Today’s News - Tuesday, January 4, 2011
• LEED continues to be under fire "as new gauges better measure energy use and costs, something a growing number of engineers, architects and landlords insist must be done."
• Kamin on Chicago's conundrum in a post-Daley world: "there is no denying the deep anxiety the mayor's departure has spawned among the city's architects and builders" who are now "scrambling to find new paths to get things done."
• Meanwhile, the city has high hopes for big ($4 billion!) plans to redevelop former U.S. Steel lakefront site.
• In India, a call for "self-appointed pundits of urban design" to get beyond mall mania that is creating, "in the name of 'urban growth' urban forests of meaningless and abundant" real estate.
• India's outsourcing giants "hope that architectural sizzle can help them compete for the nation's top software programmers...even if some architects and critics complain about the wisdom and taste of the efforts" (with slide show - you decide).
• Delhi has Tate Modern dreams for an old power station (too bad the stinking river might hinder such grand plans).
• David Sim of Gehl Architects tells Edinburgh what might help two major streets that right now are not much more than "a big bus station" and "a big car park."
• "Redfields to Greenfields" initiative hopes to turn failed commercial properties into parks (sounds good, but a few things bug us: it means a lot of demolition, and land could be handed back over to developers - wouldn't that make the neighbors happy - not).
• Saffron is not at all sanguine about the reconstruction of Philly's Independence Mall: while "on par in its ambition and cost with Chicago's Millennium Park, it's a good bet that few Philadelphians feel the same affection that Chicagoans do...Tourist issues trumped important urban-design concerns."
• King on "two timeworn trophies" in San Francisco that need help: "legal protections and landmark status don't stop aged landmarks from growing older each day."
• Dobrzynski on Safdie's ArtScience Museum at Singapore's Marina Bay Sands: "whether or not this is good for art, it's going to be a spectacle."
• Baltimore's Development Design Group snags commission to design China's largest mall (the largest as of today, anyway).
• Welton bemoans "political squabbles" halting a new public safety center in Raleigh, NC, that "have also derailed any public discussion on the merits of its very fine architecture...we're quite capable of building both securely and beautifully."
• Rochon looks back at 2010 and cheers a year when women in architecture, design, and planning (traffic commish included!) "delivered stellar knockout moves" with "inspiring acts of irreverence."
• A profile of Griffin, one of only 262 black women architects in the U.S. who is "keenly aware of the gender and racial void in her field."
• Glancey looks ahead to the new year's architectural highlights (seems like pretty slim pickin's to us).
• Haiti Housing Collaborative finalists to be feted at NYC's Center for Architecture next week.
• Call for entries: Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers: "It's Different."
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Gold standard for green buildings under fire: LEED wilts as new gauges better measure energy use and costs...something a growing number of engineers, architects and landlords insist must be done...critics argue that the rating is hollow without an energy measurement.- Crain's New York |
Will Chicago think big after Daley? This was a mayor with a passion to build...There was no denying his authority over the cityscape — just as there is no denying the deep anxiety his departure has spawned among the city's architects and builders...will go from being a city in overdrive to a city on hold...builders are scrambling to find new paths to get things done. By Blair Kamin- Chicago Tribune |
Chicago to Redevelop U.S. Steel Site on Lakefront: The city envisions a retail and residential complex on hundreds of acres on the old South Works site...estimated cost is $4 billion...“The fact that anybody in this economy still wants to take a shot at developing a site that is basically a landfill and is basing the development on retail and housing is...extraordinary.” -- Philip Enquist/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [image]- New York Times |
‘Urban spaces’ in Gujarat? Look at medieval architecture first! ...this new game (let's call it 'mall mania') is the 'bazaar's play' - builders and architects strictly...What we're left with in the name of 'urban growth' is creating urban forests of meaningless and abundant realty, complete with a shabbiness that is not only undesirable but also illogical...there is nothing the self-appointed pundits of urban design can do except 'to unlearn.'- DNA/Daily News & Analysis (India) |
Flashy Office Space, Advertising India’s Allure: It is all part of a construction spree by India’s outsourcing companies...hope that architectural sizzle can help them compete for the nation’s top software programmers...have set out to create avant-garde, environmentally smart corporate sanctuaries...even if some architects and critics complain about the wisdom and taste of the efforts... -- Carlos A. Ott; Himanshu Burte; Rahul Mehrotra [slide show]- New York Times |
Delhi plans Tate Modern-style gallery in old power station: Ambitious project in Indian capital involves dismantling parts of the Indraprastha power plant beside banks of Yamuna river- Guardian (UK) |
Princes Street a failure on every level: In basic terms, what we have concluded from this year's study is that [Edinburgh] Princes Street is a big bus station and George Street is a big car park...three main problems: the dominance of the buses, the poor pedestrian conditions and the monofunctional character of the street. By David Sim/Gehl Architects- The Scotsman (UK) |
Turning Failed Commercial Properties Into Parks: ...could put people to work, raise real estate values and promote wise redevelopment...Now comes “Redfields to Greenfields,” a promising initiative aimed at reducing the huge supply of stricken commercial properties while simultaneously revitalizing the areas around them...not a one-size-fits-all-cities initiative... By Jonathan Lerner -- Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk; Dover Kohl & Partners- Miller-McCune |
For tourists and city, not re-created equal: Reconstructed Independence Mall draws bigger crowds but keeps residents at bay...The $300 million reconstruction of the '70s-era national park was the project of a generation for Philadelphia, on par in its ambition and cost with Chicago's Millennium Park..It's a good bet, however, that few Philadelphians feel the same affection for their new park that Chicagoans do...Tourist issues also trumped important urban-design concerns. By Inga Saffron -- Laurie D. Olin and Bernard Cywinski; Erdy McHenry; Kallmann McKinnell & Wood [slide show]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Hallidie Building, Berkeley City Club need repair: ...these two timeworn trophies show an aspect of historic preservation that will only grow more pronounced in the decade ahead: legal protections and landmark status don't stop aged landmarks from growing older each day. By John King -- Willis Polk (1918); Julia Morgan (1930) [slide show]- San Francisco Chronicle |
A New Year: A New Destination Museum, In Singapore By Moshe Safdie: ...billed as the "world's first ArtScience Museum" is part of a $5.5-billion multi-use complex...in Singapore known as Marina Bay Sands...So far, I don't hear much about art. The site, however, also includes eight "monumental" public art projects...whether or not this is good for art, it's going to be a spectacle. By Judith H. Dobrzynski -- James Carpenter; Antony Gormley; Ned Kahn; etc. [images, links]- ArtsJournal |
Development Design Group architect on China's largest mall: ...designing the 4 million-square-foot mall, just outside of Beijing’s central business district....seven-level retail project will be part of an overall 9 million-square-foot development dubbed Tianjin City Culture Center Development. [image]- Baltimore Business Journal |
Don't give up on the Raleigh center: ...political squabbles have not only halted construction of the Charles E. Lightner Public Safety Center...but have also derailed any public discussion on the merits of its very fine architecture...we live...in an era of great advances in the art and science of architecture and security - and we're quite capable of building both securely and beautifully. By J. Michael Welton -- KlingStubbins/Cherry Huffman Architects [image]- News & Observer (North Carolina) |
Women deliver inspiring acts of irreverence: Women in architecture, in design, in planning delivered stellar knockout moves around the world: The year 2010 belongs to them. By Lisa Rochon -- Zaha Hadid; Odile Decq; Amanda Burden; Janette Sadik-Khan; Marianne McKenna/Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg/KPMB; Brigitte Shim/Shim-Sutcliffe [images]- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Woman at the head of architect firm breaking new ground: Interactive Design Inc. (IDEA) is headed by Dina A. Griffin, one of only 262 black women architects in the country...[she] remains keenly aware of the gender and racial void in her field. “I would like to see more minorities and, specifically, more minority women in the field of architecture...many do not know it is even a field of study.” -- Renzo Piano- South Florida Times |
The best architecture for 2011: Jonathan Glancey looks ahead to a celebration of James Stirling at Tate Britain, as well as the year's other architecture highlights -- David Chipperfield; Zaha Hadid; David Childs/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill/SOM- Guardian (UK) |
Architects Announce Six Final Plans for Haiti Housing Collaborative: ...will be announced...January 12 at the Center for Architecture in New York City. -- Noushin Ehsan; AIANY; Corentin Maury/Julia Villers; Wallace Tan; Keith Hayes; I-beam Design; GCP Arquitetos; Joshua Doyle; Xiaoxi Feng; Arthur Rabinovich/Alberto Anastasio/Sabine Feil/Omid Balouch/Paolo Puliga [images, links]- Huffington Post |
Call for entries: Architectural League Prize for Young Architects + Designers: "It’s Different": projects and design approaches that provide new strategies...and a rethinking of the design discipline in relation to new economic, political, social, and cultural paradigms (residents, who need not be citizens, of the United States, Canada, and Mexico); deadline: February 11- Architectural League of New York |
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Michael Maltzan Architecture: New Carver Apartments, Los Angeles: ...explores how architecture can create new possibilities for its highly vulnerable, dramatically under-served residents... |
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