Today’s News - Thursday, August 8, 2019
EDITOR'S NOTE: Tomorrow and Monday will be no-newsletter days. We'll be back Tuesday, August 13.
● Pinto pens a pensive (and extensive) analysis of the "legacy of edgy, Superdutch-derivative design" and how it now "faces a strong challenge from a humbler and more contextual kind of architecture," using some of the architects on the World Architecture Festival (heading to Amsterdam) awards shortlist (great read!).
● Davidson parses two new studies on gentrification ("a term freighted with moral urgency, resentment, and guilt") that "come up with some startling findings. Instead of expending vast amounts of energy trying to shield fragile communities from change, we should make sure they reap its benefits."
● Sisson looks at how and why the Des Moines 2040 zoning proposal "has become a political lightning rod" - it's been "pilloried by critics," but "you'll hear a different side of the story" from the city planner.
● Kimmelman talks about "his lesser-known talents as a pianist, his three-plus-decade path at the NYT, and his goal as architecture critic to build a greater discourse around designing cities that are better, healthier, and simply fairer for all" (podcast + transcript).
● Walker reports that Carol Soucek King has revoked the deal to give her historic Buff and Hensman-designed Arroyo del Rey home to the University of Southern California, citing an "unmendable chasm in the vision of heritage conservation" (preservationist Schave agrees: "USC has a terrible track record").
● Dillon, on a brighter note, cheers Gallaudet University's campus architect Bauman's master plan that "expands DeafSpace beyond the buildings and into Olmsted's historic campus [and] the surrounding neighborhood": "Aesthetics are something to experience, not to look at," sayeth he.
● "For love of whimsy" (we love it, too!): Kooroomba Chapel, nestled into a vineyard and lavender farm west of Brisbane, shows Hamilton Wilson's "skill for the easy and apparently simple inclusion of pleasures, evident everywhere."
● Wainwright waxes poetic about the "gossamer gateway to Avalon - the "miraculously slight" Tintagel Castle bridge "unites magic and history" and, from a distance, shimmers "like a spider's web in the dew" (though it's not "to everyone's liking").
● Speaking of bridges, LMN Architects' two new pedestrian and bicycle bridges in Spokane and Tukwila, Washington, "aspire to elevate the social experience for the citizens of each community by contributing to the regeneration, well-being, and vitality of the Pacific Northwest."
● And in Amsterdam, the roundAround project "is basically a bridge made of Roboats - the least traditional solution, but the most versatile and modular answer" to connect Marineterrein and the Amsterdam's city center (pretty wild!).
● Stinson brings us Nonument, an online database that "chronicles forgotten 20th-century buildings and monuments - a goldmine of information for anyone interested in how political and industrial forces shape architectural interest."
● ICYMI: 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.
Weekend diversions:
● Welton is fairly wow'd by "Float Flutter Flow" for the Festival Jardins at Domaine Chaumont sur Loire, designed and built by wHY's New York landscape studio that includes a canopy of 46,000 white goose feathers.
● Stinson marvels at teamLab's "marvelous 'Megaliths in the Bath House Ruins'" that has transformed Mifuneyama Rakuen Park on the Japanese island of Kyushu into "an illuminated forest of objects - distinctly teamLab - colorful, entrancing and totally Instagrammable."
Page-turners:
● Eigen considers Agrest & Agmon's "Architecture of Nature/Nature of Architecture" to be a "handsomely produced, lavishly illustrated" and "vivid catalogue of alluring and troubling material and physical processes that showcases the work" of Cooper Union architecture students - "as alluring and troubling as the oily rainbow sheen on a contaminated puddle."
● Dillon cheers "The ABC's of Triangle, Square, Circle: The Bauhaus and Design Theory" - a new edition of the 1991 collection of essays edited by Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller that shows how "the geometry we use has evolved alongside our updated conception of nature as an interwoven set of systems interacting in increasingly complex ways."
● "Gardens of Her Own" is devoted to Israeli landscape architect Ruth Enis, launched as part of a conference at the Technion on "Gender Politics in Israeli Architecture and Landscape Architecture" (hopefully not behind a paywall).
● Casas considers his graphic novel "Mies" (in Spanish, with foreword by Foster) to be "a fictional biography."
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Juan Sebastián Pinto: A Struggle For Identity At The Stage Of World Architecture: The Dutch architectural legacy...has undergone many phases. But in recent decades, the small European country [the Netherlands] has exerted an inordinate amount of influence with a type of architecture that has evaded the "isms" of the last century. It has earned a more popular name: "Superdutch"...as the World Architecture Festival prepares to return to Amsterdam...this wave of design faces a strong challenge from a humbler and more contextual kind of architecture...it seems as if a new kind of architecture - one which embraces the collective spirit of the inhabitants of cities, as opposed to the spectacle of architecture - is coming to the fore. -- UNStudio; Mecanoo; Nathalie DeVries/MVRDV; Rem Koolhaas/Office of Metropolitan Architecture (OMA); Patrik Schumacher/Zaha Hadid; Joshua Ramus/REX; Büro Ole Scheeren Group; Eva Jiricná; Jeanne Gang; John Wardle; David Adjaye; archimatika; Serie Architects- Forbes |
Justin Davidson: New Studies Say Gentrification Doesn’t Really Force Out Low-Income Residents: Gentrification...a term freighted with moral urgency, resentment, and guilt...You’re either suffering its effects or inflicting them, often both at the same time...a pair of studies...come up with some startling findings...suggest that gentrification’s upsides for longtime residents not only exist but go a long way toward mitigating the pain it causes...[papers] are narrow in scope and limited in their conclusions...Emotions, culture, and economics interact in ways that resist statistical analysis...simple narratives of gentrification’s evil don’t hold up...Instead of expending vast amounts of energy trying to shield fragile communities from change, we should make sure they reap its benefits.- New York Magazine |
Patrick Sisson: Zoning has become a political lightning rod. Just ask Des Moines, Iowa: Criticism of the Des Moines 2040 zoning proposal ‘does a disservice’ to what the code change intends to fix, says city planner: It’s a zoning change that’ll restrict density...that’ll make it harder for Habitat for Humanity to build homes...new proposed zoning code has been pilloried by critics as “backward” and unfair to poor renters...speak to Michael Ludwig, the planning administrator...and you’ll hear a different side of the story..."the idea is to streamline construction, create a more sustainable city, and allow for more missing middle and affordable housing"- Curbed |
Michael Kimmelman on Building More Beautiful and Equitable Cities: Spencer Bailey speaks with Kimmelman about his lesser-known talents as a pianist, his three-plus-decade path at The New York Times, and his goal as architecture critic to build a greater discourse around designing cities that are better, healthier, and simply fairer for all. [podcast + transcript]- Time Sensitive (The Slowdown) |
Alissa Walker: Historic Arroyo del Rey will not be gifted to USC: The owner of the Pasadena landmark cites an “unmendable chasm in the vision of heritage conservation”: In 2007, Carol Soucek King made a deal with the University of Southern California to give her modern home designed by...Conrad Buff and Donald Hensman to the school. Last week, she revoked the deal...“USC has a terrible track record,” says [preservationist] Richard Schave...“Everyone needs to pay more attention"...Plans are underway to place the house under different stewardship.- Curbed Los Angeles |
Ian Dillon: Gallaudet University Designs for the Deaf Community, but Everyone Benefits: ...in Washington, D.C., DeafSpace, a concept developed by campus architect Hansel Bauman...master plan that expands DeafSpace beyond the buildings and into the historic campus designed by Frederick Law Olmsted as well as the surrounding neighborhood...DeafSpace principles can be readily applied to many types of landscapes...“aesthetics are something to experience, not to look at." -- Alexa Vaughn/OLIN; Jan Gehl- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
For love of whimsy: Kooroomba Chapel: Through inventive tectonics, Wilson Architects has overlaid a picturesque landscape experience with allusions to an earlier settler culture: Kooroomba Estate is a vineyard and lavender farm in the Fassifern Valley, west of Brisbane...Over the structure trails the sweet-smelling hoya vines. Hamilton Wilson’s skill for the easy and apparently simple inclusion of pleasures is evident everywhere.- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
Oliver Wainwright: Gossamer gateway to Avalon: Tintagel Castle bridge unites magic and history: This miraculously slight structure, like a pair of high-diving boards meeting in the middle, reconnects Cornwall with the legendary Arthurian ruins - and Merlin’s cave: ...a tricky place to bring 50 tonnes of steel and 40,000 slate tiles – all of which had to be delivered by helicopter...polished steel balustrades and diagonal braces that, from a distance, make it shimmer like a spider’s web in the dew...a poetic sight...hasn’t been to everyone’s liking. -- Laurent Ney/Ney & Partners; William Matthews Associates- Guardian (UK) |
Philip Stevens: LMN Architects completes two new pedestrian and bicycle bridges in Washington State: ...in Spokane and Tukwila...both projects aspire to elevate the social experience for the citizens of each community, by contributing to the regeneration, well-being, and vitality of the Pacific Northwest.- designboom |
The World’s First Dynamic Bridge and Autonomous Boats in Amsterdam: The roundAround project, developed by researchers at MIT [and] the Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions, is basically a bridge made of...Roboats. The least traditional solution...but the most versatile and modular answer, connects the waterway between Marineterrein and the City Center in Amsterdam- ArchDaily |
Liz Stinson: Online database chronicles forgotten 20th-century buildings and monuments: Nonument documents the monuments, buildings, and infrastructure lost to time: ...an ode to places that have been left behind due to changing political tides, technological changes, or decay...a goldmine of information for anyone interested in how political and industrial forces shape architectural interest...breathing new life into highlighted works...as well as by pushing for preservation protections...- Curbed |
J. Michael Welton: In France, wHY’s ‘Float Flutter Flow’: In the gardens of a chateau in the Loire Valley stands a soft sculpture designed and built by wHY’s New York landscape studio...centerpiece is a canopy of 46,000 white goose feathers sewn onto cotton bias...hung by cables attached to steel poles...designed to guide visitors through the garden...for the Festival Jardins at Domaine Chaumont sur Loire...theme was “Gardens of Paradise.” thru December 31- Architects + Artisans |
Liz Stinson: Marvelous ‘megaliths’ rise from ruins in new teamLab show: The Japanese art collective uses projection mapping to create otherworldly experiences: ...transformed Mifuneyama Rakuen Park on the Japanese island of Kyushu into an illuminated forest of objects poetically called “Megaliths In the Bath House Ruins"...accompanies two other installations for the exhibition “A Forest Where Gods Live, Ruins and Heritage - The Nature of Time"...The result is distinctly teamLab...colorful, entrancing and totally Instagrammable. thru November 4- Curbed |
Edward Eigen: "Architecture of Nature/Nature of Architecture" by Diana Agrest with Yael Agmon: A vivid catalogue of alluring and troubling material and physical processes showcases the work being done by Cooper Union architecture students...as alluring and troubling as the oily rainbow sheen on a contaminated puddle...present a dangerous kind of beauty...As an atlas of us now, this handsomely produced and lavishly illustrated book covers some intriguingly uncommon ground.- Architectural Record |
Ian Dillon: From Geometric to Fractal: Bauhaus and the Landscape: "The ABC's of Triangle, Square, Circle: The Bauhaus and Design Theory" is a new edition of the 1991 collection of essays edited by Ellen Lupton and J. Abbott Miller...Distilling the complexities of the world to their intrinsic properties became a central tenet...Bauhaus’ attempts to distill all natural elements to their essences doesn’t work in a chaotic world...[Its] use of geometry to represent the world still holds, but the geometry we use...has evolved alongside our updated conception of nature as an interwoven set of systems interacting in increasingly complex ways.- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
How to Design a State, According to a Pioneer of Israeli Landscape Architecture: A book devoted to veteran landscape architect Ruth Enis offers a glimpse into a profession largely unfamiliar to the general public: “Gardens of Her Own"...launched...as part of a conference at the Technion on “Gender Politics in Israeli Architecture and Landscape Architecture"...can also be said to be a branding of the profession...a book about Enis, but to a certain extent it is a lexicon for Israeli landscape architecture...She doesn’t like the new style of landscape design... -- Nurit Lissovsky; Tal Alon-Mozes; Shaul Amir; Gideon Sarig- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
Graphic comic illustrates Mies van der Rohe's work and life: Agustín Ferrer Casas has created a graphic novel...featuring a prologue written by Norman Foster..."Mies" [in Spanish]...outlining [his] life and career...including his time spent at the Bauhaus, fleeing Nazi Germany, and continuing his career in Chicago...illustrates key moments...some of which are designed to be larger than life..."It is a fictional biography"... [images]- Dezeen |
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 |
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