Today’s News - Monday, January 26, 2015
EDITOR'S NOTE: If you don't see ANN in your inbox tomorrow, it's because we're buried in a blizzard (fingers crossed that won't be the case!).
• ArcSpace brings us a Q&A with Melbourne-based architectural photographer Shannon McGrath, a January news round-up, and what's new on bookshelves this month.
• The case is now closed on Hadid vs. NYRB and Filler: she will "donate settlement money to labor rights organization" (unnamed).
• Betsky to take the reins of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture: part of his duties will be "to help tackle the school's financial challenges" (we wish him all good things!).
• Heathcote cheers "an unusual scheme" that shows "a real possibility to reinvent the ruins" of Gillespie Kidd & Coia's 1966 St Peter's seminary as an arts venue, "while preserving its air of desolation."
• Moore x 2: he also cheers the plan "to resurrect this battered masterpiece" that is St Peter's seminary that will keep it "in various degrees of ruined-ness."
• He is less pleased with the prospect of losing "two beautiful urban oddities": a Googie diner in L.A., and an east London peculiarity: "Keeping them does not stand in the way of the new; it only makes the new more interesting."
• Historic preservationists in Louisville, Kentucky "are fighting an uphill battle" after a 40-year-old historic preservation ordinance was overturned: "The message it sends is that preservation is fine and good until a well-heeled developer comes along" (but there are signs of hope).
• Uber-historic Charleston, South Carolina, struggles with how to make new buildings fit in with the old: both sides agree that many new buildings "have been duds that tried, and failed, to have it both ways," so the city (and its "aesthete-in-chief" mayor) hire Duany to review its architectural review process.
• Hinz says it's high time for Chicagoans to "stop yowling about using parkland for the Obama library": "in an admittedly flawed and messy process, the city still is doing the right thing" (and the neighborhood really wants it).
• Pamplona has high hopes that its Moneo-designed modern art museum will produce the Bilbao Effect: "If the architecture is not as eye-catching as Gehry's Guggenheim, the collection is more impressive."
• A most interesting Q&A with Sorkin re: The Next Helsinki Competition: "We mean to be provocateurs" (and what thinks of the six Guggenheim Helsinki competition finalists - ouch!).
• Altabe on "the advent of free-wheeling architecture": "there are consequences. Take your pick, folks. Either fry in amplified sunlight or chill in engineered shade. I hope I'm wrong, but I don't see this story ending well."
• Conti argues that while plum commissions are projects where "architects can preen with their talents for everyone to see," it "takes really classy architects to devote as much design talent and energy" to a rural community center and elderly and affordable housing "as to more spectacular ones."
• Smit "unpicks the rebirth of an old idea": garden cities: "Politicians have been keen to use the term, but enlightened views are rare in private sector development and local authorities are relatively powerless."
• Lubell has a great Q&A with Neutra Medal-winner Rotondi re: the award and his approach to practice, teaching, and Buddhist philosophy: "I want to leave town like the Lone Ranger. Nobody knows who I am but the town is better off."
• Freeman pays eloquent tribute to Porro: "With his passing the world loses a singular artistic genius - a man of outsized personality and no small ego," who "was delighted" to be modeled as the protagonist in an upcoming opera.
• Call for entries: Cool School: Design for an Extreme Climate (Mongolia!) + Applications for the $10,000 2015 RAMSA Travel Fellowship (open to U.S. & Canadian students).
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-- Monthly News Round-Up, January 2015 Edition -- Snøhetta; Herzog & de Meuron; Jean Nouvel; Coop Himmelb(l)au; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Allied Works Architecture
-- Shannon McGrath: Melbourne-based photographer...has had her own practice for the last 12 years, concentrating on architecture and interior design... By Pygmalion Karatzas
-- What's New on the Bookshelves? January 2015 edition |
Case Closed: Zaha Hadid v. New York Review of Books and Martin Filler: Hadid to donate settlement money to labor rights organization...Both parties have released the following statement: By Suzanne Stephens and Anna Fixsen- Architectural Record |
Aaron Betsky to Head Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture: ...new dean in charge of Taliesin...will also have to help tackle the school’s financial challenges.- The Architect's Newspaper |
Arts charity NVA to reinvent the ruins of St Peter’s seminary: Can a derelict modernist landmark to the west of Glasgow be saved? ...revered as perhaps the greatest monument of Scottish modernism. Yet, like so many of the landmarks of modernism, it was a failure...An unusual scheme promises to reinvent the site as an arts venue, while preserving its air of desolation...the first to appear a real possibility. By Edwin Heathcote -- Gillespie Kidd & Coia (1966); NORD; Avanti [images]- Financial Times (UK) |
St Peter’s seminary – a second coming for Scotland’s modernist masterpiece? ...built in 1966 and abandoned in 1980 – lies in ruins. But plans are afoot to resurrect this battered masterpiece...in various degrees of ruined-ness. This is both practical and true to the tempestuous spirit of the place. By Rowan Moore -- Gillespie, Kidd & Coia; Avanti Architects; NORD Architects; ERZ Landscape Architects [images]- Observer (UK) |
When heaven was a drive-thru hamburger: Two beautiful urban oddities – one in sunny LA and the other in east London – have survived to tell a unique story of the human spirit. Now they both face the wrecking ball...Norms and Spiegelhalters...are part of what makes cities like London and Los Angeles worth living in. Keeping them does not stand in the way of the new; it only makes the new more interesting. By Rowan Moore -- Armet & Davis (1957); Buckley Grey Yeoman [images]- Observer (UK) |
Louisville Fight for Historic Preservation Is at a Turning Point: Historic preservationists are fighting an uphill battle...in both public policy and public opinion...in 2012, the Metro Council voted to overturn a 40-year-old historic preservation ordinance...The message it sends is that preservation is fine and good until a well-heeled developer comes along...But there are a few key opportunities that show promise of turning the momentum. By Anna Clark -- National Trust for Historic Preservation (NTHP); Kentucky Heritage Council- Next City (formerly Next American City) |
In Stately Old Charleston, the New Buildings on the Block Are Struggling to Fit In: Accustomed to basing its identity on its grand old buildings, the South Carolina city now finds it almost impossible to agree on how to build new ones...both sides agree that many of the buildings...in recent years have been duds that tried, and failed, to have it both ways...hire Andrés Duany...to suggest changes to the city’s architectural review process. By Richard Fausset -- Brad Cloepfil/Allied Works Architecture- New York Times |
Stop yowling about using parkland for the Obama library already: ...Michael Reese Hospital [site]...with the proposed, nearby Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, would provide a megaton catalyst to develop the mid-South Side...in an admittedly flawed and messy process, the city still is doing the right thing...Don't risk losing this prize...what's most convincing to me is the neighborhood sentiment. They want to stick by their man and don't want to risk losing his legacy. By Greg Hinz- Crain's Chicago Business |
Pamplona hoping for Guggenheim effect with new modern art museum: The Museo Universidad de Navarra...may lead to a stampede of art lovers every bit as important to Pamplona as the running of the bulls...If the architecture is not as eye-catching as Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim, the collection is more impressive... -- Rafael Moneo [image]- Guardian (UK) |
“We Mean to Be Provocateurs": Michael Sorkin on the Next Helsinki Competition: ...on the future of museums, the six competition finalists, and how The Next Helsinki will exhibit its future winners..."We invite competition entries from...any of the 1,700 losers from the Guggenheim competition whose work looks beyond simply building a museum on the site." [deadline: March 2] By Zachary Edelson -- AGPS Architecture; Asif Khan; Fake Industries Architectural Agonism; Haas Cook Zemmrich STUDIO2050; Moreau Kusunoki Architectes; SMAR Architecture Studio- Metropolis Magazine |
Bad neighbor buildings: With the advent of free-wheeling architecture, like anything footloose, there are consequences that call for review while still on the drawing board, before they hit the streets...Take your pick, folks. Either fry in amplified sunlight or chill in engineered shade. I hope I’m wrong, but I don’t see this story ending well. By Joan Altabe- Examiner |
Good design on a budget is not only possible, it can be award-winning: Plum commissions are for...places where architects can preen with their talents for everyone to see. But a rural community center in hurricane-ravaged, out-of-sight Haiti? Apartment buildings for the elderly? Affordable housing in a decayed Mon Valley mill town? It takes really classy architects to devote as much design talent and energy to those kinds of projects as to more spectacular ones. By John Conti -- Rothschild Doyno Collaborative [images]- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review |
Garden cities is a phrase on everyone's lips: but what does it mean in practice? As political parties find unity in plans to create more garden cities, Josephine Smit unpicks the rebirth of an old idea: Politicians have...been keen to use the term, but have appeared less keen to espouse principles...enlightened views are rare in private sector development and local authorities are relatively powerless. -- Farrer Huxley Associates; URBED; PRP Architects; HTA Design- Horticulture Week (UK) |
Q+A> Michael Rotondi: Sam Lubell speaks with the Richard J. Neutra Medal winner about the award and his approach to practice, teaching, and even Buddhist philosophy: "I want to leave town like the Lone Ranger. Nobody knows who I am but the town is better off." -- RoTo Architecture; Thom Mayne/Morphosis- The Architect's Newspaper |
Obit> Ricardo Porro, 1925-2014: With his passing the world loses a singular artistic genius, and for Cuba, its greatest living architect, albeit an expatriate...a man of outsized personality and no small ego, was delighted by his impending apotheosis on the opera stage [“Cubanacán”]. It is a pity that he did not live to see a staged production. By Belmont Freeman- The Architect's Newspaper |
Call for entries: Cool School: Design for an Extreme Climate (international): an innovative school design proposal that can withstand the extreme Mongolian winters; earlybird registration (save money!): February 6; (submissions due: April 3)- Building Trust International (UK) |
Call for entries: Applications for 2015 RAMSA Travel Fellowship: open to students in their penultimate year, pursuing a Master of Architecture degree from one of 18 U.S. & Canadian schools; $10,000 prize; deadline: April 10- Robert A.M. Stern Architects |
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