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Today's News - Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Rybczynski's take on the two very different visions of new cities in the Persian Gulf. -- A call for mayors and city planners to mind the "small bore details" of neighborhoods. -- A call for landscape architects to take a bigger role in urban planning. -- Is London's Parliament Square a waste of space (even with "a plan by the voguish Swiss designers")? -- Tornado-ravaged Kansas town aiming for a "Platinum shade of green." -- Optimism (and some skeptics) as New Jersey's massive Xanadu nears completion (indoor ski slope included - shades of Dubai?). -- Cheek on why it's "worth preserving some of modernism's mistakes." -- U.K. historic buildings at risk from skills shortage: among 500,000 professionals, only 507 are building conservation-accredited. -- 100 architects hope to have a field day in Inner Mongolia. -- Just what Baghdad needs: a massive American-style amusement park. -- A report from the 100th annual APA conference. -- KPF may not have a starchitect at the helm, but its 16 globe-trotting principals sure keep it busy. -- Rogers discusses Maggie's Centre - and much more. -- A French architect who found his place in Vietnam. -- A very interesting Q&A with Ai Weiwei (he's "very proud" of the Bird's Nest). -- Q&A with Eliasson on his upcoming waterfalls and the pitfalls of success. -- Just what is good criticism: To judge, educate or entertain? -- 2008-2009 Rome Prize winners (some good friends among them!). -- Brick Award 08 winners.

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If You Build It: Two visions of the ideal city rise in the Persian Gulf: Waterfront City will probably be where...international architectural stars will build their putative landmarks—but if little Masdar develops successfully, it may hold much more important lessons for us all. By Witold Rybczynski -- de Graaf/Koolhaas/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA); Foster + Partners [slide-show essay]- Slate

Op-Ed: A Reminder to the City: Neighborhoods Are Building Blocks of Civic Life: ...seemingly small bore details of everyday life are what cities - mayors and their staffs - really ought be paying attention to. By Charles Buki/CZB- PLANetizen

Op-Ed: Urban planning needs green rethink: The focus on greening homes and offices is ignoring the wider landscape of our towns and cities...so long as landscape architects trail behind the architects by topping their buildings with green roofs, we are simply fiddling while Rome burns. By Martha Schwartz- BBC (UK)

A waste of space? Parliament Square has turned into another bleak, polluted London roundabout. How could a global landmark loaded with historic significance fall into this state - and how can it be improved? By Tristram Hunt -- Vogt Landscape Architects- Guardian (UK)

Greensburg, Kansas, Aims for a Platinum Shade of Green: Already, 10 commercial and public buildings had already committed to obtaining LEED certification. -- Berkebile Nelson Immenschuh McDowell Architects/BNIM; John Picard [images]- Architectural Record

Is a Giant Mall an Eyesore? Developer Urges Patience: ...remains optimistic about his long-delayed Meadowlands Xanadu, a $2.3 billion New Jersey shopping mall project scheduled to open in November...project will still be eye-catching and festive, to make it clear that Xanadu is “not your grandmother’s regional mall.” -- Adamson Associates; Kiku Obata & Company; Rockwell Group [images]- New York Times

What Seattle buildings to save: It's worth preserving some of modernism's mistakes: ...one of the reasons for architectural conservation -- keeping a record of civilization's cycles of thinking, including those that now appear foolish, arrogant or even destructive. By Lawrence W. Cheek- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

5M historic buildings at risk from skills shortage: A dearth of skilled craftspeople is jeopardising historic buildings, according to a new report from National Heritage Training Group and ConstructionSkills. They looked at the 500,000 architects, engineers, surveyors, conservation officers and other professionals, and found that only 507 of them are building conservation-accredited.- New Civil Engineer (UK)

ORDOS100: avant-garde architecture in the desert: In the so-called “Creative and Cultural Industries District” of this new city-to-be sits a plot of 197 hectares, on which 100 architects from 29 different countries...will each design a 1000-square-meter villa. By Bert de Muynck/movingcities.org -- Herzog & de Meuron; Ai Weiwei/FAKE Design [images]- Artforum

'Disneyland' comes to Baghdad with multi-million pound entertainment park: ...Baghdad Zoo and Entertainment Experience, a massive American-style amusement park that will feature a skateboard park, rides, a concert theatre and a museum. -- Ride and Show Engineering- The Times (UK)

Live From Vegas: Political Activism, Continuing Education & The Millennial Planners: Chris Steins reports from the 100th annual American Planning Association (APA) conference- PLANetizen

Fashioning Skylines, Not a Personality Cult: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF)...does not have a celebrity architect at its helm, though it does have 16 globe-trotting principals who have helped to turn the 32-year-old company into one of the world’s most prominent firms.- New York Times

Richard Rogers discusses Maggie’s Centre: He is “very concerned about the gap between the poor and the rich getting out of all proportion. We have failed in a way in making it a more equal society.” -- Rogers, Stirk, Harbour + Partners- The Times (UK)

Architect inspired by pleasure of others: French architect Claude Cuvelier is the man behind some of Ha Noi’s most striking buildings. He talks to Bach Lien about his life in Viet Nam.- Viet Nam News

Character building: Chinese artist Ai Weiwei may have helped design the Beijing Olympic stadium but, as Rowan Callick discovers, he's anything but a party stooge- The Australian

'Museums Are Too Elitist': Olafur Eliasson talks about his love-hate relationship with his adopted home city, Berlin, his gigantic waterfall spectacle on the East River in New York...and the pitfalls of success.- Der Spiegel (Germany)

The mind of a critic: To judge, educate or entertain? In his final column for Review, Sebastian Smee reflects on the qualities and pleasures of good criticism...Where does one start? With the arrogance of setting oneself up as a public judge of other people's creative endeavours? Good criticism ...should be risky, challenging, candid and vulnerable.- The Australian

American Academy in Rome 2008-2009 Rome Prize Winners -- Matthew Hural/Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; Ursula Emery McClure/Michael A. McClure/emerymcclure architecture; Robert Hammond/Friends of the Highline; Cathy Lang Ho; Chris Counts/Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates- American Academy in Rome

Brick Award 08 - The best brick buildings of the year -- Peter Zumthor; Bearth & Deplazes Architekten; Tuomo Siitonen/Esko Valkama; Markus Wespi/Jérome de Meuron; RAU [images]- hg.hu (Hungary)

-- Broadway Malyan: Rossio Station, Lisbon, Portugal
-- Book: "Project Vitra" by Cornel Windlin & Rolf Fehlbaum

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