Today’s News - Monday, January 5, 2009
We're b-a-a-a-c-k...and there's much catching up to do!
• ArcSpace launches into the new year with an eyefuls of Gehry's AGO and Robert Wilson's VOOM Portraits and Chairs.
• China may be reigning in its eco-city plans, but at least it's making some progress on green design codes; even its economic stimulus package includes environmental projects.
• Malaysian architects cheer the country's just-launched Green Building Index.
• Even NYC is coming around to wind power.
• An impressive shortlist of 9 for U.S. Embassy in London.
• King on the behind-the-scenes planning going on for the Transbay district: "a contrast to the sporadic drama of the past two years."
• Towering plans in L.A. include demolishing Yamasaki's 1966 Century Plaza hotel (not all are pleased).
• Russell on Libeskind's One Madison Avenue in Manhattan: it "captures a ruthless energy...If only he did not so clumsily cross just about every line that used to define architectural civility."
• Heathcote has high hopes for OMA's Commonwealth Institute: the "architecture is surprisingly quiet...One day London will be grateful."
• Kimmelman calls plans to rebuild Berlin's Hohenzollern Stadtschloss (a.k.a. the Prussian Palace) a "grand blunder."
• Why design loves a depression: "the design world could stand to come down a notch or two."
• A battle looms over plans to build a museum in the St. Louis Arch park.
• Cincinnati Museum Center's roof may bloom to slash energy bill.
• Glancey and Bayley offer their takes on what to keep an eye on in '09.
• Rochon reviews '08: "The year threw us great curves."
• Hawthorne's best - and worst - of '08: "a little self-analysis might be a productive thing in the end."
• An army of experts (big names all) hone in on the decade's most remarkable homes.
• Call for entries: DWR Champagne Chair Contest - deadline: this Friday(!), January 9.
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-- Expansion and renovation: Gehry Partners: Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), Toronto, Canada
-- Robert Wilson: VOOM Portraits and Chairs |
In China, overambition reins in eco-city plans: Chongming Island’s planned community remains a gleam in the eye. But China is making progress on green design codes...In a country overloaded with environmental challenges, Dongtan is a symbol of political overreach... -- Arup; William McDonough- Christian Science Monitor |
Now China is growing slower, can it grow cleaner? Beijing has vowed that its 4 trillion yuan ($584 billion) economic stimulus package to aid the faltering economy will not invest directly in polluting and energy-intensive industries, and it has allocated 3.5 billion yuan to environmental projects.- Environmental News Network (ENN) |
Health check for Malaysian architecture: The iconic buildings of the future will no longer be grandiose but green. With shrinking resources and ever rising energy costs, it makes sense to design or modify buildings to comply with Malaysia’s first Green Building Index...And not a moment too soon! -- Malaysian Institute of Architects (Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia/PAM); Chan Seong Aun; Mohamad Tajuddin; Ken Yeang; WOHA Architects/Wong Mun Summ/Richard Hassell [links]- The Star (Malaysia) |
A Cleaner Way to Keep the City Running: For centuries, grist-grinders and sailors have exploited the wind. Now, New York developers, homeowners and city leaders might be coming around.- New York Times |
Pritzker Prize winners on shortlist to build new US embassy -- Richard Meier; Thom Mayne/Morphosis; Gwathmey Siegel; Kallmann, McKinnell & Wood; KieranTimberlake; Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Pei Cobb Freed; Perkins + Will; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Behind the scenes, Transbay district evolving: There's ample work going on - but it's the sort that takes place in offices and hearing rooms, involving computers rather than cranes...The low-profile planning is a contrast to the sporadic drama of the past two years. By John King -- Pelli Clarke Pelli; Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM)- San Francisco Chronicle |
Developer proposes to demolish Century Plaza hotel: ...calls for razing the 19-story arc-shaped hotel and erecting two 50-story towers in its place...certain to face scrutiny from neighbors worried that the Westside is becoming overbuilt. -- Minoru Yamasaki (1966); Pei Cobb Freed [images]- Los Angeles Times |
Libeskind Flags 9/11, Spurned Master Plan in New Condo Tower: Were it to be built, One Madison Avenue would be a crude and unavoidable reminder of the horrors of 9/11. Is it Daniel’s revenge? ...he says no...condo design’s discomforting edge...captures a ruthless energy embedded in the city’s DNA...If only [he] did not so clumsily cross just about every line that used to define architectural civility. By James S. Russell- Bloomberg News |
Commonwealth Institute set for designer future: The new blocks will certainly not be invisible but their architecture is surprisingly quiet...One day London will be grateful. By Edwin Heathcote -- RMJM (1962); Koolhaas/Reinier de Graaf/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA); Dejan Sudjic/Design Museum [image]- Financial Times (UK) |
Rebuilding a Palace May Become a Grand Blunder: The rebuilding of the Hohenzollern Stadtschloss, a cultural misadventure from the start, captures Berlin in a nutshell as a city forever missing the point of itself. By Michael Kimmelman -- Franco Stella [images, videos]- New York Times |
Design Loves a Depression: Few of the arts benefited from the late economic boom more than design, but a little austerity could give designers a new sense of relevance...the design world could stand to come down a notch or two...we could be "standing on the brink of one of the most productive periods of design ever"... -- Koolhaas; Hadid; Starck; Marcel Wanders; Russel Wright; Eames; Paola Antonelli; Reed Kroloff; Julie Lasky; William McDonough/Michael Braungart; Lorcan O’Herlihy; etc.- New York Times |
Arch Enemies? Debate flares over bid to alter landmark Jefferson Memorial grounds in St. Louis...Mayor and the Danforth Foundation...want to alter the grounds around the arch with a world-class museum. -- Eero Saarinen; Dan Kiley- The Architect's Newspaper |
Cincinnati Museum Center's roof may sprout: Planting advocates say it...would slash the center's annual $908,000 energy bill by 20 percent to 30 percent... -- Glaserworks; Green Roofs for Healthy Cities- Cincinnati Enquirer |
Architecture: what not to miss in 2009. By Jonathan Glancey -- Andrea Palladio; Pietro Belluschi; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Zaha Hadid; Charles Cockerell; Rick Mather; Koolhaas/Scheeren/Balmond [links]- Guardian (UK) |
The hotlist 2009: "Unlike western architecture, India's is open and expressive"...Once the steaming and teeming eastern extremity of the Raj (with Victorian imperial buildings), Kolkata may now see a new Indian architecture; Three others to watch. By Stephen Bayley -- Piercy Conner; Haworth Tompkins; Hackett Hall McKnight; Fiona Scott/Gort Scott- Observer (UK) |
Architecture: The year threw us great curves: Along with some remarkable new masterworks, it was a year of rethinking cultural storehouses, reclaiming Victorian warehouses and reimagining modernist icons. By Lisa Rochon -- Calatrava; Herzog & de Meuron; Jorn Utzon; Gehry; Nouvel; Henriquez Architects; raw design; Joe Lobko Architect; Paul Rudolph; Gwathmey Siegel; Cannon Design/Fast + Epp- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Best (and worst) of 2008: Architecture...a little self-analysis might be a productive thing in the end. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Herzog & de Meuron; PTW Architects; Koolhaas/Scheeren/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA); Obama/Office of Urban Policy; Jean Nouvel; Earl Corp./Architectural Resources Group; Renzo Piano [slide show]- Los Angeles Times |
A Decade's Most Remarkable Homes: Experts pick five most influential and inspiring houses produced during the housing boom. -- Koolhaas/Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA); UNStudio; Rick Joy; Jim Jennings; Shigeru Ban [slide show]- Wall Street Journal |
Call for entries: DWR Champagne Chair Contest: Create an original miniature chair using only a Champagne bottle's foil, label, cage and cork; deadline: January 9- Design Within Reach |
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