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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 - Friday, March 5, 2010

•   We lose Raimund Abraham, "a favorite of Cooper Union Dean John Hejduk, Abraham helped make the school a hotbed of theory and design," in a smash-up with an L.A. bus.
•   Weinstein finds "Design through Dialogue" a "helpful communications primer," but it "leaves some uncomfortable questions" unanswered.
•   An exhaustive report on the Thames Gateway development that risks becoming a Docklands "writ large" (with no place for birds or bugs): "the local communities know what they need and they don't need another high-profile architect or urban visionary to tell them."
•   An underdog Dallas neighborhood "becomes cool embracing what other parts of the city have fought" (don't call it a slum anymore).
•   Dublin's new dockside theater may feel like "Libeskind-lite" (no starchitect hubris here), but it's still "populist and warm-hearted" and "it sure is likeable, like a chirpy little fella with big dreams."
•   Saffron practically swoons over Maki's "gossamer bell jar" amidst the bricks of University of Pennsylvania campus.
•   Aspen gives the nod to out-of-towner Oz instead of local Poss for affordable housing project (it's been a saga; now all they need is the money to build it).
•   Niemeyer "still showing a flair for dramatic design" with his "glittering" new government complex in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
•   Architects, young and old, caught in the downswing a year ago: where are they now? (some good, some not so good news).
•   Weekend diversions (and lots of 'em):
•   Szenasy on "Modernism at Risk" at NYC's Center for Architecture, and the rise of design activism.
•   The Guggenheim's "Contemplating the Void" is a "fun hotchpotch," but much of the "profusion of fantastical projects" wind up "reinforcing the dictatorial nature of Wright's design. But resistance is possible."
•   Rothstein finds Yale's "Compass & Rule" charts "a period of radical transformation in architecture": the show's "argument is difficult and sometimes too allusively made, but the impact is considerable." - On the other hand, Genocchio found it "a visually unremarkable collection" that is "just too dry to appeal to a wide audience."
•   Tapei gets its first eyeful of a British master with "Richard Rogers + Architects."
•   Balmond shows off his thinking about geometry, pattern, and space in Tokyo (great pix!).
•   Eliasson "makes magic" at an NYC gallery: "It's a doozy" (and pix to prove it).
•   A terrific slide show of "Sculpture by the Sea" on a beach in Perth, Australia (some of the titles are better than the art).
•   Lamster views "The Art of the Steal," a new documentary that alleges Barnes Foundation theft: it "frequently undermines its own argument," but "manages to elicit sympathy for some of the dedicated Barnesians fighting the good fight."
•   Gruber finds "Grid/Street/Place" has much in common with "The Smart Growth Manual," but disappointment that includes only a few "places that evolved 'lot-by-lot'...rather than by means of a developer with a plan (and a bulldozer)."
•   King considers authenticity and Zukin's "Naked City: it's "a provocative book and a conflicted one, and the conflict is what gives it life."
•   "The British Constitution, Continuity and Change" by Britain's former Labor Minister takes on Prince Charles's "grotesque" and "unconstitutional' meddling" in urban issues + what really was in his missives re: Chelsea Barracks is (finally) revealed.
•   Kamin gets it from the horses' mouths what we'll find in Mies 2.0, the forthcoming "Mies Building Art: A Biography and Critique."
•   "Between Lines " puts architects' doodles on a pedestal.
•   An eyeful of what's inside the "neatly packaged" new "Almanac of Architecture & Design."

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_03_05.htm - Friday, March 5, 2010

Today’s News - Tuesday, March 24, 2009

•   April is American City Quality Month to move towards a better coordinated intergovernmental and private sector approach and commitment to better quality city planning and redevelopment (public encouraged to join the discussion - what a concept!).
•   Economy vs. environment: "the world's principal source of man-made greenhouse gases has always been prosperity" (a bright spot in hard times?).
•   A bureaucratic nightmare (we kid you not!) for two preservation architects trying to restore a New Orleans home for low-income buyers.
•   Q&A with McDonough re: Cradle to Cradle thinking and the role that Wal-Mart may play in leading the charge.
•   Dangerous building practices in Uganda: unregistered architects designing buildings and qualified architects signing off on dangerous drawings without reviewing.
•   Dyckhoff on efforts to landmark 1970s architecture: "Some people, I bet, would rather consign the whole decade to the dustbin...My childhood needs saving!"
•   Mumbai preservationists oppose planned infestation of "yellow caterpillars, a.k.a. colored skywalks (maybe Minneapolis has a few for sale?).
•   An ambitious plan to fully realize Utzon's vision for the Sydney Opera House: is it worth $1 billion? (who knows - the plan is still under wraps).
•   Beirut taps Catalano for its new Arts and Culture House to propel the city "back into the group of important cultural ports" (and described in a post-conflict lexicon, using words like "cuts," "boundary" and "scars" - sorry - no pix).
•   Denver taps team for $500 million Union Station redevelopment.
•   Gallagher gives thumbs-up to Cloepfil's University of Michigan Museum of Art expansion: the "new wing offers the best of what modernism is supposed to offer" (great slide show).
•   Kamin cheers Chicago's "audacious dream" for river walk: it "promises to turn the river from a natural feature that divides downtown into a seam that unites it" (and it will be ready by summer!).
•   Rykwert on the "great chainsaw massacre" of London's urban tree canopy: wake up architects! "Tree husbandry is a skill we still need to learn."
•   Q&A with Whitechapel Gallery director: she's glad she decided to spend £900,000.
•   Calls for entries: Architecture for Humanity's 2009 Open Architecture Challenge: Classroom. - "City of Dreams": design one hole on mini golf course on Governors Island. - Temporary Outdoor Gallery Space 2 (TOGS 2) registration deadline extended.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_03_24.htm - Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Today's News - Tuesday, July 1, 2008

-- Robin Hood Gardens deemed "not fit for purpose." -- Big plans for an eyesore in the heart of Istanbul hit huge bureaucratic hurdles. -- Should Boston's City Hall Plaza be saved? (turning it into a wind farm "couldn't make the place any worse") -- Friends of the Barnes put up a good fight, but the track has been cleared "for the most audacious art heist in American history"; now the spotlight will shift to the Barnes II "marquee building." -- An architectural treasure on Pennsylvania Ave. is saved but underused; the Old Post Office "just sucks cash from its landlord, the federal government." -- Not good news re: WTC rebuilding: "there will clearly be some triage" (a.k.a. value engineering?). -- Gough pleads for architects not to listen to special interest groups who want them to "carry their paranoia!" -- London 2012 falls short on sustainability. -- King takes on global warming and old Bay Area assumptions: "The questions are changing. And the stakes are high." -- Russell offers up two projects that "show how quickly the green revolution in building design is moving -- unleashing architectural inventiveness not seen in 100 years." -- Glancey visits Gehry to look into Britain's "scared of Frank syndrome." -- His stroll over Hadid's Zaragoza bridge is "a magnificent and truly ennobling way to cross a river on foot." -- Denverites listen in on architects' pitches to redesign Boettcher Concert Hall. -- Nashville's new convention center should satisfy those weary of the city's "bland, non-adventurous architecture." -- An in-depth profile of Boston's new city planner: "expect a virtual moratorium on historic 'reproductions'." -- Kuma and Van Berkel take center stage at the PAM 2008 in Kuala Lumpur later this week. -- We couldn't resist: an eyeful of NYC's other waterfalls ("given a certain latitude").
http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2008_07_01.htm - Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Today's News - September 20, 2004

China scales back and halts some very major projects, and a new web site collects Beijing's truly bad buildings. -- Indianapolis could use some star power on its skyline, according to Stern. -- Conflict of interest stirs a row in Edinburgh. -- A challenge to Smart Land Use movement: time to move further. -- Challenges and opportunities in affordable housing. -- It's a downward spin for Libeskind's Spiral (and pages from his diary - obviously not last week's). -- Denver's newest museum to be bigger and costlier (should we be surprised?). -- The Institute of Architects of Pakistan protest demolition of historic courthouse wing. -- There's a place for traditional design in future development. -- Architects eye new university arts center: Gothic flavor favored - or not. -- Alsop's "whimsical sauntering box" raises the bar for architecture in Toronto. -- A Gropius treasure in Pittsburgh ready for the limelight. -- Clinton presidential library is not a double-wide (or is it?). -- Exhibition of federal design projects displays the hits - and misses.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2004_09_20.htm - September 20, 2004

Today's News - July 28, 2004

In Toronto: "20 towers of human containment are stuck in an impoverished streetscape" and the city "is desperate for an urban-design review panel." -- Bling-bling architecture: the trouble with icons. -- Boomtowns in China: it's not all good news. -- Berlin reclaims the river Spree. -- Pennsylvania renovates its construction code. -- There's more to creating lively downtowns than just building height restrictions. -- Denver museum plans move ahead. -- Teens design a rockin' Minneapolis block. -- New software to tell you if your cubicle is too small/dark/drafty (in case you can't). -- W Hotel takes on China. -- Frank Lloyd Wright is one of BusinessWeek's "Great Innovators." -- London's double-decker buses on their way to the junkyard? (say it ain't so!). -- Syracuse University launches arts journalism program.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2004_07_28.htm - July 28, 2004

Today's News - February 25, 2003

Talent lost in an avalanche. -- Two days and counting to Ground Zero design winnerthere's a lot of sniping and apologizing and backtracking going on. -- LA Times balances yesterday's in-depth personality profile of the Libeskinds with Violy today (and not much time to include Schwartz, Smith, and Ban). -- Lincoln Center picks a team for its landscaping at least (but money is not in the coffers yet). -- Coffers for project in Dubai are brimming. -- Consensus for stadium design yields architectural identity crisis. -- A tower builder honored in Baltimore. -- Seattle courthouse has a heart of steel. -- An architectural icon or a "tube worm" in the works for Cooper Union. -- AIA/Dallas sponsors heard-hat tour with Legorreta. -- An architectural exercise in building and tearing down bridges (we're not talking politics).
http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2003_02_25.htm - February 25, 2003

Today's News - November 26, 2002

A Malaysian architect/planner takes affordable housing lessons from the US: "they never did a good jobnow tearing them down and rebuilding them as high-density but low-rise housing" -- A new concept for urban development from a group of Pakistani architects, town planners and economists: sustainable "green" urban communities and entire low-cost cities. -- Are houses of cardboard a possible solution? -- Grand estates in Philadelphia, Long Island, and Rhode Island fall to sprawl: people "want less architecture and more gizmos." -- High praise for "surprising depth" of a new tower in San Francisco. -- Montreal convention center "preserves a smart but ugly example of modern architecture." -- Baltimore continues struggle to fit a hotel next to convention center. -- Architecture awards in Moscow and Australia. -- Museum news: "Making a landmark in Fort Worth, home of the ugly skyscraper and prefab duplex, doesn't take much." -- A "lustrous little museum" honors a now obscure period. -- A museum to honor picture books. -- HQ for publisher is transparent. -- A courthouse makes a good neighbor. -- Korea develops designand more.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2002_11_26.htm - November 26, 2002