Friday, February 27, 2015

Click here to see today's news.
ANN feature: Architectural Resources Group's Farneth explains why the firm took an "anti-object design approach" for the Huntington Library's new education and visitor center that "fits gracefully and quietly" into the historic estate and landscape. -- Ottawans seem none too pleased with the winning design for an "immense" National Memorial to the Victims of Communism that is "bleak and oppressive" (and has little to do with Canada's own history). -- Lamster lays out lessons to be learned from Houston's Buffalo Bayou for Dallas's stagnating Trinity River project: "The explanation begins with accountability. Who, exactly, is in charge of the Trinity Corridor project? There is no ready answer." -- Stott looks beyond the "jovial name-calling" of the Nine Elms Bridge competition, and sees something darker: the "designs are symptomatic of an unhealthy approach to wealth that London seems unable (or perhaps unwilling) to address," and hopes the judges "have the good sense to select one of the more demure entries in the contest - so that at the very least this inequality is not quite so in your face." -- Anderton tackles "zombie urbanism" and "what happens when residential real estate is treated like a safe deposit box" with a slew of notables, including Zellner, Sudjic, and Kwartler. -- Martin offers a biting, scathing (and hilarious) take on London "privatizing itself to death" with "a set of improbable sex toys poking gormlessly into the air," built by "pinstriped investors reeking of lunch" (and architecture is "drunk, as usual, on one gin and tonic"). -- Meanwhile, grand plans for a new Crystal Palace in south London just bit the dust (to the relief of many). -- Lamenting the demise of the Birmingham Central Library just as Brutalist public buildings "come back into fashion": it could have become a symbol of the city's "post-war prosperity, as it blends into another brighter period." -- Goodwin gives us a great look at "7 pioneers of Africa's architectural awakening." -- Hume cheers Ryerson University's "spectacular" new student center by Snøhetta and Zeidler that "lets users reshape the space." -- An in-depth look at Attia's claim that Google stole his Engineered Architecture: "as Flux Factory looks to change the construction industry, are they building on someone else's ideas?" -- Call for entries: ULI 2015 Global Awards for Excellence for outstanding development projects. -- Weekend diversions: -- Lubell x 2: he lauds "Sink or Swim" at the Annenberg Space for Photography that uses "the visceral power of photography to pull our emotions into the conversation." -- He has a lively Q&A with Heatherwick re: his Hammer show, his outsider approach, and where he's heading now. -- Speaking of which, the Hammer Museum unveils Maltzan's "sweeping concrete pedestrian bridge" that "forms a dramatic backdrop to an equally thrilling 'Provocations: The Architecture and Design of Heatherwick Studio.'" -- "Shigeru Ban: Humanitarian Architecture" continues its road trip at the Dallas Center for Architecture. -- Eyefuls from "Hélène Binet: Fragments of Light" at the Woodbury University Hollywood Gallery (WUHO), Los Angeles. -- Brussat gives two thumbs-ups to Mehaffy and Salingaros's "Design for a Living Planet": the "slender yet profound volume" doesn't "mince words when it comes to pointing the fickle finger of blame at modernism - especially its architectural and planning establishments." -- "Me and My Moultan" is an Oscar-nominated animated short that shows what it's like to be a 7-year-old with modernist architect parents."

How candor, authenticity, and provocation (CAP) can create a firm culture that drives thoughtful, positive, and creative change.

 
by James Crispino, AIA, NCARB

February 19, 2015

A new monograph highlights transformative designs by a firm strikingly dedicated to re-enchanting public space.

 
by Norman Weinstein

February 12, 2015

A path to avoid the quagmire of architecture's style wars.

 
by Norman Weinstein

January 29, 2015

A history of the making of a contemporary sacred architectural masterpiece transcends its subject and becomes a broadly applicable study of peerless client-architect communication.

 
by Norman Weinstein

December 19, 2014