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Today's News - Wednesday, March 12, 2008

First steps taken to establish global green building standards. - Glancey is impressed with the new generation of Chinese architects - and takes a cold stroll through Thames Town (he is not amused). - Dyckhoff finds out why H&deM take an anti-Spielberg stance to working in China: "It would be arrogant not to engage" (guess which one is "the politician, with his shaven skull and sunken, unsmiling cheeks" and which is "a bit tortured, introverted, with mad, wiry hair"). - Going green can be a hard sell in India, but one architect has figured out how. - Depending on who you talk to, a massive canal project in South Korea will be a new source of income: "tourists sailing down a waterway blasted though the hills" or "set off an environmental catastrophe." - Thumbs-up/thumbs-down for new niche in the tourism biz: slum visits. - An extreme home makeover TV show in Kenya to illustrate how practical improvements can benefit poor farming families. - Modernism's leaky roof: "the cold heart of modern architecture has broken down" (so just move your chair). - Can the anti-McMansion movement fatten architects' wallets? - Historic preservation in Denver "seems to be gasping for air," and Chandler wants to know why. - A building in the Bronx on the verge of a "transformation that urban planners dream of" (but not such good news for those already there). - Russell talks to not-quite-yet-post-Guggenheim Krens. - Foster's next Abu Dhabi adventure will be "voluptuous" and "swathed in a skin of shimmering stripes." - Big ideas for Cleveland museum expansion (but Mercedes-Benz vision being trimmed back to a Cadillac or even Ford). - Heathcote is impressed with Brit Insurance Design Awards shortlist. - Glancey pays tribute to Pawley. -- Call for entries: Crystal Vision International Design Competition. - Hume ponders how nature makes fools of architects in Toronto, born out by high winds vs. a RIBA Award-winning building in Liverpool.

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Green building standard agreed: Construction and property leaders today agreed to develop a global index for green buildings for comparison, measurement and benchmarking...world-wide acceptance was, "not going to be quick, but if we can get a formal agreement that each country will contribute their industries' views, then...we would definitely have something to show by next MIPIM." -- British Property Federation (BPF); Assoimmobiliare; Urban Land Institute (ULI)- New Civil Engineer (UK)

From the high-rise to the hutong: ...Chinese architects...a whole new generation are striking out for themselves. What are they building? ...it is mostly housing for ordinary people that concerns them - that, and a desire to change the direction of Chinese architectural development... By Jonathan Glancey -- Studio Zhu Pei; Zhang Ke/Standard Architecture; Wang Hui/Limited Architecture; WS Atkins; Albert Speer Jr. [+ audio slide show]- Guardian (UK)

We can help change in China say Herzog and de Meuron: The creators of the new Olympic stadium in Beijing hope that their building will embody radical ideas such as freedom..."Engagement is the best way of moving in the right direction. It would be arrogant not to engage..." By Tom Dyckhoff- The Times (UK)

Cool and green in an Indian architectural desert: ...although developers and investors are coming under the environmental spotlight...few in India are going green. "In India's booming real estate market, there are not enough professionals. And because mediocrity sells, it's easier to do that..." -- Manit Rastogi/MD Morphogenesis- Guardian (UK)

Controversial Canal Tests South Korea’s New Leader: ...the country’s most ambitious, and controversial, construction project...If President Lee Myung-bak’s plan goes through...will offer a new source of income: tourists sailing down a waterway blasted though the hills...will either provide a healthy jolt to...slowing economy or set off an environmental catastrophe... [images]- New York Times

Slum Visits: Tourism or Voyeurism? Some visitors are trading museums and monuments for shantytowns and garbage heaps. But critics say these tours are exploitative...Proponents [say] the point: to change the reputation of the slums one tourist at a time.- New York Times

30 minute makeover: A new Kenyan TV series uses the makeover principle to show smallholders how to improve their livelihoods...Shamba Shape-Up! uses TV to illustrate how practical improvements... can have a positive benefit for poor farming families.- Developments magazine

Modernism's leaky roof: The scandal is that...modern homeowners...often found they had no choice but to do what their masters - the modern architects - told them...When roofs leaked they moved their chairs...we slipped into a postmodern age...the form-function dualism at the cold heart of modern architecture has broken down. -- Frank Lloyd Wright; Richard Murphy; Le Corbusier; Gerrit Rietveld; Diana Martinez; Tom Wolfe; John Silber; Steven Holl- Financial Times (UK)

Will Downsizing McMansions Fatten Architects' Wallets? ...interest in smart growth and sustainability is increasingly focusing regulators’ attention on house size...could increase demand for the services of an architect.- Architectural Record

Historic preservation in city faces challenge: It seems to be gasping for air...It's a great concept to make preservation a part of planning. But just where does the city of Denver really stand...What kind of commitment is there to protecting what remains of Denver's historic fabric while incorporating good new design? By Mary Voelz Chandler- Rocky Mountain News (Denver)

Big Visions for Building Don’t Include People Inside: Under new ownership, rent at the former American Banknote Company Building will more than double. The building houses culinary and arts programs, as well as a homeless shelter...could spark a turning point for the [Hunts Point] neighborhood, the kind of transformation that urban planners dream of.- New York Times

Guggenheim's Krens Eyes Hudson Yards Museum, Seeks New Bilbaos: He would like to do what he calls the antithesis of Bilbao at Hudson Yards...will continue to spearhead the Guggenheim's largest branch so far, in Abu Dhabi. By James S. Russell -- Frank Gehry- Bloomberg News

Foster + Partners unveils Abu Dhabi world trade centre: ...sustainable design in a new waterfront city. The building's voluptuous outline appears swathed in a skin of shimmering stripes that are actually a reactive louvered shading system angled to minimise solar gain. [image]- Building (UK)

Cleveland Museum of Natural History shows early expansion concepts by Fentress Architects: ...will aim for a LEED Platinum rating..."We've got big ideas"...Now the priority is "trimming sails and becoming realistic." By Steven Litt [images]- Cleveland Plain Dealer

The award that had a redesign: ...the Design Museum has launched the Brit Insurance Design Awards, which replace the UK Designer of the Year Awards...seven category winners – finalists for the overall prize...is a strong field...In eschewing the pointless tat that populates design stores, museum shops...the organisers have already done well. By Edwin Heathcote -- Herzog & De Meuron; Yves Béhar; Martino Gamper- Financial Times (UK)

Obituary/Tribute: Martin Pawley, 69, Architecture critic...editor and writer with a visionary take on modern design...Jonathan Glancey writes: Martin Pawley was a mischievous fellow with an infectious giggle and a sense of the absurd.- Guardian (UK)

Call for entries: Crystal Vision, a designboom/Swarovski International Design Competition for innovative product concepts; cash prizes; registration deadline: May 31- designboom

Nature makes fools of architects: ...Libeskind's addition to the Royal Ontario Museum [ROM], the Michael Lee-Chin Crystal. Turns out its precariously angled aluminum and glass facades are the ideal icicle machine...Dozens of office towers downtown...must regularly put up signs warning pedestrians of falling ice. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

High winds batter AHMM's Unity building: ...have taken their toll on Allford Hall Monaghan Morris' RIBA Award-winning Unity building in Liverpool... [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK)

OMA/Office for Metropolitan Architecture: Netherlands Embassy in Berlin

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