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Today's News - Friday, June 6, 2008

-- Jaime Lerner offers lessons for us all.
-- St. Petersburg, Russia, takes some serious steps to "win back some of its lost glory."
-- Aussie planners hit back at charges that they're weakening U.K. planning system.
-- Another forceful call for NYC buildings commissioner to be an architect or engineer.
-- A call to find a middle ground for Boston's beleaguered City Hall.
-- Why is a market in collectible modernist architecture important?
-- Tahitian slum with great views to be replaced with new housing, an arena, bus stops, etc.
-- The first double- LEED Platinum project lands in Lansing.
-- Calls for entries: Rome Prize fellowships; and Muji Award #3.
-- Weekend diversions: Denmark's Utzon Centre opens with Sydney Opera House show (what else?).
-- "After the Flood" sails into in L.A.
-- Woodman's take on "Psycho Buildings": happily wayward at the Hayward.
-- Davidson finds a derelict ferry terminal in NYC that makes music "a marriage of the industrial and the sublime."
-- Heathcote gets "a shiver of delight" at London's Design Museum, where "Modernism is not as dead as had been feared."
-- He also ponders a tome that reflects "on a real change in our attitude to the legacy of the modern age."
-- Brussat likes the "tart prose" that adds "verve" to a history of public housing in Providence.
-- "Cinemetrics" is a "significant first step in truly understanding the implications of new media and the way that we represent space."
-- Two we couldn't resist: Gugg jewels. -- Beware the insidious force that is the Society for the Frustration of Architects.

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Learning from Lerner: The former mayor of Curitiba, Brazil is carrying his message of sustainability to the world’s burgeoning cities. Lesson one: get rid of your car. By David Sokol- Metropolis Magazine

$50 Billion By 2020: Reflecting St. Petersburg’s renewed integration with the world, architects...are working on major projects in the city...seems destined to win back some of its lost glory. -- Foster + Partners; Bermello Ajamil & Partners; Kisho Kurokawa; Grimshaw; Erick van Egeraat; Wilkinson Eyre- St. Petersburg Times (Russia)

We solve your skills crisis, say defiant Australians: Antipodean planners working in Britain have hit back at criticism that they weaken the UK’s planning system, and have demanded better recognition.- BD/Building Design (UK)

Op-Ed: For Buildings Commissioner, Demand the Real Thing: Fredric M. Bell calls for an architect or engineer to lead the beleaguered New York City buildings department...who not only knows how the government operates, but how buildings stand up.- The Architect's Newspaper (NYC)

Op-Ed: Let's put City Hall to a vote: Starting from fresh might be the cheaper option, but it would earn Boston a permanent place in the annals of architectural philistinism...there is a middle ground...A democratic process will give architects the right incentives to make the public case for the building, and in making that case, they will help others to experience the masterwork's magic. By Edward L. Glaeser- Boston Globe

Valuing Modernist Architecture: Why is a market in collectible modernist architecture important? Because the public as a whole tends to follow the money, when it comes to taste in art and architecture...If modernist buildings fetch a premium in the market, then the taste of the market will, eventually, trickle down to the population as a whole. -- Philip Johnson; Richard Neutra; Louis Kahn- Portfolio

Tahiti's govt. chooses architect for $11 million project to replace slum located next to Tahiti's airport runway...will have a sports area, bus stops, an area for maneuvering fishing boats and green areas. -- David Chauvin [image]- TahitiPresse

Highest honor for green: SmithGroup's work brings first-ever awards: The Christman Building is the first in the world to receive both exterior and interior LEED platinum ratings. [images]- Crain's Detroit Business

Call for applications: Rome Prize fellowships in Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Design, Historic Preservation and Conservation, etc.; deadline: November 1- American Academy in Rome

Call for entries: Muji Award 03, the International Design Competition is seeking “Found MUJI” ideas; deadline: July 31- Muji

Utzon's new landmark sets sail: $16 million Utzon Centre has opened in in Aalborg, Denmark, with an exhibition about the Sydney Opera House. -- Joern and Kim Utzon- Sydney Morning Herald

"After the Flood: Building on Higher Ground," an exhibition RECORD conceived and organized for the U.S. Pavilion at the 2006 Venice Architectural Biennale, will be on display until June 27 at the Museum of Art and Design in Los Angeles. -- Anderson Anderson Architecture; Eight Inc.; Workshop/apd; Morphosis; Pugh + Scarpa; Make It Right; dArchitects/Gansstudio; Eskew + Dumez + Ripple- Architectural Record

Psycho Buildings: wayward at the Hayward: Why has London's strangest gallery been smashed, flooded and filled with spice? ...perfectly catches the sense of the Hayward as an exotic and contrary presence in the city...May it continue to befuddle and provoke for many years to come. By Ellis Woodman [slide show, video]- Telegraph (UK)

My Building Has Every Convenience: David Byrne attempts to turn a derelict ferry terminal into one immense musical instrument..."Playing the Building" brings out the lyrical obsolescence that is one of the Battery Maritime Building’s most enduring characteristics...a marriage of the industrial and the sublime. By Justin Davidson- New York Magazine

"Industrial Facility: Some Recent Projects": ...there is a shiver of delight in seeing one of Britain’s subtlest and most sophisticated designers show their wares alongside a collection of mass-produced objects...each costing less than £5...Not design as art but design for usefulness. Modernism is not as dead as had been feared. By Edwin Heathcote- Financial Times (UK)

Book review: This is the modern world: "Images of Change: An Archaeology of England’s Contemporary Landscape" by Sefryn Penrose...an occasionally uncomfortable blend of personal recollection and overarching narrative, but it does reflect on a real change in our attitude to the legacy of the modern age. By Edwin Heathcote- Financial Times (UK)

A history of our Fawlty Towers: "A Community Apart: The History of Public Housing in Providence" by Paul Campbell...tart prose style helps what might be a dry story cruise along with considerable verve. But on its own the story is nothing if not dramatic. By David Brussat- Providence Journal (Rhode Island)

Book review: "Cinemetrics: Architectural Drawing Today" by Brian McGrath and Jean Gardner: ...provides a significant and notable first step in truly understanding the implications of new media that require a fundamental shift in the way that we represent space.- AIA COTEnotes

New Guggenheim Fundraiser: Construction Debris as Jewelry: If you don't like your pebbles mounted on silver, how about a pair of Gugg gold cufflinks for $1,500? By Lee Rosenbaum- ArtsJournal

Get off the couch and fight this blight: An insidious force is stalking the built environment in an effort to undermine architects...Society for the Frustration of Architects (SoFA)...mission is simple: to deny architects their rightful place in the country’s power hierarchy and eradicate their poisonous architecture from the land...It is winning the war. British architecture must fight, or die. By Marcus Fairs- BD/Building Design (UK)

Nearing completion: Coop Himmelb(l)au: Central Los Angeles Area High School #9, Los Angeles

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