Today’s News - Monday, May 24, 2010
• ArcSpace brings us an eyeful of Centre Pompidou-Metz.
• Hawthorne has an early review of LACMA's newest pavilion: it "may not be among Piano's finest work," but it's a "smart, reserved, reconfigurable museum building destined for a lifetime of being just the slightest bit under-appreciated."
• Esplund minces no words, in almost novella form, about relocating the Barnes: the move is "fueled by ignorance and avarice, not altruism," and replicating the galleries "will be through a Frankenstein's monster-like revivification."
• Moore weighs in on 10 years of Serpentine pavilions, and muses on "which have best stood the test of time."
• Forgey finds much to admire in Gehry's Eisenhower memorial: it "shows some powerful features," but parts need some re-thinking.
• Kamin x 2: Chicago's Burnham Memorial is approved, but $5 million might "be better spent on areas of the lakefront with more pressing need."
• He thinks worst fears about new Wrigleyville project are unfounded, but it "still needs tweaks" and hopes it will "respect the neighborhood's edgy vitality."
• Saffron x 2: she apologizes to EwingCole for "trashing their Family Court building" in Philly: "It's not the designers' fault," it was politics. "Architecture was an afterthought."
• She has a lot to say about the "fragile foundation of Philadelphia's parks policy."
• Lewis suggests D.C. could learn a lot from NYC about transforming obsolete infrastructure when it comes to planning for Dupont Circle trolley tunnel project.
• Kennicott has no kind words for what's becoming of many storefront windows that should - but don't - add to a neighborhood's walkability factor.
• Moore bemoans U.K.'s missed opportunity when it comes to school design; even some RIBA winners struggled "against the odds to achieve beauty and quality."
• High hopes for a new Newark Visitors Center, but whether it's built is yet to be seen.
• LEED-Platinum for NYC's BoA tower at One Bryant Park (its theater nets LEED Gold).
• Jacobs journeys to MIT's Media Lab and discovers that "the era of the computer screen may be over" (that's a good thing).
• NYC picks winner to paint pedestrian plazas at the "crossroads of the world" ("cool water" included).
• New Practices New York biennial competition winners (future starchitects?).
• An eyeful of what's just moored on the Fourth Plinth in London's Trafalgar Square (great pix).
• Rossellini explores the seduction tactics bugs and other things in "Seduce Me," premiering tomorrow on the Sundance Channel (we love watching her "Green Porno" re-runs, too!).
• Call for Session Proposals: 2011 New Partners for Smart Growth Conference.
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Shigeru Ban/Jean de Gastines: Centre Pompidou-Metz, Metz, France |
Renzo Piano's Resnick Pavilion a reserved LACMA presence: The $54-million building may not be among Piano's finest work, but graceful details and a sensibility to let the artwork take the spotlight make it a fine achievement...a smart, reserved, reconfigurable museum building destined for a lifetime of being just the slightest bit under-appreciated. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Robert Irwin- Los Angeles Times |
No Museum Left Behind: The relocation of the Barnes Foundation to downtown Philadelphia is fueled by ignorance and avarice, not altruism....While the new Barnes’s galleries will supposedly replicate the scale, proportion, and configuration of the existing galleries, it will be through a Frankenstein’s monster-like revivification. By Lance Esplund- The Weekly Standard |
Ten years of the Serpentine's star pavilions: The summer pavilions, by the world's most celebrated architects, are a highlight of the UK's cultural year. But which have best stood the test of time? By Rowan Moore -- Zaha Hadid; Daniel Liebeskind; Arup; Toyo Ito; Oscar Niemeyer; MVRDV; Alvaro Siza/Eduardo Souto de Moura; Rem Koolhaas; Olafur Eliasson/Kjetil Thorsen/Snøhetta; Frank Gehry; SANAA; Jean Nouvel [images, links]- Observer (UK) |
Gehry on Eisenhower: The brilliant architect is delivering a major memorial to the great general. The proposal shows some powerful features, but the battle is far from over. By Benjamin Forgey [images]- Washington Business Journal |
Chicago Plan Commission approves Burnham Memorial on Museum Campus: It's a stirring design, but...the $5 million that will go to construct the memorial would be better spent on areas of the lakefront with more pressing needs... By Blair Kamin --David Woodhouse Architects [image, links]- Chicago Tribune |
Wrigleyville project is no mall invasion; foes' worst fears are unfounded, but planned Addison Park on Clark complex across from Wrigley Field still needs tweaks...Will the design respect the neighborhood’s edgy vitality? Or will it give us something like the banal Chicago of the North Bridge retail district, where one beige-colored, concrete-faced monstrosity lines up against another. By Blair Kamin -- Solomon Cordwell Buenz [images]- Chicago Tribune |
Where politics meets poor design: I owe the architects at EwingCole an apology for trashing their Family Court building...It's not the designers' fault...will be a mean and frosty rendition of America's most noble architectural form...It was shaped by the city's cozy insider-dominated politics. Architecture was an afterthought. By Inga Saffron [images]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
City's parks need a green transfusion: If the richest neighborhood in Philadelphia is having trouble supporting the park that serves as its front lawn...just imagine the situation in other parts of the city. The blowup in Rittenhouse Square...has exposed the fragile foundation of Philadelphia's parks policy. By Inga Saffron- Philadelphia Inquirer |
D.C. could learn a lot from N.Y. on transforming obsolete infrastructure: Taking a cue from New York's High Line, the District instead should more deliberatively pursue the trolley tunnel project as a public-private collaboration...Otherwise, successful tunnel transformation is improbable, and this aging piece of infrastructure will be destined to sit fallow for several more decades. By Roger K. Lewis- Washington Post |
It's plain to see that storefront windows are a smudge of what they used to be: ...there is a new breed of window in town...covered over from the moment a new retail store moves in. These blank eyes...typify how good design intentions often crash on the shoals of commerce and pragmatism. By Philip Kennicott -- api (+) [images]- Washington Post |
Architecture awards: Schools win the prizes - but has a chance been missed? Despite massive investment by Labour, a legacy of fine educational design has not been created...[RIBA awards] list shows a relative handful of projects, most of them struggling against the odds to achieve beauty and quality. By Rowan Moore- Observer (UK) |
AIA-New Jersey - in a stiff design competition with nearly 200 entries from 31 countries - just selected a prototype Newark Visitors Center, complete with bike rentals, a cafe, auditorium and tour-bus stop...Whether a Newark center will rise is yet to be seen... -- Di Domenico + Partners [image]- The Star-Ledger (New Jersey) |
Bank of America Tower gets top green-building rating: 54-story, 2.1 million-square-foot tower earns first LEED-Platinum honor: designed to use two-thirds less power, save 7.7M gallons of water and please more tenants...includes the newly-opened LEED-Gold certified Stephen Sondheim Theatre...originally built as Henry Miller's Theatre in 1918, and is now the first “green” theater on Broadway. -- Cook + Fox Architects- Crain's New York Business |
Screened Out: It took a trip to MIT’s new media lab to realize that the era of the computer screen may be over...made me optimistic...we’re approaching a point where technology can inhabit an environment without overwhelming it. If that’s so, then maybe we’ve also reached some sort of screen apogee, and we might, one of these days, start getting rid of them. By Karrie Jacobs -- Fumihiko Maki- Metropolis Magazine |
The New Times Square Unveiled: NYC has chosen local artist Molly Dilworth to paint the five pedestrian plazas at Times Square and Herald Square....topped some 150 competitors to win...the honor of having “Cool Water, Hot Island” installed at the “crossroads of the world” beginning in July... [slide show]- WNYC.org |
New Practices on the Block: New Practices New York juried portfolio...biennial competition, sponsored by the AIA New York...has quickly become one of NYC’s most important launching pads for architects who have been in practice for less than five years -- Easton+Combs; Archipelagos; Leong Leong; Manifold; SOFTlab; SO-IL; Tacklebox [links]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Victory launches with a lot of bottle: A replica of Lord Nelson's ship Victory, set inside a giant bottle and made by artist Yinka Shonibare, is the latest addition to the fourth plinth in London's Trafalgar Square [slide show, links]- Guardian (UK) |
Sundance Channel And Isabella Rossellini Explore the Seduction Tactics Employed By Bugs, Fish & More In Five-Part Short Film Series "Seduce Me"...premiere on May 25 on the Sundance Channel- World-Wire |
Call for Session Proposals: 2011 New Partners for Smart Growth 10th Annual Conference, Charlotte, NC, February 3-5, 2011; deadline: June 30- Local Government Commission |
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