Today’s News - Wednesday, February 20, 2019
● Shaw takes a deep dive into what's happening in Detroit five years after it declared bankruptcy: With Cox leading the planning department, "design fuels recovery," and the city is "set to become a laboratory of ideas that will redefine gentrification" and "provoke a new kind of urban revitalization."
● Kamin x 2: He has high hopes for a proposed Chicago ordinance that would keep the city's "spectacular" skyline from being a bird killer - "encouraging - and, in some cases, mandating - bird-friendly design" (look for opposition from real estate developers).
● He opines that a judge's "decision not to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the location of the Obama Presidential Center" in Jackson Park "doesn't doom the promising plans. Will Obama be forced to go to Plan B? Not yet" (i.e., no George Lucas "my way or the highway" attitude).
● To follow up, a more technically detailed report on why the judge's ruling that Protect Our Parks' lawsuit can go forward is a "significant" setback to the Obama Presidential Center plans to build on public parkland. The project "has also revealed deep, sensitive community divisions along racial and class lines."
● Spivack takes a deep dive into what NYC stands to lose now that the Amazon HQ2 deal is dead: "The e-commerce giant has decided it's had its fill of the tongue-lashing the company has taken" (comments worth a look, too).
● A Filipino senator running for re-election "reminded Filipino architects and designers of their crucial role in urban planning, noting that most of them have overlooked the social dimension of their roles in society" (she had some positive things to say, too).
● Green spaces Down Under underway: Hassell and SO-IL are designing public spaces for Melbourne's arts precinct redevelopment that includes an elevated inner-city park with "a strong focus on nature."
● Sydney's CBD to get an experiential children's playground in the existing Cook and Phillip Park, designed by Aspect Studios and Aileen Sage Architects.
● Eyefuls of Istanbul-based Melike Altinisik Architects' spherical Robot Science Museum in Seoul that will be constructed by robots - for robots.
● Schwab cheers a tiny Snøhetta project in a Norwegian wood that presents a "radical future of hospitals" - it's "a small cabin where children and their families can meet outside the dreary, depressing hospital setting."
● Meanwhile, P+W is tackling "the first public mental health facility in Houston in more than 30 years" that - along with a psychiatric center - "will assume the title of largest academic psychiatric hospital in the country."
● Eyefuls of the TWA Hotel inside Saarinen's JFK terminal, now ready for its close-up after being shut for 16 years (we want a room - and a cocktail in the retrofitted 1956 plane on the tarmac!).
● Betsky pays eloquent tribute to "the modern furniture maven" Florence Knoll: "If there is such a thing as a modernist vernacular, she created it."
● A Scottish laird wants to resurrect a rescue plan for Gillespie Kidd & Coia's 1966 St. Peter's Seminary - closed for nearly 40 years. Alan Dunlop sees "the potential to be transformed into a Bauhaus-inspired centre."
● Elshahed and El Kordy discuss "the forgotten legacy" of "visionary Egyptian architect" Sayed Karim: "Despite his best efforts, Egyptian modernism - a hybrid of the International Style and local practices - did not translate into a fully developed 'movement.'"
● Crosbie writes in praise of the documentary film "Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect" that "reveals a man compelled by the human element of designing buildings" ("Stern describes Roche's as a 'leprechaun's version of an ego'").
● Eyefuls of the 18 winners of the AIA|LA 2019 Architectural Photography Awards.
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Matt Shaw: Five years after Detroit’s bankruptcy, design fuels recovery: ...set to become a laboratory of ideas that will redefine gentrification...how is design helping to speculate on new future urbanisms? Perhaps the most dramatic change...has been in the city planning department...Maurice Cox has been tasked with overseeing the recovery...As design thinking ramps up, so too will design excellence...there is reason to believe it will provoke a new kind of urban revitalization... -- Lorcan O’Herlihy; SCAPE; Walter Hood/Hood Design Studio; Adjaye Associates; Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates; Lars Gräbner/Christina Hansen/VolumeOne [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Blair Kamin: Spectacular skylines can also be bird killers. Here's how a proposed Chicago ordinance is trying to help: Legislation...encouraging - and, in some cases, mandating - bird-friendly design. Proponents say the measures won’t add significantly to construction costs. But the proposal could face opposition from real estate developers...would mandate that at least 95% of a building’s facade, from the ground to a height of 36 feet, not be sheathed in glass or have bird-safe glass...Other U.S. cities, like San Francisco, already have bird-safety design rules on the books.- Chicago Tribune |
Blair Kamin: 'No Drama Obama' is in a legal box of his own making, but the plans for his Jackson Park presidential center remain alive: ...a federal judge’s...decision not to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the location of the Obama Presidential Center...But the setback doesn’t doom the promising plans for the center...judge set a relatively fast timetable for the next stages of the case...In addition, the deep Chicago roots of [the Obamas] make it unlikely that they’ll follow the “my way or the highway” course of...George Lucas...I’m an architecture critic, not a lawyer, but in my view, at least, there’s a crucial difference between the two projects...will Obama be forced to go to Plan B? Not yet. -- Tod Williams Billie Tsien- Chicago Tribune |
In blow to Obama Presidential Center backers, judge allows lawsuit challenging Chicago's Jackson Park location to proceed: ...Protect Our Parks has enough legal ground to bring some of their objections before [the judge]...it could delay construction for months, if not years, and potentially raise the question of whether the $500 million sprawling presidential campus can be built at all on lakefront property...the project has also revealed deep, sensitive community divisions along racial and class lines...The Cultural Landscape Foundation...said Obama Center planners “created this controversy by insisting on the confiscation of public parkland." -- Charles A. Birnbaum- Chicago Tribune |
Caroline Spivack: What will NYC lose after Amazon HQ2 deal crumbles? Here are the commitments Amazon is taking with it: ...the e-commerce giant has decided its had its fill of the tongue-lashing the company has taken...- Curbed New York |
Sen. Nancy Binay cites crucial role of architecture, design in building communities: ...has reminded Filipino architects and designers on their crucial role in urban planning, noting that most of them have overlooked the social dimension of their roles in society...lauded [those] who continue to push boundaries while...tapping into the Filipino consciousness and using indigenous materials in the pursuit of building structures that represent Filipino ideals and aspirations.- Manila Bulletin (Philippines) |
Hassell, SO-IL to design public spaces for Melbourne’s arts precinct redevelopment: ...will design an elevated inner-city park and new pedestrian connections...delivering a total of 18,000 square metres of new and renewed open public space...design puts a strong focus on nature... -- ARM Architecture; Taylor Cullity Lethlean [images]- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
Aspect Studios and Aileen Sage Architects design playground in Sydney CBD: ...an experiential children’s playground [in] the existing Cook and Phillip Park...will flank the Cook and Phillip Park Aquatic and Fitness Centre...design involves a diverse mix of features intended to spark play... -- Lawrence Nield/Bligh Voller Nield; Spackman Mossop [images]- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
Robots will Construct Melike Altinisik Architects' Robot Science Museum in Seoul: Robots will assemble the museum’s curved metal façade...another team of robots will 3D print concrete elements for the surrounding landscape. This semi-automated construction process creates continuity within the museum between robots for construction, robots for service, and robots for exhibition. [images]- ArchDaily |
Katharine Schwab: The radical future of hospitals is being built in a Norwegian forest: Even though it looks like it’s buried deep in the Norwegian forest, the outdoor care center is only 650 feet from the Oslo University Hospital: ...a small cabin where children and their families could meet outside the dreary, depressing hospital setting....was something of a gamble, and initially...encountered some resistance from hospital staff... -- Snøhetta [images]- Fast Company |
Perkins+Will’s design for University of Texas Health Continuum of Care Campus for Behavioral Health promotes health and wellbeing: ...the first public mental health facility in Houston in more than 30 years...located next door to the UTHealth Harris County Psychiatric Center. Both facilities will...assume the title of largest academic psychiatric hospital in the country. [images]- PRISM |
TWA Hotel inside Eero Saarinen's JFK Airport terminal open for reservations: ...after being shut for 16 years...512 rooms are housed in two new curved buildings...These have one of the thickest curtain-wall constructions in the world, featuring seven panes in order to block runway noise...guest rooms are designed to evoke the history of the original terminal, with elements harking back to 1960s design...a cocktail lounge on the tarmac [in] a retrofitted Lockheed Constellation L-1649A Starliner airplane dating back to 1956. -- Lubrano Ciavarra Architects; Beyer Blinder Belle; INC Architecture & Design; Stonehill Taylor [images]- Dezeen |
Aaron Betsky: The Modern Furniture Maven: Appreciating Florence Knoll: The design force behind the furniture giant brought life to the modernist utopia that midcentury corporate America represented: If there is such a thing as a modernist vernacular, Florence Knoll created it...Knoll’s stores...became beacons of good design long before Apple opened its glass cubes all around the world...had its limits. The furniture is and always was expensive... -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Isamu Noguchi; Eero Saarinen; Frank Gehry [images]- Architect Magazine |
Scottish laird bids to resurrect Cardross seminary rescue plan: John Bute has called for public money to help save Gillespie Kidd & Coia’s derelict...A-listed St Peter’s Seminary...closed nearly 40 years ago...Archdiocese of Glasgow...described it as ‘a huge albatross around our neck’...architect Alan Dunlop...said it had the potential to be transformed into a Bauhaus-inspired centre. -- Isi Metzstein and Andy MacMillan (1966); Gareth Hoskins; Avanti Architects; McGinlay Bell- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Modernist Indignation: Two architects on the forgotten legacy of Sayed Karim: On the 108th birthday of visionary Egyptian architect...a conversation on Karim’s legacy: his philosophy, his aesthetic, and the political context in which he worked: Despite his best efforts, Egyptian modernism - a hybrid of the International Style and local practices - did not translate into a fully developed “movement"...it is still worth evaluating Egyptian modernism on its own terms, rather than seeing it as an offshoot of European modernism. -- Mohamed Elshahed; Samir El Kordy [images]- Mada Masr (Egypt) |
Michael J. Crosbie: In Praise of "Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect": A documentary film...reveals a man compelled by the human element of designing buildings: ...his first words aren’t about architecture; they’re about the insanity - as he sees it - of retirement...we come to know Roche as a workaholic, passionately dedicated to architecture...more a film about finding your place in the world - and about how you might practice architecture with a goal of helping other people make their place in the world. -- Eero Saarinen; Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates; Robert A.M. Stern; Cesar Pelli; Richard Meier- Common Edge |
AIA|LA Announces the Winners of the 2019 Architectural Photography Awards: 18 photographs were honored in the third iteration of the annual awards program. [images]- Architect Magazine |
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