Today’s News - Monday, June 6, 2011
• ArcSpace brings us eyefuls of Holl's museum in Nanjing, China, and Eliasson's pedestrian "rainbow panorama" atop a museum in Aarhus, Denmark.
• Raising questions about USGBC and LEED re: "whether it is appropriate for a private fee-generating nongovernmental organization to assume what amounts to a regulatory role in the building industry."
• Bischoff minces no words about why "we don't build the way we used to": we sink state dimes into "private money pits" instead of infrastructure; another basic reason: "we no longer know how."
• Walters on a few interesting attempts to get design into business education and why many have failed: "at a very basic level, business school isn't designed for design" (and designers better get better at articulating their value to the business world).
• King x 2: he uses Mayne's San Francisco Federal Building as a call for critics - including himself - to revisit even the most heralded of projects after they've been up and running (glitches will be found).
• He has high hopes for Legorreta and Legorreta's colorful scheme for an HQ "in a redevelopment district where too much of what's been built so far is bottom-line bland."
• Kamin bemoans a 1-year-old, award-winning public space getting a makeover "not necessarily for the better": the "revamp reveals just how vulnerable landscape architecture can be" (even the original landscape architect "is pretty bummed").
• While some residents aren't crazy about Gang's design for Kalamazoo College's new justice center because it doesn't blend in, others disagree: "you don't bring in a world-class architect to build a building that looks like everything else."
• Young design firms are taking root in Mumbai combining modern design concepts with parts of the city's heritage.
• An in-depth look at the "concerted effort among space architects to be taken seriously": "Humankind, will go nowhere without at least some style" (who knew "space urbanism" was becoming "an increasingly 'fashionable' discipline"?).
• Young was "feeling pretty fed up with the process" of getting to finally sit down with Hadid and Schumacher, but leaves "hoping some London developers will give the practice a chance to build high in London and the UK."
• Merrick is practically mesmerized by Zumthor, "an architect who is more interested in artists and memories than in architects and manifestos."
• Q&A with Eliasson re: his NYC Waterfalls, the "indifferent press," and the art of never compromising: "When I change my clothes, I call an architect."
• R.I.P. FOA; hello FMA and AZPA.
• A good reason to be in Atlanta this week: Modern Atlanta's "Design Is Human" Week which, this year, focuses on design excellence from Korea in a dedicated pavilion.
• Call for entries: Institute for Urban Design's By the City/For the City; Lange says go for it!
• We couldn't resist: only a Dutchman could buy a "nuclear white elephant" and transform it into an amusement park in "an unprecedented industrial metamorphosis" (with pix to prove it!).
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-- Steven Holl Architects: Nanjing Sifang Art Museum, Nanjing, China
-- Olafur Eliasson: Your rainbow panorama, ARoS Art Museum, Aarhus, Denmark |
The Shadow Government: With little public oversight, the organization that invented the LEED system is remaking an industry...Henry Gifford...filed a class-action suit against the US Green Building Council...raises the question of whether it is appropriate for a private fee-generating nongovernmental organization to assume what amounts to a regulatory role in the building industry. By Michael Liu, AIA/The Architectural Team- ArchitectureBoston (Boston Society of Architects/BSA) |
New Jersey architecture: Once built to last: Every state dime spent on private money pits such as Xanadu is one less for infrastructure. Still, the starving of the public square is only part of the explanation for why we don’t build the way we used to. Another basic reason is, we no longer know how. By Dan Bischoff -- Cass Gilbert; McKim, Mead & White; Alfred Kastne; Louis Kahn; Mies van der Rohe; Troy West- New Jersey Star-Ledger |
Design and Business Education: The System Is Not Good Enough: ...In the past few years, there have been interesting attempts...at a very basic level, business school isn’t designed for design...If designers want to make a genuine impact on the world, they’d do well to learn how to navigate big companies and figure out how to articulate their value to the people who run them. By Helen Walters- Design Observer |
Commentary: Criticism Needs Time, as a Second Look at Thom Mayne’s San Francisco Federal Building Shows: Not included in the tour: the Social Security office where...regular citizens...aren’t feasting on postcard-worthy views...it’s the portion of this public building that gets the most use by the public, yet it received zero scrutiny from critics — me included...café attracts few nongovernmental patrons...there have been other glitches. By John King -- Morphosis; SmithGroup [images, video]- Architectural Record |
Salesforce plans a colorful jolt for Mission Bay: ...envisions a colorful collection of compact, and open, buildings...in a redevelopment district where too much of what's been built so far is bottom-line bland, they might turn out to be just what the doctor ordered. By John King -- Legorreta and Legorreta; Flad Architects; Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture; Tom Leader Studio; Evan Rose/Urban Design+ [slide show]- San Francisco Chronicle |
The changing face of the Trump Tower plaza - a prime public space gets a makeover, not necessarily for the better: ...Peter Schaudt...is pretty bummed himself...Now that precious landscape, so uniquely suited to the Midwest, is no more...replaced by a new, far more conventional design...revamp reveals is just how vulnerable landscape architecture can be... By Blair Kamin -- Hoerr Schaudt Landscape Architects; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); McFarlane Douglass; Daniel Weinbach- Chicago Tribune |
Kalamazoo College’s Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership design a bold statement? Architect's vision clashes with neighborhood homes, residents say...“you don’t bring in a world-class architect to build a building that looks like everything else.” -- Studio Gang Architects [link to images]- Kalamazoo Gazette (Michigan) |
Budding design firms take root in Mumbai: What spells chic in Mumbai? Modern design concepts that integrate parts of the city's heritage...As Mumbai grows and in many ways becomes glitzier and glitzier...“points of resistance”...aim to engage the city and specific communities with their design ambitions. -- The Busride Design Studio; Kapil Gupta; Serie Architects; Ashiesh Shah [slide show]- GlobalPost |
Space, the comfy frontier: Architects tackle the problem of creating ‘home’ in a place where we’re the aliens...people who are doing more than “camping” in space will want...a home away from home, and it is time we started thinking seriously about how to build it...You’d think that the aerospace industry would embrace the Frank Lloyd Wrights and Frank Gehrys who entered its midst...“space urbanism”...“Humankind, will go nowhere without at least some style.” -- Brent Sherwood; Space Architecture Technical Committee; Raymond Loewy; Barbara Imhof/LIQUIFER Systems; Lynn Baroff- Boston Globe |
A life less ordinary: Her personal style is as legendary as that of her practice’s distinctive architecture. But which defines Zaha Hadid, whose novel way of working and new interest in a wider building typology belies the hype? By the time I get to sit down with [her] I am feeling pretty fed up with the process...Perhaps it is worth the inconveniences to buy into a little bit of this magic? By Eleanor Young -- Patrik Schumacher- RIBA Journal (UK) |
Peter Zumthor's experiments in space: The designer of this year's Serpentine Gallery pavilion is...a visionary whose best work is as much land art as architecture...an architect who is more interested in artists and memories than in architects and manifestos...[he] is immersed in things that are severely untrendy, and profoundly subtle... By Jay Merrick [images]- Independent (UK) |
Q&A With Olafur Eliasson, On Crossing Between Art And Architecture: A sit-down with the artist responsible for dazzling facade of Reykjavik's impressive new concert hall...talks about...his NYC Waterfalls, what he calls "indifferent press," why architects are not artists, and the art of never compromising...“When I change my clothes, I call an architect.” By Belinda Lanks -- Henning Larsen [images, video]- Fast Company |
Foreign Office Architects founders set up new firms: Practice stops trading after 16 years...Farshid Moussavi has set up a new practice called Farshid Moussavi Architecture...Alejandro Zaera-Polo has set up a new business called AZPA Limited.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Modern Korean Architecture and Design Are Highlighted During MA11, Modern Atlanta’s “Design Is Human” Week, June 4 -12: For the first time in its five-year existence, MA will present design excellence from a specific country, Korea, in a dedicated pavilion. -- Manifesto Architecture; Minsuk Cho/Mass Studies- Citybizlist Atlanta |
An Atlas of Possibility: ...Institute for Urban Design's By the City/For the City, which asked New Yorkers to share and map ideas for fixing their city, has produced a fair number of concrete, pragmatic suggestions...IfUD has put out a call for designers to visualize these ideas; deadline: July 14. By Alexandra Lange [links]- Design Observer |
Atomic Amusements: Turning a Nuclear White Elephant into a Funfair: ...now known as Kernwasser Wunderland, or "Corewater Wonderland," has been part of an unprecedented industrial metamorphosis, like something straight out of science fiction. As far as the Germans are concerned, only a Dutchman could buy a nuclear power plant and transform it into an amusement park. [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Book Review: Diving into Architecture from Every New Angle: Reading Guillevic's "Geometries": Why an obscure book of French poetry in a flashy translation goes to the heart of every architectural practice. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
INSIGHT: Collaboration and Compromise: A Misunderstood Aspect of the Design Process: True collaboration is a symbiosis between the architect's design ideas, a project's setting, and the intentions of its users. By Peter Gisolfi, AIA, ASLA, LEED AP- ArchNewsNow |
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