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Today's News - Tuesday, January 29, 2008

We lose a pioneer in the fight against racial discrimination - professionally and socially. -- Architecture is not for sissies. -- Cleveland Clinic part of trend to create Bilbao effect in healthcare design (in Abu Dhabi - where else?). -- U.K. backs architects to tackle obesity. -- Edinburgh battle lines drawn over "most controversial developments in living memory." -- Cheek looks at Seattle skyline "from inside the thicket" and hopes there might be a new way to go. -- Canadian developer of Absolute tower is betting on avant-garde design elsewhere - and winning. -- Saffron is saddened that Philadelphia is not embracing architect-entrepreneurs' proposal for a "tattered pocket" of the city. -- Spain finally rules on 17-year-old restoration case (purists: 1; restoration architects: 0). -- Kamin offers a solution to saving a Chicago Art Deco gem from a developer's bad idea (and a good deal for developer and the city). -- A vast stock of existing buildings has LEED-EB gaining steam. -- Bahrain's commitment to green commercial development (wind turbines included) is turning heads. -- A coalition of organizations calls for a new National Academy of Environmental Design. -- Staffing crisis in U.K. firms to get architects included on the Home Office's list of professions facing a skills shortage (they hope). -- Defenders and detractors debate RMJM's Russian ventures. -- An eyeful of Contract magazine's 2008 Interiors Awards and Designer of the Year. -- Two very different takes on yet another massive public art project in the U.K. (yet another "Angel"). -- We couldn't' resist: RIBA board game to liven up planning meetings. -- Vote now: for world's cities on new global Monopoly board; and your fave Champagne Chair.

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Obituary: Arthur Silvers, 77; architect fought racial discrimination: ...worked with Robert Kennard, a prominent African American architect...belonged to a post-World War II generation of architects whose work represented a break from traditional, European-influenced design. -- Kennard & Silvers (1960s); Daniel, Mann, Johnson and Mendenhall; Kennard Design Group- Los Angeles Times

Architecture: It’s not for sissies: ...a few buildings that savvy architects say are the most influential right now, either as inspiration or as cautionary tale. -- Libeskind; Gehry; Sejima/Nishizwa/SANAA; Hadid; Mayne/Morphosis; Herzog & de Meuron; Steven Holl; Norman Foster; Koolhaas; David Chipperfield; Renzo Piano; Peter Zumthor- National Post (Canada)

Cleveland Clinic pushes to become global health care 'brand' with Abu Dhabi hospital: ...the first...part of a global trend...2.5 million-square-foot hospital...design would hold its own amid the spectacular buildings planned in Abu Dhabi by the Louvre and the Guggenheim. By Steven Litt -- Alexander Wu/HDR Inc.- Cleveland Plain Dealer

Obesity role for design: Architects working in England will be eligible to receive special training under the government’s Ł372 million strategy to tackle obesity...to support designs that promote a more active lifestyle...- BD/Building Design (UK)

Battle-lines are drawn over city skyline: A bird's-eye view over the centre of the capital reveals a gaping hole in its historic heart...Edinburgh's Old Town/Caltongate...That may be about to change under a Ł300 million proposal to create a thriving new commercial and cultural quarter...one of the capital's most controversial developments in living memory... -- Allan Murray- The Scotsman (UK)

Pointing in the right direction: The Seattle skyline may look increasingly impressive from the deck of the Bainbridge ferry, but it's not so enchanting from inside the thicket...Maybe the answer is neither the skyscraper pincushion nor the self-indulgent ooze of McMansions, but some new form of neighborhood that respects the unique environment of this place. By Lawrence W. Cheek -- John Graham Jr. (1974); Ruffcorn Mott Hinthorne Stine; Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg [images]- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Developer Danny Salvatore took a chance that avant-garde design would work in Toronto. Condo buyers are proving him right...projects that promise to make an impact on Toronto's urban landscape...his heart is clearly in high-rises that make significant architectural statements. By John Bentley Mays -- Yansong Ma/MAD; Peter Clewes; Peter Dickinson (1960); Daniel Libeskind [slide show]- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Thanks - but no thanks: City keeps its view narrow, rejecting a N. Phila. resident-friendly plan: Given the beleaguered state of the neighborhood, you'd expect the city to welcome...proposal for new housing...instead, the city told the young developers it was committed to preserving their junk-strewn, half-acre lots in the event an industrial user came along. By Inga Saffron -- Pia Varma/Steven Nebel; Home(scale)- Philadelphia Inquirer

Court Case Tests Limit of Spain’s Preservation Law: ...highest court has upheld the decision in a 17-year-old case that requires the removal of a controversial 1993 restoration of an ancient Roman theater in Sagunto, Spain...designed by Giorgio Grassi and Manuel Portaceli...took care to distinguish new construction from old. [image]- Architectural Record

How to protect the Daily News Building: Messing with the building, on Preservation Chicago's "endangered" list, was a bad idea eight years ago and it's an even worse idea now....Here is the deal that Daley should offer Zell...Better that than a nasty preservation fight. ByBlair Kamin -- Holabird & Root (19290; Solomon Cordwell Buenz- Chicago Tribune

‘Green’ Buildings Don’t Have to Be New: The vast stock of older buildings presents a much bigger opportunity to cut down on energy consumption and carbon emissions...LEED for Existing Buildings, or LEED-EB...a laundry list of step...to operate and manage properties more efficiently.- New York Times

Bahrain's commitment to urban development: Bahrain World Trade Center played host to...Saudi Umran Society, who visited as part of a research mission into urban planning and development... BWTC...an urban planning project which incorporates sustainability into its design...the first in the world to integrate wind turbines into a commercial development to create an alternative source of energy. -- Atkins- AME Info (United Arab Emirates)

Architects and Designers Propose the Creation of a New National Academy: A coalition of eight architecture, landscape-architecture, and design organizations is pushing to create a new National Academy of Environmental Design...would “serve the world by providing expert advice and assistance in the sustainable design and maintenance of landscapes, cities, and buildings, including their relationship to environmental effects on life-support systems of planet Earth.”- The Chronicle of Higher Education

Architects look abroad as staffing crisis deepens: Survey shows growing number of unfilled posts and expected staff turnovers of 100% by 2013...Association of Consultant Architects (ACA) launched a campaign last year to get architects included on the Home Office’s list of professions facing a skills shortage.- Building (UK)

To Russia, with love: RMJM is designing the City Palace, a 45-storey skyscraper four kilometres from the Kremlin...As a guarantee that this is much more than just another gimmicky office block, [Tony Kettle's] artistic collaborator on the project is Karen Forbes...secretary of the Royal Institute of Architects in Scotland, Neil Baxter...asked cheekily whether "the twist" was "the new gherkin"...- The Scotsman (UK)

Feasting on Design: Contract celebrates the 2008 Designer of the Year Philip G. Freelon, 2008 Legend Moira Moser, and winners of the 29th Annual Interiors Awards -- The Freelon Group; Gensler; M Moser Associates; Jeffrey Beers; Bentel & Bentel; Stanley Beaman & Sears; M. Charles Bernstein Architects; burdifilek; Architecture Research Office (ARO); Johnsen Schmaling Architects; Griffin Enright Architects; Perkins+Will | Eva Maddox; Substance; Randy Brown Architects [links]- Contract magazine

Angel of the South: what is it for? I feel horrified by the latest commission in Britain's apparently insatiable quest to build the biggest, most imposing, most monstrously public work of art...planned as a "landmark sculpture" to tell everyone the location of a new transport hub at Ebbsfleet, Kent, is going to be taller than Gateshead's Angel of the North. By Jonathan Jones- Guardian (UK)

Why the nation needs an Angel of the South: We have a growing need for statement public art. It can tell a story about a place, capture its essence. By Rachel Cooke- Observer (UK)

RIBA board game to liven up planning meetings: Building Futures Game to help architects, property owners, communities and local authorities hammer out agreements over development issues.- The Architects' Journal (UK)

Vote Early and Vote Often: World's Cities Battle For Place on Global Monopoly Board: ...a competition between 68 world cities in a bid to find 22 cities for a new global version of the board game.- Der Spiegel (Germany)

Be a Champagne Chair judge: ...cast your virtual ballot for the Popular Vote award through Thursday, January 31...a new set of contenders each day. [images]- Design Within Reach

From Back Lot to Front Lines: A new naval training facility uses entertainment technology developed for video games and theme park rides to create more realistic battle simulations. By Mark McVay -- SmithGroup [images]- ArchNewsNow

-- Asymptote Architecture: Penang Global City Center, Penang, Malaysia
-- Erick van Egeraat: A.A. Hijmans van den Bergh Medical Faculty, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands

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