Today’s News - Monday, October 25, 2010
• ArcSpace brings us an eyeful of BIG's 8 House in Copenhagen: it's "a three-dimensional neighborhood rather than an architectural object."
• Move over Burj Khalifa: CTBUH names a brand new, 23-story "rusting" tower in Leeds as best tall building in the world.
• Hawthorne on the growing disconnect between cheerleaders for and opponents to L.A.'s attempt to be a better connected city.
• Belfast taps Grimshaw to come up with a big plan to connect its harbor to the city center.
• Kennicott x 2: D.C. should follow Arena Stage's lead in redeveloping the area: despite "good urban design principles in much of this new development, the architectural quality of almost all these new buildings is desultory - Bing Thom's new building demands better neighbors" + "There is now a new context for everything that happens near the "brilliant" Arena: the "standard Washington mixed-use, glass-and-faux-stone box" will just not do anymore.
• Moore bemoans the slow disappearance of Samara on the Volga: it could still be "a Russian San Francisco. But it is heading rapidly towards being an assembly of developers' junk"- if "brutal developers and corrupt local officials" have their way (a sad slide show).
• One of a handful of Israeli architects specializing in green building takes her message to the Negev Bedouins: "She's opening our eyes."
• Klein takes a hard-hat tour of the new Barnes with Williams and Tsien: with a program shaped by a court decision, the architects "actually had to read the judge's decree" and agree to the project constraints (though perhaps they're not?).
• Knight takes serious umbrage with the duo's design: while "an early aim to evoke the architectural equivalent of a "Philly cheesesteak" will likely tick off many...The architects don't seem to understand the historic significance" of the Barnes (he's seriously ticked).
• Hadid mingles with teens at her new Evelyn Grace Academy; grumbles that the interior concrete gets blazers dusty: "It will wash off" - and why she still feels like an outsider, "but that could be a good place to be."
• Campbell gives (mostly) high grades to "one of the most impressive schools I've ever visited"; never mind the exterior - the architects have "solved so many other problems with so much vigor and intelligence that you soon forget the bland outdoor aesthetics."
• Corbu + Chandigarh x 2: storm clouds continue to swirl over the loss of his and Jeanneret's furnishings and fixtures to foreign auctions and unreturned drawings and blueprints.
• Kennicott cheers AIA|DC's plans for a new public outreach space, but is the winning design "really the best idea that came out of the competition?"
• WOHA Architects win Singapore prize for Emergent Architecture in Asia.
• Shibley takes the reins as dean of the University at Buffalo School of Architecture and Planning.
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BIG: 8 House, Copenhagen, Denmark: "... a three-dimensional neighborhood rather than an architectural object." -- Bjarke Ingels Group |
The rusting Leeds tower block that has put the world's tallest building in the shade to scoop architecture prize: Broadcasting Place - with its 'love it or hate it' distinctive structure - has walked off with world's best tall building award [from] the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH). -- Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios [images]- Daily Mail (UK) |
There's a growing disconnect on a better-connected L.A.: The movement for more mass transit meets constant resistance from opponents who view projects through a narrow, car-centric lens. Just look at the Purple Line subway debate. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Lehrer Architects; James Corner Field Operations; Frederick Fisher- Los Angeles Times |
Belfast harbour outlines £250m City Quays plan: The 20-acre scheme, centred around Clarendon Dock, is planned to link the 185-acre Titanic Quarter development to the city centre...through a new cycle and pedestrian bridge. -- Grimshaw- Belfast Telegraph (Ireland) |
As it redevelops Southwest, the District should follow the lead of Arena Stage: It is an aesthetic and intellectual challenge to the city and developers to do better than they have done in the past...Despite the incorporation of good urban design principles in much of this new development, the architectural quality of almost all these new buildings is desultory...Bing Thom's new building demands better neighbors. By Philip Kennicott- Washington Post |
Arena Stage's new building: a brilliant addition, and a challenge, to the city: The city is still developing Southwest, and the presence of an important building there raises the stakes. There is now a new context for everything that happens near Arena, and the standard Washington mixed-use, glass-and-faux-stone box will not be a neighborly addition anywhere near the new theater. By Philip Kennicott- Washington Post |
Samara: the disappearing wooden city on the Volga: ...an architectural treasure trove of wooden, art nouveau and constructivist buildings...threatened by brutal developers and corrupt local officials. But there are signs of a fightback...[it] could – still, just – be a Russian San Francisco. But it is heading rapidly towards being an assembly of developers' junk, like very many cities in very many parts of the world. By Rowan Moore -- EM Maximova (1932); Vitaly Stadnikov [slide show]- Observer (UK) |
Galvanizing the Bedouins to go green: Michal Vital-Baron is at the forefront of a movement that's introducing natural building techniques to the Negev Bedouins in southern Israel...one of a handful of Israeli architects specializing in 'natural building'..."She's opening our eyes"... -- Michael Reynolds/Earthship- ISRAEL21c |
The Barnes in a New Light: As an architectural commission, the Barnes is controversial and unusually challenging, with a program shaped by a December 2004 court decision. "We actually had to read the judge's decree" and agree to the project constraints..."Our general mantra is to simplify and intensify...One of the things that may be controversial is detailing that is more contemporary." By Julia M. Klein -- Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects- Wall Street Journal |
The Barnes Foundation's alarming architectural plans: ...an early aim to evoke the architectural equivalent of a "Philly cheesesteak" will likely tick off many...The architects don't seem to understand the...historic significance....Whether the destruction of a historic landmark ought to be seen as an architectural "opportunity" is doubtful...How many other such opportunities are being seized? By Christopher Knight -- Tod Williams Billie Tsien- Los Angeles Times |
Zaha Hadid Builds on Garbage-Truck Site, Likes Being Outsider: I ask if Brixton’s Evelyn Grace Academy and the Stirling seem like a U.K. breakthrough. “Not particularly,” she says. “I still feel I’m on the outside - but that could be a good place to be.”- Bloomberg News |
Mostly high grades for Newton North High School: Interior is bright and inventive, but exterior lacks a singular identity...one of the most impressive schools I’ve ever visited...what a school looks like from the street isn’t what matters most...architect...has solved so many other problems with so much vigor and intelligence that you soon forget the bland outdoor aesthetics. By Robert Campbell -- Graham Gund; Dore & Whittier Architects- Boston Globe |
Design heritage of Le Corbusier's Indian vision is carved up for sale: Amid India’s high-speed transformation into a world power, the purpose-built furniture that once filled Chandigarh’s chic public spaces is being systematically sold off in the auction rooms of London, New York and Paris. -- Pierre Jeanneret- Independent (UK) |
Kiran Joshi hasn't given heritage items back to UT [Union Territory]? The picture is nowhere near pretty for a former senior professor of Chandigarh College of Architecture and some senior designers from City Beautiful who haven't yet returned heritage drawings and blueprints...prepared by Le Corbusier to the UT department of urban planning...The issue of heritage theft and auctions has left Joshi and the first city chief architect MN Sharma at loggerheads with each other. -- Pierre Jeanneret- Times of India |
AIA|DC releases winning design: Is this really the best idea that came out of the competition?...Was there nothing submitted that might actually make a progressive statement about design in Washington?...it will do the job that is asked of it, will look professional and fit comfortably into its environment. But will it say anything? Just asking. By Philip Kennicott -- Hickok Cole- Washington Post |
Two architects from S'pore-based firm win SIA-Getz Architecture Prize for Emergent Architecture in Asia -- Singapore Institute of Architecture; Wong Mun Summ/Richard Hassell/WOHA Architects [image, video]- Channel NewsAsia (Singapore) |
Robert G. Shibley Named Dean of the School of Architecture and Planning: ...long-time faculty member and a lead developer of both the University at Buffalo and City of Buffalo's comprehensive plans...- University at Buffalo News |
Book Review: "The Architecture of Patterns" by Paul Andersen and David Salomon...considers how the Modernist adage "form follows function" has stuck around in a whole new guise. By Ann Lui [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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