Today’s News - Wednesday, December 10, 2008
• Sim Van der Ryn says it's time we start getting serious about sustainability with "an integrated approach that addresses how to change the architecture of culture."
• Environmental measures of "sustainability" need to include a bigger picture.
• AIA Home Design Trends Survey: good news for urban infill; bad news economically.
• U.K. study says council estates crumbling into broken ghettos, and the public sector spawns 'Soviet' towns (oh joy).
• NYC's public housing system is "dramatically different from troubled public housing" in other cities.
• Chicago should take a lesson from London, where arts institutions include hip gathering places.
• A call for "brave ideas and inspiring buildings": Why are we so short of the architects and ideas to build the environments that are supposed to inspire our children to learn?
• Huxtable sets the record straight re: Stone vs. Cloepfil: "reviews have set some kind of record for irresponsible over-the-top building-bashing" - it's "it is time to look at the facts and close the books on 2 Columbus Circle."
• A Rubik's Cube for Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art (or is it just a box?).
• Dyckhoff says forget trophy architecture: "it's time for simplicity, championed by the Emerging Architects Awards."
• Glancey on the shortlist for the '09 Brit Insurance design awards: Can a wheelchair really compete with a train station?
• Filler muses about why architects like to talk so much.
• Alsop and Schwartz debate: he questioned the role of landscape architecture in the development of public spaces; she couldn't resist a response.
• Kamin is first out of the box with review of year's best in architecture (others sure to follow).
• Rudolph's reputation deserves its own upgrade (from Bob and Barbara Hillier's intriguing new mag).
• World Socialist Web Site honors Utzon, and reprints its '98 review, "How government policy imperiled an architectural masterpiece."
• Bunches of calls for entries to keep you busy over the holidays: '09 Great Places Awards (formerly EDRA/Places Awards). - Chicago Athenaeum '09 American Architecture Awards. - '09 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards. - H.H. Richardson Woburn Library expansion ideas competition. - Illumination of the Gesù Façade (Montréal) open ideas competition.
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Op-Ed: Being green is not just stuff of dreams: ...without an integrated approach that addresses how to change the architecture of culture, our efforts no matter how well intentioned are likely to be "too little, too late" to stave off the collapse of life as we know it...Let's not wait. Let's start now, where we live. By Sim Van der Ryn- PressDemocrat (California) |
Sustainable cities: Proper designs are often victim of the reality of municipal infrastructure: Recent dialogue in Israel regarding "green cities" or "healthy cities" has usually referred to improvements in conventional environmental measures of "sustainability"...But can one measure the ability of the surrounding environment to...encourage social interaction and improve the well being of the individual and the community in the city itself? -- Peter Bishop/Design for London; Israel Association of Landscape Architects- Globes (Israel) |
AIA Home Design Trends Survey: Neighborhood Design Preferences Shifting to Infill Housing Locations and Access to Public Transit : "...proving to be appealing from both a livability and investment perspective." [link to full report]- American Institute of Architects (AIA) |
Council estates crumbling into broken ghettos, says Tory study; [link to] Up the state workers: public sector spawns ‘Soviet’ towns- The Times (UK) |
Can Private Methods Save Public Housing? Public housing was a key element in rebuilding neighborhoods to attract private investment...New York's system was largely built under this model, making it dramatically different from troubled public housing in cities like Chicago and St. Louis. By Nicholas Dagen Bloom- Gotham Gazette (NYC) |
Chicago should get hip to theater-centered gathering space: In London, arts institutions have figured out that they need to be gathering places as much - if not more - than producers of cultural events. It is a win-win transformation. The provision of a relaxed, open, public space fills a social mission, but it also fills the coffers...All of this makes one wonder why Chicago is so pathetic in this crucial regard.- Chicago Tribune |
Op-Ed: Wanted: brave ideas and inspiring buildings: Why are we so short of the architects and ideas to build the environments that are supposed to inspire our children to learn? By Stephen Hoare -- Architecture PLB; RIBA; CABE [links]- Guardian (UK) |
Setting the Record Straight About Ed Stone and Brad Cloepfil: ...Stone's little seraglio has been converted into the new home of the Museum of Arts and Design and the reviews have set some kind of record for irresponsible over-the-top building-bashing, it is time to look at the facts and close the books on 2 Columbus Circle...The building has presence, not prettiness...Cloepfil has turned camp into architecture. By Ada Louise Huxtable -- Allied Works Architecture- Wall Street Journal |
Sydney's $50m 'Rubik's Cube' just a box: Philip Cox...Museum of Contemporary Art is "an obvious box" that fails to fit in with its Circular Quay surrounds...MCA director said she expected the design to be controversial. "I think there would be something wrong if there wasn't a debate." -- Sam Marshall Architect [image]- Sydney Morning Herald |
Emerging Architects: tomorrow begins here: Forget trophy architecture. With recession looming it's time for simplicity, championed by the Emerging Architects Awards...think very carefully before you build, and if you have to build, tread lightly on the Earth. By Tom Dyckhoff -- Emiliano López & Mónica Rivera; Anna Heringer/BasehabitatDipshikha; Alberto Mozó Studio; AOC; Serie Architects; McChesney Architects; Feix & Merlin Architects; Hackett Hall McKnight; Kraus Schonberg [slide show]- The Times (UK) |
Can a wheelchair really compete with a train station? The shortlist for 2009 Brit Insurance design awards offers tricky choices to the judging panel. By Jonathan Glancey -- Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM); Feilden Clegg Bradley Architects/Alison/Maccreanor Lavington; Snøhetta; Design Indaba; Steven Holl; Shuhei Endo; Romera y Ruiz Arquitectos; Herzog & de Meuron; West 8 + DTAH; Renzo Piano; Adjaye; Ishigami+Associates; McDowell Benedetti; Subarquitectura; etc. [images, links]- Guardian (UK) |
Why do architects talk so much? Interviewing celebrated architects can be like Dancing with the Stars. But no matter how big the name, it still takes two to tango. By Martin Filler -- Quinlan Terry; Philip Johnson; Thom Mayne; etc.- Architectural Record |
Alsop and Schwartz debate: When Will Alsop questioned the role of landscape architecture in the development of public spaces in a recent speech, US-born London-based landscape architect Martha Schwartz couldn’t resist a response. [video, slide show]- Wallpaper* |
2008: The year's best in architecture--Olympic feats, ravishing restorations and the social promise of design...Farewell, Jorn Utzon and Walter Netsch. By Blair Kamin -- Herzog & de Meuron; PTW; Ralph Johnson/Eva Maddox/Perkins+Will; Studio/Gang; Gwathmey Siegel; T. “Gunny” Harboe/Douglas Gilbert; Jean Nouvel- Chicago Tribune |
Coming Around Again: Architect Paul Rudolph’s work is being restored. His reputation should be, too...What’s needed more than ever is a biography of Rudolph as well as a museum retrospective devoted to his architecture. His reputation deserves its own upgrade.- Obit magazine |
Sydney Opera House architect, Jørn Utzon: How government policy imperiled an architectural masterpiece [reprint of 1998 review]- World Socialist Web Site |
Call for Entries: 2009 Great Places Awards (formerly EDRA/Places Awards): Projects should emphasize a link between research and practice, demonstrating how an understanding of human interaction with place can inspire design; deadline: February 9, 2009- Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA)/Places/Metropolis |
Call for entries: 2009 American Architecture Awards; deadline: February 1, 2009- Chicago Athenaeum/European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies |
Call for entries: 2009 AIA/ALA Library Building Awards; deadline: January 5, 2009- American Institute of Architects (AIA) |
Wanted: Expansion Ideas for Woburn Library by H.H. Richardson; cash prizes; deadline: January 23, 2009 [link]- Architectural Record |
Call for entries: Light on Gesù Façade (Montréal) open ideas competition; cash prizes; deadline: January 14, 2009- Quartier des spectacles/Design Montréal |
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Toyo Ito & Associates: Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA), Berkeley, California |
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