Today’s News - Tuesday, March 17, 2020
EDITOR'S NOTE: We know the new reality of "social distancing" in an industry as social as ours is stressful, but we hope everyone is being wise and staying safe. In the meantime, we're raising a (virtual) glass of green beer and cheer to you all.
● Sitz profiles urban planner, writer, architect, and curator Vittorio Gregotti, who has succumbed to the coronavirus at 92, and talks to Eisenman, co-curator of the 1976 Venice Biennale, about Gregotti's focus on the relationship between Europe and America.
● Pressman is disappointed with Johns Hopkins' plan to revamp the Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue: "'Adaptive reuse' is a way to retain worthy architecture. But what makes sense in theory doesn't always translate to reality - the redesigned facade takes a clunky step backward rather than the smart upgrade it could have been."
● Morgan, on the other hand, gives two thumbs-up to the "fabulous" Fascitelli Engineering Center at the University of Rhode Island: Instead of starchitecture "strutting displays of egotecture," Ballinger's "sparkling, light-collecting" center is "no frills, no gimmicks, just a focus on good design" and "a brilliant gesture at re-branding the university."
● Kamin considers how his alma mater Amherst College has also rejected the typical "Bring in the starchitects!" approach, stressing instead "architectural evolution, not revolution; reuse rather than replacement" that responds "to today's needs without sacrificing their core identity."
● Wichita, Kansas, has two FLW buildings and will soon get a third - sort of: A never-built design for the Wichita State University, found in a drawer in a maintenance shed, is the inspiration for the Fundamental Learning Center for children with dyslexia (learning design, dance, drama, art, building, technology, and more!).
● Gamolina's great Q&A with Frances Halsband re: "giving back, staying in touch, and ethical behavior": "Don't plan a career arc because there's no such thing. Don't create some cloudlike vision that you're just going to waste a lot of time on. Instead - be ready to say yes when something good comes along."
● Betsky heads to Blacksburg to serve as director of Virginia Tech's School of Architecture + Design.
● Brownell is heading to Charlotte to be the director of the University of North Carolina College of Arts + Architecture.
● Chipperfield and Wirtz International Landscape Architects win the competition to transform an abandoned industrial site in Berlin into an almost car-free "lively residential and commercial neighborhood" with 1,400 affordable rental apartments and lots of green space.
● The International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers announces the winners of the IFI Global Awards, and the inaugural IFI Design Distinction Awards.
● 2019 Brick in Architecture Awards honor 37 winners from the U.S., Australia, and Canada (with link to BIA's Photo Gallery).
● ICYMI: ANN feature: Weinstein uses a new British Museum exhibition catalogue as the starting point to delve into Piranesi's architectural imagination and why his architectural art matters today more than ever.
COVID-19 news continues:
● The AIA postpones its May 2020 conference in L.A., and is "currently exploring options to reschedule the event and issuing refunds to registrants."
● The CDC's MicrobeNet and the University of Oregon Biology and the Built Environment (BioBE) Center publish "tactics for minimizing COVID-19 transmission in the built environment."
● Betsky: "Suddenly, we are isolated. The response to the outbreak does raise questions about the fragility of our increasingly aspatial world and the value of place. How should architecture react?"
● Marcus Fairs' fascinating Q&A with trend forecaster Li Edelkoort: The coronavirus is causing a "quarantine of consumption" that offers "a blank page for a new beginning - this is what I am hopeful for: another and better system."
● Lau lines up a number of architecture firms who "offer insight on the impact of the novel coronavirus on their staff, operations, and projects" (to be "updated continually with new responses and developments").
● Budds takes a (riveting!) deep dive: "Throughout history, how we design and inhabit physical space has been a primary defense against epidemics - using space as a way to address epidemics has renewed interest."
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Obituary by Miriam Sitz: Italian Architect Vittorio Gregotti, 92, Dies of Coronavirus: ...contributed to, and later edited, the Italian architecture magazine Casabella4...in addition to his work as a designer, co-curating the 1976 Venice Biennale with Peter Eisenman..." “He realized the necessary postwar relationship between Europe and America when he organized the first international architecture biennale in Venice..."Europa America: The City and the Suburb," with 11 European and 11 American architects...undertook cultural projects across Europe [and] designed Pujiang New Town in Shanghai, an Italian-themed, master-planned city of some 6 square miles.- Architectural Record |
Andrew Pressman: President Kennedy Wanted to Improve Pennsylvania Avenue. Will a Revamped Newseum Building Help? A critic digs into Johns Hopkins’s plans for the former museum: ...convert it to classrooms, offices, and event spaces...“adaptive reuse"...is a way to retain worthy architecture...But what makes sense in theory doesn’t always translate to reality...unfortunately...redesigned facade takes...a disappointing direction - a clunky step backward rather than the smart upgrade it could have been...resembles an over-designed, bloated suburban office building...blandly imposing rather than distinctive and inviting...represents a small move in the wrong direction. -- Ennead Architects (formerly Polshek Partnership); SmithGroup- Washingtonian Magazine |
William Morgan: Fabulous Fascitelli Center for Advanced Engineering at University of Rhode Island: Colleges and universities can be the places to view the latest work of starchitects...architectural petting zoos, with strutting displays of egotecture....missteps of the past fade when one enters the sparkling, light-collecting Fascatelli Center...no frills here, no gimmicks, just a focus on good design delivering the best educational engineering facilities...emphasis on natural light transforms what might have been just another science building...a brilliant gesture at re-branding the university, it tells us loud and clear that URI is a place that will lead... -- Leers Weinzapfel; BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group; Kite Architects; Terry Steelman/Ballinger- GoLocalProv.com (Providence, Rhode Island) |
Blair Kamin: Course of action: Amherst College is a paradigm of how to update a campus while honoring a sense of place: How do you renew a college campus? “Bring in the starchitects!” Their novel designs...though not necessarily functional, promised to generate publicity, boost enrollment, and “rebrand” a historic campus. The results...have been mixed...My alma mater...stresses architectural evolution, not revolution; reuse rather than replacement...I think the college was wise to pursue this unfashionable course...provides a template for other liberal arts institutions confronting the vexing question of how to...respond to today’s needs without sacrificing their core identity. -- Charles Edward Parkes; McKim, Mead & White; Putnam and Cox; Benjamin Thompson; Payette; Frederick Law Olmsted; William Rawn; Einhorn Yaffee Prescott; Bruner/Cott; Michael Van Valkenburgh; Herzog & de Meuron- ArchitectureBoston magazine (Boston Society of Architects/BSA) |
Frank Lloyd Wright has designed another Wichita building? Not quite, but close: [He] died in 1959 with two Wichita buildings to his name. Now there’s a third in the works, this time for the Fundamental Learning Center, that’s heavily influenced by...an actual rendering he made for a building at Wichita State University that was never built...the biggest need is to train teachers on how to teach children with dyslexia...with subjects such as design, dance, drama, art, music, building, innovation, technology and other areas in which children with dyslexia do well...a juvenile cultural center that Wright designed for WSU in 1953...never happened....[plan] hidden in a big drawer in a maintenance shed. -- Craig Rhodes/GLMV Architecture- Wichita Eagle (Kansas) |
Julia Gamolina: Power to Move Forward: Frances Halsband on Giving Back, Staying in Touch, and Ethical Behavior: Q&A re: change that she’s seen in her time in the industry and her new focus, advising those just starting their careers: "Don’t plan a career arc because there’s no such thing. Don’t follow your dreams. Don’t create some cloudlike vision that you’re just going to waste a lot of time on. Instead, stay attached to the people around you and what’s happening right here, and be ready to say yes when something good comes along.” -- Kliment Halsband Architects.- Madame Architect |
Aaron Betsky named director of Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture + Design: He comes to [VT] from the School of Architecture at Taliesin (formerly known as the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture)...will join Virginia Tech on June 1...Hunter Pittman, who has led the [School] since 2016, will return to the school as an associate professor...Betsky was also drawn to Virginia Tech through its commitment to the Beyond Boundaries vision and related initiatives...- Virginia Tech News |
Blaine Brownell Appointed New Director of UNC School of Architecture: The University of North Carolina College of Arts + Architecture announced that he will begin the position on July 1: He will come to UNC Charlotte from the University of Minnesota School of Architecture....architect, educator, and researcher of emergent materials and applications. A former Fulbright scholar to Japan...- Architect Magazine |
David Chipperfield Architects Wins Competition to Transform Former Industrial Site in Berlin: ...with Wirtz International Landscape Architects...to convert the abandoned industrial and production site Georg-Knorr-Park into a lively residential and commercial neighborhood...1,400 affordable rental apartments and 90,000 square meters of office and commercial space...new block creates a series of open arcades...introduces three skyscrapers, echoing the neighboring towers...Almost car-free, the neighborhood is surrounded by a protective green belt...- ArchDaily |
Raising the bar of Design Innovation and Excellence: IFI’s Global Awards Program (IFI GAP) recognizes best built Interiors worldwide: Program recognizes individual luminaries of the Interiors profession. Inaugural IFI Design Distinction Awards (IFI DDA) recognize completed projects. Arthur Gensler takes the IFI Prize, highest accolade; IFI Design Journalism Award (IFI DJA): Alice Rawsthorn; FoIFI: Sebastiano Raneri; Julio Cesar Chavez Espino; Mohamad Faisal Ghazali; Jooyun Kim; Susan Szenasy; junya.ishigami+associates; i29 interior architects; HOK; Serie + Multiply Architects; Oppenheim Architecture; Kunyu Design; Horizontal Design; HG Arhitektuur OÜ- International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI) |
2019 Brick in Architecture Awards Honor Dynamic Design: 37 Winners Span the U.S., Australia and Canada: All winning projects may be viewed in Brick Industry Association/BIA’s Photo Gallery. -- Lake|Flato Architects; Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Wheeler Kearns Architects; Magnusson Architecture & Planning; John Ronan Architects; etc.- Yahoo News |
AIA Postpones 2020 Conference: Responding to the COVID-19 outbreak, the American Institute of Architects will not hold its annual meeting May 14-16 in Los Angeles: ...currrently exploring options to reschedule the event and...is issuing refunds to registrants.- Architect Magazine |
Tactics for Minimizing COVID-19 Transmission in the Built Environment: Researchers from the CDC's MicrobeNet and the University of Oregon Biology and the Built Environment (BioBE) Center synthesized and analyzed information...to provide the industry guidance on minimizing the virus’s spread...examined how the built environment, including buildings, roads, and public transport, can speed the transmission...The full draft of the article can be downloaded at Preprints.- Architect Magazine |
Aaron Betsky: The Coronavirus, Meatspace, and Architecture: Suddenly, we are...isolated...The response to the outbreak does...raise questions about the fragility of our increasingly aspatial world and the value of place...How should architecture react? An obvious answer...would be a reactionary one...a Framptonian return to the local in everything...architects need to bring their skills and knowledge to the virtual realm...This is not just a question of aesthetics, but of creating a feeling of belonging, of feeling at home...what we need is...the creation of new windows and passageways...Perhaps architects will spend some time...figuring out how they can use their skills to improve the work and living spaces of the less affluent and mobile.- Architect Magazine |
Marcus Fairs: Coronavirus offers "a blank page for a new beginning" says Li Edelkoort: ...epidemic will lead to "a global recession of a magnitude that has not been experienced before" but will eventually allow humanity to reset its values...virus was causing a "quarantine of consumption"...economic disruption could have environmental benefits..."We will have to pick up the residue and reinvent everything from scratch...this is where I am hopeful for: another and better system...we will be forced to do what we should have done already in the first place....the Age of the Amateur..."- Dezeen |
Wanda Lau: How Architecture Firms Are Responding to COVID-19: Practitioners across the country offer insight on the impact of the novel coronavirus on their staff, operations, and projects. This article will be updated continually with new responses and developments. -- Nader Tehrani & Arthur Chang/NADAAA; Mike Medici/SmithGroup; Elizabeth Ranieri/Kuth Ranieri Architects; Nathan Miller/Proving Ground; Rachel Woodhouse & Karen Bala/Dyer Brown; Ted Hyman/ZGF; Brad Lukanic & Charlene Miraglia/CannonDesign- Architect Magazine |
Diana Budds: Design in the age of pandemics: Throughout history, how we design and inhabit physical space has been a primary defense against epidemics: Geoff Manaugh...writing a book about quarantine...“We have to return to this kind of medieval spatial response to disease control, which means that architecture and urban design suddenly become medical"...using space as a way to address epidemics has renewed interest...Sara Jensen Carr: “The U.S. has abandoned its public realm...we should think about the value of the public realm and public space in combating this thing.”- Curbed |
ANN feature: Norman Weinstein: Piranesi Drawings: Why his architectural art matters more than ever: The exhibition catalogue for a new British Museum exhibition provokes questions about neglected levels of classical heritage.- ArchNewsNow.com |
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