Today’s News - Wednesday, May 21, 2014
EDITOR'S NOTE: We'll be hitting the highway heading to Louisville early, early tomorrow, but we'll be back Tuesday, May 27 (with lots of catching up to do, no doubt).
• ANN feature: Gisolfi tackles anonymous cities and the erosion of urban identity.
• Lange pens an eloquent, heart-wrenching take on the 9/11 Memorial Museum: "It feels like a tomb as big as the Met."
• Bruegmann explains "why urban yuppies have it all wrong" about sprawl and what can make it "good for you."
• Dembicki queries Terrapin Bright Green architects about whether there's hope for a green future: "we may not be totally screwed."
• Developer Ross contributes $30.5 million to the WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities as "a way to boost cities even when he's not building in them."
• King cheers artistic landscape architects who used "a word rarely heard in today's public forums. Beauty."
• Davidson raises red flags about the Met's plan for new modern art wing: "Is this another case of museum hubris?" (architect not yet named).
• Saltz's suggestion to the Met: "please don't build staircases, atriums, two- and three-story open spaces - a one-word suggestion about your future spaces: Rooms. Build rooms for art."
• Pearson parses a stunning new mosque on the outskirts of Istanbul (with nary a dome or minaret in sight).
• New images of the gigundo Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort; the public response "has been mixed but mostly in favor of the build for its economic benefit in the flood ravaged state" (and still no architect identified!).
• London's Chelsea Barracks (finally) gets a green light for first phase of the "controversy-dogged development."
• Lange (on a much brighter note) tells us "why Charles Moore (still) matters."
• A rare (though partial) victory for historic preservation in Beijing could herald "a wave of 'preservation-by-relocation'" in China.
• Phyllis Lambert will be heading to the Venice Biennale to claim her Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement (we can't imagine anyone more deserving!).
• A young Barcelona-based architect wins Harvard GSD's $100,000 Wheelwright Prize for his proposal Domesticated Grounds: Design and Domesticity Within Animal Farming Systems (cows included).
• Weekend diversions:
• Design takes center stage in Montreal and Winnipeg.
• Kolson Hurley gives (mostly) thumbs-up the NBM's "Designing for Disaster" show: it's "great at educating visitors about how they can be more hazard-proof. But it misses an opportunity to tell them why they have to be."
• "Design for Social Impact" at the Museum of Design Atlanta "offers a look at how designers, engineers, students, professors, architects, and social entrepreneurs are using design to solve the problems of the 21st century."
• "Michigan Modern: Design that Shaped America" at the Grand Rapids Art Museum tells of the time when the state's "industry and design intertwined" and "became an epicenter of modern design."
• Pittman's "Anonymization: The Global Proliferation of Urban Sprawl" is "a disorienting survey of suburban sprawl" (great slide show).
• "Cleveland Goes Modern: Design for the Home, 1930-1970" celebrates "the important modernist architects who brought fresh ideas to the city's suburbs."
• Moore finds the "lavish" monograph "Ettore Sottsass" to be "both weighty and expensive, but within its pistachio covers a life of astonishing richness is revealed."
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
INSIGHT: Anonymous Cities: The Erosion of Urban Identity: If we embrace the special characteristics of our American cities, we could begin to construct new projects that enhance the sense of place within the distinctly different urban settings that still exist. By Peter Gisolfi- ArchNewsNow |
Still Too Soon: I thought I could review the National 9/11 Memorial Museum...I can’t. It’s too soon...As I descended the ramp...all I could think of was Orpheus descending into the underworld...feels scaled to the excess of public emotionality...It feels like a tomb as big as the Met...there were so many opportunities to let the remains of the Twin Towers speak, but it felt to me as if more architecture and more design were instead laid on top. By Alexandra Lange -- Snohetta;Davis Brody Bond; Michael Arad; Peter Walker; Local Projects- AlexandraLange.net |
Sprawl Is Good for You: Why urban yuppies have it all wrong: Atlanta has wrested away from Los Angeles the distinction of serving as the poster child for sprawl...You would think from the commentary that Atlanta is flat on its back. In fact...[it] has obviously seen its population and its economy grow faster than most of the older, higher-density, more transit-oriented cities of the United States or Europe. It must be doing something right, perhaps including the way it has sprawled. By Robert Bruegmann- Politico |
A Future Green Utopia? Forget About It: Flawed, messy and human is how two influential NYC designers see our shift to sustainability...and why at the end of the day we may not be totally screwed. By Geoff Dembicki/The Tyee -- Chris Garvin/Chris Starkey/Terrapin Bright Green- AlterNet.org |
What's the Big Idea? Fix the Cities. The Rest Will Follow: Stephen Ross/Related Companies has identified a way to boost cities even when he's not building in them...$30.5 million contribution to...the World Resources Institute, to open WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities...emblematic of a growing recognition...cities are the largest entities to have both the political will and scale to address modern environmental challenges.- Bloomberg News |
Artistic landscape architecture brings a sense of belonging: Architecture and planning can take a backseat to community demands, with developers then whittling back the quality of buildings and parks to ensure a profit...But the designers kept returning to another element of city-building, a word rarely heard in today's public forums. Beauty. By John King -- Kathryn Gustafson/Gustafson Guthrie Nichol/Gustafson Porter; Peter Walker/PWP Landscape Architecture; Martha Schwartz; Hargreaves Associates- San Francisco Chronicle |
The Metropolitan Museum’s Renovation Plan Is Full of Red Flags: Is this another case of museum hubris? Is the Met wading into a contemporary-art world where it’s not comfortable and doesn’t belong? Does this represent a fresh incursion into public green space? ...plan seems promising, but full of worrisomely plausible scenarios: a thronged corner of Central Park, a costly new wing that’s obsolete on the day it opens, and the old Whitney sitting empty, useless, and unloved. By Justin Davidson- New York Magazine |
Here’s Exactly What the Metropolitan Museum of Art Needs to Do When It Rebuilds the Modern-Art Wing: ...please don’t take all of this wonderful space and build staircases, atriums, two- and three-story open spaces...a one-word suggestion about your future spaces...Rooms. Build rooms for art. By Jerry Saltz- New York Magazine |
Call to Prayer: Using rugged materials and a modern design vocabulary, an architect creates a place of worship that connects the essence of Islam with contemporary life. Emre Arolat Architects’s design strategy for the Sancaklar Mosque on the outskirts of Istanbul challenged long-held assumptions and popular images. By Clifford A. Pearson [images]- Architectural Record |
Dramatic new images of $4.2 Billion Casino and Resort in Cairns: ...public response to the Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort has been mixed but mostly in favour of the build for its economic benefit in the flood ravaged state. [images]- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
Squire & Partners bags planning for Chelsea Barracks: Green light for first phase of controversy-dogged development...six years after previous plans by Rogers Stirk Harbour were dropped after private lobbying by Prince Charles...sparked uproar. [image]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Why Charles Moore (Still) Matters: The controversial architect continues to inspire former colleagues and collaborators...was always more interested in how people moved through spaces—and the resulting fragmentary views—than a single beauty shot. By Alexandra Lange -- Moore Lyndon Turnbull Whitaker; Centerbrook; Moore Ruble Yudell;Andersson-Wise Architects [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
A Rare, Partial Victory in Saving Remnants of Old Beijing: Cui Jinze scored a rare victory...when he won protected status for what remains of two historic courtyard homes...the government...declaring the two sites “immobile cultural objects"...victory is partial, and contradictory...he predicted a wave of “preservation-by-relocation” was about to hit China, a way of reconciling, however imperfectly, the interests of conservationists and rapacious developers.- New York Times |
Women on Top: Rem Koolhaas Crowns Phyllis Lambert With Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement: As founder and Director Emeritus of the Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) in Montréal, her philanthropic work, generosity, and drive for neighborhood revitalization...will always be, appreciated not only within the field of architecture but in city development for centuries to come.- Architizer |
Harvard GSD Announces Winner of Wheelwright Prize 2014: Jose M. Ahedo, Barcelona-based architect, wins $100,000 travel grant for his proposal Domesticated Grounds: Design and Domesticity Within Animal Farming Systems- Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) / Wheelwright Prize |
Montreal Transforms Into a Design Mecca: Running from May 22 to 25, the SIDIM design fair presents the latest in residential furnishings, while a series of offsite events, installations and exhibits – orchestrated by Sid Lee, Claude Cormier and Greg Lynn – will light up the city. [images]- Azure magazine (Canada) |
Architecture Fringe Festival to shake up Winnipeg May 27-31: The goal of the AFF is to extend architectural discussion into the community, stimulate public awareness and debate about architecture and design, connect with the allied design disciplines...- Canadian Architect |
"Designing for Disaster": at the National Building Museum...makes clear our strategies for preventing disasters and lessening their impacts have evolved a lot...smartly brings these to the fore and makes them tangible...it’s odd and disappointing that the show makes no mention of climate change (at least none that I could find)...great at educating visitors about how they can be more hazard-proof. But it misses an opportunity to tell them why they have to be. By Amanda Kolson Hurley [slideshow]- Architectural Record |
"Design for Social Impact": Museum of Design Atlanta Celebrates the Ways Great Design Can Solve Problems: ...offers a look at how designers, engineers, students, professors, architects, and social entrepreneurs are using design to solve the problems of the 21st century. May 25 - August 3- Museum of Design Atlanta |
"Michigan Modern: Design that Shaped America" at the Grand Rapids Art Museum: When Michigan’s industry and design intertwined, it became an epicenter of modern design...The state’s furniture designers revolutionized the look of the American office and home. Michigan architects Albert Kahn, Eero Saarinen, and Minoru Yamasaki defined an era.- Michigan State Historic Preservation Office |
A Disorienting Survey of Suburban Sprawl, From Dubai to L.A.: "Anonymization: The Global Proliferation of Urban Sprawl" by Robert Harding Pittman, et al...photos document a peculiar approach to urban growth, one that that dominates rather than accommodates nature. Pittman hopes his photos will contribute to a conversation about our other options as we develop further. [slide show]- Wired |
Nina and John Gibans celebrate Cleveland's 20th-century architecture in "Cleveland Goes Modern: Design for the Home, 1930-1970”: ...celebrates the important modernist architects who brought fresh ideas to Greater Cleveland’s suburbs...“The book started by driving up driveways"... -- Ernst Payer; Robert Little; Robert Maschke; Harold Burdick; ArtNEO [slide show]- Cleveland Plain Dealer |
Ettore Sottsass: the godfather of Italian cool: ...lavish monograph..."Ettore Sottsass" by Phillipe Thome, Francesca Picchi, Emily King is both weighty and expensive, but within its pistachio covers and striped endpapers, on pages of varying stock and multiple colours, a life of astonishing richness is revealed. By Rowan Moore [slide show]- Observer (UK) |
|
Bernardes + Jacobsen Arquitetura: MAR – Rio Art Museum: ...one of the flagships in the city's $3.8 billion plan to renovate and revitalize its run-down port district. It is also a tactful amass of existing and new. [images] |
|
|
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.
© 2014 ArchNewsNow.com