Today’s News - Wednesday, January 15, 2014
• More MoMA meme momentum: Betsky questions whether the museum should expand before it resolves "the horrible circulation mess" and becomes "an ever bigger and less enjoyable box for mass entertainment."
• Perl says "the long-term prospects are bleak indeed"; it will be a "BAMoMA on West 53rd Street full of baloney" and a "mall full of [expletive deleted] department stores."
• Ferro, on the other hand, says the redesign "will simply rebrand" MoMA that will expand "the museum's reach beyond art critics" (and architecture critics).
• Jacobs turns to the Left Coast and why razing Graves's Portland Building "would be a shame - it's a bad idea to do something irreversible when your judgment is clouded by disdain," especially in a city that "tends to prevent anything too flamboyant from being built. It would be foolish to discard a work of architecture stranger than anything that it will probably ever build again."
• Meanwhile, Minneapolis faces its own mid-century preservation dilemma: what to do with its "Late Bunker" Macy's building by Gruen: it could be turned into a "Mall of Museums" for a bunch of little museums, or "tear it down and build what was there before. All the old buildings."
• In Kansas City, Paul appreciates the brouhaha going on in NYC and Portland, but highlights the possible "extinction" of a quartet of buildings "designed more than a century ago by a notable local architect" that "would set a regrettable precedent of 'demolition by neglect.'"
• Hough tackles the preservation quandaries facing "funky" public plazas that are "just as important as preserving historic buildings," but it "needs to be balanced with the imperative that places effectively meet the functional needs of contemporary cities."
• An architect who is one of the last visitors to London's Battersea Power Station before it closed "hopes the new development won't be too exclusive."
• Foster "gives back to his alma mater" with his Yale School of Management's Evans Hall.
• Eyefuls of Foster's Milan Expo pavilion for the UAE (we're not in New Haven anymore!).
• It looks like Gehry's Grand Avenue "exciting" redesign will get the go-ahead: "I think we see the light at the end of the tunnel" (it's been a longggg tunnel).
• Piano tapped to design a residential tower next to his Shard (alas, no images - yet).
• A great take on "why suburbia snobs are wrong" (at least in Australia): "It's time to put the stereotypes to bed - suburbia continues to provide the opportunity, for those who dare and those who can't afford otherwise, to live outside the city walls of inner city cool" (living daringly in the 'burbs - oh my!).
• Eyefuls of 10 projects to follow in 2014 (some surprises!).
• One on the list is an "architectural marvel" in Canada - Teeple's dinosaur museum: "The fact that a building of this grandeur is being built in a community of 1,400 people and not an urban center made it stand out."
• Call for entries (deadlines loom!): 2014 EDRA Great Places Awards + RFQ: 2014 Mayors' Institute on City Design regional sessions hosts.
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There Is Method in MoMA's Madness: The only way for MoMA to expand in a logical manner is to tear down the American Folk Art Museum building. But should it expand? ...MoMA might want to first solve the horrible circulation mess with which Taniguchi left them, and perhaps consider options that will avoid making this museum...into an ever bigger and less enjoyable box for mass entertainment. By Aaron Betsky -- Tod Williams Billie Tsien; Diller Scofidio + Renfro- Architect Magazine |
MoMA's Faux-Populist Expansion Makes it Look Like a Department Store: This is how you ruin a cultural institution: However one wants to see the short-term winners and losers...the long-term prospects are bleak indeed...you’re going to have BAMoMA on West 53rd Street—and I promise you it’ll be full of baloney...it’s going to be an entire f*cking mall full of department stores. BY Jed Perl -- Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Tod Williams Billie Tsien- The New Republic |
MoMA's Redesign Won't Destroy The Museum: It will simply rebrand it. Here's why more museums are focusing on user experience over art galleries...does moving towards a more accessible, expansive vision of a museum experience mean destroying the institution? Or, does it simply mean expanding the museum's reach beyond art critics? By Shaunacy Ferro -- Diller Scofidio + Renfro- Fast Company |
Michael Graves's Portland Building Faces Demolition Threat: Leaky and structurally deficient, the Postmodernist landmark could be razed...Here's why that outcome would be a shame: ...it’s a bad idea to do something irreversible when your judgment is clouded by disdain...Portland...tends to prevent anything too flamboyant from being built. It would be foolish for the city to discard a work of architecture stranger than anything that it will probably ever build again. By Karrie Jacobs [images]- Architect Magazine |
Midtown apartments deserve a new life: An architectural travesty is in the making in New York...In Portland, Ore., the future of a 31-year-old, rickety municipal office building...is being debated and demolition is a possibility. And in midtown Kansas City, a quartet of related apartment buildings, designed more than a century ago by a notable local architect, has been designated for extinction...would set a regrettable precedent of “demolition by neglect.” By Steve Paul -- John McKecknie- Kansas City Star |
St. Paul Macy's has future as a museum: It’s not a nice building. The architecture style is “Late Bunker"...What to do with the thing? One interesting suggestion: a Mall of Museums...for all the little museums that might not otherwise justify their own building. The Museum of Paper Clips! My solution is always the same and perennially impractical: Tear it down and build what was there before. All the old buildings. By James Lileks -- Victor Gruen- Minneapolis Star Tribune |
Save that Funky Plaza? Preserving urban landscapes can be just as important as preserving historic buildings. However, saving our design heritage needs to be balanced with the imperative that places effectively meet the functional needs of contemporary cities. By Mark Hough -- M. Paul Friedberg; Tthe Cultural Landscape Foundation/TCLF; Martha Schwartz; Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates [images]- PLANetizen |
Inside Battersea Power Station: ...finally looks set to begin its new life as a mixed use office, retail and residential development...John McRae of ORMS, one of the last public visitors to the site before it closed recalls the thrill of going inside one of London's most iconic structures - and hopes the new development won't be too exclusive. -- Wilkinson Eyre.Architects [images]- DesignCurial (UK) |
Foster + Partners open Yale School of Management's Edward P. Evans Hall: ...Lord Foster gives back to his alma mater...the scheme puts just as much emphasis on the communal zones as it does the formal teaching areas... [images]- Dezeen |
Foster & Partners unveils Milan Expo pavilion for UAE: Design builds on architect’s work at Masdar City: “Our challenge has been to design for two climates – to create a naturally cool, comfortable space for visitors in Milan, while considering the pavilion’s ultimate reconstruction in the Emirates..." [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Redesigned Grand Avenue project wins L.A. County supervisors' blessing: ...had criticized the previous plan praised the new one, created by Frank Gehry: ...called the new design and the prospect of the project moving forward "exciting"... "I think we see the light at the end of the tunnel, and I think we can safely say that we'll all live long enough to see it built."- Los Angeles Times |
Residential tower next to the Shard to be designed by Renzo Piano: ...27-storey building, including 150 apartments, retail space and roof garden.- Guardian (UK) |
Why suburbia snobs are wrong: Popular culture depictions continue to accentuate an image of the suburban environment as a tasteless mass devoid of critical thought. It's time to put those stereotypes to bed...in Australia, suburbia continues to provide the opportunity, for those who dare and those who can’t afford otherwise, to live outside the city walls of inner city cool.- Guardian (UK) |
10 Projects We’re Following in 2014 -- MAD Architecture, Frank Gehry, BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group; MVRDV; Snøhetta/Zeidler Partnership Architects; Heatherwick Studio; Schmidt Hammer Lassen; Preston Scott Cohen; Zaha Hadid; Arata Isosaki; Daniel Libeskind; Teeple Architects [images]- Azure magazine (Canada) |
Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum has great bones: Wembley facility named a ‘project to follow in 2014’: ...expected to be an architectural marvel...The fact that a building of this grandeur is being built in a community of 1,400 people and not an urban centre — like most of the other entries on the list — made it stand out...we felt that the building itself is part of the display.” -- Teeple Architects- Edmonton Journal (Canada) |
Call for entries: 2014 EDRA Great Places Awards: recognize work that combines expertise in design, research, and practice, and contributes to the creation of dynamic, humane places that engage our attention and imagination; deadline: February 3- Environmental Design Research Association (EDRA) |
Call for entries: Request for Qualifications/RFQ: 2014 Mayors’ Institute on City Design Regional Sessions Hosts: open to universities and non-profit organizations; deadline: January 31- Mayors’ Institute on City Design |
ANN Feature: Lost in Space: Calori & Vanden-Eynden on the Positive Payoffs of Integrated EGD: Ever been lost in a building, feeling your stress level rise by the minute? If so, the lack of effective environmental graphic design is very likely the culprit. By Claire Wilson [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Photo Report From Doha. By Pygmalion Karatzas -- Arata Isozaki; Legorreta + Legorreta; Jean Nouvel; NORR; Coelacanth K&H; Allies & Morrison; OMA; Cesar Pelli; etc.
-- BIG: ...Bjarke Ingels Group...risen to world-wide renown in record time, winning commissions left and right...all burst of unflinching confidence and supercharged youthful energy. By Jakob Harry Hybel |
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