Today’s News - Tuesday, April 18, 2017
• ArcSpace brings us Gehl's Risom re: the term "livability," and why "more disciplines need to be involved in the conversation and citizen perspectives included - the most important question is: livable for whom?"
• Jacobs parses the "enduring legacy" of the Rebuild by Design competition, and what the Trump administration could learn from its "enlightened political thinking" and "unconventional approach."
• Kamin parses the first batch of designs for Trump's border wall ("perfumed pigs" included): "the best and brightest architects appear to be staying away - designing the wall would make them complicit in a project many regard as reprehensible."
• Cramer poses the question: "'What won't you build?' Maybe we should ask ourselves that question more often, as individuals, as firms, and as a profession."
• Finch cheers RIBA's soon-to-be-released book on social housing, which proves that local authorities are "part of a movement - re-asserting their responsibilities to house their populations in a civilized manner."
• Campbell-Dollaghan, on a darker note, parses a new report on migrant workers: the profession "can't keep turning a blind eye to the mistreatment of the people who build their work."
• Hall Kaplan minces no words about what he thinks of the newest variation on LACMA's "immodest plans": he describes Govan and Zumthor's latest "dog and pony show" as "putting a mustache on a pig" (what - no perfume?).
• Residents of RSH+P's Neo Bankside take the H&deM-designed Tate Modern to court to force the museum to close the part of its viewing platform that gives the public a peek into their flats.
• The Garden Bridge Trust's Davies continues slamming the Hodge report: beyond its inaccuracies - "the manner in which it was published was 'discourteous'"; Hodge didn't expect the Trust "to support the conclusions I came to."
• Moore x 2: the Garden Bridge project "is nothing if not a landmark of the post-truth era" - Boris Johnson should "be held accountable more vigorously than Hodge was able to do."
• He ponders "how down-at-heel Lisbon became the new capital of cool" as "an enclave" for "techpreneurs" to "get in touch with their inner lotus-eater," but are the less fortunate being pushed out?
• Wood wonders what it means "for architectural originality and innovation, when a 'copy-paste' strategy is normalized."
• Rybczynski ruminates about how some stellar architects' legacies would have been altered if some if some of their "most notable unbuilt projects had actually been constructed" (Hadid is the only one who wins).
• Saffron minces no words about what she thinks of the new Museum of the American Revolution: "how is it that Philadelphia had to end up with this retro-monster?" (ouch! well, at least its historian-curators got things right).
• Betsky, on a brighter note, cheers the Katyn Museum in Warsaw that "shows just how much architecture you can make out of found space" (and hopes it wins the Mies van der Rohe Award).
• Cheers for how Seattle is dealing with what the city should do with its aging KeyArena: it's "architects who have answered the question," and prove that "cities can preserve sports assets, even supposed lost causes."
• Buxton wanders - and wonders at - some new public spaces in London: "It's good to see tiny slithers of public space receiving the same attention as grand squares."
• Sander parses new research that shows "hot-desking and activity-based work isn't so positive. These negatives potentially outweigh the benefits."
• A good reason to be in Rotterdam later this week: the Games for Cities International Conference re: how games "have the potential to facilitate more effective and inclusive city-making."
• ANN is nominated for JDR Industry Blogger Award in Architecture, and voting closes on April 24 (yes, we're tooting our own horn - vote now, please!).
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Jeff Risom/Gehl: Livabilitization - Numbing the Urban Experience: The term livability...what we associate with the welfare of a city...current definitions create a clear hierarchy where architecture and design is at the top...more disciplines need to be involved in the conversation and broader citizen perspectives need to be included...the most important question here is: livable for whom? [images] |
Karrie Jacobs: Rebuild by Design’s Enduring Legacy: How enlightened political thinking inspired this post-Sandy design competition - and the lessons the new administration could learn from the unconventional approach. -- MIT Center for Advanced Urbanism; ZUS; De Urbanisten; Shaun Donovan; Henk Ovink; Scape; AECOM [images]- Architect Magazine |
Blair Kamin: Even serious designs for Trump's border wall are hard to take seriously: The first batch of designs...range from the bizarre...to the patently ridiculous...Notably, the best and brightest architects appear to be staying away, heeding the argument...that designing the wall would make them complicit in a project many regard as reprehensible. [images]- Chicago Tribune |
Ned Cramer: What Won't You Build? Architecture is innately political. And before accepting a commission, an ethically minded architect always weighs its ramifications: ...who doesn’t ask themselves, now and again, “Where should I draw the line?” Maybe we should ask ourselves that question more often, as individuals, as firms, and as a profession.- Architect Magazine |
Paul Finch: Let’s hear it for the return of council housing: RIBA Publications will launch a book on social housing which is proof positive that...local authorities are re-asserting their responsibilities to house their populations in a civilised manner...part of a movement, minded to determine its own future, rather than...endlessly bemoaning an inability to produce the housing it knows is necessary.- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Kelsey Campbell-Dollaghan: How Migrant Workers Literally Pay To Build Architecture: Designers, architects, consultants, and engineers can’t keep turning a blind eye to the mistreatment of the people who build their work...While architects may not be able to control every subcontractor, they do have the power to be informed and vocal about the systemic abuse of the people who build their designs. -- "Making Workers Pay" by David Segall & Sarah Labowitz- Fast Company / Co.Design |
Sam Hall Kaplan: Hype and Hustle Continue to Threaten LACMA: Michael Govan and Peter Zumthor staged another dog and pony show...another variation on their immodest plans...I would describe the effort ...putting a mustache on a pig...It is about power and egos...and wannabe celebrity architects, and not about architecture’s noble purpose of creating spaces and places for human endeavor.- City Observed |
Neo Bankside residents head to court over Tate Modern extension ‘nuisance’: ...launched a legal bid to force the Tate Modern to shut part of a viewing platform on the new Herzog & de Meuron extension...preventing members of the public from peering into their flats. -- Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Mervyn Davies: Why Hodge’s Garden Bridge report is inaccurate: chair of the Garden Bridge Trust, has slammed the findings...reliant on the "selective use of evidence"; and that the manner in which it was published was "discourteous"...Hodge said she "did not expect the [Trust] to support the conclusions I came to." -- Heatherwick Studio- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Rowan Moore: Garden Bridge project is a landmark of the post-truth era: London mayor, Sadiq Khan, should walk away: ...[bridge] is nothing if not a landmark of the post-truth era...It was Boris Johnson’s project and it shows the vanity, entitlement, duplicity and disregard for detail...He must be held accountable more vigorously than Hodge was able to do. -- Thomas Heatherwick; Arup- Observer (UK) |
Rowan Moore: How down-at-heel Lisbon became the new capital of cool: Four years ago, Portugal’s capital felt like a ‘city on its knees’. Now it is being touted as hip, cheap and innovative...Now it resembles a speeded-up east London, moving rapidly through the gears of dereliction, artistic renewal, entrepreneurial action, rising prices and gentrification. -- Selgas Cano; Ana Jara/Lucinda Correia/Arteria; Amanda Levete/AL_A; Aires Mateus- Observer (UK) |
Hannah Wood: Never Meant to Copy, Only to Surpass: Plagiarism Versus Innovation in Architectural Imitation: What does it mean for architectural originality and innovation, when a ‘copy-paste’ strategy is normalized? -- Zaha Hadid; Rem Koolhaas; BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group; Daniel Libeskind; Dilya/Kazgor Design Academy; Moisei Ginzburg; Le Corbusier [images]- Archinect |
Witold Rybczynski: What If: The Unbuilt Legacy: How would the architects' legacies have been altered if some of history's most notable unbuilt projects had actually been constructed? ...the Peak would have established Hadid...a full decade before her first built commission - not inconsequential in what would turn out be a truncated career. -- Robert Venturi; Denise Scott Brown; Peter Eisenman, FAIA’s House X or Zaha Hadid; Eliel Saarinen; Eero Saarinen; Mies van der Rohe; Frank Lloyd Wright; Le Corbusier; Louis Kahn; Archigram [images]- Architect Magazine |
Inga Saffron: Museum of the American Revolution's building at odds with revolutionary content: The story [it] tells is a refreshingly inclusive one...But at some point...the goals of its historian-curators and its architects diverged in a big way...amounts to a major communications misfire...feels like a sprawling banquet hall that happens to operate a small museum. -- Robert A.M. Stern [images]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Aaron Betsky: Found Space and Memory: A museum in Warsaw remakes a 19th century fort into a memorial to a World War II massacre: The Katyn Museum...shows just how much architecture you can make out of found space...I certainly hope the Mies van der Rohe Award jury recognizes its power when it announces the prize winner in May. -- BBGK Architekci [images]- Architect Magazine |
Give architects a mission and some money, and KeyArena looks pretty good all of a sudden: ...it’s the architects who have answered the question...No, the sports world doesn’t always need to throw away and start over. Cities can preserve sports assets, even supposed lost causes... -- Ryan Sickman/AECOM; Chris Carver/Populous; Gensler; Rossetti- Seattle Times |
Pamela Buxton: Public Spaces: a look at some new public spaces that are introducing a fresh aspect to the cityscape: It’s good to see tiny slithers of public space receiving the same attention as grand squares. -- New Ludgate/Gustafson Porter; London Bridge Station/Grimshaw/Arcadis/WSP | Parsons Brinckerhoff; Greenwich Market/Barr Gazetas [images]- FX Magazine / DesignCurial |
Libby Sander: The research on hot-desking and activity-based work isn’t so positive: ...plenty of research shows negative effects of shared-desk workplaces. These negatives potentially outweigh the benefits...found to result in higher levels of distrust, fewer co-worker friendships...- The Conversation (Australia) |
Games for Cities International Conference, Rotterdam, April 20-21: ...a platform for knowledge exchange on games that have the potential to facilitate more effective and inclusive city-making.- Play the City (NL) |
ArchNewsNow nominated for JDR Industry Blogger Award in Architecture: Vote Today! Voting Closes on April 24.- Jackson Design and Remodeling |
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