Today’s News - Wednesday, December 17, 2008
• Weinstein picks an eclectic mix of Best Architecture Books of 2008.
• Karrie Jacobs wonders what Jane Jacobs would have thought about Dubai and Shanghai: "it's revealing to see what happens in cities where there is no Jane."
• Extreme makeover for Tysons Corner could be a model to battle sprawl across the country.
• A case study in how a big-box retailer can make friends with a neighborhood (without crimping sales).
• Prague scraps "octopus" library design (until the next election?); Kaplický will bide his time: "The library will stand in Letná."
• Calys on Fisher's new plans for Presidio museum - apparently, they don't include Gluckman.
• Gehry recommits to his Ohr-O'Keefe museum in Biloxi, which "languished along with his interest in it while the museum dealt with hurricane issues."
• Berlin's rebuilt Prussian palace will be a blend of baroque and modern (or will it be Disneyland?).
• Contemporary art gets new home in Mexico City.
• Another battle brews: preservationists vs. church again, this time in Chicago.
• Better news for FLW's Unity Temple in Oak Park.
• Lots of links to reports on how the global economic downturn is affecting architects (AIA just released November's Architecture Billings Index: "drops to all time low"...ooofffaaa).
• L.A.'s planning czar resigns (let's hope her "Do Real Planning" plans and "Mapping Elegant Density" proposal survive).
• An ode to California's Sea Ranch and great slide show of its "style forged by A-list architects" (though "impending transformation of the lodge is causing some fear and loathing").
• Rawsthorn's high hopes for the comeback of London's double-decker bus.
• Call for entries: Cut&Paste 2009 Digital Design Tournament.
• The jury for DawnTown 2008 competition to remake a sewage pump house in downtown Miami liked the "orange blob."
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Best Architecture Books of 2008: 10 tomes from the superior to the indispensable. By Norman Weinstein -- Felix Candela; Jerry Yudelson; Bauman Lyons; etc.- ArchNewsNow |
Boomtown Blues: Recent trips to Dubai and Shanghai have our columnist pondering how Jane Jacobs might react to these unbridled cities...it’s revealing to see what happens in cities where there is no Jane. By Karrie Jacobs- Metropolis Magazine |
Northern Va. Tries New Model To Battle Sprawl: Tysons Corner, a sprawling suburban area anchored by two regional malls...is slated for an extreme makeover...could be a model for change across the country. -- Christopher B. Leinberger [images, links]- National Public Radio (NPR) |
Lowe’s revisits the big box to please the neighbors: ...a case study in how a big-box retailer can make friends with a neighborhood...concluding an atypical design shouldn’t crimp its sales. -- Scott & Goble Architects; BB+M Architecture; LandDesign Inc.- Charlotte Business Journal |
Prague scraps library design admired abroad: Prague Assembly...voted to shelve what was to be the single most important gem of modern architecture in the Czech Republic...Kaplický...has no intentions to build his library in another city..."The library will stand in Letná, I only don't know when." -- Jan Kaplický/Future Systems [images]- CzechNews/Aktuálne.cz |
CAMP part dieux: Richard Gluckman, must be saying to himself, "whatever possessed me to come to San Francisco to do a project?" ...Fisher team, now with architects WRNS in tow, unveiled a revised plan [for Contemporary Art Museum of the Presidio]...scraps the Gluckman Mayner design...new design by WRNS which we won't see for a few weeks at best. By George Calys- San Francisco Examiner |
Designs on 2010: Ohr-O’Keefe moves forward with Gehry...has recommitted to his design project here, which languished along with Gehry’s interest in it while the museum dealt with hurricane issues.- SunHerald (Mississippi) |
Berlin Palace to Blend Baroque, Modern in $750 Million Design : "We can rebuild the Schloss, but we can’t bring back the kings...So the rooms of the old Schloss won’t be recreated. Instead, they are to be designed for a new purpose." -- Franco Stella- Bloomberg News |
Contemporary art gets new home south of the border: The National Autonomous University’s Museo Universitario de Arte Contemporáneo (MUAC) recaptures the spirit of student rebellion -- Teodoro González de León [image]- The Art Newspaper (UK) |
St. Boniface Church at center of battle over Chicago archdiocese razings: Preservationists oppose archdiocese's bid to tear down 104-year-old Romanesque church...difference of opinion underscores a longtime battle over who has final say about the fate of historic houses of worship. -- Henry Schlacks (1904)- Chicago Tribune |
Unity Temple wins $200,000 federal grant to aid repairs: Frank Lloyd Wright designed Oak Park building...in 1908 after its predecessor burned down, it immediately was recognized as one of the most significant in contemporary architecture.- Chicago Tribune |
Recession Reports: how the global economic downturn is affecting architects. [links]- Architectural Record |
Los Angeles Planning Czar Resigns: Jane Ellison Usher, often at odds with city officials, steps down...transformed the commission through the adoption of a set of principals called “Do Real Planning"...another proposal, “Mapping Elegant Density,” she suggested that the city build vertically, but not in a precipitous fashion.- The Architect's Newspaper |
Utopia by the Sea: A cluster of homes on the California coast called Sea Ranch lifts the souls of design aficionados with its style forged by A-list architects and its deference to nature...impending transformation of the lodge is causing some fear and loathing. -- Charles W. Moore; Joseph Esherick; William Turnbull; Donlyn Lyndon; ;Richard Whitaker; Lawrence Halprin [slide show]- New York Times |
London's double-deckers to get eco- and wheelchair-friendly overhaul: Hundreds of designers have entered [the competition], and the winner is to be announced before Christmas. Is it possible for the new bus to become as popular as the original? By Alice Rawsthorn- International Herald Tribune |
Call for entries: Cut&Paste 2009 Digital Design Tournament for 2D, 3D, and Motion Graphics; deadlines: January 23, 2009 (North America); February 20, 2009 (Europe, Asia)- Cut&Paste |
Downtown design jury likes orange blob to hide pump house: The winner in DawnTown 2008, an architectural contest to remake a sewage pump house in downtown Miami is a proposal to cap it with a web of rubber tentacles reminiscent of a writhing sea creature. -- Helen Pierce/PierceWorkshop; Mikkel Thisted; Bryan Astheimer/Sarah Weidner Astheimer [image, link]- Miami Herald |
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-- Competition winner: MVRDV: Gwanggyo Power Centre, Seoul, South Korea
-- Exhibition: Iwan Baan Recent Works: Contemporary Architectural Photographs, AA Gallery, London, UK |
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