Today’s News - Thursday, October 13, 2011
• Good news/bad news re: 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale: we cheer the team and theme selected for the U.S. Pavilion!
• Betsky bemoans the probability that Berlusconi is ousting the Biennale's president to replace him with a food business executive (who brought Gatorade to Italy): "Luckily, there is still some hope."
• Kimmelman cheers "a quiet revolution" in NYC with dozens of public buildings being designed by gifted architects instead of the lowest bidders - a reminder that "governments actually do get things right sometimes."
• Instead of "half-timbered buildings and medieval romance" of a German village on the outskirts of Shanghai, Speer thought he knew better and convinced the Chinese what they really wanted was a sort of Bauhaus-style residential quarter; now it's a ghost town - nobody wants to live there (slide show really proves it).
• Hawthorne on LACMA's architectural mix: "it seems to attract and then foreclose visionary architectural plans"; but does it really "need to feel unified architecturally? Maybe not."
• Brussat x 2: Gehry's proposed design for the Eisenhower memorial "is being blasted by a well-aimed (and well-deserved) bombardment," including at a forum where he was "peppered with hostile questions" for "kicking tradition in the shins."
• He gives Douthat kudos "for noticing the difference between beauty and ugliness," but he doesn't seem to get new urbanism: "criticizing tradition remains the hypocrisy that dare not speak its name."
• Weder chronicles life in a "moderny, hurty house" - a machine for living in that she "was inept at operating," and "began to miss the reassuring privacy of those tyrannical barriers we call walls, doors, and curtains" (a great read).
• Preservationists are more than a bit peeved over planning process to redo Peavey Plaza in Minneapolis that "some regard as one of the great American Modernist plazas."
• Stern wins his first U.K. project: the redesign of a Mayfair mansion block as a luxury development in central London.
• Koolhaas talks about his Barbican exhibition, Maggie's Centre Gartnavel, Glasgow, why the Brutalist Preston bus station should be treasured, and why architecture is "not just for super-rich."
• The Philippines' first LEED Gold tower rises in Manila: "it will help pave the way for other architects to promote green principles in architecture."
• After a much-needed revamp, the University of Oklahoma's College of Architecture is now a "jewel" of the campus.
• Dvir delves into a collection of Shulman photos "discovered by chance" documenting his "seminal trip to Israel in 1959, in which he captured in a moving way both urban and rural landscapes."
• 10 communities earn Walk Friendly status (great presentation - and some real surprises).
• 2011 Zerofootprint Re-Skinning Awards winners announced (and another great presentation).
• Sjunkhatten National Park Competition in Norway names a winner: "the jury found the mythical approach appropriate for enriching children's experience of nature."
• Call for entries: Strategies for Public Occupation; 1st Prize: The possibility of a new world order.
• We couldn't resist: an eyeful of the winners in the 2011 Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest.
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Institute for Urban Design To Organize U.S. Pavilion for 13th Venice Architecture Biennale: "Spontaneous Interventions: Design Actions for the Common Good" will focus on new strategies in public design, from urban farms to crowdsourced planning...IfUD's website to allow designers to submit their work for consideration in the exhibition. -- Cathy Lang Ho; Ned Cramer/Architect magazine; David van der Leer/Guggenheim Museum; Paola Antonelli/Museum of Modern Art; Zoe Ryan/Art Institute of Chicago; Michael Sorkin; Anne Guiney- Architect Magazine |
Outrage in Venice: Berlusconi Ousts Paolo Baratta, President of the Venice Biennale: He wishes to replace him with an executive from the food business, Giulio Malgara...Why does this matter? Because Baratta...has for the last four years made the Biennale a professional and effective organization...Luckily, there is still some hope. By Aaron Betsky- Architect Magazine |
New York’s Public Architecture Gets a Face-Lift: In a shift from a time when the city hired only the lowest bidders for projects, dozens of new city buildings have been designed by gifted architects...a quiet revolution...a reminder that humane cities don’t reserve quality architecture just for rich people...And that governments actually do get things right sometimes. By Michael Kimmelman -- 1100 Architect; Lee H. Skolnick Architecture; David J. Burney; Beyhan Karahan Architects; Rogers Marvel Architects [slide show]- New York Times |
A German Ghost Town in the Heart of China: Half-timbered buildings and medieval romance - that's what the Chinese wanted. But Albert Speer & Partner thought it knew better, and built a modern German residential quarter on the outskirts of Shanghai. Now Anting German Town is complete, though, nobody wants to live there. [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
A film twist on LACMA's architectural mix: A motion picture museum at LACMA will only add to the disparate shape of the campus...it seems to attract and then foreclose visionary architectural plans...The architectural implications of the decision are more complicated...Does a big, encyclopedic urban museum like LACMA need to feel unified architecturally? Maybe not... By Christopher Hawthorne -- SPF Architects; Christian de Portzamparc; Albert C. Martin (1939); David Rockwell; Renzo Piano; William Pereira (1965); Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer (1986); Peter Zumthor [slide show]- Los Angeles Times |
Rethinking the Eisenhower memorial: Frank Gehry's proposed modernist design...is being blasted by a well-aimed (and well-deserved) bombardment...National Archives held a forum...audience peppered Gehry with hostile questions. Though he is more used to being fawned over than criticized, this was no big surprise...Kicking tradition in the shins, as [his] design does, was sure to raise a lot of eyebrows. But it did not end there. By David Brussat [images]- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Has Ross Douthat ever seen new urbanism? Kudos...for noticing the difference between beauty and ugliness. His remarks about new urbanism suggest, however, that he doesn't recognize the difference between the future and "the future"...most modernists copy the past and are either too shallow to recognize it or too arrogant to imagine that any critic will call them out...criticizing tradition remains the hypocrisy that dare not speak its name. By David Brussat- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Modern Inconveniences: A design writer and self-confessed slob seeks transformation in a year of living minimally: Our daughters started calling our place the hurty house...I began to miss the reassuring privacy of those tyrannical barriers we call walls, doors, and curtains. Sometimes we need hiding places...We still loved the moderny house, the way you still love that gorgeous man who’s just no good for you. By Adele Weder -- BattersbyHowat- The Walrus (Canada) |
Preservationists worry over redo of Peavey Plaza (1975): Some say they're out of the loop; others fear hallmark features at risk.The new design...isn't even public yet, but already there is a ruckus about whether the redo will mar what some regard as one of the great American Modernist plazas. Two of the three members of the design team, including the original designer, claim they and the public have been cut out of the process. -- M. Paul Friedberg; Charles A. Birnbaum; Oslund and Associates- Minneapolis Star Tribune |
Robert A.M. Stern wins central London luxury development: Project would be first in UK for US architect...commission to redesign a Mayfair mansion block...would see the demolition of a 1930s red-brick building...final value of the development could reach £400 million.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Architecture 'not just for super-rich': Rem Koolhaas talks about his new exhibition of...OMA, at the Barbican Art Gallery, Maggie's Gartnavel, Glasgow, and why the Brutalist Preston bus station should be treasured and seen as an "emblem"... [audio]- BBC Radio 4 (UK) |
How green is my building: ...the 33-story Zuellig Building, the first high-rise with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (Core and Shell) (LEED-CS) Gold Pre-certification in the Philippines..."by designing this green building, it will help pave the way for other architects to promote green principles in architecture" -- W.V. Coscolluela & Associates; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [images]- The Philippine Star |
Gould Hall aces its class at the University of Oklahoma in Norman: OU's College of Architecture is the jewel of the South Oval after a $23.6 million redesign, renovation and expansion -- Bockus Payne Associates Architects- The Oklahoman |
Iconic images of a new land: Julius Shulman documented the work of American's preeminent designers for 75 years. Largely forgotten until now, however, was a seminal trip to Israel in 1959, in which he captured in a moving way both urban and rural landscapes...discovered by chance in the Israel Architecture Archive... By Noam Dvir -- Zvi Elhayani; Joseph Neufeld; Ze'ev Rechter; Yaakov Rechter; Dov Carmi; Zvi Meltzer; Arieh Sharon; Benjamin Idelson; Yosef Werner Witkover; Richard Kauffman; Joseph Klarwein; Heinz Rau; Ram Karmi; Avraham Yaski; Amnon Alexandroni [image]- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
10 Communities Earn Walk Friendly Status: ...join the inaugural class of 11 Walk Friendly Communities announced in April 2011. The program will begin accepting applications for the next round on November 1, with the deadline for submission on December 15, 2011. [links to images, info]- Transportation Issues Daily |
2011 Zerofootprint Re-Skinning Awards Winners and Finalists -- Daly Genik/Energy Code Works/Title 24/Polly Furr Venice Studio; iParch/Bürö Für Integrale Planung (Office for Integrated Planning)/Imagine Envelope; etc. [links to images, info]- Zerofootprint |
"Saivu" Wins Sjunkhatten National Park Competition in Norway: ...the jury found the mythical approach appropriate for enriching children’s experience of nature. -- Eriksen Skajaa Architects; Pushak; Bjørbekk & Lindheim Landscape Architects [images]- Bustler |
Call for entries: Strategies for Public Occupation: Call for ideas that offer a new, creative and productive way of spatial occupation for public demonstrations and actions in cities throughout the world; 1st Prize: The possibility of a new world order; deadline: December 1- Storefront for Art and Architecture |
Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest 2011: ...evaluated more than 1,200 napkins from nearly 400 entrants. -- Zeljko Toncic/Rizvi Architects; Gregory L. Klosowski/Ellipsis A+D; Hirotaka Hayakawa/Cooper, Robertson & Partners; Tony Costello/Costello + Associates; Carol Hsiung/FWFOWLE; John E. Quinton, Jr./BRR Architecture; Vlad Zadneprianski/TPG Architecture [slide shows]- Architectural Record |
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Ricardo Bofill Taller de Arquitectura: Barcelona Airport Terminal 1, Barcelona, Spain |
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