Today’s News - Thursday, March 15, 2012
• Kamin's ink-is-still-wet report on Navy Pier design team pick: the High Line's Corner leads the charge - "They dream big, but they were able to do it in a way we could pay for it."
• Davidson, meanwhile, weighs in on the third leg of the High Line: "it looks like the story will get a supremely happy ending."
• Farrelly's fairly fierce - and fascinating - take on Women's History Month's focus on long-forgotten women architects, planners and landscapers with the "aim to glorify not their achievements, of which there are disturbingly few, but simply their existence."
• A recap of the Megacities and Meta-Cities symposium that considered the practice, pedagogy and study of urban design.
• Something to add to the curriculum: a just-released "report of doom" re: "how the seas will eat coastal U.S. cities."
• On a brighter note: a sidewalk made of discarded "porcelain thrones" ground up into "poticrete" receives the first-ever Greenroads certification (LEED for roads).
• Bernstein gets the scoop from Williams and Tsien on what it was like designing the new Barnes: "We struggled for a long time" (oh those pesky moldings!).
• Dvir x 2: a French architect has a radical plan to link the West Bank and Gaza with a 37-kilometer, multi-use bridge that could benefit everyone + first look at a new humanities building (designed by Boston architect) for Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
• Fundraising efforts get underway for desperately needed repairs to the Church of St. Bride's spire: "Wren's churches still define the City of London in a way the glittering skyscrapers can only aspire to. It would seem that something this special is worth saving."
• Cheers - and jeers - for the Welsh Government's decision to list the Brutalist main building at the National History Museum of Wales.
• Bozikovic gives two thumbs-up's to a revived 1940s movie palace as "a new cultural institution for Toronto and, just maybe, a model for the movie house in the 21st century."
• Mays finds another fine example of plans to fill in another hard-to-fill nook and cranny in Toronto's urban fabric: "a condo tower with a sensuous embrace."
• U.S. EPA sets the dates for Solar Decathlon 2013 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California - the first time that the event will be held outside of Washington, DC.
• We couldn't resist: Hanscom's hilarious take on the "most craptastic urban rebranding efforts ever" by "marketing consultants who don't have the foggiest clue what they're doing - and cities love to hire these people!"
• Call for entries: New York CityVision international ideas competition.
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
Team picked for Navy Pier redesign: ...governing board today approved a recommendation to hire a team led by the co-designer of New York's celebrated High Line to reshape the pier's public spaces...."They dream big, but they were able to do it in a way we could pay for it"... By Blair Kamin -- James Corner Field Operations; nARCHITECTS; Bruce Mau; L’Observatoire International; Fluidity Design Consultants; Patrick Blanc; John Greenlee & Associates; Terry Guen Design Associates; Billings Jackson; Buro Happold; etc. [images, links]- Chicago Tribune |
Where the High Line Ends: ...has acted as a design laboratory, a real-estate value generator, a tourist attractor, and a metaphor for the city’s evolution from a place of weeds and rusting iron into a sanctuary of hip...it looks like the story will get a supremely happy ending...the third leg is being designed to honor both the area’s industrial past and its white-collar future [Hudson Yards]. By Justin Davidson -- James Corner Field Operations; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Kohn Pedersen Fox/KPF [slide show]- New York Magazine |
Revisionism can achieve the ordinary all by itself: Women's History Month...themed Women with a Plan, celebrating long-forgotten women architects, planners and landscapers...aim to glorify not their achievements, of which there are disturbingly few, but simply their existence...Simpering revisionism that elevates niceness over truth drops us straight back into the sewing circle. Make the extraordinary ordinary. By Elizabeth Farrelly -- Bronwyn Hanna; Florence Taylor- Sydney Morning Herald |
Megacities and Meta-Cities: Sustainable Models for Growing and Shrinking Territories: Jessica Cronstein recaps a symposium in which urban designers considered the practice, pedagogy and study of urban design with a focus on local schools. -- Antonella Contin; David Grahame Shane; Giovanni Santamaria; Pedro Ortiz; Victoria Marshall; Georgeen Theodore/Interboro Partners; Anne Guiney/Institute for Urban Design (IfUD); etc.- Urban Omnibus |
Mapping How the Seas Will Eat Coastal U.S. Cities: Two to 7 feet: That's how much scientists expect the sea level to rise by 2100 if humanity doesn't curb its greenhouse-gas emissions...Climate Central released a report of doom...To boil it down: Many coastal cities are facing massive, devastating flooding. [images, links]- The Atlantic Cities |
Sidewalks Made of Toilets? Town Flush With Savings: In Bellingham, Washington, the sidewalks are paved with toilets — 400 discarded porcelain thrones ground up in a mixture they call ”poticrete"...part of the Meador Kansas Ellis Trail Project...first-ever to receive certification from the Greenroads Foundation... [links to details]- ABC News (US) |
For the New Barnes, Everything Old Is Old Again: ...what does it mean to replicate rooms with creaky wood floors and burlap-covered walls in a shiny 93,000-square-foot building? ...“We struggled for a long time"...not every detail of the Merion building had been constructed exactly as Cret intended...made Williams feel better about tampering with some of the galleries’ details. By Fred A. Bernstein -- Paul Cret (1925); Tod Williams Billie Tsien- New York Times |
Bridging the gap between the West Bank and Gaza with a dream: French Jewish architect Marc Mimram has come up with a radical plan to link the Palestinian Authority areas...believes his 37 kilometer bridge could benefit everyone, including Israel. By Noam Dvir [image]- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
Made in the shade: A first look at designs for the Hebrew University’s new Mandel Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities...will be built on the Mount Scopus campus in Jerusalem. By Noam Dvir -- Michael McKinnell/Kallmann McKinnell & Wood Architects; Asaf Lerman/A. Lerman Architects [image]- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
Saving Church of St Bride’s: ...it needs at least £2.5m ($3.9m) to repair the dangerously crumbling stonework of its spire. This would seem to be a fine candidate for some sort of lottery funding or grant...but none has been forthcoming...The INSPIRE! appeal...officially launches on March 21st. The situation is indeed grave...Christopher Wren’s churches still define the City of London...in a way the glittering skyscrapers can only aspire to. It would seem that something this special is worth saving.- The Economist (UK) |
'Brutalist' main building at the National History Museum of Wales in St Fagans given listed status: Some people believe the building is a prime example of “1960s brutalist” architecture that deserves to be demolished...But the Welsh Government’s heritage body Cadw disagrees... -- Percy Thomas Partnership; Purcell Miller Tritton- WalesOnline (UK) |
Dedicated to the doc – a new take on the movie palace: Bloor Hot Docs Cinema...a permanent home for the documentary film festival and a 700-seat temple to non-fiction film...a new cultural institution for Toronto and, just maybe, a model for the movie house in the 21st century...and restores the building's 1940s architecture and finishes..."it was a kind of archeology." By Alex Bozikovic -- Hariri Pontarini- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
On Toronto's Yonge Street, a condo tower with a sensuous embrace: I’m guessing that Massey Tower will be the talented architect’s most coherent, aesthetically successful exercise of this kind so far, and another good example of artistic imagination turned loose on the hard-to-fill nooks and crannies in Toronto’s urban fabric. By John Bentley Mays -- Darling & Pearson (1905); E.R.A. Architects; Hariri Pontarini Architects [image]- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
U.S. Department of Energy Sets Official Dates for Solar Decathlon 2013 at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine, California, October 3 to 13, 2013: ...selected as the site through a national competition...the first time that the event has been held outside of Washington, D.C. Twenty university teams have been selected to participate...- Orange County Great Park |
Giving cities a bad name: The most craptastic urban rebranding efforts ever: Turns out this country is chock full of marketing consultants who don’t have the foggiest clue what they’re doing — and cities love to hire these people! By Greg Hanscom [links, videos]- Grist Magazine |
Call for entries: New York CityVision international ideas competition: develop urban and visionary proposals with the aim of stimulating new ideas for the contemporary city; earlybird registration (save money): April 9; submission deadline: June 11- CityVision Magazine |
You Survived: Part 3: Operations, Management, Business Development, Practice: Turn off the auto-pilot and engage: Ideas and tips to foster a thriving practice in 2012. By Michael S. Bernard, AIA, and Nancy Kleppel, Assoc. AIA- ArchNewsNow |
|
-- OMA: Milstein Hall, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
-- Book: "Project Japan: Metabolism Talks" by Rem Koolhaas & Hans Ulrich Obrist |
|
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window.
External news links are not endorsed by ArchNewsNow.com.
Free registration may be required on some sites.
Some pages may expire after a few days.
© 2012 ArchNewsNow.com