Today’s News - Thursday, July 30, 2020
EDITOR'S NOTE: Tomorrow and Monday - we'll be no-newsletter days we'll be back Tuesday, August 4. (August? Already?) In the meantime: Stay well. Stay safe. Stay cool (if you're sharing our miserable heat wave).
● ANN feature: Samuel G. White: The Legacy of Paul Spencer Byard: The author of "The Architecture of Additions," published 20 years ago, proposed parameters for evaluating additions to historic buildings - more timely than ever considering the proposed Executive Order mandating classical architecture for federal buildings ["architectural pudding" included].
● Betsky parses the shortcomings in Vishaan Chakrabarti's vision for a car-free Manhattan: "Where we need PAU and such visionaries is in that nebulous world beyond the Hudson and the East River - it is this dream that architects should concentrate on making true, rather than just figuring out how to enable privileged Manhattanites breathe easier."
● Diller Scofidio + Renfro's U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum. "wrapped in a lustrous skin," opens today in Colorado Springs: "While the building's façade is no doubt dramatic, the stair-free interior makes a bigger statement."
● McGuigan is quite taken with Höweler + Yoon's Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia - and how it came to be: "What's remarkable is not only the powerful design - a community-engaged design process doesn't always result in architecture of such uncompromised strength and symbolism" ("a soft rain fall" made it look like it was "shedding tears").
● Kamin is quite taken with Calatrava's "flaming red" nearly complete "Constellation," a sculpture that, "even in its unfinished state, has carved out a distinctive presence, at once complementing and upstaging the River Point high-rises around it" in Chciago.
● Baldwin's (great) Q&A with Lance Hosey, HMC Architects' new Chief Impact Officer, re: "reframing design": "The more-essential shift that needs to happen is around the values and very purposes of architecture - the profession is facing what could be the most significant disruption in our history - many architects are demonstrating how essential design can be."
● For a tropical touch: Eugenio Ramíre, president of AIA Puerto Rico, re: how COVID-19 is changing development: "Tropical architecture combined with green architecture is an intelligent asset" - the pandemic will "not have a long-term impact on the island's desirability as an investment destination."
● A great profile of Trinidad & Tobago-based ACLA architecture, celebrating its 75th anniversary - and the challenges faced by the fewer than 100 local firms: "What will define the buildings of our future? For that we need architects - and we need local architects."
● Docomomo Australia launches a petition to save Bates Smart and McCutcheon's 1956 "seminal" office building, North Sydney MLC - ironically, "Bates Smart is also the architect of the planned replacement."
● Tony Giannone, Tectvs director and architecture professor at the University of Adelaide, will be the Australian Institute of Architects' 2021-22 national president.
● Hodges tells the fascinating tale of Eric Saarinen's "journey to forgive his father, Eero Saarinen" - he "got pulled into shooting" the 2016 PBS documentary - "and the experience changed his life. At a stroke, it purged the gall that had plagued him for decades" (and now producing a film about his grandfather, Eliel).
● ICYMI: ANN feature: Lesson Plan #10: Córdova-Ramírez: Throughout history, ornament has been used to transform the built environment into a friendlier and more empathetic place. Not to teach this higher role means to not value part of our centuries-old cultural history.
Weekend diversions + Page-turners:
● "Homo Urbanus" at the reopened Arc en Rêve Centre d'Architecture in Bordeaux, France, is "an invitation to observe the complex relationship of humans and public space."
● "Europe's best Buildings" at the Architekturzentrum Wien, Vienna, showcases the European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award winners.
● The Architectural League of New York presents the League Prize 2020 exhibition: "After initially creating site-specific gallery installations, the winners adeptly translated their ideas into a digital format."
● Medina parses "the net art-centric 'FiDi Arsenale''' that had to decamp from the abandoned Irish pub The Barleycorn in Lower Manhattan - now "the strange one-off experiment has been preserved online in perpetuity."
● Betsky gives thumbs-up to "Fronts," Kripa and Mueller's "careful, comprehensive, and simultaneously enlightening and frightening study of how the military has created a shadow version of architecture" that "shows us once again that war is the ultimate R&D lab for the future of designed environment."
● Fabian Llonch parses two new books about his mentor Enric Miralles, cofounder of EMBT Architects: "What I recall most was how skillful, sharp, and brilliant he was to teach me things that went beyond architecture."
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ANN feature: Samuel G. White, FAIA: Additions to Historic Buildings: The Legacy of Paul Spencer Byard: The author of "The Architecture of Additions," published 20 years ago, proposed parameters for evaluating additions to historic buildings - more timely than ever considering the proposed Executive Order mandating classical architecture for federal buildings.- ArchNewsNow.com |
Aaron Betsky: Welcome to Our Carless Future: Public Architecture and Urbanism's proposal to ban private vehicles in Manhattan: The images PAU has produced...are indeed enticing, and I do think the premise is correct...[Manhattan is] not too far away from realizing this fairy tale...also reveals the vision’s shortcoming. It could become reality because Manhattan is a bastion of privilege...the other boroughs...will not benefit from this vision...Where we need PAU and such visionaries is in that nebulous world beyond the Hudson and the East River...it is this dream that architects should concentrate on making true, rather than just figuring out how to enable privileged Manhattanites breathe easier. -- Van Alen Institute- Architect Magazine |
Diller, Scofidio + Renfro’s U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum set to open in Colorado Springs: In a nice bit of what is likely coincidental timing...opens to the public...just days after the 30th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)...Thrusting and twisting upwards and outwards like an athlete springing into motion, [it].is wrapped in a lustrous skin...While the...building’s facade...is no doubt dramatic, the stair-free interior...makes a bigger statement...exhibitions were conceived with inclusivity at top of mind...a yet-to-be-completed pedestrian bridge...will link the museum with the neighboring America the Beautiful Park. -- Gallagher and Associates- The Architect's Newspaper |
Cathleen McGuigan: The Memorial to Enslaved Laborers at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville: Thomas Jefferson’s conflicts as a man and thinker are even embedded in his architecture - as majestic as his words but also masking ugly truths...the idea for the [Memorial] came from the students...What’s remarkable is not only the powerful design...but the design of the process to arrive at it. A community-engaged design process doesn’t always result in architecture of such uncompromised strength and symbolism...evoking the unexpected...The first time [designers] saw a soft rain fall, it looked as if the memory marks were shedding tears. -- Mabel O. Wilson; Höweler + Yoon; Gregg Bleam Landscape Architect; Meejin Yoon; Eric Höweler; Eto Otitigbe- Architectural Record |
Blair Kamin: Farewell, Spire. Hello, spiral. 12 years after his twisting tower ground to a halt, Santiago Calatrava readies a flaming red sculpture along the Chicago River: It’s a dynamic, bright red, nearly complete sculpture that graces the riverfront plaza of [River Point Park]...official name...is “Constellation"...The only star in this constellation is its creator...Even in its unfinished state, [it] has carved out a distinctive presence along the riverfront, at once complementing and upstaging the high-rises around it...responds directly to the distinctive curves of the 52-story River Point office building... -- Pickard Chilton- Chicago Tribune |
Eric Baldwin: "Architects Never Waste a Good Crisis": HMC Architects' New Chief Impact Officer Lance Hosey on Reframing Design: .With changes to climate, technology, and construction techniques, how do you think architects and designers will adapt ways of practicing to advance the profession? "...the industry is nowhere near where it needs to be...the more-essential shift that needs to happen is around the values and very purposes of architecture...[with the pandemic], the profession is facing what could be the most significant disruption in our history...many architects are...demonstrating how essential design can be."- ArchDaily |
The Resurgence of Tropical Architecture as Virus Concerns Deepen: AIA-PR president outlines the health benefits of this resilient design concept: Eugenio Ramíre of the Puerto Rico Chapter of the American Institute of Architects...“We are seeing how [the pandemic] changes future developments"...tropical architecture combined with green architecture is an intelligent asset...make for an "extraordinary" return on investment while providing resiliency...[he] said that the pandemic would not have a long-term impact on the island’s desirability as an investment destination...- The Weekly Journal (Puerto Rico) |
ACLA architecture: Let architecture celebrate Trinidad & Tobago culture: Anthony C Lewis and Associates, was the first indigenous architecture firm in TT....So, what’s Trinidad’s architectural style? Like its people and its culture, it’s very complex...ACLA [has been] the on-the-ground architect on several local projects handled by international firms...foreign architects tend to get the edge over local..."there are buildings that...could easily have been done by a local architect...What will define the buildings of our future? For that we need architects - and we need local architects.” -- Anthony C Lewis; acla:works; Laura Narayansingh; Gary Turton; Ricardo Newallo- Trinidad & Tobago Newsday |
Docomomo Australia Petition launched to save North Sydney MLC, ‘seminal’ high-rise office building: ...calls for North Sydney Council to refuse the application for the proposed development...Designed by Bates Smart and McCutcheon and completed in 1956, the building was...the largest building of its type in Australia...listed on the Australian Institute of Architects’ Register of Nationally Significant 20th Century Buildings...application for the site proposes to demolish the building to make way for a new office building...Bates Smart is also the architect of [the] planned replacement.- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
Tony Giannone to be Australian Institute of Architects 2021-22 national president: ...director of Tectvs and industry professor in the School of Architecture and Built Environment at the University of Adelaide...Institute made the appointment at its annual general meeting on 22 July, which also marked the beginning of Alice Hampson’s term as national president...Helen Lochhead concludes her term as national president- ArchitectureAU (Australia) |
Michael H. Hodges: A son's journey to forgive his father, Eero Saarinen: When Eric Saarinen was 12, his father...abandoned his first family...permanently soured Eric's relationship with Eero...But unexpectedly, Eric...got pulled into shooting a PBS [American Masters] documentary about his father, the 2016 "Eero Saarinen: The Architect Who Saw the Future," and the experience changed his life. At a stroke, it purged the gall that had plagued him for decades...Eric's story was key to its success. -- Robert Ziegelman/Luckenbach Ziegelman Gardner Architects- Detroit News |
"Homo Urbanus" Exhibition Praises Public Space, at the Arc en Rêve Centre d'Architecture in Bordeaux, France: ...reopened its main gallery with an exhibition by Ila Bêka & Louise Lemoine...Shown for the first time in its complete version...Creating a journey around the world (10 cities, 10 films, 10 hours)...an invitation to observe the complex relationship of humans and the built environment. thru October 11- ArchDaily |
"Europe's best Buildings": European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture Mies van der Rohe Award 2019 Exhibition: the 40 most convincing projects from the last two years...Main prize (€60,000): Lacaton & Vassal; Emerging Architect prize (€20,000): BAST; Architekturzentrum Wien, Vienna, thru October 12 -- Frédéric Druot; Christophe Hutin- Architekturzentrum Wien (Vienna) |
League Prize 2020 Exhibition: "Value: How are values mediated by the processes of design?": After initially creating site-specific gallery installations, the winners adeptly translated their ideas into a digital format. -- David Eskenazi/d.esk; Garrett Ricciardi & Julian Rose/Formlessfinder; Leslie Lok & Sasa Zivkovic/HANNAH; Isaac Michan Daniel/Michan Architecture; Ivi Diamantopoulou & Jaffer Kolb/New Affiliates; Luis Beltrán del Río García & Andrew Sosa Martínez/Vrtical- Architectural League of New York |
Samuel Medina: The net art-centric "FiDi Arsenale" now lives online: For two weeks this past winter, an abandoned Irish pub called The Barleycorn in Manhattan’s Financial District (FiDi) played unlikely host to an art exhibition...that appealed to curators Bika Rebek, Matt Shaw, and Collin Clarke were the forlorn Barleycorn’s unusual proportions - narrow and deep - which recall the Arsenale, a former shipyard turned art venue in Venice...The strange one-off experiment has been preserved online in perpetuity...- The Architect's Newspaper |
Aaron Betsky: The Shadow Architecture of War: In "Fronts: Military Urbanisms and the Developing World," Ersela Kripa and Stephen Mueller explore what architects can learn from the military's urban simulations: ...a careful, comprehensive, and simultaneously enlightening and frightening study of how the military has created a shadow version of architecture...Army offered a critique of Postmodernism...long before architects did. Architects may celebrate and try to “improve” the collage-like complexity...while the military figures it out in order to bust through it...shows us once again that war is the ultimate R&D lab for the future of designed environment.- Architect Magazine |
Fabian Llonch/Llonch+Vidalle´ Architecture: Remembering Enric Miralles: Two New Books: The architect and educator reflects on his late mentor and cofounder of EMBT Architects, who died 20 years ago this month: ...what I recall most was how skillful, sharp, and brilliant he was to teach me things that went beyond architecture. Javier Fernandez Contreras’s well-detailed "The Miralles Projection: Thinking and Representation in the Architecture of Enric Miralles" and "Conversations and Allusions: Enric Miralles" edited by Catherine Spellman- Architectural Record |
ANN feature: Lesson Plan #10: Life in Ornament: Throughout history, ornament has been used to transform the built environment into a friendlier and more empathetic place. Not to teach this higher role means to not value part of our centuries-old cultural history. By Miguel Córdova-Ramírez- ArchNewsNow.com |
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