Today’s News - Friday, May 11, 2012
• Cotton digs deep into the dilemma of deciphering who actually designed Seattle's Space Needle.
• A new report looks at the growth of satellite cities in East Africa - they're a "double-edge sword" that "could create a 'nouveau apartheid.'"
• Hume cheers Toronto's architectural culture: it's "alive and well," in large part because "local architects have evolved to the point where they see their role is not just designing structures, but building a city" (touches of starchitecture help, too).
• Spanish politicos accuse Calatrava of "bleeding Valencia dry": "Today the City of the Arts and Sciences is sinking under its own excesses. That is where the architect died and the businessman was born."
• de Monchaux x 2: the Barnes Foundation's new building "evokes its precursors' classical posture without recourse to formal pedantry" (and note the "choreography of the entry sequence").
• He cheers the Brooklyn Botanic Garden's new visitor center, "the city's newest secret garden" with "a near-cinematic sequence of moments."
• Bernstein is taken by the Nelson-Atkins' Sun Pavilion with scaffolding arranged "like mutated Tinker Toys" and photovoltaics as decorative elements that prove "solar panels don't have to be hidden away...a point that could influence architects everywhere."
• An eyeful of the NASA Sustainability Base, "Earth's first high-performance space station."
• Everyone wants their own High Line: A proposal is put forward to transform Sydney's "doomed and unprofitable monorail" into a Highlane: "if you're going to spend $15million bringing it down, why not spend less than that to keep it and add an asset to the city?" (alas, it seems it's going to take a lot of convincing).
• Chicago's Bloomingdale Trail planning framework is wrapping up: "The project is much more earth-bound than its New York predecessor."
• Rose reviews the week: Calatrava under fire (see story above), Hadid's Maxxi faces closure, but "Koolhaas's star keeps rising ... as far as The Simpsons."
• Call for entries: Piraeus (Greece) Cultural Coast Museum for Underwater Antiquities Open Architectural Competition.
• Weekend diversions:
• Heathcote on the Bauhaus: there's no doubt it is the "most famous design school in history; its legacy, however, is a different matter."
• McGuirk visits a restored Futuro house in Finland, "an emblem of 1960s architectural utopianism. Just don't call it a spaceship."
• In London, "SHIFTS: The Economic Crisis and its Consequences for Architecture" presents "an evocative, polemical" exhibition about "the far-reaching impacts of new economic circumstances on architecture's present and future."
• Pieri's "Baghdad, Arts Deco, Architecture in Brick (1820-1950)" uncovers the city's architecture "turned invisible for the world for more than two decades" that "today breathes with powerful lungs, standing high over the rank fumes of war."
• "Beyond the Bahay Kubo: 16 Climate-Conscious Tropical Homes" proves the Filipino style "was the original sustainable house."
• Hosey recommends 10 "compelling reads that, in their own ways, expand the sustainability dialogue."
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Who Designed the Space Needle? Victor Steinbrueck's contributions have been given short shrift, leaving the design of what is arguably Seattle's most important structure clouded by assumption and innuendo to this day. By Dale Cotton -- John Graham, Jr. [images]- ArchNewsNow |
How Satellite Cities Are Reshaping East Africa: Rapid urbanization and divided cities could create a "nouveau apartheid" in places like Rwanda and Kenya...according to a report, "State of East Africa Report 2012," from the Society of International Development...Ahmed Salim...on the complex, "double-edge sword" of satellite cities.- The Atlantic Cities |
Toronto’s architecture has never looked better: ...architectural culture is alive and well...More important, local architects have evolved to the point where they see their role is not just designing structures, but building a city. By Christopher Hume -- Frank Gehry; Will Alsop; Daniel Libeskind; Bruce Kuwabara/Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg/KPMB; Peter Clewes/architectsAlliance; Michael van Valkenburgh; James Corner; Adriaan Gueze; Claude Cormier from Quebec; Moshe Safdie; Cesar Pelli; RAW Design; Core Architects; Quadrangle; Montgomery Sisam; Diamond Schmitt; Hariri Pontarini; etc. [images]- Toronto Star |
Santiago Calatrava accused of 'bleeding Valencia dry': Leftists accuse top architect of raking in escalating amounts of cash from regional government to build giant cultural park..."Today the City of the Arts and Sciences is sinking under its own excesses. That is where the architect died and the businessman was born." [slide show]- Guardian (UK) |
Crit> The Barnes Foundation: The building’s massing and material evoke its precursors’ classical posture without recourse to formal pedantry...What elevates it above mere good taste is the choreography of the entry sequence...an experience that’s intricate yet fluid, intimate yet expansive, staging an essential but delicate delay between city and art. By Thomas de Monchaux -- Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects; Laurie Olin [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Architects Triumph With New Brooklyn Botanic Garden Visitor Center: ...the city's newest secret garden...a near-cinematic sequence of moments... By Thomas de Monchaux -- Weiss/Manfredi [images]- Curbed New York |
Review: Generator Studio’s Sun Pavilion at the Nelson-Atkins Museum: ..."Inventing the Modern World: Decorative Arts at the World’s Fairs 1851-1939"...one key piece of the...story was missing - pavilion design...using photovoltaics as decorative elements makes an important point. Solar panels don't have to be hidden away...And that’s a point that could influence architects everywhere: design to display, not camoflauge, green features. By Fred A. Bernstein [slide show]- Architectural Record |
NASA Sustainability Base / William McDonough + Partners; AECOM: ...have teamed up to create Earth’s first high-performance space station...a building that that...goes beyond LEED® Platinum in its pursuit of Cradle to Cradle® solutions. -- Loisos + Ubbelohde [images]- ArchDaily |
A Sydney 'Highlane' alternative to monorail destruction proposed: ...Habitation has submitted plans to re-develop Sydney's doomed and unprofitable monorail into a walkway reminiscent of New York's High Line...."if you're going to spend $15million bringing it down, why not spend less than that to keep it and add an asset to the city?" -- David Vago [images]- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
Bike on By: Planning framework for Bloomingdale Trail wrapping up in Chicago: The project is much more earth-bound than its New York predecessor [High Line] with direct connections to the city’s sidewalks and neighborhood parks system. -- ARUP; Ross Barney Architects; Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Constructive criticism: the week in architecture: Santiago Calatrava comes under fire over Valencia's City of the Arts and Sciences, Zaha Hadid's Maxxi gallery faces closure, but Rem Koolhaas's star keeps rising ... as far as The Simpsons...Architecture Foundation's new exhibition "The Economic Crisis and its Consequences for Architecture"... By Steve Rose- Guardian (UK) |
Call for entries: Piraeus Cultural Coast Museum for Underwater Antiquities Open Architectural Competition (international); cash prizes; registration deadline: August 6- Piraeus Port Authority (Greece) |
Utopia for the better-off: That the Bauhaus is the most famous design school in history is not in doubt. Its legacy, however, is a different matter – far less certain than its fame...What the Bauhaus did do was to ascribe a value to design...[its] is in the idea of design as something to be taken seriously. By Edwin Heathcote -- Marcel Breuer; Wilhelm Wagenfeld; Max Bill; Mies van der Rohe; Gropius; Kandinsky; Moholy-Nagy; Itten- Financial Times (UK) |
Futuro – the ideal home that wasn't: As the newly restored first edition goes on show Justin McGuirk explores an emblem of 1960s architectural utopianism. Just don't call it a spaceship...on view at the Weegee Exhibition Centre, Espoo, Finland. -- Matti Suuronen [images, links]- Guardian (UK) |
"SHIFTS: The Economic Crisis and its Consequences for Architecture": Powerhouse Company and critic and architectural historian Hans Ibelings present an evocative, polemical exhibition illustrating the far-reaching impacts of new economic circumstances on architecture’s present and future, through June 9- The Architecture Foundation (UK) |
A Different Reality of Baghdad: A scholarly look at the Iraqi capital's architecture...Caecilia Pieri discovered...its architecture...turned invisible for the world for more than two decades...The result was a seminal book, "Baghdad, Arts Deco, Architecture in Brick (1820-1950)"...The architectural Baghdad of today breathes with powerful lungs, standing high over the rank fumes of war...- Gulf News (UAE) |
Green by Design: Sustainable Living through Filipino Architecture: “Beyond the Bahay Kubo: 16 Climate-Conscious Tropical Homes"...by the father-and-son design team of Bobby and Angelo Mañosa...“The bahay kubo was the original sustainable house"...- Philippine Daily Inquirer |
Ten Views of Sustainability: A Reading List: ...compelling reads that, in their own ways, expand the sustainability dialogue. By Lance Hosey- GreenBlue |
Imperfect Health: Probing the Porous Interface between Architecture and Health: A new book and website linked to the recent Canadian Centre for Architecture exhibition "Imperfect Health: The Medicalization of Architecture" offer a healthy tonic countering academically anemic architectural education. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
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Steven Holl Architects: Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA), Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia |
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