Today’s News - Friday, September 26, 2008
• Hitting the road: An initiative to replace aging urban highways with boulevards; a Top 10 list of the most deserving to be torn down (and what could go up in their place).
• NYC's Broadway Boulevard and other urban initiatives to spur efforts to make walking or bike riding safer and more appealing (not all are pleased).
• Cities rethinking parking requirements that date back to the 1950s.
• Ouroussoff finds disappointment in Cloepfil's Museum of Arts and Design: "poorly detailed and lacking in confidence...a victory only for people who favor the safe and inoffensive" (terrific multi-media included).
• Calys sees the light in SOM's Christ the Light Cathedral.
• New pix of Foster's spaceport in the New Mexico desert.
• H&deM plan a 50-story pyramid to pierce Paris skyline (pix included).
• Six compete to design Weston Super Mare's burnt-out Grand Pier.
• A South African firm wins the first $100,000 Curry Stone humanitarian design prize for it's 10X10 houses (great pix!).
• Weekend diversions: two page-turners: Alastair Gordon's ""Naked Airport" looks at the "tragicomic distinction between the airport as (sometimes) designed...and as used"; and "Politics at the Airport" explores airports post-9/11.
• We couldn't resist thoughtful and eloquent takes on the V&A's "Cold War Modern" by Heathcote, Dyckhoff, Rawsthorn, and Hatherley.
• Corbu on view in Zurich and Liverpool.
• Hawaii's "Mad Russian" (a.k.a. Ossipoff) at Yale.
• Amery strolls Vicenza to find the true Palladio: "style guru, social climber, PR master."
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Freeways Without Futures: Top 10 Teardown Prospects: Highways to Boulevards Initiative to replace aging urban highways with boulevards and other cost-saving urban alternatives. [images, links]- Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) |
Broadway broadens pedestrian access: The increasing concentration of Americans in the nation's urban centers has helped spur efforts to make walking or bike riding safer and more appealing, advocates say.- USA Today |
Cities rethink wisdom of 50s-era parking standards: ...now considering scrapping those requirements — part of a growing national trend. Officials hope that offering the freedom to forgo parking will lead to denser, more walkable, transit-friendly development. -- Jeff Speck; Donald Shoup; Norquist/Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) [links]- National Public Radio (NPR) |
New Face, Renewed Mission: The redesign of 2 Columbus Circle is not the bold architectural statement that might have justified the destruction of an important piece of New York history...Museum of Arts and Design...Poorly detailed and lacking in confidence...a victory only for people who favor the safe and inoffensive... By Nicolai Ouroussoff -- Edward Durell Stone (1964); Cloepfil/Allied Works Architecture [slide show, videos]- New York Times |
Let there be light: Oakland's Christ the Light Cathedral, as an architectural statement, has made an immediate and powerful change to the Lake Merritt urban landscape. By George Calys -- Craig Hartman/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [images]- San Francisco Examiner |
New images of Foster + Partners' spaceport in New Mexico, USA unveiled: ...will become the new home for Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic venture. [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Herzog & de Meuron pyramid to pierce Paris skyline: 50-storey Projet Triangle to be city's first new high-rise after council lifts tower ban...the first of six high-rise schemes... [images]- Building (UK) |
Six compete for a redevelopment of Weston Super Mare’s burnt-out Grand Pier...a modern design that directly references the past... -- Grimshaw; Stride Treglown; Atkins; Acanthus Ferguson Mann; Angus Meek Architects; Ray Hole Architects- BD/Building Design (UK) |
The $6,000 House: South African firm wins humanitarian design prize: ...$100,000 Curry Stone Design Prize...Established...by the University of Kentucky College of Design...Each runner up receives a $10,000 prize...won for their 10X10 house, extremely affordable houses built using sandbags and timber. -- Luyanda Mphahlwa/Mphethi Morojele/MMA Architects; Shawn Frayne; Wes Janz; Marjetica Potrc; Antonio Scarponi [images, links]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Book review: Dreams of leaving: "Naked Airport: a Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure" by Alastair Gordon...an impressively illustrated, comprehensive "cultural history" of airports as buildings; "Politics at the Airport" edited by Mark B Salter...concentrate on the spatial politics of the airport after 9/11. -- Rogers Stirk Harbour; Foster + Partners; Pier Luigi Nervi; Saarinen; Calatrava- New Statesman (UK) |
Iron curtain-raiser: Cold War Modern at the V&A: This show could so easily have been a cosy exercise in fluffy retro-chic, of orange plastic, shagpile, bubble chairs and mini-cars. Instead it is a considered exploration of an extraordinary period...the most faithful encapsulation of the politics, economics and fears and desires of a moment. By Edwin Heathcote [slide show]- Financial Times (UK) |
Cold War Modern at the Victoria & Albert Museum: ...magnificent new exhibition...makes clear that the Cold War was fought on both sides as much with consumer goods as with military might...makes no bones about exposing the darkest side of Cold War design... By Tom Dyckhoff- The Times (UK) |
Design inspiration from both sides of the Iron Curtain: Not only does "Cold War Modern" cover less well-trodden territory, it depicts design as being inseparable from the politics and psychological extremes of the era...Conflicted though Cold War modernism was, it's impossible to ignore its influence on contemporary design. By Alice Rawsthorn [slide show]- International Herald Tribune |
War of the worlds: The extraordinary design culture of the Cold War period reflects the twin obsessions of the age: utopia and oblivion..."Cold War Modern: Design 1945-70"...V&A exhibition and the (excellent) accompanying catalogue have much on the way design was "conscripted" on both sides.- New Statesman (UK) |
"Heidi Weber: 50 Years Ambassador for Le Corbusier" at Centre Le Corbusier, Zurich...a rich collection of sketches, oil paintings, tapestries and other masterpieces that often go unnoticed in the shadow of his architectural renown. The show tells the story of Weber's fruitful collaboration with the prophet of modern architecture and her efforts to convey his pictorial works to the public.- USA Today |
Le Corbusier design show opens in Liverpool: Exhibition will celebrate architect's multidisciplinary approach to design [images, link]- Building (UK) |
Aloha ‘Modern’ majesty: “Hawaiian Modern: The Architecture of Vladimir Ossipoff” at Yale University School of Architecture Gallery...designed and guest-curated by Dean Sakamoto ...provides insight into the work and genius of a man who contemporaries described as the “Mad Russian.”- Yale Daily News |
Vicenza Toasts Palladio: Style Guru, Social Climber, PR Master: ...believed architecture could improve the world. A show at Vicenza, Italy, where Palladio's trademark works remain, proves him right. By Colin Amery [image, links]- Bloomberg News |
A Treasure Reborn: The Currier Museum of Art: An important cultural resource reopens its doors after a thoughtful renovation and expansion. -- Ann Beha Architects [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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