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Today's News - Monday, February 11, 2008

ArcSpace brings us Mayer H. in Denmark and Moss Los Angeles. -- Of carbon-hungry suburbs longing to be green. -- Kuwait's "City of Silk" for 700,000 centered on 250+ story tower (oh - and carbon-neutral, they say - watch for news of similar project/same architect coming to Dubai). -- With more than a touch of pessimism, Hawthorne takes on Foster's Crystal Island and Nouvel's "green blade" in L.A. -- An asymmetrical skyscraper for Seattle designed not to overpower its "venerable neighbors" (does it look a bit like another recently announced tower, we wonder). -- Kamin applauds Driehaus Awards for Community Design: winner is "a first-rate example of architecture's social promise." -- Winners lauded in competition to refurbish Sheffield, U.K.'s vacant, council houses. -- Glancey gets inside Beijing's Bird's Nest: the "looping, swooping, stunning stadium" (thumbs-up for aquatic center, too - some great pix!). -- Campbell has high hopes that Stern's adventure at Harvard will be a "rich, solid, convincing work of architecture" and not "a shallow stage-set." -- Davidson finds Viñoly's Bronx Hall of Justice "a compassionate Panopticon." -- We couldn't resist a graceful "white whale" of a luxury airship hotel (eco-friendly, too). -- NZIA president: "Let's build beautifully" -- things our "grandchildren will be proud - not ashamed - to inherit." -- Calls for entries: IDA08: Land & Sea Competition: Designs that Decrease Man's Carbon Footprint; and VM+SD Retail Renovation Competition. -- Winners all: Europan 9 (all 63); and Good Design Awards (all 400). ----- EDITOR'S NOTE: We just updated the ANN calendar with a number of new competition deadlines and international conferences.

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-- J. Mayer H. Architekten: Cumulus, Danfoss Universe, Nordborg, Denmark
-- Under construction: Eric Owen Moss: Gateway Art Tower, Los Angeles

Don’t Let the Green Grass Fool You: If the United States is ever to reduce its carbon emissions, suburbanites — that is, roughly half of all Americans...are going to have to play a big role. And lately, they are trying.- New York Times

Kuwait details $77bn 'City of Silk': ...will be home to 750,000 people when completed in 2030... -- Eric R. Kuhne and Associates- ArabianBusiness.com

In Moscow, Norman Foster's Crystal Island is a towering ode to the moneyed class: In ways a Dark Ages throwback, the project may not be as groundbreaking as it looks...kind of winking irony, which may allow architects working for autocrats...to sleep better at night, will be meaningless to the Russians...overwhelmed by the sheer spectacle of the soaring interior spaces. By Christopher Hawthorne- Los Angeles Times

Jean Nouvel designs a green machine for Century City: The architect's condo plan calls for gardens and energy conservation in a slim, livable package. Can his self-named 'green blade' thrive? ...a marked blend of old-fashioned Modernism and green design. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Rios Clementi Hale Studios [link to image]- Los Angeles Times

A new angle on Seattle's skyline: The developer who saved the historic First United Methodist Church sanctuary last year has unveiled plans for an asymmetrical skyscraper next door...design was driven in part by a desire to honor, rather than overpower, those venerable neighbors... -- Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZGF)- The Seattle Times

Driehaus winner points way with solid design principles: Solid Ground [transitional housing] a first-rate example of architecture's social promise...This is what architecture needs today: not more spectacle, but more solid design that rebuilds lives, neighborhoods and cities. Thanks to the Poor Man's Pritzkers for reminding us of that. By Blair Kamin -- Landon Bone Baker; Stanley Tigerman; Helmut Jahn [slide show]- Chicago Tribune

Sheffield City Council's £50K terrace house revamp competition winners unveiled: ...innovative refurbishment of a vacant, council-owned house into a '21st Century Terrace'... -- Letts Wheeler Architecture; Shillam + Smith Architecture; Cartwright Pickard Architects; Ash Sakula [links to images]- The Architects' Journal (UK)

Secrets of the Bird's Nest: In a special feature on the architecture of the Beijing Olympics, Jonathan Glancey sneaks a look inside its signature building - the looping, swooping, stunning stadium...an adventure in steel and concrete, a building - despite its age-old purpose - like no other. -- Herzog & de Meuron; Arup; China Architectural Design and Research Group; Ai Weiwei; PTW; Shenzen Design Institute; Zhu Pei [slide show]- Guardian (UK)

Solving an identity crisis: Building aims to give Harvard Law School a sense of place: ...the kind of building that we don't see enough of in this age of so-called "starchitects." It's a background building, not an architectural adventurer strutting on a stage...devoted not to impressing you, but rather to housing a very diverse set of interior functions [and] organizing the campus around it. By Robert Campbell -- Robert A.M. Stern [image]- Boston Globe

Bronx Clear: How a courthouse polices us through the glass: The new Bronx Hall of Justice...is a compassionate Panopticon...suggests that we can plan for worst-case scenarios without living in their grip; that we can build public places where citizens know they’re being watched over yet don’t have the feeling that they’re on parole. By Justin Davidson -- Rafael Viñoly Architects- New York Magazine

White Whale of the Skies: Luxury Airship Lets Tourists Enjoy the High Life...bold vision of a luxury airship hotel in the shape of a huge white whale could usher in a new era of eco-friendly tourism. -- Jean-Marie Massaud [images]- Der Spiegel (Germany)

Let's build beautifully: New Zealanders should be building homes their grandchildren will be proud – not ashamed – to inherit, says the president of New Zealand Institute of Architects’ Ian Athfield. -- Leuscheke Group; Sumich Architects; GHD [images]- Times (New Zealand)

Call for entries: IDA08: Land & Sea Competition: Designs that Decrease Man's Carbon Footprint; open to professional and student architects and designers of interiors, product, fashion, and graphics; deadline: February 29- International Design Awards (IDA)

Call for Entries: VM+SD Retail Renovation Competition; deadline: March 26- VM+SD

Europan 9 results: Sustainable Cities and New Public Spaces: 22 countires, 73 sites, 63 winners- Europan Europe

2007 Good Design Awards -- 400 winners in 21 categories -- Billings Jackson/Grimshaw; Herman Miller/Kennedy & Violich Architecture; PlusArchitects; Giorgio Barruso Design; Ben Van Berkel/UN Studio; Foster + Partners; Karim Rashid; etc. [images]- Chicago Athenaeum/European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies

ArchNewsNow updated calendar: competition deadlines, conferences, etc. (some not included in past/current newsletters)- ArchNewsNow

A Bridge Between: California Academy of Sciences and Steinhart Aquarium Transition Facility: So just where has Nemo been living while the new academy rises in Golden Gate Park? -- Melander Architects- ArchNewsNow

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