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Today's News - Monday, July 30, 2007

ArcSpace takes us to Beijing and Luxembourg. -- Q&A with man who might be the only hope for rebuilding New Orleans. -- Mockbee still inspires. -- Has design really changed since 9/11? -- Glancey on the need to "relearn the art of city-building" (planners and architects have become the problem), and why Tewkesbury offers solution to the current "glum homes and soggy planning" of Thames Gateway. -- UAE's first energy and environment park hopes to set a standard. -- Hume takes on a "sustainable" parking garage. -- Hess compares San Francisco and San Jose projects. -- London's next icon: a Foster/Nouvel "cyborg cathedral." -- Another London building gets dressed up in "classical drag." -- Detroit's downtown survival depends on finding new uses for old buildings, says Gallagher. -- High hopes to reclaim a Johannesburg icon and revive downtown to its "glory days." -- Kamin gives a thumbs-up to restoration of Sullivan's last design. -- SurveyL.A.: an ambitious effort to identify, catalog, and protect the built history of Los Angeles. -- Boddy on Corbu's Marseilles masterpiece (great slide show, too!). -- The battle over views continues between Athenian Art Deco landmark and new Acropolis Museum. -- New Coca-Cola museum offers some fizz and "high-fructose corniness." -- Macaulay exhibit at National Building Museum could be the last of its kind.

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-- MAD Ai Weiwei: Hong Luo Club, Beijing, China
-- Exhibition: Sophie Calle: Exquisite Pain (Douleur Exquise), Luxembourg Cultural Capital 2007

A Helping Hand: New Orleans tapped planner Edward J. Blakely to lead in its reconstruction. He may be the only person who can do the job. Q&A with Martin C. Pedersen- Metropolis Magazine

Architect, his students design houses, then pound the nails: Hank Louis helps students in the University of Utah Graduate School of Architecture experience "hands-on" building... DesignBuildBLUFF...s modeled on architect Samuel Mockbee's "Rural Studio"- Salt Lake Tribune (Utah)

Designing a post-9/11 world: Leslie Robertson, head of structural engineering consultancy, LERA, explains why rotation is good, Dubai's energy use is not so good, and why design criteria hasn't changed since 9/11.- ArabianBusiness.com

Think before you build: New sprawling estates on cheap lowland will only bring more floods. There are better options...What we need to build are true eco-towns, in other words, modern versions of traditional settlements...More of the same sprawling junk that we have become accustomed to will lead only to floods. And tears. By Jonathan Glancey- Guardian (UK)

Tewkesbury's survival of the flood is an inspiration: The Thames Gateway is an archipelago in the making of glum homes and soggy planning. The answer? More towns like Tewkesbury. By Jonathan Glancey- Guardian (UK)

Reaping the rewards of going green: ...the theory behind the emirate's first energy and environment park [enpark]...will set not only an example, but also a standard for other projects in the region to refer to.- ArabianBusiness.com

"Sustainable" parking: A 21st-century oxymoron? America's first "sustainable solar-powered parking structure" opened recently in Santa Monica...So expect more "sustainable" parking garages in the future, more green malls, environmentally friendly SUVs and that sort of thing. Just don't confuse any of these for solutions... By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

San Francisco's new Federal Building takes modern further: Smart features, sleek look outdo San Jose City Hall...has a vital message: make green thinking a common and appealing part of our society. That's a message worth communicating in an even more accessible manner. By Alan Hess -- Mayne/Morphosis; Richard Meier- Mercury News (California)

St Paul’s, meet Darth Vader cathedral: ...a futuristic twin for St Paul’s Cathedral, just 600 yards from Sir Christopher Wren’s baroque masterpiece...has won planning permission for an office complex built into a giant dome...glass and steel "cyborg cathedral"... -- Foster/Nouvel- The Times (UK)

Athens looks silly on the Dilly: Robert Adam has clothed his landmark building on London's Piccadilly in 'classical drag'. Does it suit its neighbours? Neither Adam nor 198 Piccadilly is a catastrophe but the building is not as good as the rhetoric. By Stephen Bayley- Observer (UK)

Detroit's revival rests on new uses for old buildings: ...one might think that preservation is an ugly and divisive process that pits building huggers against cold-hearted developers and city officials. In reality, preservation is bankable, realistic, widely accepted -- and key to the revival of Detroit. By John Gallagher [images]- Detroit Free Press

The fall and rise of a Johannesburg icon: A team of developers hope that reviving residential tower will return downtown to its glory days...Ponte City: a 173-metre high, 54-storey cylindrical tower...iconic building that is to the Jo'burg skyline what the CN Tower is to Toronto's. -- Manfred, Hermer, Grosskopff and Lombart (1975)- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Healing the spirit of a troubled building: New owners use rituals, rehab to mend Louis Sullivan's last design...the [1922] Krause Music Store...By Blair Kamin -- McGuire Igleski & Associates; Wheeler Kearns [slide show]- Chicago Tribune

How to save the real L.A.? First, you find it: SurveyL.A. aims to take stock of the city's buildings, back story...an ambitious effort to identify, catalog and ultimately protect not just its physical "built history" but to provide a sharper portrait of Los Angeles and how it came to be.- Los Angeles Times

Le Corbusier's Marseilles masterpiece lives on: Without doubt, Unité d'Habitation is the single most influential housing design of the 20th century... By Trevor Boddy [slide show]- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Athenians go to war over two views of history: ...four-storey architectural gem...commits the cardinal sin of blocking a visitor's view of the Parthenon from the vantage point of the New Acropolis Museum's dining terrace. -- Vassilis Kouremenos (1930s); Bernard Tschumi- Observer (UK)

Ingredients: Carbonated Water, High-Fructose Corniness ... If you want to have a Coke and a smile, and you don’t mind being engulfed by an enormous commercial, this museum offers its own puzzles and pleasures...the New World of Coca-Cola... -- Jerde Partnership; Rosser International; Jack Rouse Associates [slide show]- New York Times

Architecture's dying art: The first retrospective devoted to the work of architect-turned-illustrator David Macaulay...may be the last of its kind....becoming obsolete as a younger generation of architects increasingly relies on the computer to draw and design. By Deborah K. Dietsch [images]- Washington Times

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