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Today's News - May 31, 2006

We lose a master of "bold Brutalist apartment towers to ornate Beaux-Arts civic landmarks." -- Could the U.K. seriously be considering legislation that puts some of its top listed buildings at risk? -- An in-depth look at NYC in 10 years (lots of starchitects and lots of pix). -- Mayne tapped to jazz up downtown New Orleans. -- Safdie's deck of cards gives the Sands the upper hand in Singapore casino plan. -- Atlanta's city-within-a-city exceeds expectations. -- Toronto's waterfront competition finally gives the city a reason to dream. -- For Farrelly, malls are all about "the womb thing...maybe we should get out more." -- Arizona's Biosphere could be biodegraded to make room for sprawl (sorry...we meant Biosphere Estates). -- An "NYC heavy-hitter" to give Memphis "a guiding vision" for 4,500-acre park. -- Cooper-Hewitt makes more modest plans: "Big is not necessarily better." -- NYC may be "modernism's graveyard," but Hearst Tower "stalks the skyline with the energy of a credible monster." -- Murphy sweeps the Scottish Design Awards. -- A rare round of applause for runners-up's in two Canadian competitions. -- NBM's "The Green House" offers architecture the Earth can live with. -- A most enjoyable take on de Botton's "The Architecture of Happiness." -- Jacob's "Death and Life" holds "truths still worth repeating and remembering." -- Details finalized in New Orleans green design competition (the Brad Pitt one); registration deadline looms.

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Obituary: Lewis Davis, 80, a co-founder of Davis Brody Bond, whose own work ranged from bold Brutalist apartment towers to ornate Beaux-Arts civic landmarks- New York Times

Ministers 'wreck protection for listed buildings': Leaked plans that would allow some of the country's top listed buildings to be demolished to generate money for the taxpayer led to an extraordinary row between the head of English Heritage and the Government...- Telegraph (UK)

2016 Tomorrowland NYC: New York is radically transforming itself before our eyes. Here's what that city will look like in just ten years. Building the (New) New York the Bob [Moses] and Jane [Jacobs] way -- Gehry; Morphosis; SHoP; Norten/TEN Arquitectos; Viñoly; Calatrava; Snohetta; Grimshaw; Starck; Rogers; Ken Smith; Van Valkenburgh; Stephen B. Jacobs; FXFOWLE; Greenberg Farrow; Karl Fischer; SOM; Field Operations; Dillier Scofidio + Renfro; Handel; Nouvel; Polshek; etc. [images]- New York Magazine

Plan would reshape downtown [New Orleans] to build Jazz Center: ...a modern 20-acre multi-use National Jazz Center and park buttressed by public office buildings. -- Thom Mayne/Morphosis; Ray Manning; Keith Hobbs- The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

Las Vegas Sands to build [US$3.6bil] S’pore casino: ...design by Moshe Safdie that is inspired by decks of cards leaning against one another. [image]- The Star (Malaysia)

Building a City Within the City of Atlanta: Atlantic Station...138 acres with retail, residential, commercial and public space in Midtown Atlanta...seems to be exceeding the expectations of some people.- New York Times

Finally, waterfront waves: ...$20 million international waterfront design competition has become a public event...isn't going to buy us a new waterfront, but if nothing else, the five finalists have given us reason to dream. By Christopher Hume -- Foster and Partners/Atelier Dreiseitl; Stan Allen Architects/Sarah Witting and Ron Witte Architects; Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects/Martínez Lapena-Torres Architects; West 8/du Toit Allsopp Hillier; Snøhetta/Sasaki Associates/nARCHITECTS/Weisz + Yoes Architecture/H3/Balmori Associates/Halcrow Yolles HPA- Toronto Star

More mall pall than Pall Mall: Malls now are bought and sold on their "Gruen factor"...how much of the mall's urban destruction is female-led? Women like malls because they're known, comfortable, and safe...It's that womb thing. But in losing the risk element, we lose the publicness. By Elizabeth Farrelly- Sydney Morning Herald

Sprawl Outruns Arizona's Biosphere: ...designed to simulate the Earth's environment. By succumbing to sprawl, it may have done just that...It could be replaced by a housing development called Biosphere Estates. By Fred A. Bernstein [images]- New York Times

NYC Heavy-Hitter Weighs in on Shelby Farms: Garvin brings 'think big' mentality to park's issues...will help a public-private board come up with a guiding vision...for the 4,500-acre park. -- Alex Garvin & Associates- Memphis Daily News

Cooper-Hewitt Museum Chooses a More Modest Growth Design: Big is not necessarily better... "Better to fix the car you have." -- Beyer Blinder Belle- New York Times

Hearst Tower: Some time after mid-century New York became modernism’s graveyard...This may be a zombie modernism, but it stalks the skyline with the energy of a credible monster...may be New York’s most polarizing building in decades. By Bill Millard -- Foster and Partners- Icon magazine (UK)

Top awards for architect who changed face of design: Richard Murphy and his Edinburgh firm have swept the board with four top accolades at the Scottish Design Awards.- The Scotsman (UK)

A round of applause for the runners-up: ...a couple of eminent also-rans in two recent Toronto area contests for the perfect high-rise house...the Absolute tower [and] overhaul of Regent Park. By John Bentley Mays -- Yansong Ma/MAD; rojkind arquitectos; architectsAlliance; Kearns/Mancini and Montgomery/Sisam- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Blueprints in Green: Home Designs That Earth Can Live With: The designs would merit a show without a green theme, and that's the point..."The Green House" at the National Building Museum... By Linda Hales -- Michelle Kaufmann; Steven Holl; Kengo Kuma; Rick Joy; William McDonough + Partners; Werner Sobek; Korteknie & Stuhlmacher- Washington Post

Loads of style without a polemic to sway the conversation: Part-writer, part-thinker, part-ad man, de Botton has become the Bill Bryson of happiness...The Architecture of Happiness is a kind of Proustian Descartes. By Elizabeth Farrelly- Sydney Morning Herald

45 Years Later, a Book on the Urban Life Cycle and Community Issues Still Resonates: Jane Jacobs..."The Death and Life of Great American Cities"...Those truths are still worth repeating and remembering. By Roger K. Lewis- Washington Post

Global Green USA and Brad Pitt announce the final details for Sustainable Design Competition for New Orleans; registration deadline: June 9- Global Green USA

So Tall: International High-Rise Prize 2006 Goes to Barcelona's Torre Agbar by Jean Nouvel -- Commendations to: Calatrava; Delugan Meissl Architects; mecanoo architecten; and Riken Yamamoto & Field Shop [images]- ArchNewsNow

Competition winner: Henning Larsens Tegnestue: Georgian Choreographic Centre, Tbilisi, Georgia

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