Today’s News - Tuesday, March 3, 2009
• Boddy and Duany go mano-a-mano about a new New Urbanist development for a Vancouver suburb (is it really "Mad Max goes to Sunnybrook Farm"?).
• NAIOP issues a report claiming the "green-building vision may be more of a myth."
• Mazria calls it a "disinformation study...meant to confuse the public and stall meaningful legislation."
• Meanwhile, another study shows that some climate damage is already irreversible - "all the more reason to act quickly."
• Dubai's Xeritown: a sustainable city in the desert may not be such an oxymoron.
• A quick look at some (amazing) biomimetic technologies that could soon be the norm in sustainable architecture. An Architect's Survival Guide for these tough economic times.
• Kamin cheers plans for an ideas competition for a Burnham memorial, but jeers the selected site and "scattershot planning."
• The Tsunami Memorial opens in Banda Aceh to much acclaim (we wish there was more than one pix!).
• Egypt's plans to build an underwater museum for Alexandria's submerged glory are ambitious but controversial (pix are cool, though).
• King gives thumbs-up to three young firms he sees as starting "a welcome trend: buildings that are "inventive exceptions in a city where cookie-cutter product is still the rule."
• An eyeful of NYC's beautifully restored Beacon Theatre.
• Q&A with Ken Yeang re: his new book and why he designs skyscrapers.
• A good reason to head to Shanghai this month: 2nd Ultra High-rise Buildings Summit: Building Tall, Save, Green, and Human-oriented High-rises! (exclamation point theirs, not ours).
• Winners all: 2009 Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Awards of Excellence.
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New Urbanist "Southlands" a C.U.V. When We Need a Prius? An Exchange Between Trevor Boddy and Andrés Duany/Duany Plater -Zyberk & Company (DPZ)- Arcade (Seattle) |
Can Green Buildings Pass Payback Tests? ...a group of builders has issued a report arguing that the green-building vision may be more of a myth...study's results make a marked contrast with the claims of efficiency enthusiasts...Assumptions comparable to those of 'climate deniers'? -- Commercial Real Estate Development Association/NAIOP- New York Times |
A Hog in a Tuxedo is Still a Hog: The NAIOP Disinformation Study...obviously meant to stall, confuse and distort...intentionally kept out of the analysis all the readily available low-cost, no-cost and cost-saving options to reduce a building’s energy consumption...meant to confuse the public and stall meaningful legislation... By Edward Mazria- Architecture 2030 |
Some Climate Damage Already Irreversible: ...all the more reason to act quickly, so the long-term situation does not get even worse..."The real concern is that the longer we wait to do something, the higher the level of irreversible climate change to which we’ll have to adapt." -- National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)- Chief Engineer Magazine |
Dubai's Xeritown: Asked to create a sustainable city in the desert, X-Architects took the best of traditional Arabic design and married it with the latest advances in technology to create a custom-made solution. -- Johannes Grothaus + Partners Landscape Architects; Buro Happold [slide show]- ConstructionWeekOnline (Dubai) |
Sustainable Architecture Takes Cues From the Original Green: Nature: Glass that "breathes" like gills, solar cells that imitate leaves, and other biomimetic technologies...the strategy has already yielded a wide range of new products that may replicate nature’s successes... -- Janine Benyus/Biomimicry Institute; The Living; Douglas Hecke/Martha Skinner/Fieldoffice [image, links]- Discover Magazine |
The Architect’s Survival Guide: Recession Stories - How are architects coping with the economic downturn?; Strategies for Unemployed Architects; Firms Adapt to Tough Times; etc.- Architectural Record |
Site's not right for Burnham memorial; is this any way to honor a great urban planner? ...could wind up cluttered with eye candy and because other lakefront sites urgently need the money that will be lavished on a memorial design contest...Perhaps something good will come of this exercise, but it is inappropriate to memorialize a great urban planner with such scattershot planning. By Blair Kamin- Chicago Tribune |
Memorial for Tsunami Victims Pays Tribute to Acehnese Culture: A grand building shaped like a cruise ship stands proudly in Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh Province. -- Ridwan Kamil [image]- The Jakarta Globe |
Can Egypt bring Cleopatra's palace back to life? Out of sight but not out of mind: ambitious and controversial plans to let tourists see some of Alexandria's submerged glory...ambitious but controversial plan...has been accused by sceptical locals of being little more than a "corporate theme park", with many doubting it will be built. -- Jacques Rougerie Architect [slide show]- Guardian (UK) |
New faces start a welcome trend: ...three small and relatively young firms beginning to make their mark on the city's terrain...buildings are inventive exceptions in a city where cookie-cutter product is still the rule...If we're lucky, they're also the start of a needed trend: nuanced works of structural art that enrich the neighborhoods around us. By John King -- Aidlin Darling Design; Jensen Architects; Kennerly Architecture [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Beacon Theatre Reopens After $16 Million Restoration: More than 1,000 artisans, craftsmen and tradesmen took part in the restoration process. -- Beyer Blinder Belle [images, links]- Interior Design magazine |
Q&A with architect Ken Yeang re: his new book "Eco Skyscrapers", what attracted him to skyscraper design, and advice for clients. -- Llewelyn Davies Yeang [images, links]- Wallpaper* |
2nd Ultra High-rise Buildings Summit: Building Tall, Save, Green, and Human-oriented High-rises! Shanghai; March 26-27- JFPS Group |
2009 Canadian Society of Landscape Architects Awards of Excellence -- Daoust Lestage/Williams Asselin Ackaoui/Option Amenagement; Groupe Cardinal Hardy; Field Operations; Ekistics Planning and Design/NIP paysage/HRM; PWL Partnership Landscape Architects; space2place design; West 8 + DTAH (du Toit Allsopp Hillier); etc.- Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) |
Op-Ed: Life After Ada: Reassessing the Utility of Architectural Criticism: Ada Louise Huxtable deserves mucho thanks and praise - but other questions moving us to a new flavor of criticism have to be asked. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
Exhibition Review: "Yes is More": BIG at DAC, Copenhagen: Though the firm's housing projects are amazing and their enthusiasm is great, the comic book graphics are a bit much - it's hard not to roll your eyes, but definitely worth the roll. By Terri Peters [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Saucier + Perrotte Architectes: Scandinave Les Bains, Vieux-Montréal, Montréal, Québec, Canada
-- Book: "Limited Edition: Prototypes, One-Offs and Design Art Furniture" by Sophie Lavell |
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