ArchNewsNow

Home Yesterday's News Calendar Contact Us Subscribe Advertise

Today's News - Monday, June 30, 2008

-- ArcSpace takes us to Abu Dhabi and Helsinki.
-- Heathcote weighs in on U.K.'s eco-town plans (he sides with Rogers re: they're not sustainable).
-- But the government says the public is all for them.
-- Bayley on Birmingham's big plans: no "eco clichés," please.
-- Maybe they should all watch CNU's new video re: "walkable urbanism."
-- "America's Best Cities for Design" survey takes walkability and sustainability into account.
-- Woodman wonders if Hadid's Zaragoza bridge will achieve its legacy role as an urban regenerator.
-- Two studies measure green building perks (some results aren't entirely positive).
-- Gazprom's Okhta tower has a new design, including a "green fur coat" (but not all are convinced).
-- Will Boston landmarks' newest neighbor be a luxury condo tower?
-- Voelz Chandler voices optimism with a few caveats re: plans for a new Denver tower.
-- Ando is dubious in Abu Dhabi.
-- Hume and Stewart re: Dubai's spinning tower: will it be obsolete by the time it's built; blame the Brits.
-- Montreal regains a mid-century masterpiece.
-- Campbell on Harvard's 17-year-old "rotting mess" offers "an object lesson in the perils of museum design."
-- An in-depth look at the Koshalek/Pasadena Art Center brouhaha.
-- Kamin's tribute to Netsch and his complex legacy.
-- Winners all: RIBA awards abound. -- Torontonians take Canada Council for the Arts Architecture Awards.

To subscribe to the free daily newsletter click here

-- Under construction: Asymptote: Strata Tower, Abu Dhabi, UAE
-- JKMM Architects: Viikki Church, Helsinki, Finland

An eco-town on greenfield site is unsustainable: Lord Rogers...recently launched a stinging attack on eco-towns, describing them as the “biggest mistake this government could make”...Ambitious, “visionary” eco-towns are under way across the world but often they turn out to be mere statements of intent...there are significant success stories... By Edwin Heathcote -- Arup; Foster & Partners; Bill Dunster/BedZed- Financial Times (UK)

Ministers hit back at stars over eco-towns: Public five to one in favour of eco-towns despite protests of high-profile residents- Observer (UK)

It's all change in the second city... again: Central Birmingham is being dramatically made over and this time its designers are determined to get it right...the biggest project of its kind anywhere in the world: a major city...is now being reinvented. Why? How? By Stephen Bayley -- John Madin (1974); Glenn Howells; Future Systems; etc.- Guardian (UK)

CNU Video Shows How Walkable Urbanism Can Reduce Driving and Slash Carbon Emissions: Like switching out all of your light bulbs 35 times- Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU)

Top 10 Cities for Design in America: What makes a city great is a topic guaranteed to spark heated debate. Now RMJM Hillier has ridden into the fray with a list of "America's Best Cities for Design," produced with the American Institute of Architecture and Zogby International. [images, links]- BusinessWeek

Zaha Hadid’s Zaragoza bridge over muddied waters: ...another creative triumph, but will it achieve its legacy role once the expo is over, wonders Ellis Woodman [images]- BD/Building Design (UK)

Two Studies Measure Perks of Green Buildings: ..show that green building standards are not only effective, but also escalate property values...New Buildings Institute (NBI) study results weren’t entirely positive.- Architectural Record

Gazprom Skyscraper Turns 'Green,' But Critics Unimpressed: The new design, which embellishes the original plan, proposes to use plants to control the building’s temperature...described as the first building to be given a "green fur coat"... -- RMJM- Turkish Weekly

Luxury Condo Tower to Rise Near Boston Landmarks? ... plans for a 47-story luxury condo tower atop Copley Place Mall -- Elkus Manfredi Architects [images]- Architectural Record

Bell Tower could set tone for lower downtown: ...has promise and potential, but it needs refinement and further work before it earns the right to wear the word iconic or walk in the path of contemporary art. By Mary Voelz Chandler -- Fentress Architects [image]- Rocky Mountain News (Denver)

Tadao Ando: Dubious in Abu Dhabi. By Lee Rosenbaum- ArtsJournal

Restraint left twisting in the wind: When size no longer matters, what's left but motion? From the architects' point of view, this may be fascinating stuff, but one wonders what the effect will be in the real world. Will anyone even notice? By Christopher Hume -- David Fisher/Dynamic Architecture Group- Toronto Star

The rotating tower block is dreadful – but Brits are to blame: We can knock Vinoly's London eco-chimney, but UK developers and architects are being equally gaudy and ungracious in Dubai...This is cultural imperialism, of a sort... By Dan Stewart -- David Fisher; Benoy- Building (UK)

A Beaver Tale: At 50 Years Old, the Recently Restored and Renovated Beaver Lake Pavilion in Montreal's Mount Royal Park has Found a New Lease on Life. -- Hazen Sise/Guy Desbarats (1958); DoCoMoMo Québec; Les Amis de la montagne; Heritage Montreal; Réal Paul; Pierina Saia [images]- Canadian Architect

Falling down: As it faces demolition, Harvard's Otto Hall provides an object lesson in the perils of museum design...Indoors, it's a delightful set of galleries. Outside, it's a rotting mess. By Robert Campbell -- Gwathmey Siegel (1991); Renzo Piano- Boston Globe

Protest in Pasadena: Art Center president to step down next year amid campus unrest over Gehry scheme...No matter how supporters and detractors feel about Koshalek’s mission now, it was clear in 1999 that he was hired to raise the center’s profile in the design community and beyond. -- Craig Ellwood (1975); Daly Genik- The Architect's Newspaper (Los Angeles)

Walter Netsch, 88, Leaves Behind a Complex Legacy: ...[his] geometrically complex buildings...broke the mold of glass-box orthodoxy in the mid-20th century...his labyrinthine structures could be bewildering as well as brilliant. By Blair Kamin -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [slide show]- Architectural Record

RIBA National, European, and Lubetkin Prize Award winners -- Feilden Clegg Bradley/Alison Brooks/Macreanor Lavington; Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM); David Chipperfield; Heatherwick Studio; Ian Simpson; Hopkins; Denton Corker Marshall; Haworth Tomkins; Reiach and Hall; Allies and Morrison; Gumuchdjian; Rogers Stirk Harbour; Foster + Partners/HOK Sport; Grimshaw/ARCADIS; Coop Himmelb(l)au; Foreign Office Architects (FOA); Zaha Hadid; Gianni Botsford; etc. [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK)

Toronto Landscape Architect and Design Firm Win Canada Council for the Arts Architecture Awards -- Pierre Bélanger; williamsonwilliamson [link to images]- Government of Canada

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window.
External news links are not endorsed by ArchNewsNow.com.
Free registration may be required on some sites.
Some pages may expire after a few days.

Yesterday's News