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INSIGHT: Sounding Good: Inspired by the classics, the acoustician for Nashville's new Schermerhorn Symphony Center explains how architecture and acoustics take a concert hall into the future

http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature202.htm - Paul Scarbrough, Akustiks

Today’s News - Wednesday, July 14, 2010

•   We lose Günter Behnisch, whose "radical modern designs...shaped the face of the new German democracy."
•   Angotti on closing the "huge gap between the land use professionals...and community activists" as NYC mulls a major City Charter overhaul (issues other cities face as well).
•   An in-depth review of 100 years of busts in NYC: the current bust is not the worst ("the sky has not fallen" - whew!).
•   Hawthorne cheers L.A.'s Civic Park finally breaking ground: "a late-in-the-game effort" by the design team "has paid real dividends" (even though there are "some devilish details to sort out").
•   Hume cheers a new ice rink proposal for Toronto's Lower Port Lands "makes all the right moves" to become "a symbol of a smart city" + it may be a "glittering, stacked four-pad ice-rink" that could transform the area - but contentious issues of cost and parking remain unresolved.
•   University of Pennsylvania's Sustainable Sites Initiative pilot project will transform aging tennis courts into an urban park.
•   A new Tree Museum on Lake Zurich opens today, promising to "usher in a new paradigm of architectural humility" (great pix!).
•   New Seattle Army Corps HQ will make LEED Gold from Recovery Act funding.
•   A good reason to head to Minneapolis next week: an impressive line-up set for the inaugural Affordable Housing Design Leadership Institute conference.
•   It's Nussbaum vs. Pilloton re: cultural imperialism vs. humanitarian design; Szenasy is frustrated "no end" (a most interesting debate and responses).
•   A film critic gives Chicago's Modernism two thumbs down: it's "a thoughtful, if disagreeable piece, and well worth reading."
•   Leadership changes at bunches of U.S. architecture schools.
•   Honors well deserved: Engineers Without Borders-USA gets NBM's 2010 Turner Prize; and EBN's Alex Wilson takes 2010 Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership.
•   Call for entries: Whitehaven (U.K.) Central Harbour International Open Design Competition.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_07_14.htm - Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Today’s News - Monday, November 2, 2009

•   ArcSpace brings us eyefuls of Calatrava's TGV Station in Liège, Belgium; and a new book showcasing the "ominous, forbidding locations" in L.A. that Raymond Chandler wrote about.
•   At the APA's National Symposium, the focus was developing an affordability index for planning sustainable communities.
•   Parman ponders the future of urban agriculture: the involvement of local designers, gardeners, and artisans could be "a crucial step in reclaiming the cityscape as a commons."
•   Horizontal cities and suburbs are beginning to put the focus on designs for people instead of cars - "Jane Jacobs would be pleased."
•   A symposium in NYC next Saturday puts the focus on the future of mega-projects: do they have one in light of the stalled economy?
•   Speaking of mega-projects, things are looking iffy and/or hopeful for Ground Zero Arts Center in NYC, grand plans for Buffalo's waterfront vision, and Charleston's vision of world-class performance space.
•   Davidson cheers NYC agencies' "doggedly smuggling high-level architecture to the neighborhoods that need it most...ugly won't cut it anymore"; and an eyeful of a perfect example: a Staten Island firehouse will have a close connection with its community.
•   Pearman gives thumbs-up to Oxford's Ashmolean makeover: the museum "has reinvented itself," mixing "intelligence with showmanship."
•   Campbell explores the new main branch of the Cambridge Public Library, and the W Boston: "these two new buildings are worthy additions to a region where we too often don't aspire to architecture this fresh and thoughtful."
•   A bit more detail on plans to reduce one of the largest carbon footprints in Chicago - Willis (a.k.a. Sears) Tower.
•   It's taken awhile, but San Francisco is finally breaking ground on what will be the city's most sustainable office building.
•   U.K.-based Article 25 and its plans for architecture to change the world.
•   The Omrania l CSBE Student Award for Excellence in Architectural Design drew students from 10 Arab countries - and some impressive winners.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_11_02.htm - Monday, November 2, 2009

Today’s News - Thursday, May 28, 2009

•   Rosenbaum ruminates on Guggenheim's pledge to honor human rights on Abu Dhabi project (lots of great links).
•   A call for architects to get political.
•   A call to follow Queensland's lead in combating the global financial crisis by using architecture as a new economic driver.
•   Schumacher says plans for a symbol of Milwaukee as "water hub" on the waterfront are "a mess."
•   San Antonio celebrates the opening if its river's new Urban Segment.
•   China's solution to saving an ancient city: raze it.
•   Kamin x 2: the often contentious ties between historic preservation and green architecture: "if we are designing new buildings in new ways, why shouldn't we preserve old buildings in new ways as well?"; and a makeover "offers a rare bright spot amid Chicago's problem-plagued attempt to transform its notorious public housing" (comments are depressingly contentious).
•   Contrary to some reports, Rogers' Chelsea Barracks project is not dead in the water.
•   Safdie declares his disgust over possibility a police station could go up in the heart of Salt Lake City's cultural block.
•   San Francisco's urban watchdog, SPUR, gets new home: "the building is a triumph, not just architecturally but socially."
•   Charleston's largest performance venue to get a makeover - if enough money can be raised to pay the hefty price tag.
•   Two more thumbs-up for Piano's Modern Wing (the art looks good, too).
•   Mayne museum still a go in Dallas; not such good news for his Orange County Museum of Art.
•   "Sleepover Project" opens architects' eyes on nursing home design.
•   Pediatricians issue policy statement linking design and public health.
•   AJ100 list announced; Woods Bagot named International Practice of the Year; Darling Associates is Practice of the Year; and how they'll all beat the crunch.
•   AIA Wisconsin Awards: winners "contributed to the profession in unique ways."
•   Call for entries: London Bridge 800: Design an Inhabited Bridge; and AIA 2009 Upjohn Research Initiative.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_05_28.htm - Thursday, May 28, 2009

Today’s News - Thursday, February 5, 2009

•   We lose the master of "the theology of the hammer" - but what a legacy he leaves.
•   There's lots out there about EMPAC, so we took a different tack and asked the structural/MEP engineer to tell us just how they "ground" a 221,200-square-foot building on a 30-degree slope?
•   Rybczynski rips into the two sides of architectural dogma: "self-indulgent, irrational, and trendy from one side; nostalgic, retrograde, and derivative from the other."
•   Brussat at his anit-moderist prickliest: "In modernism's self-satisfied self-delusion there may be a ray of hope for a world under its siege...the Driehaus Prize."
•   Arieff's What Will Save the Suburbs? Part 2: some suggestions offered are pretty out there; others actually inspire.
•   New NYC hotels take the skyline - and some unlikely hotspots for a hotel boom.
•   Post-occupancy carbon count on 3 architect-designed offices in the U.K.
•   Tributes to Kaplicky by Jiricna, Sudjic, Finch, Crompton, and Denari.
•   An eyeful of the 2008 International Design Awards (IDA) winners.
•   Weekend diversions: Kwinter on Balmond's "Solid Void" show in Chicago: "Young computer-based designers ought to take a long, soul-searching look here." Jacobs calls it "a fascinating experiment which cuts engineering loose from its normal purpose."
•   J. MAYER H. gets its first solo museum bow in San Francisco.
•   Bayley and Woodman give Palladio exhibition (mostly) four thumb's-up...with some reservations.
•   Page turners: Two tomes on I.M. Pei and David M. Schwarz present two very different architects.
•   "The Women" is a "mesmerizing story of women who invest everything in that mysterious 'bank of feeling' named Frank Lloyd Wright."
•   "The Rescue Man" may be a novel about an architectural historian, but its more like a ballad to Liverpool.
•   We couldn't resist: an amusing take on NYC by way of LEGOs.
•   For our British friends who've found themselves snowed under (as we have been for weeks): take heart... eating snow can be good for you (as long as it's still white).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_02_05.htm - Thursday, February 5, 2009

Today’s News - Thursday, January 8, 2009

•   Weinstein's Words That Build Tip #10: Use space creatively when designing your client communications.
•   Goldhagen's take on '08: architects realized "they've more important things to design than monolithic, high-end goodie bags."
•   Zandberg's take on '08: the "architecture bubble burst...Now, in hard times, it is fitting for the Bilbao architects to show the way. In so doing, they will atone for past sins."
•   Kamin looks to '09: lots of big stuff, but "will the quality match the hype?"
•   Foster, Niemeyer, Hadid, and Prix take on the Spirit of Architecture.
•   South Africa's new Constitutional Court transforms a scar on Johannesburg's cityscape.
•   Not all are convinced of Kolkata's big airport plans.
•   Asia's biggest naval academy is another feather in a Chandigarh architect's cap (a woman, no less).
•   Chicago adopts Green Seal standards to take the lead in green hotels.
•   "What's small and green and can be built all over? The "100K House" in Philadelphia.
•   What's in store for the house of the future: "say bye-bye to bling."
•   Uncovering layers of the past in California's first cathedral - a tiny Spanish mission.
•   Can Martha Schwartz change Will Alsop's famously acerbic views on landscape architects? (the video will tell).
•   Schlossberg wins Shanghai Corporate Pavilion (The Dream Cube) for the 2010 World Expo.
•   An interesting mix of a shortlist for Red Sox spring training complex.
•   A new Center for Architecture for AIA Fort Worth.
•   Heathcote hails Parry as London's "great unsung architect."
•   Glancey's eloquent elegies to the demise of "fine architecture of our breweries," and Waterford Wedgwood: "will someone come to the rescue?"
•   Coney Island's famed Astroland Moon Rocket needs a new home (might it land in an amusement park in Pakistan?).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_01_08.htm - Thursday, January 8, 2009

Today’s News - Thursday, September 11, 2008

•   On the 7th anniversary of 9/11, three very thoughtful takes on what's going on at Ground Zero and what we can look forward to; Calatrava is a bit frustrated to say the least: "I do not say that New York will get the station it deserves, but it will get the station it wants."
•   Some concern that China's building boom may be waning.
•   A Cambodian city getting cooler by design.
•   A Yale study group takes on Las Vegas.
•   Hume on Toronto's bid for the Pan American Games - budget won't allow for a Bird's Nest: "Now that really would have been something to get excited about."
•   Saffron has high hopes that Philly's casino plans may shift from the riverfront to downtown.
•   A copycat design of British school does not make AHMM happy - but not much to be done about it (word of advice: get it in writing).
•   Morrison makes move to help shed the profession's "old boys club" image.
•   Praise for changes in AICP certification more affordable and accessible - but more to be done.
•   Menking et al are blogging from Venice.
•   West Coast Green teams with San Jose and the city's Green Vision goals.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2008_09_11.htm - Thursday, September 11, 2008

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 - Tuesday, June 12, 2007

An urban designer discusses the trials, tribulations - and rewards of building public consensus. -- Are stormwater mitigation rules helping the environment or encouraging sprawl? -- Washington, DC's Anacostia Waterfront Corp. may be dissolved, but its legacy is preserved. -- King's "manifesto": even without a starchitect or big budget, there's "no reason new buildings can't be modest triumphs of quality and care." -- It looks like China might finally clamp down on rampant loss of architectural heritage in its "blind pursuit of large, new and exotic" buildings. -- Saffron questions how Philadelphia could lose two historic buildings when the city was "firmly on the side of preservation." -- How Dubai "has thrust itself to the center of international consciousness" to outdo Las Vegas "in strange spectacle." -- Move over, Dubai: Saudi Arabia plans a multi-billion-dollar multicultural metropolis (five, actually). -- Hawthorne is (mostly) thumbs-up for Gehry's Grand Avenue Phase 1 (but will infighting drive the master away from the rest?). -- Meanwhile, Maltzan has designs on L.A.'s arts district. -- Alsop on Toronto's "newfound bravery" has Hume calling him "a Torontonian in spirit if not in law." -- Voelz Chandler is enchanted by Holl's "bit of magic in four acts." -- Heathcote finds Royal Festival Hall looking "fresh and contemporary beside the rain-streaked behemoths and in a city obsessed with towers, icons and silly shapes." -- Yale's under-the-radar but oh-so-green construction project. -- Some are thrilled (others not) to be invited to submit qualifications for Bush Library project. -- Atkins makes learning visible through the structures and environment in a new UAE school. -- Q&A with Volkwin Marg: his views on architecture and his plans for New Delhi stadium. -- Super Potato's super Sugimoto. -- Cornell finds new university architect via the GSA.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2007_06_12.htm - Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Today's News - January 24, 2007

London Olympics may be very green, but may cost too much gold. -- Chicago unveils its 2016 Olympic plans; Kamin and Nance are (mostly) positive. -- Meanwhile, L.A. touts its Games-ready infrastructure. -- A call to give young Brits a break. -- Details of Louisville's massive Museum Plaza sketched out. -- Las Vegas CityCenter is "one big green machine." -- A more urban suburb evolves outside of Washington. -- New town - old look: Duany brings New Urbanism to Inverness. -- An urban village to rise in otherwise sprawling Houston. -- Cornell raises some questions about Koolhaas's Milstein Hall. -- A new cultural and architectural gem for Bangkok. -- A new contemporary art museum for Zagreb. -- No flattery from Farrelly for the "flat-out race for pretentiousness max" by folks with no taste. -- McGuigan queries Maya Lin: she's no "one-hit wonder." -- A fresh look at Robert Moses: "maybe he doesn't look so bad." -- Call for entries: solutions for disassembly and future use of building materials.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2007_01_24.htm - January 24, 2007