Today’s News - Monday, November 1, 2010
• ArcSpace brings us Meier on Hamburg's harbor front, and Nouvel's plans for an island in the Seine.
• Hatherley waxes rather poetically about the Shanghai Expo on its final day: "the most violent, overwhelming, claustrophobic, garish, dramatic vision of harmony you could imagine (and that's only the first sentence!).
• Glancey is gloweringly blunt about why the U.K. is lagging in good architecture: "we really want the very buildings we so often say we despise: all those skyscrapers with funny names" that are really the architecture of our own "ever-expanding consumption" and "largely antithetical...to long-established and commonly held notions of 'good design.'"
• How and why Massachusetts missed a chance to host an aerotropolis that could have "become a global hub, a bright new face for the region" (Dulles and Dallas/Ft. Worth did it despite the naysayers).
• Cambodia has high hopes to turn its bloody history into a sightseeing boom: "The popularity of grisly sites...has turned thanatourism into an increasingly profitable sector of the tourism business" (such a cheerful thought).
• Rochon cheers Thom's "home for high drama in a once-troubled 'hood'" with his Arena Stage; now, many in DC consider him "their adopted creative son."
• Heathcote cheers Hadid's "landmark in a landscape of neglect" - her Evelyn Grace Academy might have been very expensive, but there's "something wonderfully utopian about this experiment" (and Brixton kids deserve it), + Hadid beats out Hirst for the new Serpentine Sackler Gallery.
• Gallagher on why the MVVA team most likely won the St. Louis Gateway Arch competition: it was the most landscape-focused of entries for a site that already contained a "perfect piece of architecture."
• Kamin roams beyond the arch: St. Louis may not be a top-tier architectural mecca, but it has its gems; its major weakness "is its lack of continuous urban fabric" because "the connections between the moments don't exist."
• Salt Lake City keeps its Ballet West downtown (and a historic theater to boot).
• Q&A's all over the place: Koolhaas re: his plans for West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong (if he wins the competition) - it will not be "a development for the rich."
• Lubell chats it up with Diller and Scofidio re: their West Coast projects, working with Eli Broad, and whether or not they consider themselves "starchitects" ("I take it as a pejorative").
• Thorne queries Ban re: education, temporary shelters for Haiti, Pompidou Metz, and more.
• Melissa Sterry on creating a city model that not only anticipates but welcomes intensifying natural phenomena.
• A novel idea for India's playgrounds: lighting up parks and greenbelts using energy generated by play equipment and solar energy.
• Perkins Eastman and EE&K to join forces as a new, 600-strong firm "yet to be named" (PEEEK perhaps?).
• A good reason to head to Winnipeg this week: My City's Still Breathing: A symposium to deliberate and debate the current and future relationship of art and design to city-making.
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-- Richard Meier & Partners: Coffee Plaza, Hamburg, Germany
-- Atelier Jean Nouvel: Seguin Island, Paris, France |
Shanghai Expo: this is New Confucianism writ large: ...the most violent, overwhelming, claustrophobic, garish, dramatic vision of harmony you could imagine...singlehandedly resurrecting an event which had become the object of retro-futurist nostalgia...what it says about architecture and the city is fascinating, and what it neglects to say, even more so. By Owen Hatherley- Guardian (UK) |
Great architecture doesn't come cheap: We might say we want better buildings, yet evidently, we don't want to pay for them...how can we expect...the outgoing CABE, the Prince's Foundation, the RIBA...to make our buildings better...when what we really want...is an all-consuming society housed in buildings largely antithetical by their very nature to long-established and commonly held notions of "good design"? By Jonathan Glancey- Guardian (UK) |
Aerotropolis: The rise of a vibrant new kind of city – and how Massachusetts missed a chance to have one...What’s noticeable around Dulles is the international character of the buildings...global aspirations are written in their architecture, and in their location, next to an airport...there’s no reason to believe a second major airport in New England wouldn’t have become a global hub, a bright new face for the region.- Boston Globe |
Dark Tourism: Cambodia tries to turn its bloody history into a sightseeing boom...planned park is of a...larger effort to capitalize on the atrocities of its past - and to tap into a booming global industry in travel to macabre destinations...The popularity of grisly sites all over the world has grown substantially...has turned thanatourism into an increasingly profitable sector of the tourism business.- The Atlantic |
The Arena Stage: A home for high drama in a once-troubled ’hood...like a flag of hope...cuts a sexy, brazen figure...A neighbourhood once violated is rising up again. That’s the triumph of Arena Stage, and the uplifting work of Bing Thom, who many in Washington consider their adopted creative son. By Lisa Rochon -- Harry Weese; Bing Thom- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Beacon in a neglected landscape: ...the Evelyn Grace Academy...a strange, theatrical and wonderful building – wonderful, that is, in its notion that Brixton kids deserve a building by one of contemporary architecture’s superstars...it is heartening to see Hadid’s eccentric talent being put to use in the service not of museums or corporations but of social ambition and cohesion...a landmark in a landscape of neglect. By Edwin Heathcote -- Zaha Hadid- Financial Times (UK) |
Serpentine Gallery outbids Damien Hirst for new space in Kensington: ...the Serpentine Sackler Gallery...scheduled to open in time for the London Olympics in 2012, will be designed by architect Zaha Hadid and will be free to enter.- Evening Standard (UK) |
In St. Louis, A Green Oasis for Saarinen’s Gateway Arch: ...one reason that the MVVA team won was that its entry was the most landscape-focused of the final five offerings...a site that already contained...a “perfect piece of architecture” — the Arch itself. By John Gallagher -- Michael Van Valkenburgh/Steven Holl/Greenberg Consultant/Guy Nordenson/Arup/James Carpenter/Ann Hamilton/Elizabeth K. Meyer/Uhlir Consulting; Behnisch Architekten; Weiss/Manfredi/Site Design/Urbanism; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)/Hargreaves Associates/Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG); PWP Landscape Architecture/Foster + Partners/Civitas [slide show]- Architectural Record |
A span of styles: Beyond the Arch, St. Louis home to a number of architectural gems...Though the city does not rank with Chicago or New York as an architectural mecca..."there's a tremendous amount to see"...The city's major weakness...is its lack of continuous urban fabric. "They have wonderful moments...but the connections between the moments don't exist." By Blair Kamin -- Eero Saarinen; Louis Sullivan; Michael Van Valkenburgh; Cynthia Weese; Philip Durham; Nelson Byrd Woltz; Cass Gilbert; Tadao Ando; Brad Cloepfil/Allied Works; Fumihiko Maki [images]- Chicago Tribune |
Ballet West to build dance center: The Jessie Eccles Quinney Center for Dance will be located next to the Capitol Theatre...in downtown Salt Lake City on a lot that has been vacant more than a year...$32 million facility, to be built in partnership with the Salt Lake County Center for the Arts... -- HKS Architects [image]- Salt Lake Tribune (Utah) |
Rem Koolhaas sets his sights on the East: ...recently unveiled his plans for West Kowloon Cultural District in Hong Kong...plans are influenced by what he sees as the vibrancy of village living...wants to foster this sense of immediacy and access...so that it doesn't become..."a development for the rich." -- David Gianotten/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA); Foster + Partners; Rocco Design Architects- CNN |
Q&A: Diller Scofidio + Renfro: Sam Lubell talked with Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio about their West Coast projects, working with Eli Broad...and whether or not they consider themselves “starchitects.”- The Architect's Newspaper |
IE School of Architecture's Martha Thorne, in conversation with innovative architect Shigeru Ban at Hay Festival Segovia re: education, temporary shelters for Haiti, Pompidou Metz, etc. [video]- IE School of Architecture (Madrid) |
Interview: Melissa Sterry And The City That Loves Floods: By applying Resilience Theory, Biomimicry, and Living Architecture principles to every aspect of building, she is creating a city model that not only anticipates but welcomes intensifying natural phenomena...fuses the sustainability mantra with media, design, and visual arts... -- Societás; NEW FRONTIERS; The Bionic City- Green Prophet (Middle East) |
Playground equipment can be used to generate electricity: Chandigarh councillors penning their report after a study tour to Kolkata-Gangtok recently are eager to introduce a “novel” idea...lighting up parks and greenbelts with the use of play equipment and solar energy...- Express India |
Perkins Eastman Getting Together with EE&K/Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn: ...firms will be consolidating their offices in New York, Washington, D.C., and China....the new firm – yet to be named – will have a total of nearly 600 employees...Anyone care to take a guess at the new firm’s name?- The Architect's Newspaper |
My City’s Still Breathing: A symposium to deliberate and debate the current and future relationship of art and design to city-making; November 4-7, Winnipeg, Manitoba - Cultural Capital of Canada 2010- Winnipeg Arts Council Arts For All |
A Meditation on the Beauty of Zaha Hadid's Door Handle: Hadid's design issues a challenge: define beauty by lyrically playing with illusion. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
They saved our Victorian cities. Now they are demolishing my prejudices: Perhaps one day a 21st Century Society battling to preserve Canary Wharf will emulate the heroes of our Victorian heritage...To celebrate its 50th birthday, the Victorian Society has published Victorians Revalued, a book recalling its battle honours. It is a noble record...how cliff-edge were these David and Goliath contests...Against them were big money, big government and big architecture. By Simon Jenkins- Guardian (UK) |
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