Today’s News - Tuesday, September 25, 2018

EDITOR'S NOTE: Our apologies for not posting the newsletter last Thursday without notice. We found ourselves in an Internet-less place - and returning there tomorrow/Wednesday (after posting the newsletter) in hopes the cable guy will make things right...

A gloomy, rainy day made more mournful after reviewing miles of memorials to Robert Venturi. Rather than link to a dry obituary, we've selected a few thoughtful, eloquent, and informative tributes - and our own joyous adventure with Venturi and Denise Scott Brown.

●  Betsky: "Venturi did not just beget (or at least act as godfather to) Postmodernism, he changed the whole way we look at and think about how to make modern architecture."

●  Wainwright on his first encounter with Venturi and Scott Brown and their continuing influence: "the larger-than-life architect brought history and hilarity to the staid world of monochrome tastefulness."

●  Cramer on "the profound debt that contemporary architecture owes to Robert Venturi. While I am generally suspicious of hagiography or cults of personality - we have lost a titan."

●  Saffron: Venturi "radically altered the way the profession thinks about Modernism, history, popular culture, neon signs, and roadside architecture. For someone who liked to think of himself as a bad boy of architecture, he was an unlikely rebel" (and Philly "is probably the only place in America that could have produced a figure like" him).

●  Bernstein: "To the modernist notion of 'less is more,' Venturi retorted, 'Less is a bore,' arguing for ornament, historical references and even humor in architecture."

●  Saval: Venturi and Scott Brown "viewed architecture as a combat sport, but one that required wit and grace. With him dies half of an extraordinary partnership - if there is a way to remember Venturi, it is by honoring his partner, who remains impoverished of attention. The knots tying her ideas to his are impossible to untangle, and to ignore."

●  Sitz rounds up tributes to Venturi from MoMA's Stierli, Kieran and Timberlake, and Goldberger.

●  AN rounds up tributes "from dedicated disciples to former intellectual foes," including Jencks, Eisenman, Berke, Bestor, Denari, Goldberger, Griffiths, Ivy, Sorkin, and many more.

●  AN's round-up Part 2: tributes to Venturi from Bergdoll, Yarinsky, Dubbeldam, Konyk, Furman, and more.

●  A blast from ANN's past - chronicled by yours truly: Happy Ending for the Little Beach House That Could: Venturi and Scott Brown watch their Lieb House sail up the East River.

Other news of the day:

●  Keegan offers "a design agenda" for whoever becomes Chicago's next mayor: "Demolition is destruction; high-rises aren't the only way to achieve density. Good design is in Chicago's DNA, but it needs to be cultivated and encouraged. And it needs to pervade the entire city, not just select parts."

●  Fortmeyer offers a recap of the recent Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco: "Washington may be silent, but the country remains committed to climate action - several affiliate events turned the spotlight on architecture's role in climate change."

●  Alter cheers Architecture 2030 going after embodied carbon - "this is a very big deal. It is time to recognize the scale of this problem, but this is a tough fix" ("I have a few serious bones to pick").

●  Malin of BuildingGreen on the saga of "getting stronger sustainability language" into the AIA's Code of Ethics: "The standards and rules aren't nearly as strong as we had originally hoped, but I've come to appreciate how meaningful they are nevertheless."

●  A good reason to head to Indiana this week: Prudon explains how the 2018 Docomomo US National Symposium "will focus on the three most important aspects of any preservation effort: design, heritage, and the community."

●  The symposium "Shifting the Landscape: Black Architects and Planners, 1968 to Now" in Washington, DC, this week is sold out, but events will be streamed online.

●  One we couldn't resist: Segran parses Prada's new handbags designed by Sejima, Diller, and Boeri: "The pieces they've created weave together form and function in new - and sometimes - funny ways" (pouches for sandwiches; doubles as a raincoat!).

Deadlines:

●  Request for Proposals/RFP: AdvancingCities (U.S.): JPMorgan Chase $500 Million Initiative to Create Economic Opportunity in Cities (no fee!).

●  Call for entries: USGBC-LA's 8th Annual Sustainable Innovation Awards; open to projects in Southern California, and certified under any sustainability rating system.

●  Call for entries (deadline looms!): designboom's 2019 A' design awards & competition.

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To subscribe to the free daily newsletter click here Aaron Betsky: Learning from Robert Venturi: the architect’s call for an inclusive and open architecture still rings true today: [He] was trying to save Modernism from its own pronouncements more than from its practices. To a large extent, he won, to the point now that we cannot think of architecture since 1966 without reference to Robert Venturi....[he] did not just beget (or at least act as godfather to) Postmodernism, he changed the whole way we look at and think about how to make modern architecture...his words still echo today as call for an open and humane way to shelter and give meaning to all of us. -- Denise Scott Brown; Steven Izenour- Architect Magazine Oliver Wainwright: Robert Venturi: the bad-taste architect who took a sledgehammer to modernism: With the maxim ‘less is a bore’, the larger-than-life architect...brought history and hilarity to the staid world of monochrome tastefulness: "Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture"...has always stuck out of my bookshelf. Like its author, it is an awkward thing, refusing to bow to the conventions of what shape a book should be...His was a catholic big tent that rejected the “either/or” attitude of purity and order, arguing for the plural richness of “both/and"... -- Denise Scott Brown; Steven Izenour- Guardian (UK) Ned Cramer: When Someone Great Is Gone: ...the profound debt that contemporary architecture owes to Robert Venturi: While I am generally suspicious of hagiography or cults of personality...We have lost a titan...His equally eminent partner and spouse, Denise Scott Brown survives him, as does their son, James, along with, it seems fair to say, legions of architects and designophiles...The changes Venturi instigated in collaboration with Scott Brown and Steven Izenour were nothing less than epochal. -- Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates/VSBA- Architect Magazine Inga Saffron: Robert Venturi, 93, Philadelphia architect who led the rebellion against modernism: ...radically altered the way the profession thinks about Modernism, history, popular culture, neon signs, and roadside architecture...influence came both from his stunningly unorthodox buildings...and from his groundbreaking books...For someone who liked to think of himself as a bad boy of architecture, [he] was an unlikely rebel...he hated being labeled a postmodernist...was frequently blamed for leading architecture down a kitschy path...Philadelphia...is probably the only place in America that could have produced a figure like Venturi. -- Denise Scott Brown; Steven Izenour [images]- Philadelphia Inquirer Fred A. Bernstein: Robert Venturi, Architect Who Rejected Modernism, 93: To the modernist notion of “less is more,” he retorted, “Less is a bore,” arguing for ornament, historical references and even humor in architecture: ...architect and theorist whose buildings and best-selling books helped inspire the movement known as postmodernism...Vincent Scully...accused Venturi’s critics of “preoccupation with a rather prissily puristic aesthetic"...buildings were known for using familiar elements in unfamiliar combinations. -- Denise Scott Brown; Ada Louise Huxtable; Paul Goldberger; Inga Saffron; Venturi Rauch; Venturi, Scott Brown & Associates; VSBA Architects & Planners; Steven Izenour; “Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture" (1966); “Learning From Las Vegas" (1972) [images]- New York Times Nikil Saval: Remembering Robert Venturi, the Close Reader of Architecture: Venturi and his partner, Denise Scott Brown, viewed architecture as a combat sport, but one that required wit and grace, as well as accommodation for the unusual, extrinsic, and incongruent: With him dies half of an extraordinary partnership, and, to some degree, an era of real seriousness about the aesthetics and ethics of architecture...some of [his] most enduring work won’t be what he built but what he saved...he was an ardent preservationist...If there is a way to remember Venturi, it is by honoring his partner, who remains impoverished of attention. The knots tying her ideas to his are impossible to untangle, and to ignore.- New Yorker Miriam Sitz: Robert Venturi, 1925-2018: Hailed as a catalyzing force of the Postmodern architecture style, the Princeton-trained architect... Denise Scott Brown; Tributes to Venturi: Martino Stierli/MoMA; Stephen Kieran/James Timberlake/KieranTimberlake; Paul Goldberger- Architectural Record Jencks, Eisenman, FAT, and more remember Robert Venturi: From dedicated disciples to former intellectual foes, many architects and critics have taken a moment to recognize how deep and impactful Venturi’s legacy really is. -- Denise Scott-Brown; Deborah Berke; Barbara Bestor; Jean-Louis Cohen; Neil M. Denari; Todd Gannon; Peter Eisenman; Mark Foster Gage; Dan Graham; Paul Goldberger; Sean Griffiths; Charles Holland; Sam Jacob; Charles Jencks; Robert Ivy; Sylvia Lavin; Michael Meredith/Hilary Sample; Martino Stierli; Michael Sorkin; Stanley Tigerman/Margaret McCurry; James Wines; Mark Wigley; etc.- The Architect's Newspaper Barry Bergdoll, Robert Miller, Jennifer Bonner and more remember the late Robert Venturi. -- Adam Yarinsky; Winka Dubbeldam; Catherine Ingraham; Craig Konyk; Adam Nathaniel Furman; Joan Ockman- The Architect's Newspaper Kristen Richards: Happy Ending for the Little Beach House That Could: Venturi and Scott Brown watch their Lieb House sail by: 7:00 a.m., Friday, March 13: Never mind the wind chill factor hovered around 16 degrees...at the South Street Seaport...In the middle of it all, surrounded by friends, fans, and shutter bugs, an almost demure Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown awaited the first sighting of the 1967 Venturi and Rauch-designed Number 9 making its way to the mouth of the East River. -- Frederic Schwartz (March 16, 2009) [images]- ArchNewsNow.com Edward Keegan: A design agenda for a new mayor: Demolition is destruction; high-rises aren't the only way to achieve density; collaboration is key to good architecture: In Chicago, architecture matters; There is no such thing as a blank slate; Development is more than tall buildings; Stop tearing down buildings. Just stop; Keep the Chicago Architecture Biennial; Good design isn’t free...Good design is in Chicago’s DNA, but it needs to be cultivated and encouraged. And it needs to pervade the entire city, not just select parts.- Crain's Chicago Business Russell Fortmeyer: Climate Summit Highlights States’ Commitment to Combating Global Warming: Washington may be silent, but the country remains committed to climate action: A recap of [the] Global Climate Action Summit: ...while much of the activity focused on large sector emissions...several affiliate events turned the spotlight on architecture’s role in climate change...22 international cities and regions would require all new buildings operate at net zero carbon by 2030...also pledged to institute policy that would help ensure that existing buildings operate at zero carbon by 2050. -- Architecture 2030/Zero Code- Architectural Record Lloyd Alter: Architecture 2030 goes after embodied carbon and this is a very big deal: ...it is now estimated that embodied carbon will be responsible for almost half of new construction emissions between now and 2050. It is time to recognize the scale of this problem, but this is a tough fix...Carbon Smart Materials Palette to help builders separate the high-impact from the carbon-smart materials. There is interesting stuff in the palette, though I have a few serious bones to pick...Their general principles are terrific, but their specific recommendations need work.- TreeHugger.com Nadav Malin: What I Learned on the Way to Enhancing AIA’s Code of Ethics: Getting stronger sustainability language into the Code wasn’t easy, but only because AIA takes these things seriously: The standards and rules that are now in the Code aren’t nearly as strong as we had originally hoped, but I’ve come to appreciate how meaningful they are nevertheless.- BuildingGreen.com Theodore Prudon: The 2018 Docomomo US National Symposium brings progressive preservation to Indiana: Created in partnership with Landmark Columbus and titled Design, Community, and Progressive Preservation the symposium will focus on the three most important aspects of any preservation effort: design, heritage, and the community. Indianapolis and Columbus, Indiana, September 26-29- The Architect's Newspaper National Smithsonian symposium will celebrate black architects and planners: "Shifting the Landscape: Black Architects and Planners, 1968 to Now"...will reflect on the evolving relationship between design and activism. September 27-29; sold out, but events will be streamed online. -- David Adjaye; Justin Garrett Moore; Mabel O. Wilson; Jennifer Newsom; etc.- The Architect's Newspaper Elizabeth Segran: What happens when Prada lets architects redesign its most iconic item: More architects designing handbags, please: It turns out, when architects turn their eye to handbags, they are remarkably practical...Prada...unveiled the results of a new collaboration with three female architects - Kazuyo Sejima, Elizabeth Diller, and Cini Boeri...The pieces they’ve created weave together form and function in new - and sometimes - funny ways. [images]- Fast Company / Co.Design Call for entries: Request for Proposals/RFP: AdvancingCities (U.S.): JPMorgan Chase $500 Million Initiative to Create Economic Opportunity in Cities; no fee; deadline: November 30- JPMorgan Chase Call for entries: USGBC-LA’s 8th Annual Sustainable Innovation Awards; open to projects located anywhere in Southern California, and certified under any sustainability rating system; deadline: October 7- USGBC-LA (US Green Building Council - Los Angeles) Call for entries: designboom's 2019 A' design awards & competition (international); deadline: September 30- designboom

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