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Today's News - January 4, 2007

AIA/COTE's Top Ten Green Projects program is a portrait of evolution in the field (and the deadline for '07 submissions is extended). -- The U.K. follows U.S. in call to make new buildings more fitness-friendly (and make us all "eco-slobs"). -- Year-end reviews: Campbell's Top 10 list for 2006. -- Preservation's woes and wonders. -- Tall is in vogue (and not just in San Francisco). -- Some thumbs-up, some thumbs-down for Beijing's CCTV tower. -- San Francisco's Octavia Boulevard merits APA's "achievement award for hard-won victories." -- Not all are enthralled with Edinburgh's new city hall. -- A look at "the biggest, best, and most impressive places to bask in books." -- Downsizing the super-sized: "the big house will go when exasperation trumps ego." -- California leading the way in solar power (even owners of super-sized houses are saving big bucks). -- Bummed out in Miami Beach: quirky lifeguard stands replaced by bureaucrat-built structures are "an architectural and artistic embarrassment" (even though great designs were in the drawer - slide show says it all). -- Chicagoans envision the city of the future. -- Ill-informed writers put a bad spin on modern design. -- RIBA's new president has a social agenda (he doesn't mean parties). -- So does UCLA's new dean of architecture. -- An Indian architect who turns junk into high design. -- Droog show will vigorously shake concpets of contemporary design. -- A book looks at Times Square: "the 'terrible' gift of 'too much'." -- One we couldn't resist: an elevator to the underworld in the Swiss Alps. -- One we missed: in November, Oscar Niemeyer married his secretary - a month before his 99th birthday (way to go, Oscar!).

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Celebrating Green: The decade-long history of the AIA/COTE's Top Ten Green Projects program is a portrait of evolution in the field. By Kira Gould [images]- ArchNewsNow

Can architecture make you fat? Experts are starting to think so - and they're urging architects and town planners to tackle the obesity epidemic by making new buildings more fitness-friendly. By Paul Arendt -- CABE; Will Alsop; Tim Townshend- Guardian (UK)

Towers were the height of fashion: The year was marked by a mania for very tall buildings, several designed to be the tallest in the world. By By Robert Campbell -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; Pei Partnership; Calatrava; Renzo Piano; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Machado and Silvetti; Leers Weinzapfel; Maya Lin; Studio Luz; Single Speed Design; Libeskind- Boston Globe

Best & Worst of 2006: Our Year-End List of Preservation Woes and Wonders. -- Saarinen; Paul Williams; Latrobe; Louis Kahn; Louis Sullivan; Paul Rudolph- National Trust for Historic Preservation

High times for San Fran skyline: ...a growing number of city officials and planners believe the skyline's form...needs a shot of adrenaline...Tall seems to be in vogue as cities try to make bold architectural statements and create density in tight spaces. -- Renzo Piano; Santiago Calatrava- USA Today

Beijing's extraordinary CCTV headquarters: ...tower could not be built in the West at this point in time...criticism of the cost...More serious criticism is aimed at the social and environmental context of the project. -- Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA); Rem Koolhaas; Ole Scheeren [images]- Radio Netherlands

An urban success story: Octavia Boulevard an asset to post-Central Freeway area...the real measure of success: The thoroughfare that replaced the elevated Central Freeway feels like it belongs...the problems are a result of popularity...The larger picture is this: Things work. By John King -- Allan Jacobs; Elizabeth Macdonald- San Francisco Chronicle

Heritage chiefs take dim view of city HQ: Classic views in the heart of the Capital have been ruined by the new [Waverley Court], according to critics of the £80 million building...Cockburn Association and the Edinburgh Old Town Association say the local authority should never have been able to effectively grant itself planning permission... -- Building Design Partnership- The Scotsman (UK)

Libraries for the Internet Age: These centers of wisdom are not just about books anymore. They're diversifying — and designers are focusing on their social role. -- Norman Foster; OMA; Joshua Prince-Ramus/REX; Centerbrook; Louis I. Kahn; Snohetta/Hamza Consortium; Voelker/Winn Architects; James Weiner & Fields Devereaux; Toyo Ito; Renzo Piano; MHTN Architects/Pfeiffer Partners; Gottfried Böhm [+ slide show essay]- BusinessWeek

What was supersized may one day be downsized: ...moral arguments won't dissuade people from buying big houses...the big house will go when exasperation trumps ego. By Arrol Gellner- Los Angeles Times

Plugging Into the Sun: Spurred by recent legislation that provides financial incentives, California homeowners have come to see solar power as a way to conserve money as well as natural resources.- New York Times

Beach bummers: Miami Beach's new, boxy lifeguard stands detract from the wonder at the water's edge...all the opportunity to design well was right at hand...there's little reason to hurriedly erect bureaucrat-built structures that are at best, an architectural and artistic embarrassment. By Beth Dunlop -- William Lane; Jeremy Calleros-Gauger [slide show]- Miami Herald

Building the future: Chicago architects envision what the city will look like 100 years from now..."The City of the Future" competition... By Kevin Nance -- Brininstool + Lynch; Dirk Denison Architects; Garofalo Architects; Strawn.Sierralta; UrbanLab; CUADc + Friends; Protostudio; Valerio Dewalt Train- Chicago Sun-Times

Op-Ed: Writers ill-informed about architecture: ...Some articles refer to preserving the past by salvaging old buildings...avoid discussing what might be accomplished with fresh, exciting designs, and derisive remarks are thrown in about glass and steel. By Ian Innes- Saskatoon Star-Phoenix (Canada)

Striving constructor: With strong roots in building community projects, the incoming president of the Royal Institute of British Architects [RIBA] tells Peter Hetherington that the social dimension of his profession must be retained -- Sunand Prasad/Penoyre and Prasad- Guardian (UK)

It's all part of life: Hitoshi Abe, who will head UCLA's architecture department, believes in bringing people together — in buildings, in activities, in pretty much every way.- Los Angeles Times

Turning junk into designer concepts: From the creaky doors of a Delhi-based theatre to a moth-eaten tree trunk, architect Ajay Batra believes in reusing materials in his scheme of design. -- To Design- Rediff India

Is It Design? Art? Or Just a Dutch Joke? If you want your view of contemporary design vigorously shaken, take in "Simply Droog" at the Museum of Arts & Design. [images]- New York Times

Book review: "On the Town" by Marshall Berman: Times Square: the 'terrible' gift of 'too much'...the ultimate space of democracy and freedom... works because of a balance of chaos and control... By Alan G. Brake- Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY)

Elevator to the Underworld: The world's longest railway tunnel, currently being built through the Swiss Alps, is impressive enough in its own right. But the construction project's most spectacular feature will be a train station in the heart of the mountain, from where tourists will shoot up 800 meters (2,625 feet) to the surface in a high-speed elevator. [images]- Der Spiegel (Germany)

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