Today’s News - Thursday, May 2, 2013
• Hawthorne x 2: he parses Zumthor's plans for LACMA that would involve some pretty serious demolition (and inspiration from the "oozing, fluid forms of the La Brea Tar Pits") - he "will also have to face down the ghosts of failed plans." + Meanwhile, MOCA's show on contemporary Southern California architecture faces possible cancellation - less than a month before opening (could Gehry pulling out have something to do with it?).
• King x 2: UC Davis taps SO - IL and Bohlin Cywinski Jackson for an "architecturally ambitious" museum that includes "an acre-plus sloping roof draped over galleries" + The Presidio Trust names 3 finalists for a cultural hub in the famed park (George Lucas included).
• In New Zealand, NIMBYism is on the march in Auckland suburbs as a "unitary plan" goes for density. + An exchange student is in awe (not in a good way) of Auckland's "commander-in-chief" - the car, leaving pedestrians and cyclists as "sitting ducks."
• Wolfe explains why, "before applying any prescription, we need to first isolate spontaneous and latent examples of successful urban land use" if we really want dynamic urbanism.
• Hume hails Waterfront Toronto as an economic engine: "As investments go, Toronto's waterfront has turned out to be one of the best."
• Wainwright wonders whether 1 WTC ("a blandly corporate obelisk") really will meet the measure as the tallest building in the west: "Do you know your antenna from your radome?"
• Bernstein x 2: he fears the over-glazing of New York: "If the trend toward placing featureless glass boxes continues, it is the reputation of contemporary architecture that will suffer most."
• He reports on "three of the most important modernist houses in the Northeast" that are up for sale - with uncertain futures.
• Howorth undertakes the preservation of E. Fay Jones' Pinecote Pavilion "to ensure it is still wowing viewers decades from now."
• Brussat has high hopes that the design of a new visitors center for Newport's historic The Breakers will "fit like a glove into its context...My chief concern is that the devil might re-emerge in the details."
• Farrelly and Wheeler discuss the role of libraries - and their architecture - in a digital world: "Architecture doesn't even want authority anymore, architecture wants celebrity."
• A long list of reasons to be in NYC for the month of May: NYCxDesign, Frieze New York; ICFF - and so much more (we're exhausted just thinking about it all!).
• One we couldn't resist: A six-story inflatable rubber duck floats into Hong Kong: "we're one family and all the waters in the world is our global bathtub."
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LACMA draws up ambitious plans for a $650-million new look: Michael Govan turns to Peter Zumthor for a dramatic new building that would involve demolishing the main museum campus...Zumthor says the design has been inspired more by the oozing, fluid forms of the La Brea Tar Pits...than the existing architecture...will also have to face down the ghosts of failed plans... By Christopher Hawthorne -- William L. Pereira (1965); Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates (1986); Rem Koolhaas/OMA; Renzo Piano; Bruce Goff (1988)- Los Angeles Times |
MOCA architecture show, funded by Getty, could face cancellation: “A New Sculpturalism: Contemporary Architecture from Southern California” is one of the central exhibitions in the Getty’s “Pacific Standard Time Presents: Modern Architecture in L.A." By Christopher Hawthorne -- Christopher Mount; Frank Gehry; Thom Mayne; Michael Maltzan; Barbara Bestor- Los Angeles Times |
Design chosen for Shrem Museum of Art: Even as high-profile museums in San Francisco and Berkeley begin taking shape, another architecturally ambitious cultural facility is planned for just outside the Bay Area...University of California, Davis...Grand Canopy concept enclosed its full-block site in an acre-plus sloping roof draped over galleries, art studios and landscaped outdoor spaces. By John King -- SO – IL; Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; Office of Cheryl Barton [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
3 Presidio Trust finalists for cultural hub: ...George Lucas would pay the development costs and endow the museum from his personal fortune...Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy proposes a Presidio Exchange...Chora Group [and] WRNS would create an institute focused on sustainability issues... By John King [link to proposals]- San Francisco Chronicle |
'Not in my back yard': Council plans to allow multi-storey buildings over half of Auckland have run into a brick wall of local opposition...in a sign of the discontent spreading across many suburbs, the residents of Poronui St are now mobilising...against plans for intensification in the new rulebook - or unitary plan.- New Zealand Herald |
Auckland's commander-in-chief is a car: We may take our car obsession for granted but visitor Tore Tysbo is alarmed by the phenomenon...I can't fathom why cars have priority before pedestrians...Not to mention the cyclists...Sitting ducks.- New Zealand Herald |
The Dynamic Potential of Urbanism Without Effort: Before applying any prescription, we need to first isolate spontaneous and latent examples of successful urban land use. By Charles R. Wolfe- The Atlantic Cities |
Waterfront Toronto pumps billions into economy and now needs power to raise revenue: As investments go, Toronto’s waterfront has turned out to be one of the best...“The public/private approach is working"...Toronto made the shortlist for the “World’s Most Intelligent Community.” By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
Will One World Trade Center really be the tallest building in the west? Debate rages over whether the 125m spire counts as part of the building. Do you know your antenna from your radome? Ten years on, Libeskind's splintered vortex of shards has been replaced by a blandly corporate obelisk by SOM...But it retains the all-important numerology of 1776. By Oliver Wainwright -- Daniel Libeskind; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill- Guardian (UK) |
Commentary: Glazing Over New York: Several recent developments...permitting continuous walls of glass to erase the city’s history and leave its citizens with little to reflect on but reflections...This isn’t a screed against contemporary architecture. If the trend toward placing featureless glass boxes in pedestrian-heavy spots like Astor Place continues, it is the reputation of contemporary architecture that will suffer most. By Fred A. Bernstein -- Fumihiko Maki; Gwathmey Siegel Architects; Carlos Zapata; Thom Mayne- Architectural Record |
History for Sale: On the market, major houses by Eisenman, Kahn, and Venturi have uncertain futures: Three of the most important modernist houses in the Northeast...have been (or will soon be) put up for sale...two of them without covenants that would ensure their preservation. By Fred A. Bernstein -- Louis Kahn (1961); Robert Venturi (1964); Peter Eisenman (1975) [images]- Architectural Record |
Architect working on plans for Pinecote Pavilion: A preservation project on one of Mississippi’s iconic structures is underway...the nearly 30-year-old structure is earmarked for work to ensure it is still wowing viewers decades from now...Why all the to-do over a pavilion? [It] was designed by famed architect E. Fay Jones. -- Howorth & Associates- Mississippi Business Journal |
In Newport, a pavilion for The Breakers: Visitors centers provide among the best opportunities for architects who practice a parasitic modernism to deface fine old buildings with carbuncles...Epstein Joslin Architects has proposed a design, sort of like an old Gilded Age conservatory or greenhouse, that would fit like a glove into its context...My chief concern is that the devil might re-emerge in the details. By David Brussat -- Richard Morris Hunt (1895); Reed Hilderbrand [images]- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Libraries: maintaining a role in the digital world: ...architecture critic Elizabeth Farrelly and architect Tone Wheeler about the powerful connection between knowledge and the design of libraries...Are they still important? "Architecture doesn't even want authority anymore, architecture wants celebrity"... By Janne Ryan- ABC News / By Design (Australia) |
New York City Kicks Off a Month of Design Events -- NYCxDesign; Frieze New York; International Contemporary Furniture Fair (ICFF); New Museum; IDEAS CITY; Center for Architecture; MoMA PS1; Pratt Institute; Van Alen Institute; Storefront for Art and Architecture; etc.- Architectural Record |
Giant inflatable 'rubber duck' floats into Hong Kong: A six-storey inflatable 'rubber duck' created by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman..."we're one family and all the waters in the world is our global bathtub." [video]- Guardian (UK) |
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-- COBE + Transform: BIBLIOTEKET / THE LIBRARY, Copenhagen, Denmark
-- Braga, Porto, Cascais, Marco de Canavezes, Lisbon: Portugal is one of the few countries where you can actually see the political development manifest itself in the architecture. -- Álvaro Siza Veira; Eduardo Souto de Moura |
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