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Today's News - November 2, 2006

Study shows arts + civic engagement = healthy communities. -- Hadid waxes poetic about her Maggie's Centre (and is tired of being called a diva). -- L.A.'s Griffith Observatory is ready for its close-up, and thumbs are (mostly) up. -- A sky dome in Oklahoma to help architects design more energy-efficient buildings. -- Gough has no small plans to transform a small post-pastoral center in the U.K. -- Brussat is brutal to so-called modernists. -- Ouroussoff on the Whitney's identity crisis. -- A "stunning" addition to a Seattle branch library deserves better than what it's attached to. -- Did the government short-change architects on Brisbane's new Gallery of Modern Art - and some other projects? -- Don't bug Eisensman about architecture when he's watching a Cardinals game in their new stadium. -- A Central Park in store for Hollywood Freeway? -- Some of Tucson's bruised buildings with great bones are healed, others lost. -- "Massive Change" in Chicago "exalts the visionary vanguard rethinking our world."

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NEA Releases Study on The Arts and Civic Engagement: Large population survey is first to find links between arts participation and community health [link to full report]- National Endowment for the Arts (U.S.)

Design for life: Zaha Hadid is the most famous woman in her profession - and thus the most scrutinised...We may not have caught up with Hadid so far, but - with two new buildings in Scotland - at least we'll have the chance to meet her on her way.- The Scotsman (UK)

In black and light: The latest [Maggie's Centre] is this little gem of a pavilion, as intricate as an origami paper cut made in cement. -- Zaha Hadid- The Scotsman (UK)

Griffith Observatory's restoration is out of sight: ...new underground spaces are for the most part more serviceable than inspiring, never matching the expansive spirit and compact elegance of the original building. By Christopher Hawthorne -- John C. Austin/Frederick M. Ashley (1935); Pfeiffer Partners; Levin & Associates Architects; C&G Partners [slide show, links]- Los Angeles Times

The heavens open up to L.A. again: After five years and $93 million, the renovated Griffith Observatory is ready to take its visitors to the stars -- and far beyond..."the hood ornament of Los Angeles." By Christopher Reynolds -- John C. Austin/Frederick M. Ashley (1935); Pfeiffer Partners; Levin & Associates Architects; C&G Partners [slide show, links]- Los Angeles Times

A Human-Centered Cosmos in Domes to the Stars: ...Griffith Observatory...reconstruction is most remarkable not for what has changed, but for what has stayed the same. And that is a radical approach in the world of science exhibitions. -- Pfeiffer Partners; Levin & Associates Architects; C&G Partners [images]- New York Times

Professors develop sky dome: ...gives architects the ability to design more energy-efficient buildings because they are able to more precisely predict illumination levels inside buildings before these buildings are built- The Daily O'Collegian (Oklahoma State University)

Leading architect sets out his aims: Flamboyant Piers Gough says he is "not interested in the norm" for the Edgar Street Grid..."Hereford could show how smaller post-pastoral centres can be transformed" -- CZWG; Urban Initiative; Crowd Dynamics- Hereford Times (UK)

The end of patience with modernism: As a movement, it has had the power to impose its aesthetic will on the world. The result has been an increasingly arrogant regime of ugliness and sterility. By David Brussat -- Libeskind; Friedrich St. Florian- Providence Journal

Uptown or Down? The Whitney’s Identity Crisis: Over the last two decades the museum has trotted out architectural proposals by Michael Graves, Rem Koolhaas and Renzo Piano...No architect can magically solve a museum’s identity crisis on his or her own. By Nicolai Ouroussoff [images]- New York Times

A question of symmetry: Douglass-Truth branch library expansion...is so alien to the mood and language of its mate that it belongs to a different universe...By itself, the addition is stunning. -- By Lawrence W. Cheek -- W. Marbury Somervell and Harlan Thomas (1914); Schacht Aslani Architects- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Architects allege $1m fee shortfall: The opening of Brisbane's new Gallery of Modern Art could be overshadowed by a legal challenge from the architects, who say the State Government short-changed them... -- Architectus; Conrad Gargett Architecture; Donovan Hill/Peddle Thorpe- The Courier-Mail (Australia)

Prof. designed Cardinals' nest: "I'm a football fan. I don't want my football being buggered around with architecture." -- Peter Eisenman; HOK Sport- Yale Daily News

Hollywood plots freeway coverup: Leaders push a plan to enclose half a mile of the roadway in a tunnel and place a greenbelt on top...Hollywood Central Park- Los Angeles Times

My Tucson: Though bruised, buildings with great bones can heal: Thanks to Modern Architecture Preservation Project (MAPP) advocacy - and enlightened decisions by both the city and county - two great buildings are being not only preserved, but also saved. -- William Englehart (1966); Blanton & Cole (1959)- Tucson Citizen

Waking up to Massive Change: An inspiring, if not sobering, look at the transformative power of design...exhibit [at] Chicago’s Museum of Contemporary Art...exalts the visionary vanguard rethinking our world...mission is to make designers, or responsible change-agents, out of us all. -- Bruce Mau; William McDonough; Jaime Lerner- Conscious Choice Chicago

-- Design Hotels: Park Hotel Tokyo, Shiodome Media Tower, Tokyo, Japan
-- René van Zuuk Architekten: Art Pavilion, The Imagination, Zeewolde, The Netherlands

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