Today’s News - Tuesday, September 9, 2008
• GSA joins leading landlords in opposing some post-9/11 building codes.
• Glancey says it's time to start re-thinking what and how we build on floodplains (if we should at all).
• Poland using starchitect power "to bespeak the economic power of the investors" and boost the image of Polish cities both at home and abroad.
• Two projects add sophistication to Jakarta's urbanity (by foreign architects, of course).
• UNESCO may put Tower of London and other sites on endangered list - with great concern about developments in Edinburgh, where "Heritage has taken a back seat to Cool Britannia."
• Edinburgh: "Welcome to the capital of urban self-harm" where Geddes' "holistic philosophy has now been turned on its head."
• But where a Georgian building could be wrapped in glass instead of biting the dust.
• Re: Yale's pick of Stern: "offers elegance over absurdity" (as in take that, Gehry).
• Russell finds Cloepfil's new Museum of Art and Design in NYC "a work of subtlety and substance" and "quietly compelling power."
• New life for a neglected Art Deco gem of a theater in Manhattan.
• Saffron has high hopes for plans to turn Philly's Art Deco gem of theater into "a nightlife mecca." - And a call for nominations for other Philadelphia historic gems that might be under threat.
• Rowan Moore on London's VeloPark: "simple, unfussy and, hopefully, practical...let's call it The Pringle." - You can decide: an eyeful (and fly-through) of the cycle park.
• An amusing Q&A with Koolhaas on the 4th anniversary of Seattle's Central Library: architects are not really "bullfighters who somehow have to kill an animal."
• Maeda's take on his new adventure: "RISD is MIT for the right brain...I've already been digital. I want to focus on being human."
• It's a longgggg, impressive shortlist for BD's Architect of the Year Awards 2008.
• ASLA 2008 Student Award winners take on global issues (having been a juror, I know).
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Federal Agency Fights Building Code Born of 9/11: General Services Administration (GSA)...has joined some of the nation’s biggest landlords...opposing the tougher standards, even though they were based on a report by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)...- New York Times |
One nation under water: The rain keeps falling, so why aren't developers or the government preparing for our flooded future? If we must build on floodplains, then we need...new forms of architecture, building, land use and urban planning. By Jonathan Glancey- Guardian (UK) |
Star power: Poland is again drawing the world's architectural heavyweights, whose spectacular designs are...meant to bespeak the economic power of the investors and leave an enduring mark on Polish city-scapes. -- Norman Foster; Skidmore, Owings & Merill (SOM); Daniel Libeskind; Murphy/Jahn; Zaha Hadid; Lahdelm & Mahlamäki; Christian Kerez; RKW Rhode Kellerman Wawrowsky; Claudio Nardi/Leonardo Maria Proli; Epstein; Jerde Partnership; Jespers Eyers- Warsaw Business Journal (Poland) |
Postmodernism and Jakarta's urban structures: ...increasingly sophisticated structures: the Wisma 46 building and Plaza Indonesia X'nter (e'X). -- DP Architects; Zeidler Partnership; Sonny Sutanto; Denton Corker Marshall- The Jakarta Post |
UN threatens to act against Britain for failure to protect heritage sites: Unesco may put buildings on endangered list...has said it "deeply regrets" the decision by Edinburgh city council to press ahead with a hotel, housing and offices development called Caltongate..."Heritage has taken a back seat to Cool Britannia and encouraging everything modern..."- Guardian (UK) |
A gleaming capital, tarnished: With a flurry of unsympathetic new buildings going up, it's easy to see why Unesco thinks Edinburgh's heritage is threatened...once the home of Patrick Geddes, father of modern planning. His holistic philosophy has now been turned on its head. Welcome to the capital of urban self-harm. By David Black -- Allan Murray; Richard Murphy- Guardian (UK) |
Hotel scheme aims to add a real touch of glass to Princes Street: ...a Georgian building would be encased in glass to become the first new hotel on Princes Street in five decades...£40 million development as a chance to kick-start hopes of regenerating the historic thoroughfare....The views of Edinburgh's heritage bodies will be key... -- SMC Hugh Martin Architects [image]- Edinburgh Evening News |
Op-Ed: Stern offers elegance over absurdity: Yale students of the future have cause to smile now that Robert A.M. Stern...has been selected as the architect for two new residential colleges...critics would argue for a more flamboyant architect — someone who would make a “statement.” But when architects feel the need to make statements, the results can be calamitous.- Yale Daily News |
Zigzag Glass Ribbon Lights Up Lollipop Museum of Art and Design: It's easy to dismiss...as a white tombstone scribbled with zigzag slits: a willful graphic posing as architecture. A closer look reveals a work of subtlety and substance...quietly compelling power. By James S. Russell -- Edward Durell Stone (1964); Cloepfil/Allied Works- Bloomberg News |
A Rock ’n’ Roll Survivor Prepares for Its Rebirth: Through 78 years, the neglect of the Beacon Theater in Manhattan has often been profound, but it is now undergoing a $15 million restoration. -- Walter W. Ahlschlager (1929); Beyer Blinder Belle Architects [slide show]- New York Times |
High hopes for grand old Boyd Theater: A Phila. developer says he'll buy the movie palace, restore its art deco glory, and turn a block of Chestnut into a nightlife mecca. By Inga Saffron -- Hoffman-Henon Co. (1928); Martinez+Johnson [images]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Nominate a Threatened Historic Building to Philadelphia's Endangered Properties List; deadline October 1- Preservation Alliance for Greater Philadelphia |
Clean, graceful and very effective... let's call it The Pringle: Velo Park has the look that will define London 2012: simple, unfussy and, hopefully, practical. Without Beijing's vast, cheap labour force and generous budgets, there will not be Beijing's dazzle. By Rowan Moore -- Hopkins Architects- Evening Standard (UK) |
Hopkins Architects' 2012 Olympic velodrome unveiled: Already dubbed the 'Giant Pringle', the 6,000-seat venue, with its concave timber roof, is the centrepiece of a larger cycling park... [images, video]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Talking with Rem Koolhaas, the architect behind the Central Library: "...one of the difficult and distorting things at the current moment, is that basically some architects are seen as kind of almost bullfighters who somehow have to kill an animal, but you're part of a much larger enterprise."- Seattle Times |
Design for Learning: RISD Gets a New Type of President - John Maeda...The leap out of the Media Lab to an arts school is not as large as it would seem. "RISD is MIT for the right brain...I've already been digital. I want to focus on being human."- Wall Street Journal |
BD’s Architect of the Year Awards 2008 shortlist: ...Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM), BDP and John McAslan all gaining four nominations -- Maccreanor Lavington; Shedkm; Jestico & Whiles; Levitt Bernstein; DSDHA; Feilden Clegg Bradley; Penoyre & Prasad; Wright & Wright; Adjaye; Atkins; Make; Hadid; Grimshaw; Foreign Office Architects (FOA); etc.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
ASLA announces the winners of the 2008 Student Awards to 20 projects from 11 colleges and universities [links to project/images]- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
WORDS THAT BUILD: Learning How to Persuade Through Learning Variations on a Theme. Tip #6: Master a communications tool that generates copious variations on your theme. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Under construction: Atelier Christian de Portzamparc: Cidade da Musica, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
-- José Rafael Moneo: Chase Center, RISD Museum of Art, Providence, Rhode Island
-- Summer 2008 review |
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