Today’s News - Thursday, September 10, 2009
• Ouroussoff x 2: he has some good things to say about new Atlantic Yards arena design, but "it still falls short of the high architectural standards set by the design the city was originally promised.
• He is most disappointed in diminishing size of Nouvel's MoMA tower, "one of the most enchanting skyscraper designs of recent memory may well be lost" because of a mentality that "risks transforming a living city into an urban mausoleum."
• Rosenbaum's "MoMA Monster Update."
• Hawthorne gives a guarded thumbs-up to new school on the old Ambassador Hotel site in L.A.: it "turns a friendly and upbeat face" to the neighborhood with "a Creamsicle-colored fresh start."
• Micro-climates take root in two Brooklyn garbage dumps (hopefully open to the public soon).
• U.K.'s 10:10 initiative: "It's not perfect," but it's "far better thought out than your typical green campaign and it offers plenty that businesses can, and should, be endorsing."
• Flaws in LEED have San Francisco rethinking rules that are tied to the older guidelines.
• More on new risks and limited solutions when it comes to delivering on green projects: "failed projects are starting to wash up in court."
• EPA's newest tool: MyEnvironment offers community environmental statistics; similarly, San Francisco launches Data SF.
• Change a bulb, save a bird.
• Two European companies turning softwoods hard could reduce the demand for unsustainably logged tropical hardwoods.
• Some interesting applications for running electric current from tree power.
• Hollis on how/why buildings change: "It is not building new ones, but rebuilding other people's buildings that is, perhaps the most urgent and difficult challenge that faces the architects of the future."
• An eyeful of Levete's 10 Hills Place, which "demonstrates the same experimental spirit shown by her former practice, Future Systems."
• An eyeful of the shortlisted proposals to "revamp and reinvigorate" an old London gasholder into a lively public space.
• Meanwhile, an industrial archaeologist calls for a re-think of plans to demolish a 70-year-old Liverpool gasholder could be preserved and used for other purposes. - Woodman's amusing take on the Carbuncle Cup winners and why they won (he should know - he was on the jury).
• Call for entries: ENYA's HB:BX Building Cultural Infrastructure: The High Bridge International Ideas Competition (site goes live tonight!).
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New Atlantic Yards Design Draws From the Old: ...has restored some of the ideas of Frank Gehry...But it still falls short of the high architectural standards set by the design the city was originally promised. By Nicolai Ouroussoff -- Ellerbe Becket; SHoP Architects [images]- New York Times |
Off With Its Top! City Cuts Tower to Size: Does Manhattan have a future as a great metropolis? ...one of the most enchanting skyscraper designs of recent memory, may well be lost because some people worry that nothing in our current age can measure up to the past. It is a mentality that...risks transforming a living city into an urban mausoleum. By Nicolai Ouroussoff [images]- New York Times |
MoMA Monster Update: City Planning Downsizes Nouvel’s Tower (but it’s still too tall)...NY City Planning Commission...voted in favor of the MoMA/Hines tower...with one major modification: Designs must be resubmitted to comply with the commission's stipulation that the height of the tower be reduced by 200 feet, to 1,050 feet. By Lee Rosenbaum- ArtsJournal |
The school on the old Ambassador Hotel site offers an education in L.A. sociopolitics: Loss of Myron Hunt's 1921 building is still lamented. What's opening in its place is trying hard to be part of the neighborhood, while conceding here and there to its tumultuous history. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Gonzalez Goodale Architects [images]- Los Angeles Times |
A Wooded Prairie Springs From a Site Once Piled High With Garbage: Across 400 acres in Brooklyn that served as landfills — parcels that are still listed as toxic waste sites — 33,000 trees and shrubs and a variety of grasses are taking root...the Fountain Avenue Landfill and the neighboring Pennsylvania Avenue Landfill... -- Andropogon Associates [slide show]- New York Times |
10:10 – publicity stunt or game changer? Should businesses support the high-profile campaign to cut emissions by 10% during 2010?...It's not perfect, but 10:10 is far better thought out than your typical green campaign and it offers plenty that businesses can, and should, be endorsing.- BusinessGreen.com (Uk0 |
Green buildings standard seen as flawed: Revelations that many buildings certified as [LEED] green...are not performing as well as predicted recently prompted changes to the program and are forcing San Francisco officials to consider amending city rules that are tied to the older guidelines.- San Francisco Chronicle |
Eco-Design Risks: The gray in green: ...as sustainable design and construction gains momentum, project teams are facing new risks and finding limited solutions...Limited contract vehicles, few targeted insurance programs, and a lack of legal precedents have left companies scrambling for answers...failed projects are starting to wash up in court.- GreenSource Magazine |
Government 2.0: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) MyEnvironment: ...aggregates maps and data and presents community environmental statistics...Other e-Government applications presented. [links]- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Red Light. Green light: Preventing bird collisions may be as easy as switching bulbs...European researchers have come up with a surprisingly simple solution: green light bulbs...could eventually be installed on all North Sea rigs...there are plenty of other good places to put them. Airports, highways, and other lighted structures that wreak havoc on bird populations...a solution that’s far more likely to succeed than asking the world to flip the “off” switch.- Conservation magazine |
Hard act to follow: Making softwoods more durable could reduce the demand for unsustainably logged tropical hardwoods: ...an environmentally friendly way of making softwood harder and more durable — something that Norwegian company Kebony has now achieved...similar to that of a firm based in the Netherlands called Titan Wood.- The Economist (UK) |
Really green power - running an electric circuit from trees: Sure, there isn’t much electrical power to harness, but the researchers [at University of Washington] say it should be enough to run wireless sensors that could be used to detect environmental conditions or forest fires and could also be used to gauge a tree’s health.- Gizmag (Australia) |
Built to change: Most buildings pass like folk tales down the generations, growing richer with each retelling...At the Edinburgh festival...in the discourse of architecture, all buildings, in order to remain beautiful, must not change; and all buildings, in order not to change, must aspire to the condition of the monument...Most of the masterpieces of architecture are nothing like their masters intended them to be... By Edward Hollis -- Germaine Greer; Peter Clegg- Guardian (UK) |
10 Hills Place, London by Amanda Levete/AL_A: ...demonstrates the same experimental spirit shown by her former practice, Future Systems [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Five firms vie to revamp King's Cross gasholder: AJ reveals practices shortlisted in the competition to ‘revamp and reinvigorate’ a redundant gasholder in London. -- Bell Phillips & Kimble; Feix & Merlin; Gustafson Porter; Hakes Associates; Loop Architecture [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Liverpool landmark demolition: ...has prompted an expert to call for a re-think over the future of the landmark buildings...Beaufort Street Gasholder in Liverpool has dominated the skyline for more than seventy years...could be preserved and converted to be used for other purposes.- Click Liverpool (UK) |
Carbuncle Cup: the ugliest buildings in Britain: Architects run for cover when [it] is handed out...We are surrounded by monuments to the laziness, vanity and sheer ineptitude of bad architects; they form the stage set of our lives and – as long as there are clients happy to pay for dross and planners ready to grant it permission – one from which there is no escape. By Ellis Woodman -- Building Design/BD; Dyer Associates; Make Architects; Hamilton Architects [images]- Telegraph (UK) |
Call for entries: HB:BX Building Cultural Infrastructure: The High Bridge International Ideas Competition; open to all emerging professionals who have completed their education at the undergraduate or graduate level within 10 years of the competition announcement; registration deadline: November 18- Emerging New York Architects (AIANY ENYA) |
WORDS THAT BUILD Tip #18: Introduce Words that "Float" into the Flow of Communications with Clients: Replace prescriptive words and phrases "etched in stone" with language reflecting a collaborative project in flux. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Steven Holl Architects: HEART, Herning Museum of Contemporary Art, Herning, Denmark
-- Renzo Piano Building Workshop: La Rocca winery, Gavorrano (Grosseto), Italy |
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