Today’s News - Monday, April 25, 2011
• ArcSpace brings us an eyeful of Meier's resort retreat on Mexico's Yucatan coast (a vision in white, what else?).
• A handful of must-reads to start the week: Queenan had us laughing out loud re: an imaginary philanthropist offering "a $300 million reward to any city anywhere in the world that dares to hire someone other than Frank Gehry to design its gleaming new art museum" (replete with a famous architecture critics and city planner who wish to remain nameless to avoid threat of being considered enemies of "iconoclastic swoopiness").
• K. Jose sits in on an Architectural League Emerging Voices program that leads her into deep thoughts about 1972's "Five Architects," architects born in the 1950s being "a lost generation, if the built environment is to be the measure," and if the next generation is really ready to build.
• Hockenberry hails 1980's "The Gods Must be Crazy" as what "might be the best metaphor for what's happened to design."
• Metropolis magazine rounded up Brown, Murphy, and Szenasy to discuss the current and future "State of Design": science will most likely "be our first unlikely bedfellow in our dual mission of keeping our profession relevant and making the world a better place."
• Richard Florida takes on immigration and its ties to innovation, finding "a close connection between the ability to integrate immigrants and the happiness of nations, too."
• Kirschenfeld on the challenges, frustrations, and rewards of designing supportive housing: "the building type presents design opportunities that are richer and more satisfying than commonly understood" (so why not roll up your sleeves and "get gritty").
• Charleston, S.C. debates the up- and down-side of a possible new cruise ship terminal: will it help open up an underused stretch of waterfront or overwhelm the city's cultivated charm?
• Kamin and Bey on three proposals to re-use Bertrand Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital, with hopes that Northwestern realizes the building "is far more adaptable to new uses than the university insists."
• Moore on Barcelona's Sagrada Familia: "If the building is monstrously, outrageously kitsch - and it is - it bothers neither its builders, nor the flocks of visitors" - but would Gaudí like it?
• Turkish VIPs protest the demolition of a monument to Turkish-Armenian peace - to no avail (because the prime minister deemed it "freakish").
• A conversation with Souto de Moura re: his Pritzker win: "The award might offer him opportunities to build abroad, but the architect is pragmatic. 'I like to build in Portugal. I feel at home,' he said with a smile."
• Another amusing Q&A with the ever-amusing Starck re: motorcycles, music, and loos: "I know nothing about design or architecture. My daughter says I am a modern autistic."
• Calys cheers AIA San Francisco 2011 Design Award winners: even in tough times, "the quality of design was still, well, magnificent."
• An eyeful of "Burble Bup" - the winner of this year's City of Dreams Pavilion Competition for Governors Island.
• Call for entries: 2011-2012 William Turnbull Design Competition: Drylands Design - Retrofitting the American West.
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Richard Meier & Partners: W Retreat Kanai, Riviera Maya, Mexico |
An Architect's Blueprint for Overexposure: ...philanthropist and architecture aficionado has offered a $300 million reward to any city anywhere in the world that dares to hire someone other than Frank Gehry to design its gleaming new art museum..."I'm just saying we should give an architect not named Frank Gehry a chance. If we can find one..." By Joe Queenan- Wall Street Journal |
Is the next generation of architects really ready to build? ...the book Five Architects was published in 1972. There has really been no "next generation" contemplated on such a scale since...architects born in the 50s...are just now getting out of paper and building...It's a lost generation, if the built environment is to be the measure. By Katharine Jose -- Architectural League Emerging Voices; Michael Graves; Richard Meier; Norman Foster; Richard Rogers; Robert A.M. Stern; Renzo Piano; Frank Gehry; I.M. Pei; David Childs; Steven Holl; Tod Williams Billie Tsien; Rem Koolhaas; Zaha Hadid; Bernard Tschumi; Peter Eisenman; Charles Gwathmey; John Hejduk; Interboro Partners; Lateral Office; Taylor and Miller; Ball-Nogues; de leon & primmer; Ruy Klein; P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S; WXY architecture + urban design (Weisz + Yoes); Jan Gehl- Capital New York |
The Gods Must be Crazy: A 1980 film about a Coke bottle dropped over the desert might be the best metaphor for what’s happened to design...Looking back from my imaginary year 2031, I can see that the twin-engine plane never stopped flying...throwing everything from laptops and VCRs to smartphones, iPads, e-mail addresses, and Google searches overboard, onto the unwitting tribes of 21st-century consumers below. By John Hockenberry- Metropolis Magazine |
Design, Science, and Unpredictability: At "State of Design," Tim Brown/IDEO and Michael Murphy/MASS Design Group spied new horizons for the profession...The message was clear: now when we talk about collaboration, we mean business. And science is probably going to be our first unlikely bedfellow in our dual mission of keeping our profession relevant, and making the world a better place.- Metropolis Magazine |
The Melting Pot That Isn't: Why America Needs Better Immigration: The U.S. has become less attractive to immigrants just as more and more data shows they provide a key to innovation and economic growth...Turns out, there is a close connection between the ability to integrate immigrants and the happiness of nations, too. By Richard Florida- The Atlantic |
Comment: The challenges and rewards of designing supportive housing: While the work certainly has its frustrations and challenges...I would like to suggest that the building type presents design opportunities that are richer and more satisfying than commonly understood. By Jonathan Kirschenfeld- The Architect's Newspaper |
Historic City at Odds With Its Popularity as Cruise Port: A plan to open a new cruise ship terminal next year has ignited a debate over the future of Charleston, S.C...Supporters...say it will help open up an underused stretch of waterfront to public and private development. Opponents...counter that a huge influx of new visitors would overwhelm the city’s cultivated charm and hurt home values.- New York Times |
The re-use study for old Prentice Women's Hospital: How to balance saving lives and safeguarding architectural treasures...Some have cast this debate as a conflict of art versus science...Yet these seeming opposites can be reconciled if Northwestern acknowledges what the study reveals: Old Prentice is far more adaptable to new uses than the university insists. By Blair Kamin -- Bertrand Goldberg; Landmarks Illinois; Vinci Hamp Architects [images]- Chicago Tribune |
Preservation group Landmarks Illinois proposes re-use plan for endangered former Prentice Hospital...the distinctive Bertrand Goldberg-designed building currently under threat of demolition: ...study was created with the assistance of three Chicago architecture firms who chose to remain anonymous. By Lee Bey [images, link to illustrated proposal]- WBEZ Chicago Public Radio |
Sagrada Familia: Gaudí's cathedral is nearly done, but would he have liked it? The 130-year labour of love...could soon be at an end. But, as debate rages on as to Gaudí's intentions, can it ever truly reflect his vision?...If the building is monstrously, outrageously kitsch – and it is – it bothers neither its builders, nor the flocks of visitors. By Rowan Moore -- Oriol Bohigas/David Mackay; Jordi Bonet; Oscar Tusquets Blanca- Observer (UK) |
Crane arrives to topple monument in east Turkey: ...“Monument to Humanity” in the eastern province of Kars to remove the controversial sculpture described as “freakish”...Prominent Turkish artists...and other important names...have protested the demolition. -- Mehment Aksoy [image]- Hürriyet Daily News (Turkey) |
Eduardo Souto de Moura: Vera Sacchetti talks with the 2011 Pritzker laureate...began his career working for five years under Álvaro Siza...The award might offer him opportunities to build abroad, but the architect is pragmatic. “I like to build in Portugal. I feel at home,” he said with a smile. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Starck Raving: A frank chat with the French designer about music, motorcycles and his new loo...and qualms about his profession..."I don't have a favorite architect. I'm not into all that. I know nothing about design or architecture. My daughter says I am a modern autistic." -- Philippe Starck- Wall Street Journal |
In tough times architects keep producing great work: AIASF 2011 Design Awards: While far fewer awards were given this year in comparison to previous years, the quality of design was still, well, magnificent. By George Calys -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); HOK; Perkins+Will; Sand Studios; Axelrod Design; Cavagnero Associates; David Baker + Partners; Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; Leddy Maytum Stacy; EHDD [links to images, info]- San Francisco Examiner |
“Burble Bup” Wins City of Dreams Pavilion Competition: Unique Performance and Gathering Space to Be Installed on Governors Island for 2011 Summer Season (pdf) -- Bittertang [images, links]- FIGMENT/ENYA/AIANY/SEAoNY |
Call for entries: 2011-2012 William Turnbull Design Competition: Drylands Design Open Ideas Competition for Retrofitting the American West...seeks innovation in architecture, urban design, landscape architecture, regional planning, and infrastructure design that addresses water supply, quality, access, treatment, etc.; registration deadline: November 15- California Architectural Foundation |
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