Today’s News - Tuesday, December 23, 2008
EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the final newsletter for 2008...we're taking a holiday break (along with much of the rest of the world), and will return Monday, January 5, 2009(!). We wish everyone a happy, happy holiday season and (fingers crossed) all good things in the New Year!
• Dyckhoff visits the "most architecturally radical building built in the centre of Paris since I.M. Pei stuck a glass pyramid in the Louvre," and finds the rest of the city overcoming its "curious suspicion of new architecture."
• Pogrebin on how museums with edifice complexes are dealing with hard times.
• A Q&A with the head of Getty's new Department of Architecture and Design: its collection and its future.
• CO2 levels in new, supposedly green, U.K. schools are putting the kids to sleep.
• Moore basks in the light of a revamped church near St. Pancras.
• Hume on how city life is being enhanced, "one landscape project at a time."
• A new Oregon bridge could sport wind turbines, but not likely to appease environmental groups: "adding turbines doesn't make a 12-lane bridge sustainable" (but it looks cool).
• BIG's builds a bucolic hillside of apartments the middle of flat Copenhagen.
• In China, cave dwellers tout their homes as the epitome of an eco-friendly practicality - and a champion trying to persuade authorities to promote cave living.
• Marywood University names founding dean of new (oh-so-green focused) architecture school.
• Glancey is practically gleeful re: new London Routemaster bus designs.
• Sudjic's "The Language of Things" tries to "reconcile his fascination with the language of designed objects and his disapproval of the hold they have over us."
• Rawsthorn on why the design process known as visualization is "is fast becoming one of the most exciting areas of design."
• Stewart offers up 10 Architectural Predictions for 2009 (they're a hoot!).
• In the spirit of the season: Why Christmases will always be white: our "electro pseudo-winter is incredible...But it's at odds with what's happening to 'real' winter."
• Tate's Christmas tree may use people power, but it "looks like an ominous portent of future yuletides."
• A Paris charity auction offered up "Christmas trees" designed by starchitects: no live trees were harmed, making them sustainable (though pricey) luxuries.
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The architecture of Paris re-emerges: After decades in London’s shadow, Paris is re-emerging as the powerhouse of new and exciting architecture...there has of late been a curious suspicion of new architecture...this has spared France cheaper, cheesier, Dubai-apeing icons, it has also left it risk-averse. By Tom Dyckhoff -- Jakob Macfarlane; Herzog & De Meuron; Mayne/Morphosis; Jean Nouvel- The Times (UK) |
Museum Growth Meets Hard Times: As expansions planned in boom years are completed, budgets tighten..."Many organizations have an edifice complex — they’re so excited by the glory of a new facility...Now...the pool of money is smaller." By Robin Pogrebin -- Polshek Partnership; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Cloepfil/Allied Works; Rafael Viñoly- New York Times |
Bringing Design to the Getty: Q&A with Wim De Wit...The head of Getty’s new Department of Architecture and Design talks about the institute’s extensive collection, its future, and unrealized Southern California design.- Metropolis Magazine |
New schools 'put children to sleep': A new study says environmentally friendly schools are creating high levels of CO2 in classrooms causing pupils to feel drowsy- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Let there be light: A revamped church near St Pancras shows perfectly how the design of sacred spaces has moved with the times...churches like the Lumen United do make centres of calm and decency that few other building types provide. By Rowan Moore -- Theis and Khan Architects [images]- Evening Standard (UK) |
Enhancing city life, one landscape project at a time: ...landscape architecture could be to this century what architecture was to the last. By Christopher Hume -- Field Operations- Toronto Star |
Wind turbines may grace new I-5 bridge: ...a way to showcase the Portland-Vancouver area's leadership in sustainability...not likely to appease environmental groups...saying that expanding the crossing from six lanes to 12 could promote sprawl and pollution. -- Touchstone Architecture [images]- The Oregonian |
Making a Mountain: Bjarke Ingels Group [BIG] adds a high-altitude feature to Copenhagen’s flat landscape...Mountain Dwellings...bucolic hillside apartments actually scale a garage with 480 parking spaces. [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
In China, living close to the earth: Cave dwellers tout their homes' practicality...fireproof, noise proof, warm in winter, cool in summer and the epitome of an eco-friendly design. Moreover, it's cheap...Wang Jun is trying to persuade authorities to promote cave living...He said caves are far more energy efficient than freestanding buildings.- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Architecture School at Marywood University Names Founding Dean: ...will focus on "environmental stewardship," with an emphasis on "green building" principles of design and LEED accreditation. -- Gregory K. Hunt, FAIA- Marywood University (Pennsylvania) |
All aboard! Mayor announces new London Routemaster bus designers: ...winning designs make imaginative use of hybrid-drive technology, lightweight materials and a wealth of fresh engineering ideas...a new generation of real London buses...about to bloom. Just, don't expect [them] to be along in the next few minutes. By Jonathan Glancey -- Aston Martin/Foster + Partners; Capoco Design [slide show]- Guardian (UK) |
Book review: "The Language of Things" by Deyan Sudjic...has no theoretical agenda. What he uses to navigate design, interestingly, is his own moral compass. He's a critic trying to reconcile his fascination with the language of designed objects and his disapproval of the hold they have over us.- Icon magazine (UK) |
New tools to help with information overload: The design process known as visualization, which uses advanced software to illustrate the complex data that is increasingly bombarding us..."viz" as it's called for short, is fast becoming one of the most exciting areas of design. By Alice Rawsthorn -- Paola Antonelli; Diller Scofidio + Renfro- International Herald Tribune |
10 Architectural Predictions for 2009: Norman Foster enters into a partnership with Coca-Cola to design a series of signature cans...Ken Shuttleworth of Make Architects designing a cactus-shaped can for Pepsi...Foreign Office Architects has a public falling out with the letter E...letter E initiates legal proceedings.- Building (UK) |
Why your Christmases will always be white: Sam Jacob on the fabricated landscape of a dying season...The sparkle of LED lights recall a starry pagan sky...We spray snow on to windows as applied meteorology...This electro pseudo-winter is incredible in its intricacy and depth. But it's at odds with what's happening to 'real' winter.- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Tate’s Ominous Christmas Tree Uses People Power: “Make Your Own Christmas,” looks like an ominous portent of future yuletides...A ramshackle construction of recycled materials, it is decorated with homemade-looking slogans about, well, recycling. By Martin Gayford -- Bob and Roberta Smith/Patrick Brill- Bloomberg News |
Designer 'Christmas trees' sold at Paris charity auction: Zaha Hadid's white column tree was the top seller of the night at €46,000. -- Norman Foster (€8,500 or about $11,000); India Mahdavi (€8,000); Jacques Rougerie (€5,100) [image]- International Herald Tribune |
Best Architecture Books of 2008: 10 tomes from the superior to the indispensable. By Norman Weinstein -- Felix Candela; Jerry Yudelson; Bauman Lyons; etc.- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Randall Stout Architects: Taubman Museum of Art, Roanoke, Virginia
-- The Camera: Ken Konchel: architectonic: St. Louis |
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