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Today’s News - Wednesday, September 5, 2018

● There's "a cautionary tale" in India's "$7.5 billion plan to turn 100 urban centers into Smart Cities": Apart from Lavasa's "abandoned buildings and cratered roads" - it didn't "address structural issues such as poor design, and ignores the needs of low-income and marginalized groups, according to planners and rights groups."

● Hertz explains why "it is time to stop being surprised by gentrification, and to stop expecting it to just go away - both rapid investment and disinvestment represent the same forces of inequality and power" - the "forces we need to contend with to build more just cities."

● Kamin x 2: He cheers the "engaging" new Chicago Architecture Center by AS+GG, "the latest jewel in Chicago's architectural crown - it may be able to hit the sweet spot of being as welcoming to the skyscraper geek as to the tourist who doesn't know Burnham and Sullivan."

● He's thrilled that the "much-derided" Union Station plan has been shelved, but "don't get too excited" until we see the revised "vision" - whatever it is, "the decision to jettison the original plan is a major victory for historic preservationists."

● No one knows (yet) whether Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Woods Bagot's competition-winning design for the Adelaide Contemporary gallery "will be abandoned completely or appropriated for" a National Aboriginal Art and Cultures Gallery.

● Eyefuls (and a video) of Gehry's 523,000-square-foot "exuberant-landscape-meets-open-office" MPK 21 project for Facebook (also "studded with environmentally-friendly bells and whistles").

● Glass sits down with Renzo Piano, who "settles into a chair and happily starts talking about his 'very funny profession - a mix - ethics, beauty, poetry'" (he "intends to continue till he drops. 'When I rest, it will be eternal'").

● Mackintosh's Glasgow tearoom, flat-packed in storage for 50 years, "has been gently woken by a team of experts" and "will form the jewel in the crown of the V&A's Scottish Design Galleries."

● Vitullo-Martin & Gotkin ponder whether "the system for protecting historic buildings in New York still works."

● Brazilian anthropologist Gomes eloquently mourns the loss of the "beloved" Museu Nacional in Rio: "A mixture of deep sorrow, anger and resentment has swept Brazilians across the country. Everyone has their preferred culprit in this national disgrace."

● Bozikovic, on a brighter note, cheers MVVA's upcoming set of new Toronto riverfront parks that "will mix up the artificial and the natural" and "teach us that there's really no line between the two."

● Gallagher cheers Atwater Beach the "next big thing" for Detroit's "slowly evolving riverfront."

● NYC revises its Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX) streetcar plan, an 11-mile route along the waterfront intended to be "a link between mixed-income neighborhoods and jobs," and "designed to support transit-oriented development.

● This fall, the International Code Council will decide "whether to support construction of timber buildings up to 18 stories high amid an industry tug of war on the safety of tall wood structures versus concrete or steel" (public comment period included).

Winners all (well...maybe not all):

● BD's 2018 Carbuncle Cup, "the award no one wants to win," goes to a regeneration project, "the judges said the shed-like building 'ridiculed' the town center it had been intended to rescue" + A humorous parsing of the 2018 shortlist (a "house the appearance of a red-faced child").

● On a more inspired note, 25 winners will take home an ASLA 2018 Professional Award.

● The ASLA 2018 Student Awards go to 27 winners (both include a free link to Landscape Architecture Magazine's full coverage).

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As India adds 100 Smart Cities, one tells a cautionary tale: Lavasa’s abandoned buildings and cratered roads are a far cry from the blueprints for a city modeled after the colorful Italian seaside town of Portofino, with facilities for about 250,000 people...$7.5 billion plan to turn 100 urban centers into Smart Cities by 2020...does not address structural issues such as poor design, and ignores the needs of low-income and marginalized groups, according to planners and rights groups.- Thomson Reuters Foundation

Daniel Kay Hertz: Why Do We Continue To Be Surprised By Gentrification? Why have we found it so hard to believe that a generations-old trend of growing affluence at the core of a major city could be durable? And why has it proven so durable? ...it turns out these trends are not necessarily permanent...it is time to stop being surprised by gentrification, and to stop expecting it to just go away...both rapid investment and disinvestment represent the same forces of inequality and power. It is those forces we need to contend with to build more just cities.- Belt Magazine

Blair Kamin: The Chicago Architecture Foundation has a new name and a new home. Skyscraper models are the stars of its engaging riverfront exhibition space: ...but they're not the only reason to visit...the engaging new home of the Chicago Architecture Center...all sorts of tricks are possible and happily, they're not cheap tricks...[it] may be able to hit the sweet spot of being as welcoming to the skyscraper geek as to the tourist who doesn't know Burnham and Sullivan...It's the latest jewel in Chicago's architectural crown. -- Mies van der Rohe (1970); Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture; Goettsch Partners; Gallagher & Associates- Chicago Tribune

Blair Kamin: Much-derided Union Station plan shelved, but what comes next? Hooray! But don’t get too excited....Sept. 11...a community meeting to unveil revised plans...development team...“decided to completely revise their vision for the project”...Whatever the revised design turns out to be, the decision to jettison the original plan is a major victory for historic preservationists. -- Solomon Cordwell Buenz- Chicago Tribune

South Australian budget sets out plans for old Royal Adelaide Hospital site sans Adelaide Contemporary: A National Aboriginal Art and Cultures Gallery will be built...in place of the previously mooted Adelaide Contemporary gallery...It is unclear whether Diller Scofidio + Renfro and Woods Bagot’s [winning design] will be abandoned completely or appropriated for the new gallery...“It’s not our understanding that the winning design will be discarded.”- ArchitectureAU (Australia)

Facebook unveils views of latest Frank Gehry-designed office expansion: [His] exuberant-landscape-meets-open-office phase is in full swing...MPK 21 project in Sunnyvale, California, a 523,000-square-foot addition to the company’s sprawling headquarters complex...the new 3.6-acre green roof...spans multiple levels...and becomes a central, planted courtyard at the heart of the complex studded with social and work-related spaces...The building also comes studded with environmentally-friendly bells and whistles... [images, video]- The Architect's Newspaper

Nick Glass: He built the Shard and the Centre Pompidou, where does Renzo Piano go from here? Like his peers, he dislikes the journalistic cliche "starchitect," but...that's effectively what he is...But, unlike some of his contemporaries, he consciously avoids a signature style...For our interview...He settles into a chair and happily starts talking about his "very funny profession"...It's "a mix - ethics, beauty, poetry." It's both art and science, both simple and highly complex. -- Renzo Piano Building Workshop- CNN Style

The awakening of Mackintosh's sleeping giant: For almost 50 years, a store room in the Kelvin Hall has been home to Glasgow Museums' sleeping giant. Carefully taken apart and flat-packed, an entire room of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's best work lay untouched. But now the Oak Room from Mrs Cranston's Glasgow tearoom has been gently woken by a team of experts...will form the jewel in the crown of the V&A's Scottish Design Galleries... [images]- BBC News

Julia Vitullo-Martin & Michael Gotkin: Does the system for protecting historic buildings in New York still work? The recent controversy over the expansion of the Frick has been resolved to general satisfaction, but wider questions surrounding the preservation of historic buildings and sites in New York remain. -- Russell Page; Carrère and Hastings; Charles Birnbaum/The Cultural Landscape Foundation/TCLF; Selldorf Architects; Philip Johnson- Apollo Magazine (UK)

Mércio Gomes: A museum is gone and might never return: A mixture of deep sorrow, anger and resentment has swept Brazilians across the country - particularly in the city of Rio de Janeiro - with the burning of their beloved Museu Nacional, or National Museum...Everyone has their preferred culprit in this national disgrace...this mood of mutual accusation has...flooded the nation like a tsunami...Perhaps we can, in a decade or so, reconstruct the museum and reconstitute part of its collections...- CNN Style

Alex Bozikovic: A new set of Toronto parks will mix up the artificial and the natural: ...80 hectares of parks in the billion-dollar Port Lands Flood Protection project...present a novel idea about landscape: They scramble the natural and the artificial, and teach us that there’s really no line between the two...The very site...represents a paradox...“This is engineered nature"...will reshape the mouth of the Don River...This approach challenges a central dialectic in landscape architecture...It’s art, geared to create a vivid experience between people and their environment. -- Matthew Urbanski/Herb Sweeney/Emily Mueller de Celis/Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates [images]- Globe and Mail (Canada)

John Gallagher: Atwater Beach groundbreaking signals next big thing for Detroit riverfront: ...will become the latest element in Detroit's slowly evolving riverfront...other projects in the works include the 22-acre west riverfront park that is currently being planned and an extension of the RiverWalk... -- Hannah-Neumann/Smith (partnership of Hannah & Associates & Neumann/Smith Architecture) [images]- Detroit Free Press

NYC releases revised streetcar plan: ...Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX)...11-mile streetcar route along the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront will have 26 stops spaced approximately half a mile apart, with an estimated total cost of $2.73 billion...It is touted as providing a link between mixed-income neighborhoods and jobs...It will also be designed for "supporting transit-oriented development."- Smart Cities Dive

Wood high-rises still contentious ahead of ICC vote: The International Code Council will decide this fall whether to support construction of timber buildings up to 18 stories high amid an industry tug of war on the safety of tall wood structures versus concrete or steel.- Construction Dive

Winner of 2018 Carbuncle Cup announced: The award no one wants to win goes to town centre regeneration project: Redrock Stockport, a £45m leisure complex and car park...It is part of a wider £1bn regeneration project for the ailing community south of Manchester, but the judges said the shed-like building “ridiculed” the town centre it had been intended to rescue + The 2018 shortlist: Who was BDP up against? -- BDP; PRP Architects; Rolfe Judd; Pace Jefford Moore Architects; Signature Living; Boyes Rees Architects [images]- BD/Building Design (UK)

ASLA Announces 2018 Professional Awards: 25 winners...designated as either an honor award or an award of excellence... -- Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; Design Workshop; Landscape Architecture Section, Knowlton School, The Ohio State University; Word + Carr Design Group (formerly Mark Word Design); Design Workshop Inc.; etc. [link free to Landscape Architecture Magazine for full coverage]- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)

ASLA Announces 2018 Student Awards: 27 winners... -- Niloufar Makaremi Esfarjani/University of Toronto; Julio F. Torres Santana/Yinan Liu/Aime Vailes-Macarie/Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Nicole Rivera-Ramos/State University of New York, College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF); Xiwei Shen/Jiawen Chen/Siyu Jiang/Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Marinna Wagner/California State Polytechnic University, Pomona; Washington University in St. Louis student team; Iowa State University student team; etc. [link free to Landscape Architecture Magazine for full coverage]- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)

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