Today’s News - Monday, December 7, 2015
• ArcSpace brings us eyefuls (and a curious review) of Gehry's building for the University of Technology Sydney, with a "warped, wacky and wonderful façade" (except for the glass one): "It is iconic, instantly recognizable and intentionally controversial" (but inside, "the spaces come undone").
• Medina has a great Q&A with the editors of the new report "The Art of Inequality: Architecture, Housing, and Real Estate," who explain "why affordability isn't the solution to the housing crisis," and "architecture's role in abetting inequality."
• Florida and Bendix give (mostly) thumbs-up to a new report that offers "strategies for overcoming the Bay Area's growing inequality and increasingly unaffordable housing. It is heartening to see a regional development body calling for this type of reform - other superstar cities and tech hubs will have to do the same."
• Hawthorne has some better ideas for what to do with lots of land stockpiled for the 710 Freeway extension in L.A.: don't let it "melt back into the private realm - build a combination of new parks and affordable and market-rate housing [to] stitch back together neighborhoods long separated by a no-man's land set aside for freeway construction."
• Brussat cheers a proposal to tear down an elevated highway in Providence, RI, and replace it with a tree-lined boulevard: the idea "is a no-brainer - [an] effort to spend not only money but creativity and imagination directly to the advantage of what largely are disadvantaged neighborhoods."
• Crawford reports on the Canal District in Worcester, MA, that is transforming a once-blighted area into a flourishing hot-spot "despite the canal still being very much buried - a testament to the power of water even when the water in question hasn't seen daylight in more than 100 years."
• Is Sydney "squeezing the lemon too hard" in issuing a new tender for the design and development of an even larger Central Barangaroo?
• Moore deciphers how to judge what's "Well Designed And In The Right Place (WDAITRP)" when it comes to three new London towers: "If every projected tall building showed Parry's intelligence, the city would be in a much better state now."
• Wainwright cheers Parry's 1 Undershaft: it "has the air of a no-nonsense skyscraper more commonly found in Chicago or New York, only dressed up in a slightly prissy costume"; the good news: it seems "more concerned with fixing the human experience at street level."
• Webb is wow'd by LOHA's Studio 11024 in L.A.'s Westwood Village: it's "an architectural gem" that he hopes will "encourage other developers to aim higher, hiring talented architects rather than docile hacks."
• Giovannini is quite taken with de Portzamparc's Prism Tower on Park Avenue South: it "disrupts the urban pack with an exceptional, and exceptionally beautiful, surprise: a tall, sheer rock crystal of glass - the elegant new landmark is...Yosemite's West Face transposed to Manhattan."
• Gendall reports on Chipperfield's The Bryant, a new 37-story tower in midtown Manhattan that, along with his work for the Met Museum, has "the London architect making quite a mark on New York."
• Litt cheers plans for the "Rock Box" public art project to link the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum - and rock music - to downtown Cleveland - "lime greens and pinks, Jimi Hendrix purple" included.
• Kamin parses the dilemma of doctored photos after a project won an AIA Chicago Award with photos that had some very ugly elements Photoshopped out (gasp!).
• Ando and Zimmerman win the 2016 Isamu Noguchi Award for their "spirit of innovation, global consciousness, and East-West exchange."
• The Chicago Architecture Biennial gets the Vogue treatment: "While not starchitect-free...Lesser-known architects contributed some of the coolest exhibits."
• Zeiger reports from the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture in Shenzhen, China: "there's a shared emphasis on bottom-up urbanism, hands-on techniques, and citizen agency."
• ETH Zurich reports on its participation in the Aformal Academy, a temporary school in Shenzhen that has ETH, MIT, Harvard, and TU Delft students studying alongside colleagues from China.
• Call for entries (registration deadline looms!): Baltic Way Memorial, Riga, Latvia + Call for Presentations: 2016 Healthcare Design Expo & Conference.
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Gehry Partners: Dr Chau Chak Wing Building, Sydney, Australia: ...has generated a healthy mix of anticipation, admiration and disappointment...also a savvy marketing tool [for] the University of Technology Sydney's progressive agendas. It is iconic, instantly recognizable and intentionally controversial...the joyful experience of walking around the building's warped, wacky and wonderful façade never quite translates to the interior, where the spaces come undone. -- Daryl Jackson Robin Dyke [images] |
How We Design Inequality: The editors of a new report on architecture and real estate discuss why affordability isn't the solution to the housing crisis: "The Art of Inequality: Architecture, Housing, and Real Estate"...[talk] about architecture’s role in abetting inequality and the urgent need to revive the issue of public housing..."architects should understand architecture’s role in these matters." By Samuel Medina -- Jacob Moore; Susanne Schindler; Reinhold Martin- Metropolis Magazine |
How to Fix San Francisco: Strategies for overcoming the Bay Area’s growing inequality and increasingly unaffordable housing: A new report...“A Roadmap for Economic Resilience,” takes a close look at the region’s key challenges...It is heartening to see a regional development body calling for this type of reform. As these challenges heighten, other superstar cities and tech hubs will have to do the same. By Richard Florida and Aria Bendix- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
Here are better ideas for the land Caltrans has stockpiled for the 710 Freeway extension: We're having the wrong debate...we've let one big question slip from the agenda: What should Caltrans do with the property it has been stockpiling...for more than four decades? Instead of letting the property...melt back into the private realm...build a combination of new parks and affordable and market-rate housing...stitch back together neighborhoods long separated by a no-man's land set aside for freeway construction. By Christopher Hawthorne- Los Angeles Times |
A boulevard, not a highway: The next big Providence project: ...the idea of ripping down the 6/10 connector and replacing it with a tree-lined boulevard...is a no-brainer...It would be, arguably, a first really major effort to spend not only money but creativity and imagination directly to the advantage of what largely are disadvantaged neighborhoods. By David Brussat [images]- Architecture Here and There |
Waterfront Revival, No Water Required: The Canal District of Worcester, Massachusetts, is flourishing. Now all it needs is a canal: Blackstone Canal closed in 1848...paved over, relegated to use as a sewer...The rallying cry “Free the Blackstone” has helped to turn a once blighted area into one of the hottest spots...despite the canal still being very much buried...a testament to the power of water...even when the water in question hasn’t seen daylight in more than 100 years. By Amy Crawford- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
Central Barangaroo development area balloons: ...announcement of a new tender for the design and development of Central Barangaroo has revealed a more than two-fold jump in the maximum amount of developable floor space from earlier proposals. The increase has been criticized by former prime minister Paul Keating as “squeezing the lemon too hard.”- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
Is the only way up for London's skyline? ...how do we judge what’s blight and what’s beautiful? ...Well Designed And In The Right Place...Three new proposals stand out...They are high...31 London Street...one of the better tower designs, architecturally speaking...file [it] under (mostly) Good Design But In The Wrong Place...22 Bishopsgate...a good job of sculpting and faceting the building’s shape...remains fearsomely, enormously big...a beast, a brute, a lump that will loom and oppress...At last, then, a WDAITRP. 1 Undershaft...If every projected tall building showed Parry’s intelligence, the city would be in a much better state now. By Rowan Moore -- Renzo Piano; Karen Cook/PLP; Eric Parry [images]- Observer (UK) |
1 Undershaft, the tallest skyscraper in the City of London: Eric Parry unveils plans...but the orgy of billion-pound towers doesn’t stop there: With its simple form, exposed structure and whiff of industrial engineering, [it] has the air of a no-nonsense skyscraper more commonly found in Chicago or New York, only dressed up in a slightly prissy costume...tower might be wrought with sensitivity to its context...more concerned with fixing the human experience at street level... By Oliver Wainwright [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Crit> Creating Community: Lorcan O'Herlihy Architects designs housing in a precarious context: After a half century of abuse, the North Westwood Village has finally acquired an architectural gem...Studio 11024 is a deceptively complex building...shows how architecture adds value for the owner, tenants, and neighbors...and encourage other developers to aim higher, hiring talented architects rather than docile hacks. By Michael Webb [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Christian de Portzamparc: Prism Tower/400 Park Avenue South: ...breaking free of the dense pack of right-angled, brick-faced buildings...disrupts the urban pack with an exceptional, and exceptionally beautiful, surprise: a tall, sheer rock crystal of glass. The entire shaft of the elegant new landmark is iconic, not just the crown...Yosemite’s West Face transposed to Manhattan. By Joseph Giovannini -- Handel Architects; Stephen Alton Architect [images]- Architect Magazine |
An Englishman in New York: David Chipperfield unveils plans for The Bryant: For an architect so closely associated with Englishness, [he] is about to make some very significant contributions to the New York landscape...chosen to redesign the Metropolitan Museum’s wing for Modern and Contemporary Art, and...a new 37-story tower in midtown Manhattan, the London architect is making quite a mark on New York. By John Gendall [images]- Wallpaper* |
'Rock Box' public art project aims to link the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum - and rock music - to downtown: ...a seven-piece, rock-themed sculpture and sound installation along the downtown business spine...speaker cubes will be made of black steel, but the central speaker portions...will be rendered in aluminum painted in bright, shiny colors, including "lime greens and pinks, Jimi Hendrix purple"... By Steven Litt -- Mark Reigelman II; LAND Studio [images]- Cleveland Plain Dealer |
Doctored photo raises questions about ethics in architecture contests: ...what if an edited photograph of a building doesn't just crop out visual clutter like street lights but alters the contours of the building itself? What should we think about an architectural award that was bestowed on the basis of such a doctored image? By Blair Kamin- Chicago Tribune |
Architect Tadao Ando, Artist Elyn Zimmerman Win 2016 Isamu Noguchi Award: The prize is for individuals who share the values of Noguchi, founder of the Noguchi Museum in New York. These values include a “spirit of innovation, global consciousness, and East-West exchange."- Artinfo |
Inside Chicago’s Amazing First Architecture Biennial: ...seems both more preoccupied with local issues and more socially conscious than Venice...While not starchitect-free, only a few big names are on the bill...Lesser-known architects contributed some of the coolest exhibits... By Stephen Heyman -- Jeanne Gang; Tatiana Bilbao; BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group; Sou Fujimoto; Tomás Saraceno; David Adjaye; Theaster Gates; FitzGerald Associates [images]- Vogue |
Enough Buildings: : “City-ness” is at the heart of the Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism\Architecture...in Shenzhen, China. Titled "Re-Living the City" and curated by Aaron Betsky, Alfredo Brillembourg, Hubert Klumpner, and Doreen Heng Liu...there’s a shared emphasis on bottom-up urbanism, hands-on techniques, and citizen agency. By Mimi Zeiger [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
New paradigms for urbanisation: Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture Shenzhen: ETH Zurich students are working on new projects...at a temporary school...called the Aformal Academy...Students from ETH, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard University and TU Delft will study alongside colleagues from China to develop their own projects. "There is still no university in Shenzhen to train architects and urban planners," says Hubert Klumpner. "We hope our temporary school will provide an impetus for this."- ETH Zurich |
Call for entries: Baltic Way Memorial, Riga, Latvia: to present a clear message that reminds people of how powerful nonviolent resistance can be; cash prizes; registration deadline: December 9 (submissions due December 30)- Bee Breeders (formerly HMMD/Homemade Dessert) |
Call for entries: Call for Presentations: 2016 Healthcare Design Expo & Conference, Houston, TX, November 12-15, 2016; deadline: January 29, 2016- Center for Health Design |
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