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Today's News - Monday, April 16, 2007

ArcSpace brings us a park in China filled with architecture, and a photo-tour of ICA. -- Chicago beats L.A. as U.S. entry for 2016 Olympics. -- "But don't get cocky, Chicago," Kamin warns. -- A compelling argument about why "green has to become part of America's DNA." -- GlobalGreen gets go-ahead for low-income residential project in New Orleans. -- A Vancouver infill project, Koo's Corner has Boddy cooing. -- German architects vying to design the most energy-efficient homes. -- Europe transforming housing and care for the elderly. -- Saffron hails APA convention landing in Philadelphia because the city "hasn't seen many of their kind in the last 15 years." -- Washington, DC's identity crisis includes "a failure of urbanity." -- Kamin carries on his crusade against facade-ectomies that create "a botched cityscape where only the developers win." -- A "ho-hum building" approved for Toronto's waterfront leaves Rochon with a sinking feeling. -- Hume has higher hopes for the city's Lower Don. -- Nouvel's Philharmonie de Paris resembles "a mound of loosely stacked plates." -- His Manhattan tower "blows away the pink-brick drabness that's been strangling New York apartment architecture for decades." -- Eden Project expands with The Edge, "not a building about climate change; it is a building because of climate change." -- Houses for today, tomorrow, and perhaps, the future.

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-- Jinhua Architecture Park, Jinhua, China
-- The Camera: Iwan Ban: ICA Boston by Diller Scofidio + Renfro

Us against the world: 3 key factors -- plus international 'buzz' -- give Chicago the edge over L.A...won the first leg of the marathon contest to host the 2016 Olympic Games...USOC board preferred Chicago's new construction and status as a first-time host over Los Angeles' ready-to-roll existing venues [images, links]- Chicago Sun-Times

Spire, Olympics: What do they have in common? The timing is purely coincidental and improbably revealing, speaking volumes about architecture's ability to crystallize cultural change with the attention-getting power of a lightning bolt. By Blair Kamin -- Santiago Calatrava; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill- Chicago Tribune

The Power of Green: America can regain its international stature by taking the lead in alternative energy and environmentalism...living, working, designing, manufacturing and projecting America in a green way can be the basis of a new unifying political movement for the 21st century. By Thomas L. Friedman [slide shows, video]- New York Times Magazine

Planning panel approves Brad Pitt's 'green' project: ...a 23-unit "environmentally friendly" low-income residential development in the Lower 9th Ward being built by Global Green USA... -- workshop/apd/Matthew Berman/Andrew Kotchen; John Williams- The Times-Picayune (New Orleans)

An infill innovator builds smart Strathcona homes: Koo's Corner is one of Vancouver's earliest attempts to shape a more sustainable small urban development. By Trevor Boddy -- Bruce Haden/Hotson Bakker Boniface Haden [slide show]- Globe and Mail (Canada)

The New Wave of Energy Efficient Homes: With scarce resources and the environment back on the agenda, German architects are competing to design the most energy-efficient homes. -- Wolfgang Feist/Passive House Institute; Rolf Disch- Der Spiegel (Germany)

In Europe, care for the elderly is being transformed: Governments, in general, are encouraging ways to help seniors remain outside of costly state-backed institutions.- International Herald Tribune

Welcome, welcome, city planners: American Planning Association's annual convention...may strike some here as novel because Philadelphia hasn't seen many of their kind in the last 15 years... If you're going to advocate for city life, you need to start by focusing on the small stuff. By Inga Saffron- Philadelphia Inquirer

D.C. Needs to Capitalize On Its City-Like Qualities: What we have here is an identity crisis, a failure of urbanity...Washington needs to present itself as "a national showcase for urban living." By Philip Kennicott -- Larry Beasley; Timothy Beatley; Alex Krieger- Washington Post

Why bad planning = bad preservation...and a botched cityscape where only the developers win...the facade-ectomy has surfaced with rising frequency in recent years...will set a terrible example for cities around the nation. By Blair Kamin -- Philip Maher (1927); Lucien Lagrange; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill- Chicago Tribune

A sinking feeling: On the lake a lost opportunity: ...Toronto's waterfront design review panel to rubber-stamp a ho-hum building...on a spectacular lake site is hardly surprising...apparently, experiential architecture that engages and intrigues is destructive. As Mr. Diamond put it: "I think it's the destruction of our cities to endorse American individualism." By Lisa Rochon- Globe and Mail (Canada)

The Lower Don's rise: Where river meets lake is a forgotten bit of city. But four plans show how it could become one of Toronto's most desirable areas. By Christopher Hume -- Michael Van Valkenburgh/Behnisch Architects/Ken Greenberg; Stoss Landscape Urbanism/Brown + Storey/ZAS Architects; Atelier Girot/Office of Landscape Morphology/Jurgen Mayer; Weiss/Manfredi/du Toit Allsopp Hiller/McCormack Rankin [slide show]- Toronto Star

Building a Paris Hall Around Its Audience: Philharmonie de Paris...aluminum-clad building...resembles a mound of loosely stacked plates topped by a 170-foot-high sail — will have a 2,400-seat auditorium -- Jean Nouvel [slide show]- New York Times

Nouvel's $150 Million Window Waterfall Shakes Up Condo Design: The mottled surface of 100 11th Ave. will shimmer like a towering alligator handbag or sparkle as if sheathed in sequins...He gets away with it by taking his designs to the edge of perversity, then showing you how sensible he's actually been. By James S. Russell -- Ateliers Jean Nouvel- Bloomberg News

£67m Eden project will show the perils of a warmer world: The Edge is 'not a building about climate change; it is a building because of climate change' -- Grimshaw- Observer (UK)

A design that is, indeed, lofty: Architect creates an airy dwelling for a wheelchair user that could work for anyone. By Robert Campbell -- Brad Walker/Ruhl Walker; Michael Graves [audio slide show]- Boston Globe

Is this the best house in Britain? Inspired by lamb stew and a wonky old wall, this country pile in Dorking found itself up for an international architecture award...OSh House by Toh Shimazaki Architecture... By Steve Rose- Guardian (UK)

Record Houses 2007: Each of our seven featured houses—imaginative solutions— emerged from idiosyncratic sources of inspiration, with constraints and obstacles as colorful and varied as the venues themselves. -- UNStudio; Pezo von Ellrichshausen Architects; Takei-Nabeshima-Architects; Cutler Anderson Architects; Randy Brown Architects; KieranTimberlake; Boyarsky Murphy [images]- Architectural Record

Live for tomorrow: At Art Center's ' "Open House: Architecture and Technology for Intelligent Living," visions of the future are brighter than these bleak times...architects, by nature, are totalitarian optimists. They love the idea of the future — as long as they are the ones defining it. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Hitoshi Abe; Michel Rojkind; Mass Studies; realities: united; Joel Sanders/Karen van Lengen/Ben Rubin; Sean Godsell; Iwamoto Scott; su11- Los Angeles Times

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