Today’s News - Wednesday, March 24, 2010
• A study of sustainable commercial buildings should give architects some good ammunition to convince clients to go for the green.
• Duany minces no words about Scotland's planning system: "The quality of delivery of housing in this country is in crisis and it is not for lack of talent...anything good has become illegal."
• Bezalel School of Arts and Design has big plans for a new campus in downtown Jerusalem.
• Portland, OR, has big plans to revive a neighborhood that also includes shelter and services for its homeless people (with little protest to boot).
• In London, Piano's "baby Shard" (finally) gets underway.
• An eyeful of Snøhetta's Virginia Tech Center for the Arts, set to redefine downtown Blacksburg.
• Litt cheers a win-win for Case Western and a "beloved but aging and underused" iconic Cleveland synagogue.
• Gloomy news for Rudolph's Chorley School: aside from a small cadre of preservationists, the superintendent hears nothing good about the building (and "renovation is out of the question").
• A photographer sneaks into the "fabulous mansion" Steve Jobs is about to demolish (you can almost smell the rot).
• San Francisco's mayor is taking urban farming very, very seriously; a benefit beyond healthful food: a more beautiful landscape.
• After 25 years of "planning and parsimony," NYC's Brooklyn Bridge Park finally opens, and things are looking up for Governors Island (our fingers are crossed!).
• Hume cheers a new, direct path to Toronto's "quiet but powerful" Ireland Park that "was almost impossible to find...let alone reach. Surely, a park that can't be accessed is no park at all."
• A derelict area beneath Toronto's Don Lands overpasses will soon be transformed into "a delightful urban patch" (and undoubtedly easier to find).
• Saffron on Bohlin's "iOpener" in NYC, his influence on the future of retail design, and how it "probably helped him triumph over two superstars" for his AIA Gold Medal win.
• A Cornell study tracks the most photographed landmarks in the world (Bohlin's Apple Store cube is 28th).
• Stroik avoids "ersatz-traditional schlock" in his designs for two new churches.
• James Beard Foundation lauds 3 restaurant designers for their good taste.
• A startup says it can use carbon dioxide to make cement; high hopes it work on a mass scale, but skeptics have their doubts.
• Call for entries: Land Art Generator Initiative international competition to combine aesthetics with clean energy generation across the UAE.
• We couldn't resist: "The End of Publishing" video with a frontward/backward message (it sure made our day a bit brighter).
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Do green buildings make dollars and sense? ...the largest study of sustainable commercial buildings of its kind...Expectations, experiences and attitudes toward sustainability play an important role in tenants winning corporate support for an occupied space, with improved recruitment, retention and, especially, increased productivity being key factors.- Sustainable Industries |
Scots planning system is in crisis, warns US architect: ...designer behind proposals to build about 7,000 homes on the northern outskirts of Aberdeen goes on the defensive...“The quality of delivery of housing in this country is in crisis and it is not for lack of talent...anything good has become illegal.” -- Andres Duany- Aberdeen Press and Journal |
Bezalel School of Arts and Design to build new downtown Jerusalem campus: The design is meant to encourage 24 hour interaction between students and the general public. -- STUDYO Architects- The Jewish Journal of Greater L.A. |
Reviving a Poor Neighborhood for Its Inhabitants: Far from being gentrified, a Portland, Ore., neighborhood is being renovated to provide shelter and services for homeless people...The Resource Access Center, a $47 million complex...is the focal point of a 10-year plan to end homelessness here. -- Holst Architecture- New York Times |
New London Bridge Bus Station could be ready by mid-2012: ...Renzo Piano has made further changes to the design of his 'Gem' building...dubbed the 'baby Shard', permission for a large office development was first granted in 2006...revised scheme was approved...despite misgivings about its less "sexy" design. [image]- London SE1 |
Design plans for Virginia Tech's $89 million Center for the Arts set; construction to begin later this year: ...will help redefine downtown Blacksburg and shape the performing and visual arts environment throughout the region. -- Snøhetta; STV Architects; Arup; Theatre Projects Consultants [slide show, links]- Virginia Tech News |
Maltz Family Foundation donates $12 million to CWRU to let school, synagogue share Temple-Tifereth Israel...a beloved but aging and underused icon, will soon start a new double life as a performing arts center for Case Western Reserve University and as a place of worship...obviates the school's need to build a $100 million arts center of its own...jumped at the chance to renovate the temple instead. By Steven Litt -- Charles Greco (1924)- Cleveland Plain Dealer |
Chorley School 'self-destructing' piece of history: Middletown superintendent, preservationists at odds over fate of building...aside from a small cadre of people opposed to the project, he hears nothing good about the building...renovation is out of the question... -- Paul Rudolph- Times Herald-Record (Middletown, NY) |
House Porn of the Day: The Fabulous Mansion Steve Jobs Will Demolish: ...Spanish Colonial Revival home with 30 rooms, 14 bedrooms and 13 1/2 bathrooms..."one of the biggest abominations of a house I've ever seen"...He's not kidding about the rot. -- George Washington Smith (1926) [images]- Silicon Alley Insider |
Mayor's agriculture plan soon to bear fruit: Vegetable gardens will soon be sprouting in unlikely places throughout San Francisco...to reshape how San Franciscans think about food and choose what to eat...Newsom remains adamant there are long-term benefits to urban agriculture...a benefit beyond healthful food: a more beautiful landscape.- San Francisco Chronicle |
Safe Harbor: ...after a quarter-century of planning and parsimony, Brooklyn Bridge Park finally opened....the state announced it would be cancelling its power-sharing deal with the city for the park, with a similar deal in the works...for the proposed park on Governors Island. -- Michael Van Valkenburgh; West 8; Rogers Marvel; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Quennell Rothschild; SMWM; Arup [images, links]- The Architect's Newspaper |
It’s a long way to Ireland Park: The city had never seen anything quite like this quiet but powerful memorial to Irish immigrants...There was only one problem: It was almost impossible to find...let alone reach...But this week, the city was suddenly “proud to announce the opening of a direct path...a revealing illustration of how the city works...Surely, a park that can’t be accessed is no park at all. By By Christopher Hume -- Jonathan Kearns/Kearns Mancini Architects [images]- Toronto Star |
Underpass park a key step in Don Lands transformation: ...will transform a derelict area beneath a series of overpasses...into a 2.5-acre park, a first of its type in Toronto..."takes full advantage of the existing site’s eccentricities and its free-for-the-taking weather protection, transforming something that might otherwise be incidental into a delightful urban patch"... -- Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg; The Planning Partnership [image]- Daily Commercial News (Canada) |
Old-school architect creates an iOpener: Peter Bohlin has designed many impressive buildings...But nothing has captured the public imagination like the Cube. His work for Apple...probably helped him triumph over two superstars, Thom Mayne and Adrian Smith, to win this year's gold medal from the American Institute of Architects...the broad appeal of Bohlin's Apple designs suggests that our common retail spaces may be what set the design agenda in the future. By Inga Saffron -- Bohlin Cywinski Jackson- Philadelphia Inquirer |
NYC's new landmark: The Apple Store: It's the Big Apple's fifth most-photographed location, according to a Cornell study...and the 28th most photographed landmark in the world. -- Bohlin Cywinski Jackson [link to study]- Fortune magazine |
A Return to Grace: Two new churches designed by Duncan Stroik avoid the modern designs and ersatz-traditional schlock of recent years and return to a more traditional Roman Catholic architecture...employ a complex high-classical architectural vocabulary. But they resonate in very different ways... -- Duncan G. Stroik Architect; Michael Swinghamer/River Architects [slide show]- Wall Street Journal |
James Beard Foundation Lauds Restaurant Designers for Their Good Taste -- John Bielenberg/Project M; Andre Kikoski Architect; Evan Douglis Studio [images, links]- Fast Company |
Mixing In Some Carbon: Calera says it has found a way to capture carbon dioxide by using it to make cement, but skeptics have doubts...If it works on a mass scale...could turn carbon into gold...it is still not clear that the process can be used on a large scale or that anyone will buy the cement it makes.- New York Times |
Call for entries: Land Art Generator Initiative: international design competition for a series of land art installations across the UAE that uniquely combine aesthetics with clean energy generation; deadline: June 4- Studied Impact |
The Future of Publishing: “The End of Publishing” video...frontward/backward message...it made our day a bit brighter- Penguin |
INSIGHT: Iconic Architecture in the Digital Age: New technologies are helping to transform architectural surfaces far beyond the traditional canons of architecture. By Carlos Ferré- ArchNewsNow |
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Herzog & de Meuron: VitraHaus, Weil am Rhein, Germany |
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