix and his powerpoint presentation.
-- WORKac goes to work for Clark.
-- Q&A with Ashai about why Dubai is the hub of architecture.
-- Recycling London's Olympic stadium to Chicago not likely.
-- U.K. plans to toughen up planning rules near World Heritage sites.
-- In Palm Beach, another mid-century home faces demolition to make way for a "new British Colonial style residence" (oh joy).
-- Toronto developer is most generous to U of T's Department of Architecture, Landscape & Design.
-- The "wow" factor in the AIA Wisconsin architecture awards (including our fave, Whitney Gould).
-- Venice Biennale news: Menking to oversee U.S. exhibition (bravo, Bill!). -- "Abundant" theme to show off Australia's "precocious culture of architecture."
-- Call for entries: a Park(ing) Day-style competition for London Festival of Architecture.
-- New U.S. stamps commemorate Eames.

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Wired for vision: Britain's latest attempt at creating a new town is bold, magical - and raises two fingers to sneering middle-class utopianists...the very thing that makes Ebbsfleet a totally 21st-century British concept is that it...is not a suburb of London, but a suburb of Bluewater...built around a temple to turbo-consumerism.- Guardian (UK)

Bleakness at the heart of car-borough: Auto-centric planning will haunt us for ages: Understandably, people who live there get fed up with the nasty things said about Scarborough. Less understandably, they don't seem equally fed up when the things that have given the place a bad reputation get built. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

Housing Associations told to buy cheap not green: Even houses which barely pass basic Building Regulations will be considered if they are sufficiently cheap.- Green Building Press (UK)

The Campus as Petting Zoo for Starchitects' Designs: Should university buildings be showpieces... that will become controversial and grab media attention? ...in most good campus settings, prima-donna buildings can strike a crushing blow. By Lawrence Speck -- Gehry; Graves; Libeskind; Hadid; Zumthor; Herzog & de Meuron- The Chronicle of Higher Education

Blobbies and architecture: ...amoeba-shaped buildings are the latest rage in architectural design, and they would make our little “Octopus” feel right at home...Blobitechture got its start in 1995... -- Greg Lynn; Jan Kaplický; Norman Foster; Frank Gehry; Lars Spuybroek; Antoni Gaudí- Prague Daily Monitor

Verdict on the new US embassy in Berlin: as elegant as a council house: Germany's architectural critics were queueing up yesterday to savage the new, squat, custard-coloured US Embassy...The design drew scorn from critics, who felt it would be more at home in Baghdad’s green zone. -- Moore Ruble Yudell- The Times (UK)

Nouvel towers over Paris competition: ...has beaten Foster & Partners and Daniel Libeskind in a competition to design a landmark tower in Paris’s La Defense district...Signal Tower [images, powerpoint]- BD/Building Design (UK)

Clark Art Institute taps firm to design Clark@Mass MoCA -- Amale Andraos/Dan Wood/WORK Architecture Co. (WORKac); Tadao Ando; Annabelle Selldorf- Berkshire Eagle (Massachusetts)

Dubai is like Rome being built: Q&A with Tony Ashai about his work, his favourite project and the reasons that make Dubai the hub of architecture. -- Ashai & Associates- Emirates Business 24|7

London-to-Chicago stadium shift unlikely: Cities' Olympic officials say steel could be reused [but] disputed The Guardian's story. By Blair Kamin and Philip Hersh- Chicago Tribune

Planning rules to toughen up on World Heritage sites: Developments near sites such as Stonehenge and the Tower of London could be subject to even greater planning constraints, under new government plans.- Building (UK)

Famed architect's last home in Palm Beach may be razed: Architectural commissioners will hear the request today by owners of the 1960 Manus House to tear down the home...and replace it with a "new British Colonial style residence." -- Alfred Browning Parker [image]- Palm Beach Post

$14-million gift launches transformation of architectural education at the University of Toronto: ...the Faculty the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape & Design...will fund a major physical expansion and renovation of the Faculty and will also endow a scholarship fund...- Canadian Architect

The 'wow!' factor: AIA Wisconsin architecture awards recognize ten fresh, innovative designs. By Mary Louise Schumacher -- HGA; Johnsen Schmaling; Vetter Denk; Flad; La Dallman; Plunkett Raysich; Whitney Gould slide shows]- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Venice Bound: The editor-in-chief of The Architect’s Newspaper, William Menking to oversee U.S. exhibition at 11th Architecture Biennale..."Into The Open: Positioning Practice"...explores how architects are increasingly going beyond building when meeting the challenges posed by today’s urban and ex-urban conditions. -- Teddy Cruz; Deborah Gans- The Architect's Newspaper (NYC)

Australia at the Venice Biennale: "Abundant"...to show off our precocious culture of architecture. -- Kerstin Thompson; Neil Durbach; Vince Frost; Wendy Lewin; Gary Warner- Royal Australian Institute of Architects (RAIA)

Call for entries: Greening Bays Competition: 'green' 14 vacant car parking spaces overnight as part of the London Festival of Architecture; deadline: June 9 (U.K.)- Ramboll Whitbybird

Stamps Commemorate Charles and Ray Eames [slide show]- Architectural Record

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

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