Today’s News - Tuesday, March 17, 2009
• Moore does not cheer layoffs and "talented architects being thwarted," but he does find a silver lining: "Now it might at last be possible to bury the dread word 'iconic.'"
• These days it's not just getting work that's getting more difficult; it's getting paid for it.
• It's not all doom and gloom - especially for niche work; likewise, an IALD Economic Impact Study finds "as many feeling cautiously optimistic as those...who are pessimistic."
• Amsterdam is a city going green - fast, and garnering global attention.
• Yudelson warns U.S. and Canada could find themselves behind a (non-green) eight-ball if they don't catch up with European standards.
• Ouroussoff offers his take on the "Grand Paris" plans: they "may just be the kind of brazen idealism the world needs right now" because the projects "recognize the strong link between urban policy and social equality."
• WTC progress report: when are they going to build it? Just look up.
• Pearman has nothing but poetic pearls for Berlin's Neues Museum: it is "an object lesson in timeless architecture. It is extraordinarily good."
• An eyeful of the shortlist for Art Fund Pavilion at The Lightbox (definitely worth a look).
• Goldberger gazes on the new Mets and Yankee Stadiums and finds two very different urban animals.
• King cheers the addition of San Francisco's Tenderloin district to the National Register of Historic Places (it only took 25 years).
• Kamin updates the status of Chicago's ongoing court battle over the city's landmark law.
• Russell rues the sad state of landmark churches being left to rot as restoration deals dry up.
• Davidson on the imminent demise of Greenwich Village's eccentric O'Toole Building: "a sad thing for the NYC's architectural heritage" (and sad that we can't "legislate weirdness").
• Belmont Freeman pays tribute to Max Borges.
• A good reason to head to Mumbai on Friday: 361°: The Degree of Difference Design Conference.
• Two we couldn't resist: the Queens Museum of Art puts every building in New York up for sale (sort of); and Scotland's finest build impressively - with Lego's (lots of extra time on their hands?).
• Happy St. Patrick's Day! (are we really looking forward to green beer?)
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The end of the icon: It's not good to hear of redundancies anywhere, and there's little pleasure in talented architects being thwarted, but there is a silver lining. Now it might at last be possible to bury the dread word "iconic"...it is just possible to imagine that people might actually appreciate architecture, as opposed to the labels attached to it, a little more. By Rowan Moore -- Gehry; Foster; Rogers; Hadid; Calatrava- Evening Standard (UK) |
Future of many architectural firms in doubt: ...a growing number of developers are...stiffing the architect...there are pockets of the country and niches in the building industry that are sheltered from this trend. -- Sienna Architecture; Mulvanny G2 Architecture; AERC; H.H. Furr Architecture; Cohesion- Associated Press (AP) |
Mansions and mozzarella: It's not all doom and gloom for architects: While the industry struggles, some surprising areas of work are defying the downturn. -- 6a Architects; James Gorst; FAT; HLM Architects; Q2 Architects; YRM- BD/Building Design (UK) |
IALD Economic Impact Study released: ...a mixed outlook with as many feeling cautiously optimistic as those who are experiencing difficulty or who are pessimistic. "Significantly, it's not all doom and gloom..."- International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) |
Amsterdam as Smart City: Going Green, Fast: With help from IBM, Cisco, Philips, and other companies, the city's infrastructure is becoming ultra energy-efficient, attracting global attention...local planners expect to bolster the economy through public and private investment, as well as cut emissions by 40% by 2025.- BusinessWeek |
Sustainable Design: What Do Europeans Know That We Don't Know (But Should)? U.S. and Canadian building teams that fail to figure out how to use the kinds of technologies and innovative design approaches already in place in Europe are going to fall behind competitors who do. By Jerry Yudelson -- David Lloyd Jones/Studio E Architects; John Echlin; Bruce Kuwabara/KPMB Architects; James Andrews/Overland Partners- Building Design & Construction (BD&C) |
A New Paris, as Dreamed by Planners: ...10 proposals for a new master plan for metropolitan Paris may just be the kind of brazen idealism the world needs right now...show a daring that has not been seen in a Western city for decades...projects recognize the strong link between urban policy and social equality. By Nicolai Ouroussoff -- Rogers Stirk Harbour; Christian de Portzamparc; Jean Nouvel; Djamel Klouche; Roland Castro [images]- New York Times |
When Are They Going to Build the New World Trade Center? Just Look Up...It seems safe now to say that the new World Trade Center is under way. [image, video]- New York Times |
Wall and piece: David Chipperfield, Julian Harrap and the Neues Museum, Berlin: I can guarantee that you have never seen architecture quite like this before...such a rich composition, so carefully, almost obsessively, brought back to life, that it falls into no category. It is of itself, and it is an object lesson in timeless architecture. It is extraordinarily good. By Hugh Pearman [images]- HughPearman.com (UK) |
The Art Fund Pavillion shortlist announced: ...five-strong shortlist to design a £100,000 semi-permanent pavilion for The Lightbox museum and gallery...attracted over 600 entries from 52 Countries. -- Tent London; AREA (Architecture Research Athens); Feix & Merlin Architects/Martin Stockley Associates; IN & EDIT Architecture; Karim Muallem; Tina Manis Associates [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Home: New stadiums for the Yankees and the Mets...Citi Field suggests a team that wants to be liked, even to the point of claiming some history that isn’t its own. Yankee Stadium, however, reflects an organization that is in the business of being admired...at once connected to the city and rising grandly above it. By Paul Goldberger -- HOK Sport- New Yorker |
Tenderloin's heritage wins national notice: San Francisco's newest historic district includes gargoyles and chariots, overblown balconies - and street crime and blight...But the architectural richness is real, and it deserves celebration as a reminder of how complex a city can be...finally be added...to the National Register of Historic Places. By John King [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Chicago appeals court ruling that cast cloud over city's landmark law: Firing back at an appellate court decision which ruled that Chicago's landmark law is unconstitutionally vague, the city has appealed the decisio...citing numerous cases nationwide in which courts have rejected vagueness challenges to laws comparable to Chicago's. By Blair Kamin- Chicago Tribune |
Landmark Churches Rot With Deals Drying Up: These buildings matter to more than their congregants...We need our history. Preservation may have to save our cities again. By James S. Russell- Bloomberg News |
St. Anywhere: It’s impossible to legislate weirdness, which is a sad thing for the city’s architectural heritage: When St. Vincent’s hospital finally swings a wrecking ball at the O’Toole Building...it will be for the greater good of Greenwich Village...But this improvement comes at the cost of eccentricity. By Justin Davidson -- Albert Ledner; Pei Cobb Freed- New York Magazine |
Tribute: Max Borges, 1918-2009: The generation of architects who advanced the modern movement in Cuba with exuberant, avant-garde designs lost one of its finest... By Belmont Freeman [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
361°: The Degree of Difference Design Conference: Icons... the degree of difference; Earth Matters; Imagining Urban Futures; Rebels/Path-breakers - March 20-22, Mumbai, India -- Alejandro Zaera Polo/Foreign Office Architects (FOA); Hani Rashid/Asymptote; Fumihiko Maki; Teddy Cruz; Ricardo & Victor Legorreta; Paul Preissner- Indian Architect & Builder |
It’s One Way to Get Your Hands on a Bit of New York Real Estate: To raise funds, the Queens Museum of Art is looking for “buyers” of properties in its 9,335-square-foot scale model Panorama of the City of New York...an Adopt-a-Building program. [images]- New York Times |
Architects take up Lego challenge: Five of Scotland's top architecture practices have accepted a challenge to design a building out of Lego...will be displayed at the Scottish Design Awards Nominations Exhibition on Wednesday...[and] the Lighthouse in Glasgow, will be auctioned off for charity in May. -- Aedas; Gareth Hoskins; gm+ad; Michael Gilmour; RMJM [images, links]- BBC News |
Happy Ending for the Little Beach House That Could: Venturi and Scott Brown watch their Lieb House sail by. By Kristen Richards -- Frederic Schwartz; Inga Saffron [images, links]- ArchNewsNow |
Q&A: Public Architecture Co-founders John Peterson and John Cary- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA): Taipei Performing Arts Centre, Taipei City, Taiwan
-- Sadar Vuga Arhitekti: National Gallery Extension, Ljubljana, Slovenia |
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