Today’s News - Thursday, August 1, 2019
EDITOR'S NOTE: Tomorrow and Monday will be no-newsletter days. We'll be back Tuesday, August 6.
● ANN feature: Kristen Richards: Maestro, Please: Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, welcomes its first new facility in 25 years - to applause: The Linde Center for Music and Learning, designed by William Rawn Associates Architects with Reed Hilderbrand.
● Pacheco reports on The Architecture Lobby and ADPSR call to "boycott the design of immigration detention and deterrence infrastructure" - the AIA's statement on the subject is welcome, but doesn't go far enough - the profession's commitment needs to be "about more than the enforcement of building codes."
● Kripa & Mueller parse the "uptick in patent filings explicitly tied to border wall construction - we must respond to the advances in the construction industry which have matured in its wake. Efficiencies must not be gained at the expense of human dignity or lives."
● Saudi Arabia unveils the massive Qiddiya giga-project, master planned by BIG, with 21 other big-name firms lined up - "considered a scoop" in light of some other big names who "withdrew their support for the [original] NEOM project in the wake alleged killing of Khashoggi."
● Eyefuls of Rand Elliott Architects' design for the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center's new building in downtown Oklahoma City that will sport a "luminous, semi-reflective façade mirroring the constantly changing weather conditions."
● Mondry cheers Sidewalk Detroit's "placemaking projects to advance spatial equity," including the 7th Sidewalk Festival, themed "Peace Power Utopia" and running August 1-3.
● Eyefuls of West 8's redesign of 11 miles of South Baltimore's waterfront, "a city-backed plan to reengage locals with an underutilized section of the Patapsco River shoreline."
● T. Jacobs parses new Australian research findings that "not all green spaces are created equal - when a neighborhood's green space leads to better health outcomes, it's the canopy of trees that provides most of the benefits."
● Next City's "The Power of Parks," a powerful (must-read!) series "exploring how parks and recreation facilities and services can help cities achieve their goals in wellness, conservation and social equity."
● Malo, on a less optimistic note, delves into a new report that finds that many (too many!) "American cities that set goals to slash planet-warming greenhouse emissions are lacking the data to measure their progress."
● Kamin, on a brighter note, explores Palladio's home town of Vicenza: "If you want to break away from the crowds that make Venice a poster child for the term "overtourism" and you love architecture, there is one place you must go."
● ICYMI: ANN feature: Duo Dickinson: Lesson Plan #2: A Time of Change: The coming technological changes in architecture will impose a full deconstruction of the way we educate architects, the second in our series on architectural education curated by Salingaros.
Weekend diversions
● American light artist Villareal (of San Francisco "Bay Lights" fame) and British architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands show off the first four (of 15) London bridges in the "Illuminated River" public art project, "influenced by the palettes of Impressionist and English Romantic painters" (gorgeous!).
● Quito cheers "Formgiving: An Architectural Future History from Big Bang to Singularity," a "sprawling, 14,000-foot-exhibition" at the Danish Architecture Center in Copenhagen, "jam-packed" with BIG's visions of everything + A Q&A with the "affable, analytical, and easy on the eyes" Ingles himself (he has a planetary master plan).
Page-turners:
● Slessor says Hyde's "'Ugliness and Judgment: On Architecture in the Public Eye' strikes out beyond the shallow babble of style wars to examine the consequences of judgments of ugliness in architecture" ("a deliciously gossipy chapter" included).
● Aliento x 2: Gameau's "2040: A Handbook for the Regeneration" is "something of an antidote to the existential despair and angst of watching the climate change ship sail closer and closer to the rocky shores of ecological collapse."
● She gives thumbs-up to Thorpe's "One Planet' Cities - Sustaining Humanity within Planetary Limits" - "a stunning book that offers a holistic solution to the sustainability crisis on our hands. If the goal was to inspire through positive storytelling, he has well and truly succeeded."
● Frank finds "The Venice Variations: Tracing the Architectural Imagination" by Psarra "fulfills a dreamy mission of aggrandizing the city's history and beauty while recognizing its fragility and potential demise because of climate change and overcrowding."
● Bari cheers Pinto's "Plastic Emotions" not so much for the "romantic speculation" about an affair between Corbu and a young Sri Lankan architect - it is "most valuable for its portrait of Minnette De Silva - a woman so unquestionably intelligent and intriguing that it feels scandalous she should be so little known. It will make you want to seek out her work and remember her name."
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ANN feature: Kristen Richards: Maestro, Please: Tanglewood, the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the Berkshires, welcomes its first new facility in 25 years - to applause: The Linde Center for Music and Learning, designed by William Rawn Associates Architects with Reed Hilderbrand- ArchNewsNow.com |
Antonio Pacheco: The Architecture Lobby and ADPSR: Boycott the design of immigration detention and deterrence infrastructure: ...comes in response to [AIA] statement...that objects to the "misuse" of existing detention centers by Trump administration officials...calls upon building inspectors to help ensure that the conditions at these sites fall within acceptable safety standards...TAL & ADPSR write: "While we welcome AIA’s focus on human rights at the border, we need to recognize that our profession’s commitment to health, safety, and welfare is about more than the enforcement of building codes." -- Architects/Designers/Planners for Social Responsibility- Archinect |
Ersela Kripa & Stephen Mueller/AGENCY: Products of border wall research may expand to the rest of the construction industry: ...there has been an uptick in patent filings...explicitly tied to border wall construction. In 2018 alone, there were three such patents filed...While we as architects might resist the border wall itself, we must also respond to the myriad advances in the construction industry which have matured in its wake. Efficiencies must not be gained at the expense of human dignity or lives.- The Architect's Newspaper |
Arquitectonica, Morphosis, HOK, Snøhetta, and more in running for massive Qiddiya giga-project in Saudi Arabia: A $500 billion project unveiled last year known as “NEOM"...now, increasing by a factor of 1,000, Qiddiya, a new entertainment, sports, and arts venue...21 architects have been tapped to work on the project so far...BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group is master planning...considered a scoop considering...Norman Foster, Carlo Ratti, [and others] withdrew their support for the NEOM project in the wake alleged killing of ...Jamal Khashoggi. -- Populous,; Asymptote; 5+; CallisonRTKL; Rosetti Architects; Rockwell Group; WilkinsonEyre; Mangera Yvars Architects; Steve Chilton Architects; Coop Himmelb(l)au; 10 Design; Dar Al Omran; X Architects [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Rand Elliott Architects design Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center's New Building: ...relocating to a new building in [Oklahoma City's] downtown area...The new flagship edifice illustrates the specificities of Oklahoma, with a unique semi-reflective façade...this luminous element enables the building to become part of the landscape, merging with the city’s backdrop...the plot also contains a rehabilitated historic warehouse to be used as studios and a park... [images]- ArchDaily |
Aaron Mondry: Sidewalk Detroit wants you to rethink the purpose of public space: “We look at the public sphere as a place for healing”: The theme for the seventh Sidewalk Festival, which takes place from August 1-3, is “Peace Power Utopia"...but over the last few years Sidewalk Detroit has been taking on numerous other placemaking projects to advance spatial equity.- Curbed Detroit |
West 8 will redesign 11 miles of South Baltimore's waterfront: ...beat out James Corner Field Operations and Hargreaves Jones...chosen as part of...a city-backed plan to reengage locals with an underutilized section of the Patapsco River shoreline...will partner with local teams from Mahan Rykiel and Moffat & Nichol on the multi-phase project... [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Tom Jacobs: More Trees Mean Better Health Outcomes: New Australian research finds that, when a neighborhood's green space leads to better health outcomes, it's the canopy of trees that provides most of the benefits: ...not all green spaces are created equal...intriguingly, they also found that exposure to low-lying vegetation was not consistently associated with any particular health outcome...The wellness-boosting feature, then, appears to be the trees. -- Thomas Astell-Burt & Xiaoqi Feng/University of Wollongong, New South Wales- Pacific Standard magazine |
The Power of Parks: a series exploring how parks and recreation facilities and services can help cities achieve their goals in wellness, conservation and social equity: Pop-Up Parks Lead to More Biodiversity in Cities, Study Finds; Why History Matters in Equitable Development Planning; Creating Spaces for People to Participate in Urban Planning; etc.- Next City (formerly Next American City) |
Sebastien Malo: Many U.S. cities cannot measure climate emissions progress: Cities account for two-thirds of the world's energy demand and 70% of energy-related emissions: American cities...that set goals to slash planet-warming greenhouse emissions are lacking the data to measure their progress, scientists said in a new report...Of the 75 cities surveyed, just over 20% had pledged to cut emissions and were able to measure advances with recently produced evidence..."Without a clear plan for monitoring the efficacy of emissions reduction policies, it is all aspiration." -- Lucy Hutyra; American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)- Place / Thomson Reuters Foundation |
Blair Kamin: Escape Venice’s tourist crush with a trip to Vicenza, home of great Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio: If you want to break away from the crowds that make Venice a poster child for the term “overtourism” and you love architecture, there is one place you must go...The town center itself is stocked with impressive Palladio buildings...one of which houses an excellent and engaging museum devoted entirely to the architect...47 buildings by Palladio, built in and around Vicenza, are UNESCO World Heritage Sites...No visit is complete without a stop at the Villa Rotonda...- Chicago Tribune |
"Illuminated River": First [four] London bridges lit up: ...part of a design contest to illuminate the River Thames...Up to 15 crossings will eventually become part of [it], thought to be the longest public art commission in the world...created by American light artist Leo Villareal and British architects Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands, who were influenced by the palettes of Impressionist and English Romantic painters.- BBC News |
Anne Quito: Bjarke Ingels Is Already Designing for 130 Years in the Future: [He] isn’t known for doing anything small...even Ingels’s harshest detractors (and competitors) can’t look at BIG’s portfolio without some measure of envy or awe...“Formgiving: An Architectural Future History from Big Bang to Singularity"...sprawling, 14,000-foot-exhibition is jam-packed...Q&A re: his firm’s evolution, his ambition to author a planetary master plan, and how fatherhood has helped him to look even further into the future than before. Danish Architecture Center, Copenhagen, thru January 2020 -- BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group [images]- Quartz |
Catherine Slessor: How to spot an architectural carbuncle: After a week in which Norman Foster’s ‘Tulip’ tower...was culled, a book on the aesthetics of ugly buildings is timely: Compared with vast acreages of publications on theories of beauty, ugliness has been given relatively short shrift as a subject of intellectual inquiry. To its limited canon can now be added "Ugliness and Judgment: On Architecture in the Public Eye"...by Timothy Hyde, which strikes out beyond the shallow babble of style wars into deeper and more intriguing terrain, to examine the consequences of judgments of ugliness in architecture. -- Foster + Partners- Observer (UK) |
Willow Aliento: "2040: A Handbook for the Regeneration": It can be hard to feel hopeful about the future of life on earth some days...Damon Gameau’s [book] is something of an antidote to the existential despair and angst of watching the climate change ship sail closer and closer to the rocky shores of ecological collapse...it works wonderfully as an exemplar of how to think and live outside the siloed approach. One of the key frameworks underpinning the book is Paul Hawken’s "Drawdown Project"...- The Fifth Estate (Australia) |
Willow Aliento: A pathway to One Planet cities: David Thorpe has written what’s quickly gaining acclaim as a stunning book that offers a holistic solution to the sustainability crisis on our hands: He has worked with experts from around the globe to develop a pathway and toolkit for a shift at the local government level towards “One Planet” communities. The methodology, case studies and resources have been compiled [in] "One Planet’ Cities - Sustaining Humanity within Planetary Limits"...If the goal was to inspire through positive storytelling, Thorpe has well and truly succeeded.- The Fifth Estate (Australia) |
Suzanne Frank: "The Venice Variations: Tracing the Architectural Imagination" traces the city’s deep urban fabric: Sophia Psarra’s [book] fulfills a dreamy mission of aggrandizing the titular city’s history and beauty while recognizing its fragility and potential demise because of climate change and overcrowding from tourists and their marine vehicles...beautifully designed book sets up the over-thousand-year-old city as paradigmatic but atypical.- The Architect's Newspaper |
Shahidha Bari: "Plastic Emotions" by Shiromi Pinto - an architectural romance: The richly imagined story of an affair between Le Corbusier and Sri Lanka’s first modernist architect, Minnette de Silva: ...an exercise in romantic speculation...imagines the nature of the relationship that develops between the 29-year-old Sri Lankan and the ageing pioneer of urban modernism...Pinto is at her best when she takes us beyond the romantic agony into the design aesthetics...most valuable for its portrait of De Silva - a woman so unquestionably intelligent and intriguing that it feels scandalous she should be so little known...It will make you want to seek out [her] work and remember her name.- Guardian (UK) |
ANN feature: Duo Dickinson: Lesson Plan #2: A Time of Change: The coming technological changes in architecture will impose a full deconstruction of the way we educate architects.- ArchNewsNow.com |
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