Today’s News - Thursday, February 12, 2009
• Rochon visits the barrios of Medellin and Caracas and finds two very different worlds: one "has floated up, up, up" with "catalytic architecture"; the other "has spiraled crazily down."
• Architecture and politics: White City, Dark City: "Gaza City and Tel Aviv offer a brutal display of contrasts."
• Zandberg says "Israel's urban environment has suffered more than enough architectural abuse"; Rami Karmi's design for new prime minister's HQ "one abuse too many."
• Despite protests that money could be better spent, the Israeli government approves the huge budget for lavish new PM's residence (with pix - you can decide).
• The public rallies to support building Kaplický's Prague library; City Hall walks a noncommittal line.
• Cornell faculty debates Milstein Hall: without it, the architecture department is "in extreme danger of losing accreditation"; it should be put on hold along with other projects; it could be built - if it's green enough.
• Brussat blames Hitler for inflicting Modernism on America, causing the "decline and fall of our cities."
• An eyeful of BIG Architects' carbon neutral master plan for Zira Island in the Caspian Sea.
• CalArts adds a Wild Beast to its menagerie of buildings: "It's a fun little thing."
• Princeton taps Tod Williams Billie Tsien for Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.
• George Brown College taps Stantec and KPMB for new Toronto waterfront campus.
• Costs to restore Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal are six times more expensive than anticipated (but vows to get it done).
• Hume is taken by Toronto Hydro manhole covers painted red - perhaps a good idea for the rest of the city: it would employ artists, "bolster flagging civic pride, keep us amused, and make Torontonians more sensitive to the ubiquity of the infrastructure."
• Hosey calls for the U.S.-Mexico border barrier to be torn down: it's "an architectural, ecological, and functional failure."
• Reality bites: he said there wouldn't be job cuts, but Foster will lay off up to 400, and close Berlin and Istanbul offices.
• Louis Kahn's Esherick House finally makes it to Philadelphia Register of Historic Places.
• Gehry's software keeps buildings on budget (at least for projects that still have budgets).
• We couldn't resist: a Woodstock revival in the wind for Berlin's Tempelhof airport (we're up for that - happy birthday Abey baby).
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
From slumdog barrio to beacon on the hill: Catalytic architecture, visionary social spending and simple local pride are remaking one of Colombia's poorest neighbourhoods...While the reputation of Medellin has floated up, up, up over the last decade, that of Caracas has spiralled crazily down. By Lisa Rochon- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Architecture as the continuation of politics: White City, Dark City: Sharing the same Mediterranean coast, Gaza City and Tel Aviv offer a brutal display of contrasts. By V.G. Smith- World Socialist Web Site |
A bamboozle of a bubble: Rami Karmi's...psychoanalytic doctrine has spawned the architectural pathology that is to be the residence in Jerusalem for the prime minister...Israel's urban environment has suffered more than enough architectural abuse...This is one abuse too many...architectural plan and its price tag reflect wild excess beyond every sense of proportion and good taste, a collapse of ethical and social standards and a lack of common sense. By Esther Zandberg- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
Gov't okays NIS 650 million (approximately $161.9 million) for new PM's residence lavish new facility for prime minister’s residence, office: "We should renovate classrooms instead" -- Rami Karmi [image]- Ynetnews (Israel) |
Public rallies to support library: Internet initiative seeks to revive Kaplický's project...For its part, City Hall now is walking a noncommittal line in reaction to the public mobilization over the the "Blob." --
Future Systems- The Prague Post |
Faculty Debates Milstein Merits: "This resolution is neither for nor against Milstein Hall, but is about the process and decisions made during these difficult [financial] times"..."The urgency of building this is real for us. We are in extreme danger of losing accreditation..." -- Koolhaas/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)- Cornell Daily Sun |
Fun with Adolf and architecture: If Hitler hadn’t kicked the modernists out of Germany, earning them sympathy in spite of their unpleasant designs, modernism might not have triumphed in America. It is not farfetched to blame the decline and fall of our cities on Hitler...Alas, our corporate, academic and institutional elites have been easy marks for totally ridiculous modern architecture. By David Brussat- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Denmark’s BIG Architects' Azerbaijan carbon neutral masterplan: ...its design for Zira Island...1,000,000 sq m plan envisions the creation of seven “peaks” in the shape of famous mountains in Azerbaijan on an island in the Caspian Sea. [images, animation]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
CalArts is adding a Wild Beast to its menagerie: Apparently the California Institute of the Arts has a penchant for naming its performing arts venues after animals...a new music pavilion soon to open on the school’s Valencia campus...“It’s a fun little thing.” -- Hodgetts + Fung [images]- Los Angeles Times |
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects selected to design new Andlinger Center for Energy and the Environment.- Princeton University |
George Brown College selects consultants for new Toronto waterfront campus...at the centre of Toronto’s East Bayfront redevelopment. -- Stantec Architecture; Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB)- Archiseek (Canada) |
Museum fix to cost $120M: Five years ago, Cincinnati Museum Center at Union Terminal officials estimated that a project to repair and restore the 76-year-old art deco masterpiece...would cost $20 million....analysis of the building’s needs has revealed that the problems are six times more expensive than anticipated. -- RMJM; Glaserworks [slide show]- Cincinnati Enquirer |
Go all out: Paint the town red: Maybe Toronto Hydro is on to something; painting all those sidewalk covers bright red might be just the thing to bring some life to the streets...Not only would the program...bolster flagging civic pride and keep us amused. It might also make Torontonians more sensitive to the ubiquity of the infrastructure, which is literally the ground we walk on. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
Tear Down This Wall: The barrier going up along the U.S.-Mexico border is an architectural, ecological, and functional failure. By Lance Hosey- Architect Magazine |
Foster & Partners to make 300 to 400 redundancies: ...shuts Berlin and Istanbul offices as it flies in face of earlier job pledges...pointed to "a significant decline in work within the practice"- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Louis Kahn’s Esherick House added to Philadelphia Register of Historic Places: ...also recognized the landscape design by Frederick Peck...- Chestnut Hill Local |
Frank Gehry’s Software Keeps Buildings on Budget: ...known for using curved shapes in his architecture, also offers modeling software to compute the cost of building those designs...Gehry Technologies, which sells Digital Project to other developers and architects and trains project teams to use it...Success with this version of Digital Project seems crucial to Gehry’s legacy. [images]- New York Times |
Nazi Airport Meets Flower Power: Woodstock Coming to Tempelhof? ...airfield might just bring the Age of Aquarius to Berlin this summer -- in the form of a Woodstock revival.- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Loud on the Outside, Quiet on the Inside: Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) by Grimshaw and Davis Brody Bond Aedas: How do you "ground" a 221,200-square-foot building on a 30-degree slope? By By Craig M. Schwitter, P.E./Buro Happold [images]- ArchNewsNow |
|
-- Concept Design; Renzo Piano Building Workshop: SNFCC, Athens, Greece
-- KK Letter: Architecture, Art and Design, Berlin, Germany
-- Design Hotel: The Mandala, Berlin, Germany |
|
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window.
External news links are not endorsed by ArchNewsNow.com.
Free registration may be required on some sites.
Some pages may expire after a few days.
© 2009 ArchNewsNow.com