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Today's News - Monday, May 5, 2008

ArcSpace brings us UNStudio's first NYC project, and Studio Granda in Iceland. -- British architects sound off about their wishes for London (will the city's new mayor listen?). -- King says planned new high-rise area in San Francisco "can exude a dynamic urbanity" - with attention to what's on the ground. -- Miss Brooklyn to be a lot shorter (and renamed "B1" - ugh). -- Now in its 5th incarnation, design for Chicago Children's Museum still leaves Kamin with questions. -- Heathcote gives two (more like three) thumbs-up to London's first Maggie's Centre. -- American urban rivers making major comebacks. -- Hume's eloquent ode to the lost art of strolling. -- Columbia, Maryland, in search of its own urban center. -- Debate heats up over plans to redevelop San Francisco's Parkmerced neighborhood. -- Kamin on the ever-changing and complex battle to preserve Chicago's past (facade-echtomy, anyone?). -- He has some hopeful news re: SOM's 1954 Gunner's Mate School/Building 521. -- Architects brainstorm ideas to re-use Saarinen's Bell Labs. -- A castle-like former asylum in upstate New York gets a face-lift and a new purpose. -- Aging planners not being replaced by younger generation. -- Flight 93 Memorial design still raising hackles. -- Calls for entries: AIA National Healthcare Design Awards, and 2008 Record Interiors awards. -- SEGD Conference heads to Austin at the end of the month.

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-- Construction start: UNStudio: Five Franklin Place, New York City
-- Studio Granda: Hof Residence, Skakafjordur fjord, Iceland

"Dear Mayor of London": ...some of architecture's key players pen an open letter setting out their wishes for the city – from urban branding and public space strategies to air conditioning on the Tube. -- Ivan Harbour/Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners; Will Alsop; Diane Haigh/CABE; John Callcutt; Andrew Hanson/RIBA London; Rowan Moore/Architecture Foundation; Dan Ringelstein/SOM; Chris Wilkinson/Wilkinson Eyre; Elliot Lipton/First Base; Ken Shuttleworth/Make Architects- The Architects' Journal (UK)

Life on the ground key to new high-rise area: If San Francisco planners have their way, a whole new neighborhood will grow up - literally...This isn't the apocalyptic "Manhattanization" that local critics railed against back in the 1970s...can exude a dynamic urbanity...But unless care is taken on the ground, it also could be a dark, congested realm - no matter how the new buildings look from afar. By John King- San Francisco Chronicle

Atlantic Yards' Miss Brooklyn is slashed more than 100 feet in massive redo: ...newly named "B1" - or Building One - will be slashed to 511 feet and feature commercial office space only... -- Frank Gehry [slide show]- NY Daily News

New Children's Museum plans still don't answer basic questions: Despite design changes to the proposed Chicago Children's Museum, a big question remains: Will kids like it? By Blair Kamin -- Krueck & Sexton [images, links]- Chicago Tribune

The intimate space within: ...London’s first Maggie’s Centre...is unmissable but it does not attempt to become a self-satisfied icon...a colourful, defensive building that wraps its domesticity in a powerful embrace...reveals a humanity, sensitivity and intelligence... By Edwin Heathcote -- Ralph Tubbs (1973); Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners- Financial Times (UK)

A River Runs Through It: Rivers are still the lifelines of American cities, but in a new age of urbanization, once-crowded waterways boast a greener complexion...Many of these projects place as much emphasis on restoring ecosystems as on providing an urban amenity. By David Sokol -- Rand Elliott; Civitas; Triad Design Group; SWA Group; Alamo Architects; Jacobs Carter Burgess [slide show]- GreenSource Magazine

In praise of the lost art of strolling: ...it is a measure of how far removed we have grown from ourselves that many of us now see walking as extraneous...the only way to ensure urban health is to plan cities with walking in mind. If nothing else, this necessitates a human scale. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

Bold ideas advanced for revamping Columbia [Maryland]: ...serious flaw is that Columbia has never developed much of an urban center...lacks the sense of place...All that would finally change if builders follow recommendations in a new master plan that is being developed to guide the growth ...over the next 30 years. By Edward Gunts -- Cooper, Robertson & Partners; Sasaki Associates; Lord Cultural Resources; Biohabitats [image]- Baltimore Sun

Parkmerced: Symbol of future or the past? ...one of San Francisco's most unusual neighborhoods ...changes are threatened, however, by the pedigree of Parkmerced's architects. -- Thomas Church; Leonard Schultze; Craig Hartman/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [images]- San Francisco Chronicle

Preserving at a pace: Protecting history proves an endless race...In the 1960s, preservationists were fighting against glass boxes. Now, recognizing that modernism is a part of history, they are wisely fighting to save such buildings. By Blair Kamin -- Richard Nickel; John Vinci; Adler & Sullivan; Le Corbusier; Jane Jacobs; Dwight Perkins; Mies van der Rohe- Chicago Tribune

Threatened Navy building a step closer to dodging demolition bullet: ...officials said Gunner’s Mate School/Building 521 should be mothballed until “a viable reuse can be identified.” By Blair Kamin -- Bruce Graham/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill/SOM (1954)- Chicago Tribune

Ideas for Bell Labs’ Future: Among the uses proposed for the Bell building by architects at a brainstorming session: a high-tech center, a mixed-use complex or a condominium. -- Eero Saarinen (1962); Michael Calafati [images]- New York Times

Rescuing ‘the Castle’ From Some Dark Days, Architecturally and Medically: A former asylum housed in a medieval-style stone castle gets a face-lift and a new purpose -- Isaac Perry (1858); John G. Waite [slide show]- New York Times

Staff shortage threat to planning system: The 'creaking' planning system is facing a staffing timebomb, a damning report by the New Local Government Network (NLGN) has warned.- The Architects' Journal (UK)

Critics See Symbols of Islam in Flight 93 Memorial Design: Almost from the moment the winning entry for the memorial was chosen in 2005 it has been beset by controversy...memorial officials said that they would move ahead with their plans... -- Paul Murdoch Architects [images]- New York Times

Call for entries: AIA National Healthcare Design Awards; deadline: May 19- American Institute of Architects (AIA)

Call for entries: 2008 Record Interiors awards, open to all registered architects in the U.S. and abroad; deadline: May 15 [pdf]- Architectural Record

2008 SEGD Conference + Expo: "Interplay: Collaboration, Synergy, and Delight!"; Austin, Texas, May 28-31- Society for Environmental Graphic Design (SEGD)

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