Today’s News - Thursday, July 18, 2019
EDITOR'S NOTE: Tomorrow and Monday will be no-newsletter days. We'll be back Tuesday, July 23.
● Wainwright parses the 2019 Stirling Prize shortlist, "from a cork creation to a Teletubbies-style whisky distillery - the most interesting and varied Stirling prize shortlist for some time."
● Locktov, of "I Dream of Venice" series fame, pens an open letter re: the cruise ship crisis in Venice: "The critical issues of overtourism cannot be solved with a hashtag or turnstiles or automatic people counters. They can't even be solved with fines. Removing the cruise ships would at least be a start. Because Venice is too miraculous to fail."
● Buday explains "why the profession desperately needs new architectural manifestos right now," and offers a tutorial on how to write one: "Over-the-top isn't over the top in manifesto writing. Outrage and anger are not out of place, either. Quirky and crazed is not only acceptable; it's preferable" - and launches the Common Edge Architectural Manifestos Contest.
● Kapps considers a new study re: gentrification that "claims the effects of neighborhood change on original lower-income residents are largely positive, despite fears of spiking rents and displacement. What if the conventional wisdom about gentrification is kind of wrong?"
● Zeiger considers three design proposals for a major new park along an 11-mile stretch of the L.A. River: "It is reasonable to ask: Who will benefit? Renewed attention to the waterway is driving speculative real estate development and concerns about gentrification."
● Plitt reports that the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved contested changes to the former Four Seasons restaurant: "The operators made changes to the iconic Philip Johnson-designed interiors without seeking approval", which "prompted a swift backlash," but "a majority of commissioners voted to approve the modifications."
● Sayer says DS+R's "High Line-esque" elevated walkway on London's Greenwich Peninsula "signals some attempt at placemaking" amidst "rampant development" ("walking along The Tide is like touring candidates for the Carbuncle Cup").
● Stinson, meanwhile, cheers Snøhetta's "Path of Perspectives" hiking trail in the Austrian Alps, "designed to encourage hikers to take a breather and absorb their surroundings - turning the already picturesque landscape into an art walk of sorts."
● Serratore delves into "the magical (postmodern) world of Disney - the champions of postmodern design deserve to be recognized as more than just great works of corporate architecture": Graves "intuitively understood what a Disney building ought to be"; Celebration "is a hyperreal version of the hyperreal itself" (and "Stirling cast aspersions on the idea of designing for Disney at all" - great read!).
● ICYMI: ANN feature: Taylor cheers "Bauhaus Beginnings" at the Getty Research Institute that is so impressive, the president of Germany wondered, "How can there be so much great Bauhaus material outside of Germany?"
● ICYMI: ANN feature: Salingaros: "Signs versus Symptoms": A Reply to the Open Letter from British Architecture Students Calling for Curriculum Change: Asking for radical reforms in architectural education, this courageous appeal could help this latest effort be taken seriously, and not simply dismissed, as previous cries for reform have been.
Weekend diversions:
● Your must-read of the day: Kennicott reviews "The Evidence Room," a "small but powerful" show at the Hirshhorn Museum that presents architectural and design elements of the Auschwitz gas chambers: It "arrives in Washington at a critical moment in the degradation of America" and "encourages us to ask: Who made these gray detention rooms in which Vice President Pence stood."
● Volner, meanwhile, says Libeskind's "Through the Lens of Faith," a temporary "simple, open-air gallery" at Auschwitz, "combines a unique commemorative mission with a much-needed programmatic function," and "introduces a tranquility to the busy entry plaza, as well as a moment of spiritual refreshment."
● Cumming cheers the "strong affinity" between "Olafur Eliasson: In Real Life" and "Takis" at London's Tate Modern: "From foggy tunnels to galleries of rain, Eliasson's hypnotic installations highlight the state of the planet, while Takis's humanoids and insects are just magnetic" (bring old T-shirts for recycling and get cool stuff!).
● Madsen strolls "Lawn" at the National Building Museum with Rockwell as he "works intently on folding a paper airplane": "'I think this is going to be a place where people will do something they didn't expect to, like building a paper airplane.' And with that, he releases his."
● "Frank Lloyd Wright: Architecture of the Interior" at the District Architecture Center in Washington, DC, "illustrates the myriad - both obvious and subtle - ways he created the visual character of interior space and objects within it."
Page-turners:
● A fascinating excerpt from Volner's "The Great Great Wall: Along the Borders of History from China to Mexico" that chronicles "the rise (and fall) of Trump's border wall prototypes."
● Lange revisits Alexander's "A Pattern Language": "It looked handsome in my dorm room - enshrined but unread," but "turns out to be an ideal candidate for a re-read. There's a vegetarian-stew earnestness - but sometimes you need to be earnest - plain speech can ripen into something subversive and amusing."
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Oliver Wainwright: Stirling prize 2019 shortlist: from a cork creation to a Teletubbies-style whisky distillery: Energy efficiency is a priority this year as a railway station, visitor centre, social housing project and opera house vie for the RIBA award for British building of the year: ...the most interesting and varied Stirling prize shortlist for some time. -- Matthew Barnett Howland/Dido Milne/Oliver Wilton; Feilden Fowles; Witherford Watson Mann Architects; Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; Grimshaw Architects; Mikhail Riches with Cathy Hawley- Guardian (UK) |
JoAnn Locktov: #NoGrandiNavi. An open letter: The cruise ships account for less than 10% of annual tourists to Venice but they claim 100% of our attention. Their presence is so deeply antithetical to everything Venice represents, that we have to wonder if the obliteration of Venice is not the by-product of poor governance but the actual goal: The critical issues of overtourism cannot be solved with a hashtag [or] turnstiles or automatic people counters. They can’t even be solved with fines...Removing the cruise ships...would at least be a start. Because Venice is too miraculous to fail.- Ytali magazine |
Richard Buday: How to Write an Architectural Manifesto: Why the profession desperately needs new ones right now: The century of robust mini-debates on form and function, meaning and intent, petered out 10 years ago...threads of new architectural thought are scarce...I present herewith a means of reinvigorating the profession’s search for self...Reduced to writing, if a premise resonates, it has a chance of becoming a movement...A Whateverism never codified goes nowhere...Over-the-top isn’t over the top in manifesto writing. Outrage and anger are not out of place, either. Quirky and crazed is not only acceptable; it’s preferable. -- Archimage; -- Patrik Schumacher/Zaha Hadid Architects; Walter Gropius; Vitruvius; Frank Lloyd Wright; Adolf Loos; Le Corbusier; Jane Jacobs; Robert Venturi; Buckminster Fuller; Mies van der Rohe; Philip Johnson; Louis Kahn; etc.- Common Edge |
Kriston Capps: The Hidden Winners in Neighborhood Gentrification: A new study claims the effects of neighborhood change on original lower-income residents are largely positive, despite fears of spiking rents and displacement: What if the conventional wisdom about gentrification is kind of wrong? ...paper purports to be the first comprehensive longitudinal study on the long-term effects of gentrification on original residents. It shows that gentrification does drive out-migration to other neighborhoods...but not by very much compared to baseline neighborhood changes. -- Quentin Brummet; Davin Reed- CityLab (formerly The Atlantic Cities) |
Mimi Zeiger: L.A. River planners float three design proposals for a major new park: ...look totally distinct on paper...but they all have the same goal: restore wildlife habitat, plant people-friendly landscapes and develop flood-control strategies...Taylor Yard,...has emerged as the heart of the ambitious L.A. River Revitalization Plan, an initiative for an 11-mile stretch...it is reasonable to ask: Who will benefit? Renewed attention to the waterway is driving speculative real estate development and concerns about gentrification... -- SelgasCano; WSP; Mia Lehrer/Studio-MLA; Christopher Hawthorne- Los Angeles Times |
Amy Plitt: Landmarks Preservation Commission approves contested changes to the former Four Seasons restaurant: The operators...made changes to the iconic Philip Johnson-designed interiors without seeking the approval of the LPC - a major oversight, considering the dining room is one of the city’s few interior landmarks...prompted a swift backlash...Ultimately, however, a majority of commissioners voted to approve the modifications... -- Mies van der Rohe; MdeAS Architects (formerly Moed de Armas & Shannon Architects)- Curbed New York |
Jason Sayer: DS+R Designs Elevated Walkway for London’s Greenwich Peninsula: The first phase of the High Line-esque walkway...: ...as new apartment towers, shops, and other public amenities pop up, so too has the task of uniting the new bits of cityscape...walking along The Tide is like touring candidates for the Carbuncle Cup. In contrast to the rampant development, [it] signals some attempt at placemaking...at the very least, [it] is significantly better than traversing the polluted wasteland it was 20 years ago. -- Neiheiser Argyros; Diller Scofidio + Renfro- Metropolis Magazine |
Liz Stinson: Snøhetta’s architectural interventions in the Austrian Alps let the land speak for itself: The designs encourage pause and reflection along a 1.7 mile hiking trail in the Nordkette mountains: Architectural tourism tends to cater to the ostentatious...High above the town of Innsbruck...a new kind of architectural tourism has taken shape...The “Path of Perspectives" includes 10 “architectural interventions” that are designed to encourage hikers to take a breather and absorb their surroundings...turning the already picturesque landscape into an art walk of sorts.- Curbed |
Angela Serratore: The magical (postmodern) world of Disney: How major architects of the 1980s and early 1990s brought a new fantastic point of view to the Walt Disney Company’s buildings: ...its collection of buildings by Michael Graves, Robert Venturi & Denise Scott Brown, Aldo Rossi, Arata Isozaki, Charles Moore, and other champions of postmodern design deserve to be recognized as more than just great works of corporate architecture...Eisner was Disney’s Medici, enthusiastically commissioning (and bankrolling) monuments not just to the Mouse, but to postmodernism itself...far from Disney turning Graves into a glorified Imagineer, the architect intuitively understood what a Disney building ought to be...Celebration’s is a hyperreal version of the hyperreal itself. -- Philip Johnson; Cesar Pelli; Frank Gehry- Curbed |
Philip Kennicott: Will our migrant detention cages be studied in tomorrow’s museums? The little we’ve seen of the migrant detention centers along our southern border suggests that they are a disposable architecture, temporary and provisional...A small but powerful exhibition at the Hirshhorn Museum, however, challenges the idea that any of this will go away...“The Evidence Room” is full of white plaster casts...of Nazi-era documents and photographs...of architectural and design elements...of the gas chambers at Auschwitz...provides a clear sense of how architects were involved and why they were needed....arrives in Washington at a critical moment in the degradation of America...encourages us to ask: Who made these gray detention rooms in which Vice President Pence stood... -- Robert Jan van Pelt- Washington Post |
Ian Volner: “Through the Lens of Faith” Opens at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland: Designed by Studio Libeskind [with] photographs by Caryl Englander: ...former Auschwitz concentration camp...is Poland’s most visited cultural destination...in a return to his native country, Daniel Libeskind has helped create a temporary installation...combines a unique commemorative mission with a much-needed programmatic function, providing a fitting architectural preamble to the museum...a simple, open-air gallery...introduces a tranquility to the busy entry plaza, as well as a moment of spiritual refreshment... thru October 31, 2020- Architect Magazine |
Laura Cumming: "Olafur Eliasson: In Real Life"; "Takis": Tate Modern, London: From foggy tunnels to galleries of rain, Eliasson’s hypnotic installations highlight the state of the planet, while sculptor Takis’s humanoids and insects are just magnetic: There is such a strong affinity between this show and that of the Greek sculptor Takis...that each seems to lead directly to the other. Takis thru October 27; Eliasson thru January 5- Observer (UK) |
Deane Madsen: David Rockwell Doesn't Want His New Installation to Simply Check a Box: Lab at Rockwell Group's "Lawn" at The National Building Museum was made for summer visitors: Over the low buzz of summery sounds...Rockwell works intently on folding a paper airplane...“I think this is going to be a place where people may be surprised...They'll do something they didn't expect to, like building a paper airplane.” And with that, he releases his. thru September 2- Architectural Digest |
"Frank Lloyd Wright: Architecture of the Interior": ...exhibition illustrates the myriad - both obvious and subtle - ways Wright created the visual character of interior space and objects within it, each an essential detail of the larger whole. District Architecture Center, Washington, DC. thru September 6- AIA | DC / District Architecture Center (Washington, DC ) |
Ian Volner: The Rise (and Fall) of Trump's Border Wall Prototypes: They initially had the look of an art installation. But so far the prototypes have failed to deliver on their weighty promise: All the artistic and architectural adventurers...could not have foreseen this - the most powerful nation on Earth had created something that looked alarmingly like an architecture show...[report] did reveal that CBP had devoted inordinate energies to assessing one particular aspect: aesthetics...which of the prototypes demonstrated the greatest visual élan...CBP did not factor in the costs of building on sloping terrain...so much sound and fury signifying nothing... [adapted from Volner’s "The Great Great Wall: Along the Borders of History from China to Mexico"- Architect Magazine |
Alexandra Lange: Let Christopher Alexander design your life: "A Pattern Language": It looked handsome in my dorm room...enshrined but unread...turns out to be an ideal candidate for a re-read...I shake my head at how much my 17-year-old self would have loved Pattern 154, Teenager’s Cottage, had I bothered to crack the book...There’s a vegetarian-stew earnestness...that has put off modernists for decades - but sometimes you need to be earnest...plain speech can ripen into something subversive and amusing...The first daunting thing...is the sheer number of patterns...[it] isn’t a soothing hippie tome but a call to action.- Curbed |
ANN feature: Julie D. Taylor: Beginning the Bauhaus: "Bauhaus Beginnings" at the Getty Research Institute lives up to its name - it is so impressive that, after a preview tour, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier wondered, "How can there be so much great Bauhaus material outside of Germany?"- ArchNewsNow.com |
ANN feature: Nikos A. Salingaros: "Signs versus Symptoms": A Reply to the Open Letter from British Architecture Students Calling for Curriculum Change: Asking for radical reforms in architectural education, this courageous appeal could help this latest effort be taken seriously, and not simply dismissed, as previous cries for reform have been.- ArchNewsNow.com |
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