Today’s News - Tuesday, April 21, 2009
• Weinstein on "Conversations With Frank Gehry": he proves to be "an astute listener as well as talker, an architect as aware of his flaws and limitations as of his virtues" + excerpts from the book.
• A controversial Cornell student project and the Adjaye/Freelon/Bond Black History museum win raise a question: Is there a "gag order" on discussing race in the architectural profession? (a very interesting read.)
• Canadian architects' strategize to find ways to do new business.
• An eyeful of NYC's "lost skyline" - casualties of a building boom gone bust.
• Cleveland proves to be the poster child for many cities encouraging architects and artists to revive neighborhoods - not all are convinced it's a sustainable strategy; low-income residents are often forced out when artists move in.
• Pedersen peers into Japan's commitment to universal design: research initiatives, the cultural underpinnings of these efforts, and the new 'definitions' for an idea whose time is long overdue."
• A new generation of Muslim and non-Muslim architects are designing mosques for the 21st century, "sparking not just a hugely creative period in Islamic design, but one riven by controversy."
• King reports on National Park Service report on proposed changes to San Francisco's Presidio: Fisher's museum "would be appropriate only if it is reduced in size and scale."
• Hawthorne reports from Coachella festival: experimental architecture is finding a home at such gatherings, where "the Bilbao Effect is now being recreated on the cheap in temporary, stripped-down and occasionally thrilling form."
• More Chelsea Barracks musings: Moore wonders why so many people pay attention to the Prince: has his actions actually bettered British architecture?
• Merrick wonders why the Prince is so angry about the development.
• West cheers Charles: only he "can save us from the wretched 'starchitects'" (those "arrogant twerps").
• More images of U.K.'s Living Architecture project (yes, mostly designed by starchitects).
• It's a long shortlist for the BCSE Industry Awards 2009 honoring the best of British school design.
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
Book Review: A Perspective from One Elevation: "Conversations With Frank Gehry" by Barbara Isenberg: Gehry's conversations offer portraits of an astute listener as well as talker, an architect as aware of his flaws and limitations as of his virtues. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
Gehry on L.A., art (and Gehry): 'Conversations With Frank Gehry' serves as a blueprint for his mind-set, philosophies and the making of many of his major works...excerpts from the book...- Los Angeles Times |
A Gag Order on Race in Architecture: ...everyone’s buzzing with the news that David Adjaye was chosen to lead a team of three firms to build the National Museum of African American History and Culture...advisory council...spoke clearly and profoundly about the hopes the black community had for this building...Yet architectural community stays mum, preferring to discuss it’s “stone plinth” forms than the background of the architect...- Cornell Daily Sun |
Architects draft blueprint for hard times: ...finding ways to do new business, including going after public and institutional projects that will benefit from new government infrastructure funding programs..."the market is shifting from private sector to public sector projects." -- HOK Canada; Ingenium Group; Diamond + Schmitt; Cohos Evamy Integrated Design; AIPM Architects; Sweeny Sterling Finlayson- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
The Lost Skyline: Casualties of a building boom that got ahead of itself. An entire counterfactual history of New York could be written simply from the stories of buildings that never got built...A portrait of a city that never was. -- Herzog & de Meuron; UNStudio/Ben van Berkel; Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Jean Nouvel; Murphy/Jahn/Gruzen Samton; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Swanke Hayden Connell; StudioMDA/Behnisch Architects [slide show]- New York Magazine |
Artists vs. Blight: What began as a grass-roots movement, with artists gravitating to cheaper neighborhoods and making improvements, is now being embraced by city officials as a tool to revive neighborhoods reeling from vacancies and home foreclosures...strategy is controversial. -- Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative; Dana Cuff/cityLAB- Wall Street Journal |
Unpacking Japan’s Commitment to Universal Design: Q&A with Valerie Fletcher—executive director of the Institute for Human Centered Design...about Toto’s research initiatives, the cultural underpinnings of these efforts, and the new “definitions” for an idea whose time is long overdue. By Martin C. Pedersen- Metropolis Magazine |
Updating the Mosque for the 21st Century: A new generation of Muslim builders and designers, as well as non-Muslims designing for Muslim groups, often in Europe or North America, are...sparking not just a hugely creative period in Islamic design, but one riven by controversy. -- Zaynep Fadillioglu; Hasan-Uddin Khan; Alen Jasarevic; Omar Khalidi; Paul Böhm; Tan Kok Hiang/orum Architects; Waterstudio.NL; Ergün Erkoçu [links]- Malaysia Today |
National Park Service warns of flaws in design plan: ...proposed changes to the center of San Francisco's Presidio..."threatens the historic character and integrity of the Main Post...never conceived of as a pedestrian mall or plaza"...Fisher's proposed...museum would be appropriate only if it is reduced in size and scale. By John King -- WRNS Studio- San Francisco Chronicle |
A report from Coachella: temporary architecture, notes on camp: ...pavilions straddled the line between architecture and installation art...the growing prominence of temporary structures in a world suddenly drained of capital...Coachella...seemed to be sketching a loose blueprint for young architects to follow. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Ball-Nogues Studio; Gerard Minakawa; Do LaB [images, slide show]- Los Angeles Times |
What has Prince Charles given architecture? ...it is worth asking if the Prince's actions achieved their aim of bettering British building design. I happen to believe that Prince Charles was — and is — wrong on architecture in almost every respect...architects and developers...need to understand why people pay attention to this self-confessed “ignorant amateur.” By Rowan Moore -- Rogers Stirk Harbour; Quinlan Terry; John Simpson [images, links]- Evening Standard (UK) |
The Big Question: Why is Prince Charles angry about a development at Chelsea Barracks? ...architecture is an art, and a civil act of faith. It's about developers making money, too. In a public setting, it should never be about a singular obsession that casts doubt on public processes. By Jay Merrick -- Rogers Stirk Harbour; Quinlan Terry- Independent (UK) |
Culture Wars: Only Prince Charles can save us from the wretched 'starchitects': ...the only one fighting our corner...Let's have a referendum. Let's see what the public wants - one of the Prince of Wales's "derivative" neo-classical buildings, or something that looks like the back-yard smoking area of a 1960s hospital. Let the people decide. By Ed West -- Richard Rogers; Norman Foster- Telegraph (UK) |
Peter Zumthor is designing his first project in the UK, a residential building in Devon which will be part of the forthcoming Living Architecture project...will be made available for members of the public to rent on a weekly basis. -- MVRDV; Hopkins; Nord Architecture; JVA; Alain de Botton [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Shortlist for the BCSE Industry Awards 2009 announced: ...highlights best of UK school design and construction -- Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; GM+AD Architects; Haverstock Associates; Nicholas Hare Architects; Penoyre & Prasad Architects; etc.- British Council for School Environments |
Op-Ed: Designing the New Public/Private Model: Greater government involvement in design can be an opportunity - if done correctly. That requires architects to be to be at the table from the beginning. By Peter Schubert, AIA- ArchNewsNow |
|
-- Herzog & de Meuron: TEA / Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
-- Herzog & de Meuron: Plaza de España, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands |
|
|
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