Today’s News - Tuesday, September 16, 2008
• Zumthor wins the 20th Annual Praemium Imperiale Award in Architecture.
• Kennicott is quite taken with the Pentagon 9/11 Memorial.
• King bemoans plans for a grand green building being value-engineered to be just a tint of its former grand green self.
• Sokol on transportation agencies constructing new facilities that "embrace sustainability with enthusiasm" (despite low budgets).
• Kamin finds the new home for the Erikson Institute in Chicago has "just enough visual quirkiness to fit into its surroundings."
• Lewis on the continuing saga of Washington, DC's Cossutta/ Pei Brutalist church: it's declared a landmark, but may yet meet the wrecking ball - a "regrettable outcome" because parts could be saved and transformed.
• New life for an icon of the industrial revolution near Leeds (car parks not included).
• An extended conversation with Elisson: "When I am bored, I start doubting whether I exist." (h-m-m-m)
• One more on H&deM's Manhattan tower (this one with lots of pix).
• Ciao Venezia! Glancey, Heathcote, Farrelly, Pearman, Ferguson, et al chime in (whatever is said, they still had a good time): "I began to yearn for some proper architecture." - "...this is the year of the avant-garde slacker- hippy, the digital drawing dude who can't be bothered to make a building in the real world." - "The Arsenale is missable...the national pavilions span the reflective and intellectual to the pretentious and awesomely dull." - "Aussie architects need to quit playing cute." - "...some recent pieces look like the strugglings of infants or pretentious displays of egomania." - "The national pavilions are an absolute feast." (We're quite glad to see the U.S. pavilion fairs very well!)
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Peter Zumthor wins the 20th Annual Praemium Imperiale Award in Architecture [images]- Japan Art Association |
The Stiff Upper Lip Trembles Slightly: At the Pentagon, 9/11 Memorial Mixes Civilian Emotion and Military Reserve: ...presents a very strange meeting ground. The kind of grief that is bewildering to the civilian world...has met the more stoic face of the Pentagon...A necessary line between two different responses to death has been drawn. By Philip Kennicott -- Kaseman Beckman Advanced Strategies/KBAS [images]- Washington Post |
PUC's green dreams fade as budget sees red: The murky fate of San Francisco's would-be greenest building shows that when it comes to issues like climate change, political leaders are willing to go only so far...Public Utilities Commission...if something does get built, don't look for the adventurous design features that attracted notice in the first place. By John King -- Kaplan McLaughlin Diaz/KMD [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Shedding Weight: Today’s public rail facilities acknowledge train depots’ passive-design past while further lessening their impact on the environment...transportation agencies are beginning to consider how they may fulfill their eco-missions...constructing new facilities that embrace sustainability with enthusiasm... By David Sokol -- Rob Quigley; Kiss + Cathcart; Grimshaw/Jackson Architecture; Ingenhoven Architekten; Pelli Clarke Pelli; HOK; Foster + Partners; DMJM Harris/Arup; Busby Perkins + Will; ECDM Architects [slide show]- GreenSource Magazine |
111 West Illinois: Not your average iceberg: Bold Jahn-inspired building rises to parcel's challenge...Home to the Erikson Institute...with just enough visual quirkiness to fit into its surroundings. By Blair Kamin -- Solomon Cordwell Buenz; Gensler [image]- Chicago Tribune |
Congregation vs. Preservation: Two Perspectives on Sacred Space: ...the continuing saga of the Third Church of Christ, Scientist...Historic Preservation Review Board voted to declare [it] a landmark..church seeking an injunction against landmark designation...may yet meet the wrecking ball, a regrettable outcome because publicly visible parts could be saved, transformed and integrated into the property's redevelopment. By Roger K. Lewis -- Araldo Cossutta/I.M. Pei (1970)- Washington Post |
Leeds architect fulfils her towering ambition: ...to redesign the iconic Tower Works site...scheme forms part of extensive plans to regenerate Holbeck Urban Village...the aim is to embrace and enhance the historic element of the site while contrasting it with ultra-modern additions...“It’s part European, part medieval, compact and full of surprises.” -- Irena Bauman/Bauman Lyons- Yorkshire Evening Post (UK) |
Splash! He brought the sun to the Tate Modern. Now he's conjured waterfalls in New York. Sean O'Hagan meets Olafur Elisson whose epic artworks of sublime beauty are lighting up our cities... "When I am bored, I start doubting whether I exist," he replies, without irony. 'When I don't do anything, I feel I might disappear."- Observer (UK) |
First Skyscraper by Herzog & de Meuron Rising in NYC...56 Leonard Street...Anish Kapoor will slip a giant, kidney-shaped mirrored sculpture... [slide show]- Architectural Record |
Flesh in Venice: Nude hippies, big blobs, stunning dog pounds - is the 2008 architecture biennale too wacky for its own good? ...somewhere between...it is just possible to see a warm new architecture slowly emerging from a jumble of half-realised, half-remembered dreams. By Jonathan Glancey -- Aaron Betsky; Rashid/Couture; Coop Himmelb(l)au; UN Studio; Hadid; Gehry; Greg Lynn; Gustafson Porter; Rural Studio; Tony Fretton; Junya Ishigami [slide show]- Guardian (UK) |
Making shapes is back with a bang: Venice Biennale...if the title betrays a certain surfer-dude dumbness ( Out There ) the subtitle ( Architecture Beyond Building ) confirms that this is the year of the avant-garde slacker- hippy, the digital drawing dude who can't be bothered to make a building in the real world...It is not a failure - there is plenty here to enjoy - but it tells us little that is new. By Edwin Heathcote- Financial Times (UK) |
Aussie architects need to quit playing cute: "Lots of energy. They just have to drop the naive act. Quit pretending they don't know what's going on."...Australian Pavilion [is] fabulously good looking, but it also shows how architecture's well-intentioned arrogance can form its own, mirrory bubble...So is Kipnis right? Are we partying while the world burns? By Elizabeth Farrelly- Sydney Morning Herald |
Hugh Pearman gives his take on the highlights of the national pavilions at this year's Venice Architecture Biennale. [video]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
George Ferguson, former president of RIBA, on his view of this year's British Pavilion.: And his verdict? "I think this one is very good, but earnest." [video]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Hadid's Space-Age Sculptures Land in Venice Villa for Biennale: ...It's doubtful Palladio would get the point...reveal the wilful determination of contemporary architects...some recent pieces look like the strugglings of infants or pretentious displays of egomania. By Colin Amery -- Gehry; Kathryn Gustafson; Herzog & de Meuron; Morphosis; Madelon Vriesendorp; Coop Himmelblau; Atelier Bow Wow; David Rockwell; etc.- Bloomberg News |
Visions of architecture, practical and inspired: Visitors new to the exhibition might wonder if they have wandered into the wrong Biennale, and hardened old hands of the visual arts event may experience a sinking sensation of déjà-vû. However, the national pavilions - which have responded in various ways to Betsky's title - are an absolute feast... -- Junya Ishigami; Sverre Fehn; Ellis Woodman; Víctor López Cotelo- International Herald Tribune |
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-- Herzog & de Meuron: Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida
-- Mecanoo architecten: FiftyTwoDegrees, Nijmegen, The Netherlands |
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