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Today's News - Thursday, February 28, 2008

High hopes (and some problems) for post-Big Dig Boston (great slide show). -- Much news from the U.K.: Social housing as new social butterflies. -- Some big names get behind efforts to save the Smithson's Robin Hood Gardens housing estate (you can sign on, too). -- Prince Charles gets behind new Scottish town designed to keep behinds fit. -- An "eclectic mix of architects" teamed for Leeds' £800 million city center. -- Was Heathrow T5 worth waiting for? -- Alexander finds China's airport plans more than a little scary. -- New life for Erskine's Ark. -- A New Haven architect has a bold vision for fire-ravaged city block. -- Viñoly's Brooklyn Children's Museum is a "serious building made for fun." -- Rybczynski ruminates on the future of library design in the age of Google. -- Seattle's Northwest African American Museum finally ready for its close-up thanks to "a trailblazing architect" (lost too soon). -- A green Museum Resource Campus rises at Brooklyn Navy Yard. -- Pearman's ode to Sandy Wilson. -- Feiner (cowboy boots and all) takes on Las Vegas. -- Graves leads AIAS fundraising efforts for Freedom by Design community service initiative. -- How climate change could change English countryside forever (never mind a "landscape littered with redundant wind farms").

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Boston Has High Hopes Now That the Dig Is Done: With the $15 billion construction project officially over, the promised transformation of downtown Boston — not just its traffic patterns but also its look, its feel, its very essence — finally seems within reach. [slide show]- New York Times

Affordable housing: New social butterflies: ...developers are so keen to mass-produce "safe" designs that few even use architects for new social-housing schemes...There is another way, though. [slide show]- Independent (UK)

BD launches campaign, spearheaded by Simon Smithson, to save his parents' 1972 Robin Hood Gardens estate...Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, Louisa Hutton of Sauerbruch Hutton, Herzog & de Meuron's Harry Gugger, Benedetta Tagliabue and Tony Fretton...join campaign... Demolition would be a “real tragedy”, says Richard Rogers -- Alison and Peter Smithson- BD/Building Design (UK)

Royal welcome to first 'Trim Town': Prince Charles is backing a new community in rural Scotland that will be designed to keep the weight off its inhabitants...with more than 300 homes, shops, other businesses and leisure facilities on land near Cumnock in Ayrshire.- Scotland on Sunday

Team chosen for Farrell's Leeds masterplan: An eclectic mix of architects has been chosen to deliver ...£800 million retail-led Eastgate masterplan in Leeds city centre. -- Heatherwick Studio; John McAslan + Partners; Benoy; Jerde Partnership; Gross.Max; Acme Space [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK)

Heathrow T5 – Worth the Wait? It took 20 years to plan and design, and 20,000 people to build...Initial planning...began in 1985 and Richard Rogers Partnership won a design competition in 1989. [images]- designbuild-network.com (UK)

Op-Ed: Beijing flies into an unsustainable future: Foster's Beijing airport is a masterpiece but it doesn't bode well for the environment especially when you hear that China is planning 97 more airports over the next decade. By Gus Alexander- Building (UK)

The incredible hull: Ralph Erskine’s Ark (1992) is one of London’s most striking landmarks, but it has lain dormant for most of its short existence...Now, at long last, it is within sight of dry land after a radical £20m overhaul of its interior. -- DN-A [images]- Building (UK)

Blaze New Street Through Ashes: Around the corner from where a historic blaze tore through a downtown block, architect George Knight unveiled a vision for renewal...time for New Haven’s designers to weigh in on future of the Kresge block. [images]- New Haven Independent.org (Connecticut)

A Serious Building, Tailor Made for Fun: The butter-hued building with porthole windows rises...like a yellow submarine surfacing from a slate-gray sea. The Brooklyn Children’s Museum...with its unorthodox silhouette and unconventional color — evokes some kind of exotic creature or physical experiment. By Robin Pegrebin -- Rafael Viñoly- New York Times

Borrowed Time: How do you build a public library in the age of Google? By Witold Rybczynski -- Mies van der Rohe (1972); Hammond, Beeby & Babka (1991); Pei Cobb Freed (1996); Robert A.M. Stern; Michael Graves (1995); Koolhaas/Prince-Ramus/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) (2001); Moshe Safdie; Carrère & Hastings [slide show essay]- Slate

Northwest African American Museum to open at last: A testament to the power of one peacemaker ...Denice Hunt, a trailblazing architect and Seattle city official... -- Rico Quirindongo/DKA- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Architect To ‘Design and Unify’ New SurroundArt Museum Resource Campus at Brooklyn Navy Yard...Will Also Restore 1897 Paymaster’s House... -- Steven Kratchman Architect [images]- Brooklyn Daily Eagle (NY)

Sandy Wilson and the alternative tradition of modernism: You could argue that Sir Colin Alexander ("Sandy") St. John Wilson...was just a little too intellectual for his own good...But his architecture has something that is too frequently lacking in today's icon-driven environment - real depth. By Hugh Pearman [images]- HughPearman.com (UK)

Feiner Goes All-In as Las Vegas Sands’ New Chief Architect: ...cowboy-booted architect is in Las Vegas to work for one of SOM’s clients...Las Vegas Sands Corporation...is known for creating GSA’s Design Excellence program... -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill- Architectural Record

Michael Graves Leads Education Fundraising Campaign: ...will help the AIAS reach its $2 million minimum fundraising goal [to] support...Freedom by Design, a nation-wide community service initiative...students design for low-income individuals with disabilities, addressing safety, dignity, and comfort.- Interior Design Newswire

English countryside could be changed forever unless the Government acts swiftly on climate change, a new report warns + 'Landscape littered with redundant wind farms'- Telegraph (UK)

INSIGHT: Art in Learning: Bringing the Tradition of Sculpture in Architecture to Education: Art incorporated into school architecture can enliven the educational process in unexpected ways. By Barry Svigals, FAIA [images]- ArchNewsNow

-- Serero Architects: Concrete Canopy Auditorium and Movie Theater, Saint Cyprien, France
-- Call for entries: Design for an Eco-friendly Community on arcspace Island, Second Life; registration deadline: March 7
-- Book: Ecodesign: A Manual for Ecological Design, by Ken Yeang

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