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Spatial Experiments: "Zaha Hadid Laboratories" at the National Building Museum

The evolution from project concept to completion is explored in an exhibition honoring an architect known for challenging popular convention.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature60.htm - August 19, 2002

Exhibition : "Laboratories" at the Canadian Centre for Architecture

Montreal: Six young architectural firms take over CCA galleries to explore the shape of things to come.
http://www.archnewsnow.com/features/Feature16.htm - April 15, 2002

Today’s News - Friday, July 16, 2010

•   Leddy says it's time to go beyond awards and ratings that separate great design and sustainable design "to a new age of truly responsive, responsible design."
•   In the Great Recession, cities start taking public transit infrastructure seriously.
•   Saffron cheers plans for a new public plaza in Philadelphia that will prove "the power of good landscape design to redeem our most boosterish impulses."
•   Cornell taps third Pritzker-winner to design a new building.
•   Rahway, NJ, plans two new arts spaces (not all are pleased).
•   Q&A with de Botton and his plans "to send a nation of vacationers to architectural rehab" (great slide show).
•   Two we couldn't resist: a tree house "for design nerds to live out their Swiss Family Robinson fantasies" opens for business near the Arctic Circle + NYC's Park Ave. to get dumpster swimming pools!
•   Weekend diversions:
•   It's a year of Rietveld at the Centraal Museum Utrecht (great site).
•   A whole lot of Holl on view in Lecce, Italy.
•   2010 California Design Biennial in Pasadena includes architecture for the first time.
•   Pesce in the spotlight in L.A.
•   Q&A with Adjaye re: his exhibition in Brussels.
•   Webb "basks in the glow" of Hines's "Architecture of the Sun."
•   Bruegmann's treatise on Harry Weese "could restore him to the place of honor he deserves" (great slide show, too).
•   Sardar finds an interesting subtext in "Knoll: A Modernist Universe."

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_07_16.htm - Friday, July 16, 2010

Today’s News - Monday, May 3, 2010

•   ArcSpace brings us C.F. Møller's apartment tower in Aarhus, Denmark, that "protrudes into the light and the landscape like Lego bricks."
•   Hume fumes that hockey has trumped good planning for Toronto's Lower Don Lands waterfront: it's "a tale of mediocrity told by a cast of characters" ranging from the mayor "to a faceless but senior bureaucrat" (no wonder Greenberg quit).
•   Deutsche Bank conversion of its Frankfurt HQ "towers of gorgonian ugly" to LEED Platinum is all well and good - except it's really just turning "horrid '80s towers into horrid '80s eco-towers."
•   Historic preservation in Shanghai is slowly beginning to take hold - but it takes a lot of work.
•   Malcolm Fraser puts the pedal to the metal to save a listed 1898 electric car factory from demolition and convert it for modern use.
•   With residents growing restless waiting for visible action on the new Cleveland Convention Center and Medical Mart, Cleveland commissioners finally name an urban design/landscape architecture team.
•   A legislative proposal to help take green infrastructure methods from theory to practice is gaining support on Capitol Hill, but there are a range of obstacles.
•   Moore cheers plans for 6 more Maggie's Centers, but do they really need to be designed by starchitects?
•   Rosenbaum takes on the NYT for creating a "crisis of confidence" for the Whitney's planned High Line branch: "If this effort fails, New York, not just the Whitney, will be the poorer."
•   Kennicott cheers the "fine temper" of Mather's new wing for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.
•   Maschal cheers Botta's Bechtler Museum in Charlotte: he "is not just a great architect. He is a magician" who has "created a building that seems alive."
•   Safdie's "art path" for Singapore's Marina Bay Sands will have visitors "sure to be wowed by the seamless integration of both stunning architecture and public art" (great pix + link to Q&A).
•   Maya Lin and Michael Van Valkenburgh team up to design "an oasis for a St. Louis medical campus that greens the city beyond."
•   How creative solutions get hospital projects built, even in a down economy.
•   Glancey has nothing but glowing things to say about the conversion of London's historic Midland Grand Hotel into St Pancras Chambers (great pix - we'd settle for just the tub in the clock tower pad).
•   Kennicott compares Cret and Warnecke: "if the former succeeded and the latter failed, it is, in part, because of the role that power and self-confidence plays in the prevailing architectural fantasy of Washington."
•   Berkeley Prize 2010 Essay Prize, Travel Fellows, and Architectural Design Fellow announced.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_05_03.htm - Monday, May 3, 2010

Today’s News - Tuesday, May 4, 2010

•   Kennicott's eloquent objection to the decision to close the Supreme Court's main doors: "By a thousand reflexive cuts, architecture loses its power to mean anything. We are becoming a nation of moles...the court has neutered its building, insulted the public and yielded to fear" (a must-read).
•   Davidson on why NYC should allow Nouvel to "build every inch of his arrogant tower": the "skyline must keep acquiring new peaks because the day we consider it complete and untouchable is the day the city begins to die."
•   What does Nouvel think? He tells Davidson: "Why is Manhattan, of all places, afraid of heights?" (he also looks "in need of a nap").
•   Brussat gets the translation of French architects' protest to the Americanization of Paris (it "was worth the wait").
•   Shanghai World Expo 2010: What are these buildings really saying? For starters, the U.S. "put about as much effort into designing its pavilion as it would a Walmart" - designed by a Canadian, no less (amusing/disturbing slide show essay).
•   Betsky travels to Hangzhou, China, and finds "by far the most imaginative set of buildings I have seen in a long time...it teaches by being."
•   Ouroussoff finds Meier's plans for a Newark's Teachers Village "the most dramatic example yet of what is shaping up to be a significant and hopeful trend in architecture" - a "commitment to elevating the lives of ordinary people."
•   Russell takes in Meier's musings on just about everything: "I have a lot to do, I hope."
•   Foster's Vancouver tower "provides some welcome hope for the city aesthetic - NIMBYISM notwithstanding."
•   Litt on the Londoner's taking on the Cleveland Clinic's 20-year master plan.
•   King cheers Oakland Museum of California's renovation: it "looks more revolutionary now than when it opened in 1969" - its virtues "are vital again."
•   Dickinson offers no high praise for a number of new New Haven projects, including Yale University Health Services' new building: "at best, passive-aggressive and at worst perversely ad hoc" with a dash of "unrelenting Darth Vader" (ouch!).
•   Boston comes up with a master plan for the Kennedy Greenway: "I've heard so much praise for this plan. And that's a man-bites-dog story right there."
•   City planners just might find some serious solutions to urban ills offered in IBM's new, very serious video game, CityOne.
•   A pick of America's Top 10 eco-friendly, energy-efficient planned communities.
•   AIA picks 18 winners for the 2010 Housing Awards (excellent presentations, too).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_05_04.htm - Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Today’s News - Tuesday, January 19, 2010

•   Weinstein chats with Nelson-Atkins' director/CEO re: life at Steven Holl Architects' Bloch Building - three years after opening.
•   Managing disasters with small steps that involve local people (and they're working!).
•   Sinclair lays out AFH's plan for rebuilding Haiti: "There is no 'ownership' in rebuilding lives," so help out - or steal this plan (and use it).
•   Earthquake response efforts in Haiti being aided by satellite imagery - which could play a similar role for urban planners on a regular basis.
•   An Upjohn grant allows research to explore how power utilities could harness multiple power generation systems within a single structure.
•   New Jersey's plans for solar and renewable-energy projects on landfills and brownfields are not without challenges, but why not "build solar there where you can't build a building"?
•   King explains why H&deM's de Young made his Top 10 list for the decade, and Piano's Academy of Sciences didn't make the cut.
•   OMA lands a campus project in Hong Kong.
•   Chipperfield "knows his place" with a "sensitive, yet innovative approach" to expanding the St. Louis Art Museum: he put the original Cass Gilbert design first.
•   In Toronto, a green retrofit of a Brutalist landmark (an inverted pyramid, no less) offers "the opportunity to improve a building that had grown tired in the eyes of the public."
•   Allies and Morrison's Knowledge Enrichment Centre in Qatar (it floats!).
•   DohaLand sponsors a professorship at Qatar University to teach students of architecture and urban planning the modern Qatari architectural "language" which could "signal the end of the 'blue glass' - an irony not lost on building professionals or journalists."
•   BD launches websites for architecture students everywhere.
•   Winners all:
•   Montreal chooses a winner in its bus shelter design competition.
•   Volkswagen chooses architecture students' design for a signature part of its Chattanooga plant.
•   Eyefuls of 2010 AIA Institute Honor Awards in Architecture, Interiors, and Urban Design.
•   In the U.K., shortlists announced for Civic Trust Awards and Small Projects Awards.
•   Call for Expressions of Interest/EOI: International competition to create two new iconic spaces near Westminster Cathedral.
•   Call for submissions: ASLA's 2010 Olmsted Scholars Program and Leadership in Landscape Scholarships.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2010_01_19.htm - Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Today’s News - Wednesday, December 16, 2009

•   Kennicott on DS+R's Hirshhorn balloon: "If it gets built, it will be a whazzat sort of building...thrilling, baffling, confusing and perhaps even troubling."
•   Gopnik, on the other hand, worries "there's a real risk that this one 'work' in the Hirshhorn collection could shove aside all the others."
•   Rosenbaum offers up even more "upbeat news" about more museum projects that "are alive and kicking."
•   A £4.5 billion high-density, development in the U.K. already has notables on board, and "a host more are likely to be appointed."
•   Appelbaum explores "an unusual real estate experiment" in Syracuse to build new, green neighborhoods out of the old.
•   Dallas can raise millions for arts centers and Calatrava bridges, but lays out an "unwelcome mat out for project to house chronically homeless" (that would be good for more than just the homeless).
•   Glancey calls this the "season of humbug and hot air": why don't we "just stop buying ever more junk and stop approving and building so many demeaning and unsustainable projects?"
•   More minaret madness: a German group hopes for EU referendum to ban them across all 27 member countries (this gets even scarier - to us, anyway; be sure to read Roger Lewis's commentary in yesterday's newsletter).
•   On a brighter note: Kamin says Goettsch's "add-on architecture" is "captivating inside and out...what is striking about the addition is how inevitable it looks."
•   Detroit's "striking new transit center" makes the city's "small but woefully car-centered downtown more pedestrian friendly," and is "a visual homage to optimism in turbulent times."
•   Santa Monica picks an impressive shortlist to create "one of its most high-profile public projects ever."
•   In Miami, "South Beach's funky, forgotten little brother" filled with "simple, snazzy" MiMo architecture takes its place on the National Register of Historic Places.
•   The Grand Concourse and other cool places in the Bronx (finally) gains long-overdue historic district status.
•   Berkeley loves its mid-century architecture, but has it gone too far in bestowing "hallowed status on a concrete, flat-roofed building loosely linked to Bernard Maybeck"?
•   Q&A with artist and architect Kyong Park re: architectural education, his Silk Roads project, and the future for young architects.
•   Five designers each take home $50,000 USA Grants.
•   Two teams win Amsterdam's Open Fort 400 Competition for redeveloping a docklands zone.
•   We are incredibly saddened by the news that I.D. Magazine has folded - one day after the company's employee appreciation day (an almost iconic irony?).
•   Call for entries: 1st Annual One Prize Award: Mowing to Growing: A Design Competition for Creating Productive Green Space in Cities.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_12_16.htm - Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Today’s News - Monday, November 16, 2009

•   ArcSpace brings us Ando in Venice and a "visual celebration" of leopards (indeed!).
•   USGBC report: green construction will add billions to U.S. GDP and create 8 million new jobs (here's hoping!).
•   Hawthorne cheers the opening of L.A.'s 8 new metro stations: "More transit means more pedestrians...and new interest in our long-neglected streetscapes and public sphere."
•   Forgey returns from Toronto with lessons for D.C.'s "contextual community...Loosen up."
•   "Context\Contrast" at NYC's Center for Architecture puts the importance of context under a microscope: "the chief battleground for a happy city is the architectural word "context."
•   A new gallery in Johannesburg is "a small building with a big attitude" that "makes it hard not to wonder from where it appeared" (looks very cool to us).
•   Grimshaw called on the carpet by environmentalists for taking on Heathrow's third runway project: they're going "to try to persuade the firm to stand down from the job."
•   Lewis on architects' love of glass - for better and worse.
•   Traditional building arts continue to thrive in the capital of Yemen's Old City: "They experimented for hundreds of years to find these techniques...nowadays we are building houses with a very stupid concept."
•   Dyckhoff hails the new Puritanism in architecture, celebrating the "austerity" of Caruso St John's Nottingham Contemporary: "This, ladies and gentlemen, is an anti-icon."
•   Saffron cheers a new visitors center for FLW's often-overlooked (and only) synagogue.
•   Princeton celebrates the re-opening of Whig Hall after an overhaul of a 1972 overhaul of the 1893 building.
•   Lubetkin's 1930s buildings at Dudley Zoo, listed as endangered the WMF, may have a bright future.
•   Glancey takes a TV series to task for seeing "Britain's art-deco history through neon-tinted glasses" (it "should get its history straight").
•   Mack cheers Moe: "If you favored preservation before, you'll really like it when you realize it's the ultimate green movement."
•   An eyeful of two architects quietly spreading their brand of sustainable design in northern Baja, Mexico, turning trash into interesting architecture.
•   We couldn't resist: a prize-winning public potty in Austin just keeps racking up international accolades for its "exquisite simplicity" (and pix to prove it).

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_11_16.htm - Monday, November 16, 2009

Today’s News - Monday, September 21, 2009

•   ArcSpace brings us Gehry's first building in Scandinavia, a "house without doors" named for the Nordic god of sunlight; and a new urban vision for a long-stalled project in Kuala Lumpur.
•   We lose a champion of modernism, but the invaluable Pidgeon Digital Archive lives on.
•   Swett on climate change: we've "spent too much time describing the problem and debating its causes. Too little time has been spent on distributing solutions" - and he has some.
•   A new report on lessons that can be learned from Europe and Australia about energy-efficient building performance.
•   Kamin x 2: USGBC ranks U.S. cities leading in LEED buildings (Chicago is #1); and Gang's Aqua rates a PETA award for its bird-friendly design.
•   Glancey cheers Chicago practices "learning to think small" not only because "the recession has bitten hard, but because there has been something of a change of heart."
•   An EPA certification for water-efficient homes would take national a host of local programs.
•   Pearman likes Britain's new Supreme Court "in a funny old building": "a bit of a Gilbert and Sullivan stage set. Only sets of antlers are missing."
•   Saffron gives (mostly) thumbs-up to Philadelphia Museum of Art's new underground garage with a design that uses "artful camouflage."
•   Rochon gives two-thumbs-up's to Toronto's newest tower, "infused with the best of 21st-century thinking" that sets "a new standard has been set for building tall" in the city.
•   Kansas City Ballet starts renovating Union Station Power House, "transforming the dilapidated historic structure into an airy work and performance space."
•   Design selected for Columbus, Ohio's very own Center for Architecture.
•   Gould gives three cheers for restoration of the "lovely artifact" that is the Edgewater Hotel, but finds other elements "problematic."
•   It's been awhile since we've heard anything about University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Freshwater Sciences lakefront project - now there's lots re: power struggles and UWM pulling out; Schumacher found the proposed design "drippy," and offers an eyeful of what some other local talent would do.
•   Rogers quits London mayor's design advisory and Great Spaces panels.
•   We couldn't resist: Foster + Partners joins European consortium to investigate building settlements on the moon.
•   Happy first day of Autumn!

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_09_21.htm - Monday, September 21, 2009

Today’s News - Wednesday, August 19, 2009

•   A look at local rebuilding efforts in New Orleans that may not be the fastest or cheapest way to go, but they're working - and could be models for recovery from future disasters anywhere.
•   A call to stop mourning the decline of traditional British high streets and return "sacrosanct employment space back to its natural use as residential accommodation."
•   Forgey is only half-heartened by "a grand collaborative effort" to revive the National Mall and D.C.'s city center: alas, the vision falls short.
•   An ancient Silk Road city in China faces an onslaught of bulldozers; some cheer, some fear.
•   Dittmar defends Prince Charles: his foundation is not trying to dictate design, but he "speaks for most people's ideas about buildings, towns and cities, and architects can't stand that."
•   Meanwhile, Chelsea Barracks residents voice concern about modernist architects on the new shortlist.
•   OMA's Commonwealth Institute plans "significantly reduced" (should we have expected otherwise?).
•   SWA Group's big win for 2010 Guangzhou Asian Games gets bigger.
•   Anderton chats it up with an L.A. architect who goes on an Abu Dhabi version of "The Apprentice"; the co-writer of "(500) Days of Summer"; and a historian who talks about the secret history of the 100-year-old Santa Monica Pier.
•   Kamin cheers the return of two Sullivan facades in Chicago's Loop.
•   FLW's Guggenheim might never have happened without the intervention of an unlikely champion: Robert Moses: "Damn it, get a permit for Frank, I don't care how many laws you have to break."
•   How Wright's love of the automobile inspired his architecture.
•   Deadline reminder: Google/Guggenheim Design It: Shelter Competition closes this Sunday.
•   We couldn't resist: Glancey waxes oh-so-poetic about Lego.
•   de Botton named Heathrow Airport's writer-in-residence (he'd like to do same in a nuclear power plant).
•   Floating around NYC is an experiment in self-sustaining community living and artistry: an eco- and art-friendly sphere.

http://www.archnewsnow.com/news/news_2009_08_19.htm - Wednesday, August 19, 2009