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Today’s News - Wednesday, July 22, 2020

● Craig L. Wilkins, "one of the most prolific writers about spatial justice and winner of the National Design Award for his scholarship on Black architects," minces no words re: why "it's time for architects to accept responsibility - the current question being bandied about is: What can we do? Then, architects sort of tinker around the edges - just as we have always done."

● Q&A with accessibility consultant Karen Braitmayer who "weighs in on accessible design and how we can make strides to truly design for all": "Architecture schools need to help young disabled people in their quest to become architects."

● Archaeologists from Cal State conclude that "ramps leading into temples show Ancient Greeks put inclusive design into action to improve access for disabled locals. The impressive architectural innovation from about 25 centuries ago highlights the lack of disabled access at many venues today."

● Quang Truong takes a deep dive into where innovation in architecture will come from next: "The long, complicated, and labor-intensive AEC process is where many proposed innovations find their greatest hurdles" (his three "cornerstones" framework might help).

● Architects Down Under "raise significant heat concerns over Charles Darwin University plans" - they also claim "details of the project have been drip-fed and revisions have been made after public submissions closed. ARM Architecture said materials and finishes were still being chosen."

● MAD Architects and three French firms unveil the design for the 2024 Paris Olympics Aquatic Center, envisioned as "a piece of a public artwork" that "flaunts a translucent curved facade that appears to be floating with a rippled reflexive effect."

● The Orbit, Canada's "City of the Future" in Innisfil "moves ahead with the approval of a central train station designed by PARTISANS.

● Green brings us eyefuls of St. Petersburg, Florida's new St. Pete Pier 26-acre walkable pier district with a focus on "Bending Arc," a "sculpture with a social justice message" - and the park that "echoes" its message.

● One we couldn't resist: A "sunken medieval Italian village may resurface for 1st time since 1994" - followed by tales of other underwater cities - and the current (depressing) crisis of rising sea levels.

Deadlines (we love "Creature"!):

● Call for entries: Emotions, Architecture, Opioids: design a methadone medication unit in Venice, Los Angeles; open to students and professionals; cash prizes.

● Call for entries: Lagos - City of Water Architecture Competition: design a building, structure, or master plan that helps envision a future for Lagos on water; open to students, recent graduates, and young architects; cash prizes.

● Call for entries: LA+ CREATURE: choose a nonhuman creature as your client, then design (or redesign) something that improves your client's life and increases human awareness of and empathy towards your client's existence; cash prizes; open to students & professionals.

● Call for entries: eVolo 2021 Skyscraper Competition: What is a skyscraper in the 21st century?

● Call for papers for an upcoming issue of Nexus Network Journal: Modeling: Conceiving, Testing, Defining, Convincing.

COVID-19 news continues:

● SWA's Baumgardner delves into how "the pandemic offers an opportunity to re-wild our communities," helping our already under-funded parks departments, and creating a "new aesthetic - an unkempt, rambling, and wild style of park 'design' created in an organic, vernacular character" (mention of puppies included).

● Wainwright talks to "the designers rethinking theater for the COVID age" via "wraparound screens, touring deckchair pop-ups, rooftop suction devices" (and possibly "the first post-viral theater seat).

● Diamond Schmitt's Matthew Lella in a radio interview re: how the power of architecture can "bring audiences back into live entertainment spaces": "It already has."

● USGBC releases new LEED guidance for credits that "integrate public health and social equity with sustainability planning."

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Craig L. Wilkins as told to Diana Budds: It’s Time for Architects to Accept Responsibility: As a profession, we don’t all talk about our role in redlining. We don’t talk about equitable resource allocation. We have been complicit in warehousing people: ...the current question being bandied about within architecture is: What can we do? Then, architects sort of tinker around the edges...just as we have always done...AIA code of ethics [is] all about how not to go to jail and how not to sully the name of the architect. It’s not about having a higher calling or higher duty...You have to have equity and justice as part of your thinking.- Curbed

Karen Braitmayer, Founder of Studio Pacifica, Weighs in on Accessible Design: As the ADA turns 30, the Seattle architect reflects on inclusivity and how we can make strides to truly design for all: "I spend a lot of time asking people questions and getting nosy. Understanding the community that will live with or benefit from the project is important...if we increase the number of designers with lived experience in disability, we are going to alter the output and what we’re creating...Architecture schools need to help young disabled people in their quest to become architects. -- Olson Kundig; Perkins and Will; Graham Baba; Tiscareno Associates- Metropolis Magazine

Rob Picheta: Ramps leading into temples show Ancient Greeks put inclusive design into action: Archaeologists from California State University re-examined the placement and design of ramps at several Greek buildings, and concluded that they were installed to improve access for disabled locals...Access ramps were particularly common at healing sanctuaries...The impressive architectural innovation from about 25 centuries ago also highlights the lack of disabled access at many venues today.- CNN Style

Quang Truong/Polytechnica: Where will innovation in architecture come from next? Now more than ever, architecture is in need of innovation...But even before these crises [pandemic, Black Lives Matter, racial justice protests] forced many of us to reexamine architecture, the industry was in desperate need of innovation...The long, complicated, and labor-intensive AEC process is where many proposed innovations find their greatest hurdles - meaning that it is ripe for innovation...use this framework to understand from where meaningful innovation will come in the future.- The Architect's Newspaper

Architects raise significant heat concerns over university plans for Darwin's CBD: Plans for a multi-million-dollar Charles Darwin University precinct...have sparked concerns among some of the NT's leading architects, who say details of the project have been drip-fed and revisions have been made after public submissions closed...Concept designs...show a glass building, with little evidence of screening or heat mitigation...could reflect heat into the heart of the city...Melbourne-based...ARM Architecture, said materials and finishes were still being chosen. -- Australian Institute of Architects NT- ABC News (Australia)

Sean Joyner: MAD Architects unveils design for 2024 Paris Olympics' Aquatic Center: ...led by Ma Yansong...along with French architectural firms, Jacques Rougerie Architecture, Atelier Phileas Architecture, and Apma Architecture...concept envisions...a piece of a public artwork...flaunts a translucent curved facade that appears to be floating...with a rippled reflexive effect. The building is expected to hold 5,000 spectators during the Olympics, and has been designed to reduce in size by 50% once the games are over...70% of the structure is constructed from wood- Archinect

Eric Baldwin: Canada's City of the Future Moves Forward with Central Train Station Approved: ...[designed] by...PARTISANS...for The Orbit...a new central neighborhood for the Canadian town of Innisfil...Over the next 3-5 years, PARTISANS will collaborate with the Town of Innisfil to develop the Orbit and the immediate surrounding buildings...and green space...- ArchDaily

Jared Green: In a New Pier District, an Arc Bends Towards Justice: ...in St. Petersburg, Florida, an old pier launch built on landfill didn’t offer much beyond lots of parking and a long hot walk 3,000 feet out to a restaurant jutting into Tampa Bay...a new 26-acre walkable pier district now unites city and pier ..features "Bending Arc," a sculpture with a social justice message by net artist Janet Echelman...her largest permanent installation to date...the park itself echoes the social justice message of Echelman’s artwork. -- Barbara Wilk/W-Architecture; Rob Rogers/Rogers Partners; ASD/SKY Architect; Ken Smith Workshop; AECOM- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)

Sunken medieval Italian village may resurface for 1st time since 1994: Every few decades or so, the submerged 12th-century...Fabbriche di Careggine in the Lucca province of Tuscany breaches the surface of Lake Vagli. The town could resurface once more in 2021...built in 1270 and stood on dry land up until 1946 when its inhabitants were relocated [and village] was submerged to build a hydroelectric dam...town has fully surfaced at least four times since then...when the reservoir...was drained for maintenance work on the dam.- AccuWeather

Call for entries: Emotions, Architecture, Opioids: design a methadone medication unit located in Venice, Los Angeles; open to students and professionals; cash prizes; registration deadline: August 30 (submissions due: September 6)- Combo Competitions

Call for entries: Lagos - City of Water Architecture Competition 2020 (international): design a building, structure or masterplan that helps envision a future for Lagos on water; open to students, recent graduates and young architects; cash prizes; registration deadline: August 10 (submissions due August 25)- Eddy Eguavoen Foundation / Voen Associates (Nigeria)

Call for entries: LA+ CREATURE international design ideas competition: choose a nonhuman creature as your client...identify its needs...design (or redesign) a place, structure, thing, system, and/or process that improves your client’s life; design must increase human awareness of and empathy towards your client’s existence; cash prizes; open to students & professionals of any discipline; no professional qualification required; deadline: October 20- LA+ Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture (University of Pennsylvania)

Call for entries: eVolo 2021 Skyscraper Competition (international): What is a skyscraper in the 21st century? What are the historical, contextual, social, urban, and environmental responsibilities of these mega-structures? Early registration (save money!): November 17 (submissions due February 9, 2021)- eVolo Magazine

Call for entries: Call for papers for an upcoming issue of Nexus Network Journal: Modelling: Conceiving, Testing, Defining, Convincing; deadline: January 15, 2021- Nexus Network Journal: Architecture and Mathematics / Kim Williams Books

Kinder Baumgardner/SWA Group: The Pandemic Offers an Opportunity to Re-Wild Our Communities: ...the American public has adopted parks and neighborhood streets as safe spaces. This will not be a short-lived phenomenon...our parks departments will be unable to marshal the funds to maintain existing open spaces, much less deliver new parks...this disconnect will be resolved through the rewilding of the American city...an unkempt, rambling, and wild style of park “design” created in an organic, vernacular character...This new aesthetic...a low-tech but important part of a new infrastructure that is needed now more than ever.- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA)

Oliver Wainwright: What's the future of theatre? A Scottish seaside town may have all the answers: Transparent wraparound screens, touring deckchair pop-ups, rooftop suction devices...the designers rethinking theatre for the Covid age - Dunoon leading the way: John McAslan: “Architecture seems to have been lost in any kind of strategy...There’s been an acceptance of the problem, and a lack of imagination in terms of looking at how it could be done differently"...Dunoon’s Burgh Hall...might now be the site of the first post-viral theatre seat. -- Gavin Green/Charcoalblue; Es Devlin; Ray Winkler/Stufish; Steve Tompkins/Haworth Tompkins- Guardian (UK)

How can the power of architecture bring audiences back into live entertainment spaces? Interview with Matthew Lella, Principal, Diamond Schmitt Architects: "Re-opening theatres during the pandemic must start with behavioral change both in front and back of house...I believe the power of architecture can bring audiences back to theatres safely. It already has.”- Radio 640 Toronto - The Morning Show

New LEED Guidance Helps Cities and Communities Expand Resilience Efforts in Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic: Credits integrate public health and social equity with sustainability planning: The guidance includes strategies for planning, risk assessment and training, as well as evaluating equity implications and impacts to vulnerable communities.- U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)

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