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Today's News - May 1, 2006

ArcSpace brings us Meier in Germany. -- He also discusses his adventures in Rome. -- A few more tributes to Jane Jacobs - though with "it's time to let go...," Ouroussoff takes a surprisingly different tact. -- Grading Gehry's Grand Avenue plans: two takes. -- Planning and inspired design are the tickets to a prosperous Bangkok. -- Exhibit of "visionary post-Katrina architecture" promises "architecture that can give New Orleans hope." -- Suburbs that want downtowns of their own are "the poster child of this new urbanism." -- Green roofs are sprouting up everywhere (including ASLA HQ). -- Students build house from salvage; buyer wanted. -- Canada's 2006 Governor General's Medals in Architecture (lots of pix). -- Time 100 list of people who shape our world includes one architect. -- Toronto's 2nd Annual Pugly Awards competition for the best and worst launches today. -- One we couldn't resist - and the must-read of the day: a post-modernist beaver over-thinks his dam (we wonder what school/which architects he studied with!).

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Richard Meier & Partners: Hans Arp Museum, Rolandseck, Germany

When in Rome ... don't listen to the Romans. Especially when they burn models of your building and call it a cesspit. Richard Meier tells Steve Rose about his controversial new Ara Pacis museum- Guardian (UK)

Outgrowing Jane Jacobs and Her New York: It's time to let go of the obsessive belief that [she] held the answer to every evil that faces the contemporary city...Perhaps her legacy has been most damaged by those who continue to treat "Death and Life" as sacred text...New Urbanists are the most guilty... By Nicolai Ouroussoff [link to audio slide show]- New York Times

About cities, Jane Jacobs dished out uncomfortable truths...long run as a complex, down-to-earth Cassandra...who kept her ear to the ground while trying to topple giants. By Christopher Hawthorne- Los Angeles Times

An Appreciation: Jane Jacobs: The prophet of "real cities." By Alan G. Brake- Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Grading Grand: Gehry Plan Has Promise, But Needs to Strengthen Connections to Downtown Residents. By Sam Hall Kaplan- LA Downtown News

Gehry Listens: Latest Grand Avenue Plan Holds the Potential for a Great Public Place. By Robert S. Harris, FAIA- LA Downtown News

Planning and prosperity do mix: ...one of the best ways to draw money into Thailand would be to make Bangkok a more physically attractive place to live and do business... "City planning is not design, city planning is political will," says RMJM's Dr Chafia Ferhat.- Bangkok Post

Inspired design can turn so-so urban sites into winners: In a busy metropolis such as Bangkok, one sometimes has to make a badly located land plot work, and it is here that architecture comes to play as clever design can surmount challenges... -- Kittisak Aguru/Robert G. Boughey- Bangkok Post

Onward and Upward: Architects Envision New Orleans Rising From the Waters..."Newer Orleans: A Shared Space" at the National Building Museum. By Linda Hales -- MVRDV; UN Studio; West 8; Morphosis; Hargreaves Associates; Huff + Gooden Architects- Washington Post

Suburbs Want Downtowns of Their Own: Suburban areas in Minnesota are creating their own downtown areas..."We are the poster child of this new urbanism"...- New York Times

'Green roofs' growing more popular: An architectural organization has unveiled a new "green" roof for its own building to showcase a trend toward environmentally-friendly technology. (AP) -- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA); Green Roofs for Healthy Cities; Steven Holl- CNN

Building Hope, Piece by Piece: University of Detroit Mercy students design a house that will be built with salvaged material. Now they need a buyer.- Detroit Free Press

2006 Governor General’s Medals in Architecture -- Les architectes FABG; atelier TAG; Jodoin Lamarre Pratte et Associés; Baird Sampson Neuert; Lapointe Magne + Ædifica; Smith Carter; Hariri Pontarini; Saucier + Perrotte; Lapointe Magne; Cormier, Cohen, Davies; etc. [images, links]- Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC)

Time 100: The People Who Shape Our World: Renzo Piano, The Bellissimo Builder. By Richard Rogers [links to 99 others]- Time Magazine

2nd Annual Pugly Awards Launch May 1st: Online Competition to Recognize Best and Worst in Toronto's New Development- The Pugly Awards

Beaver Overthinking Dam: Local beaver Messner, 4, has visited hundreds of other dams and drawn up detailed and extensive blueprints....has reached out to the local otter, fish, and waterfowl communities, and has incorporated their input into his design...- The Onion

INSIGHT: Public/Private Space & Yonge-Dundas Square: Pubic/private-sector collaboration and a shared vision deliver CPR to a once-blighted square in Toronto. Effie Bouras, Assoc. AIA- ArchNewsNow

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