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Today’s News - Thursday, February 11, 2021

EDITOR'S NOTE: Tomorrow and Monday will be no-newsletter days. We have a Tuesday morning commitment - though a forecast for 5-8 inches of snow may change that plan, and we'll be back Tuesday, February 16. Another forecast says "snow possible" - in which case we'll be back Wednesday, February 17.

● Stephen Zacks delves into the AIA statement against designing jails and prisons, the project to close Rikers, and the process of reforming the justice system in NYC: Critics of the U.S. prison system "discourage architects from participating" - long-time practitioners contend that "nonparticipation would be more harmful if architects were not engaging with the system."

● Urban designer Mark Favermann considers Paul Rudolph's now-demolished Burroughs Wellcome HQ and an 1899 Boston church that met the same fate - what merits saving: "It is progressive politics vs. moral authority vs. money-making vs. nostalgia."

● On brighter notes: Mavros reports that Finland is proposing 13 Alvar Aalto buildings be added to UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List, asserting that each "meets the criteria for Outstanding Universal Values, a prerequisite for inclusion in the World Heritage List."

● Brussat cheers Berlin-based Sebastian Treese winning the Driehaus Prize: He "is part of an admirable European trend toward traditional architecture that may be outstripping the strides being made on this side of the Atlantic."

● Hilburg brings us eyefuls of Kéré Architecture's "swooping new parliament hall for the Republic of Benin - modeled on the distinctive shape (and traditional function) of the native Palaver tree."

● Adjaye's Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in Johannesburg, that "resembles traditional African granaries" being built using local mud, stone, and wood, and will include solar panels, a geothermal heating system, and rammed earth walls (great animation).

● Scott Lewis parses proposed "drastic and controversial" changes to ICC's Model Energy Code Development: "Homebuilders, energy interests and manufacturers maintained that the update would raise house prices. Most building officials, architects and energy-efficiency advocates say those short-term costs pale compared to longer-range energy savings and environmental benefits."

● The creative directors of Australia's now cancelled 2020 National Architecture Conference: "We believe that architectural wit and intelligence, agility and diligence, cheekiness, and humor, restraint and flamboyance, ethics and goodwill can all be deployed to maximize advantage - in social, environmental and economic terms" + Q&A with Alan Ricks/MASS Design Group - 1st in a series.

● One we couldn't resist (a video): "While the world has been distracted - change has been happening anyway. Empower women and change the world" (the best 2 minutes we've spent in a long time!).

Weekend diversions + Page-turners:

● Now available online: Beatrice Galilee's The World Around Summit 2021: "20 ground-breaking architecture and design projects presented by award-winning international architects, designers, filmmakers, researchers, and artists from14 cities and cultural institutions."

● Louis Kahn at 120: An Online Event (free): Richard Saul Wurman in conversation with Kahn's three children Sue Ann Kahn, Alexandra Tyng, and Nathaniel Kahn, presented by UPenn's Weitzman School of Design and Designers & Books.

● Steven Litt gives (mostly) thumbs-up to Galen Pardee's "The Great Lakes Architectural Expedition" in Cleveland that "makes the Great Lakes an imaginary client - captivating and imaginative - asserts that architects ought to think not just about serving a specific client today, but also future generations, and the entire planet. Amen to that."

● Just a reminder: The non-profit Modernism Week's online auction ends Monday!

● Justin Davidson cheers Annalee Newitz's "Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age" - a "nuanced overflight of history, alighting on four metropolitan centers that took centuries to rise and endured for centuries more before following unpredictable paths to disarray" - relating them to NYC that "has been suffering a more protracted death than the soprano in a Verdi opera."

● William Morgan cheers Françoise Astorg Bollack's "Material Transfers: Metaphor, Craft, and Place in Contemporary" that "is replete with serendipity, ingenuity, and the stretching of material limits" - and "many visual rewards."

● Peluso cheers "1,182" by architect/photographers Alessandro Cimmino and Emanuele Piccardo that offers "an unprecedented (photographic) account" of the fall and rise of Genoa's Morandi Bridge: "It teaches us to look more carefully."

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Stephen Zacks: Beyond a Broken System: The closure of Rikers Island created an opportunity to rethink New York City’s prisons. But critics of the U.S. carceral system discourage architects from participating in a justice system defined by disparity: ...long-time practitioners...took issue with the idea of nonparticipation...it would be more harmful if architects were not engaging with the system, using the power of design to change environments...current plans to replace Rikers reflect aspirational ideas that seemed like starry-eyed idealism only a few years ago...Implementing these plans will require the ideas and expertise of talented architects committed to ending the legacy of abuse that Rikers came to embody. ...design-build model...has eliminated the public review process...It’s not too late to...ask whether public review should not be mandated for a project of such monumental social importance. -- Brian Lee/Colloqate; Frank Greene/STV/Greene Justice Architecture; RicciGreene Architects; MASS Design Group Restorative Justice Lab; Van Alen Institute; NADAAA; Daniel Gallagher/DGG Architect; Perkins Eastman; Beverly Prior/AECOM; HOK; Morris Adjmi; DLR Group.- Oculus magazine / AIANY

Mark Favermann: Preservation, Two Cases of To Be or Not to Be: Recently, two architectural developments were demolished...[their fate] raises what has become an increasingly heated conversation, often devolving into angry debate, about which structures should be saved and which removed...it is progressive politics versus moral authority versus money-making versus nostalgia...One was an 1899 Boston church and parish house...The other [Burroughs Wellcome]...an early ’70s Brutalist building in Raleigh, North Carolina...property owners insisted that restoration...was too costly. Demolition...followed by new construction made the most sense financially. -- Thomas W. Silloway; Paul Rudolph- Arts Fuse

Kara Mavros: February 3, 2021 would have been the Finnish architect’s 123rd birthday: Finland Proposes Alvar Aalto Sites for UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List: ...to include 13 buildings...Finnish Heritage Agency believes that each structure...meets the criteria for Outstanding Universal Values (OUV), a prerequisite for inclusion in the World Heritage List.- Architectural Record

David Brussat: Driehaus Prize for Treese of Mainz: Sebastian Treese, of Germany, is part of an admirable European trend toward traditional architecture that may be outstripping the strides being made on this side of the Atlantic....[his work] fits superbly into its settings...I suppose that in today’s world, saying that an architect is just doing what architects did for centuries would be coming too darn close to asserting that they lack creativity. That is not true of Treese... -- University of Notre Dame School of Architecture- Architecture Here and There

Jonathan Hilburg: Kéré Architecture reveals a swooping new parliament hall for the Republic of Benin: National Assembly of Benin, a new center of parliament for the West African country modeled on the distinctive shape (and traditional function) of the native Palaver tree...in the capital city of Porto-Novo, the nearly 378,000-square-foot facility will blossom from a central column of arches and support an upper level “crown"...floating upper stories will passively shade the public plaza below...[project] will also feature a sprawling public park that mingles with below-ground administrative government buildings.- The Architect's Newspaper

The design of this new library is paving the way to lower carbon architecture: The Thabo Mbeki Presidential Library in Johannesburg, South Africa, is being built using mud from the local area, parts of the woodwork will be from native wood species, and flooring throughout the building will be made from local stone...Electricity will come from solar panels...a geothermal heating system...will work in tandem with the thermal mass of the rammed earth walls to regulate the building's temperature...structure resembles traditional African granaries. -- David Adjaye- Euronews

Scott Lewis: Controversy Over Proposed Changes to ICC's Model Energy Code Development: The International Code Council is proposing a drastic and controversial change that would streamline the development process...basing it instead on the system used by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI)...Homebuilders, energy interests and manufacturers maintained that the energy efficiency measures in the update would raise house prices. Most building officials, architects and energy-efficiency advocates say those short-term costs pale compared to longer-range energy savings and environmental benefits.- ENR/Engineering News Record

Emma Williamson, Kieran Wong, Maryam Gusheh & Justine Clark: Architecture’s untapped opportunities to maximize advantage: The creative directors of the now cancelled 2020 National Architecture Conference say their theme "Leverage" remains pertinent and, in light of the global pandemic, there is a greater need for profession to use its skills to address contemporary challenges: We believe that architectural wit and intelligence, agility and diligence, cheekiness and humour, restraint and flamboyance, ethics and goodwill can all be deployed to maximize advantage - in social, environmental and economic terms...finding ways to create progressive change well beyond the convention of our discipline. + Q&A with Alan Ricks/MASS Design Group- ArchitectureAU (Australia)

While the world has been distracted...change has been happening anyway. Empower women and change the world. [video]- BSTV1

The World Around Summit 2021 showcased 20 ground-breaking architecture and design projects from the past year: ...marking the launch of a year-long residency at the Guggenheim Museum...live-streamed discussions from award-winning international architects, designers, filmmakers, researchers, and artists from14 cities and cultural institutions...site-specific presentations are available to watch...The World Around’s ongoing mission to challenge and expand the expectations of architecture’s now, near, and next... -- Beatrice Galilee; Alice Rawsthorn; Ryue Nishizawa; Francis Kéré; David Adjaye, SO - IL; Deborah Berke; etc.- The World Around

Louis Kahn at 120: An Online Event: February 18: Richard Saul Wurman in conversation with Sue Ann Kahn, Alexandra Tyng, and Nathaniel Kahn, Kahn’s three children; free with registration; presented by the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania and Designers & Books- Weitzman School of Design/University of Pennsylvania / Designers & Books

Steven Litt: An exhibit of visionary architectural projects created by designer Galen Pardee, on view at Kent State University's Cleveland Urban Design Collaborative, makes the Great Lakes an imaginary client: "The Great Lakes Architectural Expedition"...a captivating and imaginative, if not fully realized...What the show lacks in polish and follow-through...it makes up for in its willingness to strive for a broad perspective on a region that holds 20% of the world’s fresh surface water. That’s a good thing...asserts that architects ought to think not just about serving a specific client today, but also future generations, and the entire planet. Amen to that, of course. Think globally, design locally. thru February 26- Cleveland Plain Dealer

Modernism Week's online auction (closes February 15!) features rare architectural experiences and items not typically available to the public, including a sunset, catered cocktail event for 6 at at Frey II; an overnight stay at the Frank Lloyd Wright Ablin House in Bakersfield, CA; 2 nights at the Lautner Hotel in Desert Hot Springs; 8 signed, certified Julius Shulman photographs; and more! (Modernism Week is a 501(C)3 organization)- Modernism Week (Palm Springs, California)

Justin Davidson: If Your City Were Really Dying, You Probably Wouldn’t Know: Visiting Annalee Newitz's "Four Lost Cities: A Secret History of the Urban Age": ...convulsive destruction is rare, and even more rarely definitive. Cities tend to scrabble back from disaster and attain even greater glory...Newitz offers a...more nuanced overflight of history, alighting on four metropolitan centers that took centuries to rise and endured for centuries more before following unpredictable paths to disarray...[Each] had its own reason to die, usually at such a glacial pace that no one resident or even a whole generation would have registered the decay. The constant is that they expired when their leaders grew tired of keeping them going or the cost of upkeep wasn’t worth the return.- Curbed New York

William Morgan: Book looks at metaphor, imitation, craft and continuity in architecture: "Material Transfers: Metaphor, Craft, and Place in Contemporary" by Françoise Astorg Bollack is an attempt to redefine the meaning of contextual design. Rather than engaging in a century-old battle between modern and traditional - the angst of replica versus invention, she suggests we discard an "outdated moral opprobrium...{Book] is replete with serendipity, ingenuity, and the stretching of material limits...Modernism's chief tenet of originality is stood on its head here, although many of the solutions respect tradition...anyone who is interested in contemporary architecture and how it can be integrated into historical settings, and invigorated with new, mostly non-polemical ideas will reap many visual rewards.- New England Diary (Rhode Island)

Salvatore Peluso: Inside the red zone: the Morandi Bridge seen from below: 1,182 is the length in metres of the viaduct over the Polcevera, Genoa, and also the title of the new book by Alessandro Cimmino and Emanuele Piccardo, who use photography as a tool for measurement and observation: Despite the overexposure of this work in the media...three years later it is possible to find an unprecedented (photographic) account...Cimmino and Piccardo are photographers and architects...they show us the life at the base of the pylons, its relationship with the built environment and the artefacts preserved...It teaches us to look more carefully, that often a thousand photos shared in haste are not worth a thoughtful snapshot. -- Riccardo Morandi; Renzo Piano- Domus

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