Today’s News - Thursday, November 2, 2017

EDITOR'S NOTE: Tomorrow and Monday will be no-newsletter days. We'll be back Tuesday, November 7. To our fellow Americans: don't forget to set clocks back an hour this weekend (ugh - lucky Arizona!).

●  ANN feature: Silva's "From the Treetops #2" looks at Sacramento's overlooked riverfront: "There is a laundry-list of possibilities for creating those oh-so important physical and the more elusive perceived connections to our urban waterfront."

●  Bliss considers how vehicle attacks don't have to be inevitable: "With vehicles increasingly being used as the weapons of choice for acts of terror, the debate over how to protect vulnerable bodies has turned to design measures cities should take."

●  Hawthorne minces no words about what he thinks of plans for Johnson/ Burgee's 1984 AT&T Building: "The Snøhetta plan would transform one of the archly ironic landmarks of postmodern architecture into something agreeably 'updated,' which is to say perfectly bland - the glass curtain wall will hang over the Madison Avenue sidewalk like a guillotine of good taste."

●  Hill considers the AT&T Building makeover as "disfiguring a PoMo icon," but points out that "Gwathmey was the first architect to disfigure the building" in 1993 (a protest is planned for tomorrow at 1pm "aimed at derailing Snøhetta's plans").

●  Wainwright x 2: he spends some quality time with Richard Florida: "the 'rockstar of regeneration' has seen his blueprint for urban creativity blamed for opening up the great can of gentrifying worms" ("It was the service class - the class I had forgotten - that was taking it on the chin," sayeth "the prophet of placemaking").

●  He considers the very busy Adjaye, "his reputation as a worldly charmer," and London's "emotionally fraught" Holocaust Memorial project. "Beyond his evident ability to be able to talk the project into happening, others point to his skill for handling this kind of charged memorial space."

●  Mock talks to Walter Hood about his vision for the landscape of Pei Cobb Freed's International African American Museum in Charleston, South Carolina, that "uses mnemonic devices to trigger memories, both warm and unpleasant": "I was tired of going to different African-American institutions and not being moved" (check out the videos!).

●  Small brings home "10 lessons from Chicago's new landscapes" that "can help Milwaukee improve its own public spaces."

●  Bernstein has a great Q&A with Garrett Jacobs of Open Architecture Collaborative, the successor to Architecture for Humanity, re: the group's origin and goals: "We're much smaller," but "I think our ambitions are way bigger" (there are now 22 chapters in 11 countries).

●  Cary offers 5 lessons for "how all architects can up their social impact" (an excerpt from his most excellent new book, "Design for Good: A New Era of Architecture for Everyone").

●  Wagner of Baylis Architects bemoans the disappearance of affordable housing in Seattle, and what the profession should do about it: "Let's start with our own expectations. When did we decide that a child needed her own bedroom or his own bath?"

●  Hurst ponders whether "business ineptitude is to blame for architects' low pay" - architecture "needs a new business model," but that "involves architects learning some of that stuff they were never taught at architecture school."

●  Edelson talks to "architectural storyteller" Liam Young, who "uses fiction and film to explore visions of the future" by "exploring where new forms of agency for the architect might exist when so much of what defines cities is being outsourced to large-scale tech companies."

Deadlines:

●  Call for entries: AIA | DC's SHOP, MEET, THRIVE: Livability in the New American City: propose a future for retail in the livable city of the 21st century (launched yesterday with a Nov. 15 deadline - a sort of PechaKucha competition).

●  Call for entries: AIACC / PG&E 7th annual Architecture at Zero competition: a zero net energy (ZNE) building for a science education facility in Tiburon, California (free student registration).

●  Public voting now open for ISARCH Awards for architecture students.

Weekend diversions:

●  Ciampaglia cheers "Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect," a "long overdue" documentary that "makes up for lost time" (the 95-year-old Roche "seemed bemused at the idea that anyone would have interest in such a film").

●  The New York Transit Museum's "Bringing Back the City: Mass Transit Responds to Crisis" highlights the unseen recovery efforts during and after Hurricane Sandy and non-Sandy events by MTA engineers and transit workers (link to digital version of the show).

●  "Artists in Exile: Expressions of Loss and Hope" brings "a little piece" of war-torn Damascus to the Yale University Art Gallery with "a meticulously detailed model, by turns beguiling and unsettling - which is precisely the point."

●  Budds cheers "Poster Girls: A century of art and design" at the London Transport Museum that puts a long-overdue spotlight on "the women designers behind the London Tube's kickass graphic design who should be household names, but aren't," from 1912 to present day (fab images!).

●  Eyefuls of "Tadao Ando: Endeavors," a "huge retrospective" at the National Arts Center Tokyo that includes a life-sized replica of the Church of the Light: "Ando's people lean in to whisk him away, and he departs - looking like a very satisfied man."

●  Hall Kaplan cheers "The Landscape Architecture of Lawrence Halprin" at L.A.'s A+D Museum: it's "an appealing overview of the life and work of the pioneering landscape architect who I consider one of the most influential designers of his time, right up there with Olmsted."

●  O'Connell considers "The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley" at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee: "Kiley is the Modernist hero you've never heard of": he "continues to enthrall students. 'Once they understand modernism, he becomes a magical figure to them.'"

Page-turners:

●  Heathcote gives (mostly) thumbs-up to "Richard Rogers: A Place For All People": in the new autobiography, "words don't do justice to all his audacious creations - part memoir, part manifesto and part list of thank yous" ("Perhaps an actual biographer might have squeezed more revealing stories").

●  Messner mulls Philp's "A $500 House in Detroit: Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City": "many will find it hard to see themselves in his shoes, but this may be a strength" - it adds "a significant voice to the dialogue, without fetishizing or romanticizing the city and the lives of those who live there."

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To subscribe to the free daily newsletter click here ANN feature: Jason A. Silva: From the Treetops #2: Sacramento Riverfront Development Brings New Life to an Overlooked Part of River City: There is a laundry-list of possibilities for creating those oh-so important physical and the more elusive perceived connections to our urban waterfront. Critical to the success of riverfront development: access, activation, and awareness.- ArchNewsNow.com Laura Bliss: Vehicle Attacks Are Not Inevitable: Cars kill, in acts of terror and everyday collisions. Cities have tools to stop it: With vehicles increasingly being used as the weapons of choice for such “lone wolf” acts of terror, the debate over how to protect vulnerable bodies has turned to design measures cities should take...Physical changes to the traffic landscape save lives - both in explicit acts of terror, and in the mundane carnage cars inflict every day.- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) Christopher Hawthorne: Philip Johnson's AT&T Building has always been vain, idiosyncratic and flawed. Let's keep it that way: ...the Snøhetta plan has major flaws. It would transform one of the archly ironic landmarks of postmodern architecture into something agreeably “updated,” which is to say perfectly bland...transparency is more often these days a sign of deadly earnestness and lack of imagination...I hope Olayan will pay close attention to the critical backlash and seek out some architectural second opinions. Otherwise Snøhetta’s glass curtain wall will hang over the Madison Avenue sidewalk like a guillotine of good taste. -- John Burgee (1984)- Los Angeles Times John Hill: Disfiguring a PoMo Icon: Snøhetta released renderings of their proposed renovation of 550 Madison Avenue, better known as the AT&T Building, designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee and completed in 1984...a section of the pink-granite base...would be removed in favor of a wavy glass wall...Charles Gwathmey was the first architect to disfigure the [building]...when it was not even 10 years old...there are a petition and protest (Friday, November 3 at 1pm) aimed at derailing Snøhetta's plans. Too bad opposition to Sony's plan, if any, didn't achieve the same back in 1993. [images]- A Daily Dose of Architecture/Archidose Oliver Wainwright: ‘Everything is gentrification now’: but Richard Florida isn't sorry: 15 years after "The Rise of the Creative Class," the ‘rockstar of regeneration’ has seen his blueprint for urban creativity blamed for gentrification and inequality. [He] says mistakes were made - but he regrets nothing: He’s the prophet of placemaking, the king of the downtown revival...at once celebrated by mayors for reviving their struggling cities and vilified by critics for fuelling urban inequality..."The New Urban Crisis"...widely interpreted as a mea culpa for opening up the great can of gentrifying worms..."It was the service class - the class I had forgotten - that was taking it on the chin.”- Guardian (UK) Oliver Wainwright: David Adjaye: Holocaust memorial architect who is feted around world: ...the British-Ghanaian has never been busier: ...his reputation as a worldly charmer has always preceded him...So how will Adjaye fare as architect of the Holocaust memorial...an emotionally fraught project...Beyond his evident ability to be able to talk the project into happening, others point to [his] skill for handling this kind of charged memorial space. -- Adjaye Associates; Ron Arad [images]- Guardian (UK) Brentin Mock: A Design Dilemma: How to Visualize the Trauma of Slavery: Landscape designer Walter Hood talks about his vision for the International African American Museum...in Charleston, South Carolina: The outline of enslaved bodies in the Brooks Map left such an impression...he made it part of the museum’s landscape, embedded into the ground...this kind of landscape design uses mnemonic devices to trigger memories, both warm and unpleasant...“I was tired of going to different African-American institutions and not being moved.” -- Henry Cobb/Pei Cobb Freed & Partners; Hood Design Studio [videos]- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) Virginia Small: 10 Lessons From Chicago’s New Landscapes: Major landscape architecture projects have had huge impact. What can we learn? ...Millennium Park...is widely credited with launching a renaissance of public spaces...Creative ideas are not bounded by locale...Here are 10 takeaways...which can help Milwaukee improve its own public spaces. -- Charles Birnbaum/The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF); Ron Henderson; American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA); Brad McCauley/Site Design Group; Terry Guen Design Associates; Piet Oudolf; Gustafson Guthrie Nichol; James Corner Field Operations; Michael van Valkenburgh; etc.- Urban Milwaukee Fred A. Bernstein: Interview with Garrett Jacobs of Open Architecture Collaborative The director of the successor organization to Architecture for Humanity speaks about the group's origin and goals: How does your organization compare to AFH? "We’re much smaller...So your ambitions are smaller? "Personally, I think our ambitions are way bigger. I want to change the way architects think about their profession. I’d like them to find ways to serve many more people than architecture has traditionally served.- Architectural Record John Cary: Five Lessons on Designing for Good: Designing buildings that have a positive impact on the world shouldn’t be the work of just a few specialized public interest designers. Here’s how all architects...can up their social impact: In a time of such heightened inequality, the ethical dimension of design has never felt more important...It’s time for rigorous assessment of impact to become standard... [excerpt from “Design for Good: A New Era of Architecture for Everyone"] -- Michael Maltzan Architecture; MASS Design Group; bcWORKSHOP; Studio Gang; Ryan Gravel- Next City (formerly Next American City) Rich Wagner: How ‘affordable’ housing is disappearing in Seattle: The AEC industry needs to continue to explore how it can offer less-expensive housing: There is no one solution, but through many small improvements, the collective can make considerable progress...Let’s start with our own expectations...When did we decide that a child needed her own bedroom or his own bath? When did we all want a den, a big pantry, a media room? -- Baylis Architects- Daily Journal of Commerce (Oregon) Will Hurst: Is business ineptitude to blame for architects’ low pay? The RIBA’s zero-tolerance approach to wages is a positive step, but architecture also needs a new business model: That will be far harder to introduce and involves architects learning some of that stuff they were never taught at architecture school...- The Architects' Journal (UK) Zach Edelson: Architects who democratize technology through speculation: Liam Young calls himself an “architectural storyteller.” He uses fiction and film to explore visions of the future that amplify trends and technologies already present...often collaborates with science fiction writers, technologists, and urbanists...Q&A re: his practice, his recent films, and the power of storytelling...."We’re interested in exploring where new forms of agency for the architect might exist when so much of what defines cities is being outsourced to large-scale tech companies." -- Darryl Chen/Tomorrow’s Thoughts Today; Unknown Fields Division- The Architect's Newspaper Call for entries:SHOP, MEET, THRIVE: Livability in the New American City: Using Washington, DC as an example, propose a future for retail in the livable city of the 21st century; deadline: November 15- AIA | DC Urban Design Competition Call for entries: AIA California Council (AIACC) / PG&E 7th annual Architecture at Zero competition: a zero net energy (ZNE) building for a science education facility in Tiburon, California (free student registration); cash prizes; registration deadline: January 10, 2018 (submission due January 30, 2018)- AIA California Council (AIACC) / PG&E Public voting for ISARCH Awards for architecture students: November 2-20 [images]- ISARCH Dante A. Ciampaglia: Kevin Roche Documentary Gets U.S. Premier at ADFF [Architecture & Design Film Festival]: "Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect"...[is] long overdue...makes up for lost time...director Mark Noonan packs so much into the film...that it can feel a bit dizzying. Still, [the film] works as a necessary introduction to Roche, who, at 95, seemed bemused at the idea that anyone would have interest in such a film...gives him a voice in the larger cinematic conversation about architects and their place in our society... -- Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates- Architectural Record See how the MTA responded to Hurricane Sandy at this New York Transit Museum exhibit: “Bringing Back the City: Mass Transit Responds to Crisis” highlights the unseen efforts from transit workers during Hurricane Sandy: ...also focuses on how MTA engineers are planning for the future and the new equipment that is being tested out...[and non-Sandy] recovery efforts...like the blizzard of 2010 and Hurricane Irene to...the 9/11 attacks and the blackout of 2003; thru September 2019 [link to digital version of the show]- Curbed New York A Little Piece of Downtown Damascus in New Haven: A meticulously detailed model brings a glimpse of the Syrian civil war to the Yale University Art Gallery: "Artists in Exile: Expressions of Loss and Hope"...transforms scavenged piano keys, old radio components, a gas-mask filter and even a dried eggplant into the weathered building blocks of tiny urban edifices...And it draws you in...a macabre dollhouse...by turns beguiling and unsettling - which...was precisely the point; thru December 31 -- Mohamad Hafez/Pickard Chilton [images]- New York Times Diana Budds: The Women Designers Behind London Tube’s Kickass Graphic Design: "Poster Girls: A century of art and design" sheds light on the women behind London’s best transportation posters...History has a bad memory. Women are footnotes, flat out forgotten, or unfairly robbed of credit...[the show] is one of the latest to give designers, who happen to be women, the acknowledgement they’re due...TfL estimates that around 170 women have designed over 1,000 posters in its collection...this is one step in recognizing the contributions of those who should be household names, but aren’t; London Transport Museum, thru January 2019 [images]- Fast Company / Co.Design Tadao Ando: The Japanese boxer turned Pritzker Prize winner who buried the Buddha: “Tadao Ando: Endeavors": The National Arts Center Tokyo has erected [a life-sized replica of the Church of the Light] on its terrace for its huge retrospective of Ando life's work...His people lean in to whisk him away, and [he] departs...looking like a very satisfied man; thru December 18 [images]- CNN Style Sam Hall Kaplan: Landscape Architecture of Halprin Remembered and Exhibited: "The Landscape Architecture of Lawrence Halprin"...an appealing overview of the life and work of the pioneering landscape architect...who I consider one of the most influential designers of his time, right up there with Frederick Law Olmsted...Los Angeles Conservancy is offering walking tours of [his] downtown project November 5 & December 17; A+D Museum, Los Angeles, thru December 31 -- The Cultural Landscape Foundation/TCLF- City Observed Kim O’Connell: Respect: Landscape Architect Dan Kiley Is the Modernist Hero You’ve Never Heard Of: Millions of people have visited his creations, but only a small fraction know his name...Kiley continues to enthrall students..."Once they understand modernism, [he] becomes a magical figure to them.” "The Landscape Architecture Legacy of Dan Kiley" at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, October 30, 2017–January 12, 2018 -- Charles Birnbaum/The Cultural Landscape Foundation (TCLF); Jane Amidon- Redshift Edwin Heathcote: How Richard Rogers’ power of ideas will long outlive him: ...a new autobiography reveals the blueprints that built the career of British starchitect...words don't do justice to all his audacious creations: ...the Pompidou remains a monument to that moment of idealism in a more equitable and democratic future. "Richard Rogers: A Place For All People" is his attempt to illuminate that moment and extend its ideals into our cynical age. Part memoir, part manifesto and part list of thank yous, it is also a stab at summing up a life...Perhaps an actual biographer might have squeezed more revealing stories. This self-censoring format glosses over inconsistencies in the architect's career.- GQ UK Matthew Messner: How a $500 house tells the story of a changing Detroit: "A $500 House in Detroit: Rebuilding an Abandoned Home and an American City" by Drew Philp: ...many will find it hard to see themselves in his shoes, but this may be a strength for the book. Rather than fetishizing the experience, Philp constantly questions his actions...while [it] never professes to tell the whole story, it does add a significant voice to the dialogue, without fetishizing or romanticizing the city and the lives of those who live there.- The Architect's Newspaper ANN feature: Charles F. Bloszies: Left Coast Reflections #3: The Wall: The wall may never be built, but the real damage the Trump Administration is likely to inflict on the built environment will have lasting consequences.- ArchNewsNow.com   Robert Martin: Steven Holl interview: ...awarded The Daylight Award in Architecture by the VELUX Foundation...[he talks] about his relationship with daylight: Apart from new materials, do you see any other emerging trends in the application of daylight? "I see a trend of ignorance when it comes to the correct use of daylight in architecture! But it’s about real estate now...it’s not surprising."

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