Today’s News - Monday, November 26, 2012
• ArcSpace brings us luscious eyefuls of Hadid's Broad Art Museum at MSU.
• Still parsing the Superstorm: Lewis ponders the "cruel housing lessons of Hurricane Sandy" and "the perilous consequences of continuing risky real estate behavior" if we don't develop rational policies about what gets built where.
• Strauss and Kopp offer "two basic ways to protect ourselves from sea level rise"; the depressing part: "We have lost our chance for complete prevention."
• No less depressing is Atlas's take: "there's a good chance that New York City will sink beneath the sea" (with a little Freud and lots of literary references - quite poetic if it weren't so gloomy, but well worth reading).
• Hume on how Toronto's building boom is taking its toll, leaving "residents feeling crabby and stressed out. Perhaps that's why NIMBYism has lurched out of control."
• Ransford has a different take on NIMBYism in Vancouver: "Planners now need to know how to use innovative public engagement strategies that bring people from diverse neighborhoods to the table and allow them to collaborate."
• Farrelly channels Vidler re: architectural theory: in its absence, "other exigencies - digital parametrics or dumb-ass bean-counting - dominate, and we end up with a world that looks like it was designed by bored, cyber-addicted project managers."
• Rochon meanders Mumbai and finds multiple meanings of "home": the "impoverished population scrambles to make do, often with elegance, grace and innovation."
• In New Zealand, the Registered Architects Board minced no words about a court decision to let real estate agents describe homes as "architecturally designed" - even if not designed by registered professionals: the decision is "dangerous and illogical. Strangely, they've gone and flipped around and said, 'You're an architect unless your building falls down' - and that's crackpot."
• Hawthorne makes his way along Orange County's Harbor Boulevard: it "has lessons to offer that have as much to do with urban design as politics...protest can open up new ways of looking at our streets."
• Maltzan will make his mark on Winnipeg, winning the star-studded competition to design the city's "next iconic building," the Inuit Art and Learning Centre.
• Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge names 20 finalists from 305 city entries going for $9 million (link to great presentations).
• An eyeful of the shortlisted designs for a new King's Road café near the Saatchi Gallery in London (some are very cool!).
• Six finalists picked in the Helsinki Central Library (lots of images, but only entry names and pseudonyms offered - harrumph!).
• Heathcote heaves high praise on Kahn's FDR Memorial: "It is a mesmeric design...a genuinely civic space, a place for the city: calm, exquisitely realized, open and generous."
• Saffron cheers the revamp of a Venturi and Scott Brown "decorated shed" into Drexel's new design school that turned "the plain vanilla, open-plan floors into a mind-blowing, Escher-inspired puzzle space."
• The architectural and cultural face of Chicago's North Shore is about to be changed forever with a new Writers' Theatre by Studio Gang, or so the "fascinating renderings" indicate (though only one is shown).
• Christo has towering plans (made of oil drums) in Abu Dhabi sands, with claims it will be the world's biggest (and most expensive) permanent sculpture (no word yet on who will design the requisite "luxury hotel" nearby).
• Chen profiles the architect heading Columbia Univ. GSAPP's Studio-X Beijing, who is leading "a new breed of home-grown architects...we only hope to see more groundbreaking designs to come, creating skylines that they can call their own."
• Landesman announces his retirement from the NEA (with a good dose of rightful pride - and sense of humor).
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Zaha Hadid Architects: Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan |
Heeding the cruel housing lessons of Hurricane Sandy: ...will we recognize how imprudent we have been about where we build and how we build...have we understood — and will we take actions to mitigate or avoid — the perilous consequences of continuing risky real estate behavior? What would be a rational policy to reasonably reduce risks? By Roger K. Lewis- Washington Post |
Op-Ed: Rising Seas, Vanishing Coastlines: Hurricane Sandy offered a preview of the dangers to come as the planet warms: There are two basic ways to protect ourselves from sea level rise: reduce it by cutting pollution, or prepare for it by defense and retreat. To do the job, we must do both. We have lost our chance for complete prevention... By Benjamin Strauss and Robert Kopp- New York Times |
Op-Ed: Is This the End? Whether in 50 or 100 or 200 years, there’s a good chance that New York City will sink beneath the sea: There had been warnings...Perhaps the day will come when skyscrapers rise out of downtown Scarsdale...It’s this willed ignorance, I suspect, that explains why it’s difficult to process the implications of climate change...even in the face of explicit warnings from politicians, not the most future-oriented people. By James Atlas- New York Times |
Constantly constructing takes its toll: Living in a city where change is the only constant...can be deeply unsettling...the building boom...has left residents feeling crabby and stressed out...cities around the planet...look at Toronto and are agog...What they don’t see is the psychological toll of hyper-growth...We are unrecognizable, even to ourselves...Perhaps that’s why NIMBYism has lurched out of control. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
City needs to better engage citizens on housing development: Vancouver's new planner understands challenge of managing growth smartly as costs increase and supply hasn't kept pace with strong demand...Planners now need to know how to use innovative public engagement strategies that bring people from diverse neighbourhoods to the table and allow them to collaborate...Brian Jackson's biggest challenge... By Bob Ransford- Vancouver Sun |
Theory runs into a building: For classical or modern architects, the appropriate theoretical protocol...was always at hand, ensuring coherence throughout...But where theory is absent, other exigencies - digital parametrics or dumb-ass bean-counting - dominate, and we end up with a world that looks like it was designed by bored, cyber-addicted project managers. By Elizabeth Farrelly -- Anthony Vidler- Sydney Morning Herald |
In Mumbai, ‘monster’ home has multiple meanings: If you are as wealthy as you are shameless – like Mukesh Ambani...home is a 27-storey tower resembling a corporate American skyscraper...On the ground, the impoverished population scrambles to make do, often with elegance, grace and innovation. By Lisa Rochon -- Priyanka Shah- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Ruling widens 'architect home' tag: Estate agents have been given the all-clear to describe houses as architecturally designed - even if the creators are not registered professionals...Registered Architects Board chief executive Paul Jackman said the tribunal's decision was "dangerous and illogical. Strangely, they've gone and flipped around and said, 'You're an architect unless your building falls down' - and that's crackpot."- New Zealand Herald |
On Harbor Boulevard, a pretense of business as usual: Though Orange County's Harbor Boulevard remains little changed, a history of unrest points to its potential to more positively engage with street life beyond the auto...has lessons to offer that have as much to do with urban design as politics...protest can open up new ways of looking at our streets. By Christopher Hawthorne [images]- Los Angeles Times |
WAG picks L.A. architect for new Inuit centre: Michael Maltzan chosen from 65 contenders: The Winnipeg Art Gallery has gone south of the border to select the primary architect for what's expected to be the next iconic building for downtown Winnipeg...$35-million Inuit Art and Learning Centre (IALC). -- Cibinel Architects- Winnipeg Free Press (Canada) |
Finalists Announced for Bloomberg Philanthropies Mayors Challenge: Of the 305 cities that submitted proposals, 20 were chosen to continue to the next step: an Ideas Camp, where the final five will be selected and a total of $9 million will be awarded to implement their ideas. [links to details]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Cadogan Estates contest: Shortlisted designs for £2m King’s Road café in London: ..will sit next to the main thoroughfare to the Saatchi Gallery and within the larger Duke of York development, masterplanned and designed by Paul Davis + Partners. -- Architecture 00:/ & Beatrice Galilee; Carmody Groarke; Duggan Morris Architects; NEX; Pernilla Ohrstedt & Sarah Price Landscapes; TaylorSnell [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Six Proposals to Progress in Helsinki Central Library Architectural Competition: Heart of the Metropolis competition...has now reached its second stage...The proposals’ entry numbers and pseudonyms are... [images]- City of Helsinki (Finland) |
Shared memorial: A monument to Franklin Delano Roosevelt also serves as a fitting tribute to its late architect Louis Kahn...It is a mesmeric design, a rare confluence of architecture and sculpture...a genuinely civic space, a place for the city: calm, exquisitely realised, open and generous...a reminder of what can sometimes appear to be lost civic values. But then, perhaps – since this got built – not quite lost. By Edwin Heathcote- Financial Times (UK) |
A floor plan open to anything: The exterior of the "decorated shed" by Venturi and Scott Brown is mostly unchanged, but the retrofitted interior is thrilling: Acquired by Drexel University to serve as a new home for its design school [URBN Center]...turning the plain vanilla, open-plan floors into a mind-blowing, Escher-inspired puzzle space...this is no longer a buttoned-down office building. It's a laboratory for design. By Inga Saffron -- VSBA; Jeffrey Scherer/Garth RockcastleMS&R Design [slide show]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
New look for Writers' Theatre — and North Shore: When your architect has the star wattage of Jeanne Gang, it's not easy to remain in the "quiet stage" of a major fundraising campaign for a new building...The fascinating renderings make one thing clear...it's likely to change the architectural and cultural face of Glencoe. -- Studio Gang Architects [image]- Chicago Tribune |
Christo plans sculpture of oil drums to tower above sands of Abu Dhabi: ...a colossal structure that he claims will be the world's biggest permanent sculpture. Estimated construction costs of $340m (£212m) would also make it the world's most expensive...The Mastaba, made out of 410,000 multicoloured oil barrels...Nearby, an "art campus"...as well as a luxury hotel and restaurant, will also be built. [image]- Guardian (UK) |
Architect Li Hu, Studio-X Beijing, To Change China’s Design Landscape: Leading A New Generation Of Chinese Designers: ...a new breed of home-grown architects...believe cities like Beijing need architects with distinct attitudes and vision...a global initiative...launched by Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation...we only hope to see more groundbreaking designs to come, creating skylines that they can call their own. By Nora Chen -- Mark Wigley- Jing Daily (China) |
NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman announces retirement: National Endowment for the Arts Chairman...announced his retirement effective at the end of the year..."we have been able to accomplish more than I had ever thought possible: sparking a national movement around creative placemaking, forging significant relationships with other federal agencies, creating an unprecedented healing arts partnership..."- Los Angeles Times |
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