Today’s News - Tuesday, January 8, 2013
• Our hearts are heavy today with news that we've lost one of our heroes: Ada Louise Huxtable. Dunlap, Kamin, and Rosenbaum weigh in: "She had no use for banality"; "She was the best there was. Period"; "revered by architecture historians and feared by developers" + revisit Lang Ho's 2005 Q&A.
• ArcSpace brings us Morphosis's Perot Museum in Dallas, and Hadid's Galaxy SOHO in Beijing.
• Speaking of which, Wainwright weighs in on "what China's copycat culture means for architecture" (we've now added "duplitecture" to our lexicon).
• Q&A with McGill University's Friedman re: China's "architectural borrowing": it is becoming "a knockoff state of similar buildings."
• Bwalya bemoans the somewhat weak attempts to improve the quality of the built environment in Zambia's shanty townships that have not been sustained (leading to further sprawl).
• Menking calls for architects "to take action on global climate change": "It is time to admit that energy consumption needs to be made a direct part of our design process."
• Rubinstein on rebuilding Lower Manhattan, post-Sandy: "The one thing that is probably not going to happen is really the only one that Klaus Jacob can recommend: Retreat."
• Anderson and Anid issue a "post-Sandy wake-up call": "The energy systems a 21st-century megacity needs can't be 20th-century retreads."
• Louv makes the case for a "new nature movement" that "goes beyond the good practices of traditional environmentalism and sustainability."
• Ulam delves into the sticky wickets that arise with private sector support for public spaces: it "comes at a price" not all are happy about paying; while he cheers "small-scale rebellions" (a.k.a. Insurgent Urbanism, DIY Urbanism, and Tactical Urbanism) that help improve cities, "what we really need is a revolution."
• ArtPlace names America's Top 12 ArtPlaces for 2013 that are the "most vibrant, arts-centric communities where the arts are central to creating places where people want to be."
• Benfield cheers ArtPlace and NEA's "Our Town" initiatives, and makes his own pick of "4 examples of powerful placemaking" (great links, too).
• King reports on one of San Francisco's newest parklets that may have revved its engine a bit too soon.
• Farrelly minces no words about four of Sydney's "lesser bridge treasures - old and new, threatened and screwed."
• Bentley reports on a new report that claims new proposals to re-use Chicago's "embattled" Prentice Women's Hospital would be less costly than demolition.
• The U.K.'s recently-defunct Architecture Centre Network to be resurrected as the Architecture Built Environment Centre Network.
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
Obituary: Ada Louise Huxtable, Champion of Livable Architecture: ...pioneered modern architectural criticism in the pages of The New York Times, celebrating buildings that respected human dignity and civic history — and memorably scalding those that did not...She had no use for banality, monotony, artifice or ostentation...She could be eloquent or impertinent, even sarcastic. By David W. Dunlap- New York Times |
Appreciation: Ada Louise Huxtable, the gold standard: She was the best there was. Period...Everyone who recognizes that architecture matters should miss her. She was the one who showed it mattered. By Blair Kamin- Chicago Tribune |
Obituary: Ada Louise Huxtable, Doyenne of Architecture Criticism, 91: The world of architecture is in mourning...the Pulitzer Prize-winning, high spirited, fiercely opinionated architecture critic, revered by architecture historians and feared by developers, was the pioneer who brought serious, informed architecture criticism to daily newspapers. By Lee Rosenbaum- ArtsJournal |
On Criticism: 2005 Q&A with Ada Louise Huxtable: "I want people to understand that architecture is an art. It's been my life's battle, to increase awareness of the field...Architecture is definitely more in the public eye today than before, but I don't think it's understood any better...Architecture criticism is still an uphill battle. That's why the responsibility of the critic is so great." By Cathy Lang Ho- The Architect's Newspaper |
|
-- Morphosis: Perot Museum of Nature and Science, Dallas, Texas
-- Zaha Hadid Architects: Galaxy SOHO, Beijing, China |
Seeing double: what China's copycat culture means for architecture: An alpine town, the Eiffel Tower, the whole Manhattan skyline &hellip China is replicating the world's architectural gems. But now Zaha Hadid would like it to stop...It all adds up to a surreal catalogue of "duplitecture", brilliantlydocumented in "Original Copies: Architectural Mimicry in Contemporary China" by Bianca Bosker. By Oliver Wainwright [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Copy That: Architectural ‘Borrowing’ in China: Q&A with Avi Friedman/McGill University: "You can see that someone was inspired to a great degree by the Zaha Hadid work...it is amazing how Chinese architecture is becoming almost you say, a knockoff state of similar buildings."- PRI's The World |
Shanty townships, spectre of poverty: There have been attempts to improve the quality of the built environment...but such programmes have not been sustained...we have seen an increase in the sprawling of these residential areas...urgent need...to bridge the gap that now exists...which has to some extent created a stigma. By Dixon Bwalya/Zambia Institute of Architects- Times of Zambia |
Editorial> Climate Change & The Built Environment: ...appeal to architects to take action on global climate change: Architects are among the very few professions that could most directly make the case for the damage being done to our environment...It is time to admit that energy consumption needs to be made a direct part of our design process. By William Menking- The Architect's Newspaper |
Lower Manhattan rebuilds again, until the next time: ...relatively little has been said about lower Manhattan, or about what kinds of measures could be taken to make the neighborhood more resistant to the depredations of the next storm surge...The one thing that is probably not going to happen...is really the only one that Klaus Jacob can recommend: Retreat. By Dana Rubinstein- Capital New York |
Not Your Grandma's Infrastructure: Post-Sandy Wake-Up Call: Now we know. The energy systems a 21st century megacity needs can't be 20th century retreads...Recovering from Superstorm Sandy's insurgent devastation means a fundamental rethinking of these relics. By Nancy E. Anderson and Nada Marie Anid -- Sallan Foundation; NYIT- Huffington Post |
Forward to Nature: New Nature Movement Isn’t About ‘Going Back’ to Nature: ...goes beyond the good practices of traditional environmentalism and sustainability, and paints a compelling, inspiring portrait of a society better than the one we live in – not just a survivable world, but a nature-rich world in which our children and grandchildren thrive. By Richard Louv- Citiwire |
Our Parks Are Not for Sale: From the Gold Coast of New York to the Venice Biennale: ...private sector support comes at a price, as the parks...are forced into making tradeoffs that compromise their contribution to the public realm...Politically engaged design initiatives with official support are rearing up around the world...Small-scale rebellions can raise consciousness and help bring needed improvements to cities, but what we really need is a revolution. By Alex Ulam- Dissent Magazine |
ArtPlace Announces America’s Top Twelve ArtPlaces for 2013: ...identifies most vibrant, arts-centric communities...where the arts are central to creating places where people—residents and visitors—want to be.- ArtPlace |
4 Examples of Powerful Placemaking: The National Endowment for the Arts helps towns build their "brand" and develop innovating programing...quietly leveraging small amounts of financial assistance to make a big difference... By Kaid Benfield -- Our Town; ArtPlace; Atkin Olshin Schade Architects; Maya Lin; Project for Public Spaces [images, links]- The Atlantic Cities |
Split opinion on SF parklet: A Citroen van sliced in half has bike parking, benches and a table. But it broke a key rule...a procedural oversight, not an attempt to circumvent rules..."I'm trying to strike a middle ground. Some people want it gone altogether." By John King -- Rebar [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Get connected: protection is a bridge over troubled waters: ...while we gaze fondly on The Bridge [Harbour Bridge], many of our lesser bridge treasures suffer terminal neglect. This is a tale of four bridges - old and new, threatened and screwed. By Elizabeth Farrelly- Sydney Morning Herald |
Preservationists: Chicago Prentice Demolition More Costly Than Re-Use: Now proposals to save the embattled Bertrand Goldberg building may have economics on their side...according to a new report... By Chris Bentley -- BauerLatoza Studio; Loebl Schlossman Hackl; Kujawa Architects; Cyril Marsollier/Wallo Villacorta [images, links]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Resurrected Architecture Centre Network to be UK-wide: The successor to the ACN will go beyond just England...Renamed the Architecture Built Environment Centre Network (ABECN)...will represent 15 former ACN members but could grow to include centres in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
|
|
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.
© 2013 ArchNewsNow.com