Today’s News - Friday, October 25, 2013
• Van Valkenburgh explains how Brooklyn Bridge Park was saved from Sandy's fury, and what other designers can do to prepare for the next big one.
• E. Fay Jones's Thorncrown Chapel is saved from a power-line project - "at least for now."
• Cloepfil flies to Charleston to defend his controversial Clemson Architecture Center - but never gets the chance (he had a swell time anyway).
• A Charleston architect makes the case that the city "needs more contemporary buildings."
• Chaban brings us eyefuls of two new Columbia University buildings that will "bring downtown cool to uptown."
• Q&A with Graves: he minces no words about what he thinks of starchitects (and names 'em): "The whole industry has gone to pot" because people "want blob architecture. Why, I don't know."
• Weekend diversions:
• Goldberger is totally taken by MCNY's "spectacular" and "exhilarating" Norman Bel Geddes show: "more than anyone else, he gave modernism panache."
• Zara and Catinella Orrell parse MAD's "Postdigital" show: it "sidesteps the tired innovation storylines" to present "greatest design hits. Less cerebral than spectacular" + "the creator's touch is present throughout."
• Hawthorne cheers the Safdie retrospective at L.A.'s Skirball: "his career is particularly rich for this kind of curatorial exploration, given how markedly his recent work differs from early experiments."
• Teicholz's take on Safdie show: it makes us "appreciate his artfulness" when his "architecture often takes a back seat to its surroundings and to its purpose."
• Kats's Q&A with Safdie re: museum architecture, site specificity, and the cultural responsibilities of architecture and urbanism.
• "Overdrive" parks at the NBM to tell the story of modern L.A. that "has no shortage of change-focused narratives."
• "Concrete Paradise" at Coral Gables Museum explains why Candela's iconic Miami Marine Stadium has been spared and what the city might do with it now: "This is not a white elephant" (great pix!).
• Rose connects the dots between pop art and architecture in "Pop Art Design" at the Barbican: "As much as missed opportunities, it's a history of narrow escapes."
• Wainwright calls it "an exhibition celebrating a period of the greatest commercial cynicism in art...presented as one hedonistic party of mutual sampling."
• Moore, meanwhile, calls it a "thought-provoking show" about the "love affair" between "pop and the Mad Men of Madison Avenue."
• Danes take over the Sydney Opera House with an exhibition "featuring timeless design classics from the Utzon era" along with contemporary design from Denmark.
• Also Down Under, the Sculpture by the Sea arrives on the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk (great pix!).
• As the Centre Pompidou celebrates Raj Rewal, the architect explains why "India doesn't have to look shabby."
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Perspective: How I Saved Brooklyn Bridge Park From Sandy's Fury: Michael Van Valkenburgh explains how his firm designs urban parks that can survive fearsome storms - and what other designers can do to prepare for the next big one...We still need to do more homework... [images]- Fast Company |
AIA National and AIA Arkansas Help Defeat Proposed Power Line Project Near Thorncrown Chapel Site: ...at least for now. A diverse group of citizens and organizations...opposed the power-line project, which could have compromised the natural setting so integral to the Thorncrown experience. -- E. Fay Jones [images]- AIArchitect |
Board of Architectural Review fails to act on Clemson Architecture Center design: Brad Cloepfil had flown from Portland to give a defense of his design, which some local critics have described as out of touch with the historic architecture of the Holy City. Cloepfil did not get to defend his controversial modern design. -- Allied Works Architecture; EE Fava Architects [image]- Charleston City Paper (South Carolina) |
Charleston needs more contemporary buildings: The End of Monoculture: ...To reject the Clemson Architecture Center as stylistically incompatible with the city is to reject Charleston's history in general, a history that is architecturally diverse... By Whitney Powers -- Allied Works Architecture; EE Fava Architects [image]- Charleston City Paper (South Carolina) |
Columbia University and Karim Rashid bring downtown cool to uptown: School of Nursing and a new Madison Ave. condo show off how good architecture can be...“You see unique designs in Chelsea and Soho...Now it’s time for Harlem.” By Matt Chaban -- CO Architects/FXFOWLE [images]- NY Daily News |
Michael Graves On Starchitects' Pitfalls, Detroit's Future, And The Industry's Names To Watch: "The whole industry has gone to pot. It's really awful out there with the Zaha Hadids, Rem Koolhaases, Daniel Libeskinds... Frank Martinez [Martinez & Alvarez]...has a wonderful, wonderful mind. He's just like me when I was starting off...But nobody cares about people like that! They want blob architecture. Why, I don't know." [images]- Architizer |
Back to the Future: A New Look at Modernist Hero Norman Bel Geddes, Designer of the Original 1939 “Futurama”: The Museum of the City of New York...has produced a spectacular show that, if nothing else, will put him back front and center in the design consciousness..."Norman Bel Geddes: I Have Seen the Future"...exhilarating exhibition...more than anyone else, he gave modernism panache. By Paul Goldberger [slide show]- Vanity Fair |
Defining "Postdigital" at the Museum of Arts and Design; ...sidestepped the tired innovation storylines in “Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital” opting instead to compile technology’s greatest design hits. Less cerebral than spectacular...offers museumgoers the opportunity to ogle some of the more stunning achievements of digital design since 2005... By Janelle Zara -- Anish Kapoor; Zaha Hadid; etc. [slide show]- Artinfo |
Hands-on Design, With Digital Help; "Out of Hand: Materializing the Postdigital" at New York City's Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) argues that, though digitally fabricated works are not “handmade,” the creator’s touch is present throughout. By Rita Catinella Orrell -- Zaha Hadid/Patrick Schumacher; J. Mayer H. [slide show]- Architectural Record |
Skirball Cultural Center 's Moshe Safdie retrospective includes the center itself...featured in the "Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie"...his career is particularly rich for this kind of curatorial exploration, given...how markedly his recent work differs from early experiments... By Christopher Hawthorne [images]- Los Angeles Times |
The People's Architect: Retrospective of Moshe Safdie Shows Architect's Global Vision: His architecture often takes a back seat to its surroundings and to its purpose...he aims to accommodate a jumble of people flowing smoothly through a variety of experiences. What "Global Citizen: The Architecture of Moshe Safdie" does is make us appreciate his artfulness in doing so. By Tom Teicholz- Huffington Post |
Moshe Safdie on His 30-Year Design of L.A.'s Skirball Cultural Center: Q&A with Safdie and Skirball director Uri Herscher re: museum architecture, site specificity, and the cultural responsibilities of architecture and urbanism. By Anna Kats [slide show]- Artinfo |
L.A's Sprawling Modernism, and the Places That Came Before: "Overdrive: L.A. Constructs the Future, 1940-1990" at the National Building Museum...explores how the mid-20th century fundamentally changed the face of Los Angeles...the story of modern L.A. has no shortage of change-focused narratives. [images, videos]- The Atlantic Cities |
Mining the Miami Marine Stadium: The iconic stadium designed by Hilario Candela has been spared. "Concrete Paradise" at Coral Gables Museum explains why — and what the city might do with it now...Beyond the historical angle, both the building and its designer have a compelling architectural pedigree...“This is not a white elephant"... [images]- Architect Magazine |
"Pop Art Design" at the Barbican Art Gallery: Steve Rose discovers pop art’s deep and lasting influence on architecture: As an ironic antidote to cheerless, po-faced “serious” art, it’s refreshing. But a wholesale pop gesamtkunstwerk would actually be hell — a Blade Runner-style Plug-In City on the outside with garish Clockwork Orange-style apartments on the inside. As much as missed opportunities, it’s a history of narrow escapes. -- Venturi, Scott Brown + Associates; Alison and Peter Smithson; Independent Group; Archigram; Piers Gough; Cedric Price; Richard Rogers; James Stirling; Will Alsop; Frank Gehry; FAT Architecture; Herzog & de Meuron; Caruso St John; AOC- BD/Building Design (UK) |
The $60,000 sofa: are the excesses of the art market rubbing off on design? From a 'boutique fair' to the Barbican's "Pop Art Design" show, designers risk reneging on everything they should stand for...an exhibition celebrating a period of the greatest commercial cynicism in art...presented as one hedonistic party of mutual sampling...spawned by the post-war euphoria of technology and mass-media, advertising and entertainment. By Oliver Wainwright [images[- Guardian (UK) |
"Pop Art Design": Partying meets pragmatism in an enjoyable new exhibition [at the Barbican] exploring the exchange of ideas between pop artists with the bold, playful designers of the day...pop and the Mad Men of Madison Avenue had a love affair...But the artists kept to themselves the weapon of irony, as protection against being plain whores, which is one reason why the movement couldn't last, as it's hard to live off irony for ever...thought-provoking show... By Rowan Moore [slide show]- Observer (UK) |
"Danish Design at the House": Sydney Opera House celebrates its 40th anniversary with an exclusive Danish design exhibition...featuring timeless design classics from the Utzon era together with innovative contemporary design from Denmark. Curated by Gerard Reinmuth/TERROIR and Karen Kjaergaard -- Thomas Bo Jensen; NORD Architects; Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen/CITA; David Garcia/MAP Architects; Claus Pryds; Mette Wienberg/Wienberg Architects- Danish Agency for Culture / Danish Trade Council / Danish Arts Foundation |
Sculpture by the Sea arrives on the Bondi to Tamarama coastal walk: The exhibition has come along way since it's humble beginnings when it produced on a shoe-string budget... [images]- Daily Telegraph (Australia) |
Poetry in stone: As the Centre Pompidou in Paris showcases Raj Rewal’s works, the seasoned architect tells Anuj Kumar India doesn’t have to look shabby: His office in New Delhi makes one realise what he means when he says architecture has its own vocabulary...his lines in “Raj Rewal: Innovative Architecture and Tradition” come alive as the village ushers us into the city.- The Hindu (India) |
Nuts + Bolts #6: Changing Habits: The Secret to Successful Time Management: Some practical steps to make time for business development when you've been avoiding it or aren't sure how to fit it into your day-to-day practice. By Donna Maltzan- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Richard Meier & Partners: Teachers Village, Newark, New Jersey
-- Toyo Ito & Associates: Friendly and socially responsible buildings that challenge the spatial conventions of modernist architecture.
-- Ripoll Tizón Estudio de Arquitectura: Social Housing in Sa Pobla, Mallorca, Spain |
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