Wednesday, June 28, 2017

Click here to see today's news.
Dittmar sees the Grenfell Tower tragedy as "what truly could be a watershed moment" in figuring out "how to fix the UK's housing mess." -- Gendall has a fascinating conversation with WMF's Ackerman re: whether historic sites destroyed by terrorism should be rebuilt: "Heritage sites can be repaired - what is harder to determine is what 'fixing' means." -- Hogan has some serious issues with OMA's proposal for Buffalo's Albright-Knox museum that "undoes Bunshaft's spectacular midcentury addition in favor of a bloated, ill-defined, glass-walled lobby," a gallery, and a loading dock. -- Bernstein says Levete's $70 million addition to the V&A's entrance "is so striking, visitors may mistake it for a temporary exhibition." -- A lovely video tour of Levete's "stunning" V&A revamp. -- Ando tapped to transform Paris's 19th-century stock exchange into an art museum for billionaire Pinault: "Ando promised it would blast away the political malaise of the moment and soothe the wounds of Brexit" (a tall order!). -- Adjaye tapped to design the new library and events center in Winter Park, Florida: He "will need all his persuasive powers to prevail over a city where street performers are too much spontaneity, contemporary design is suspect, and choosing the color of a sign can take hours of debate at City Hall." -- Kolson Hurley delves into the Pentagon's "war on sprawl" and its Healthy Base Initiative that takes "a cue from the active design movement" to make more walkable bases to battle obesity and improve fitness - "they're good places to trial environmental fixes." -- Hume has high praise for Toronto's new Trillium Park, "a delightful new space" and "a sign of hope in a sea of dreck." -- Green cheers NYC's Community Parks Initiative to increase park equity by rebuilding or improving parks "that have not seen any capital investment in 25 years - setting a new model for other cities to follow." -- Wainwright parses the Tottenham Hotspur and Atlanta Falcons' new stadiums, and what "the future hold for sports arenas - the promise of a pie, a pint and a good singsong in the stands just is not enough" anymore. -- Photographer and writer Camilo José Vergara proposes "The Other Shinola: A Proposal" for Detroit: "I propose that African American visual culture become the inspiration for quality designs for sale through a Shinola of the ghetto." -- The 83-year-old Outram is "overjoyed" that his "Temple of Storms" post-modern pumping station is listed: Even Prince Charles praised it as "witty and amusing" (with pix to prove it!). -- Hosey considers the "cinematic portrayals of Washington, DC," and how "movies often 'unhinge' the city by separating its most recognizable buildings from their larger setting" - it could be "what gives these movies their 'Washington-ness.'" -- Call for entries: What are Your Top 5 Favorite Works of Sacred Architecture and Art? (for Faith & Form magazine's 50th Anniversary issue). -- Call for entries: 2017 Burnham Prize Competition: Under the Dome: re-charge the significance and relevance of the dome of Chicago's long-abandoned St. Stephen's Church. -- Call for entries: Applications for Art as Labour : Build & Design Summer School at Nikola-Lenivets Art Park in Russia. -- Call for entries: The House of Chaos - A House for Luigi Pirandello.

"The most important thing one can achieve in any building is to get people to communicate with each other. That's really essential to our lives. We are not just individuals, we are part of a community."

 
by Michael J. Crosbie, Ph.D., FAIA

June 15, 2017

A Plaza home and office had much to offer the architect, including prestige, prospect, and refuge - an elegant perch from which to survey the city he loved to hate.

 
by Jane King Hession and Debra Pickrel

June 8, 2017

A new way of dealing with ownership transition that can benefit some principals who face difficulties in achieving successful exits.

 
by Peter Piven, FAIA

June 1, 2017

Robert McCarter (with a little help from his friends) crafts a majestic survey long overdue.

 
by Norman Weinstein

May 25, 2017

In this never-before published Q&A from 2015, the late Acconci revealed his highly personal way of imagining his architecture as a pursuit of creating a total work of art that is at once poetry and architecture.

 
by Vladimir Belogolovsky

May 18, 2017