Today’s News - Wednesday, November 12, 2014
• Modernism and Postmodernism in the crosshairs: Makovsky and Gotkin curate a "watchlist of overlooked gems" in Manhattan: "Docopomo, anyone?"
• Bevan considers "what makes one tower worth saving and another wrecking" as two Seifert towers in London face very different fates: "Abrasive and egotistical, Seifert would likely not have been amused."
• Sydney considers its own "40-year 'young' buildings" by Sydney School architects whose motto could have been "the best architecture is no architecture."
• A firmament of stars comes out in support of a campaign to prevent "the 'barbaric' part-demolition" of Richter's 1994 "masterpiece" school in Vienna.
• Flint dares to celebrate Corbu, who "inspired hundreds of drab downtowns. But he had many good ideas that are relevant to citybuilding today - my plea is to refrain from throwing out the baby with the modernist bathwater."
• Heathcote looks at what today's "architecture of austerity" looks like: "Through the 20th century, the architecture of austerity addressed social need. The monuments of our age instead address luxury housing and commerce."
• More on China's "weird" architecture: "As click-bait slideshows trend globally, those living in these structures' shadows" have opinions "scattered along the adore-to-abhor gamut, although often for different reasons than for outsiders" ("Taste matters less than publicity").
• Down Under, Davidge minces no words about what she thinks of plans to give developer(s) Melbourne's Federation Square East - for free: it's "stretching the definitions of the terms 'public' and 'civic' - short-changing the city's future" and selling the public down the river.
• Meanwhile, Sydneysiders hope plans for the Bays Precinct will include the public and not devolve into another Barangaroo.
• Dittmar gets behind "pink zones to lighten planning red tape" that would allow "small entrepreneurial and incremental building and development" to "move from being a heroic exception to being a natural step for a contractor or young architect to take."
• 'Tis the season of memorials: Moore and Glancey are entranced by Prost's International Memorial of Notre Dame de Lorette in France: "Without cliché or ponderous symbolism, it thoughtfully opens a different perspective on WWI" + it is "as beautiful as it is moving."
• Melbourne's Shrine of Remembrance is "evolving again to be more like that of a museum - a custodian and archive of history."
• Warsaw's Museum of the History of Polish Jews wins inaugural Finlandia Prize for Architecture.
• Wainwright waxes poetic about electricity pylons: "There is plenty to appreciate about these lattice-work leviathans - a noble army of six-armed soldiers."
• One we couldn't resist: Lam looks at "all the places The New York Times has compared to Brooklyn," from Berlin to Beijing: "it seems just about anywhere is a bit like New York's hippest borough."
• Call for entries: Student Team Applications in the 2015 ULI Hines Competition (hefty prizes!) + Docomomo US 2015 Modernism in America Awards.
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The Postmodern Watchlist: As preservation battles rage, will architecture from the 1970s and 1980s get its turn? Perhaps a younger, more open-minded generation will decide the fate of Postmodern design’s legacy. Docopomo, anyone? Curated by Paul Makovsky and Michael Gotkin -- Modern Architecture Working Group; Philip Johnson and John Burgee; Allan Greenberg; John Barrington Bayley/Harry van Dyke/G. Frederick Poehler; Todd Lee/Philip Birnbaum; Diana Agrest/Mario Gandelsonas; Edward Larrabee Barnes; Robert A.M. Stern/John S. Hagmann; Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo; Gino Valle; Michael Graves; Susana Torre/Wank Adams Slavin Associates/WASA; Stanley Jay Friedman; Buttrick White & Burtis [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
What makes one tower worth saving and another wrecking? Why the work of architect Richard Seifert should win protection: As London’s landmark skyscraper Centre Point gets a new lease of life and Copyright House in Fitzrovia faces demolition, conservationists are reappraising the work of architect...Abrasive and egotistical, Seifert...would likely not have been amused... By Robert Bevan- Evening Standard (UK) |
40-year ‘young’ building has heritage significance: ...one of the Sydney School of architecture mottos was ‘the best architecture is no architecture’...The Sydney School is a loose term that groups a number of Australian architects who were reacting against international modernism and whose designs were strongly influenced by the natural environment of the sites they were working on. -- Ian McKay; Hely Bell and Horne [images]- City of Sydney (Australia) |
Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, Frank Gehry and Bernard Tschumi join fight to save "masterpiece" school by Helmut Richter:..pledged support to a campaign to prevent the "barbaric" part-demolition of... what is thought by many to be his most important building – the Science Secondary School at Kinkplatz in Vienna. [images]- Dezeen |
The Hazardous Business of Celebrating Le Corbusier: The pioneer of modern architecture inspired hundreds of drab downtowns and suburban corporate office parks. But he had many good ideas that are relevant to citybuilding today...my plea is to refrain from throwing out the baby with the modernist bathwater. By Anthony Flint [images]- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
Britain and the cuts: Architecture of austerity looks to impress: A question might be whether architecture itself has responded to recession? ...architecture has not become more austere-looking, but rather the opposite...Through the 20th century, the architecture of austerity addressed social need. The monuments of our age instead address luxury housing and commerce. By Edwin Heathcote -- Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; Rafael Viñoly- Financial Times (UK) |
In China, it's in the eye of the beholder: ...the proliferation of China’s odd architecture...The controversy may indulge designers and tenets. “Taste matters less than publicity"...As click-bait slideshows of “weird” buildings trend globally, those living in these structures’ shadows see more local, closer-up and intimate vantages...scattered along the adore-to-abhor gamut, although often for different reasons than for outsiders.- China Daily |
Sold down the river: In a bid to develop Melbourne’s Federation Square East, the Victorian state government plans to give it away for free...this might be development on the cheap, but it’s also short-changing the city’s future...How can a privately-owned site deliver true public amenity? ...if the government gives away the public’s stake, the city will be poorer for it. By Tania Davidge/OpenHAUS- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
The Bays Precinct is for the public and should not be another Barangaroo: Architects, politicians and the public...discuss the future of what could amount to be the biggest urban development project in the city’s history...the city does not want a development with vested privatised interest...not let these interests materialise into a failed public space for the city – like Barangaroo. -- Festival of Urbanism- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
Pink zones to lighten planning red tape: ...adapted from the work of the Project for Lean Urbanism...Small entrepreneurial and incremental building and development should move from being a heroic exception...to being a natural step for a contractor or young architect to take. By Hank Dittmar -- Andres Duany- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Notre Dame de Lorette international memorial a different perspective: A new tribute to those who died in northern France during the first world war brings a fresh view to a land heavy with monuments...unlike the others, seeks to unite the opposing sides...Without cliche or ponderous symbolism, it thoughtfully opens a different perspective on the war. By Rowan Moore -- Philippe Prost; Pierre di Sciullo; David Besson-Girard [images]- Observer (UK) |
The Ring of Remembrance: Philippe Prost's new International Memorial of Notre Dame de Lorette is as beautiful as it is moving: Invention and engineering skill as well as a lightness of artistic touch...what you see is not so much sublime architecture, but all those names carved in heartbreaking profusion. By Jonathan Glancey [images]- Telegraph (UK) |
War stories: Two new courtyards designed by ARM Architecture and Rush\Wright complete the axial symmetry of an earlier masterplan envisioned for Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance...evolving again to be more like that of a museum – a custodian and archive of history...used colour with emotive effect. -- Hudson & Wardrop (1933) [images]- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
Museum of the History of Polish Jews wins inaugural Finlandia Prize for Architecture: Sited in a Second World War ghetto area in Warsaw, Poland, the winning design is a multifunctional facility that promotes research, education, and the culture of the Jewish tradition. -- Finnish Association of Architects (SAFA); Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects [images]- designboom |
Are electricity pylons really such a blot on the landscape? There is plenty to appreciate about these lattice-work leviathans, but the National Grid is bowing to pressure to bury them instead...But before they start digging mass graves for our spindly steel sentinels...the pylon has a rigorous logic, governed by its utilitarian economy of means...save your money, National Grid, ignore the impractical aesthetes, and learn to appreciate your noble army of six-armed soldiers. By Oliver Wainwright- Guardian (UK) |
All the Places The New York Times Has Compared to Brooklyn: From Berlin to Beijing, it seems just about anywhere is a bit like New York's hippest borough: I always wonder how the residents in these cities feel about being deemed a Brooklyn-like place...what it's going to do to their property prices...Brooklyn has become a euphemism for a kind of urbanism that millennials like. By Bourree Lam- The Atlantic |
Call for entries: Student Team Applications in the 2015 ULI Hines Competition (U.S. and Canada); cash prizes; application deadline: December 8- Urban Land Institute (ULI) |
Call for entries: Docomomo US 2015 Modernism in America Awards; early nomination deadline (save money): January 9, 2015 (final deadline: February 20, 2015)- DOCOMOMO US |
ANN Feature: Spaceship Lucas Lands in Chicago: Given the civic importance of the site, it's difficult to imagine how this vision for "Chicago 2020" [Lucas Museum of Narrative Art] won't stir up a lot of very vocal opposition to it. And rightly so. By Martin C. Pedersen -- Ma Yansong/MAD Architects- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Ma Yansong: Designing an Imaginary Future: ...he seeks to combine cutting-edge technology with ancient Eastern precepts, and in so doing he hopes to forge a balance between the cosmos, humanity and nature. By Kevin Holden Platt -- MAD Archtiects
-- 7 Exceptional Concert Halls -- OMA; Henning Larsen Architects; Gehry Partners; Ateliers Jean Nouvel; Paul Andreu Architecte; Santiago Calatrava; Snøhetta |
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