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Modern Meets Tradition: University of Michigan Museum of Art Expansion/Restoration by Allied Works Architecture

Ann Arbor: Brad Cloepfil's design to expand a university museum should create a thoughtful dialogue between historical and contemporary architecture.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature142.htm - August 11, 2004

Reinventing a Landmark: Museum of Arts & Design by Allied Works Architecture

New York City: Adored and reviled, misused and unused for years, 2 Columbus Circle is about to get a new lease on life - and an entirely new look. Is it the birth or death of a landmark?
http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature111.htm - April 7, 2003

A New Shortlist after Holl and Cornell Part Ways

http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature75.htm - October 3, 2002

Who What When - 9/6/02: deadlines, of interest, on the boards, and people on the move

http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature64.htm - September 6, 2002

Today’s News - Wednesday, September 1, 2010

•   More musings on the Venice Biennale: Heathcote finds it "good to look at but also unsettlingly light on ideas"...People may meet in architecture but what happens once they've met?"
•   McGuirk, on the other hand, says it "puts the human experience back at the heart of architecture."
•   Long sees Britain's Villa Frankenstein "a triumph" that "represents London at its critical and reflective best." (we liked it, too!)
•   Four "powerhouse teams" in the running to re-shape Seattle's central waterfront, each headed by an international star; "How could we possibly miss? In theory we shouldn't," says Hinshaw.
•   Libeskind tapped to design Halifax memorial to mark Canada's refusal of Jews in 1939.
•   Hatherley takes on density and urban squalor: the solution is not "draconian immigration caps, but rather something terribly unfashionable - town planning."
•   Cairo sees two mega-cities as a haven for the city's overcrowded working class, but there's a catch: "the overwhelming majority of new residents come from Egypt's uppermost economic strata."
•   Russell x 2: Brad Pitt's Make It Right project in New Orleans mixes "insightful designs by local architects with adventurous work by rising stars and big names from around the world...to fit the city's post-Katrina reality."
•   Perhaps if "a few cowardly members of Congress" visited the Empire State Building's uber-green makeover, they would see "proof that reducing energy and carbon emissions is good for the bottom line."
•   Hawthorne hails a bold new landmark along L.A.'s Expo Line by Eric Own Moss that seems to have "captivated the architect just enough to keep him, at least in this one compelling project, from chasing his own tail."
•   Rinaldi revels in two very different Denver projects (a museum and an FBI building - of all things) that "brilliantly break infill rules."
•   Q&A with DS+R's Renfro re: how and why the firm has never had it better; but advice to a student thinking of becoming an architect? "Go into law."
•   BIG's "baby-faced starchitect" Ingels on how designing for a dictator can actually be virtuous and saving Brazil from the Olympics curse.
•   Glancey cheers an initiative that aims to stir a revolution in university design now that "now that politicians and educators have finally realized that the brutal, roller-coaster ways of global capitalism are no friends to learning."
•   Eyefuls of I.D. Annual Design Review winners - "from the iconic to the obscure" (terrific presentation).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_09_01.htm - Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Today’s News - Monday, August 9, 2010

•   ArcSpace brings us eyefuls of SO-IL's "Pole Dance" at MoMA/P.S.1.
•   New Orleans Index five years later: "new evidence shows that greater New Orleans is emerging as a healthier, more resilient region," but "much work lies ahead."
•   An ambitious goal to build 80 classrooms throughout Haiti by September is well underway.
•   Moore muses about Astana, Kazakhstan: "It's a city of fable or dream...Except it's not quite so magical: it's also like a battery-operated plastic toy, all whirring noises and flashing colors" (and a slide show to prove it!).
•   In the UAE, some architectural wonders are turning out to be a burden for some businesses who work inside them.
•   An Armenian architect bemoans his country's inability to build good cities - without penalties for ignoring planning rules, hotels rise where parks should flourish.
•   Kamin x 2 - both from St. Louis and its "multitude of design pleasures"; as for the CityArchRiver2015 competition: it "looms as a test of our ability to make great but humane public places out of modest means."
•   Hawthorne finds a silver lining in the bad economy: the trajectory of gentrification is usually "entirely predictable - and more than a little depressing," but Downtown L.A.'s transformation from sleepy to energized is frozen "at a particularly appealing spot."
•   An eyeful of Santa Monica Place makeover: it "swaps Gehry for airy," making it "a classy joint - at least by mall standards."
•   In Madison, WI, and Aspen, two Weese's could face the wrecking ball, but do they really deserve to die?
•   Pogrebin ponders the fate of formerly unknown Philip Johnson treasure trove of an archive - its formerly unknown owner (former partner Ahuja) hopes it will be bought en masse (aside from the goody sold to the V&A).
•   Hume on the sad state of cycling in Toronto: "bicycle policy is no policy at all," just "a hodge-podge of rules, regulations and lanes that probably make a bad situation worse."
•   Litt sees little to cheer in three "profoundly ho-hum options" of "snooze-worthy" designs for a major Cleveland bridge; bicycle lanes not included (don't expect to make a fortune selling postcards of the winner).
•   Great design for hospitals is still a hard sell, despite all the evidence that good design affects health and healing: "we still don't have any certainty that the design of hospitals is fundamentally changing in ways that respond to this knowledge."
•   Waikiki hotel owners consider harnessing deep-sea water to power air conditioning that "could substantially cut electricity costs and help the tourism industry market the resort area as a green destination."
•   The Yestermorrow Design/Build School in Vermont continues to innovate: teaching "architects how to build might not seem revolutionary, but it was - and still is - unusual."
•   We couldn't resist: a Dutch firm has big plans for all that plastic flotsam floating around the Pacific Ocean: Recycled Island would be 3,861 square miles of sustainable living space (better than ending up in gulls' guts).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_08_09.htm - Monday, August 9, 2010

Today’s News - Tuesday, May 25, 2010

•   Bernstein makes the case for moving Mies's Farnsworth House - but only further from the Fox River (not to East Hampton or Beverly Hills).
•   Lindsay x 3: A report from CNU conference - HUD embraces New Urbanism; Duany "appeared deeply suspicious of his own movement's success"; and Calthorpe comes up with metrics that he hopes will change politics.
•   A serious look at how "serious research into Wal-Mart's architecture could yield more than better boxes: all those numbers could add up to real change."
•   A look at some initiatives to re-think our addiction to asphalt parking lots.
•   Robert Adam argues "the case for classical design and urges a move away from a world split between new localism and kowtowing to fashion."
•   Pearman ponders three young classicists who are storming RIBA "with confidence, self-belief - and a great sense of fun" with a show that's not to be missed.
•   Hawthorne on Broad's big museum plans for L.A., and the big names attached - even though there's no confirmed site.
•   Woodman is not wowed by Hadid's MAXXI in Rome: it is "certainly spectacular," but he's never "encountered a gallery that addresses its nominal function with such seeming cynicism."
•   Halprin's Heritage Park in Ft. Worth on the list of Texas' Most Endangered Historic Places; now, in "a beautiful ironic twist," it's on the National Register of Historic Places (with high hopes for a much-needed restoration).
•   Huxtable and Rybczynski tackle Palladio exhibit at NYC's Morgan Library: it's "a miraculous fusion of the distant past and immediate present."
•   Kamin on the winners in competition to fill the Chicago Spire hole ("a load of whimsy" included).
•   California is home to C2C MBDC's latest initiative, the non-profit Green Products Innovation Institute.
•   Aga Khan Award for Architecture shortlists 19 projects (great presentations, too).
•   University of Montreal's L.E.A.P is "a resource all architecture geeks will want to know about."
•   We couldn't resist: Call for entries: Redesign BP's logo (a look at current submissions made us smile and wince).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_05_25.htm - Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Today’s News - Thursday, March 18, 2010

•   Sudjic minces no words about what he thinks of the role of design in consumerism and sustainability: "No profession is more schizophrenic...designers can hope to deal with sustainability only if they really act as designers and not as missionaries or as salesmen."
•   King on a California court ruling that could reshape suburbs and small cities: "The law doesn't say everything has to be urban, but we're going beyond a point where communities can be enclaves" (bring on smart growth and density).
•   Thanks to philanthropic dollars, Detroit can afford a "star urban planner" to "help lead what might be the most ambitious urban makeover in American history" (a.k.a. downsizing).
•   Philadelphia firms donate their time to investigate ways to reinvent run-down factory buildings.
•   H&deM's Miami Art Museum: at least two years behind schedule (and mucho dollars later), should it be downsized or scrapped altogether?
•   A 1923 Manhattan neo-Moorish landmark to get a much-needed makeover.
•   Menking on plans to "deface" a 1988 Hejduk housing project in Berlin in the name of "improvement" - and efforts to save it (with a Facebook page, what else?).
•   Kamin on activists' efforts to buy a "grand but little-known" FLW home to create a museum and arts education center (angels with $$$ needed).
•   New Trent Lott center at the University of Southern Mississippi has a "unique, congressional look" that would be right at home in D.C.
•   Cambodian architecture students take on housing for evictees to encourage them to think about designing "not just for the rich but for the poor in their society."
•   Bernstein on the Guggenheim's "Contemplating the Void" auction: "Not everyone in the art world is thrilled" (auction closes today, by the way).
•   "With the acquisitive zeal of a born collector," Maya Lin hopes to "alter the patterns of a wasteful world" with her latest megaproject.
•   Winners all: Australian Institute of Architects 2010 Gold Medal to "architecture's golden couple"; U.K.'s Civic Trust Awards 2010 (and lots of 'em); ICA&CA 2010 Arthur Ross Award winners honored for "enhancing and preserving classical traditions in architecture, urbanism and their allied arts"; and IIDA 37th Annual Interior Design and 18th Annual Will Ching award winners.
•   ASLA puts out a call for issues that should be included in the Society's upcoming legislative agenda.
•   A good reason to head to Washington, DC, next week: Design Corp's Structures for Inclusion 10: "Social Economic Environmental Design: SEED" conference.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_03_18.htm - Thursday, March 18, 2010

Today’s News - Monday, February 1, 2010

•   ArcSpace brings us Allied Works Architecture in Calgary, and OMA in Hong Kong.
•   How architecture has played a vital role in the redevelopment of (once very violent) Medellín, Colombia, "driven by the concept of 'the most beautiful for the most humble'" (what a concept!).
•   Kamin cheers (with caveats) Obama's high-speed rail plan: "It could be transformative, but stations (and architecture) matter as much as speed."
•   A possible 2020 Budapest Olympics on the horizon (it would do wonders for the city).
•   Architects come up with prefab and modular flat-pack housing for Haiti (now all they need are sponsors).
•   New LEED long-term reporting requirements: will building owners want to play ball.
•   Rawsthorn mediates a debate at Davos re: sustainable design with three designers committed to sustainability, but with very different perspectives.
•   Renovation plans - including a much-discussed vertical green wall - for Portland's 1975 federal building of "concrete, glass and minimal inspiration" are still being refined (and raising some eyebrows).
•   An impressive team works on overcoming the "ugly factor" of building-integrated solar panels because for architects and developers, "looks matter."
•   An interesting discussion re: urban agriculture - "There are no downsides, except, possibly, rats. But if you plan well...you won't get rodents."
•   Essen's Folkwang Art Museum expansion by Chipperfield is Germany's latest architectural landmark (wonder-of-wonders for a starchitect's project, it also finished on time and on budget - wow).
•   Q&A with Chipperfield re: Folkwang: "I don't want people to come here and say 'oh, wow' about the architecture...I want them to walk straight to the works, and then afterwards, say, 'oh, the architecture was nice, too.'"
•   Saffron on a lost opportunity at a much-needed shopping center in North Philly: it "is hardly the worst-designed...It just happens to be the worst-designed one in the best location."
•   London-based muf to curate British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
•   Lord Foster pens an essay re: his Yale School of Management and how his time at Yale inspired the design.
•   One way Edmonton, Canada, could stem "a brain drain of creative types" could be "inspiring urban design, spurred by an architecture school ("Our tolerance for crap is now zero," sayeth the mayor).
•   U.K. puts nuclear bunkers on list of protected national monuments (a housing development soon to follow).
•   Webb weaves a lively tale of Contract's Designers of the Year 2010, Graft: "a productive bundle of contradictions" + eyefuls of the Interiors Awards 2010 winners.
•   Is outer space the next architectural frontier? Foster + Partners' Jennings says yes; Edward Cullinan' Nicholson says "we should master building on earth rather than screwing up space."

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_02_01.htm - Monday, February 1, 2010

Today’s News - Wednesday, February 3, 2010

•   Officials and scientists debate whether Haiti's capital should relocate to a safer spot: "We cannot invest a cent in Port-au-Prince; it would be a waste of money...We can't afford to lose everything once again."
•   Environmentalists fear an ecological disaster if a planned luxury resort in the middle of a nature reserve near Russia's Sochi (think 2014 Winter Olympics) moves forward.
•   An eyeful of NYC/UK team's design for pop star Madonna's Academy for Girls in Malawi.
•   The much-beleaguered Javits Federal Building plaza in NYC to get a post-Serra-post-Martha Schwartz makeover by Van Valkenburgh (hopefully, third try will be the charm).
•   20 years later, Hall and Coates review their 1990 predictions for London 2010.
•   Hadid et al. offer their predictions for London 2030.
•   Rawsthorn takes the current state of industrial design to task: Many "innovations" in design today are spurious and over-complicated. There's no excuse for this."
•   Q&A (and video) with Ron Arad re: the future of industrial design - and why copies of his products bother him, but not as much as if no one copied: "That means I'm not good enough."
•   NYC-based Shashi Caan crosses the Big Pond.
•   Good - and bad - news in three-part report on the new green economy.
•   CNU joins call to replace or seriously reform bailed-out government-backed mortgage agencies so they start lending to mixed-use building projects to help in revitalizing neighborhoods.
•   RFP: NEA in search of a new "Art Works" logo.
•   Registration deadline reminders: Atlantic City Boardwalk Holocaust Memorial; and 2010 ASLA Professional Awards.
•   Winners all: an eyeful of Russia's Building Awards (the Red House is cool); Chipperfield and Eisenman share Israel's $100,000 2010 Wolf Prize in Architecture; National Building Museum's 24th Honor Award to Perkins+Will, New Orleans Habitat Musicians' Village, and the U.S. Department of Energy's Solar Decathlon; West 8 snags first place in the International Urban Landscape Awards; AIA New Orleans 2010 Design Awards winners illustrate Recovery & Progress.
•   Tour Chicago with Ed Keegan on you iPhone (t'would that we had one!).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_02_03.htm - Wednesday, February 3, 2010