Today’s News - Monday, July 25, 2011
• ArcSpace brings us a luminous "cake box" of a library in Japan.
• Vietnam is becoming "a hot spot for many Western architects" (though it "does have its drawbacks").
• A look at how several clusters of Chicago suburbs are "defying the scarcity mindset" and flourishing by working creatively across borders to rehabilitate and revitalize communities.
• Can urban vertical farming solve the world's hunger problem, or is it "more of a project for dreamy young architecture students than a practical solution"?
• Rollo finds a "tasty" design in a "fine little building" in an Australian industrial park that is "a joy and a revelation" (and feeds a lot of needy people).
• Mississauga's "buxom" Absolute tower (a.k.a. the "Marilyn Monroe") puts "curvaceous into condominiums" in the Toronto 'burb.
• Kamin comes down hard on plans for Chicago's old post office: it is a "financial fantasy and architectural nightmare" that "seems straight out of Disney," with a sales pitch that is "Barnum & Bailey meets the Mall of America" (ouch!).
• First look at the interiors of the Barclays Center basketball arena (part of the controversial Atlantic Yards project in Brooklyn): "We didn't want to overload the arena by making it too glitzy." - On the other hand, high rollers will get their own VIP entrance and, it seems, "critics were nonplussed by the arena's glitzy design."
• Hess takes a long look at Lautner's "lengthy struggle with Los Angeles" and explains why we "still can't spell Lautner without L.A." (a great read!).
• Preservationists in Ridgefield, CT, raise the alarm re: the possible demolition of Philip Johnson's 1956 Schlumberger-Doll Research HQ.
• QUT architecture students design a flood-proof future for Brisbane.
• We couldn't resist an eyeful of the Balmond/Jencks "Star of Caledonia."
• Winners named in the Geoffrey Bawa Award for Excellence in Architecture.
• University of Houston's College of Architecture gets an endowed scholarship from the Iranian Cultural Foundation - Houston in honor of Houshang Seyhoun.
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Coelacanth K&H Architects: Kanazawa Umimirai Library, Kanazawa City, Japan |
Is Vietnam the New Frontier for Architects? ...a hot spot for many Western architects...does have its drawbacks. Projects don’t always pay competitive fees, and some cite systemic corruption in the awarding of contracts. -- Foster + Partners; HOK; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Carlos Zapata Studio; Ehrenkrantz Eckstut & Kuhn Architects (EE&K, a Perkins Eastman company) [slide show]- Architectural Record |
Defying the Scarcity Mindset For Community-Building Results: ...scarcity is the platform from which creativity is flourishing in several clusters of Chicago suburbs...neighboring communities are demonstrating a more optimistic and effective approach to their problems by working together across borders to rehabilitate, revitalize and re-imagine...- Citiwire |
Can Urban Agriculture Feed a Hungry World? Agricultural researchers believe that building indoor farms in the middle of cities could help solve the world's hunger problem. Experts say that vertical farming could feed up to 10 billion people...There's only one snag: The urban farms need huge amounts of energy...more of a project for dreamy young architecture students than a practical solution to potential shortages in the global food supply... -- Choi Kyu Hong; Dickson Despommier; Stan Cox/Land Institute; PlantLab; Romses Architects; Weber Thompson; WORK Architecture Company/WORKac [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Tasty design for community: Good architecture in industrial parks is hard to find...To come across a fine little building in the flat, windswept plains of industrial Altona is therefore a joy and a revelation...it has, at its core, a social and environmental heart...Community Chef...a kitchen providing more than 16,000 food portions each day to people isolated by age, illness or disability, across more than 20 local municipalities... By Joe Rollo -- Williams Boag Architects; Francois Tesniere [image]- Sydney Morning Herald |
In Toronto Suburb, Putting Curvaceous Into Condominiums: ...56-story condominium tower...called the “Marilyn Monroe” for its voluptuous curves...joining London’s spiraling Gherkin building and New York’s rippling 8 Spruce Street is Mississauga’s buxom Absolute tower — or rather, two of them... -- Ma Yansong/Qun Dang/MAD Architectural Design Studio [image]- New York Times |
Plan for old post office complex: financial fantasy, architectural nightmare: ...the proposal seems straight out of Disney. A 2,000-foot skyscraper? Acres of retail space? The design, still in the formative stages, is as mediocre as it is megalomaniacal...sales pitch driving the three-phase plan is Barnum & Bailey meets the Mall of America...would simultaneously raise the old post office from the dead and entomb it. By Blair Kamin -- Graham Anderson Probst & White (1932); Laurence Booth/Booth Hansen- Chicago Tribune |
Inside look at Nets' new arena: ...unveiled renderings of interior spaces for the $1 billion Barclays Center in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn - and the sights are dramatic...will have attractions for all..."We didn’t want to overload the arena by making it too glitzy..." -- Gregg Pasquarelli/SHoP [slide show]- New York Post |
Separate and unequal at the Barclays Center: High rollers at the Barclays Center will get their own VIP entrance — with a concierge desk and a sleek chandelier — when the $800-million arena opens in Prospect Heights next fall...Fans in the nosebleeds will settle for less...Critics were nonplussed by the arena’s glitzy design. -- SHoP [images]- The Brooklyn Paper |
You can't spell John Lautner without Los Angeles: The architect's lengthy struggle with L.A. resulted in great buildings that give us insight into our city. Like Lautner, Los Angeles shouldn't need to look over its shoulder to know when we're doing it right...You still can't spell Lautner without L.A. By Alan Hess [images]- Los Angeles Times |
Fears for Philip Johnson headquarters if Schlumberger buildings are razed: Reacting to news that Schlumberger-Doll Research was starting the process of obtaining a demolition permit, the Ridgefield Historical Society sent a letter...urging it to omit the [1956] Philip Johnson-designed administrative building from the tear-down plans.- The Ridgefield Press (Connecticut) |
Students design flood-proof future: Queensland University of Technology (QUT) architecture students have turned their efforts to helping Brisbane recover from the January floods, with some innovative results..."Bouncing Back: Resilient Design for Brisbane" through July 29- Brisbane Times (Australia) |
Star of Caledonia / Cecil Balmond and Charles Jencks: ...the winning design for the border crossing between England and Scotland at Gretna. [images, video]- ArchDaily |
Architect Thisara Thanapathy wins 2010/2011 Geoffrey Bawa Award for Excellence in Architecture -- Yudish Ganesan; Richard Murphy Associates; Ena de Silva Aluwihare; Barbara Sansoni Lewcock- The Sunday Times (Sri Lanka) |
Iranian Cultural Foundation - Houston Honors Architect Houshang Seyhoun With Endowed Scholarship in his name at the University of Houston - Hines College of Architecture...to student projects inspired by [his] collective works.- PR Web |
"Frank Lloyd Wright's Guggenheim Museum": Bravura Example of an Architectural Documentary - Wright's Guggenheim Done Right: A look at great architecture as the product of the dance of the designer's intellect in an architectural film that doesn't miss a beat. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
2011 Rudy Bruner Award Winners Offer Innovative Models for Urban Placemaking: This year's winners reflect a common understanding of the critical role that citizens, institutions, and governments play in the creation of successful civic places.- ArchNewsNow |
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