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Today's News - Monday, May 12, 2008

-- ArcSpace brings us eyefuls of Piano in L.A. and Allied Works in Denver.
-- Now that high-tech is historic, Pearman wonders what's next.
-- Saffron on the style wars in post-Katrina housing.
-- Speck is dismayed by slavish devotion to a style.
-- Heathcote hails a young Dutch firm that is anything but slavish to any style.
-- Purists and pragmatists on restoring mid-century masterpieces.
-- Rawsthorn on mid-century gems hitting the auction block.
-- The "coolest new house in Michigan" is a veritable bargain, says Gallagher.
-- Kennicott on Saarinen's "absorbing retrospective" in Washington.
-- Could office park parking lots be a new housing solution?
-- Lewis on the missed potential of D.C.'s riverfronts.
-- Kamin on Jahn's U. of C. library dome: "Elegant minimalism or self-indulgent object?"
-- New US Embassy in Berlin: "A throwback to 1980s post-modernism?"
-- Austin gets arty.
-- Boddy finds a new Vancouver high school "gets down to beautiful basics."
-- Landmark status sought for L.A.'s Crest Theater: the interior is "more scintillating than what's on the screen."
-- Hotel building goes modular, and made in China.
-- Bernstein is eloquent about why the U.S. can't afford to snub the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai.
-- China says Beijing Olympics "basically" carbon neutral (ok, if you say so).
-- We couldn't resist: an architect's "wickedly sarcastic" replies on a planning form re: a farm shed.

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-- Renzo Piano Building Workshop: Broad Contemporary Art Museum (BCAM), Los Angeles
-- Allied Works Architecture: Clyfford Still Museum, Denver, Colorado

Pause moment: with high-tech now historic, is New Ornamentalism taking hold? When a given style is regarded by conservationists as under threat, then plainly it is no longer current...younger architects don't design like that. It's so last century. By Hugh Pearman -- Wright; Le Corbusier; Gehry; Piano; Rogers; Foster; Ivan Harbour/Rogers Stirk Harbour; Will Alsop; Herzog & de Meuron; FAT; Foreign Office Architects (FOA); Caruso St. John; Haworth Tompkins [images]- HughPearman.com (UK)

Post-Katrina housing fits designers' agendas. But can the city live with it? New Orleans bucks the drawing boards...The style wars between the modernists, the traditionalists, and the free-thinking blobists...have traded verbal spitballs over the form the new Gulf Coast architecture should take... By Inga Saffron -- Pitt/Make It Right; KieranTimberlake; Wallace Roberts & Todd (WRT); Steven B. Bingler/Concordia; Graft; MVRDV; David Waggoner- Philadelphia Inquirer

Op-Ed: Why You Should Avoid Slavish Devotion to a Single Style: I am dismayed by what seems like a current trend among many universities to establish a style for buildings...it often produces campuses that are like army camps—lifeless, repetitive, and banal. By Lawrence Speck/PageSoutherlandPage.- The Chronicle of Higher Education

"Architecture on an urban scale": S333 is among the most sophisticated and resolutely international of young practices and its members have carefully avoided the lure of a signature style. By Edwin Heathcote- Financial Times (UK)

Tinkering with History: When it comes to restoring midcentury masterpieces, it’s sometimes hard to know what’s best to leave alone—the house or the house owner...purists and pragmatists. -- George Mimnaugh; Rodney Walker; Ray Kappe; Neutra; Schindler; A. Quincy Jones; Michael LaFetra; Du Architects; Craig Ellwood; Marmol Radziner; Escher GuneWardena; Lautner; SH_ARC [images]- The Architect's Newspaper (Los Angeles)

Modern American architectural gems set for auction: Gorgeous though the Kaufmann is, design purists would probably plump for the Esherick...buying an architectural landmark is a daunting proposition. By Alice Rawsthorn -- Richard Neutra; Louis Kahn; Marmol Radziner; Shigeru Ban [slide show]- International Herald Tribune

Experimental Cranbrook house is for sale: ...the coolest new house in Michigan...American House 08...playing with several notions at once, including craft, mass production and sustainable design...once the home is disassembled and re-erected on your chosen site, you'll have the satisfaction of living in a work of art. By John Gallagher -- William Massie [images]- Detroit Free Press

The Building Blocks of a Modernist's Vision: Eero Saarinen...the subject of an absorbing retrospective at the National Building Museum...If architects are able to separate Having It Good from Doing Good, they can sample the same heady waters that Saarinen drank. By Philip Kennicott [slide show]- Washington Post

Parking Space as Living Space? A report suggested using land in office parks for moderate-cost housing, but officials are wary. -- Richard Hyman- New York Times

Missed Potential Along the Potomac: ...along Washington's rivers, parkland and cafes are out of balance. We have more than enough waterfront parkland and not enough waterfront cafes...What's missing is a range of accessible, architecturally appealing places... By Roger K. Lewis- Washington Post

Jahn's library dome at U. of C. [University of Chicago]: Elegant minimalism or self-indulgent object? Why must every building strive to be an icon? By Blair Kamin -- Walter Netsch (1970); Murphy/Jahn [image]- Chicago Tribune

New US Embassy in Berlin Triggers Architecture Debate: Much about the building's design seems influenced by security needs...A throwback to 1980s post-modernism? -- Moore Ruble Yudell [images]- Deutsche Welle (Germany)

Austin Gets Arty: Taking a cue from MoMA, AMOA plans an expansion and a tower: Austin Museum of Art to build a new 40,000-square-foot, three-level expansion along with a 30-story...Hines Museum Tower...entire project has been pre-certified...for a LEED Silver rating -- Pelli Clark Pelli [image]- The Slatin Report

A good, solid, community-minded building: Vancouver's award-winning King David High School avoids flashy trends and gets down to beautiful basics. By Trevor Boddy -- Acton Ostry Architects; Cornelia Hahn Oberlander [images]- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Landmark status sought for Westwood's Crest Theater: ...the theater interior is more scintillating than what's on the screen... -- Arthur Hawes (1940); Joseph Musil- Los Angeles Times

Arriving in London: Hotels Made in China: Travelodge chain in Britain is building two hotels from stackable metal containers imported from China...expects to use the modular technique for about half of the 40 or so new hotels it plans to build each year... By Fred A. Bernstein- New York Times

The World Without Us: The United States can't afford to snub the 2010 World Expo...The Chinese government is sparing no expense for its second giant coming-out party...more than 150 countries have made plans to exhibit in Shanghai, and some are continuing the tradition of using world's fairs as occasions for architectural experimentation. By Fred Bernstein -- Hadid; Heatherwick; Barton Myers; Clive Grout- Slate

China says Beijing Olympics "basically" carbon neutral...thanks to a series of energy saving measures such as the use of solar power and an afforestation program..."We can basically ensure that emissions will be balanced."- Reuters

Architect's wicked wit cuts through red tape: An architect's wickedly sarcastic replies to pointless questions on a planning form have made him an unwitting champion for all those exasperated by bureaucracy...Context Analysis: "The use is compatible with a farm because it is a farm building." -- John Jessop/Carlisle Jessop Architects- Telegraph (UK)

Words That Build: Clarifying Presentations to Clients through Rhythmic Emphasis: Tip #2: Use rhythmic accents to create a persuasive story for your client. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow

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