Today’s News - Tuesday, March 17, 2015
• ArcSpace brings us eyefuls of gorgeous photos by Yerolymbos, and a round-up of must-reads.
• Brake pens a thoughtful (and charming) tribute to Graves, whose buildings of the 1970s and '80s were "singular refutations of modernist orthodoxy, opening the door for others to break the rules as well," and whose personal vision was "an architecture that improved both civic and domestic life, to be an architect you could live with" (cookie tins included).
• Architects "may finally be able to put a price on the economic worth of their work" thanks to a new study by LSE academics.
• Rice delivers one of the most in-depth looks at Calatrava's WTC transit hub, "an accomplishment that threatens to destroy his reputation" - after a walk-about with the man, "he does not deserve all - or even most - of the blame for the building's price" (and it certainly "won't end up looking banal").
• Filler minces no words about what he thinks of Manhattan's supertall and starchitect-imbued towers: "not one possesses an iota of the aesthetic élan that distinguished early skyscrapers" - those who think "architecture embodies the values of the society that creates it will look upon these etiolated oddities less with wonder...than with revulsion over the larger, darker machinations they more accurately represent."
• NBBJ comes up with an algorithm to design skyscrapers that won't block the sun.
• Zara parses 5 buildings that "take regionalist clichés to disastrous new levels," dubbed "Disaster Regionalism."
• SOM's $45bn Capital Cairo project is ginormous (at least it will include "one of the largest city park systems in the world").
• O'Sullivan takes a long look at "flashy, mysterious" plans for Belgrade's waterfront by UAE investors looking to give it "a Dubai-style makeover": "when it comes to some reactions, hate is a weak word" - it risks being "a vainglorious monument to 21st century fugliness" (or could be "sparkling and successful").
• Western Australia's Fremantle gears up for its 2029 bicentenary with plans for a High Line-style bridge and "an ambitious new vision to reconnect the city with the harbor."
• Misi looks at Moscow's efforts to reconnect to its riverfront: "Some doubt whether the city can follow through on its big visions," but the mayor is confident "even in lean economic times."
• Morieson offers a fascinating take on Tokyo and its lack of planning control that "has resulted in a unique urban fabric."
• Bruno talks to architects and politicos who are for and against saving Rudolph's Orange County Government Center (rendering shows anything but keeping the building and "bringing it back up" - ugh).
• C20 Society throws its weight behind listing Dunster's 2002 BedZed "warts and all" - it is "worth listing despite not working as intended." + It launches a new bid to save Robin Hood Gardens.
• Moore explains why Britain's housing crisis is "an accelerating human disaster," but there are 10 ways to solve it: "money is already being wasted. It is partly a question of spending it better."
• Q&A with Wade Killefer re: "how affordable housing can benefit those who live there and the communities surrounding them."
• Another Melbourne housing project by Breathe Architects is "ruffling feathers": rival developers are "amazed at how many golden 'rules' you can break and still make a profit"; this one bends the rules even further.
• Capps parses SsD's Songpa Micro-Housing project in Seoul that encourages "neighborliness as residents navigate shared spaces 'like the ambiguous gel around tapioca pearl.'"
• It's an all-Brit shortlist of four in the Nine Elms bridge competition.
• Koolhaas "comes out fighting" for Zaera-Polo after Princeton asked him to "resign after row over footnotes at Venice Biennale" (Z-P wants to quell the "endless stream of sometimes grotesque rumors").
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-- The Camera: Yiorgis Yerolymbos: ...a leading figure in architectural photography in Greece.
-- Bookshelf: "Double Dutch: Dutch Architecture since 1985" by Bernard Hulsman; "The Future of Architecture in 100 Buildings" by Marc Kushner; "Copy Paste: Bad Ass Copy Guide" by Winy Maas; "The Inevitable Specificity of Cities" by ETH Studio Basel; "Women, Modernity, and Landscape Architecture" by Sonja Dümpelmann, John Beardsley |
Cookie Tin Humanism: Michael Graves's use of classicism...gestures at something timeless. This is why his buildings were such a revelation...singular refutations of modernist orthodoxy, opening the door for others to break the rules as well...his radicalism was ultimately his populism: he strove to use his personal vision...to conceive of an architecture that improved both civic and domestic life, to be an architect you could live with. By Alan G. Brake- Design Observer |
Academics put pricetag on 'distinctive design': Architects may finally be able to put a price on the economic worth of their work, thanks to...study by London School of Economics (LSE)..."Distinctively different: a new approach to valuing architectural amenities"...One of the novel aspects...is the way it isolates the financial benefits of design from other factors that could push up prices...- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
The Glorious Boondoggle: Santiago Calatrava was commissioned to design an architectural extravagance at ground zero. He succeeded, an accomplishment that threatens to destroy his reputation: ...it is fair to say that he does not deserve all - or even most - of the blame for the building’s price...Whatever you think of the PATH station, it won’t end up looking banal...Someday, Daniel Libeskind thinks, people will revel in Calatrava’s creation and the controversies will be forgotten. By Andrew Rice- New York Magazine |
New York: Conspicuous Construction: Sky High and the Logic of Luxury: ...foreign buyers consider Midtown North the golden core of the Big Apple...architecturally inventive schemes in Chelsea to appeal to an audience more aesthetically sophisticated...Those of us who believe that architecture invariably (and often unintentionally) embodies the values of the society that creates it will look upon these etiolated oddities less with wonder over their cunning mechanics than with revulsion over the larger, darker machinations they more accurately represent. By Martin Filler -- Christian de Portzamparc; Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill; SHoP Architects; David Childs/Mustafa Kemal Abadan/SOM; Robert A.M. Stern; Rafael Viñoly; Annabelle Selldorf; Shigeru Ban; Jean Nouvel; Zaha Hadid; Rem Koolhaas- New York Review of Books |
How architects plan to stop skyscrapers from blocking out sunlight: NBBJ is designing 'no-shadow towers' which it claims can redirect sunlight on to the streets below: ...avoiding a repeat of London’s disastrous “Walkie Talkie”, 20 Fenchurch Street....Using an algorithm...- Independent (UK) |
5 Buildings That Take Regionalist Clichés to Disastrous New Levels: Plagued by tornadoes? Destroyed by war? Left homeless by a hurricane? You name it, Disaster Regionalism will build it. By Janelle Zara -- Kinslow, Keither & Todd; MVRDV (2!); iArc Architects; Studio Daniel Libeskind [images]- Architizer |
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill/SOM to design new Egyptian capital city: Designed in harmony with the local environment and shaped by the natural landscape...Around a third of the 700km2 new $45bn Capital Cairo project will be set aside for preserved natural areas and one of the largest city park systems in the world, and the new city will be linked to historic Cairo through extensive public transit links.- ConstructionWeekOnline (Dubai, UAE) |
A Flashy, Mysterious Plan for Belgrade Waterfront: Investors from the United Arab Emirates appear set to give Serbia's capital a Dubai-style makeover. But tons of questions remained unanswered: ...when it comes to some reactions, hate is a weak word...What Belgraders risk getting is a vainglorious monument to 21st century fugliness [or] may end up getting a sparkling, successful new waterfront district. By Feargus O'Sullivan -- RTKL [image]- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
Western Australia's Fremantle undergoes largest development in 28 years: In the lead up to its 2029 bicentenary, the City has released a bold vision to transform its city centre, including introducing a New York-style High Line bridge...an ambitious new vision to reconnect the city with the harbour. [images]- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
Moscow Reconnects With Its River: Much of the riverfront is a concrete barrier of roads, parking and industrial sites. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has big plans to make it green: Some doubt whether the city can follow through on its big visions...Sobyanin says these problems can be overcome. Developing tourism, culture and recreation remains a priority...even in lean economic times. By Timothy Misi -- Project Meganom; Sergei Kuznetsov- Citiscope.org |
The unlimited city: Tokyo: ...a lack of planning control has resulted in a unique urban fabric...unencumbered by aesthetic planning by-laws and embellished with innumerable overlapping symbols and signs that capture and refract our attention and direction. By Marnie Morieson/Six Degrees Architects -- Fumihiko Maki/Maki + Associates; Herzog + de Meuron; Atelier Bow Wow- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
A 'Building of Awe' With an Uncertain Future: Time is running out for the Paul Rudolph-designed Orange County Government Center in Goshen, New York: ..."what our [plan] does is keep the Rudolph building, bring it to the core skeletal structure and bring it back up.” The architectural community has almost uniformly condemned that plan... By Debra Bruno -- Design Lab Architects; Gene Kaufman/Gwathmey Siegel Kaufman; Clark, Patterson Lee [images]- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
List BedZed warts and all, says C20 Society: But RMC HQ architect Ted Cullinan says listing should be based on quality of architecture only: Bill Dunster’s BedZed [2002] development is worth listing despite not working as intended...“It’s an experiment and the question is do we want to preserve evidence of what worked and what didn’t?' -- Twentieth Century Society [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Shock new bid to save Robin Hood Gardens: Richard Rogers welcomes new listing bid after certificate of immunity expires: A new report by the Twentieth Century Society sent to English Heritage argues that the heritage quango’s advice to government not to list the estate was flawed. -- Alison and Peter Smithson- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Britain’s housing crisis is a human disaster. Here are 10 ways to solve it: Rising house prices have been willed by public policy over decades. The fallout for families, communities and business has been severe...objection to some of these proposals will be that there is no money. But money is already being wasted...It is partly a question of spending it better. By Rowan Moore- Observer (UK) |
Successful Design Strategies for Affordable Housing: Q&A with Wade Killefer/Killefer Flammang Architects: how affordable housing can benefit those who live there and the communities surrounding them.- FORM magazine |
Radical apartments: After The Commons, The Nightingale keeps ruffling feathers: The Commons apartment building in Melbourne...is now sustainability lore...it has attracted a huge amount of interest. This includes from rival developers amazed at how many golden “rules” you can break and still make a profit. Now it’s about to happen again, with the rules this time bent even further. -- Breathe Architects [images]- The Fifth Estate (Australia) |
This Award-Winning Micro-Housing Design Is Inspired by Bubble Tea: A new building of ultra-tiny apartments in Seoul will enforce neighborliness as residents navigate shared spaces "like the ambiguous gel around a tapioca pearl." A 120-square-foot nook [in] the Songpa Micro-Housing project...for folks who don't mind a little communal living...the design softens a real fundamental loss of privacy. By Kriston Capps -- Single Speed Design Architecture + Urbanism (SsD) [images]- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
All-Brit shortlist revealed for Nine Elms bridge: ...saw off competition from 74 anonymous entries which included a mix of ‘world renowned architects’ and ‘up-and-coming practices’. -- Hopkins Architects; Amanda Levete/AL_A; Marks Barfield Architects; Robin Snell & Partners [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Rem Koolhaas comes out fighting for Alejandro Zaera-Polo: Princeton University president ‘asked architect to resign after row over footnotes at Venice Biennale’: Zaera-Polo felt compelled to speak out because of the “endless stream of sometimes grotesque rumours” circulating since he quit as dean of the school of architecture in October. -- AZPML- BD/Building Design (UK) |
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