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Today's News - Friday, July 11, 2008

-- Seattle mayor proposes design review changes to protect neighborhoods from "frankenbuildings," but some think it "could yield disastrous results."
-- Hume has high praise for Toronto housing agency that has changed the reality and perception of social housing.
-- Lofty plans in Leeds put on ice.
-- It's back to the drawing board for British Museum plans.
-- Part of NYC's Broadway to be transformed into a public esplanade.
-- Kapoor and Balmond team up again for the Tees Valley Giants.
-- Jones on the Tees giants: "typifies the bizarre mixture of hubris and bureaucratic machismo that is currently saddling Britain with a marvelous legacy of scrap metal."
-- The two friends behind the Friends of the High Line.
-- Weekend diversions: Ouroussoff on Bucky at the Whitney: "Fuller's brand of idealism seems more distant than ever."
-- Massie's "eye-popping witty little house" at Cranbrook offers "surprisingly thoughtful environmental design."
-- "Fringe Benefits" in Toronto is "a myth-buster.
-- Hume visits Alsop show at CCA and likes what he sees.
-- Lots of architecture on view this Sunday in Baltimore.
-- An online exhibition imagines London after climate change.
-- Film: "Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman" is "nirvana" for lovers of mid-century modern.
-- Long lost scenes from Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" discovered.
-- Page turners: "The Enemies of Progress" is a "well-aimed elbow to the ribs of sustainability," but "may have come just a fraction too late."
-- "Le Corbusier Le Grand" reveals ambitions more lusty than lofty.
-- "Hungry City" explains how cities developed because of food.
-- Two we couldn't resist: Bruce Lee's Hong Kong home might become a museum. -- Cast your vote in America's Best Public Restroom Contest.

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Mayor Nickels calls for mandatory design review of new townhouses: Bowing to complaints about ugly buildings invading neighborhoods...some neighborhood groups believe the proposed changes could yield disastrous results...- Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Toronto Community Housing Corp. keeps building miracles: In its six-year existence, TCHC has done more to change the reality and perception of social housing than we've seen since it appeared half a century ago. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

Ian Simpson's Leeds Lumiere scheme put on hold: ...was destined to become the tallest residential development in Europe, has been indefinitely put on ice...decision to mothball the scheme will leave a 0.3ha hole in the city centre. [image]- The Architects' Journal (UK)

English Heritage forces rethink of British Museum plans: Rogers Stirk Harbour challenged over plan to demolish listed buildings- BD/Building Design (UK)

Closing on Broadway: Two Traffic Lanes: In a surprising reshaping of the urban landscape, New York City is creating a public esplanade along a portion of one of its most prominent streets...part of a larger program to turn underused street space into public plazas in each of the city’s 59 districts. -- Jan Gehl- New York Times

Big in Middlesbrough: Anish Kapoor unveils plans for giant public artwork...five huge sculptures dotted around a region attempting to rejuvenate itself. The Tees Valley Giants... -- Cecil Balmond [image]- Guardian (UK)

Are Teesside's Giants getting big heads? The vast sculptures commissioned from Anish Kapoor by the Tees Valley Regeneration project warrant a hackneyed warning: bigger isn't better...typifies the bizarre mixture of hubris and bureaucratic machismo that is currently saddling Britain with a marvellous legacy of scrap metal. By Jonathan Jones- Guardian (UK)

Two Friends, and the Dream of a Lofty Park Realized: The High Line can thank Robert Hammond and Josh David...for rescuing it from obsolescence on a shared, but definitely unplanned, personal whim. -- Field Operations; Diller Scofidio & Renfro- New York Times

Fixing Earth One Dome at a Time: "Buckminster Fuller: Starting With the Universe"....a timely new exhibition at the Whitney Museum...allows us to recognize how that vision was shaped by cold war militarism as well as personal idealism...Fuller’s brand of idealism seems more distant than ever. By Nicolai Ouroussoff [slide show]- New York Times

Cranbrook architect Bill Massie designs an eye-popping house: It's a witty little house characterized by stylish light...surprisingly thoughtful environmental design...playful attitude that suffuses "An American House 08"...at the Cranbrook Art Museum... [images]- Detroit News

Development needs to reflect new social fabric: Ethnic groups are coming up with unique uses for public spaces, says the curator of a new design exhibit..."Fringe Benefits: Cosmopolitan Dynamics of a Multicultural City," at the Design Exchange promises to be a myth-buster. By John Bentley Mays -- Ian Chodikoff- Globe and Mail (Canada)

Alsop's eccentric "Flying Tabletop" does Toronto proud: ...a new exhibition – "Will Alsop: OCAD, An Urban Manifesto" – at Montreal's Canadian Centre for Architecture (CCA) makes clear, the Sharp Centre went through a number of incarnations...The brilliance of the building lies in its ability to function as an icon while solving a number of practical issues... By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star

Drawing: not a lost art for architects: Baltimore Architecture Foundation is presenting four exhibits on Sunday to display the range of work architects produce when they aren't sitting in front of a computer terminal. By Edward Gunts -- Ziger/Snead Architects; Charles Brickbauer; SMG Architects- Baltimore Sun

"London Futures": Exhibition imagines London after climate change: architectural visualiser GMJ has launched an online exhibition to spark public debate about climate change. [images, link]- BD/Building Design (UK)

Film review: "Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman": Something of a missionary statement for a missionary, this is nirvana for lovers of mid-century modern and fine-art photography... -- Neutra; Schindler; Loos; Koenig; Zabludovsky; Gehry- Variety

Rediscovering Utopia: Lost Scenes Restore Original Vision of 'Metropolis': Long lost scenes from Fritz Lang's masterpiece have been discovered in a Buenos Aires museum 80 years after the film was made...why the find is so important. [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany)

Book review: "The Enemies of Progress: The Dangers of Sustainability" by Austin Williams: Eco-heretics unite: Hats off to anyone who challenges the eco-fundamentalists, but don’t make sustainability a dirty word...well-aimed elbow to the ribs of sustainability may have come just a fraction too late.- RIBA Journal (UK)

Book review: "Le Corbusier Le Grand": the artist's high-rise, low-rent life: ...was one the world’s most innovative architects. But as a man he was an enigma. Now, an archive reveals ambitions more lusty than lofty.- The Times (UK)

Book review: Architect Carolyn Steel’s nourishing ideas for designers: "Hungry City," a book that ranges ambitiously through history, geography, economics and politics...explains how cities developed as they did because of food, and how they must change to address the growing international food crisis.- BD / The Architecture Foundation

Tycoon to turn Bruce Lee's last home into museum...to the martial arts legend, giving in to public calls to prevent the sale of the luxury house in a northern Hong Kong suburb for millions of dollars.- Reuters

Ten Finalists Chosen in America's Best Public Restroom Contest; voting deadline: July 31 [images]- Cintas

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

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