Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Click here to see today's news.
Kimmelman makes the case for legislators to reconsider plans for Rudolph's Orange County Government Center that would leave the town of Goshen "with a Frankenstein's monster." -- Wainwright, meanwhile, cheers English Heritage finally giving postwar architecture "some love" by listing 14 office buildings: "they're an innovative bunch" from "a period that might not immediately jump to mind as fertile ground for producing cherished landmarks." -- Marks rounds up the reasons why English Heritage thinks those 14 deserved listing. -- Jacobs explains (quite convincingly) why "a second wave of PoMo might be on the way." -- A look at why Helsinki isn't (yet) sold on a Guggenheim Helsinki, raising questions that "make going forward without the commitment of the city a challenging, and murky, proposition." -- Saffron, on a brighter note, cheers Snøhetta/Stantec plans for Temple University's new library: more than "just adding another isolated architectural trophy," it launches "a long-overdue, place-making effort" that "blends innovation and tradition." -- Hopes are high that the second time will be a charm in the St. Petersburg Pier competition saga, with seven proposals in the running. -- King parses the three proposals in the running for a new Silicon Valley pedestrian/bike bridge, "the idea being to turn a functional need into a lasting statement." -- Lange practically gnashes her teeth about the AIA 2015 Gold Medal going to "another mature white. When I read that Moshe Safdie had been awarded - I groaned" (comments are caustic, too). -- The 2015 AJ Women in Architecture survey results are in: workplace sex discrimination - check; bullying - check. "But the survey did show signs of hope elsewhere." -- A great presentation of Metropolis's Game Changers 2015, the "fifth annual survey of the foremost forward-looking talents in the world of architecture and design" (indeed!). -- Dickinson delves deep into how data is "next frontier in sustainable design," and "why architects who embrace building performance may help their bottom lines" (it requires a "rethinking the architect/client relationship" - ice machines included). -- A look at what's influencing architecture today (mostly good news). -- On the other hand, a new report finds "tighter competition, off-shoring, and technological change are amongst a number of challenges confronting architecture firms in Australia" (dare we say everywhere?). -- Some interesting findings in PLANetizen's City Planning Department Technology Benchmarking Survey 2015 re: the "current state of Internet technology as employed by the planning department of over 500 U.S. cities." -- RAIC inducts Samuel Oboh as 76th President. -- Call for entries: World Habitat Awards 2015/16 + Re-thinking The Future Awards 2015 + 2015 IES Illumination Awards for lighting design.

Be curious, be adventurous and, when necessary, be assertive.

 
by Stanley Stark, FAIA, LEED AP

December 5, 2014

Since 1931, the Empire State Building has been New York City's GPS, but with a spate of supertalls obscuring the building, it could become hard to tell Manhattan from Kowloon or Pudong or Shinjuku or Canary Wharf.

 
by Fred A. Bernstein

November 21, 2014