Today’s News - Friday, October 7, 2011
EDITOR'S NOTE: We'll be scoping out the Association of Architecture Organizations annual conference (http://aaonetwork.org/DIA2011) in Philly on Monday and Tuesday, and not sure we'll be able to post the newsletter. But we'll be back for sure on Wednesday, October 12.
• Zandberg reports on a report that "paints a grim picture of the planning situation" in Israel: "Cosmetics won't help. Israel's open spaces require surgery...before it's too late."
• Arieff on a grassroots guide to saving America's Rust Belt and some reasons to be positive about its future.
• High hopes (and some reservations) about plans for a new TOD near Princeton, NJ, that developers promise will have a high "coolness factor."
• Riga works to find a balance between its architectural heritage and still allow "architectural creativity in new construction."
• Pogrebin and Iovine weigh in on H&deM's restoration of NYC's landmarked Park Avenue Armory: the architects "don't want to turn this into a ridiculous version of itself," and view it as a chance to prove "we are not just producers of icons."
• Koolhaas offers a "wry" description of and "cheeky" assertion about OMA's Maggie's Gartnavel in Glasgow.
• Hume hums high praise for the new Helsinki Music Centre: it doesn't "provoke a "Wow" so much as an "Of course": it's "one of those rare projects that do double duty" as a home for music and "also the dwelling place of urbanity."
• This year's Stirling Prize brings out some tarnished (and some quite barbed) responses: does the jury process need to be more transparent? No, says Ruth Reed; Yes, says George Ferguson + Baillieu finds "something very wrong about the RIBA's refusal to let the judges explain why Hadid triumphed" + some previous "Stirling stars lambast system."
• Holcim Awards 2011 for Latin America winners prove sustainable construction is a key to better urban life.
• Weekend diversions:
• An amazing eyeful of Arthus-Bertrand's "New York From the Air: A Story of Architecture" that transforms "street-level scenes into majestic, abstract cityscapes."
• An eyeful of Cassani's "Sacred Spaces in Profane Buildings" on view at NYC's Storefront for Art and Architecture.
• Crosbie weighs in on Tigerman's retrospective at Yale: "he didn't want to be original. He wanted to be good."
• "Richard Barnes: Unnatural Spaces" takes a "provocative look at the way architecture is both a complicit partner in, and also an unwitting subject of, the practice of presentation."
• Hawthorne x 2: "California Design 1930-1965 " at LACMA, "designed with noticeable joie de vivre" by Hodgetts + Fung, "has an irresistibly light touch, offering a few dozen rays of sunshine for every drop of noir."
• He revisits Hise's 1997 "Magnetic Los Angeles" that "sets out systematically to undermine the idea" that the city "is the ultimate unplanned metropolis."
• Heathcote wishes Hal Foster didn't feel "perhaps, too much affection for his protagonists" in "The Art-Architecture Complex"; instead of being "an excoriating examination," it "becomes a friendly guide to an art and architecture phenomenon that now appears rather last century."
• "John Portman: A Life of Building" documentary debuts in Rotterdam tomorrow, then on to NYC, Singapore, and Chicago.
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Plan for change: A report on spatial planning...calls for a radical change in the way Israeli cities are designed. But are calls to action enough? Cosmetics won't help. Israel's open spaces require surgery...paints a grim picture of the planning situation...recommendations are an attempt to remedy things from the ground up, before it's too late; Contribution of the year: Tents. By Esther Zandberg- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
A Grassroots Guide to Saving the Rust Belt: Jack Storey of the group Saving Cities on their new film, "Red, White & Blueprints: A Grassroots Guide to Saving Our Great Cities"...focuses on...Cleveland, Detroit, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, and Buffalo. By Allison Arieff- The Atlantic Cities |
An Unofficial Transit Village: After nearly five years of wrangling, West Windsor, NJ, is moving ahead with plans to create its own version of a “transit village"..."we will do something great for the town"...would have a high “coolness factor...People going into these projects around the country are looking for a sense of community — urbanism created in a suburban environment..." -- LRK Architects [image]- New York Times |
Searching to keep the balance in Riga’s “urban tissue”: As Riga works to save its architectural heritage, it looks for architectural creativity in new construction...architects don’t precisely have a white canvas, but they take a good shot at the challenge to preserve the city’s elegance, without letting it get to be too old fashioned. -- Janis Lejnieks/Latvijas Architektura; Latvian Architects Association; SIA Gertrudes Center; Gunnar Birkerts- Baltic Times |
Fixer-Upper With Unique Challenge: For Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron, the restoration of the Park Avenue Armory is a delicate process of excavation..."We wanted time and the layers of the time to be visible...We don’t want to turn this into a ridiculous version of itself." By Robin Pogrebin -- Pottier & Stymus (1881); Herzog & de Meuron [slide show]- New York Times |
Herzog & de Meuron Peel Layers Off Park Ave. Armory: Disparaging the kind of preservation that matches swatches and zeroes in on a purely theoretical “original” date, Herzog described their approach as “revealing and accepting what has been and what we want it to be"...The affect could be called extreme patina...a great opportunity to show “we are not just producers of icons.” By Julie V. Iovine [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Maggie’s Gartnavel Glasgow building by OMA: Rem Koolhaas wryly described the new centre as introducing a bit of 'romance' into the 'excessively gloomy' surrounding Scottish landscape, in this case a sprawling concrete jumble of dreary hospital buildings...cheeky assertion is spot-on: Maggie's Gartnavel is a genuine architectural oasis. -- Charles Jencks; Ellen van Loon [images]- Wallpaper* |
Helsinki’s new music hall strikes the right notes: Some might argue the Helsinki Music Centre doesn’t pack enough of a punch...But the intention here was clearly not to provoke a “Wow” so much as an “Of course"...a building that stands out as much as it fits in...one of those rare projects that do double duty; it was built as a home for music, but is also the dwelling place of urbanity. By Christopher Hume -- LPR Architects- Toronto Star |
Does the Stirling Prize need to be more transparent? No, says Ruth Reed, confidentiality is vital to the panel’s debate; but George Ferguson is keen to see a wider audience involved- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Why is this great architecture? The judges have every right to award the Stirling to Hadid, but the opacity of their decision is harming the prize...underneath the argy-bargy, there’s something very wrong about the RIBA’s refusal to let the judges explain why Hadid triumphed. By Amanda Baillieu- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Stirling stars lambast system as Zaha Hadid triumphs: Past winners and judges call for greater transparency for UK profession’s greatest prize...current process did not “hold judges accountable for what they think.” -- Edward Jones/Dixon Jones; Stephen Hodder; Simon Allford/AHMM- BD/Building Design (UK) |
3rd International Holcim Awards 2011 for Latin America: Sustainable construction as a key to better urban life -- Urban Think Tank; ELEMENTAL; arquitectura 911sc; Ambrosi Arquitectos; Pardo Cué Arquitectos; klotz y asociados; AFT Arquitectos; espacio entre tiempo Architects; Taller13 Arquitectura Regenerativa; etc. [links to info, images]- Holcim Foundation |
City Geometry, Seen From Above: In “New York From the Air: A Story of Architecture,” Yann Arthus-Bertrand transforms street-level scenes into majestic, abstract cityscapes. [slide show]- New York Times |
On View> "Sacred Spaces in Profane Buildings": In the newest exhibit at the Storefront for Art and Architecture, architect and researcher Matilde Cassani explores how we celebrate and observe our beliefs in unconventional spaces [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Yale Tigerman Exhibit Shows Architect's Influences: The fact that he studied architecture at one of the bastions of modernism at the moment when cracks began to appear in its facade reverberates throughout "Ceci n’est pas une reverie: The Architecture of Stanley Tigerman"...he didn't want to be original. He wanted to be good. By Michael J. Crosbie- Hartford Courant (Connecticut) |
"Richard Barnes: Unnatural Spaces" takes a provocative look at the way architecture is both a complicit partner in, and also an unwitting subject of, the practice of presentation...includes [his] photographs of contemporary buildings from Los Angeles to Kazakhstan + The Julius Shulman Institute Exhibition and Awards honoring the Annenberg Space for Photography and photographer Richard Barnes- Woodbury University School of Architecture (Burbank-Los Angeles) |
"California Design 1930-1965: Living in a Modern Way" at LACMA: ...designed with noticeable joie de vivre by Craig Hodgetts and Ming Fung/Hodgetts + Fung, has an irresistibly light touch, offering a few dozen rays of sunshine for every drop of noir...mixing in so many lesser-known figures and overlooked corners of design practice alongside the greatest hits. By Christopher Hawthorne- Los Angeles Times |
Reading L.A.: Think Southern California is unplanned? Think again: Greg Hise in his 1997 book “Magnetic Los Angeles: Planning the Twentieth-Century Metropolis” sets out systematically to undermine the idea that Los Angeles...is the ultimate unplanned metropolis...Instead of following the usual logic that the American suburb was created by people fleeing something...he argues that...suburban growth was driven by people drawn to something... By Christopher Hawthorne- Los Angeles Times |
"The Art-Architecture Complex": Hal Foster purports to reveal an alliance of the corporate and the cultural in an increasingly globalised world of contemporary visual culture...It is an intriguing proposition...he feels, perhaps, too much affection for his protagonists...what could have been an excoriating examination of the contemporary avant-garde instead becomes a friendly guide to an art and architecture phenomenon that now appears rather last century. By Edwin Heathcote- Financial Times (UK) |
Documentary on Atlanta Architect, Developer to Debut: "John Portman: A Life of Building,"...will be screened at four film festivals and make its international film festival debut at Architecture Film Festival Rotterdam (The Netherlands) October 8...United States film festival debut at the Architecture and Design Film Festival in New York October 21...A Design Film Festival in Singapore in November 2011 and at the Architecture and Design Film Festival in Chicago in 2012.- Citybizlist Atlanta |
You Survived Part 2: Mapping the Path to your Next Project and a More Predictable Workload: It is essential to establish a specific, easy, and brief Go/No Go decision process, allowing you to quickly determine where to invest limited marketing resources. By Michael Bernard, AIA, and Nancy Kleppel, Assoc. AIA- ArchNewsNow |
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EASTERN design office: Three Houses: Keyhole House; A House Awaiting Death; Mountain Opening House. Three poetic residential projects in Japan by architects Anna Nakamura and Taiyo Jinno. |
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