Today’s News - Thursday, December 19, 2019
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is ANN's 3,625th newsletter - and the final posting for the year (and decade!). We'll be back Tuesday, January 7, 2020(!). In the meantime, we wish everyone a Merry Merry Happy Happy Everything for the Holidays and the New Year!!!
● ANN feature: Peter Piven: Cultural Fit: What is cultural fit when design firms merge or acquire, and how do you achieve it?
● Smith parses Sidewalk Labs' new "generative design tool" that "analyzes the potential impact of each respective plan against quality-of-life measures - a boon to participatory planning and an opportunity for increased community engagement."
● Landscape architect Signe Nielsen on "assessing resiliency and risk. Planning in the era of climate change will require an honest look at what we can and cannot protect" - and requires "an honest assessment of three essential considerations."
● Topal minces no words about it being "time to radically rethink museums' design programs and architecture to make them truly public" ([named] "starchitects have betrayed us over and over again" - ouch!).
● In L.A., local activists target the 2028 Olympics "believing that preparations for the games will displace low-income communities - and networking with activists abroad who feel the same."
● Betsky, on a brighter note, was on the "super jury" that picked the best building of the year at the World Architecture Festival, and tells us "why the work at this year's WAF gives hope for the future of architecture" ("There was nary a blob to be found").
● A great presentation of the winners of Canadian Architect magazine's Awards of Excellence "for projects in the design and construction phases, as well as graduating student work" (which is amazing!).
● Austin Williams has a fascinating conversation with Deyan Sudjic, soon-to-be former director of London's Design Museum: "Since being lured away from academia - to which he says he was ill-suited - he hasn't looked back. His career has helped to shape the culture of the modern museum."
● Anderton's Q&A with Weiss & Manfredi about their "Loops and Lenses" concept for the La Brea Tar Pits "that won't uproot the mammoth family from its lake of tar - promising Angelenos a remake of the tar pits that would feel like an improved version of an old friend."
● Q&As with 3 Pittsburgh architects re: "how they are using the power of sustainable design to make a difference for our city and the world."
● Kamin parses Chicago architecture over the last decade: "If the designs I've reviewed offer any clue, it is that this is an age of pluralism - a multitude of directions rather than a single dominant style - exuberant, digitally enabled forms appear to be on the wane," and "landscape architects are ascendant."
● Anderton & Artsy's survey of L.A.'s best spaces and places in 2019 - "five examples of smart makeovers. Each repurposes an existing space (concrete infrastructure, parking lots, an iconic building, an old bar, a ruptured part of downtown) - privately owned but open to visitors."
● Koolhaas and AMO are taking over the Guggenheim's rotunda in February with a multimedia installation that "will explore the transformation of and various challenges facing the planet's undeveloped areas."
● In the spirit of the season: London's Museum of Architecture's 2019 "Gingerbread City" explores transportation in "a miniature candy land - delightfully whimsical and theoretically edible" - over 100 designers offer "imaginative ways of rethinking mobility in cities."
Page-turners (and great gift ideas!):
● Kamin offers 6 recommendations "on urban visions, an iconic suburban campus, an intimate garden, ballparks, and more - for your favorite architecture buff."
● Welton picks 4 tomes that offer "rhythmic prose and good design" (we love Mr. Waffles!).
● A round-up of "15 brilliant new books on design, cities, and more - to give - or keep for yourself."
● Q&A with photographer Arseniy Kotov re: his upcoming book, "'Soviet Cities: Labour, Life & Leisure,' his enthusiasm for Soviet history, fascination with rockets, and nighttime adventures."
ICYMI - ANN recent features:
● Locktov's Venice Gift Guide spotlights 20 Venetian artisans and small businesses that suffered extensive damages in the unprecedented November flood - when you invest in their creativity, you are helping them to repair, restart, and recover.
● Janet Adams Strong reflects on Jean Holabird's "Paper City," the artist's 3D watercolors of NYC buildings now on view in a display window of Ralph Walker's 1930 Western Union Building (in NYC).
● Dalrymple's Lesson Plan #7: An Implicit Rather than Explicit Model for Teaching Architecture.
● Locktov describes the flood damage wrought on the Fondazione Querini Stampalia, including Scarpa and Botta interventions, and calls for support of fundraising for the restoration of one of Venice's architectural and cultural treasures.
● Norman Weinstein: Top Architecture and Design Books of 2019: 10 books offering historic sweeps, global visions, and heroic quests.
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ANN feature: Peter Piven, FAIA: Cultural Fit: What is cultural fit when design firms merge or acquire, and how do you achieve it?- ArchNewsNow.com |
Lilly Smith: Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs just unveiled a software that designs whole neighborhoods: This generative design tool will give you a million urban planning concepts to consider. You still have to choose one: ...a generative design tool to unify siloed planning teams...analyzes the potential impact of each respective plan against quality-of-life measures...taking into account trade-offs like daylight versus density...software...has the ability to learn from what has worked from previous neighborhood designs...a boon to participatory planning and an opportunity for increased community engagement...- Fast Company / Co.Design |
Signe Nielsen/MNLA: Assessing Resiliency and Risk: We Can’t Save It All: Planning in the era of climate change will require an honest look at what we can and cannot protect: So, then: What are our priorities? How do we choose what to save? I believe the answers to these and similar questions should begin with an honest assessment of three essential considerations: Consider the useful life of buildings, structures, and public spaces. Evaluate their worth to society. Officially categorize structures and spaces and take action based on risk management and climate change considerations.- Common Edge |
Hakan Topal: Reimagining Museum Design, with Education at the Forefront: It’s time to conceive of museums as social, educational centers with libraries, classrooms, gathering spaces where everyone...loves to hang out: ...education “floors" are under-designed...education “rooms” appear to be an afterthought...The New Museum’s cheese grinder, the Whitney Museum’s copy machine...new MoMA’s updated hotel lobby, are rather inhospitable spaces for an inclusive public engagement and those without wealth and power...With their sterile spaces, starchitects...have betrayed us over and over again...It is time to radically rethink museums' design programs and architecture to make them truly public. -- Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Renzo Piano; Rem Koolhas/OMA; Frank Gehry- Hyperallergic |
Local activists target Olympic preparations as catalyst of gentrification: Los Angeles will host the 2028 Olympics, but activists here are against the idea, believing that preparations for the games will displace low-income communities. They’re networking with activists abroad who feel the same...activists are right to worry even if the city benefits overall...thousands of residents in Beijing were displaced to make way for the city’s venues for the 2008 Olympics- KCRW (Los Angeles) |
Aaron Betsky: Picking the Winners at the World Architecture Festival: Why the work at this year's event gives hope for the future of architecture: The breadth of the [WAF]...is astonishing...“super jury” [picked] the best building of the year...LocHal in Tilburg, the Netherlands. Designed by a team of three women-led firms... brought together four of the most important themes we saw in the work...produced this last year: the repurposing of existing buildings; the importance of libraries as new community centers; the prominence of women designers...There was nary a blob to be found...nor were there many shards or angles...designers are figuring out how to create architecture that is sustainable, open, and beautiful. Let’s hope the next decade brings us a lot more of the same. -- Braaksma & Roos; Inside/Outside; Mecanoo- Architect Magazine |
Winners of Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence Announced: ...honour design excellence for projects in the design and construction phases, as well as graduating student work...This year’s program also included an architectural photography award. -- Modern Office of Design + Architecture; Moriyama & Teshima Architects; Patkau Architects + MJMA; architectsAlliance/COBE Architects; HDR + MJMA; Local Practice Architecture + Design; 5468796; Patkau Architects/Brook McIlroy Architects; Lemay; doublespace photography- Canadian Architect magazine |
Austin Williams: London’s Design Museum director on modern museum culture, Chinese design and his storied career: Deyan Sudjic...will step down as director next month after a 14-year reign. He looks back on his long career and talks about the changing role of museums, wider audience participation and the Chinese design he admires: Since being lured away from academia - to which he says he was ill-suited - he hasn’t looked back. His career has helped to shape the culture of the modern museum.- South China Morning Post |
DnA/Frances Anderton: Weiss/Manfredi's 'Loops and Lenses' concept wins La Brea Tar Pits redesign: ...new design team that won’t uproot the mammoth family from its lake of tar: Q&A re: how they will maintain the “thereness” and “spectacle” of the quirky site while making the experience clearer...[They] see a role for both imposing order in a chaotic landscape, while maintaining the odd eccentricities of the site...promising Angelenos a remake of the tar pits that would feel like an improved version of an old friend. -- Michael Beirut/Pentagram; Brenda Levin; Karin Fong- KCRW (Los Angeles) |
Maya Henry: How 3 Pittsburgh architects are fighting climate change right now: It’s easy to notice the beauty of a well-designed building...we can see the many ways these structures can elevate and inspire us. But what about their massive environmental impact? Q&A re: how they are using the power of sustainable design to make a difference for our city and the world. -- Michelle Fanzo/AIA Pittsburgh; Christine Mondor/evolveEA; Patricia Culley/Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; Laura Nettleton/Thoughtful Balance- NEXTpittsburgh |
Blair Kamin: Chicago architecture went in new directions in the 2010s, and the world will follow: Where does the art of architecture stand today, at the end of the teens? If the designs I’ve reviewed in recent years offer any clue, it is that this is an age of pluralism - a multitude of directions rather than a single dominant style...Modernism remains the major mode, but...it is a different modernism...exuberant, digitally enabled forms...appear to be on the wane...landscape architects are ascendant...A renewed concern for equity...How quickly today’s cutting-edge design becomes tomorrow’s cultural artifact...change is the only constant here. Would we want it any other way? -- Skidmore, Owings & Merril (SOM); Frank Gehry; John Ronan; HBRA Architects; Jeanne Gang; Maurice Cox,; Helmut Jahn- Chicago Tribune |
DnA/Frances Anderton & Avishay Artsy: Best of 2019: Spaces and places: 21st century Los Angeles is built out. The challenge for developers, planners and designers now is to patch up, make over, do smart infill....we chose five examples of smart makeovers. Each repurposes an existing space (concrete infrastructure, parking lots, an iconic building, an old bar, a ruptured part of downtown). Each is privately owned but open to visitors. -- Philip Johnson (1980); TERREMOTO; Selgascano; 1933 Group; Johnson Fain- KCRW (Los Angeles) |
The Guggenheim Reveals Rem Koolhaas and AMO Exhibition: Set to open in February 2020, ”Countryside, The Future” will explore the transformation of nonurban areas: ...various challenges facing the planet's undeveloped areas...will fill the Guggenheim’s rotunda with a multimedia installation...highlighting how modern developments such as migration, genetic modification, and climate change have disrupted rural areas. -- Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA)- Architect Magazine |
Museum of Architecture’s 2019 "Gingerbread City" explores transportation: Now in its fourth year, [it] is a miniature candy land designed to consider the future of the urban environment and spark public dialogue about architecture...delightfully whimsical and theoretically edible...sugar-coated walls represent real insights on technology and sustainability...over 100 designers contributed imaginative ways of rethinking mobility in cities while shining the holiday lights on how architects and planners approach both the urban and natural landscapes. Somerset House , London, thru January 5, 2020 -- Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design; Hawkins\Brown; Foster + Partners; SOM; PDP London; PLP Architecture; Phase3; Grimshaw; KPF; HKS- The Architect's Newspaper |
Blair Kamin: Architecture books for the holidays: A wealth of offerings on urban visions, an iconic suburban campus, an intimate garden, ballparks and more: "City on a Hill: Urban Idealism in America From the Puritans to the Present" by Alex Krieger; “Where Today Meets Tomorrow: Eero Saarinen and the General Motors Technical Center” by Susan Skarsgard; “A Chronology of Architecture: A Cultural Timeline from Stone Circles to Skyscrapers” by John Zukowsky; “Designing a Garden: The Monk’s Garden at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum” by Michael Van Valkenburgh; “Ballpark: Baseball in the American City” by Paul Goldberger; “Southern Exposure: The Overlooked Architecture of Chicago’s South Side” by Lee Bey- Chicago Tribune |
J. Michael Welton: Give the Gift of Good Design this Year: One intangible the holidays present us with is the gift of time to reflect on what’s most important in our world today. For this writer, rhythmic prose and good design are near the top of that list. -- “Mr. Waffles Loves Design,” by Lisa S. Roberts; “Dream of Venice Architecture,” by JoAnn Locktov; “Native Places: Drawing as a Way to See,” by Frank Harmon; “Drawing from Practice: Architects and the Meaning of Freehand,” by Welton- Architects + Artisans |
15 brilliant new books on design, cities, and more: To give - or keep for yourself: ...feature groundbreaking women and modernist masters, atlases and itineraries...critical investigations of the technology that permeates our everyday lives - plus one delightful cookbook. "Ezra Stoller: A Photographic History of Modernism" by Pierluigi Serraino; "Midwest Architecture Journeys," Zach Mortice, eitor, Alexandra Lange, intro; "Baking with Kim-Joy: Cute and Creative Bakes to Make You Smile"; "The Weather Machine" by Andrew Blum; "Radical Suburbs" by Amanda Kolson Hurley; " Ballpark" by Paul Goldberger; "Charlotte Perriand: Inventing a New World"; etc.- Curbed |
A Photographer’s Ode to Everyday Soviet Architecture: Arseniy Kotov finds inspiration in urban exploration and concrete cityscapes: ...upcoming book, "Soviet Cities: Labour, Life & Leisure," often depict rows and rows of high-rises, marching endlessly across the horizon. Yet within the cold-looking concrete blocks, he also manages to capture the warm glow of life in apartment windows...Q&A re: his enthusiasm for Soviet history, fascination with rockets, and nighttime adventures.- Atlas Obscura |
ANN feature: JoAnn Locktov: Venice Gift Guide for the Venetophile in your life! Many Venetian artisans and small businesses suffered extensive damages in the unprecedented acqua alta flooding in November, so when you invest in their creativity, you are helping them to repair, restart, and recover.- ArchNewsNow.com |
ANN feature: Janet Adams Strong: New York Unpacked: Reflections on Jean Holabird's "Paper City": The artist's 3D watercolors of New York City buildings go on view today in a display window of Ralph Walker's former Western Union Building (1930).- ArchNewsNow.com |
ANN feature: Dr. Theodore Dalrymple: Lesson Plan #7: An Implicit Rather than Explicit Model for Teaching Architecture: I would institute an annual prize, with substantial cash awards, for architecture students who would be given the task of designing a building that surpasses an iconic monstrosity in ugliness.- ArchNewsNow.com |
ANN feature: JoAnn Locktov: Scarpa and Botta Interventions Severely Damaged in Venice Floods: Fondazione Querini Stampalia initiates fundraising for restoration of its architectural and cultural treasures.- ArchNewsNow.com |
ANN feature: Norman Weinstein: Top Architecture and Design Books of 2019: 10 books offering historic sweeps, global visions, and heroic quests. -- Friederike Hollander & Nina Wiedemeyer; Austin Williams; Jane Hall; Philip Jodidio; Izabela Cichonska, Karolina Popera, & Kuba Snopek; Don Barasch; Charles Lockwood & Patrick W. Ciccone w/ Jonathan D. Taylor; Rowan Bain; Ben Stevens; Philip Jodidio & Aga Kahn Historic Cities Programme- ArchNewsNow.com |
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