Today’s News - Tuesday, January 29, 2019
● A sad way to start the day: We lose Florence Knoll Bassett at 101: "Throughout her career she promoted the Modernist merger of architecture, art and utility in her furnishings and interiors" (word is that Paul Makovsky is penning her biography - what an amazing life!).
● Kamin comes out with his "clear first choice" among the five shortlisted plans for the "massive O'Hare expansion": The Foster + Partners team's design "promises to be everything an airport should be - a spectacular presence, but not an empty spectacle."
● Jessel reports on a lively panel that included the U.K.'s "Beauty watchdog" Roger Scruton, who "has admitted the government's beauty commission he leads could be a decoy to distract from some of the UK's more pressing housing issues," conceding: "I'm here in order to make it look like something is being done."
● Ives reports on the possible fate of Singapore's Brutalist buildings: A few "are on the verge of being sold to private developers, prompting a last-ditch scramble by enthusiasts to have them protected. Others see them as important markers of national identity because they were designed by a generation of up-and-coming local architects."
● The World Monuments Fund taps Selldorf Architects to transform the "250-year-old retirement digs of an 18th-century Chinese emperor" in Beijing's Forbidden City into a tranquil (i.e. no flat-panel screens) interpretation center ("It's totally intimidating," sayeth Selldorf).
● It's a smart cities kind of day: Bozikovic offers a fascinating take on Sidewalk Toronto, and "what's been overlooked amid the controversy": "There is a coherent urbanism here: mutable, mixed, and fine-grained. A substantial and novel development project has been largely cast as a Trojan horse for 'surveillance capitalism.'"
● Evitts Dickinson x 2: Perhaps Sidewalk Labs should look to Stockholm's Royal Seaport as "a model for smart-city development" that "stands out as a project that's remained true to its word."
● She tells the cautionary tales of some authoritarian states that are using "smart megacities to transform their economies - a reminder that even for a centralized or authoritarian government, the smart-city concept is not a magical elixir" (and the notable names who have "detached themselves" from the projects).
● Eyefuls (54 photos!) of the "Manhattanization" of San Francisco's skyline - 1980s vs. 2017.
● Sussman considers further her findings of "The Primal Pattern" for architecture, and "what the 'House Experiment' ["draw a house as if they're five years old"] demonstrates so well," and even finds a "primal pattern happily greeting everyone" at JFK.
● Fixsen reports that Herzog & de Meuron is donating a portion of its archive to MoMA: "A rich assortment of architectural models, drawings, and building fragments could pave the way for similar contributions and recalibrate global practices' relationship with MoMA."
● Meanwhile, the M+ museum in Hong Kong buys Archigram's archive for £1.8 million: "The deal marks the culmination of a decade long search by the 1960s avant-garde group to find a suitable buyer" (despite the Arts Council objections, and despite being valued at £2.7 million in 2016).
● Perkins Eastman "began the conversation of the practice's second generation of leadership 11 years ago" - and now announces a leadership transition to three co-CEOs (firm name remains).
● ICYMI: ANN feature: rise in the city 2018 Update: Student designs for affordable housing in Maseru, Lesotho, Southern Africa, are in and - hot-off-the-press - winning designs will be prototyped! (A few prized blocks needing sponsors remain.)
Winners all!
● Liz Diller wins AJ/AR's 2019 Jane Drew Prize, architectural photographer Hélène Binet is awarded the 2019 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize, and impressive shortlists in the running for the 2019 Architect of the Year award and the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture.
● Four projects garner the AIA 2019 Institute Honor Awards for Regional and Urban Design, "based on how well the design addresses environmental, social, and economic issues through sustainable strategies" (great presentations).
● The Society of Architectural Historians names architect Aymar Mariño-Maza and architectural historian Zachary J. Violette as the 2018 H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellows.
● Brussat is always happy to learn who wins the Driehaus Prize, though "this tribute to Maurice Culot is really a lesson in how to admit you know very little about your subject."
● This year's Arts Foundation Awards include the inaugural Experimental Architecture Award - a "category reflecting the many ways in which spatial design now manifests itself, from physical spaces to virtual ones"; Holly Hendry wins.
Deadlines:
● Call for entries: InNOVAte 2019 Challenge: Disrupting the Built Environment: for entrepreneurs and innovators who have reached the prototype stage (and need funding).
● Call for entries: CCA/Canadian Centre for Architecture 2019 Emerging Curator program (international).
● Call for entries: 2019 Lyceum Fellowship: A traveling fellowship in Architecture: propose a sanctuary for San Francisco's Angel Island - open to students attending any accredited school of architecture in North America.
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Obituary: Florence Knoll Bassett, 101, Designer of the Modern American Office: The mid-20th-century furnishings she fashioned were profoundly influential, and they still resonate: Throughout her career, influenced by the German Bauhaus...she promoted the Modernist merger of architecture, art and utility in her furnishings and interiors...[she] recruited and hired many of the world’s best postwar designers. -- Mies van der Rohe; Eliel Saarinen; Eero Saarinen; Walter Gropius; Marcel Breuer; Hans Knoll; Harry Bertoia [images]- New York Times |
Blair Kamin: One of the five plans for the massive O'Hare expansion soars above the rest: Chances for architectural greatness are rare. When they come around, we best grab them. Such is the opportunity...for a new global terminal...from a team led by...Foster + Partners, promises to be everything an airport should be...If the design can meet the acid test of making the budget, serving airline operations efficiently, and not leaking...would endow...the airport...with a new civic identity. Just as important, it promises to work...a spectacular presence, but not an empty spectacle. -- Foster Epstein Moreno; Jeanne Gang/Studio Gang; Santiago Calatrava; Curt Fentress; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)- Chicago Tribune |
Ella Jessel: Beauty watchdog could be government decoy, admits Roger Scruton: ...has admitted the government’s beauty commission he leads could be a decoy to distract from some of the UK’s more pressing housing issues: ...conceded: "I’m here in order to make it look like something is being done"...The speakers’ opening presentations challenged the beauty commission chair’s championing of traditionalism... -- Building Better, Building Beautiful commission; Liza Fior/muf architecture/art; Neil Pinder; Andrew Whitaker/Home Builders Federation; Deborah Garvie/Shelter; Oliver Wainwright- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Mike Ives: Too Ugly to Be Saved? Singapore Weighs Fate of Its Brutalist Buildings: A few landmarks of so-called Brutalist architecture are on the verge of being sold to private developers, prompting a last-ditch scramble by enthusiasts to have the buildings protected...[they] are emerging havens for the sort of gritty, artsy subcultures that are mostly absent in Singapore...Others see them as important markers of national identity because they were designed by a generation of up-and-coming local architects... -- Ho Weng Hin/Studio Lapis [images]- New York Times |
World Monuments Fund Enlists Selldorf Architects for Forbidden City Project: Annabelle Selldorf will design an interpretation center at the Qianlong Garden in the Forbidden City in Beijing: The 250-year-old retirement digs of an 18th-century Chinese emperor are getting a face-lift...The garden has not previously been accessible to the public...interpretation center is meant to evoke the tranquility of the gardens themselves...speaking to her own admiration for the craftsmanship of the extravagant structures of Imperial China. “It’s totally intimidating,” [Selldorf said].- New York Times |
Alex Bozikovic: Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs has prompted a backlash over data privacy with its Quayside smart-city project. ...reports on what's been overlooked amid the controversy: ...some painted the project as a fearsome corporate takeover or as a techno-utopia in the making...There is a coherent urbanism here: mutable, mixed, and fine-grained. But the project’s most controversial aspect...could be what it does with public streets...A substantial and novel development project has been largely cast as a Trojan horse for “surveillance capitalism.” -- Sidewalk Toronto; Dan Doctoroff; Karim Khalifa; Waterfront Toronto; Neil Kittredge/Beyer Blinder Belle; Urban Strategies; Ken Greenberg; Public Work; Michael Green Associates Architecture; Snøhetta; Heatherwick Studio; Partisans; Rohit (Rit) Aggarwala [images]- Architect Magazine |
Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson: A Holistic Vision of the Smart City: Sensitive urbanism, smart technology, progressive architecture, and careful government stewardship make Royal Seaport in Stockholm a model for smart-city development: ...stands out as a project that’s remained true to its word. -- Herzog & de Meuron; Martin Laursen/Adept; Mandaworks; U.D. Urban Design; Anders Ohlin [images]- Architect Magazine |
Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson: The Smart City as a Billboard of Progress: Saudi Arabia and other authoritarian states are using smart cities to transform their economies - with mixed results: ...Saudi Vision 2030...transforming hundreds of square miles of desert into smart megacities...But this initial round...has largely failed to fulfill its initial promise...delayed because of the political fallout from the [journalist Jamal Khashoggi] killing. Advisers to Neom, like Norman Foster have since backed out...while other Western CEOs, architects, and planners have also detached themselves from development projects in Saudi Arabia...It is a reminder that even for a centralized or authoritarian government...the smart-city concept is not a magical elixir. -- King Abdullah Economic City; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Henning Larsen; Gensler; Foster + Partners; HOK; Zaha Hadid Architect- Architect Magazine |
The Manhattanization of SF: How the city's skyline has changed in the last two decades: San Francisco skyline: Before and after: 1980s vs. 2017: ...erecting glassy and sleek towers where parking lots and dilapidated buildings once stood...One might say the city has grown up, even been "Manhattanized"...54 photos that show how just how much the skyline has changed. [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Ann Sussman: “The Primal Pattern” for Architecture: Worldwide: What connects us to other people? One commonality...That’s what the ‘House Experiment’ demonstrates so well. Asked to “draw a house as if they’re five years old,” people draw almost identical images...no matter where they come from...we are more the same than we realize...what most grabs our attention is pre-set; a version of the face...So, no surprise then, to find the primal pattern happily greeting everyone at JFK...- The Genetics of Design |
Anna Fixsen: Herzog & de Meuron Donate Portion of Archive to MoMA: The donation will make a significant portion of the Swiss firm’s archive available to U.S. audiences for the first time: ...a rich assortment of architectural models, drawings, and building fragments - 23 in all...could pave the way for similar contributions and recalibrate global practices’ relationship with MoMA...“We are hoping this is a model,” says Martino Stierli. [images]- Architectural Digest |
Archigram sells archive to Hong Kong museum: A collection of some of post-war Britain’s most significant architectural work is to leave the country after the surviving members of Archigram were given the go-ahead to sell their archive to M+ museum for £1.8 million: The deal marks the culmination of a decade long search by the 1960s avant-garde group to find a suitable buyer...Peter Cook admitted he felt conflicted about the archive leaving Britain but said the country had no suitable architecture museum. --- Aric Chen; David Greene, Michael Webb, Dennis Crompton- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Perkins Eastman Announces Leadership Transition: L. Bradford Perkins and Mary-Jean Eastman, who are stepping back, have appointed Shawn Basler, Nick Leahy, and Andrew Adelhardt III as co-CEOs of the 1,000-person global firm: Perkins and Eastman will stay on as chairman and vice-chairman, respectively...Succession planning can be notoriously difficult for architecture firms...[They] began the conversation of the practice’s second generation of leadership 11 years ago.- Architect Magazine |
Women in Architecture awards shortlist announced; Liz Diller wins 2019 Jane Drew Prize: French-Swiss architectural photographer Hélène Binet...was awarded the 2019 Ada Louise Huxtable Prize...The Architects’ Journal and The Architectural Review jury also released their shortlists for both the 2019 Architect of the Year award and the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture. -- ; Elizabeth Diller/Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Eva Prats/Flores & Prats; Sheila O’Donnell/O’Donnell + Tuomey; Ellen van Loon/OMA; Carme Pigem/RCR Arquitectes; Lina Ghotmeh/Lina Ghotmeh Architecture; Irene Pérez/TEd’A Arquitectes; Xu Tiantian/DnA; Jeannette Kuo/Karamuk Kuo- The Architect's Newspaper |
AIA selects recipients for the 2019 Institute Honor Awards for Regional and Urban Design: ...recognizing four projects...based on how well the design addresses environmental, social, and economic issues through sustainable strategies. -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Miller Hull Partnership; Marlon Blackwell Architects; Landing Studio [images]- American Institute of Architects (AIA) |
Society of Architectural Historians Announces 2018 H. Allen Brooks Travelling Fellows: SAH has named architect Aymar Mariño-Maza and architectural historian Zachary J. Violette...They will begin their fellowship travels in March 2019 and will document their field studies through monthly updates on the SAH Blog.- Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) |
David Brussat: Richard H. Driehaus Prize goes to Maurice Culot: ...Belgian architect and urban theorist...“at the forefront of the creation of the modern traditional movement.” This phraseology seems to be an attempt, highly laudable, to recapture the meaning of the word “modern,” which was stolen a century ago by modern architecture...This tribute to Culot is really a lesson in how to admit you know very little about your subject. -- ARCAS Architecture & Urbanism- Architecture Here and There |
Holly Hendry wins inaugural Experimental Architecture Award at the Arts Foundation Awards 2019: ...the debut...category, reflecting the many ways in which spatial design now manifests itself, from physical spaces to virtual ones...Hendry’s fellow finalists included... -- Justin McGuirk; Holly Hendry; Chris Hildrey/Hildrey Studio; Lawrence Lek; Pooja Agrawal/Finn Williams/Public Practice [images]- Wallpaper* |
Call for entries: InNOVAte 2019 Challenge: Disrupting the Built Environment: for entrepreneurs and innovators who have reached the prototype stage; deadline: April 8- Greentown Labs / CertainTeed / Saint-Gobain NOVA |
Call for entries: CCA/Canadian Centre for Architecture 2019 Emerging Curator program (international): Proposals must bring an innovative curatorial model to the contemporary discourse on architecture; deadline: March 1- Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) |
Call for entries: 2019 Lyceum Fellowship: A traveling fellowship in Architecture: A Sanctuary: propose a welcoming place of sanctuary in the form of a new arrival center on Angel Island, in the San Francisco Bay; open to students attending any accredited school of architecture in North America; deadline: March 22- Lyceum Fellowship |
ANN feature: rise in the city 2018 Update: Student Designs for Affordable Housing in Lesotho Shine. A Few Prized Blocks Needing Sponsors Remain: Student designs for affordable housing in Maseru, Lesotho, Southern Africa, are in and - hot-off-the-press - winning designs will be prototyped!- ArchNewsNow.com |
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