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Today's News - Thursday, July 10, 2008

-- Leinberger sees the 'burbs as the next slums.
-- Kotkin says don't bet on it: the "pain in suburbia" is not "a silver lining for urban revival."
-- Paris mayor wants to see the skyline go higher.
-- London mayor ditches London Plan for "Planning for a Better London" with lower affordable housing goals but higher skyline.
-- The Queen of Harlem Real Estate sparks a heated debate: whose Harlem is it?
-- Vancouver landscape architects help shape the city - but fly under the radar.
-- AIA offers report (and support): counties with green building programs have increased almost 500% since 2003.
-- Research continues to make tall buildings safe for birds.
-- An abandoned Toronto club transformed into oh-so-green townhouses.
-- Green light for world's first "eco-disco" (including power generated by dancing).
-- Sadly, Disney's new Innoventions Dream Home is "positively retrograde."
-- Rosenbaum on Ando's adventure in Williamstown - plus "some of the quirky stuff" that went on at the ribbon-cutting ceremony (umbrellas included).
-- More on Gehry's Serpentine: "one of the starriest and worst paid commissions in the arts world."
-- Three climbers later, NYT HQ alters its façade.
-- "Ugly duckling" developments make an Australian city the "unofficial home of 'wacky' buildings."
-- Not all are impressed with Atlanta's Millennium Gate.
-- How NYC buildings get their monikers (and why they're starting to sound the same).
-- Q&A with Cameron Sinclair about the difference between design and design for good.
-- Philippe Starck on design and politics: "I am here to dynamite the existing system of the majors and the stars that go along with it. So I am here once more to dynamite myself."
-- Winners all: An eyeful of the 2008 Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Architecture Awards. -- 2008 Brick In Architecture Awards. -- "Concrete Thinking for A Sustainable World" student competition.
Editor's note: Our heartiest congratulations to Lisa Rochon (one of our faves) on receiving the RAIC 2008 President's Award in Architectural Journalism.

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The Next Slum? As conventional suburban lifestyles fall out of fashion and walkable urban alternatives proliferate, what will happen to obsolete large-lot houses? Demographic changes...are working against conventional suburban growth... By Christopher B. Leinberger- The Atlantic

Suburbia's not dead yet: Some believe high gas prices will force a migration back to cities. Don't bet on it...pundits, among them James Howard Kunstler, who despises suburban aesthetics...see the pain in suburbia as a silver lining for urban revival. Not so fast. By Joel Kotkin- Los Angeles Times

Paris mayor proposes high-rise changes to city skyline: ...launched a controversial plan to overturn a ban on high-rise buildings and construct six towers in the capital..."We cannot forbid ourselves from looking up."- Telegraph (UK)

Boris to ditch 50% affordable housing target in changes to London Plan: "Planning for a Better London"...vowing to build 50,000 affordable homes over the next three years...support for tall buildings, but only in locations where they do not undermine "unique character"- BD/Building Design (UK)

Whose Harlem Is It? Willie Kathryn Suggs, the so-called Queen of Harlem Real Estate, has sent local housing prices soaring. She’s also touched off a heated debate: Should Harlem be preserved as an affordable haven for blacks? Or sold to the highest bidder? ...she’s working in a different Harlem now, with new challenges.- New York Magazine

Landscape architects shape our 'most livable' city: ...just as architects have shaped our surroundings, so have landscape architects who design our parks, plazas and many streetscapes that contribute to Vancouver's label as the world's most livable city. Yet you probably don't know their names. -- Margot LongPWL Partnership- Vancouver Courier

Counties with Green Building Programs Have Increased Almost 500% since 2003: AIA Report Provides Analysis and Resources for Communities- American Institute of Architects (AIA)

Collision course: Research to help builders protect birds: ...Project BirdSafe...By studying the characteristics of the deadliest buildings, architects and city planners can better understand what design elements contribute to bird collisions.- UMNnews (University of Minnesota)

Designed with sustainability in mind: Environmentally conscious townhouse breathes new life into abandoned club..."We chose things that would be effective, instead of just tacking on bells and whistles." -- DTAH Architects- Toronto Star

Green light for world's first 'eco-disco': Islington council approves plans for nightclub with wind turbine, solar panels and waterless air-flush toilets...dancing motion of clubbers will, its owners say, deliver part of the club’s energy requirements and surplus energy will help power neighbouring properties. -- Club4Climate- Building (UK)

The Future Knocks Again: The latest in a long line of model dwellings aimed at telling us how we might live in years to come, Disney’s new Innoventions Dream Home turns out to be positively retrograde. [images]- New York Times

Thanks to the Clark Institute's ambitions and deep pockets, Williamstown Art Conservation Center now finds itself...nestled in an idyllic wooded hillside...When the world-famous architect agreed to take on this relatively modest project...WACC, behind-the-scenes by nature, suddenly became high-profile. By Lee Rosenbaum -- Tadao Ando; Annabelle Selldorf; WORKac; Reed Hilderbrand [slide show]- Wall Street Journal

Clash of Perfectionists: Ando and Conforti at the Clark: ...some of the quirky stuff...[from the] ribbon-cutting ceremony for the opening of the Tadao Ando-designed Stone Hill Center..."Enough with the umbrellas!" By Lee Rosenbaum [images]- ArtsJournal

A rainy first look at Gehry's summer pavilion: The Bilbao effect has landed in that well-known centre of urban deprivation and grime, the smooth green lawns of Kensington Gardens....Serpentine pavilion, which is becoming one of the starriest and worst paid commissions in the arts world. By Maev Kennedy [slide show]- Guardian (UK)

After 3 Climbs, Facade at Times Building Is Altered: Workers began removing dozens of the ceramic tubes that swathe the New York Times building...One of the aesthetic and functional elements that had garnered worldwide attention...being transformed in the name of security. -- Renzo Piano- New York Times

'Lego building' in ugly row: Gold Coast City Council will not step in to stop the latest 'ugly duckling' high-rise development in Broadbeach...Ocean Pacific Broadbeach building has added to the long list of controversial high rises...The Wave, with its distorted design, and the yellow Air building have stamped Broadbeach as the city's unofficial home of 'wacky' buildings. [image]- Gold Coast Bulletin (Australia)

Atlanta's new arch raises a few eyebrows: The Millennium Gate reflects one designer's dream of giving his hometown a more classical look. Not everyone is impressed. -- Rodney Cook Jr. [image]- Los Angeles Times

To Name Towers in the Sky, Many Look There for Inspiration: But the floor-to-ceiling glass towers popping up in record numbers across New York City are starting to sound an awful lot alike.- New York Times

Q&A with Cameron Sinclair, Co-founder of Architecture for Humanity: ...the difference between design and design for good.- CNN

Philippe Starck on Design and Politics: The French designer wants big changes in his field and has joined mydeco, a Web site that aims to democratize interior decoration..."I am here to dynamite the existing system of the majors and the stars that go along with it. So I am here once more to dynamite myself."- BusinessWeek

McBride Charles Ryan & John Wardle Score High at 2008 Australian Institute of Architects Victorian Architecture Awards. -- Lyons; DesignInc; Robert Simeoni; Peter Crone Architects; Phooey Architects; NMBW Architecture Studio + Urban, RMIT; Six Degrees; Ashton Raggatt McDougall; John Gollings; Kevin Borland/Architects’ Group (1975-77) [images]- Bustler

2008 Brick In Architecture Awards competition winners -- Gideon Toal; The Freelon Group; TRO Jung/Brannen; Cyntergy AEC; Landscape Architecture Bureau; Payette; etc. [links to images]- Brick Industry Association

"Concrete Thinking for A Sustainable World" Competition: 3rd Annual International Student Design Competition Features Innovative, Environmentally Friendly Uses for Concrete- Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) / Portland Cement Association (PCA)

Words That Build Tip #4: Steering Your Client in the Appropriate Direction- ArchNewsNow

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