Today’s News - Tuesday, December 12, 2017
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● Hostile architecture: an interesting debate between architect Furzer, "whose designs try to combat hostile architecture," and Harvey, co-founder of "a company that produces many of the offending benches."
● Capps, at the opposite end of the spectrum, talks to Kéré re: "how architects can design 'coherent and peaceful cities.' Design can't change politics, but it can shift perception."
● A fascinating look at "the beginning of the end of China's 'weird architecture.' Whoever wants to design the next big projects will have to adjust to taking on business parks and suburban housing rather than cities' trophy buildings."
● Hume cheers the ROM's "new (old) entrance" and the Toronto museum's "most unabashedly extravagant room" (Libeskind's Crystal "has never quite fulfilled its promise").
● MVRDV and BIG have pixilated plans for a new neighborhood in Abu Dhabi's Makers District.
● Chicago could be getting its own Hudson Yards-scale waterfront neighborhood (with some stellar names attached) on one of the city's last undeveloped pieces of land.
● Morgan cheers Leers Weinzapfel's new, "exemplary" Design Building at UMass Amherst, one of the largest timber frame structures on the East Coast, where the use of glulam and CLT "on such a scale allowed for a near revolutionary accomplishment."
● Sighs of relief as London's Architectural Association says it "does not plan to close its exhibitions and publications departments (AA Files are safe - for now).
"Tis the season for 2017 Best of Everything lists:
● Feast your eyes on some astounding (and we mean astounding!) shots shortlisted for the 2017 Art of Building photography awards, run by the U.K.'s Chartered Institute of Building.
● Eyefuls of some luminous and luscious pieces in Lyon's festival of lights (a "unicorn" of sorts included!).
● Moore's pick of the best architecture of 2017: Postmodernism back, "it's hard to look past the charred stump" of Grenfell Tower, "vast wealth can produce splendiferous buildings," and "two victories for good sense" + 5 best buildings.
● Birnbaum rounds up 2017's notable developments in landscape architecture, some "of great finesse, depth, and complexity" - though it seems "a creeping homogenization is taking hold - are we becoming lazy - or just willing to accept a little mediocrity?" (shout-outs for books, journalists(!), and Scully, too).
● Mairs profiles Top 10 skyscrapers of 2017, "from the unapologetically tall to the peculiarly shaped" (but mostly meh?).
● Morby marvels at the top 10 designs of 2017 that aim to create a better future.
● Budds takes a different tack, and picks the "10 design trends of 2017 that need to die" (do better next year, please).
Winners all!
● Polshek is named 2018 AIA Gold Medalist, and Minneapolis-based Snow Kreilich Architects takes home the 2018 AIA Architecture Firm Award.
● "Seven exemplary projects" take top honors in the 50th Canadian Architect Awards.
● From Down Under, eyefuls of the 2017 Victorian Premier's Design Awards (great presentations).
● Fast Co.'s Innovation By Design Awards 2017 include "projects that improve the urban fabric."
● A "technically superb" rest area on Lake Kolima in Finland named 2017 Finnish Wood Award winner.
● Winners of the 8th ISArch Award for Architecture Students announced.
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The debate: Is hostile architecture designing people out of cities? Spiked or sloped benches...examples of hostile architecture - a controversial type of urban design aimed at preventing people from using public spaces in undesirable ways...architect James Furzer, whose designs try to combat hostile architecture [debates the] issue with Dean Harvey, co-founder of the Factory Furniture: a company that produces many of the offending benches. [images]- CNN Style |
Kriston Capps: How Architects Can Design 'Coherent and Peaceful Cities': In Burkina Faso and elsewhere, Diébédo Francis Kéré approaches design as a medium for easing tensions around political issues like migration: [He] designed the next National Assembly building to reflect the reality of life in Ouagadougou...grassroots architecture....Design can’t change politics, but it can shift perception. [images]- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
The beginning of the end of China’s “weird architecture”: ...flamboyant and outlandish buildings are on the way out: Far from being an aesthetic whim... Xi Jinping seeks to change the direction of urban development...it is clear that a change has occurred. Though still large in scale...the work is more modest...Whoever wants to design the next big projects in China will have to adjust to taking on business parks and suburban housing rather than cities’ trophy buildings. -- Paul Andreu; Zaha Hadid Architects; Carlo Ott; Ma Yansong/MAD Architects; Steven Holl Architects [images]- The Economist (UK) |
Christopher Hume: How the ROM's new (old) entrance opens the museum to the city: Inside the Royal Ontario Museum's reopened Queen's Park entrance, visitors will find the building’s most extravagant room, the Rotunda: ...the Crystal...Bloor entrance...has always been underwhelming...it has never quite fulfilled its promise. -- Daniel Libeskind (2007)- Toronto Star |
MVRDV and BIG to create new neighbourhood in Abu Dhabi's Makers District: ...featuring pixellated corners that will frame a public square...hence the project name, Pixel... comprises seven mid-rise towers, containing 480 apartments...shops, offices and co-working spaces...district is located opposite Saadiyat Island cultural district... -- BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group; Dewan Architects + Engineers [images]- Dezeen |
Will Chicago’s South Loop get its own Hudson Yards-scale development? ...an entirely new waterfront neighborhood...a $1.2 billion public-private research partnership that will establish the Discovery Partners Institute, a scientific research center...would hold up to 1,800 students, and feature residential, commercial, recreational and cultural space...At 62 acres, The 78 will be built on...one of the city’s last undeveloped pieces of land. -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill/SOM; 3XN; Hollwich Kushner/HWKN; AS+GG/Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
William Morgan: In Design Building at University of Massachusetts Amherst, students learn by example: ...one of the largest timber frame structures on the East Coast...“an experiment celebrating a shared commitment to sustainability"...what is exemplary about this project is that it is the cooperative venture of three departments - landscape architecture, architecture, and building technology...“We not only show off our research, but we live in it" -- Leers Weinzapfel Associates; Stephen Stimson Associates [images]- Design New England |
Architectural Association promises to maintain cultural offering as members protest redundancies: Interim director at the AA Samantha Hardingham...re-asserting that the world-leading architecture school does not plan to close its exhibitions and publications departments.- Dezeen |
The walls have eyes: the best urban photography: A sun-baked Niemeyer treasure, a decaying Montana schoolhouse and a scary manmade cave are just some of the striking pieces shortlisted for the 2017 Art of Building photography awards, run by the Chartered Institute of Building. [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Lyon's festival of lights: Fête des Lumières is the world’s largest visual arts festival. [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Rowan Moore’s best architecture of 2017: Postmodernism returned in style, Liverpool’s Welsh Streets were saved, but Grenfell Tower defined the year: ...it’s hard to look past the charred stump...we found out once again that vast wealth can produce splendiferous buildings...Lastly, two victories for good sense. In London the Garden Bridge sank under the weight of its own contradictions and deceptions. + 5 best buildings. -- Foster + Partners; FAT; dRMM; Amanda Levete/AL_A; Dow Jones; UNStudio- Observer (UK) |
Charles A. Birnbaum: “Splash Pad Urbanism” and 2017’s other notable developments in landscape architecture: ...projects of great finesse, depth, and complexity...In contrast...there were signs that a creeping homogenization is taking hold...are we becoming lazy? - or just willing to accept a little mediocrity... -- The Cultural Landscape Foundation/TCLF; Kate Orff/SCAPE; West 8/Beyer Blinder Belle/Fluidity Design Consultants; Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; Ten Eyck Landscape Architects/Weddle Gilmore Black Rock Studio; Reed Hilderbrand; James Corner Field Operations; Sasaki Associates with Ross Barney Architects; Alexandra Lange; Audrey Wachs; Vincent Scully [images]- Huffington Post |
Jessica Mairs: Dezeen's top 10 skyscrapers of 2017: ...made their mark this year, from the unapologetically tall to the peculiarly shaped. -- MAD Architects; Ingenhoven Architects/A61/Gustafson Porter + Bowman; Skidmore Owings & Merrill/SOM; Kohn Pedersen Fox/KPF; SHoP Architects; Richard Meier & Partners; Goettsch Partners; Herzog & de Meuron; Foster + Partners/Heatherwick Studio; Renzo Piano Building Workshop [images]- Dezeen |
Alice Morby: Dezeen's top 10 designs of 2017 that aim to create a better future: In a year filled with turbulent politics, humanitarian crises and environmental issues, designers have responded with imaginative concepts and solutions. -- Stefano Boeri; Pentatonic; Airbnb; Boyan Slat; Jayna Zweiman/Krista Suh; Pavegen; Daan Roosegaarde; Graviky Labs; IKEA; Lahti University of Applied Sciences [images]- Dezeen |
Diana Budds: The 10 Design Trends Of 2017 That Need To Die: Do better in 2018: Midcentury Modern Design...the style has been bastardized for contemporary consumption so many times over that the era’s true principles...have been lost..Architecture As Propaganda...thanks to Trump’s proposed border wall...Retailers Appropriating The Language Of Urban Design...Gendered Design; etc.- Fast Company |
2018 AIA Gold Medal goes to James Stewart Polshek: And the Architecture Firm Award honors Snow Kreilich Architects. -- Ennead Architects- Curbed |
Winners announced for 50th Canadian Architect Awards: Recognizing the country’s top designers - both emerging and well-established...seven exemplary projects... -- Alastair Bird/Dalhousie University; MJMA Architects; Modern Office of Design (MoDA); Saucier + Perrotte/Zas Architects; Leckie Studio; marc boutin architectural collaborative (MBAC); Lemay [images]- Canadian Architect magazine |
2017 Victorian Premier’s Design Awards: Unique exercise equipment that makes child’s play out of a serious gym workout has taken out the top prize; Tanderrum Bridge - a footbridge that links Melbourne’s CBD to the sports precinct... -- Bayly Group/McCann/YMCA; John Wardle Architects/NADAAA/Oculus/GHD/Büro North; My Architect [images]- Good Design Australia |
Innovation By Design Awards 2017: ...13 categories,,,Spaces, Places, and Cities...Projects that improve the urban fabric, including urban planning, architecture, and interactive products such as kiosks or apps. -- Clover House/MAD Architects; New Lab/Marvel Architects; etc. [images]- Fast Company |
2017 Finnish Wood Award goes to Rest Area Niemenharju by Studio Puisto Architects: ..."represents extremely high-quality and distinctive Finnish wood architecture that does not need any stylistic loans. Use of wood on the site is technically superb"...honorary mention goes to Allas Sea Pool by Pekka Pakkanen/Huttunen-Lipasti-Pakkanen Architects. [links to images, info]- Puuinfo / The Finnish Timber Council |
Winners of the 8th Edition of ISArch Award for Architecture Students -- Sofoklis Kontakis; Eleni Vagianou; Eleni Papantoniou/Maria Koinidou [images]- ISARCH |
Vladimir Belogolovsky: One-on-One: "I Don't Have Any Competitors Because My Projects Are Unique": Interview with Zhang Hua: The Tianjin, China-based architect talks about why architecture needs theory, fractal geometry, teaching, and how seeing a Gaudí for the first time made him cry. [images]- ArchNewsNow.com |
ANN feature: "rise in the city" UPDATE #2: Online Benefit Auction Continues! Just in time for the holidays (and only until December 15!), a cornucopia of creativity - there's something for everyone (including that difficult-to-shop-for friend, colleague, and relative - or yourself!). [images]- ArchNewsNow.com |
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