Today’s News - Tuesday, September 20, 2016
• It's a D.C. kind of day: Ike's family finally gives its blessing to Gehry's Eisenhower Memorial design, and hopes are high it will open on D-Day, 2019 ("opponents expressed disappointment").
• Everyone is weighing in on D.C.'s African American museum (all worth reading!): Kennicott says it "tells powerful stories - but not as powerfully as it could."
• Saffron says the "stunningly radiant building is unlike anything else" - it "fuses black history with American history with masterful nuance."
• Wainwright says that "the gleeful, gleaming upturned pagoda" is a "welcome rebuke to dead white men" ("despite some clunks").
• Moore marvels that, while "it is not flawless," the museum "does an outstanding job of giving due weight to horrors and heroism. It takes some nerve to do a building like this, on this spot, and the design is confident enough to pull it off."
• O'Connell cheers "the fruits of a groundbreaking and visionary partnership" resulting in a "striking design that emphasizes the expressiveness of its architects, each with an eclectic portfolio."
• Green calls attention to the surroundings of the "breathtaking new presence" on the National Mall: it is "well-served by a thoughtful and somewhat understated landscape" (we can't wait to see the 400,000 crocuses blooming next spring!).
• Q&A with architectural photographer Jason Flakes re: "what if felt like to accomplish his mission" to photograph the interiors of the African American Museum (stunning!).
• Kroloff, meanwhile, looks at the bigger picture of cultural projects slated to open around the world between now and next fall, "many by the biggest names in the architectural business."
• Giovannini parses Heatherwick's "Escher-like creation" for Hudson Yards: "Beguiling, true," but "will it be a novelty that wears thin or eventually endures? Let the controversies begin."
• Betsky offers a juror's perspective on DS+R's winning design in the Hainan Ecoisland Competition: "Built or un-built, it will serve as model for how we could be building new communities, one that I hope will resonate far beyond the forlorn spit of land now sitting off the shore of Hainan."
• Kongrut delves deep into the controversies swirling around Bangkok's riverside promenade project that go well beyond "allegations of shameful plagiarism" of a Foster design that could turn the planned paradise into a Paradise Lost: huge concrete walls don't require an environmental impact assessment, say some, "because the project is categorized as a bicycle lane. Paradise Lost indeed."
• In Australia, Hadid's twin-tower project on the Gold Coast could be delayed for up to a year: "it has to go through design development, construction, it has to be built, and the end product is not assured" (is it really comparable to the Eiffel Tower or Sydney Opera House?).
• ASLA launches "Resilient Design," a new guide that includes hundreds of case studies and resources.
• Baillieu bemoans the reasons why the London Festival of Architecture isn't as successful as the London Design Festival: "if the people running it don't like each other and have different agendas, it's doomed."
• A look at the evolution of room2learn as a "Pinterest" for teachers and designers + Design lessons from the world's smartest education centers (dozens of 'em!).
• Eyefuls of the 2016 CODAaward winners that "celebrate the most successful integration of commissioned art into an interior, architectural, or public space" (great presentations!).
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Eisenhower Family Reverses Opposition to Eisenhower Memorial Design: Design by Frank Gehry will be modified again: “While some of us may have had other preferences in the past, all of us support your proposal"...The proposed changes are notable in that they do not seem to address the criticisms leveled...in 2012...Opponents...expressed disappointment... -- Justin Shubow/National Civic Art Society- Washington Free Beacon |
The African American Museum tells powerful stories - but not as powerfully as it could: ...the Smithsonian is opening a museum unlike any of its others. But visitors to the new National Museum of African American History and Culture will have to learn how to use it. ..the history it tells often feels disconnected and episodic...a 21st-century mash-up of two 19th-century ideas: the encyclopedic history museum and the memorial. By Philip Kennicott -- Ralph Appelbaum Associates [images]- Washington Post |
With new D.C. museum, the African American story moves to nation's main stage: Designed by...David Adjaye and...Philip Freelon - two of a tiny contingent of black architects working in the U.S. - the stunningly radiant building is unlike anything else...a refreshing break from tradition...fuses black history with American history, something it does with masterful nuance...This is a righteous museum, but not an angry one. By Inga Saffron -- Ralph Appelbaum Associates [images]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
A welcome rebuke to dead white men: The Smithsonian's African American museum finally arrives: A century in the making, and now completed...the gleeful, gleaming upturned pagoda more than holds its own against the sombre Goliaths of America’s monument heartland...embodies its complexities and contradictions, charged as it is with a brief and a site as impossibly fraught as the history it is telling. Despite some clunks, the result has a compelling, spiky otherness... By Oliver Wainwright -- David Adjaye; Philip Freelon/Philip Freelon; Max Bond/Davis Brody Bond; SmithGroupJJR [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Washington DC’s monument to black history: ...National Museum of African American History and Culture...While the building is striking, its collection is more remarkable: ...personal, eclectic, touching and surprising...does an outstanding job of giving due weight to horrors and heroism...It takes some nerve to do a building like this, on this spot, and the design is confident enough to pull it off...It is not flawless...But it achieves its main, difficult task, which is to be both American and African American, and to be of its location but also different from it. By Rowan Moore -- David Adjaye; Phil Freelon; Zena Howard. J Max Bond; Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGrouJJR- Observer (UK) |
The National Mall Finally Gets Its Crown: As the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History & Culture opens its doors, the fruits of a groundbreaking and visionary partnership come to light: ...striking design emphasizes the expressiveness of its architects, each with an eclectic portfolio. By Kim O'Connell -- Freelon Group [now Perkins+Will]; Adjaye Associates; Davis Brody Bond; SmithGroupJJR; Gustafson Guthrie Nichol; Ralph Appelbaum Associates- Architect Magazine |
New Museum Brings Hope of African Americans to the National Mall: The National Museum of African American History and Culture is a breathtaking new presence...The building itself makes a richly symbolic statement...well-served by a thoughtful and somewhat understated landscape...African American themes of “resilience, spirituality, and hope” symbolically represented in the landscape. By Jared Green -- Freelon Adjaye Bond/SmithGroupJJR; Gustafson Guthrie Nichol [images]- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Breaking Ground: Exclusive Photography From Inside the National Museum of African American History and Culture Offers a Hint of What Is to Come: Architecture photographer Jason Flakes brings his unique lens to the Smithsonian's brand new museum...Q&A with Flakes about what if felt like to accomplish his mission. -- David Adjaye; Philip Freelon; Nomoi Design [images]- Smithsonian magazine |
Millions of Square Feet, Billions of Dollars: An Arts Universe Expands: Between now and next fall...dozens of new cultural commissions will open around the world, many by the biggest names in the architectural business... By Reed Kroloff -- Steven Holl; David Adjaye, Herzog & de Meuron, Rem Koolhaas/OMA, Thomas Heatherwick/Heatherwick Studio; Fumihiko Maki, Mecanoo, and Robert A.M. Stern; John Pawson; Jean Nouvel; Mecanoo; Michael Maltzan; SO-IL; Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; Weiss/Manfredi; Carol Ross Barney; Sasaki Associates [images]- New York Times |
Thomas Heatherwick Unveils the Vessel: The cascading staircases of the architect's Escher-like creation are coming to Hudson Yards: ...a pineapple (sort of) for the Big Apple...Beguiling, true, but is the project the "plop art" that [he] himself wanted to avoid? Does its unquestionable bulk dominate and kill the surrounding urban space even as it opens up its own bowl of infinity inside? Will it be a novelty that wears thin or eventually endures? Let the controversies begin. By Joseph Giovannini -- Nelson Byrd Woltz [images]- Architect Magazine |
Diller Scofidio + Renfro and a Yin Yang Eco-Island: Aaron Betsky offers an insider's perspective on the Hainan Ecoisland Competition: ...architecture is not just about towers anymore...DS+R proposal made an immediate impact on all of us jury members...Built or un-built, [it] will serve as model for how we could be building new communities, one that I hope will resonate far beyond the forlorn spit of land now sitting off the shore of Hainan.- Architect Magazine |
Op-Ed: Bangkok and a problem of architecture: ...Wiman Phra-in, or Abode of Indra...intended as a landmark in the Chao Phraya riverside promenade project. The name suggests a feature...that offers nothing less than paradise...accusation of plagiarism has transformed a Phra-in paradise into a Paradise Lost...development requires more than just...construction of walkways and bicycle lanes...The BMA thinks an environmental impact assessment study is not necessary...because the project is categorised as a bicycle lane. Paradise Lost indeed. By Anchalee Kongrut -- Duangrit Bunnag; Norman Foster/Foster + Partners- Bangkok Post |
Approval of Zaha Hadid Architects’ twin towers on Gold Coast deferred by up to a year: ...raised concern over projects “where the architectural merit has been seen as being so spectacular that it can ride roughshod over all other deficiencies in planning compliance"...it has to go through design development, construction, it has to be built, and the end product is not assured. [images]- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
ASLA launches new guide: "Resilient Design": ...explains how communities can better protect themselves from natural disasters through resilient landscape planning and design...includes hundreds of case studies and resources...- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Why the London Festival of Architecture struggles to make the headlines: The LFA fails to tap into the huge public appetite for inspiring design - the London Design Festival shows us how it can and should be done: LFA...a worthy month-long “celebration” of architecture...bound together by a theme but without a curator to tighten the bolts...if the people running it don’t like each other and have different agendas, it’s doomed. By Amanda Baillieu- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Designing Classrooms For the 21st Century: By being a "Pinterest for teachers," room2learn provides ideas for improving classroom layout and functionality...a love of better classroom design brought Grace O’Shea and Jane Zhang together at the Harvard Graduate School of Education hackathon called HIVE HackED...Q&A..."Learning has changed; classrooms haven’t. We bridge designers and educators"... -- Alan Dunlop Architects- Smithsonian magazine |
Back to school: Design lessons from the world's smartest education centers: CNN spoke to John Dale, the chair of AIA's Education Committee and principal at Harley Eliis Devereaux to learn the most important lessons in good school design. [images]- CNN Style |
Winners of the 2016 CODAawards: ...celebrate design projects that demonstrate the most successful integration of commissioned art into an interior, architectural, or public space. -- Estudio Guto Requena; CO Architects; SERA Architects; Mikyoung Kim Design; Circa 1881; Wagner Murray Architects; Patrick Marold Studios; Anne Patterson; Landmarks; Onion; Laurie Lundquist [images]- CODA: Collaboration of Design + Art |
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