Home    Advanced Search   Contact Us     Subscribe

Today’s News - Thursday, July 22, 2010

•   Chakrabarti calls for the creation of an infrastructure coalition that will demand smart urbanization.
•   A "neo-Marxist economic geographer" issues an urban manifesto: Cities like New York "are increasingly being constructed around spectacle...We're all suburbanites now, without knowing it."
•   Beirut, "where money is king, it may be too late" to save its architectural heritage in a battle against "big money, corruption, lack of law."
•   Szenasy on Fit City 5 and the collaboration between NYC's policy makers and creative community, resulting in the city's new Active Design Guidelines now being "downloaded to addresses far and wide."
•   King on Snøhetta winning the starchitect-studded competition to design SFMOMA's new wing.
•   Heathcote and Booth on RIBA's Stirling Prize shortlist of museums and schools: "We are unlikely to see many of either for a while now, so the announcement of a winner may be tinged with architectural nostalgia" + betting odds favor Hadid + shortlist in pix.
•   Neuroscientists and psychologists are not far behind architects with new research showing space has a very real impact on how we feel.
•   An eyeful of 6 notable firms' visions of NYC and L.A. in 2030: the "results are stunning, and in some ways, revolutionary."
•   Till tallies the problems with student end-of-year architecture shows: they're "euphoric, exuberant, and in need of an overhaul...It is essential to question how appropriate it is to stick with a 200-year-old model."
•   The Israel Museum makeover "is one of the most inspired museum expansions in decades" (and nary a starchitect in sight).
•   Kahn's once-threatened Trenton Bath House is (thankfully) in the last stages of a restoration.
•   Calatrava's design for Denver International Airport terminal soon to be revealed.
•   An alternative location and design for Philly's planned (and much-maligned) Family Court.
•   Winners all: Australia's 2010 Premier's Design Awards + National Park Service first Designing the Parks competition (maybe these will stay open?).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_07_22.htm - Thursday, July 22, 2010

Today’s News - Wednesday, April 7, 2010

•   St. Louis's The City + The Arch + The River competition down to five finalists - impressive teams (and great presentations).
•   Heathcote continues his thoughtful contemplation on the future of cities and metacities: can Copenhagen teach anything to Kolkata?
•   A fascinating profile of the Brookings Institution's Bruce Katz, the "oracle of urban policy" who has "taken urban issues out of the special interest zone and into the mainstream."
•   Q&A with Speck re: "The Smart Growth Manual": good designers "will find the prescriptions of the Manual liberating, not constricting. The goal is to create more places where good design can actually matter."
•   Q&A with Regional Plan Association's Wright and Lane: "the role of the planner and the designer is still significant - it has just changed somewhat."
•   Anderson asks: "Can we dare to hope for the renaissance of urban influence in American politics? Think of it as the chance of a lifetime to live under the stars, not under a dome."
•   Q&A with landscape architect Cochran re: why "urban planning needs to be more adaptable and less prescriptive physically, encouraging adaptation over time."
•   Hatherley explores the impact of architecture on Manchester's cultural scene and wonders how property development became the new punk rock.
•   Developers see a bright future in recycling/repurposing older, inexpensive buildings with classy makeovers (by classy architects, of course).
•   A developer makes an "artsy bet" on a scruffy Miami neighborhood with all the right elements to make it the next hip nabe.
•   Glancey x 2: Ban's Pompidou-Metz "is a very strange fish" and an "ambivalent building," but maybe that's the point (ahhh - that roof!).
•   He is "thrilled" by WAM's "madcap fairytale of a new hotel" in the Netherlands: it's "a stupefying, funny, delightful building" (we agree!).
•   The true inconveniences of designing Al Gore's NYC office: so much effort went into "making the place seem unimpeachably green that, weirdly, it's actually less green than it could be" (maybe, but it looks great!).
•   Wilkinson talks about why mobile offices work, why they fail, and how his project in Sydney has turned bank design "on its head."
•   Pogrebin ponders the "perfect storm" facing Save Ellis Island which may not be able to save itself: it needs $500,000 in the next few weeks if it is to survive (our fingers are crossed).
•   A good reason to head to San Francisco next week: 2010 International Low Impact Development Conference: "Redefining Water in the City."
•   Call for entries: 4th Annual AARP/NAHB Livable Communities Awards; and (how could we resist) the Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_04_07.htm - Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Today’s News - Monday, December 21, 2009

•   We lose the visionary master planner behind Reston, VA, and Battery Park City who "had all the fire of a creative person without the appalling ego that some of them have."
•   Sparks begin to fly around Barangaroo's grand plan in Sydney and a "tradition in English-speaking countries of wrecking competitions": mincing no words, Thalis is ticked off that he won the competition, but Rogers gets the nod.
•   An eye-opening look at why the Barangaroo bungle has many branding a former prime minister "Australia's Prince Charles for his swiping of the profession."
•   Hume takes issue with a Canadian politician's attitude "to hire an architect and get on with it, not to waste time and money on design competitions for what are essentially utilitarian buildings."
•   Berlin debates the revitalization of its own "bleak" city center (and some ideas from a handful of notable architects).
•   Cincinnati has its own high hopes that a new downtown casino will be a good neighbor and an economic boon (developer promises to listen to the people - what a concept!).
•   Appelbaum has an "uninhibited" (and sometimes amusing) discussion with Duany and Speck re: "The Smart Growth Manual."
•   Dery delves into the future of dead malls: "the post-mall, post-sprawl suburbs could be exuberantly heterogeneous Places That Do Not Suck" (or can they?).
•   Hawthorne offers a powerful (if somewhat depressing) review the decade: "the notion that architects had suddenly acquired more power than ever before, as opposed to more visibility, opportunity or cachet, turned out to be hollow."
•   His "Top 10 architecture moments of 2009" is not all about buildings (and is much more positive).
•   Ouroussoff reviews '09 and finds "a few triumphs" that are not only "splendid" pieces of architecture, but that infuse "drab, lifeless" neighborhoods with "a sense of joy."
•   Davidson reviews NYC's "most effervescent period of architectural ferment in decades" - his Building of the Decade is the new TKTS booth, "a work of exuberant uselessness and brilliant urbanism."
•   Moore cheers Piano's raiding the paint box for a new London building "vibrant as a row of casseroles in a Conran shop" (the architect wanted to "to make a building that smiles" - looks like he did).
•   Hume on Canada's two most important buildings: KPMB's Manitoba Hydro HQ "heralds a new design era and might even heal our eco-black eye" and "is also an exquisite piece of architecture"; and Predock's Human Rights museum is "iconic...if human rights ever needed a beacon, this is it."
•   Greensburg, Kansas, progresses with plans for Big Well Museum that will encompass the EF-5 Tornado and building the Green Model City.
•   Shuttleworth comes up with an "octopus" office block to do double-duty as an eye-catching gateway to London.
•   An in-depth look at what's going into restoring Mumbai's Taj Mahal Hotel after the 11/26/08 attack: "the process has not been easy" (but it sounds like it will have been worth it).
•   Richard Moe rallies behind saving the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium in Honolulu.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_12_21.htm - Monday, December 21, 2009

Today’s News - Tuesday, September 22, 2009

•   Heathcote on controversial U.S Embassy plans in London: can "overbearing security" and "an architecture of isolation and paranoia" really boost regeneration in a neighborhood "already blighted by gated development"?
•   Controversial Gazprom tower in St. Petersburg wins final approval despite protests.
•   The Cleveland Museum of Art chooses a "highly unorthodox way out" of a "perfect storm" to move ahead with expansion plans.
•   Spain disqualifies an Israeli university from this year's Solar Decathlon because the team is located in "occupied territory."
•   Staten Island naval base transformation to be NYC's first LEED ND (it's only taken more than a decade).
•   Lacayo visits new Dallas Cowboys stadium and finds it "an adroitly glamorous exercise in how to balance muscle and lightness," with not so much groundbreaking architectural features as "smart adaptations, well deployed."
•   Maya Lin's Museum of Chinese in America opens today in NYC: though "a warm and inviting new space...it also harbors a tension that reveals some of the problems with the identity archetype."
•   An impressive design team selected for U.S. Courthouse in San Antonio.
•   Rochon finds architectural ecstasy in Rome, and ruminates on "moments of ecstasy within the architecture of Canada."
•   Fred Kent moves beyond his "smackdown" with Gehry.
•   Hawthorne's touching report on Shulman memorial: more than the photographer "was being eulogized and laid symbolically to rest."
•   A roundup of reports on some of the illuminating speakers at ASLA's annual meeting discussing how to regenerate cities and communities.
•   An amusing (and illustrated) report on riding the new Dubai Metro Rail System on its first day running: "crowds were downright civil, even jovial...It will be interesting to see if that mood lasts."
•   A long list of 2009 MIPIM Asia Awards nominees announced today.
•   AJ rounds up the best in design from the 7th London Design Festival.
•   Call for votes: Greensburg, Kansas/FreeGreen Chain of Eco-Homes Competition.
•   Call for entries: 2010 Rieger Graham Prize for Classical Design Fellowship at the American Academy in Rome (U.S. only).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_09_22.htm - Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Today’s News - Wednesday, June 24, 2009

•   ANN launches a new series by research specialist Gretes about market research strategies, why they're so critical in these difficult times, and research techniques to guide you through this "information tsunami."
•   An insightful breakdown of just how much of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is going to architectural services.
•   U.S. Energy Secretary Chu on global warming and the importance of updating energy-efficient building practices globally: "Buildings are local. We don't ship buildings to Denmark."
•   A new report offers a practical guide to "thriving in the downturn" - and yet another wave goodbye to the age of iconic buildings.
•   Stephens delves deep into why cities shouldn't buy into the convention center economy: "an example of the tail wagging the dog."
•   Thumbs-up and thumbs down re: Liverpool's Mann Island project (will it really "steal the sky"?).
•   The death and transformation of the American architect: "It is essential to the future of the American City that architects grasp this transformation and become masters of their own future again."
•   Davidson has a long conversation with Gehry - a must and most engaging read re: just about everything (his take on "starchitecture" triggers "a tirade revealing deep wells of grandiosity and resentment").
•   Another take on Bata's "gutsy plan" to reinvent Batawa.
•   Kamin revisits his alma mater and talks about how the "storybook New England campus" should evolve.
•   BIG wins big in Estonia (great pix).
•   RMJM wins big in Glasgow (great fly-through).
•   Foster's Spaceport America actually taking off.
•   Davidson revels in the "slightly lunatic feel of an urban encampment" that is the new Times Square.
•   A good reason to head to a hot Las Vegas in July: the always cool SMPS national conference.
•   We couldn't resist: Christopher Wren lived here - or did he?
•   Speck offers Dwell an amusing alternative table of contents to its current issue.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_06_24.htm - Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Today's News - Monday, November 12, 2007

ArcSpace takes us to Munich and Mexico City. -- The heart of Sydney is lacking a ticker. -- Athens contends with pedestrian acitivists. -- Olympic Stadium: Bayley thinks London deserves better. -- Block 37: Kamin thinks Chicago deserves better. -- The "Architects Row" that's rising along Manhattan's High Line. -- Recalcitrant Parisians are going to need a lot of convincing re: plans for Paris high rises. -- Hess is pleased to see San Jose recycling some great buildings: don't "mistake bad maintenance for bad architecture." -- A call to save historic New Orleans avenue from condo plans (design is good, site is bad). -- Bayley muses on architects who have had to contend with their sick buildings. -- Graves delights Detroit with his DIA expansion. -- Refurbished London Transport Museum thrills Glancey. -- A brownfield site to turn green for University of Paisley. -- A new book and exhibition re: Jane Jacobs will compel readers and visitors to act. -- $100,000 isn't what it used to be, says Kamin, as Driehaus doubles his prize. -- Call for entries: Mersey Observatory International Open Design Competition. -- Carmody Groarke wins 7/7 memorial commission. Winners all in 2007 International DesignShare Awards for Innovative Learning Environments.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2007_11_12.htm - Monday, November 12, 2007

Today's News - June 13, 2006

We're back...and have much catching up to do! ----- ArcSpace takes us to a Stuttgart museum that goes v-r-o-o-o-m. -- A not very hopeful look at rebuilding public housing in New Orleans. -- Constrained by state rules constrain creativity for new county office complex in Cleveland. -- Not-so-strange bedfellows: the army embraces New Urbanism. -- The next incarnation of a Virginia trailer park could be a national model. -- A competition exhibition offers solutions to greening our 'burbs. -- While other large firms have slumped "toward mediocrity," Foster's Manhattan tower offers up "ferocious energy and "confidence in its own values." -- A few items re: Toronto's new opera house: there's some sparkle, but ultimately a lost opportunity. -- It's architect is "relentless and brilliant...nobody ever said that alpha males are easy." -- The staircase, a complex feat of glass engineering that almost wasn't. -- Two takes on Lincoln Center's much-needed makeover (and a choice of two very different visions for an atrium). -- Extreme makeover for American communes: now they're eco-villages and co-housing communities. -- Hadid's take on urbanism and optimism. -- A look at her Dancing Towers in Dubai. -- London's reborn Roadhouse is more than a theater. -- A grand vision for Edinburgh's Cowgate/CoSo. -- In Glasgow, new Master's course in urban design combines history and human scale (what a concept!). -- A new anthology on sustainability will benefit a good cause. -- A stellar shortlist for RIBA's Lubetkin Prize.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2006_06_13.htm - June 13, 2006

Today's News - February 26, 2003

On Monday, the finalists appeared on Oprah's show (we haven't seen them kissing any baby's - yet). -- Muschamp muses on reality and the public. -- Would either plan be a mistake? -- Libeskind had the oddsbut then the committee spoke - we'll know the results tomorrow. -- Meanwhile, Robert Moses moseys around the West Side - and likes what might be. -- In South-Central L.A., "even a minimal dose of creative energy can have some social value." -- Urban renewal, downtown living, and co-housing looking up in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. -- Not so happy with downtown Warsaw mixed-use plans. -- Celebrating equality in Seattle parks. -- Starchitects set to play in the snow in Finland next year. -- A theatrical home for basketball history. -- Dresden museum proves smaller can be better. -- Architectural treasures saved in Japan and savored in New York.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2003_02_26.htm - February 26, 2003