Today’s News - Thursday, April 18, 2013
• We lose Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, an architect who "changed the face of Mexico City."
• Goldberger weighs in on the MoMA/AFAM debate: "Why is the Museum of Modern Art dead set on perpetrating a hideous act of architecture-cide?" ("the sorry sight of cultural institutions acting like real-estate developers is all too familiar").
• Architects start dreaming up alternatives to MoMA's tear-down plan (It was just a matter of time).
• A few more bleak news items: owners of the Ysios winery in Spain want Calatrava to pay new architects to design a better roof - one that doesn't leak (and that's not the only project with problems).
• Starchitects get on board with plea to save Moscow's iconic Melnikov House that "is showing signs of serious structural damage as work continues on a large complex next door."
• More on those mourning the loss of FLW's Park Ave. auto showroom (coming soon in its place: a bank branch - what else?).
• Chaban reports on NYC's just-launched FAR ROC competition "to use an 80-acre piece of oceanfront property in Queens as a laboratory for possible storm-resistant residential development" + FAR ROC call for entries.
• Kotkin takes on the "density delusion" and why urban theorists are wrong in thinking more people equal more wealth.
• A new RIBA survey reports some sad results: "Small architects have little chance of making it big," and mid-size firms are finding it "crushingly hard to stay afloat."
• Why developers in Vietnam tend to avoid local talent and hire (expensive) foreign architects: "The weakness of Vietnam's architectural firm is the poor spirit of cooperation and weak teamwork skills" (among other problems).
• Hume responds to complaints that Toronto's new Bridgepoint Hospital spent too much on design: "What the bottom-liners ignore are the ways in which excellence, not to mention beauty, create value."
• Szenasy queries Guenther re: her hopes for Health Products Disclosure: "If they don't tell you what's in it, you probably don't want what's in it."
• Heathcote on Gov.uk winning the Design Museum's Design of the Year: the "awards have once again managed to confound expectations" (in a good way, we think).
• Moneo "may be the greatest living architect in Europe," so why, in the U.S. do "we barely know his name"?
• NEA announces new research grants to "increase the understanding of how art works and its impacts on communities."
• LIGHTFAIR International Conference about to alight in Philadelphia.
• VERGE Boston: Where tech meets sustainability doesn't verge on the city until May - but early-bird rate ends tomorrow.
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Obituary: Pedro Ramirez Vazquez, 94; architect changed the face of Mexico City: [His] landmark modernist buildings include the National Museum of Anthropology, Azteca Stadium and the Basilica of Guadalupe...was known for stunningly original designs that blended a European modernist sensibility with pre-Columbia aesthetics.- Los Angeles Times |
Why Is the Museum of Modern Art Dead Set on Perpetrating a Hideous Act of Architecture-cide? ...Nouvel’s plans called for working his tower around the American Folk Art Museum...That’s a key point. It’s obviously not necessary that the folk-art museum be torn down so that the new tower...can be built. By Paul Goldberger -- Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects [images]- Vanity Fair |
Architects Dream up Alternatives to MoMA’s Tear Down Plan: ...responding to the news that the Museum of Modern Art intends to demolish the former American Folk Art Museum building...concepts, some earnest and others tongue-in-cheek, are being compiled on a tumblr called #FolkMoMA... -- Quilian Riano; John Hill- Wall Street Journal |
Santiago Calatrava told to pay for leaking roof: Owners of Ysios winery in northern Spain say roof leaks and they want him to pay new architects to design a better one...But for every Calatrava building that gets into trouble, there are several that survive without creating polemic.- Guardian (UK) |
Konstantin Melnikov House at risk of collapse, warn architects and heritage experts: The iconic 1920s Moscow home of Russian avant-garde architect...is showing signs of serious structural damage as work continues on a large complex next door, warn heritage experts and international architects including Rem Koolhaas and Álvaro Siza. [images]- Dezeen |
Frank Lloyd Wright’s auto showroom is no more: Architects around the world are mourning the demolition of one of New York's forgotten treasures...Now walking down Park Avenue where Wright’s modernist showroom once stood, you will see this: signs that a TD Bank is coming soon. By Allison Meier [images]- Salon |
City envisions Far Rockaway as storm-resilient model: A competition aims to use an 80-acre piece of oceanfront property in Queens as a laboratory for possible storm-resistant residential development on the coast of the city...dubbed FAR ROC... By Matt Chaban- Crain's New York Business |
Call for entries: FAR ROC for a Resilient Rockaway: seeking best practices for sustainable developments in waterfront areas; cash prizes; Phase I deadline: June 14- NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development / L+M Development Partners / AIANY/ etc. |
Megacities And The Density Delusion: Why More People Doesn't Equal More Wealth: Many urban theorists argue that packing people together is the key to economic growth. A look at the world's densest megacities demonstrates how wrong that is. By Joel Kotkin- Forbes |
RIBA survey finds 'split profession': Small architects have little chance of making it big...the two extremes are encroaching on a squeezed middle where it is crushingly hard to stay afloat...The only common ground...practices of all sizes are doing unpaid work, despite the RIBA’s attempts to crack down on this.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
The open door for Vietnamese architects: Why does Vietnam not take advantage of the brain and talent of local architects, but has to hire foreign architects with expensive price? The weakness of Vietnam's architectural firm is the poor spirit of cooperation and weak teamwork skills. -- Vo Trong Nghia; Ngo Viet Nam Son/NVD Architects & Planners- VietNamNet Bridge |
Toronto’s Bridgepoint Hospital opening embraces good health by design: ...the idea...was to harness the power of architecture and design — and dare one say, beauty — to help in the healing process...What the bottom-liners ignore are the ways in which excellence, not to mention beauty, create value. By Christopher Hume -- Stantec; KPMB; HDR; Diamond Schmitt- Toronto Star |
Q&A: Robin Guenther on HPD: Concerned health care designer shares her hopes for Health Products Disclosure: The sustainable healthcare design leader at Perkins+Will is known as a strong and persistent advocate for human and planetary health...“If they don’t tell you what’s in it, you probably don’t want what’s in it.” By Susan S. Szenasy- Metropolis Magazine |
UK government website wins: The government rarely receives accolades for design but...its website won the Design of the Year award for 2013...Gov.uk looks like an uncharacteristic throwback to a post-World War II-era in which British government-sponsored graphics...internationally admired and widely emulated....awards have once again managed to confound expectations. By Edwin Heathcote [images]- Financial Times (UK) |
Lost in Translation: Rafael Moneo may be the greatest living architect in Europe. ...highly talented and critically revered, but in the age of the star architect, in the United States, at least, we barely know his name..."He is the architect’s architect, and very underrated here"... By David Netto [slide show]- New York Times |
National Endowment for the Arts Chairman Joan Shigekawa Announces $350,000 in Research Grants: Investments will increase the understanding of how art works and its impacts on communities- National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) |
LIGHTFAIR International Conference: The future. Illuminated; Philadelphia, April 21-25- LIGHTFAIR International (LFI) |
VERGE Boston: Where tech meets sustainability. What are the breakthroughs? How should you prepare? May 13 - 14 (early-bird rate ends April 19)- GreenBiz |
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-- MVRDV: Glass Farm, Schijndel, The Netherlands
-- TEN Arquitectos: Hôtel Americano, New York, New York -- Enrique Norten; MCH Arnaud Montigny
-- SANAA: The Zollverein School, Essen, Germany |
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