Today’s News - Wednesday, May 25, 2016
• Heathcote has a heavenly time at the Tate's Switch Building that seems to have "sucked the power of the past up from below ground to create...an intriguing cocktail of rough and comfortable, tough and inviting."
• Baillieu bemoans that she probably "won't feel the same shiver of excitement" as she did when the Tate Modern opened in 2000 - it now seems "like the end of an era and a last blast for the expensive icon."
• Wynn explains why cities should stop building "concrete culture" like museums and stadiums that usually end up as "bad deals and bad policy," and focus on festivals instead ("and maybe a building will follow").
• Jacobs delves into the machinations, bargains, and trade-offs that went into transforming Saarinen's landmarked Bell Labs into a New Urbanist hub (sort of).
• The Watergate Hotel "embraces its scandalous past" with a renovation that makes it "Don Draper's kind of place" (uniforms by "Mad Men" costume designer included - we'll take the rooftop bar!).
• Great Q&A with Sadik-Khan re: insights from "Street Fight": "Work with the streets and the budgets you've got. When you change that street, you change that city. When you change that city, you change the world."
• Cheers all around and pedestrians abound on Sydney's elevated The Goods Line, where the "level of occupation is noteworthy - in stark contrast to nearby Barangaroo's headland park."
• Meanwhile in Melbourne, the government is seeking design ideas for an "urban oasis" as part of the Chandler Highway upgrade (link to the EOI).
• RIBA joins the Global Alliance for Urban Crises "to offer the international humanitarian and development community with a more effective mechanism to harness its members' collective expertise."
• King reports that San Francisco's agency for bay development is taking sea-level rise seriously by taking "assertive new steps."
• Hosey has a field day imagining "Trumptown" - a "yuuuge domed complex created, not for the 'undesirables,' but the people trying to flee from them."
• George Smart's smart move to align North Carolina Modernist Houses with Hanley Wood to launch the Colossus Architecture Magazine Archive - the "largest digital resource of architectural magazines" - many out of print (we got a sneak-peek - wow - worth it just for the vintage ads!).
• Schumacher reflects on "three wholly original and empowering 'discoveries' that Zaha gifted to our discipline."
• The Venice Biennale is upon us: PLANE-SITE's "Time Space Existence" collateral exhibition includes Denise Scott Brown's "crucial advice for all budding architects": "I've done a great deal of fighting...Seek ye the political kingdom and all shall be given to ye."
• "LifeObject" at the Israel Pavilion is a fascinating "study of the relationship between biology and architecture," such as "employing cancer treatment techniques to deal with urban densification."
• Zaera-Polo is suing Princeton for causing "substantial damage" to his business and reputation (2014 Biennale involved).
• Eyefuls of Canada's Governor General's Medals in Architecture (great presentations!).
• Harvard GSD awards this year's $100,000 Wheelwright Prize to Anna Puigjaner for "Kitchenless City: Architectural Systems for Social Welfare."
• Call for entries: AIA launches second Look Up Film Challenge.
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Tate Modern’s Switch House - ‘a genuinely civic space’: ...has sucked the power of the past up from below ground to create one of the world’s most memorable and monumental museums of modern art...an intriguing cocktail of rough and comfortable, tough and inviting...interior somehow embodies an urban complexity...it feels anything but elitist: this is an open building in which the luxury is that it is ours. By Edwin Heathcote -- Herzog & de Meuron [images]- Financial Times (UK) |
It's your museum and you can sleep in it if you want to: As Tate Modern prepares to open its £215m extension and the V&A plots its eastern outpost, Amanda Baillieu questions whether museums can still dazzle us: For me, the museum experience shifted into a different gear with the opening of Tate Modern in May 2000...It was pretty bloody fantastic. Sixteen years later...I know I won’t feel the same shiver of excitement...it feels like the end of an era and a last blast for the expensive icon...- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Why cities should stop building museums and focus on festivals: It’s easy to understand why cities will leap at the opportunity to invest in new structures: “Starchitect”-designed buildings...are bad deals and bad policy...Given the economic costs and risks, why do museums, stadiums and other “concrete culture” receive such a privileged place in urban development? By Jonathan Wynn/University of Massachusetts Amherst- The Conversation |
The Bargain That Revived Bell Labs: Eero Saarinen's landmark facility in New Jersey is being redeveloped as a New Urbanist hub, but with one significant twist: ...renamed Bell Works...urbanity...is embedded in Saarinen’s architecture...if this extraordinary example of [his] boldness...can be preserved and rejuvenated, maybe it doesn’t also have to solve the problem of sprawl. By Karrie Jacobs -- Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo; Sasaki Walker Associates (now SWA); Alexander Gorlin Architects; Jeff Speck [images]- Architect Magazine |
The Watergate Hotel’s Renovation Isn’t Afraid to Embrace Its Scandalous Past: The hotel long associated with political disgrace - and that we’re still naming scandals after - leans into its reputation...in its new iteration, [its] glamour and sex appeal will be fully monetized in the concept-hotel model...sounds like Don Draper’s kind of place. By Stephanie Green -- Luigi Moretti (1967); Ron Arad [images]- Vanity Fair |
Janette Sadik-Khan’s “Street Fight” Applicability to LA’s Urban Transformative Agenda: Q&A re: insights about trying innovative “complete street” pilot projects, incorporating stakeholder feedback, and carefully measuring the right data..."Work with the streets you’ve got and the budgets you’ve got. When you change that street, you change that city. When you change that city, you change the world."- The Planning Report |
Walks of life: The Goods Line: Aspect Studios and CHROFI create an elevated, pedestrian-scale linear park in Sydney that maintains a constant level of public life, demonstrating a creative response to the myriad yet often overlooked leftover spaces of the city...level of occupation is noteworthy...in stark contrast to nearby Barangaroo and its headland park. [images]- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
High Line ambitions for Victoria’s Chandler Highway bridge [Melbourne]: ...government is seeking design ideas...for two new public spaces as part of the Chandler Highway upgrade...calls for ideas for an “urban oasis”...Expression of Interest (EOI) deadline: June 15- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
RIBA joins global initiative to boost urban disaster management: Alliance brings together urban professionals and humanitarian agencies: ...Global Alliance for Urban Crises...to offer the international humanitarian and development community with a more effective mechanism to harness its members’ collective expertise.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
State agency for bay development prepares for sea-level rise: Bay Conservation and Development Commission has voted to take assertive new steps...calls for a regional plan on how best to respond to climate change... By John King- San Francisco Chronicle |
A Design Proposal that Out-Trumps Trump: Forget the “big, beautiful wall. ” How about a yuuuge domed complex created, not for the “undesireables,” but the people trying to flee from them? Call it “Xenophobopolis.” Or simply “Trumptown"...To separate them sufficiently, a walled compound won’t do. They’ll still need a roof to keep interlopers from above. The most efficient way to do it. A really, really big dome. By Lance Hosey- Common Edge |
Hanley Wood and North Carolina Modernist Houses Announce Digital Archive Project: The collaboration will establish the largest digital resource of architectural magazines and provide access to titles that are no longer in print...NCMH’s Colossus Architecture Magazine Archive...will be available July 1. -- George Smart- Architect Magazine |
Patrick Schumacher: Zaha’s incredible moves: [He] reflects on the startling curves and audacious moves that made Zaha Hadid’s work so compelling and daringly new to the profession: ...Zaha had expanded architecture's universe of possibilities...unprecedented solutions...I would like to focus on three wholly original and empowering 'discoveries' that Zaha gifted to our discipline.- DesignCurial / Blueprint Magazine (UK) |
"Time Space Existence": Denise Scott Brown’s Crucial Advice for All Budding Architects and Urban Planners: “I’ve done a great deal of fighting...to make buildings useful and beautiful, and in that order"...[she] gives some advice to young women architects. “Seek ye the political kingdom and all shall be given to ye"... [video - part of PLANE-SITE’s Biennale collateral exhibition]- Architizer |
LifeObject: Israel Pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale to Study the Relationship Between Biology and Architecture: ...will focus on the relationship between biology and architecture...with examples ranging from using nano-materials to naturally control transparency...to employing cancer treatment techniques to deal with urban densification. -- Bnaya Bauer, Arielle Blonder, Noy Lazarovich [images]- ArchDaily |
Alejandro Zaera-Polo sues Princeton for 'damaging his reputation': Architect files papers claiming he has missed out on ‘lucrative and prestigious’ work..causing “substantial damage” to his business and reputation.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
In the Public Interest: Governor General’s Medals in Architecture: 12 winners are entirely institutional, government and commercial projects. -- Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC); Canada Council for the Arts; Paul Laurendeau Architect/Beauchesne Architecture Design; Hemsworth Architecture; Stantec Architecture/KPMB Architects/HDR Architecture/Diamond Schmitt Architects; Sturgess Architecture; Fowler Bauld & Mitchell; PLANT Architect/Perkins+Will Canada (formerly Shore Tilbe Irwin & Partners); MacLennan Jaunkalns Miller Architects; MGA | Michael Green Architecture; ABCP architecture/Anne Carrier architecture; Patkau Architects/LM Architectural Group; Shim-Sutcliffe Architects [images]- Canadian Architect magazine |
Harvard University Graduate School of Design (GSD) names this year’s Wheelwright Prize winner: Anna Puigjaner’s winning submission...Kitchenless City: Architectural Systems for Social Welfare, explores collective dwelling and new ways of living to combat the affordable housing issues around the world. -- MAIO Studio- The Architect's Newspaper |
Call for entries: AIA Kicks Off Second Look Up Film Challenge: ...calls for short pieces about the impact of architecture; cash prizes; registration deadline: July 10 (submissions due August 14)- Architect Magazine |
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Herzog & de Meuron: Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford, U.K.: ...creates an unapologetically contemporary addition to the streetscape, holding its own against the neoclassical stone portico of Oxford University Press...Yet one traditional marker of scholarly life is missing: a library...The building's materiality is surprisingly traditional in appearance, though stunningly detailed. By Alice Haugh [images] |
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