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Today's News - Friday, November 9, 2007

Big plans for Johannesburg makeover includes TODs, but concerns that blight could be replaced with blandness. -- Saffron gives thumbs-up to a new urban New Urbanist development. -- Not all are pleased with plan for L.A.'s arts district. -- Can architects help affordable housing move out to the suburbs? -- Austin will soon issue an RFQ for new urban development (its own version of Riverwalk, perhaps). -- U.K. eco-homes end up giving a "huge blow to the government's drive for a new generation of zero-carbon homes." -- Dublin Docklands takes play very seriously. -- Scotland beats out Nigeria for 2014 Commonwealth Games (£288m and pictures soon). -- Russell roams Adjaye's MCA/Denver, and finds it "invites curiosity without attempting to awe." -- Travis Price worries that LEED checklists are killing architecture (but he remains optimistic). -- Chipperfield's BBC Scotland is a stunner. -- Weekend diversions: Berlin/New York Dialogues take Manhattan. -- "The Birth of the Cool" in Orange County, CA, is "flat-out fun." -- Thumbs- up and thurmbs-down for Trafalgar Square's 4th Plinth: "What the pigeons make of his work remains to be seen." -- Bucky and Noguchi are "Best of Friends" in Detroit. -- One we couldn't resist: Elvis Is Alive Museum for sale on e-Bay.

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Johannesburg Makeover: New Light: Jo'burg launches a multibillion rand overhaul...has adopted transport-orientated development (TOD)...first serious concern: if the council eliminates architectural blights on Johannesburg's landscape, will it merely replace these with blandness?- Financial Mail (South Africa)

He puts the 'urban' back in New Urbanism: The housing boom of the last decade encouraged practitioners like Sam Sherman to rethink their resistance to urban sites...Plenty of new rowhouse clusters have sprouted recently, but few are knitted so seamlessly into the existing city as Spring Arts Point. By Inga Saffron -- David Slovic- Philadelphia Inquirer

Artists are sharply divided over project near L.A. River: Supporters see a boon to the arts district in the proposed [One Santa Fe] complex of housing, shops and gallery space. Foes see an out-of-place, outsize 'wall.' -- Michael Maltzan- Los Angeles Times

City of Austin seeks lead planner for Waller Creek Tunnel project and the redevelopment surrounding it...roughly 28 acres of land...[will] issue a request for qualifications to land planning, architecture and similar types of firms on or around Nov. 19...some envision as Austin's version of San Antonio's Riverwalk...- Austin Business Journal (Texas)

The New Suburban Migration: Can architects help affordable housing move out to the suburbs? ...propose linking affordability with sustainability and developing architects’ role as community advocates. -- Roschen Van Cleave Architects; Mithun; Torti Gallas and Partners [images]- AIArchitect

Examplar eco-homes fail final build test: Two prototype houses hailed as the future for zero-carbon development have failed to meet the required construction standards, the BRE admitted...a huge blow to the government’s drive for a new generation of zero-carbon homes + Should citizen's juries judge eco-town designs? Wayne Hemingway and Neave Brown slug it out. -- Sheppard Robson; PRP- BD/Building Design (UK)

Why the design of play spaces is a serious business: New planning guidelines aim to make suitable spaces where kids can play in Dublin's docklands. By Frank McDonald -- Mitchell + Associates- Irish Times

Glasgow wins bid to host 2014 Commonwealth Games: Scottish city beats Abuja in Nigeria for the right to host the Games...Plans...include the construction of a “Games Village” of 1,000 homes...a new indoor sports arena, velodrome and entertainments arena...- Building (UK)

British Hotshot David Adjaye Brings Glow to Denver's New Museum of Contemporary Art: ...he methodically inverts long-held ideas of how museums -- especially contemporary art museums -- should work...invites curiosity without attempting to awe. By James S. Russell [images]- Bloomberg

Function Over Form?: Architect Travis Price's new book makes a case for restoring the green building movement to its spiritual and aesthetic center. But will his ideas take hold? ..."Checklist architecture is what’s killing architecture...I'm very optimistic...That’s what architects get paid for." By Lisa Selin Davis [images]- Plenty

Platform soul: In the new HQ for BBC Scotland, David Chipperfield Architects has blended a simple idea and complex programme to stunning effect [images]- BD/Building Design (UK)

Berlin Building, New York Rising: Berlin's architectural identity has played a significant and engaging role in Carnegie Hall's Berlin in Lightsfestival...continuing with a symposium tomorrow at the Center for Architecture, as well as an exhibit, "Berlin/New York Dialogues: Building in Context"...- New York Sun

"The Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury": Exhibit at Orange County Museum of Art captures the spirit of the times...Whatever label you choose, this show is flat-out fun to see – and hear. -- Julius Shulman; Fred Fisher- San Diego Union-Tribune

Glass hotel has no guests but plenty of complaints: ...new scuplture occupying the empty plinth in Trafalgar Square is a “boring office block”, a piece of “Las Vegas glitz” or a “bright utopian jewel”...Thomas Schütte’s work, Model for a Hotel 2007...What the pigeons make of his work remains to be seen...- The Times (UK)

Trafalgar Square plinth: beauty weighs four tonnes: Richard Dorment is blown away by Thomas Schütte's delicate sculpture on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square..."Model for a Hotel"... [slide show]- Telegraph (UK)

Exhibit puts the spotlight on 2 masters: Architects, auto buffs, artists and pop-culture nuts would all be wise to flock to The Henry Ford in Dearborn to catch "Best of Friends: Buckminster Fuller + Isamu Noguchi"- Detroit News

Giving Up the Memorabilia, but Not the Belief: Elvis Lives: The owner of the Elvis Is Alive Museum, a fading outpost of Americana, is auctioning the museum’s contents on eBay. [slide show]- New York Times

Gehry Partners: Jay Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park, Chicago

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