Today’s News - Wednesday, February 3, 2021
● Daalder, Johnson & Kling parse a new survey by The Harris Poll and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs that "presents an image not of cities teetering on the edge, but of urban strength in crisis. Rather than decamping for the suburbs city residents remain committed to cities."
● An impressive "consortium of architects, activists, and thought leaders" (including Mazria & Hartke) explains that if we really want to fix the environment, "we must decarbonize our buildings; our future depends on it - policies can help us respond to the twin crises of climate and health."
● Saffron finds NYC's new Moynihan Train Hall "dazzling but flawed - a simulacrum, a romanticized stage-set version of what we think a train station should look like - a template for what is possible" for Philly's 30th Street Station - "and what to avoid."
● Amazon's HQ2 redevelopment in Arlington, Virginia, includes The Helix, an office tower that "can be climbed from the outside like a mountain hike" with "trees and green space spiraling along the exterior" (and resembles "a soft-serve ice cream cone" or "less flattering - a poop emoji").
● A $15 million fundraising campaign is underway to finance a major modernization of a trio of I.M. Pei's 1960s Brutalist-style dorms at Sarasota's New College of Florida (international outcry worked in saving Louis Kahn's dorms at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad).
● A competition open to licensed and aspiring Black architects results in four winners selected to design facades for new retail pavilions in "Keswick Platform" in Charlotte, North Carolina, to be "leased to local small businesses and food and beverage concepts."
● Anne Bordeleau, O'Donovan Director of the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo, addresses "systemic racism in Canada's architecture schools. What needs to be done to implement meaningful changes in our education, discipline and profession?" (applies not only to Canada).
● NOMA partners with Black Spectacles "to help increase equity in the architecture field - with NCARB-approved test prep software subscriptions for all six divisions of the ARE 5.0 exam."
● One we couldn't resist: Simon Henriques' "artist's statement" as the designer of a restaurant's outdoor dining space: "I imagined my ideal restaurant. Then, I built a smaller, more ramshackle version - and put it in the street. That was pretty much it. Unless you consider writing this statement - the elaborate act of justifying why all of this is okay takes about as much energy as the rest of it" (some of the best archi-babble we've seen in ages!).
● ICYMI: ANN feature: Samuel G. White: The Architecture of Public Buildings: …good design should not be expressed in terms of style. The key difference between good and bad architecture is quality, not whether the cladding is rusticated limestone or perforated titanium.
Winners all:
● Eyefuls of the winning team of Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Gustafson Bowman + Porter, and b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos and the 4 finalists in the competition to "create a biodiverse urban ecosystem" with 15 "Urban Rooms" in Madrid's Azca Financial District.
● The Architectural Review and The Architect's Journal announce the 2021 Jane Drew and Ada Louise Huxtable Prizes awarded to Kate Macintosh and Lesley Lokko:, recipients of the W Awards (formerly the Women in Architecture Awards).
● Paul Keskeys brings us eyefuls of the two winners and 10 "striking runners-up" in Architizer's One Rendering Challenge 2021 selected from "a stunning shortlist of 100 architectural renderings" (stunning, indeed!).
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Ivo Daalder, Will Johnson & Samuel Kling: Why We Don’t Believe the Big City Obituary: America’s cities offer the greatest hope for the country’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Fortunately, the people who live there agree: Much of the analysis has been fatalistic - gloomy predictions grounded in hunches...A new survey by The Harris Poll and the Chicago Council on Global Affairs offers evidence for a different narrative...It presents an image not of cities teetering on the edge, but of urban strength in crisis. Rather than decamping for the suburbs...city residents remain committed to cities....If our cities recover, as we believe they will, it will be a credit to the commitment, sacrifice and imagination of their citizens...Even today, cities remain the place to be.- Bloomberg CityLab |
Want to actually fix the environment? Change how buildings are built: We must decarbonize our buildings; our future depends on it, writes a consortium of architects, activists, and thought leaders: Now is the time for us to collectively transform buildings from major emissions generators to central solutions to the climate crisis while also improving public health, creating jobs, and strengthening community resilience...policies can help us respond to the twin crises of climate and health. -- Ralph DiNola/New Buildings Institute; Jason Hartke/International WELL Building Institute; Sly James/Joni Wickham/Wickham James Strategies & Solutions; Ed Mazria/Architecture 2030; Lotte Schlegel/Institute for Market Transformation- Fast Company |
Inga Saffron: New York’s new Moynihan Train Hall is dazzling but flawed. Philly should do better: Philadelphia already has a great 20th-century train station. What it needs is a transit champion to...turn it into a great 21st-century train station: A rippled glass canopy spans the main hall, opening up views of the sky...So this is what train travel is supposed to be! As gorgeous as the architectural results at Moynihan are, this is not the station that New York - and the rest of America - deserves...[It] is a simulacrum, a romanticized stage-set version of what we think a train station should look like...lacks many of the basic functional amenities...Moynihan [is] a template for what is possible - and what to avoid...The improvements at 30th Street require the same kind of passionate advocates that New York had... -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Peter Pennoyer; McKim, Mead & White- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Headquarters Helix: Amazon Reveals Eye-Catching Office Tower: ...next phase of its [HQ2] redevelopment in Arlington, Virginia: ...featuring a signature 350-foot (107-meter) helix-shaped office tower that can be climbed from the outside like a mountain hike...the centerpiece of the proposal that also features multiple 22-story office buildings...across the Potomac River from the nation's capital...trees and green space spiraling along the exterior...in addition to a helix also resembles a Christmas tree or a soft-serve ice cream cone. Less flattering comments on social media likened it to a poop emoji. (AP) -- NBBJ- U.S. News & World Report |
Sarasota’s New College of Florida kicks off $15 million fundraising campaign to revive I.M. Pei-designed dorms: ...Pei For the Future, a major effort to breathe new life into a trio of aging 1960s-era residence halls...will finance a major, modernization-focused revamp..."The humanist legacy of his work is timeless. It’s now up to us to pass it on.”- The Architect's Newspaper |
Meet the 4 winners of Camp North End’s design competition: Licensed and aspiring Black architects selected to design facades for new retail pavilions: “Keswick Platform”...35,000-square-foot space...will contain up to seven pavilions leased to local small businesses and food and beverage concepts. -- Marcus Thomas/KEi Architects; Melanie Reddrick/Little Diversified Architectural Consulting; Aleah Pullen/Apogee Consulting Group; Hasheem Halim/Saturn Atelier- QCity Metro (Charlotte, North Carolina) |
Anne Bordeleau: From the Ground Up: Addressing Systemic Racism in Canada’s Architecture Schools:..What needs to be done to implement meaningful changes in our education, discipline and profession? As instructors, many of us are so infatuated by the professional discipline we sustain that we do not really want to hear students asking for something different...loudly and clearly calling for certain changes...a desire to refocus architectural education on sustainable and equitable built environments...Change will always come too slowly, and there will always be more to do.- Canadian Architect magazine |
Black Spectacles Partners with NOMA to Help Increase Equity in the Architecture Field: ...online education program providing architects with resources on their path to becoming licensed and advancing their careers [signed] a contract with the National Organization of Minority Architects offering deeply discounted licensing study resources to its paid members...will provide NCARB-approved test prep software subscriptions for all six divisions of the ARE 5.0 exam.- Black Spectacles |
Simon Henriques: I Am the Designer of This Restaurant’s Outdoor Seating Space, and This Is My Artist’s Statement: I imagined my ideal restaurant. Then, I built a smaller, more ramshackle version of that, and put it in the street. That was pretty much it. Unless you consider writing this statement part of my artistic process, which would be fair since the elaborate act of justifying why all of this is okay takes about as much energy as the rest of it.- McSweeney’s |
Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Gustafson Bowman + Porter, b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos to Transform Azca Financial District in Madrid: RENAZCA...to achieve the urban, economic, and social revitalization of the area...will create a biodiverse urban ecosystem...“Central Green"...to accommodate...outdoor events [for] 200- to 10,000 people...incorporates 15 “Urban Rooms"...such as a fresh produce market, children's playground, open-air library, sculpture garden, cafes and bars, a productive garden, an outdoor co-working space, and perhaps a FabLab. -- Martha Thorne/IE School of Architecture and Design; OMA; MVRDV; West 8; Heatherwick Studio- ArchDaily |
2021 Jane Drew and Ada Louise Huxtable Prizes awarded to Kate Macintosh and Lesley Lokko: The Architectural Review and The Architect’s Journal announced the recipients of...the W Awards (previously the Women in Architecture Awards)...Macintosh still an active voice in the push for affordable and dignified housing...architect and educator Lokko is perhaps best known...as a globe-spanning academic who has held teaching and leadership roles at architecture schools across the U.K. and U.S...In observance of International Women’s Day on March 8, the W Awards will kick off a week of virtual programming...winners of the Moira Gemmill Prize for Emerging Architecture and the MJ Long Prize for Excellence in Practice, will also be announced...- The Architect's Newspaper |
Paul Keskeys: One Rendering Challenge 2021: Competition Winners Announced! The winning architectural renderings range from evocative, everyday spaces to dramatic, otherworldly environments: ...a stunning shortlist of 100 architectural renderings...[jury] selected 2 top winners - one non-student and one student entry - along with 10 striking runners-up. The 2 Top Winners each receive a grand prize of $2,500... -- Francisco Tirado/Cobe Architects; Jeremias Dabbah/University of Buenos Aires- Architizer |
ANN feature: Samuel G. White, FAIA: The Architecture of Public Buildings: The aspirations of a program that encourages good design should not be expressed in terms of style. The key difference between good and bad architecture is quality, not whether the structure is clad in rusticated limestone or perforated titanium.- ArchNewsNow.com |
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