ArchNewsNow

Home Yesterday's News Contact Us Subscribe

Today's News - July 20, 2006

The greening of Wal-Mart: skeptics abound, but some environmentalists are hopeful. -- Green roofs finally (seriously) taking root in the U.S. -- CABE chief says urban design is improving but there is much to do. -- A panel of "design gurus" to ensure London Olympics leave a lasting legacy (applications for the remaining vacancies on the design review panel can be made until August 1). -- Toronto should pay heed to lessons in verticality offered by Singapore and Vancouver. -- Calatrava's Chicago spire project changes hands. -- Flight 93 memorial design still causing controversy. -- Smart facades getting smarter every day. -- A row in Rio over planned sex museum (image alone explains why). -- Libeskind's Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco a long time coming, but finally underway, scaled back, but still "energetic." -- A new stadium for the city is "a chance to sculpt a true architectural icon, but it won't be easy." -- Toronto's Princes' Gates is a "project of small gestures" that make a big splash with an Italian accent. -- A rather humorous Q&A with Piano and Rogers as they heard sheep. -- A call for "recipes" for the future of Lower Manhattan.

To subscribe to the free daily newsletter click here

Another Shtick in the Wal-Mart: Al Gore takes his green message to Wal-Mart headquarters...brought a screening of An Inconvenient Truth; more than a few audience members could be seen dabbing teary eyes...Many of Wal-Mart's multitudinous critics aren't mollified...But some environmentalists are hopeful.- Grist Magazine

Constructing a Better Environment: A Green Roof Can Cut Energy Costs, Too: ...Green roofs...have long been popular in Europe and are increasingly cropping up on buildings in major cities across North America.- ABC News (US)

Space to work, rest and play: Richard Simmons, the chief executive of the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment [says] urban design is improving but there is much to do...the dearth of public building in recent years hasn’t helped Cabe to get its message across.- The Times (UK)

Construction matters: An independent panel of design gurus - including Lord Rogers - has been established to ensure that all major projects for London 2012 are fit for purpose during the Games but also "provide a lasting legacy of high quality, inclusive and sustainable buildings and public spaces"- Telegraph (UK)

Rooms at the top answer to urban woes: Vertical or horizontal? Urban or suburban? While the debate rages in Toronto, other cities have long since made their decision...As [Singapore and Vancouver] have discovered, the issue isn't height but what happens at grade. Get that right and the sky's the limit. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

Spire project changes hands: Dublin developer replaces Carley... Shelbourne acquired the site for $64 million... Kelleher must still negotiate to buy the striking tower design. By Susan Diesenhouse and Blair Kamin -- Santiago Calatrava; DeStefano + Partners- Chicago Tribune

Flight 93 memorial design spat continues -- Paul Murdoch- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Robo-Building: In a slew of new projects, smart facades automatically control daylighting, ventilation, and more, benefiting occupants and the environment alike. Call it auto-tecture. By C.C. Sullivan -- Stephen A. Gage and Will Thorne; Cannon; James Carpenter; Front Inc.; SANAA; Gould Evans/Lord Aeck Sargent Architecture; Foster; Arup; Mayne/Morphosis; Michael Fox- BusinessWeek

Sex museum plan sparks Rio row: Plans to erect the 'interactive' Cidade do Sexo (City of Sex) just off Copacabana beach have divided Rio de Janeiro...a futuristic, phallus-like white labyrinth - the planned museum resembles an oversized set from Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. -- Igor de Vetyemy [image]- Guardian (UK)

Work begins on oft-delayed $46 million Jewish museum: Energetic design in city's culture gulch reuses power station. By John King -- Willis Polk (1907); Daniel Libeskind; WRNS Studio [images]- San Francisco Chronicle

A long time coming: Hired in 1998 to design — then downsize — the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, Daniel Libeskind will finally see ground broken...new design features a 60-foot tilted blue steel cube rising from the old PG&E building. -- WRNS Studio- Los Angeles Times

First peek at stadium not tantalizing enough: 49ers' proposal lacks specifics but suggests possibilities ... a chance to sculpt a true architectural icon. But it won't be easy... By John King -- HNTB [images]- San Francisco Chronicle

The new Princes' Gates: This 'project of small gestures' is a big hit...is once again part of the city and a space for people, rather than a monument isolated by the automobile. By Christopher Hume -- Sering + Sistema Duemila; MBTW Group- Toronto Star

Princes' Gates, Italian style: ...that most iconic symbol of Toronto's colonial antecedents, has undergone a facelift...to sex up the project with a dash of European style, the design team was headed up by a pair of architectural firms based in Milan, Toronto's twin city. -- Sering + Sistema Duemila; MBTW Group- Globe and Mail (Canada)

60 second interview: Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers: Zoë Blackler catches up with a pair of old friends fresh from their latest collaboration driving sheep across the Millennium bridge and finds them in lighthearted mood [image]- BD/Building Design (UK)

Call for entries: What’s your recipe to change downtown? Lower Manhattan Cultural Council to create a cookbook of recipes for the future of downtown; deadline: August 17- Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)

"G" is for Genome (and Green): Terrence Donnelly Center for Cellular and Biomolecular Research: A new campus building is a symbolic and physical bridge between an academic community the city -- architectsAlliance; Behnisch Architekten [images]- ArchNewsNow

Exhibition Review: "Portable" at Storefront for Art and Architecture: Three artists consider the nomadic impulse to brave the unknown and the sedentary urge to hoard and build. By Laurie Manfra [images]- ArchNewsNow

Jean Nouvel/Architectural Alliance: Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window.
External news links are not endorsed by ArchNewsNow.com.
Free registration may be required on some sites.
Some pages may expire after a few days.

Yesterday's News