Today’s News - Tuesday, November 27, 2012
• Chaban outlines in great detail NYC's 5-year secret project to develop perfect disaster housing program: "It's the FEMA trailer of the future, built with the Dwell reader in mind...If only it had been ready a year ago."
• Checker checks in on Chicken Little, Staten Island, a Ferris wheel, and disorderly development and is more than a bit disappointed: "Events on the North Shore over the past two weeks indicate that Sandy's alarm bells are growing faint indeed."
• British architects call on the government for a long-term flood strategy - architects included: "we can develop responses here and contribute globally."
• Benfield cheers a new Massachusetts policy initiative designed to encourage diverse, walkable neighborhoods," and a commitment to build 10,000 multifamily homes each year, which "may turn out to be more significant as an indirect contribution to smart growth than the relatively weak smart growth criteria."
• Hume is having a really good-news day: his nemesis (in case you hadn't noticed), Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has apparently been given the boot. "Now for the really, really good news: Toronto can finally start to deal with issues that matter."
• Grabar gives an overview (with lots of informative links) as to how it happened, and cites Berg: the controversial mayor "has not made many friends within the city's community of urban thinkers, designers and practitioners" (or cyclists and pedestrians, for that matter).
• Oslo is transforming itself into "a safe harbor from Europe's turmoil and a haven for adventurous design."
• Birnbaum offers an in-depth report on the continuing saga of the thermal burn slowly roasting the Nasher Sculpture Center in Dallas; even a James Turrell installation "has been declared destroyed" (with pix to prove it).
• Lifson looks at the ongoing travails of Goldberg's Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago: "Northwestern says it will hold an international design competition to make sure the [new building] is a piece of 'world-class' architecture. Preservationists say they already have one."
• Hume continues his good mood, spreading laudatory adjectives left and right for Toronto's "spectacular" new Regent Park Aquatic Centre: it is "one of those rare projects where everything comes together without fatal compromise, civic misgivings or any obvious damage inflicted by value engineers...it's also a powerful statement about the beauty of utility."
• How Gehry's "paper bag" project for the University of Technology, Sydney will be built from "homely brown bricks, laid by hand," with hopes it will be the city's most distinctive icon since the Opera House.
• Q&A with Perth-based architect Barcham in Bangalore re: the growing importance of passive-design architecture.
• Our favorite of the day: LAVA lands a job in the land of the lost: it will transform an old Berlin cabaret theater buried in tons of rubble since 1934 into a cultural center (with luxury apartments, of course) - photos are amazing!
• Wainwright brings us the "breast of Bath" - a "glowing pink dome constructed from recycled plastic bottles" perched on a grassy hill "like a radiant nipple" to raise awareness for the breast cancer charity Cancerkin.
• Playground gear is no longer playing it so safe after "decades of dumbed-down playgrounds, fueled by fears of litigation, concerns about injury and worrywart helicopter parents" (and kids love it!).
• Four 2012 ar+d Emerging Architecture Award winners "capture a spirit of creative resilience."
• Six firms vie for the chance to revamp Glasgow's George Square.
• The winner of BD's Small Hotel competition "was praised for its simplicity and honesty" (see Nov. 21 ANN for the shortlisted entries).
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Home, Sweet Shipping Container: NYC’s Secret Plans for the Perfect Disaster Apartments: For the past five years, the Bloomberg administration has been quietly developing a first-of-its-kind disaster housing program...It’s the FEMA trailer of the future, built with the Dwell reader in mind...If only it had been ready a year ago. By Matt Chaban -- David Burney; Lance Jay Brown; Sea Box; What If NYC [slide show]- New York Observer |
Chicken Little, a Ferris Wheel and Disorderly Development on Staten Island’s North Shore: Now that Chicken Little’s sky has actually fallen, will the Bloomberg administration proceed with the proliferation of development projects...Or will Sandy signal the start of a more systematized and careful approach to development that takes seriously toxic legacies...and the effects of climate change? By Melissa Checker- Gotham Gazette (NYC) |
Architects demand ‘long-term’ flood strategy: ...have called on the government...to tackle the nation’s ongoing flooding problems..."Architects can add value by developing design approaches which allow insurable development of marginal flood risk sites"..."we can develop responses here and contribute globally." -- ADP; Ben Adams Architects; Holder Mathias; Techniker; Stride Treglown- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
A New Policy That Incentivizes Walkable Neighborhoods: Massachusetts governor Deval Patrick announced a new policy initiative designed to encourage diverse, walkable neighborhoods that use land efficiently...the commitment to an additional 10,000 multifamily homes each year...may turn out to be more significant as an indirect contribution to smart growth than the relatively weak smart growth criteria. By Kaid Benfield [links]- The Atlantic Cities |
What kind of mayor does Toronto need? First the good news: Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has been booted from office. Now for the really, really good news: Toronto can finally start to deal with issues that matter. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
How Toronto Mayor Rob Ford Got Himself Removed From Office: The controversial mayor of Canada's largest city is out of a job...thanks to a technicality....As Nate Berg wrote..."[He] has not made many friends within the city's community of urban thinkers, designers and practitioners." By Henry Grabar [links]- The Atlantic Cities |
Oil and Water Mix in Oslo: Norway's energy boom is fueling new developments that are transforming the heart and harbors of Oslo...a safe harbor from Europe's turmoil and a haven for adventurous design. -- MVRDV; Snøhetta; Renzo Piano; Erlend Blakstad Haffner; Space Group; Herreros Arquitectos [slide show]- Wall Street Journal |
Museum Tower is an "attack" on the Nasher Sculpture Center's garden, building and art: As Nasher landscape architect Peter Walker sees it..."What the reflection does is very much like putting light through a magnifying glass, it essentially burns everything that it sees"...work by James Turrell has been declared destroyed... By Charles A. Birnbaum/The Cultural Landscape Foundation -- Renzo Piano [images, links]- Huffington Post |
A Gem Cast Off Chicago's Architectural Crown: ..."you don't remain the first city of American architecture by destroying your great buildings"...Northwestern says it will hold an international design competition to make sure the building that replaces old Prentice Women's Hospital is a piece of "world-class" architecture. Preservationists say they already have one. By Edward Lifson -- Bertrand Goldberg; Jeanne Gang; Jonathan Fine/Preservation Chicago; DOCOMOMO; Gunny Harboe- National Public Radio (NPR) |
Regent Park’s splashy new aquatic centre: If God is in the details, the best place to look for Her right now might be the new Regent Park Aquatic Centre...in the middle of a failed postwar social housing community, it looks spectacular...one of those rare projects where everything comes together without fatal compromise, civic misgivings or any obvious damage inflicted by value engineers...Though supremely practical, it’s also a powerful statement about the beauty of utility. By Christopher Hume -- MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects (MJMA) [image]- Toronto Star |
Lend Lease lands bid to build Frank Gehry-designed 'paper bag' project: [University of Technology, Sydney] has been likened to a melted chocolate castle, sagging skin, and by those startled by its freakish angles, a crumpled paper bag. But in the end, the project billed as Sydney's most distinctive since the Opera House will consist of 320,000 homely brown bricks, laid by hand. [image, video]- Sydney Morning Herald |
Of sun, wind and green architecture: While sun and wind are quintessential to built spaces, passive-design architecture looks at managing waste outputs from the house, says Australian architect Maxwell Roy Barcham...in Bangalore to attend to some of his projects that he has undertaken here.- The Hindu (India) |
The Secret Garden: An old cabaret theatre from the roaring ’20s has been uncovered in the heart of Berlin...buried in 30 tonnes of rubble since 1934...discovered by accident by Dirk Moritz of the Moritz Gruppe...three level building will comprise spaces for performances and exhibitions, studios, meetings and conferences, and luxury apartments... -- Oscar Garbe (1905); LAVA (Laboratory for Visionary Architecture) [images]- Design Porteur |
The 'breast of Bath' will provide a ray of light for cancer sufferers: A glowing pink dome, Beacon on the Hill, is to be constructed from recycled plastic bottles on top of Long Knoll in Wiltshire...This pink and blue installation, which will perch on the grassy hill...like a radiant nipple, is the work of lighting artist Bruce Munro for UK breast cancer charity Cancerkin. By Oliver Wainwright [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Playing It Too Safe? New Playground Gear Promotes Risk-Taking to Boost Fitness And Brain Development: ...decades of dumbed-down playgrounds, fueled by fears of litigation, concerns about injury and worrywart helicopter parents, have led to cookie-cutter equipment that offers little thrill...potentially stunting emotional and physical development and exacerbating a nationwide epidemic of childhood obesity. [images]- Wall Street Journal |
Emerging Architecture and Creative Resilience: 2012 ar+d Emerging Architecture Awards capture a spirit of creative resilience and present a unique insight into the critical preoccupations that will shape the future of architecture...four winners are drawn from Japan, Spain, Bangladesh and Canada. -- Hiroshi Nakamura; Langarita-Navarro Arquitectos; Kashef Chowdhury/Urbana; 5468796 Architects [link to articles, images]- Architectural Review (UK) |
Glasgow's George Square revamp: six firms shortlisted...designs will be put on public display at the Lighthouse in early January...proposals will see 13 monuments...temporarily relocated...Some may not return. -- Burns + Nice; Gustafson Porter; JM Architects; John McAslan & Partners; James Corner Field Operations; Agence Ter- BBC News |
CTHM wins BD’s Small Hotel competition: The Hackney practice’s design for a budget hotel room was praised for its simplicity and honesty. [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
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Zaha Hadid Architects: Eli & Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan |
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