Today’s News - Tuesday, December 1, 2009
• Aligning sustainability and historic preservation: retrofitting existing buildings is a vital strategy in the battle against climate change.
• Krier bemoans NIMBYism and overdevelopment: "There's no hope for very large cities": could a "2012" apocalypse help? (how's that for cheering up his San Diego hosts, though he did manage some compliments).
• Walker offers up an eyeful of the "revolutionary convergence of starchitects" creating "a jackpot of contemporary architecture" in Las Vegas readying for its close-up this week.
• Hume cheers Safdie's plan for a "Queens Quay jewel": it's "the best thing to have been proposed for Toronto's long-neglected harbor lands in decades."
• Kamin x 2: he's not so cheery about Chicago's Block 37 mall: "Despite some good urban design strokes, Block 37's curse lives on"
• He does cheer the demolition of Mies's Test Cell building: "Must we save every scrap of a great architect's work, as if it were a musical doodle from Mozart?"
• Rochon makes the best of being stuck in Frankfurt's airport by musing on others that avoid "terminal frustration."
• In Melbourne, the transformation of a rusting railway shed turns a deteriorating steel and brick hulk into a modern - and very green - building.
• Davidson finds that "despite the laconic elegance" of the new U.S. Mission to the U.N., it is "made for a lethal world" broadcasting "a primitive mixture of toughness and fear."
• Neighbors cheer as plans for Chicago's Three Arts Club to house ashes of the dead are scrapped (but they might not be any happier with other proposals).
• Could Oakland Museum of California's retrofit usher in a Brutalist revival?
• Calatrava's Peace Bridge is under-budget and underway; despite value engineering, he says his overall vision "remains unaltered."
• A good reason to head to New Orleans next week: DesCours 2009.
• We couldn't resist: people see red when easyJet uses Eisenman's Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe for a fashion shoot (whatever where they thinking?!!?); and Pentagram's Bierut offers up "The Lazy Designer's Guide to Success" (take heed!).
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INSIGHT: Alignment: Sustainability and Historic Preservation: Retrofitting existing buildings is a vital strategy for significantly reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions globally. To many, it is THE strategy. By Elaine Gallagher Adams, AIA, LEED AP- ArchNewsNow |
No easy answers: Renowned architect makes salient observations but offers few solutions...for the long list of other urban conundrums facing San Diego, and in fact, he seemed to welcome a “2012”-type cataclysm that would wipe out all bad development so we could rebuild properly, particularly along the classical lines he favors...“There’s no hope for very large cities” ... -- Léon Krier; Howard Blackson; Jonathan Segal; Teddy Cruz; Andrew Spurlock; Alan Rosenblum- San Diego Union-Tribune |
The Star-Studded Design of Vegas' $8.5 Billion CityCenter: ...a revolutionary convergence of starchitects...who worked together to create a cohesive vision for what might be Vegas' first walkable, urban development...a jackpot of contemporary architecture. By Alissa Walker -- Gensler; Rafael Viñoly; Daniel Libeskind; David Rockwell; Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Pelli Clarke Pelli; Foster + Partners; Helmut Jahn [images, links]- Fast Company |
Famed architect unveils plan for Queens Quay jewel: A warning to all those who complain nothing ever happens on Toronto's waterfront: Moshe Safdie is designing a major mixed-use complex...it's the best thing to have been proposed for Toronto's long-neglected harbour lands in decades. By Christopher Hume [images]- Toronto Star |
Block 37 mall design falls short despite smart urban touches; shopping center improves on the vertical mall model, but its architecture wilts alongside muscular neighbors...if the stalled CTA superstation ever opens, things could really take off. But that remains a big "if." By Blair Kamin -- Ralph Johnson; Grant Uhlir/Gensler- Chicago Tribune |
A little less Mies will be more for IIT: Here's a sentence I never thought I would write: It was good to see the demolition crews pulling down the [Test Cell] building by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe...Must we save every scrap of a great architect's work, as if it were a musical doodle from Mozart? By Blair Kamin -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [images]- Chicago Tribune |
Terminal Frustration: How did we land here? Airports were once conceived as beacons of the future. Now, they seem designed to impede the traveller and offend the eye...some thumbnail observations... light-filled, guilt-free shopping cathedrals...In the meantime, I'm flying clear of Frankfurt. By Lisa Rochon -- Eero Saarinen; Renzo Piano; Moshe Safdie/Pentagram Design; Foster + Partners; Arne Jacobsen; Kisho Kurokawa- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Rusting railway shed now a green showcase: ...restoring the 120-year-old No. 2 Goods Shed in Docklands. This was no ordinary upgrade. It was about turning a rusting and deteriorating steel and brick hulk...into a modern building with a five-star environmental rating, and ensuring its long-term commercial future. -- Elenberg Fraser- The Age (Australia) |
The Keep: America’s medieval new U.N. mission: ...new United States Mission to the United Nations is made for a lethal world...Despite the laconic elegance of its composition...broadcasts a primitive mixture of toughness and fear...a nod to openness...a glass-walled lobby with an attractively wavy canopy. By Justin Davidson -- Gwathmey Siegel [image]- New York Magazine |
Group scraps plan to house ashes of the dead at Three Arts Club: ...Many critics of the proposal “are celebrating” the decision...It’s unclear whether Gold Coast residents will be any more receptive to other ideas... -- Holabird & Roche (1912); Bill Bickford/DePree Bickford Associates- Crain's Chicago Business |
Oakland’s Brutal Lover: In the future, will there be a Brutalist Revival?...the Oakland Museum of California is getting ready to usher in a Brutalist appreciation. Or at least a bit of nostalgia...undergoing the first phase of a $58 million retrofit and will reopen in May 2010...Berkeley Art Museum lost its new home...the fate of the 1970 Mario Ciampi building, another Brutalist classic, is undetermined. -- Kevin Roche/Eero Saarinen (1969); Mark Cavagnero Associates; Toyo Ito [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Santiago Calatrava's Peace Bridge: Underbudget and Underway: "Although slight modifications have been made to the design, my overall vision for the Peace Bridge remains unaltered...I am confident that in its revised state, the [bridge] maintains and reflects this vision." [image]- Canada NewsWire (CNW) |
DesCours 2009: A week-long, contemporary architecture and art event that explores the latest in design and technology...in and around New Orleans courtyards, rooftops, walkways, and building lobbies within the French Quarter and historic Central Business District - December 7-13- AIA New Orleans |
The Banality of Fashion: Peter Eisenman’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin has seen its fair share of controversies over the years, but it doesn’t get much worse than a fashion shoot for an in-flight magazine. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
The Lazy Designer’s Guide to Success: Facetiously positioning himself as a "lazy" designer, Michael Bierut shares his seven steps to success...Don’t reinvent the wheel [Part 2]: Rotate the tires instead...Steal...Make other people do the work... -- Pentagram- Azure magazine (Canada) |
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-- Exhibition: "Donald Judd: Furniture," Sebastian + Barquet, New York, NY
-- Books: "Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture" and "Why Architecture Matters" by Paul Goldberger |
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