Today’s News - Thursday, July 17, 2014
EDITOR'S NOTE: Just a reminder that we're on our summer schedule now, and not posting on Fridays and Mondays. We'll be back Tuesday, July 22.
• ANN Feature: Knoops had a fine time at Rem's Biennale: "I left impressed and invigorated, but curious as to what might follow."
• Heathcote, Wainwright, Rykwert, Merrick, Woodman, and Slessor weigh in on the 2014 Stirling Prize shortlist (our fave: "this year it's back to the waving and smiling business with an array of pushy personalities").
• Holl (finally) wins approval for his St. Bart's Maggie's Centre (by one-vote margin).
• Makovsky puts the spotlight on Cape Town, 2014 World Design Capital, with a great round-up highlighting its "burgeoning design community."
• Weather disasters have been incredibly costly in both lives and money: "When coupled with continued development in disaster-prone areas, that means ever-more communities and assets will be in harm's way unless warning systems and protections keep pace."
• Doig reports on HUD's follow-up to its Rebuild by Design competition - the $1 billion National Disaster Resilience Competition targeting 67 communities declared disaster zones in recent years.
• An MIT mapping group at MIT offers "slick data maps help urbanites recognize the elements that they love, and the ones that need some tweaking."
• Miranda found herself more "irritated" and "frazzled than reflective" during her visit to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, and reflects on two Latin American memorials that get it right in presenting "political tragedies rife with death."
• Kamin pens an eloquent ode to Millennium Park on its 10th anniversary: "Chicago's dazzling urban space also proves a good investment" that demonstrates Chicago's "audacious ability to invent the urban future. It is in Chicago's DNA to build such wonders."
• Litt cheers an $8 million gift to Cleveland's Public Square that demonstrates "the city's new spirit of civic collaboration," and "underscores the importance of such projects to the city."
• Weekend diversions:
• We wish we could join AIA UK next week for its 2014 Summer Gala on the Thames aboard a classic Mississippi paddle boat.
• de Monchaux pens a riotous review of "The Competition": "Architecture's great shame is that it is a profession of screamers. A culture of casual cruelty" - and the starchitects in the documentary "play to type" (a great read!).
• "The Fountainhead" at the Festival d'Avignon is a "smoldering take on Ayn Rand" and "electrifying theater" (and it's only 4 hours long).
• Moore gives a cautious thumbs-up to the Design Museum's Louis Kahn exhibition: it "has much to marvel at, though it isn't the whole story."
• Bevan gives two thumbs-up's to "We Will Remember Them: London's Great War Memorials," a "moving new exhibition" inside the Wellington Arch: "The greatest risk to the memorials, however, is that we stop seeing them at all."
• Lange cheers McGuirk's "Radical Cities" that is "at its best when it offers a journalist's view of facts on the ground - doing the work of the old-fashioned urban critic."
• Q&A with historian Conn re: his "Americans Against the City: Anti-Urbanism in the Twentieth Century" that "offers a deep history of that impulse in America, with some surprising twists."
• Gonchar cheers Fortmeyer and Linn's "Kinetic Architecture": "although it is a book that focuses on facades, its analysis is more than skin deep."
• Webb finds "Arts & Architecture 1945-49" to be a "fat volume" well worth buying: it "captures the excitement that contemporary readers must have felt as they discovered each project."
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
ANN Feature: The Great Compilation: 14th International Exhibition of Architecture di la Biennale di Venezia: Rem Koolhaas has irrevocably changed the Venice Biennale's focus away from starchitects to architecture itself. Indeed, I left impressed and invigorated, but curious as to what might follow. By Johannes M.P. Knoops [images]- ArchNewsNow.com |
Architectural blockbusters feature in Stirling Prize shortlist: It is almost certainly the shortlist with the most recognisable buildings in the prize’s 19-year history...This year appears to see a return to the blockbusters...Encouragingly, they suggest that Britain’s heterogeneous architectural culture, spanning the skyscraper and stadium megastructure to the sophisticated ad hoc local theatre, is alive and kicking. By Edwin Heathcote -- Renzo Piano; O’Donnell + Tuomey; Haworth Tompkins; Mecanoo; Zaha Hadid Architects- Financial Times (UK) |
Shard leads Olympic Aquatics Centre in race for the Stirling prize: Other contenders for architecture award include Birmingham library, Everyman theatre in Liverpool and LSE student centre: ...Shard is the bookies' favourite, but...has divided critics and public alike. By Oliver Wainwright -- Renzo Piano;Zaha Hadid Architects; O'Donnell & Tuomey Architects; Mecanoo; Haworth Tompkins; Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios- Guardian (UK) |
Stirling Prize shortlist: the critics react: Joseph Rykwert: "I hope that courage will be one of the judges criteria"; Jay Merrick: "Three Goliaths, three Davids. A civil split..."; Ellis Woodman: "ultimately there is the only one horse in this race."; Cathy Slessor: "this year it’s back to the waving and smiling business with an array of pushy personalities..." -- Zaha Hadid Architects; Mecanoo; O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects; Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios; Renzo Piano; Haworth Tompkins [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Victory for Steven Holl as Bartholomew’s Hospital Maggie’s Centre approved: The contentious decision - 11 to 10 in favour of the scheme - was made this morning (17 July) at a packed-out meeting of the City of London’s planning committee...could signal the end for Michael Hopkins proposals. [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Eyes on Cape Town: This year’s World Design Capital - the first in Africa - is bursting with energy, creativity, and reinvention: “Live Design. Transform Life.” isn’t as much about attracting tourists as it is about having a new vision for sustainable African cities...burgeoning design community - and Cape Town itself - is ready to take its turn in the global spotlight. By Paul Makovsky -- Thomas Heatherwick; Charlotte Chamberlain/Nicola Irving Architects; Design Indaba; Yenza; Design Network Africa [images, links]- Metropolis Magazine |
Weather Disasters Have Cost the Globe $2.4 Trillion: ...and nearly 2 million deaths globally since 1971...When coupled with continued development in disaster-prone areas, that means ever-more communities and assets will be in harm’s way unless warning systems and protections keep pace.- Climate Central |
HUD Announces $1 Billion Competition for Disaster Recovery Ideas: National Disaster Resilience Competition is targeted toward 67 communities that suffered a major disaster in recent years...entrants should not only focus on recovery from the previous disaster, but also on preparation for future catastrophic events...comes on the heels of HUD’s Rebuild by Design competition... By Will Doig- Next City (formerly Next American City) |
A mapping group at MIT wants to show us the way to greener cities: Sep Kamvar's slick data maps help urbanites recognize the elements that they love, and the ones that need some tweaking...If we’re looking for a road forward to shape the cities we love — to have more of what we love about them – Kamvar’s maps just might be able to show us the way.- Grist Magazine |
What the 9/11 Memorial Museum Could Learn from Two Latin American Memorials: It is difficult to say at which point during my visit...I went from somber to irritated...The relentless multimedia-ness of the whole experience made me more frazzled than reflective...Latin American memorials...take a political tragedy rife with death and turn it into more than the sum of its parts....Museo de la Memoria (Museum of Memory) in Santiago, Chile [and] Lugar de la Memoria (Place of Memory) in Lima, Peru. By Carolina A. Miranda -- Estudio America; Barclay & Crousse [images]- Los Angeles Times |
Millennium Park: 10 years old and an economic boon: Chicago's dazzling urban space also proves a good investment...It is a great work of civic art...demonstration of Chicago's audacious ability to invent the urban future...It has changed — and continues to change — significant swaths of the city around it...Developers "knew it would be good. But they had no idea it would be so good"...It is in Chicago's DNA to build such wonders... By Blair Kamin -- Frank Gehry; Anish Kapoor; Jaume Plensa- Chicago Tribune |
Big themes in the $8 million Cleveland Foundation donation for Public Square include the city's new spirit of civic collaboration: ...marked a major step forward for LAND Studio...has played a key role...in sponsoring and managing public art and landscape projects across the city...gift has underscored the importance of such projects to the city, and the need to accelerate the beautification of city streets and public spaces. By Steven Litt- Cleveland Plain Dealer |
AIA UK 2014 Summer Gala: Thames river cruise on board a classic Mississippi Paddle Boat, July 22- AIA UK |
Trench Warfare: A new documentary takes a behind-the-scenes look at a fitful 2009 architectural competition: Architecture’s great shame is that it is a profession of screamers. A culture of casual cruelty...Much of this shame is on display in "The Competition" directed by Spanish architect Angel Borrego Cubero...architects...play to type: black clad, given to portentous and pretentious pronouncements, petulant with their hardworking employees, alternately imperious and obsequious with their potential clients. By Thomas de Monchaux -- Norman Foster; Frank Gehry; Zaha Hadid; Jean Nouvel; Dominique Perrault- Metropolis Magazine |
"The Fountainhead": Ivo van Hove's smouldering take on Ayn Rand: This mammoth production of the neocon classic shifts the focus to its enthralling and predatory femme fatale...puts on stage the philosophical storm surrounding the collective and the individual...electrifying theatre; at the Festival d'Avignon- Guardian (UK) |
"Louis Kahn: The Power of Architecture" Design Museum, London: ...has much to marvel at, though it isn't the whole story...He dared to be monumental....He could be bombastic and mawkish...But he had an exceptional skill and sensitivity with materials, structure and light...exhibit wants to stress Kahn's interest in science and engineering...This side of him is worth highlighting, but I think they're trying too hard to be different. Monuments (of a subtle and complex kind) were, in the end, his thing. By Rowan Moore- Observer (UK) |
"We Will Remember Them: London’s Great War Memorials": As two of London’s finest First World War memorials are upgraded to Grade I listing...a moving new exhibition inside Hyde Park Corner’s Wellington Arch...no area of our heritage is more poignant...The greatest risk to the memorials, however, is that we stop seeing them at all. By Robert Bevan [images]- Evening Standard (UK) |
"Radical Cities: Across Latin America in Search of a New Architecture" by Justin McGuirk: Thinking about planning has changed: this is an intriguing study of 'urban acupuncture' and the informal city...at its best when it offers a journalist's view of facts on the ground: real people, real observation, as opposed to the aestheticised drive-by of magazines and exhibitions...doing the work of the old-fashioned urban critic... By Alexandra Lange- Guardian (UK) |
A brief history of hating cities: The anti-urban impulse once crossed party lines, says historian Steven Conn: "Americans Against the City: Anti-Urbanism in the Twentieth Century” offers a deep history of that impulse in America, with some surprising twists...I was surprised to see FDR and Frank Lloyd Wright, who compared cities to “fibrous tumors,” in the anti-urban camp.- Boston Globe |
Smart Skins: "Kinetic Architecture: Designs for Active Envelopes": Russell Fortmeyer and Charles D. Linn go to great lengths to explain how the building enclosure is part of a system of interrelated subsystems...although it is a book that focuses on facades, its analysis is more than skin deep. By Joann Gonchar- Architectural Record |
Case Study Debut: "Arts & Architecture 1945-49": ...this one fat volume is a distillation...focusing on the Case House Study Program and other modern houses of those years. The covers—by Herbert Matter, Alvin Lustig, Ray Eames and others—are reason enough to buy this book..captures the excitement that contemporary readers must have felt as they discovered each project... By Michael Webb- FORM magazine |
|
10 Museums Worth Visiting: ...more than just containers that hold art collections, they are also essential instruments in town planning...Museums continue to be essential agents in creating new local identities and new urban centers. -- Atelier Peter Zumthor; Zaha Hadid Architects; BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group; Herzog & de Meuron; Ryue Nishizawa; Steven Holl Architects; Sambuichi Architects; SANAA; Tadao Ando [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