Today’s News - Thursday, August 11, 2011
EDITOR'S NOTE: A reminder that we're taking Monday's and Friday's off for the rest of August. We'll be back Tuesday, August 16. Happy Weekend!
• Baillieu reflects on U.K. riots then and now: in 1985 "architecture was in the firing line"; but "this time no one's blaming architects for the riots" - and why "community" is such a "fuzzy word" that architects have hidden behind for too long.
• The Global Cities initiative turns its focus on Auckland, "looking at ways to help the city become a better place to live and work" + Report on the draft Auckland Plan to create the "world's most livable city."
• After a few stalling steps, it seems the Detroit Works Project to shrink the city is back on track.
• Perhaps both cities could take a page or three from NYC's transportation commish Sadik-Khan, who seems to embody a "real estate developer, urban beautifier, bicycle advocate, and environmentalist" all in one + She describes her own vision for the city.
• Davidson's requiem to the "endangered ordinary" that could apply to "unassuming" urban blocks everywhere becoming bland streetscapes: "these little buildings are not contenders for architectural immortality...Here, the preservationist impulse is needed not in order to cherish the past, but to safeguard the vibrant present."
• Menking returns from the International Architectural Education Summit in Segovia with a message: "academics must retool their roles...or slip into irrelevance."
• Manhattan is set to see its "largest hotel project in a decade" (68 stories, no less).
• Q&A with Holl and Fabião re: their Cite de l'Ocean et du Surf in Biarritz (artistic philosophies included - and a terrific slide show).
• Seattle gets its first look at plans for a new Jimi Hendrix Park: "there won't be any purple haze" (we so hoped).
• An eloquent tribute to the legacy of Cavaglieri, who "championed the architectural preservation that shaped the modern city."
• There's more than just politics going on in Iowa these days, so "architecture wonks, rejoice!" FLW's Park Inn Hotel "emerges with plenty for Wright fans to marvel at."
• Brussat bristles at critics who "know that it is factually inaccurate" to describe some classical architecture as fascist, but "they repeat it anyway."
• Liu and Chaban offer their takes on Kimmelman taking on the Times architecture beat: "Wanted: intellectually brilliant, stylistically inimitable critic" + Why didn't the gray lady turn to Davidson?
• We'd like to go play at TerraCycle's garbage camp to see how much fun garbage can really be: "There is no limit on gross here" - and no limit to some very cool product design, to boot!
• In Baan's new (beautiful) book, "he shows how fluidity dictates all things, from buildings to definitions" in Brasilia and Chandigarh.
• Welton cheers "architectural vindication" for Cuba's National Art School that "languished for decades in a state of indeterminacy and ruin" via a book, a documentary film - and an opera is in the works!
• A long list of the 2011 Brunel Awards International Railway Design Competition winners (alas, nary an architect mentioned...oh well).
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This time no one’s blaming architects for the riots: This was very different to last time North London erupted – in the summer of 1985...At that time architecture was in the firing line...if the last few days have taught us anything it’s that “community” is a fuzzy word, and for too long architects have hidden behind it rather than confronted those who want to undermine and even destroy it. By Amanda Baillieu- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Shining examples of what a city can become: The Global Cities initiative is looking at ways to help Auckland become a better place to live and work...Examples from as far afield as Vancouver, Copenhagen, Beijing, Toronto and London are fuelling an initiative to spark new ideas for Auckland's future. + Super City: How to avoid unleashing a monster. -- Aecom; New Zealand Institute- New Zealand Herald |
Sizing Up a Smaller Detroit: Mayor Bing announces progress on plan to shrink city...will launch initiatives in three demonstration areas/neighborhoods...Detroit Works Project (DWP) seemed to stall several times...the first sign that the project is back on track, which includes goals of neighborhood stabilization, improved public transit, and economic development. -- Toni Griffin- The Architect's Newspaper |
Janette Sadik-Khan: An urban visionary who cuts through the gridlock: New York City Transportation Commissioner: ...as real estate developer, urban beautifier, bicycle advocate, and environmentalist...has begun to drag the city's transportation infrastructure into the new century. + Bridge-and-Tunnel Vision: Sadik-Khan describes her vision for the city's future.- Slate |
The Endangered Ordinary: A once-typical block of Broadway will soon vanish. And that’s a tragedy...Activists do not rush to defend such stumpy, unassuming blocks as this...these little buildings are not contenders for architectural immortality...Here, the preservationist impulse is needed not in order to cherish the past, but to safeguard the vibrant present. By Justin Davidson- New York Magazine |
Editorial> Course of Change: As the profession adapts to new digital technologies, academics must retool their roles...the message from the International Architectural Education Summit seems clear: Change what and how you teach, or slip into irrelevance. By William Menking -- IE School of Architecture; UCLA; Odile Decq; Hitoshi Abe; Stan Allen; Mark Wigley; Brett Steele; Winy Maas; Monica Ponce de Leon; Peter Cook; Thom Mayne [links]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Two Marriott Brands Are to Share Space in Manhattan Tower: In New York’s largest hotel project in a decade, a 68-story tower is to be built at Broadway and 54th Street with more than 600 rooms. -- Nobutaka Ashihara Architect [images]- New York Times |
Cite de l'Ocean et du Surf, Biarritz: Interview With Steven Holl, Solange Fabião & Rodolfo Reis Dias [slide show]- Huffington Post |
Janie Hendrix says brother Jimi is smiling down on Seattle: The final design for the Jimi Hendrix Park was unveiled and while there won't be any purple haze, there will be bright colors and interesting features to adorn the singer's legacy. -- Murase Associates [video]- KING 5 News (Seattle) |
The Rebuilder: By reimagining landmark New York buildings like the Astor Library, which became the Public Theater, Giorgio Cavaglieri championed the architectural preservation that shaped the modern city...His sense of architecture as an act of valuing the past...created a legacy...- Tablet Magazine |
Frank Lloyd Wright's Historic Last Hotel Reopens With an $18 Million Makeover: Architecture wonks, rejoice! ...his last standing hotel completed a major facelift and reopened in Mason City, Iowa...Park Inn Hotel emerges with plenty for Wright fans to marvel at... -- Bergland + Cram [images]- Artinfo |
The 'fascism' of the Federal Reserve Building: ...typical of how many classical architects of the day were addressing the challenge of modern architecture...the old compromised with the new...If the same building were built today, many architecture critics would describe it as fascist...[they] know that it is factually inaccurate. They repeat it anyway... By David Brussat -- Paul Phillipe Cret; Albert Speer; Friedrich St. Florian; Mies van der Rohe [images]- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Times Art Critic Michael Kimmelman to Take Over as Paper’s Architecture Critic: Wanted: intellectually brilliant, stylistically inimitable critic; must be sensitive to history, get along with the neighbors and come in under budget. By Jonathan Liu + If You’re Looking for an Architecture Critic, Try Justin Davidson. By Matt Chaban -- Ada Louise Huxtable; Paul Goldberger; Herbert Muschamp; Nicolai Ouroussoff; Alexandra Lange; Julie Iovine; Mark Lamster- New York Observer |
Making Design Out of Rubbish: Welcome to Garbage Camp, a highly collaborative effort from the design studio of TerraCycle..."There is no limit on gross here"...Tiffany Threadgould is also something of a trash evangelist...Her design efforts are marketing tools and propaganda materials that reiterate and amplify a single message: garbage can be fun. [iamge]- New York Times |
Iwan Baan on Living Modernity: ...in his book, "Brasilia – Chandigarh: Living with Modernity," he shows how fluidity dictates all things, from buildings to definitions...goal was to document the changes that have occurred to both architecture and master urban plans over the past 50 years in both cities...discovered that some of the most resilient elements of the city were not part of any grand vision... -- Oscar Niemeyer; Lucio Costa [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
In Cuba, Architectural Vindication: ...Escuelas Nacionales de Arte, or National Art School...languished for decades in a state of indeterminacy and ruin...until John Loomis published "Revolution of Forms, Cuba's Forgotten Art Schools" in March 1999...He has good reason to be gratified. A critically acclaimed documentary film on the schools, called "Unfinished Spaces," has now been produced, and moreover, an opera is in the works. By J. Michael Welton- Huffington Post |
2011 Brunel Awards International Railway Design Competition winners announced: The Jury conveyed twenty Brunel Awards and twenty-two Brunel Commendations.- The Watford Group of International Railway Designers |
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BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group: Superkilen, Outer Nørrebro, Copenhagen, Denmark |
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