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Today's News - January 31, 2006

A new library helps to revitalize a once riot-torn Los Angeles community. -- Pondering the future of Chicago's Navy Pier, Block 37, and 2016 Olympic dreams. -- In New York, bean counters and security fears dampen what could be a dazzling design for Javits Center. -- In Philadelphia, the client as much as the architect is to blame for design that doesn't heal a sickly boulevard. -- Is X-Museum right for Liverpool? Two takes: yes (the architect), and no (Traditional Architects Group). -- A lament for the new MoMA: "Almost as soon as the noisy media-drenched re-opening...was over, a strange silence enveloped the museum." -- Mall site for new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC, applauded by some, not by others (we'll watch for design competition announcement that's sure to follow). -- Toronto's "prefab guru" muses about prefab ever catching on in Canada. -- Hawthorne's take on Mayne's Cincinnati rec center on the coolish side (but - o-o-oh that gym!). -- Speer revs up for a "Detroit of the East" in China. -- Meanwhile Detroit revs up to show off its "coolest digs" during the Super Bowl. -- Security bollards now can be "as fashionable and versatile as handbags." -- An international shortlist named for Absolute tower in Mississauga. -- International winners in Miami+Beach Bienal 2005 competition. -- UN Studio's "Holiday Home" in Philadelphia is a fun-house of happy dreams and nightmares.

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Good Neighbor: Hyde Park Miriam Matthews Branch Library: A new library adds to the revitalization of a once riot-torn Los Angeles community. -- Hodgetts + Fung Design and Architecture [images]- ArchNewsNow

Culture and Commerce: ...prospects for innovative design at Chicago’s Navy Pier and Block 37, and potential changes to the skyline to prep the city for a possible 2016 Olympic bid. By Edward Lifson -- Linda Searl/Searl and Associates, Architects; Larry Booth/Booth Hansen Architects; Ned Cramer /Chicago Architecture Foundation [text, audio]- WBEZ FM Chicago Public Radio

In Javits Expansion, Old Dreams Revisited: A series of constraints imposed on Richard Rogers's designs for the Javits Center expansion seem to assure a decent but not particularly dazzling work of architecture. By Nicolai Ouroussoff -- Pei Cobb Freed (1986); FXFowle Architects; A. Epstein & Sons [images]- New York Times

A Javits Expansion, Seen as Not Expansive Enough: "New York is losing its ability to think grandly and this is a great example of it."- New York Times

Not much of a tonic for Civic Center Blvd.: Look out, Philadelphia. New York starchitect Rafael Viñoly is back in town...bearing plans for another mind-bogglingly big glass atrium...The client bears as much blame as the architect. By Inga Saffron -- Perkins Eastman- Philadelphia Inquirer

Is the X-Museum right for Liverpool's Pier Head? YES: Kim Nielsen, principal,3XNielsen; NO: Robert Adam, former secretary of the RIBA, and founder member of the Traditional Architects Group- icLiverpool (UK)

Arrivederci MoMA: The more people there are in Yoshio Taniguchi's spaces, the less poetic those spaces feel, which is just about the most devastating thing that you can say about a work of public architecture. The fault, though, is not Taniguchi's alone. By Jed Perl- The New Republic

Mall Site Is Chosen for National Museum of African American History and Culture: Some expressed disappointment in the selection..."It has so many limitations. It is not going to allow for a signature building..."- Washington Post

Modern prefab: When will it catch on in Canada? Q&A with Lloyd Alter...Toronto's prefab guru [on] why prefab remains an intellectual exercise rather than a reality -- Kohn Shnier Architects; Michelle Kaufmann; Resolution: 4 Architecture; etc.- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Push-and-pull exercises are Mayne's recreation: ...may have found the perfect opportunity to combine two sides of his architectural personality in a new recreation center for the University of Cincinnati ...the gym...among the most dramatically impressive interior spaces produced by any firm in the last decade. Architecture students will be studying images of it 30 years from now. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Morphosis; KZF Design [images]- Los Angeles Times

Albert Speer Jr. to Build "Detroit of the East" in China: ...officials decided on an architectural firm to build their very own Motor City...[Changchun] district dedicated to automobile manufacturing and housing for the people who will work there.- Spiegel Online (Germany)

Detroit character makes Super Bowl venue special: ...these may just be the coolest digs in Detroit...if you're lucky enough to have a ticket to the Super Bowl, you'll get a chance to look around Ford Field -- Paul Tonti/SmithGroup; KMD; Rossetti Associates- Sports Illustrated

Ubiquitous Security Barriers Get a Fashionable Flourish: Bollards, those crude posts once relegated to parking lots and now considered a necessity in a security-conscious era, have become as fashionable and versatile as handbags.- Washington Post

Finalists named in international architectural design competition for the fourth tower at Absolute Community in Mississauga. -- Boyarsky Murphy Architects; rojkind arquitectos; Quadrangle Architects; Studio MWM; MAD office; Zeidler Partnership [images]- Canada NewsWire (CNW)

Miami+Beach Bienal 2005 / AIA Miami announce winners -- Oppenheim Architecture + Design; Richard Meier & Partners; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Behnisch Architekten; gpy arquitectos; 3XNielsen A/S; Acconci Studio; Studio Follina; etc.- Miami+Beach Bienal 2005

Step right in to that fun-house feeling: The Holiday Home that was installed last week [at] the Institute of Contemporary Art by design provocateurs Ben van Berkel and Caroline Bos is both a happy dream and a nightmare. Inga Saffron -- UN Studio [image]- Philadelphia Inquirer

-- Competition winner: UN Studio: Te Papa Museum, Wellington, New Zealand
-- Shigeru Ban: The Nomadic Museum/Gregory Colbert "Ashes and Snow," Santa Monica, California

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