Today’s News - Monday, October 15, 2012
• ArcSpace goes Nordic this week with projects by Grieg Architects, 3XN, and Wingårdh Arkitektkontor.
• We are saddened by the news that we've lost Franzen, a Modernist master who "was modest about the architect's role in making cityscapes."
• On a brighter note, it's a Stirling kind of day, with an unexpected long-shot taking the prize:
• Wainwright weighs in with why the Sainsbury Laboratory deserved to win: "Stanton Williams has recast what might once have been an anonymous prefab shed into nothing short of a temple to botany."
• Moore agrees: it's an "exceptionally nice building, thoughtfully planned and beautifully constructed."
• Heathcote hails the award as "a move away from the domination of the super-starchitects," and "a recognition that finally the artificial boundaries between cultural and research institutions are being reassessed."
• Woodman wonders, with the finalists being "among the last fruits of the boom years," how the construction downturn will affect the award in the future.
• The judges mince no words about what they think of the "dreadful" state of British architecture: it seems "excellence is now the exception."
• Merrick finds "both irony and truth" in the judges' sentiments, with the prize going to "one of the least interesting buildings on the shortlist."
• Hepworth Wakefield's director munches more than a few sour grapes about losing out to a building with "an enormous budget in an extremely privileged city...it isn't a building that excites me."
• Following that, how could we resist Baillieu and Winston's "How to lose gracefully: a guide for architects" (yes, "losing sucks").
• Cheers to other award-winners: Campbell-Dollaghan offers a most interesting profile of Norway's TYIN Tegnestue, which took home the European Prize for Architecture this year.
• The 2012 Jane Jacobs Medal Winners, who "creatively use the urban environment to make New York City a place of hope and expectation," are models for us all.
• Russell raves over NYC's FDR Memorial that "brings fantastic life to the long-neglected site. Building a 38-year-old design essentially unaltered is unheard of. Everyone's architecture dates - except Kahn's."
• Chaban brings us an in-depth look at what else is in store for Roosevelt Island: Cornell NYC Tech's massive campus will be anchored by Mayne's building that resembles "an aircraft carrier from another planet."
• Becker tours U. of C.'s Logan Center with Williams and Tsien, and is particularly taken by the "architectural mojo" of its tower: "It's like a concentrator, a metaphorical chimney through which the energy of the low-rise block rises to a boil" (lots of pix, too!).
• Saffron sees the design of a planned tower that "evokes a Chinese puzzle box" as "a game-changer for Philadelphia's Chinatown."
• Dazzling (and dizzying!) eyefuls of Jerde's massive Mecenatpolis in Seoul.
• AIA analyzes the possible repercussions if the U.S. falls over the "fiscal cliff" (a.k.a. the impending sequestration): it could cost the American A/E/C industry $2 billion in lost work: "both political parties are...placing ideology above governing."
• A good reason to be in Detroit later this week: the National Organization of Minority Architects 2012 Conference returns to the city where it was founded.
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-- Grieg Architects: Oseana - Art & Culture Center, Os (Bergen), Norway
-- 3XN: The Arch, Mandal, Norway
-- Wingårdh Arkitektkontor: Spira Performing Arts Center, Jönköping, Sweden |
Obituary: Ulrich Franzen, 91, Designer of Brutalist Buildings: ...part of a generation of prominent American architects, including Philip Johnson, Paul Rudolph and I.M. Pei...deeply influenced by the Bauhaus architecture masters Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer...early works are exemplars of the Modernist style...was modest about the architect’s role in making cityscapes. “Architecture is the servant of its time."- New York Times |
Why the Sainsbury Laboratory deserved to win the Stirling prize: ...why the judges got it right: Stanton Williams has recast what might once have been an anonymous prefab shed...into nothing short of a temple to botany...an achievement that could have an important influence beyond this one building. By Oliver Wainwright -- O'Donnell and Tuomey; David Chipperfield; Populous- Guardian (UK) |
Stirling prize 2012: The Sainsbury laboratory, Cambridge: An exceptionally nice building, thoughtfully planned and beautifully constructed...In a year when all the shortlisted schemes would have been admirable winners, the laboratory deserves to win. By Rowan Moore -- Stanton Williams- Observer (UK) |
Cambridge laboratory wins Stirling prize: ...an extremely elegant design...The award is a move away from the domination of the super-starchitects...a recognition that finally the artificial boundaries between cultural and research institutions are being reassessed. Both are now treated with the seriousness and dignity of institutional importance; both, in effect, as cultural buildings. By Edwin Heathcote -- Stanton Williams; OMA; O’Donnell + Tuomey; David Chipperfield; Populous- Financial Times (UK) |
Stirling Prize: British buildings going for gold: This year’s shortlist...is strong, but how will the construction downturn affect this prestigious award in the future: The six buildings in contention...were all commissioned prior to the downturn...among the last fruits of the boom years and, more than a little ironically, comprise a shortlist as strong as any in the Stirling’s 16-year history. By Ellis Woodman. -- David Chipperfield; O’Donnell and Tuomey Architects; Office for Metropolitan Architecture/OMA/Rem Koolhaas; Stanton Williams Architects; Populous- Telegraph (UK) |
No more noddy boxes! 2012 RIBA Stirling Prize judges' dismay at British buildings: Excellence is now the exception...concerned that architectural education is becoming "over theorised" and lacking in practical experience...blamed the "dreadful" state of UK architecture on the failure of councils to embrace innovative designs. -- Populous; David Chipperfield; O'Donnell + Tuomey; OMA; Stanton Williams- Independent (UK) |
Where's the love in the buildings we put up? There is both irony and truth in the fierce criticism levelled at the state of British architecture by Sir Mark Jones, one of the Stirling Prize judges. Irony because while he complains about "a lack of feeling and a lack of care for the quality of design", the prize itself...went to one of the least interesting buildings on the shortlist...But there was truth too because the pressure that British architects are under means more and more second-rate buildings. By Jay Merrick- Independent (UK) |
Hepworth Wakefield boss bemoans losing Stirling Prize: ...disappointed to lose out on a major architecture award to a building with "an enormous budget in an extremely privileged city"...Simon Wallis said the winner "isn't a building that excites me"...- BBC |
How to lose gracefully: a guide for architects: BD’s five point guide to the art of losing well...The Stirling Prize has certainly brought out the ruder side of some architects...Losing sucks... By Amanda Baillieu and Anna Winston- BD/Building Design (UK) |
World-Class Buildings For The Underserved, At Under $10k: The European Prize for Architecture honors Norway’s TYIN Tegnestue, who specialize in locally sourced, locally built projects in the developing world. By Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan [images]- Fast Company |
Rockefeller Foundation Honors 2012 Jane Jacobs Medal Winners: ...awarded each year to recipients whose work creates new ways of seeing and understanding New York City, challenges traditional assumptions and creatively uses the urban environment to make NYC a place of hope and expectation. -- Ronald Shiffman; Rosanne Haggerty/Common Ground/Community Solutions; IOBY (in our backyards)- Rockefeller Foundation |
Louis Kahn’s Memorial to FDR Finally Finds Home in East River: ...Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park....brings fantastic life to the long-neglected site at the southern tip of Roosevelt Island...pays subtle and dignified homage...Building a 38-year-old design essentially unaltered is unheard of. Everyone’s architecture dates - except Kahn’s. By James S. Russell -- Mitchell/Giurgola Architects [images]- Bloomberg News |
For Its Roosevelt Island Tech Campus, Cornell Pursues Some Cutting Edge Designs by Thom Mayne and SOM: Cornell NYC Tech may be looking for the future, but the very first problem it must tackle is as old as Noah...The centerpiece is Mayne’s academic building. Resembling an aircraft carrier from another planet... By Matt Chaban -- Morphosis, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; James Corner Field Operations slide show]- New York Observer |
Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects' Reva and David Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago: In a supply chain world, a building breaks free from the standard modules...It's the U of C's frontal assault in securing its credentials in the arts...while the low-rise block is beautifully crafted, it's the tower...that gives the Center its architectural mojo. It's like a concentrator, a metaphorical chimney through which the energy of the low-rise block rises to a boil. By Lynn Becker -- Hargreaves Associates [images, links]- Repeat (Chicago) |
Planned tower may be a game-changer for Philadelphia's Chinatown: ...23-story apartment tower and community center...would go a long way toward stitching the two Chinese neighborhoods together...designed as a jigsaw of interlocking glass boxes - some vertical, some horizontal - that evoke a Chinese puzzle box. Inga Saffron -- Tejoon Jung/KlingStubbins; Lisa Armstrong/AK Architecture [images]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Jerde Partnership's Mecenatpolis opens in Seoul: ...a nearly 300,000 square-meter mixed-use, transit-oriented project...is the latest Jerde Place to open in Asia. -- EAWES [images]- Archinect |
Looming “Fiscal Cliff” Impasse Could Cost Design and Construction Industry More Than $2 Billion in Lost Work: AIA analysis identifies 48 separate budget accounts targeted for spending cuts that directly fund the design, construction and rehabilitation of buildings and other vertical infrastructure, including the iconic Capitol dome..."both political parties are...are risking the jobs of millions of Americans by placing ideology above governing."- American Institute of Architects (AIA) |
“40 Years in the Making: A Legacy Driven by Design": National Organization of Minority Architects 2012 Conference Returns to Detroit for 40TH Annual Conference October 18 – 20: NOMA returns to the city where it was founded.- National Organization of Minority Architects (NOMA) |
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