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Today's News - Tuesday, February 12, 2008

It's a day for infrastructure: TODs: from convenience to environmental solution. -- How an interesting group of experts would fix America's infrastructure if they had $1.6 trillion to spend. -- With snow on the plains and rain in the desert, fixing infrastructure around the world should be a non-partisan issue. -- Big plans for second largest rail hub in Britain. -- Ballooning cost for a stunning San Diego pedestrian bridge leaves the city stunned. -- Not all are pleased with big plans for historic Baltimore pier. -- Big plans to revive "Cool Britannia" (but where will the big bucks will come from?). -- Investments in Vietnam resort projects can be measured in the billions (of dollars, that is). -- Six U.S. critics look at the state of architecture in their cities (some glow, some glum). -- Russell's report from LACMA: a "characteristically well-tailored building" struggles to outshine old streetlamps (never mind the lobby looks like "a squashed pagoda and feels like a bus shelter" - though not Piano's fault). -- A new museum to rise near Seattle. -- SOM's Oakland cathedral is "structural tour de force" that "promises to be an awe-inspiring gathering place of soaring proportions." -- Meanwhile, a call for the Catholic Church to stop buying into bus stop architecture. -- Chicago 'burb gets the greenest synagogue going. -- New Canary Warf tower will make its own power. -- Prince Charles's green home won't be as green as can be. -- Holyrood's "gloomy" lighting to be brightened. -- A most erudite treatise on Symmetry in Architecture.

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INSIGHT: Transit-Oriented Design: An Evolution from Societal Convenience to Environmental Solution: TOD is the model for what multi-family housing will look like in the years ahead. By John Burcher, AIA- ArchNewsNow

Infrastructure: How Would You Spend $1.6 Trillion? ...a range of experts—architects, engineers, planners, nonprofit leaders, elected officials, and critics—how they'd fix America's infrastructure if they had the chance (and $1.6 trillion to spend). -- Ron Paul; Wood/Andraos/WORK Architecture; Richard Florida; Alex Garvin; Lance Hosey/William McDonough + Partners; Paolo Soleri; James Howard Kunstler; Alex Krieger; Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk- Architect Magazine

Rebuilding America's Critical Infrastructure is a Non-Partisan Issue: Every nation around the world will need to continuously review the state of its critical infrastructure, funding strategies for maintenance and repair, and the ability to respond to situations...that might have been unimaginable only 5 years ago. Barbara A. Nadel, FAIA- Buildings.com

Green light for £400m Birmingham New Street rebuild: ...will double the size of the station concourse, and will see a public square, new façade and three new entrances built...making New Street the largest rail hub outside of London. -- Atkins [images]- Building (UK)

Eye-catching span may get 2nd look: When a pedestrian bridge between Petco Park and the Convention Center was envisioned...officials agreed to make it...an iconic entryway into downtown. Now that the original $12.8 million price tag has grown to as high as $30 million, they may rethink that. -- Safdie Rabines Architects [image]- San Diego Union-Tribune

Over-arching plan for Fells Point's Recreation Pier upsets some: ...as part of a $45 million plan to convert the 1914 city landmark to an upscale Aloft hotel, developers are proposing that the opening be glassed-in so the area beneath the arch...can become part of the hotel's interior. By Edward Gunts -- Beatty Harvey and Associates; Peter Fillat Architects- Baltimore Sun

Brown's plan to make Britannia cool again: London will get a national film centre and a permanent home for its fashion week under Gordon Brown's plans to revive the "Cool Britannia" spirit ...unclear...where the money for some of the projects would come from.- Evening Standard (UK)

Tourism rides new investment wave: As the foreign investment flow into Vietnam is increasing, the tourism industry has attracted a greater share of attention...$1 billion ecological resort in the Chan May-Lang Co Economic Zone...- VietNamNet Bridge

American Architecture Today: Six critics examine the state of American architecture from their hometowns...comments by Paul Goldberger, Christopher Hawthorne, Blair Kamin, David Dillon, Catherine Fox, Robert Campbell, FAIA [links, images]- Architectural Record

Piano's $56 Million Broad Art Museum Struggles to Outshine Old Streetlamps: ...a characteristically well-tailored building...Though Govan didn't tamper...he pared down the new entrance lobby...to the point that it looks rather like a squashed pagoda and feels like a bus shelter. By James S. Russell -- Renzo Piano; William Pereira (1965); Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer (1989)- Bloomberg News

Nordic Heritage Museum architects selected: ...the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to preserving the history of the five Nordic countries... -- Mithun Partners; Juhani Pallasmaa; Andre and Associates- Ballard News-Tribune (Washington)

Building the Modern Cathedral: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill plans for the next 400 years in Oakland, Calif.: A structural tour de force, the Cathedral of Christ the Light...promises to be an awe-inspiring gathering place of soaring proportions, luminous light, changing moods, and soothing natural materials. If that doesn't inspire wonder, what will? By Vernon Mays -- Craig Hartman/SOM; Kendall/Heaton Associates [images]- Architect Magazine

Bus Stop Architecture and the Catholic Church: ...over the past 40 or so years...so many important artistic and architectural examples of good design...have been inextricably mutilated, destroyed or adapted beyond Catholic recognition...[need] a return to traditional art and architecture that applies the appropriate form and function...- Pewsitter.com

Greenest synagogue opening in Evanston: Energy costs are expected to be 45 percent less than a similar-size house of worship...Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation...a three-story cube wrapped in recycled cedar and Jerusalem stone...has sought LEED Platinum...a modern-day expression of the Biblical phrase bal taschit, which means, "do not destroy." By Blair Kamin- Chicago Tribune

Tower will make its own power: London's tallest residential building is to create its own heat and electricity...The £27 million Pan Peninsula development...will be a blueprint for green developments across the capital. -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [image]- Evening Standard (UK)

Prince Charles's green home is just too natural: ...plans to build the eco-home of the future and influence government housing policy have run into controversy over the building's ability to satisfy tough new green regulations...will stand next to advanced modernist eco-homes such as Sheppard Robson's Lighthouse and PRP's Sigma Home.- Guardian (UK)

Bright idea to improve lighting of gloomy parliament building: Scottish Parliament bosses are turning their back on a key part of architect Enric Miralles' vision for the Holyrood building...to install stronger lighting in the entrance foyer after complaints it was too gloomy...- Edinburgh Evening News

Symmetry in Architecture: What does the 17th-century Rundetarn (Round Tower) of Copenhagen have in common with the thirteenth-century Leaning Tower of Pisa? Or Houston’s Astrodome...with the vast dome of the Pantheon in Rome? ...Each...share a different kind of symmetry that links them, in spite of their temporal and cultural differences. By Kim Williams [images]- Rédaction Journal3

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

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