Today’s News - Tuesday, February 23, 2016
• ArcSpace brings us eyefuls of Aravena's Quinta Monroy "half-a-house" project in Chile.
• Keegan cheers Chicago finally naming Bertrand Goldberg's Marina City an official landmark; sayeth Goldberg's son (also an architect): "It says something about Chicago that it has been landmarked, but it also says something that it took so long."
• China issues its official guidelines that will forbid "bizarre" and "odd-shaped" buildings - new buildings are to be "economic, green and beautiful" (and lotsa prefab).
• Is Dubai's plan to build Earth's first climate-controlled city (a.k.a. the 48 million-square-foot "Mall of the World") a dream of a project, or a "dystopia waiting to happen"? "Only time will tell if Dubai's dome is doomed."
• King cheers the return to Arquitectonica's original design for Trinity Place in San Francisco: "the undone bait-and-switch shows the value of a planning system often faulted for being too fussy," but with "ominous" hints (he'll withhold final judgment until he sees "if reality matches the renderings").
• Bozikovic practically bubbles over BIG's "pixellated" ziggurat for Toronto: "if it is built in anything like its proposed form, it will be a landmark that enriches the city's public realm."
• Stanley reports on a report about Australian infrastructure: it "criticizes the state's failure to adequately integrate the planning of land use development and transport priorities, but does not consider the central governance question: 'who speaks for our cities?'"
• Brady brings us a great round-up of urban infrastructure projects re-appropriated for public use "on a scale never before seen."
• Van Alen Sessions launches with three short-documentaries highlighting current debates about urban infrastructure.
• Shirk ponders the fate of "a family of Victorian ghosts" that make up Brooklyn's Admiral's Row, soon to be demolished to make way for a grocery store, but "this is not a story of simply tearing down paradise to put up a parking lot."
• Betsky "pays tribute to a young architect and bemoans the state of a profession still lacking in LGBTQ diversity."
• Culvahouse and Hamilton each share personal memories in their odes to the Monterey Bay Aquarium and it receiving the AIA 2016 Twenty-Five Year Award.
• What the instigators of Storefront's Taking Buildings Down competition hope to accomplish: it "could enable architects to develop a new set of skills to shape the city environment."
• One we couldn't resist: Lange can't get enough of new archemojis: won't it be nice to express "our own mini-scandals (Frank Gehry's middle finger), our own in-jokes (that f*ing Noguchi coffee table)."
• Call for entries: What Design Can Do Refugee Challenge + The Brickworks Living Building Challenge to design the world's most sustainable retail center.
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ELEMENTAL/Alejandro Aravena: Quinta Monroy, Iquique, Chile: ...a social housing project...The site had been illegally occupied by 97 families since the 1960's, who they rehoused on the same site...'half-a-house'... [images] |
Chicago Names Marina City an Official Landmark: Bertrand Goldberg’s Chicago complex is finally getting designation...A number of factors had stood in the way...“We are delighted that Marina City is now protected,” Geoff Goldberg says. “It says something about Chicago that it has been landmarked, but it also says something that it took so long.” By Edward Keegan- Architect Magazine |
Future Chinese skylines could look more uniform: ...new guidelines on urban planning will forbid the construction of "bizarre" and "odd-shaped" buildings that are devoid of character or cultural heritage...directive calls for buildings that are "economic, green and beautiful"...guideline adds that...within a decade, 30% of new buildings would be prefabricated [and] an end to gated communities. [images]- CNN |
Dystopia or dream? Dubai wants to build a domed “Mall of the World” as Earth’s first climate-controlled city: ...if built, will be a staggering nine times larger than The Mall of America...more than 100 engineers and architects are working on plans...its vehement critics, with some labeling [it] as a “dystopia waiting to happen.” Only time will tell if Dubai’s dome is doomed. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
S.F. planners back bold original vision for Mid-Market project [Trinity Place]: After a prolonged effort to water down the dense but dynamic design, the developers have turned back the clock and embraced their original scheme...the undone bait-and-switch shows the value of a planning system often faulted for being too fussy. More ominously, it hints at the dangers facing...cities where long-term urban design values are minimized by politicians in search of bargaining chips. By John King -- Arquitectonica [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
A ziggurat for King West: Toppling Torontonians’ expectations of towers...BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group has imagined a community of ‘pixellated’ modules: ...if it is built in anything like its proposed form, it will be a landmark that enriches the city’s public realm...As urban design, this is deeply unusual. It fuses the utopian form-making of 1960s modernists, like Moshe Safdie’s Habitat, with the traditional concern for a streetscape filled with varied activity. By Alex Bozikovic -- PUBLIC WORK; Ken Greenberg [images]- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Australian Infrastructure Plan has some way to go to give our cities what they need: The report criticises the state’s failure to adequately integrate the planning of land use development and transport priorities, but falls into the same trap itself...has substantial weaknesses...does not consider the central governance question: “who speaks for our cities?” By John Stanley/University of Sydney- The Conversation (Australia) |
Contested Landscapes: 9 Public Re-Appropriations of Urban Infrastructure: Areas once shunned as unfit for utilization or enjoyment by anyone or anything other than the type of traffic or industry originally intended for it are being ‘found’ and repurposed on a scale never before seen...owes a lot to the theoretical emergence of landscape urbanism... By Ross Brady -- SANALarc; Marpillero Pollak Architects; ENOTA; Atelier Bow-Wow; OpenScope Studio; studiostudio architettiurbanisti; Snøhetta; StossLU; Weiss/Manfredi [images]- Architizer |
Van Alen Sessions: a short-documentary series highlighting current debates about urban infrastructure: Season One: Tunnel Vision - Inside Seattle's Much-Needed Transit Expansion; Inside the Effort to Build Hyperloop; New York City Needs to Fix Its Trains [videos]- Van Alen Institute / The Atlantic / CityLab |
Where Entire Rooms Have Gone Missing: On the legacy and future of Brooklyn’s Admiral’s Row: ...a family of Victorian ghosts. Once upon a time, they were the homes of top United States naval brass...each building a lavish specimen of the Second Empire...Now, they are months away from demolition to make way for...a Wegman’s grocery store and parking lot...this is not a story of simply tearing down paradise to put up a parking lot. By Adrian Shirk- Catapult |
Remembering Giovanni: Aaron Betsky pays tribute to a young architect and bemoans the state of a profession still lacking in LGBTQ diversity: Being gay in architecture is still very difficult...Giovanni's death should remind all of us how much harder we need to work to make all who love architecture feel at home, safe, appreciated, and free to pursue their dreams in our harsh discipline.- Architect Magazine |
By the Bay: A personal history of the AIA’s Twenty-Five Year Award recipient for 2016: Monterey Bay Aquarium...“the ideal kind of building is the one you don’t see.” Joseph Esherick wasn’t talking about modesty, but about purpose and performance. By Tim Culvahouse -- EHDD- Architect Magazine |
Monterey Bay Aquarium Delivers More Than Iconic Design: In May, the AIA...will honor [it] with the 2016 Twenty-Five Year Award...For me, the award is personal beyond my family connection. As an architectural designer, preservationist and urban revitalization advocate, no other building has influenced me more...its central role in the city and region’s economic revitalization cannot be understated. By Nicholas Hamilton -- EHDD- Next City (formerly Next American City) |
World-class wrecking crew: the architects who destroy to create: There are plenty of prizes for building, but two architects have inaugurated a competition for the most creative way of demolishing a building...Taking Buildings Down’s winning entry will be put into practice...could enable architects to develop a new set skills to shape the city environment... -- David Bench; Jonathan Chesley; INC_A; Storefront for Art and Architecture- Guardian (UK) |
Speaking in Archemoji: Architecture and design motifs, in tiny pictures: With archemoji we can group these icons - a Duck here, a Decorated Shed there - for lifelong learning...Our own mini-scandals (Frank Gehry’s middle finger), our own prizes (LEED certification, the Pritzker), our own in-jokes (that f*ing Noguchi coffee table). Won’t it be nice to just say Heart + Villa Savoie? By Alexandra Lange and Michelle Goldchain- Curbed |
Call for entries: What Design Can Do Refugee Challenge: a global design challenge that focuses on the reception and integration of refugees in urban areas; cash prizes; deadline: May 1- What Design Can Do / UNHCR / IKEA Foundation |
Call for entries: The Brickworks Living Building Challenge (international): What does the world’s most sustainable retail centre look like? Site: a former brickworks in Melbourne; cash prizes; registration deadline: April 29 (submission deadline: May 6)- Living Future Institute of Australia / Frasers Property Australia |
INSIGHT: The Case for Permanent Infrastructure: Water mains burst, gas mains explode, drinking water is poisoned by lead, bridges collapse, roads break down, vehicles collide, and trains derail. Are these the systems we want? What would be required, and when will we respond to this compelling need for change? By Peter Gisolfi- ArchNewsNow.com |
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