Today’s News - Thursday, June 18, 2020
EDITOR'S NOTE: Tomorrow and Monday will be no-newsletter days. We'll be back Tuesday, June 23. 'Til then: Stay well. Stay safe.
Of protests, racism, and urban issues - the industry responds:
● Alissa Walker delves into how "Black designers and planners are mobilizing their industries to eradicate racism in urbanism - they're seeing evidence that those revolutionary changes they've been championing for decades might finally be embraced by their colleagues" (some comments are confounding!).
● Budds reports on Harvard's AfricaGSD and AASU's "'Notes on Credibility,' a list of 13 demands aimed at the Graduate School of Design's administration for how the school must institutionalize anti-racism" - but "how good of an education can Harvard provide when the best and brightest students have no confidence in its administration?" (more confounding comments!).
● Green presents ASLA's statement regarding the killing of George Floyd, and its vow to "deepen its partnership with the Black Landscape Architects Network (BlackLAN) to create a meaningful, sustainable plan of action to help guide the profession" (astoundingly confounding comments!).
● The Urban Studio's Andrew Sargeant: "If we are to design a new, more just world, we need to start by designing a new, more just workplace" - and "change the narrative about investing in black landscape architects and [others] as "helping them." Investment in diverse people and communities is investing in the future of the profession. I don't want 'help'" (astoundingly confounding comments - Part 4).
● ZGF's Steven Lewis "attempts to weave together the two concurrent pandemics - Covid-19 and systemic racism - into a way forward that offers a ray of hope - if we claim our role as 'citizen architects,' we can be at the forefront of mitigating the spatial and environmental disparities between the haves and have-nots that have been laid bare for all to see."
Weekend diversions:
● Kamin cheers architecture tour boats returning to the Chicago River - adapted to allow social distancing, of course.
● The 3.6-mile pedestrian and bike path on the Mario M. Cuomo Bridge (formerly the Tappan Zee) across the Hudson River opens with public art, scenic overlooks, and food vendors (an 80-minute walk and 20 minutes to bike).
● Jonathon Keats minces no words about the "staggering paucity of imagination" in the Museum of Craft and Design's online show "Design By Distance" that "shows how architects and designers are confronting COVID-19. Why are they all so hopelessly inane?" (examples of Kate Wagner's "coronagrifting" and PR-chitecture").
● Harrouk brings us eyefuls of SO - IL's "Beeline" installation and 10-year retrospective at Lisbon's Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (maat) that is finally open to the public - in limited numbers, of course.
● San Francisco Design Week, themed "Intentional Distortions," kicks off online with experiences that aim to "bring human connection that goes beyond staring at a screen and participating in chat windows."
● The online-only Cooper Union Chanin School of Architecture End of Year Show uses gaming technology to bring both the show and the school's landmark Foundation Building to life.
● de Forest cheers Inga Saffron's "Becoming Philadelphia: How an Old American City Made Itself New Again": "One of the delights of reading through was to discover what a policy wonk she is - she has become both our civic cheerleader and, when warranted, our public scold" ("she gives good snark").
● Lieberman lauds Saffron's "Becoming Philadelphia": "Her passion for the city is evident - her highly detailed and opinionated columns are fascinating and satisfying to read." -
● Suzanne Stephens gives thumbs-up - and -down - to Goetz's novel "Villa of Delirium" that "is most successful in its historical research. The main protagonist is the Villa Kerylos. While his undertaking is impressive, there is a point when all his scholarly digging makes you want to say, 'Just get on with the story' - the ambience oddly gets lost."
● ICYMI: ANN feature: Christopher Alexander: Lesson Plan #9: Ideas on Architectural Education: Schools of architecture have not found ways of teaching the art of building that is effective. We want, collectively, to make architectural teaching better, and through that, to make architecture better.
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Alissa Walker: How to End Anti-Blackness in Cities; Black designers and planners are mobilizing their industries to eradicate racism in urbanism: Now, calls for justice...compounded by a pandemic...have heightened longtime demands from Black urbanists to confront the anti-Blackness that has been constructed into the urban landscape...While Black urbanists create essential spaces...within their own communities, they’re also seeing evidence that those revolutionary changes they’ve been championing for decades might finally be embraced by their colleagues - and lead to the deeper, structural transformations that cities need. -- Jay Pitter; Orlando Bailey; Tamika Butler; Anthonia Ogundele; Will Prosper; Kristen Jeffers; Bryan Lee Jr.; Destiny Thomas- Curbed |
Diana Budds: Harvard Students Are Teaching Harvard How to Be Anti-Racist: And therein lies the problem: ...members of the African American Student Union (AASU) and AfricaGSD issued “Notes on Credibility,” a list of 13 demands aimed at the Graduate School of Design’s administration for how the school must institutionalize anti-racism...How good of an education can Harvard provide when the best and brightest students have no confidence in its administration?- Curbed |
Jared Green: Black Lives Matter. Black Communities Matter: The American Society of Landscape Architects...recognizes that the brutal systems of slavery and Jim Crowism have dehumanized black people and weakened their communities. We also acknowledge that the planning and design of the built environment, including landscape architecture, has often had a disproportionate adverse impact on black communities...ASLA will deepen our partnership with the Black Landscape Architects Network (BlackLAN) to create a meaningful, sustainable plan of action to help guide the profession...- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Andrew Sargeant/The Urban Studio: I Could Have Been Ahmaud Arbery: I share this story in hopes that this will be the last time I have to recall these events...knowing it won’t be. As landscape architects, we understand that our imagination gives shape to the future...ASLA and the Landscape Architecture Foundation made a concerted effort to transform our discipline by making diversity a priority. However, firms have made little progress...If we are to design a new, more just world, we need to start by designing a new, more just workplace...We must change the narrative about investing in black landscape architects and other minority designers as “helping them.” Investment in diverse people and communities is investing in the future of the profession. I don’t want “help.”- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Steven Lewis/ZGF Architects: Double pandemic: ...let me attempt to weave together the two concurrent pandemics that we are doing battle with - Covid-19 and systemic racism - into a way forward that offers a ray of hope...charting a definitive course with so many unknowns at this time would be inappropriate. Rather, we should highlight our common goals, as a point of departure for engaging in constructive conversations...we must be willing to walk in each others’ shoes...to take an empathetic path forward to a more perfect society...if we claim our role as ‘citizen architects’, we can be at the forefront of mitigating the spatial and environmental disparities between the haves and have-nots that have been laid bare for all to see by this pandemic.- StadsLeven (Netherlands) |
Blair Kamin: Architecture tour boats return to the Chicago River after being sidelined by the virus: Architectural river tours, a rite of summer in Chicago, resume: ...came as the city reopened the downtown Riverwalk, with restrictions aimed at limiting activity and crowds...The restart of the river tours closely follows the resumption of Lake Michigan architectural cruises from Navy Pier...when the outdoor portion of the pier welcomed visitors for the first time in months... Chicago Architecture Center...river tours...to reopen those cruises June 26.- Chicago Tribune |
Pedestrian path on Mario M. Cuomo Bridge opens with public art, scenic overlooks, & food vendors: ...3.6-mile shared path...is one of the longest of its kind in the country...features six different scenic overlooks, 10 public art pieces, and three local food trucks...stretches across the Hudson River from Westchester to Tarrytown, to South Nyack in Rockland County...$3.9 billion replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge...takes about 80 minutes to walk and 20 minutes to bike- 6sqft (New York City) |
Jonathon Keats: A New Online Exhibit Shows How Architects And Designers Are Confronting COVID-19 - With Outmoded Ideas And Products Nobody Needs: ...architects and designers can't stop pitching products to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Why are they all so hopelessly inane? "Design By Distance" hosted by the Museum of Craft and Design...projects reveal both an irrepressible urge to address the pandemic...and a staggering paucity of imagination on the part of people whose profession it is to be creative...The blandness of ideas...all the more shameless because the self-promotion takes advantage of misfortune...represent a dereliction of duty on the part of designers as critical thinkers and creators of alternative futures. -- Sun Dayong; Paul Cocksedge Studio; designlibero; Haus-Rucker-Co; Kate Wagner- Forbes |
Christele Harrouk: "Beeline," the Architectural Intervention by SO - IL, Is on Display as MAAT Reopens: The Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (maat) in Lisbon...unveiling to the public the new projects...such as Beeline...Transforming the museum into a landscape of encounters and conversations..."Currents - Temporary Architectures by SO-IL...featuring 12 projects the studio formulated over the past decade...explores its ephemeral and built work. -- Florian Idenburg; Jing Liu- ArchDaily |
San Francisco Design Week kicks off online: "Intentional Distortions" runs through June 25 with a calendar chock-full of digital programming including virtual tours, live-streamed studio crawls, webinars, and other experiences that aim to “bring human connection that goes beyond staring at a screen and participating in chat windows.”- The Architect's Newspaper |
New Exhibition Brings The Cooper Union to Life through Virtual Reality: Chanin School of Architecture End of Year Show Uses Gaming Technology to Bring to Life through Virtual Reality: ...moved not just the show, but the landmark Foundation Building, designed by Frederick Petersen in which the school’s classes, studio spaces, and exhibition spaces are held to an online environment. The effort to recreate the building’s architecture through technology was due, in part, to just one of the courses highlighted...- Cooper Union Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture |
Ann de Forest: Reporter to Icon: the Rise of Philadelphia and the Critic Who Covered It: "Becoming Philadelphia: How an Old American City Made Itself New Again," a collection of Inga Saffron’s “Changing Skyline” columns over the past 21 years...a soapbox to speak out on a sprawling range of issues...She does not shy away from controversy...One of the delights of reading through...was to discover what a policy wonk she is...she has become both our civic cheerleader and, when warranted, our public scold.- Hidden City Philadelphia |
Michael Lieberman: Inga Saffron’s "Becoming Philadelphia: How an Old American City Made Itself New Again": a selection of the architecture critic's Philadelphia Inquirer articles from the past 20 years, tells an intricate story about Philly's 10 year tax abatement and construction boom- - both its part in revitalizing the city, and its part in harmful gentrification and increased inequality: She cares deeply about Philadelphia, and her passion for the city is evident...her highly detailed and opinionated columns are fascinating and satisfying to read.- Artblog (Philadelphia) |
Suzanne Stephens: "Villa of Delirium" by Adrien Goetz: Novels based on history can be fascinating, particularly when the author demonstrates both a convincing commitment to facts and a dramatic ability to animate characters, events, and settings of the past. His fictionalized history of the actual Villa Kerylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, on the French Riviera, follows this dual agenda...[it] is most successful in its historical research...The main protagonist is the Villa Kerylos, built in 1902-08 [designed by Emmanuel Pontremoli]...While his undertaking is impressive, there is a point when all his scholarly digging makes you want to say, “Just get on with the story...But erudition can seem so precious, even if you think that stuffing the novel with tons of facts is edifying. Here, the ambience oddly gets lost.- Architectural Record |
ANN feature: Christopher Alexander: Lesson Plan #9: Ideas on Architectural Education: Schools of architecture have not found ways of teaching the art of building that is effective. We want, collectively, to make architectural teaching better, and through that, to make architecture better.- ArchNewsNow.com |
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