Today’s News - Tuesday, October 20, 2009
• London mayor in hot water with architects and local authorities over view framework and affordable housing proposals.
• Stirling stories (part deux): Dyckhoff talks to the "bête noir of the Prince of Wales" about his "difficult year."
• Moore on modern vs. traditional and the prize: "a message is coming through from the public, to which architects should pay attention...What is wanted is charm" (take heed, Lord Rogers).
• Booth wonders if the Stirling really ignores the public (or is it that very few traditional projects are even entered?).
• Hume wonders "will the blunders never cease" as the city sells the soul of one of Toronto's "exuberant landmarks" for a condo tower that's nowhere near a masterpiece.
• Bentley Mays bemoans Ritz-Carlton's missed opportunity to add a daring design to Toronto's skyline: it's great to have another 5-star hotel, but "what the city needs now is more five-star design."
• Chicago gears up for its own version of an elevated High Line park (hopefully).
• Lifson does a Q&A with Balkany re: his efforts to save the threatened Gropius buildings of Chicago's Michael Reese Hospital complex (things aren't looking too promising).
• Another excellent team added to the Columbia River Crossing project, this time for a "cap" over an interstate to tie Fort Vancouver historic site to downtown.
• Swedes win Pier Galway harbor ideas competition with a Sky Pier described by the judges as a "compelling architectural image" (comments say otherwise).
• A new American International School in Israel gets high marks: "Despite the international character, the atmosphere at the school is purely American; it seems to have been copied from some TV series" (meant as a compliment, we think).
• Campbell waxes poetic about how much architects can learn by playing golf (we kid you not, and we won't be picking up a nine iron any time soon).
• ASLA's Sustainable Sites Initiative wins a Green Business Award.
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London Plan: view framework and social housing proposals draws fire: Boris Johnson’s draft London View Management Framework...slammed by local authorities worried it will hinder redevelopment...spells bad news for architects focused on social housing. The Mayor has proposed to cut affordable housing targets...- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Richard Rogers - building from the heart: Fresh from winning the Stirling Prize, the great architect and bete noir of the Prince of Wales talks about his “difficult year”...Stirling win has nothing to do with the Prince or, indeed, Rogers...This year the winner wasn’t the architect at all. It was the building. It was Maggie’s. By Tom Dyckhoff -- Rogers Stirk Harbour- The Times (UK) |
Lord Rogers - the star architect who failed to charm Chelsea: ...traditional buildings don't even get close to being on the Stirling Prize shortlist...It looks like a clear case...of professional elites trampling on the wishes of the public. It isn't, exactly...a message is coming through from the public, to which architects should pay attention...What is wanted is charm. By Rowan Moore -- Robert Adam; Rogers Stirk Harbour- Evening Standard (UK) |
Stirling Architecture prize 'ignores public': All six shortlisted entries...are based on contemporary designs, but a YouGov survey showed that more than three-quarters of the public prefer traditional buildings...alleged bias towards contemporary architecture was explained by the fact that very few traditional buildings were entered... By Robert Booth -- Robert Adam; Richard Rogers; Adjaye Associates; Dixon Jones; Tony Fretton; Dimitri Porphyrious- Guardian (UK) |
Architectural jewel goes straight to L: It's not pretty watching a city destroy itself, not even when we're told destruction is something to celebrate. Welcome to Toronto...One day it's the Sony Centre, the next it could be Toronto Hydro. Who knows where it will end? But selling the city is no way to save the city. By Christopher Hume -- Peter Dickinson (1960); Daniel Libeskind- Toronto Star |
A high rise for high society: The new Ritz-Carlton will certainly make a luxurious home, but an opportunity for daring design has been missed...with all the computer toys now available...why aren't we seeing more evidence of formal innovation in the tall buildings going up all around us? By John Bentley Mays -- Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Railbed Redux: Design work on Bloomingdale Trail begins. Chicago is set to transform an overgrown 2.7-mile railroad trestle into a new public park. -- Arup; Michael Van Valkenburgh; Ross Barney Architects; Burns & McDonnell- The Architect's Newspaper |
Q&A: Preservationist Grahm Balkany on Chicago’s Threatened Gropius Buildings: It often takes a transplant to show locals what they’ve got...founded the Gropius in Chicago Coalition to try to save 37-acre Michael Reese Hospital complex. The city of Chicago, which now owns it, has other ideas. By Edward Lifson- Metropolis Magazine |
Cap Design Heals 'Cut': Portland-Seattle team beats three others in project to connect downtown, Fort Vancouver historic site...design best suited for the two-block cap proposed to cover part of Interstate 5...freeway cap would be part of the proposed $3.5 billion Columbia River Crossing project. -- Gustafson Guthrie Nichol; Allied Works Architecture [images]- The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington) |
Swedish architecture firm JM has won the Open House Centre Pier Galway harbour ideas competition...Sky Pier was described by the judges as a "compelling architectural image..." [image]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
A lesson in school design: ...Walworth Barbour American International School in Even Yehuda...Although...constructed with an unusually large budget, there's no doubt that it shows what can be done to design green and enriching school environments... -- Plesner Architects; Haim Dotan; H2L2- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
Don’t roll your eyes: Architects can learn a lot by playing golf: ...golf is spatial. Your architectural skills come into play. You’re always figuring distances, angles, slopes, textures, winds...You’re a kind of land surveyor...Landscape isn’t just there, it matters. By Robert Campbell -- Capability Brown; Reed, Hilderbrand; Hoerr Schaudt; Dan Kiley- Architectural Record |
Sustainable Sites Initiative wins Washington Business Journal’s Green Business Award for Education / Outreach...a national endeavor to create the first rating system for eco-friendly landscaping projects — or basically a new version of the USGBC’s LEED for green, open spaces. -- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA); U.S. Botanic Garden; Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center [links]- Washington Business Journal |
Market Research Strategies in Uncertain Times #4: Client Research - The Secret to Turning Prospects into Clients: If you carry on a dialog from an informed position, you will project confidence and immediately earn a position of trust. By Frances Gretes- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Studio Daniel Libeskind: Michael Lee-Chin Crystal, Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), Toronto, Canada
-- Alberto Campo Baeza: Olnick Spanu House, Garrison, New York |
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