Today’s News - Tuesday, February 26, 2019
● Bliss reports on #BlockSidewalk's goal to block Sidewalk Labs' controversial Quayside smart city in Toronto for its lack of "transparency, accountability, and democratic governance - headlines are helping normalize the idea of protesting a tech giant among regular citizens who weren't as engaged before."
● Quito, meanwhile, delves into how WeWork is "nurturing a cadre of analytics-minded architects who are as interested in databases as they are in drawings - architecture should be shaped by a methodical study of how people utilize spaces instead of unique aesthetic signatures."
● Three experts from Down Under take a deep dive into Passive House initiatives: PH is "'just the first step' - it is not the whole staircase," says PH design trainer Kress.
● Davidson visits Harvard's HouseZero (by Snøhetta), and ponders whether it is "the greenest house in America - the lessons that emerge" from "this office/lab/walk-in-computer/showcase - could yield software cheap and flexible enough to work in modest houses and gargantuan towers" (and Malkawi "is bored by its beauty").
● Barber parses a proposal for a car-free, bike-friendly, Dutch-style city in Colorado using Dutch easement and platting standards as a model for a city of about 50,000 people called Cyclocroft (hopefully they'll rethink the current name).
● Brussat minces no words about what he thinks of REX's design for Brown University's proposed performing arts center and its "quirky, makeshift appearance - it can be accused of wrecking any hope that the new facility will be beautiful."
● Eyefuls of REX's Brown University Performing Arts Center design, so you can make up your own mind.
● Kaehler, on a brighter note, cheers Olin's Mill River Park in Stamford, Connecticut: Once "neglected and polluted," and "a public menace," it is now "undoubtedly one of the city's most exciting and successful projects that might be as important to downtown Stamford as Central Park was to New York City more than 150 years ago."
● Corbett parses a new study comparing experts' and visitors' views on "curvy" architecture: "Is the public as charmed by all these bending, arching, sloping surfaces as the architects are who designed them?" Answer: No.
● Moore, speaking of curvy, spends some quality time with Gehry (who turns 90 on Thursday): "His buildings are vivid characters. He psychoanalyses chain link. As a student in the 1980s, when postmodernism was bloating - it was a revelation to find someone who could be so inventive, so enjoyable and so free, while still to the point" (though "it can be a bad sign when Gehry uses metaphors too glibly").
● Isenberg, author of "Conversations with Frank Gehry," talks to the maestro re: aging, music, how the Luma Arles "fulfills my lifelong dream of painting with light" - and "the one building he most wants to design" (a church or a synagogue).
● Welton profiles Kamphoefner, "called a rock star, a cast-iron S.O.B., an incredible visionary, and an arrogant curmudgeon - one of the most enlightened design educators of his time, and someone who changed the architectural landscape of North Carolina."
● Tory-Henderson takes us on a tour of the National School of Art in Havana - "a series of sculptural buildings organic in plan and form - a project of spatial riches" (with many of her own fab photos - views we've never seen before).
● One we couldn't resist: "Traveloka asked 100 people to illustrate major cities around the world. The drawings are beyond charming. They also illustrate an important thesis: We categorize cities through architecture and food."
● ICYMI: ANN feature: Saxon Henry: Raw Elegance in Black and White: Q&A with JoAnn Locktov, the editor and publisher of "Dream of Venice in Black and White," who talks about her creative process and strategies in creating the third book in the "Dream of Venice" trilogy (luscious images!).
Winners all:
● Somewhere Studio wins the 2019 City of Dreams Pavilion with "Salvage Swings," made out of scrap cross-laminated timber from a University of Arkansas construction project, which will swing on NYC's Roosevelt Island this summer, then be relocated to city parks and schools.
● Profiles of the 2019 Frame Awards winners honoring the world's best interiors (great presentation).
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Laura Bliss: Critics Vow to Block Sidewalk Labs' Controversial Smart City in Toronto: In an echo of the Amazon HQ2 backlash in Queens, Canadian foes of Alphabet’s city-building arm have organized a campaign against the Quayside development: ...revelations came as a shock...underscore issues related to transparency, accountability, and democratic governance...#BlockSidewalk...will eventually introduce new visual renderings to offer...alternative visions...headlines are helping normalize the idea of protesting a tech giant among regular citizens who weren’t as engaged before. -- Dan Doctoroff- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
Anne Quito: WeWork Is Retraining a Generation of Architects to Think in Terms of Data: Data influences WeWork’s real estate deals, construction sequence, and design choices...acquiring data literacy makes architecture relevant in a tech-dominated era: “Buildings equal data"...nano manifesto hints at a conviction that architecture should be shaped by a methodical study of how people utilize spaces instead of unique aesthetic signatures...data-collection methods...are designed to measure the perceived “vibe” of a particular space...nurturing a cadre of analytics-minded architects who are as interested in databases as they are in drawings. -- David Fano; Nicolas Rader/Powered by We- Metropolis Magazine |
Passive House and three deep dives: Smart Plus Homes’ PH design trainer Daniel Kress says it’s a step, not the whole staircase; ComfortID’s Erwin Boermans wants to see mechanical heating and cooling systems replaced with water-based systems; and Troppo Architects director Phil Harris says we need to stay in touch with the weather and that “there is nothing worse than concrete in the tropics.”- The Fifth Estate (Australia) |
Justin Davidson: Is This Harvard Prototype the Greenest House in America? Nobody lives in HouseZero...This office/lab/walk-in-computer/showcase houses the university’s Center for Green Buildings and Cities, and it would be hard to think of a more apt headquarters for a more urgent mission...this wood-frame body freckled with sensors and veined with five miles of cable stands out for its self-evident simplicity and radical potential...the lessons that emerge from HouseZero could yield software cheap and flexible enough to work in modest houses and gargantuan towers... -- Ali Malkawi; Snøhetta; Skanska [images]- New York Magazine |
Megan Barber: Could a car-free, Dutch-style city work in Colorado? Lovers of all things bike-related, a new city from scratch could be just for you: A Netherlands-based urban design firm [B4place] has partnered with money blogger Pete Adeney to brainstorm a bike-friendly planned community...about 30 minutes from Denver...currently known as Cyclocroft...uses Dutch easement and platting standards as a model...for approximately 50,000 people.- Curbed |
David Brussat: REX wrecks Brown University PAC Rx: ...proposed performing arts center...can be accused of wrecking any hope that the new facility...will be beautiful...Two rival conceits...split the personality...giving it a quirky, makeshift appearance. That’s appropriate, since the art world has for decades favored, above all else, the quirky and the makeshift...but we can all be happy that the project was relocated...No buildings will be demolished...The result will be an arts facility that fails to beautify the campus, but what else is new? -- Joshua Prince-Ramus,- Architecture Here and There |
Eric Baldwin: REX Reveals Brown University’s Performing Arts Center Design: ...designed to encourage collaboration and inspire new modes of artistic and cultural production....The building will be shrink-wrapped in an extruded aluminum rainscreen composed of fractal-like fluted geometry. -- Joshua Prince-Ramus [images]- ArchDaily |
Laura Kaehler: Stamford’s Mill River Park shines: Neglected and polluted, it became a public menace that too often dumped its floodwaters on downtown Stamford...undoubtedly one of [the city's] most exciting, successful and promising projects - the birth and growth of an urban park that might be as important to the vitality of downtown Stamford as Central Park was to New York City more than 150 years ago. -- Lucinda Sanders/Olin Partnership; Gray Organschi Architects- Stamford Advocate (Connecticut) |
Rachel Corbett: A New Study Suggests Why Museum Architecture Is So Curvy - and It’s Not Because Visitors Like It That Way: The experts and the normal visitor view these buildings in very different ways: ...is the public as charmed by all these bending, arching, sloping surfaces as the architects are who designed them? Not according to a new study [in] "Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts"...the real upshot of the study may be that architects do not sense the appeal of their own creations...just the latest in a large ongoing body of research into the preferences of rectilinear versus curvilinear design.- artnet News |
Rowan Moore: Frank Gehry at 90: ‘I love working. I love working things out": He didn’t hit his stride till he was 50: Fame is definitely a thing with Gehry, but an ambiguous one...his buildings are...vivid characters...He psychoanalyses chain link...He hates the label “starchitect”...For myself...As a student in the 1980s, when postmodernism was bloating, and...precious little inspiration beyond British hi-tech, it was a revelation to find someone who could be so inventive, so enjoyable and so free, while still to the point...It can be a bad sign when Gehry uses metaphors too glibly...- Observer (UK) |
Barbara Isenberg: Frank Gehry at 90: Aging, music and the one building he most wants to design: ...Maja Hoffmann’s cultural complex Luma Arles in Arles, France. “This fulfills my lifelong dream of painting with light...The art of architecture is what humanizes it, brings it to people and relates it to our lives. It’s not just bricks and mortar; it is potentially uplifting, inviting and intellectually stimulating...I would like to design a church or a synagogue. A place that has transcendence.- Los Angeles Times |
J. Michael Welton: Blueprint For A Movement: A tenacious architect with a lofty goal turned North Carolina State University into a powerhouse of modernist design: Henry Kamphoefner has been called a rock star, a cast-iron S.O.B., an incredible visionary, and an arrogant curmudgeon...one of the most enlightened design educators of his time, and someone who changed the architectural landscape of North Carolina. -- George Matsumoto; James Fitzgibbon; Duncan Stuart; Edward Waugh; Matthew Nowicki; Eduardo Catalano; Harwell Hamilton Harris; Milton Small- Our State (North Carolina) |
Nina Tory-Henderson: National School of Art, Havana, Cuba: The architects...worked with a revolutionary spirit, with a curiosity and eagerness to create change. The result was a series of sculptural buildings organic in plan and form, unlike anything that had been built in Cuba before...The complexity of the plan created a project of spatial riches... -- Ricardo Porro; Vittorio Garatti; Roberto Gottardi [images]- ArcSpace |
Mark Wilson: The best way to brand a city? With architecture and food: ...Traveloka...asked 100 people to illustrate major cities around the world. The drawings...are beyond charming. They also illustrate an important thesis: We categorize cities through our eyes and our stomachs, through the built environment and the recipes cooked there. [images]- Fast Company |
Somewhere Studio Wins 2019 City of Dreams Pavilion: "Salvage Swings": ...an architectural pavilion of swing structures on Roosevelt Island out of scrap cross-laminated timber from a University of Arkansas construction project...temporary art structure will be assembled on Roosevelt Island and open to the public for the summer 2019 season...swings to be easily separated...and relocated as individual swings to parks and schools across New York City. -- FIGMENT; Emerging New York Architects Committee (ENYA); AIANY); Structural Engineers Association of New York (SEAoNY); Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design [images]- Archinect |
2019 Frame Awards winners honoring the world's best interiors -- Philippe Starck (Lifetime Achievement Award); Faye Toogood (Designer of the Year); Alberto Caiola Studio (Emerging Designer of the Year); etc. [images]- Frame magazine |
ANN feature: Saxon Henry: Raw Elegance in Black and White: Q&A with JoAnn Locktov: The editor and publisher of "Dream of Venice in Black and White" talks about her creative process and strategies in creating the third book in the "Dream of Venice" trilogy. [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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