Today’s News - Wednesday, July 14, 2010
EDITOR'S NOTE: Just a reminder that we're three hours behind home base for the next two weeks, so newsletter will be arriving a bit later than usual.
• We lose Günter Behnisch, whose "radical modern designs...shaped the face of the new German democracy."
• Angotti on closing the "huge gap between the land use professionals...and community activists" as NYC mulls a major City Charter overhaul (issues other cities face as well).
• An in-depth review of 100 years of busts in NYC: the current bust is not the worst ("the sky has not fallen" - whew!).
• Hawthorne cheers L.A.'s Civic Park finally breaking ground: "a late-in-the-game effort" by the design team "has paid real dividends" (even though there are "some devilish details to sort out").
• Hume cheers a new ice rink proposal for Toronto's Lower Port Lands "makes all the right moves" to become "a symbol of a smart city" + it may be a "glittering, stacked four-pad ice-rink" that could transform the area - but contentious issues of cost and parking remain unresolved.
• University of Pennsylvania's Sustainable Sites Initiative pilot project will transform aging tennis courts into an urban park.
• A new Tree Museum on Lake Zurich opens today, promising to "usher in a new paradigm of architectural humility" (great pix!).
• New Seattle Army Corps HQ will make LEED Gold from Recovery Act funding.
• A good reason to head to Minneapolis next week: an impressive line-up set for the inaugural Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute conference.
• It's Nussbaum vs. Pilloton re: cultural imperialism vs. humanitarian design; Szenasy is frustrated "no end" (a most interesting debate and responses).
• A film critic gives Chicago's Modernism two thumbs down: it's "a thoughtful, if disagreeable piece, and well worth reading."
• Leadership changes at bunches of U.S. architecture schools.
• Honors well deserved: Engineers Without Borders-USA gets NBM's 2010 Turner Prize; and EBN's Alex Wilson takes 2010 Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership.
• Call for entries: Whitehaven (U.K.) Central Harbour International Open Design Competition.
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Obituary: Günter Behnisch, 88: The Man Who Gave Post-War Germany A New Face: His radical modern designs, including the Munich Olympic Stadium (1972), marked a departure from the bombastic architecture of the Nazi era and shaped the face of the new German democracy. [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Charting a Better Way for Planning and Community Boards: ...there is a huge gap between the land use professionals...and the community activists...We shouldn’t let backroom dealing trump the Uniform Land Use Review process, let zoning trump planning, or let community boards down. By Tom Angotti- Gotham Gazette (NYC) |
Like a broken record: 100 years of busts: While 'Great Recession' has been painful, other real estate downturns have hit New York City much harder...struggled more during the Great Depression, the 1970s downturn and the savings-and-loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s...In each case, Manhattan eventually came back stronger - until the next crash...the sky has not fallen.- The Real Deal (NYC) |
Civic pride shaping Civic Park: $56-million project...audaciously aims to be many things to many people - and that leaves some devilish details to sort out...a late-in-the-game effort...to give it a crisper look and strengthen its overall conceptual framework has paid real dividends...begun to assert, for the first time, a coherent aesthetic identity. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Rios Clementi Hale Studios [images]- Los Angeles Times |
New rink proposal makes all the right moves: ...the ice chips hit the fan...when Ken Greenberg quit the design team...The original scheme would have been badly at odds with the spirit and intention of the Lower Port Lands master plan; the new one takes the larger picture into account...the ice box would itself be a destination as well as a symbol of a smart city... By Christopher Hume -- RDH Architects [image]- Toronto Star |
New Port Lands plan builds up, not out: A glittering, stacked four-pad ice-rink – the first of its kind in the world – would utterly transform Toronto’s Port Lands. But at what cost?...the contentious issue of parking remains unresolved. -- Rounthwaite Dick and Hadley Architects- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Shoemaker Green: The Red and Blue Turn Grey into a Green Sustainable Site: ...project designed to turn a set of aging tennis courts into an urban park...has been selected as a pilot for the nation’s first rating system for green landscape design, construction and maintenance. The Sustainable Sites Initiative... -- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA); Andropogon Associates [image, links]- Almanac (University of Pennsylvania) |
Tree Museum, Lake Zurich: Chad Oppenheim’s Creation of Landscape Architect Enzo Enea’s New Headquarters Ushers in a New Paradigm of Architectural Humility: ...opens in Rapperswil-Jona, Switzerland on June 14. -- Enea Landscape Architecture; Oppenheim Architecture + Design [images]- e-architect (UK) |
Work to begin on Seattle Army Corps HQ: GSA is investing $72 million in Recovery Act funding to develop a state-of-the-art office building that meets the current and future needs....expected to attain LEED-Gold... -- ZGF Architects [image]- Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) |
Enterprise Launches Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute, Brings Design Excellence to Low-Income Communities Nationwide: Community development and architecture leaders to share best practices and solve real-world community design challenges...will hold the inaugural AHDLI, July 21 - 23 in Minneapolis -- Lawrence Scarpa/Pugh + Scarpa; Maurice Cox; David Baker; Julie Eizenberg/Konig Eizenberg Architecture; etc.- PR Newswire |
Why Bruce Nussbaum Needs Emily Pilloton: [Their] recent exchange...on humanitarian design frustrates me to no end. It reminds me of the age-old duel between the generations, the older one with preconceived notions of humanitarian design and cultural imperialism versus the new generation, which is bravely venturing forth to right the world their elders have wronged for so long. By Susan S. Szenasy -- Project H [links]- Metropolis Magazine |
Roger Ebert Gives Modernism Two Thumbs Down: ...he fixed his attention - and mostly scorn - on modern architecture...applauding Sullivan - and defaming Mies for denuding him...it’s still a thoughtful, if disagreeable piece, and well worth reading. [links]- The Architect's Newspaper |
U.S. Architecture Schools Announce Leadership Changes: For some institutions, the revolving door is picking up speed...Deans and other administrators have stepped down, or announced plans to, at the Art Institute of Chicago, the University of Maryland, the Cooper Union, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.), the University of Michigan... -- Wellington “Duke” Reiter; Garth Rockcastle; David Cronrath; George Campbell, Jr.; Nader Tehrani; Yung Ho Chang; John McMorrough; Tom Buresh- Architectural Record |
Douglas Steidl and Theresa Schwarz appointed to top posts at Kent State University's College of Architecture and Environmental Design. By Steven Litt -- Braun & Steidl; Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative; Steven Fong/Khoury Levit Fong- Cleveland Plain Dealer |
UC Berkeley appoints new chair of architecture: Tom J. Buresh...chair of the College of Environmental Design’s Department of Architecture... -- Guthrie + Buresh Architects- Berkeleyside (California) |
Engineers Without Borders-USA (EWB–USA) Selected for 2010 Turner Prize: National Building Museum Award Recognizes Innovation in Construction- Architect Magazine |
Alex Wilson Selected for the 2010 Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership in Sustainable Housing:
Annual $50,000 award...recognizes visionary environmental building editor, educator, and advocate...best known for launching the monthly newsletter Environmental Building News (EBN) in 1992...- EcoHome magzine |
Call for entries: Whitehaven Central Harbour International Open Design Competition: £10m mixed-use development on a prominent site; registration deadline: September 13- RIBA (UK) |
Barry Elbasani, FAIA, 1941-2010: The architect known for plans and buildings that revitalized American cities passed away last week at 69. A recent conversation with the gruff optimist and realistic urbanist about his history, inspirations, and aspirations. By Kenneth Caldwell- ArchNewsNow |
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Mikou Design Studio: Bailly School Complex, Saint-Denis, France |
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