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Rethinking Form and Function: Swarthmore College Unified Science Center by Einhorn Yaffee Prescott and Helfand Architecture

Swarthmore, PA: A "green" science center becomes an intellectual and social magnet for an entire campus.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature171.htm - ArchNewsNow

Today’s News - Tuesday, August 17, 2010

•   St. Louis unveiled the CityArchRiver2015 finalists' designs this morning (lots of info & pix) + "The concepts are intricate and energizing, a sublime mix of small, medium and monumental...What a choice. What a chance."
•   Lincoln, Nebraska, gives its residents the chance to help shape its 30-year city-county master plan.
•   Sydney's Barangaroo development raising hackles: changes to the approved concept plan would dramatically increase building heights and shrink the public promenade by half + the National Trust calls it "an architectural, historical and financial disaster" and "a dumping ground for poor government policy."
•   Urban guerillas (a.k.a. "urban repair squad") make over some of São Paulo's "woefully pedestrian-unfriendly streets" with crosswalks and signage (our fave: "Lives: Go Slowly"); we're cheered to hear it's "a growing worldwide trend" (great pix, links).
•   Glancey on the rise of "junkitecture" and the Jellyfish, "Britain's first fully functioning recycled theatre...this is not some trippy 1960s-style architectural happening, but a serious, if good-natured, public building project."
•   Webb waxes poetic re: Nouvel's "study in scarlet that is one of the boldest and most effective" Serpentine Pavilions to date.
•   Kamin on plans to expand a historic Chicago church: high-rise no longer included.
•   Sozanski takes on Philly museums' penchant to "build spaces for gatherings, not galleries...Art museums 'not just about art' - how pathetically sad"; on the upside, they might "attract customers who don't care beans for art but just like to hang out in classy surroundings."
•   Mumbai's Taj Mahal Palace now restored heritage suites "opened their doors to guests Sunday - much grander than ever."
•   AIA 2010 CAE Educational Facility Design Award winners announced.
•   Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation hires an archive expert to suggest ways to protect and share thousands of documents left behind by the master (might a new home for the archive at Taliesin West follow?).
•   University of Rhode Island discovers buried treasures: WPA murals hidden for decades beneath drywall.
•   Could California's Proposition 23 re: global warming measures also suspend other landmark environmental rules? (let's hope not!)
•   Ending on a brighter note: German architecture students combine "pretentious archi-speak and beer" to construct the Boxel summer pavilion, a "swooping canopy of more than 2,000 empty beer boxes (we want one!).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_08_17.htm - Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Today’s News - Monday, August 23, 2010

•   ArcSpace's working vacation in Beijing includes installation of the first Frank Gehry exhibition in China (and a lot of sightseeing!).
•   Germany comes to terms with its ugliest buildings: "some architects say we should learn to embrace these eyesores to find hidden charms in the otherwise charmless" - perhaps a "cash-for-clunkers program for offensive architecture"? (scary and inspiring slide shows).
•   Iconic architecture might make skylines grand, but the real test of an impressive design is if it's "loved by the people who live and work in them" (and some mince no words).
•   Big plans for a sustainable community and eco-resort in Oman is "a gorgeous vision," but is it a "scam or sustainable dream?"
•   In Oregon, the LEED-certified (and only 10-year-old!) Marion County Courthouse Square is placed on the official list of dangerous buildings: is it unfixable?
•   Hosey on the word "sustainability": it's "more than 'design-speak.'"
•   Tacoma faces a design dilemma on its Foss Waterway: does the city really want to settle for a "two-star cityscape"?
•   Hume x 2: a huge Hines/Pelli TOD project bodes well for Toronto and its waterfront.
•   And a new firefighter training center is "elegant, exciting yet supremely practical...an architectural tour de force" (proving sometimes being a "post-apocalyptic playground for grownups" is a good thing).
•   Hawthorne re: the buzz about Broad big Grand Avenue plans in L.A., but "an edgier and more interesting downtown has been emerging" - will his (as yet unnamed) architect and advisors tap into it?
•   Kamin x 2: a thumbs-down (a WWTT moment) and a thumbs-up for the same firm: its plaza façade renovation on the Wrigley Building "has all the warmth and charm of a refrigerator"; on the other hand, the Fourth Presbyterian expansion plan "strikes the right balance between old and new...the modern elements serve as accents to the historic ones."
•   As three biggies vie for the massive West Kowloon Cultural District, officials promise it "will not be a mishmash of incoherent elements" - there can be only one winner (though don't rule out "bright ideas from the other two designs" making the cut as well).
•   Viemeister on NYC's Robin Hood Foundation L!brary initiative: he said it couldn't be done; then he - and so many others - made it happen.
•   Macmillan on Christo and Jeanne-Claude's "Over the River" project: "If Christo is forced to scrap this project because of public opposition, the snub could give Colorado a cultural black eye - a reputation for provincialism that could take years to repair."
•   Another Lautner is very, very close to demolition despite preservationists' efforts (the owner "has run out of patience with the home and its fans").
•   A formerly dull Chicago garage now spruced up with stylish design, including some very cool-looking wind turbines.
•   Studio Mumbai is not the usual architectural office.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_08_23.htm - Monday, August 23, 2010

Today’s News - Tuesday, June 29, 2010

•   Q&A with Goring & Straja re: how they manage an international practice as a small firm.
•   Spain wants to move ahead with rail tunnel near Gaudi's Sagrada Familia - but perhaps "the worriers have won a small victory."
•   Some very familiar names offer 25 Big Ideas to help make NYC (or anywhere else) "better, smarter, stronger, wealthier and maybe, just maybe, a little friendlier" (some interesting small ideas, too).
•   Shilling shines a light on some hits and misses in promoting civic tourism that should benefit residents - not just tourists: "If place is so important why is it disappearing, along with the organizations responsible for its preservation?"
•   Australia's first Aboriginal architect tells his non-indigenous colleagues who are "often too arrogant to consult indigenous communities": "get over yourselves."
•   King chronicles his ongoing access to the selection process that went into final choice of architect (DS+R) for UC Berkeley's BAM/PFA project: it "evolved into an elaborate ritual that's part business, part seduction."
•   Birnbaum bristles that too many recent and upcoming museum expansions do not consider their existing designed landscapes as part of their collections.
•   L.A.'s port city of Wilmington has big plans for its own High Line (sort of).
•   Rooftop greenhouses that "look a bit like giant larvae with outspread legs" (pix to prove it!) "could help speed the widespread adoption of green roofs."
•   Ouroussoff cheers a near-empty tower that still holds hope: it's an example of how NYC's "recent embrace" of starchitects "can also lead to inspired work from unexpected sources."
•   An eyful of RUR's "temple to Tai-Pop," where "musical culture meets high design" (it will also "work as an urban space during downtimes").
•   University of South Carolina expands its library for special collections with an annex that will "keep the modern feel" of Durell Stones 1959 original, "and play with that a little."
•   Expanding Kahn's 1966 Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (called a 'graduate seminar' for young Indian architects) is a daunting challenge.
•   AIA President George Miller calls on Congress to reconsider proposed legislation that fails to account for the fact that many "architects - a quarter of whom are out of work - are working for S corporations struggling to stave off dissolution."
•   Betsky doesn't object to 2010 Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards winners: they're "mostly pleasant and perfectly fine, but not great": it "would be nice if design would blow your mind, rather than be bland enough not to mind it."
•   Virginia Tech wins inaugural Solar Decathlon Europe by tweaking "Lumenhaus," its 2009 DC entry (that placed 13th).
•   AIA San Diego celebrates its 50th awards program with "striking" and "vibrant" projects taking top honors.
•   Call for entries: NYC launches urbancanvas Design Competition to develop creative artwork for construction fences, sidewalk sheds, and scaffolds.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_06_29.htm - Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Today’s News - Thursday, May 20, 2010

•   Bernstein pays tribute to Arakawa who "explored ideas about mortality by creating buildings meant to stop aging and preclude death."
•   Big plans for a big slice of Baltimore's waterfront (and nary a NIMBY in sight).
•   Yesterday it was Russians coming to the aid of Caracas; today, Japan lends a hand in India's vision for an urban future
•  - "though urbanization is not without detractors."
•   Cheers for plans to revamp London's National Theatre so the best Thames views are no longer marred by garbage bins.
•   Bellamy bemoans parking lots leaving Winnipeg's downtown "resembling the toothless grin of hockey Hall of Famer" (never mind the historic buildings being demolished to make way).
•   Appelbaum takes on LEED: it's time "to make sure that a green building doesn't go gray after its grand opening."
•   Rapid response puts an end to plans to pink up Hejduk's Kreuzberg Tower in Berlin.
•   On a more sober note, NTHP issues its 2010 America's 11 Most Endangered Historic Places annual list (great presentations).
•   Russell roams around remade Lincoln Center: DS+R "have done the impossible&hellipthe changes have transformed the tired bombast of the architectural ensemble" - it's "almost hip."
•   An impressive team behind NYC's Museum for African Art extends Manhattan's Museum Mile.
•   Bilbao opens its newest architectural landmark: "an imposing new cultural center" by Starck.
•   Hawthorne comments on the all the comments he's getting re: his review of Gehry's Ruvo Center.
•   Kennicott gives thumbs-up and down to architects' endeavors in stage design (great slide show).
•   Q&A with Gilabert and her plans for Storefront for Art and Architecture: "I want to introduce more characters into the contemporary discussion - for highly productive disagreements."
•   Chen offers a most amusing report from the Pritzker fete for SANAA on Ellis Island (who wasn't there - besides us?!!?).
•   Booth on 2010 RIBA architecture awards: "as a measure of the recession's impact, the major museums and airports that graced the list in recent years are few" (we really like the bus driver's loo).
•   Lisbon Architecture Triennale's competition names 30 finalists from around the world.
•   Call for entries: AILA's Seachange 2030+ International Urban Sea Level Rise Ideas Competition for Sydney Harbor.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_05_20.htm - Thursday, May 20, 2010

Today’s News - Monday, March 8, 2010

•   ArcSpace brings us Hadid in Amman, Jordan.
•   Layman takes on Gruber re: what "organic redevelopment" really means (and why it happens so rarely).
•   A look at how the new federal Partnership for Sustainable Communities will roll out - with high hopes the DOT, EPA, and HUD will not "work at cross-purposes" and will stop "subsidizing sprawl."
•   When organic growth isn't good: the relocation of an organic market "risks disrupting the local ecosystem" of a Minneapolis neighborhood.
•   Long Island offers a template for taking back acres of asphalt, but "we don't have unlimited time to unpave parking lots and put up paradise."
•   Iovine has high hopes that next step for the pedestrian plazas of Times and Herald Squares will be "something truly transformative" (it doesn't have to be Rome's Piazza Navona, but "epoxy gravel is hardly the stuff of inspiring design").
•   It's "regrettable" that views of Memphis Airport's iconic terminal will have to be obscured by a new parking garage.
•   Saffron on the need to add some pizzazz to Philly's Market East (but in city politics, does one had even know what the other is doing?).
•   Strategies to green the Empire State Building were not of one-offs or "incredibly high-tech, expensive, or sexy," but they "allowed the do-gooders to communicate in a language that capital understands."
•   Lerner on how new libraries are rejuvenating urban centers around the world (it's not all in the architecture).
•   The Fort Worth Zoo's new Museum of Living Art highlights the beauty of some creepy crawly things.
•   McMansions go modular "for the money-conscious Lexus set" (oh joy): they may be the future for some, but others see "another blot on the landscape threatening to multiply."
•   OLIN talks landscape for the U.S. Embassy in London: it's "the opportunity to create a contemporary working landscape...truly American yet responsive to the context of London."
•   A 28-year-old Egyptian architect making a "swift rise to the top."
•   Incredible images of Rudolph homes just prior to demolition: "Warning: What you are about to see contains depictions of extreme violence."
•   Hawthorne on Raimund Abraham, known "most of all, as a teacher who struck his students by turns as deeply passionate, gruff and quixotic" (with link to his final SCI-Arc lecture just prior to his death).
•   Winners all: a Chilean firm takes Brit Insurance Architecture Award with social housing scheme in Mexico; and eyefuls of 3 winners and special mentions in eVolo's 2010 Skyscraper Competition (we doubt we'll be seeing any of them any time soon).
•   Call for entries: 2010 Spark Design Awards, and ZweigWhite's 2010 Hot Firm List.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_03_08.htm - Monday, March 8, 2010

Today’s News - Tuesday, March 23, 2010

•   An architect muses on architecture in the digital age (and why it's a good idea for architects to get with it).
•   Nouvel x 3: he's tapped to design this year's Serpentine pavilion; per Dyckhoff, it "will either prove there's life in the old dog yet, or put dancing shoes on a corpse. Either way it'll be a show not to miss."
•   Ouroussoff waxes poetic (again) about the master's Qatar museum: it may be his "most overtly poetic act of cultural synthesis yet."
•   Russell sits down for a chat in his "insect eye condo" on Manhattan's 11th Avenue to talk about everything (except Qatar): unlike many Pritzker winners, "he likes to design housing."
•   Gehry visits his Ruvo Center in Las Vegas and likes what he sees: "It took my breath away...some people may think it's over the top. I don't think so."
•   Bernstein visits CityCenter, designed by a "Rat pack" of starchitects: can it move sin city's design standards "beyond the ersatz"; if it fails, it "could impact what gets built, far beyond the Las Vegas Strip, for decades" (great slide show).
•   Asymptote's 166 Perry St. is NYC "deserves celebration...a sculptural marvel filled with nuances and hints on how to live in a new age."
•   King on the rumor mill swirling around SFMOMA's search for architect: insiders say there's no short list, but "rumors and speculation are more fun, and both are heating up."
•   Jahn and Amtrak (with some big names hoping to get on board) on different tracks for Chicago high-speed rail: "both plans are insufficient."
•   Carter Craft's preview of MoMA's "Rising Currents" is a must-read (especially if you can't get to the show): with so many good ideas, the question isn't "whose scheme is the best?" but, "when do we bring the Cost Estimators in?"
•   An Inverness architect calls for a change in attitude if the city wants to get off the Carbuncle Award nomination list: "it is because those who have the power to address the problem are the ones creating it" (that includes architects).
•   NYU's 20-year expansion plans extend well beyond Greenwich Village, but neighbors and preservationists remain skeptical.
•   ICC opens the first public version of the International Green Construction Code to public comment; aims to unify green building standards.
•   A Canadian architect says it's time to get beyond shooting for LEED medals, which has "become more important than the original purpose of this green building evaluation system."
•   A British architect on the misuse of claims that buildings meet passivhaus standards.
•   Efforts underway to rebuild Haiti's cathedral; next step: finding an architect who can turn that vision into an actual building.
•   Some more (great) eye candy from Shanghai Expo as "the greatest show on Earth" gets ready to open.
•   Archial's Littlemore explains plan to "exploit the architectural group's most famous brand" as Alsop Sparch: "I've not asked Will Alsop whether he minds, he may or he may not."
•   Brad McKee named editor-in-chief of Landscape Architecture Magazine (a great fit - our heartiest congrats to all!).
•   One we couldn't resist: eyefuls of amazing feats of animal architecture (amazing, indeed - architects: take heed!).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_03_23.htm - Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Today’s News - Tuesday, January 5, 2010

•   Kamin, Moore, and Rose on the Burj Dubai - 'er - now the Burj Khalifa (just think what it will cost to change the signage, maps, and t-shirts!); its "poetry comes from its mismatch of symbol and reality...a pratfall on a heroic scale"; it "may be a triumph of beauty and ambition, but the soulless cityscape surrounding it is another matter."
•   An excellent in-depth look at the history of Dubai's development - and its future: the discussion has "started to move towards quality of life" (and residents "yearn for more spaces outside of shopping malls").
•   Q&A with Adrian Smith: is it all you imagined? "It's pretty awesome."
•   Guangzhou is "setting the standard for sustainable transportation and livability" in China.
•   Cannell queries "will the new suburbia omit cul-de-sacs?"
•   Campbell on Boston's brief but fascinating Age of Concrete: "We don't have to sanctify it, but we shouldn't rip it all down either."
•   King offers a fascinating take on the Transamerica Pyramid's "steep path from civic eyesore to icon...As its novelty has faded, the sense of adventure has endured...brash and slightly odd - just like the city it calls home."
•   Heathcote x 2: Hadid's Maxii in Rome is "an impeccable job"; and a new arts center in Ireland "offers a glimpse of relief and a reminder of just how good architecture can lift the town and the soul."
•   Q&A with Viñoly re: his Las Vegas CityCenter adventure: he was pleasantly surprised by sense of community..."That is something that is very rare to find today."
•   CUF's Bowles offers 20 predictions for NYC 2010 and beyond.
•   Boston's best buildings of the decade: what make them important are not just buildings themselves but their revitalizing effect.
•   Brussat looks at how "Providence muffed the decade" (an era of "uglies").
•   Litt reviews 2009: Cleveland "finished the year in suspense...The biggest suspense regards the city itself."
•   A handy round-up of 2009 architecture and design awards, "the year of wallflowers and newcomers."
•   RFQ to develop innovative design options for Toronto's Gardiner Expressway and Lake Shore Boulevard.
•   Call for entries: Temporary Outdoor Gallery Space 3 (TOGS 3) International Ideas Competition; and 2010 North American Copper in Architecture Awards.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_01_05.htm - Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Today’s News - Wednesday, January 20, 2010

•   We lose Sarkisyan, a champion of Moscow architecture who campaigned against rampant post-Soviet development.
•   Anderton sits down with an impressive panel to discuss whether design and architecture can help Haiti rise again - "can good design trump political mayhem?"
•   What will it take to rebuild Haiti: "use this as perverse chance to build back better."
•   A call for Sydneysiders "to take ownership of their city, rather than wait for an urban messiah" in fighting urban blight.
•   Environmentalism as a substitute for religion: "Let us save the planet, by all means," but let's "temper our fervor to more reasonable levels."
•   A new U.K. study says homeowners are wasting money on "eco-bling" that makes little difference to the environment (needed: more engineers).
•   Architects struggle with the tight schedules of low-income housing.
•   A new affordable housing conference in July plans to come up with some solutions.
•   A Portuguese team wins Re:Vision Dallas; other entries have created "a bank of ideas from architects to pull from" (like a development constructed from recycled airliner fuselage - great slide show).
•   A special report on 21st-century school design, NYC's School of One pilot program, and a great round-up of case studies.
•   A new school in Harlem is the "pride of 103rd St. - the product of its stubborn and visionary founders and the building's equally stubborn and visionary architect."
•   Finch offers reasons to be cheerful: "Even in hard times, there are opportunities that architects should pursue."
•   Adrian Smith is "creating high tension in high places," claiming SOM is denying him credit for the Burj Khalifa.
•   Q&A with Helmut Jahn re: CityCenter: "definitely very exciting, and to some degree rewarding, to work in a group of architects like this than to work with lesser people."
•   Anne Guiney takes the lead at the Institute for Urban Design.
•   On the anniversary of Sir John Soane's death, AR revisits 1978 article, "The furniture of death."
•   Deadline reminder: Next Generation Design Competition: One Design Fix for the Future: January 29.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_01_20.htm - Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Today’s News - Thursday, January 28, 2010

•   Steal these designs: Walker on the open-source movement in design: who's doing it, what they're doing (and links to all).
•   And NYC puts its new Active Design Guidelines for creating healthier buildings, streets, and urban spaces online - available to all.
•   Columbia University's eminent domain issue is not the only thing to focus on if expansion plans are to be truly successful.
•   A line-up of cultural landmarks coming in the next 10 years (some are new to us).
•   Lubell gives some thumbs-up and some thumbs-down to CityCenter: it promises "sophisticated urbanity" in a "land of over-the-top kitsch," but whether it's "truly cosmopolitan, or even particularly good, is another question."
•   Kamin ventures to Racine and finds Foster's Fortaleza Hall "precisely-honed, spirit-lifting" and "marks a major and welcome departure from Wright's introverted, anti-urban architecture" (he really likes it!).
•   High hopes that Stout's Art Gallery of Alberta will "lead to more bold visions, pushing Edmonton out of its adolescence into a more sophisticated look" + He doesn't mind that some people won't like it.
•   A new children's museum in South Carolina will have lots of snap, crackle, and pop (bowl and spoon not included).
•   The 2010 Olympic Games Canada Pavilion is "the latest of a string of dowdy pavilions erected to represent Canada at international events" (and not even designed by a Canadian).
•   An in-depth look at how the landscape surrounding the Burj Khalifa came to be (on a very, very fast track).
•   Ouroussoff pays tribute to Sarkisyan, the "keeper of Moscow's architecture" and an "improbable champion of architectural causes."
•   Q&A with Bob and Denise: "You probably shouldn't be an architect unless you absolutely have to."
•   Q&A with Portman ("always famous yet never in the limelight") re: his own strategies for riding out good times and bad.
•   New deans of architecture at two Houston universities see collaboration in their future.
•   Duke University's Dive is a 3-D virtual reality theater that could be helpful to architects when dealing with controversial projects; the problem: "educating the architecture field on technology they should already be using."
•   Call for entries: 33rd Annual SMPS Marketing Communications Awards (open internationally).
•   We couldn't resist: an amazing animation of SO-IL's "Pole Dance" that will be dancing at P.S.1 this summer.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_01_28.htm - Thursday, January 28, 2010