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Today's News - December 4, 2006

ArcSpace brings us Mayne's Paris "Lighthouse" (with lots of images). -- Ouroussoff compares it to RMJM's Gazprom City: innovation and urban context vs. "a bone-chilling expression of corporate ego run amok" (the runners-up weren't much better). -- In Dubai, rotating tower has Glancey reeling (don't forget the dinosaurs); and a new cylinder and glass cube development by Koolhaas/Porsche team. -- If Oxford truly wants "total clone status," it needs more malls. -- Strip malls may be convenient, but why can't they be beautiful? -- In twist on "blowhard preservation-lobby nimbys" vs. innovators, it's the latter that wants to restore London's Sloane Square. -- British experts fear a "tarmac and plasterboard" Olympics. -- Chicago's "eclectic array" of Olympic consultants should pay heed. -- Re: UConn's new Fine Arts Building: the jurors were not part of a "Gehry cult." -- Philadelphian's tour NYC for waterfront inspiration. -- Boddy looks at a Vancouver architect who creates social housing that works for everyone. -- Piano takes on Corbu at Ronchamp (an "audacious plan"?). -- Miami Art Museum's field of dreams: '"Build it and they will come." -- For Hume, Toronto's "'sleeper' cultural project" is an eye-opener; as is our "satellite culture." -- Kamin is high on high-tech, high-style trend on Chicago's Magnificent Mile. -- Sustainable practices and green buildings slowly becoming the norm in commercial real estate.

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-- Competition winner: Morphosis: Phare Tower, La Défense, France
-- Book:s: Architecture Tours L.A, Guidebooks by Laura Massino

Towers Will Change the Look of Two World Cities: ...while the design for the Phare Tower in Paris is a work of sparkling originality that wrestles thoughtfully with the urban conflicts of the city’s postwar years...the gargantuan Gazprom City in St. Petersburg, Russia, is a bone-chilling expression of corporate ego run amok. By Nicolai Ouroussoff -- Thom Mayne/Morphosis; RMJM; Herzog & de Meuron; Koolhaas; Nouvel [images]- New York Times

A Russian Skyscraper Plan Divides a Horizontal City: Gazprom, announced on Friday that it had chosen the architecture firm RMJM London to design this city’s tallest building, brushing aside arguments from preservationists and residents... -- Nouvel; Fuksas; Herzog & de Meuron; Koolhaas; Libeskind [image]- New York Times

Arabian heights: Plans for a revolutionary skyscraper in Dubai leave Jonathan Glancey reeling: ...spectacular proposed centrepiece of the giant City of Arabia amusement park, complete with animatronic dinosaurs... -- Glenn Howells Associates; Palmer and Turner- Guardian (UK)

Dubai Porsche Design Towers deal signed: ...an 80-metre tall, cylindrically shaped residential building [and] a futuristic glass cube... -- Porsche Design Group; Rem Koolhaas/Fernando Donis/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) [image]- TradeArabia Business News

A vile architectural abortion: How to upset an entire city with a few remarks about clone high streets... The [Oxford] city council is not happy...to be a mere hybrid. Our citizens - sorry, "consumers" - deserve the full Monty. We need total clone status, and we need it now...So we need more malls. By Mark Lynas- New Statesman (UK)

The sadness of the strip mall: Sure they're convenient. Couldn't they also be beautiful? ...Edmontonians...are developing a popular interest in architecture...Can we despise the development and love the city? -- Alain de Botton; Manasc Isaac Architects- The Edmonton Journal (Canada)

The battle for Sloane Square: A fierce dispute over the future of Chelsea's famous square has nationwide significance for our cities...On the one side, the blowhard preservation-lobby nimbys and their heritage-industry mercenaries...On the other, merciless, inflexible architectural hard men travelling the True Path. -- Stanton Williams; Jan Gehl- Observer (UK)

Cuts could result in "tarmac and plasterboard" Olympics: Jack Pringle, president of the Royal Institute of British Architects [RIBA], said Olympic organisers risked sacrificing design excellence by the way that contracts are being awarded. -- Richard Rogers; HOK Sports; Zaha Hadid- Guardian (UK)

Array of talent forms base for Chicago's Olympics bid -- Tom Kerwin/Skidmore Owings & Merrill; Stanley Tigerman; Peter Schaudt; Joe Valerio; Douglas Garofalo; John Ronan; Jeanne Gang- Chicago Tribune

Op-Ed: UConn Doesn't Need Another Bland Building: ...Thorson calls the design of the University of Connecticut's new Fine Arts Building a "metal monstrosity"..."cosmic design" would fatally compromise the university's "earthy visual aesthetic."...the jurors were not part of a "Gehry cult." By Ross Miller -- Gehry/Herbert S. Newman and Partners; Mack Scogin Merrill Elam; Zaha Hadid- Hartford Courant (Connecticut)

N.Y.'s waterfront vision may redefine 'normal' here: The Philadelphia fact-finders knew that things were different in other cities. They just didn't know how different until their chartered bus rolled last week into Hudson River Park... By Inga Saffron -- Harris Steinberg/Penn Praxis; Amanda Burden- Philadelphia Inquirer

Design is the mortar in social housing that works: Housing the homeless and affordability for the rest of us generates a lot of talk these days in Vancouver. A few — a very few — are also doing something about it..."Towards An Ethical Architecture: Issues Within the Work of Gregory Henriquez" shows that social housing can enhance any neighbourhood. By Trevor Boddy- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Convent to bring spirit back to [Notre Dame du Haut] chapel: ...an audacious plan to restore a sense of spirituality to the sacred site, risking the anger of Le Corbusier purists and prompting the awe of the European architecture world. -- Renzo Piano- Guardian (UK)

Design comes first; collection will follow: Miami Art Museum (MAM)...is relying on a ''Build it and they will come'' spirit to fuel its plans for a landmark $208 million home in downtown Miami by 2010. -- Terence Riley; Herzog & de Meuron- Miami Herald

Music school revamp on a grand scale: Royal Conservatory of Music's Telus Centre, in the ROM's shadow, called Toronto's 'sleeper' cultural project...a seamless blend of new and old...takes as its starting point the idea of urbanism itself. By Christopher Hume -- Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg (KPMB)- Toronto Star

Zoom with a view: How our "satellite culture" has exposed the most neglected surface in architecture: the roof...Why not take full advantage of them, with their views, their space and the opportunities they offer for environmental remediation? By Christopher Hume -- Gaudi; Le Corbusier; Peter Clewes; Janet Rosenberg; Moriyama Teshima Architects/Griffiths Rankin Cook; Snohetta- Toronto Star

High-tech, high-style trend on the Mag Mile soars with Garmin flagship store: ...a product of today, when design and branding have become inseparable....new crop of high-tech stores is preserving the street's human scale and extending its design magnificence in marvelous new directions. By Blair Kamin -- Valerio Dewalt Train Associates- Chicago Tribune

Magnificent, high-tech Mile: ...the parade of high-profile, high-tech stores on North Michigan. By Blair Kamin -- Eight Inc.; Motorola/Walker Group; Bohlin Cywinski Jackson/A. Epstein and Sons International/Apple/Eight Inc.- Chicago Tribune

How Green is My Company? Are sustainable practices and green buildings now the norm in commercial real estate? Not quite...but they’re close on the horizon: report from the 2006 Corporate Real Estate Conference, "Gloablization, Sustainable Development and the Corporate Real Estate Mission"- The Slatin Report

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