Today’s News - Friday, April 24, 2009
• On green jobs and economics: touching a nerve.
• In Seattle, a call for civic visionaries who think about costs and needs of regional commerce instead of the views from downtown condos.
• Becker on Chicago's plan to demolish Bauhaus Modernism at Michael Reese: it's "about as far from sound and sustainable as you can get" (great history and pix, too).
• Rosenbaum rues the sorry sight she finds at University of Iowa's flooded museum and Holl's Art Building (with pix to prove it).
• Hawthorne and Lubell give (mostly) thumbs-up to L.A.'s newest city park.
• Economic realities bite: AIA takes "preemptive" measures to control costs (but remains optimistic); and Glasgow architecture students told "not to come back" after summer break ("teach surfing in Australia instead" - do architecture students even know how to surf?).
• Glancey uses Gehry's spat with Miami planners to look back at some famous architectural spats of the past.
• Chelsea Barracks brouhaha keeps bubbling: Baillieu warns big hitters behind Rogers' scheme not to be naïve and "seriously misjudge the mood of the public, which thinks the prince is right and that architects are wrong."
• Is Rogers' plan for Chelsea Barracks good urbanism? Yes, says CABE's MJ Long; no, says architect Alan Baxter.
• An eyeful of some of Prince Charles's most well-known design spats and triumphs.
• If you think times are tough now, check out the "ghost buildings" of 1929 that would have changed the face of NYC, but simply vanished.
• Call for entries - deadline extended: 3rd Annual R+D Awards.
• Weekend diversions: In case you can't make it to Seoul this weekend, Koolhaas explains the concepts behind his Prada Transformer.
• In NYC, "Work AC: 49 Cities" at Storefront for Art and Architecture is "stunning in the abstract" and "a chewy exhibit"; and "Vertical Gardens" does an excellent job of demonstrating where green space can exist in cities suffocated by high rises.
• In D.C., "Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age" is "captivating collection of paintings that is less like a window on cities of the past, and more like a lens, distorting and idealizing its subject in fascinating ways."
• Page turners: An amusing "grand cornice-and-pediment tour" with the authors of the upcoming, updated edition of the "AIA Guide to New York City."
• Gisolfi's "Finding the Place of Architecture in the Landscape" proves "constraints imposed by a project's setting are what make it great."
• "Limited Edition: Prototypes, One-Offs and Design Art Furniture": at last design art has a first-rate primer devoted to it.
• Documentary "The Greening of Southie": perspective of Boston's Macallen Building from the ground up instead of the drawing board.
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Second Thoughts on Green Jobs (and Economists): ...claims of environmental groups that climate regulation would create a wave of green jobs...were overblown and that it would be both more honest and more effective to engage people in a discussion of the costs and benefits of climate regulation...Evidently, I touched a nerve. [links]- GreenerBuildings.com |
Needed: civic visionaries who think about costs: Seattle used to create civic visionaries who reshaped the urban landscape. Now our civic visionaries have poor math skills...needs of regional commerce...take a back seat to those who believe the views from downtown condos are a higher priority.- Crosscut (Seattle) |
The Expulsion: Chicago set to destroy Bauhaus Modernism at Michael Reese: Any way you look at it — environmental, architectural, historical, or planning — the city’s push to obliterate Michael Reese is about as far from sound and sustainable as you can get...could be moving in to demolish and discard at least 28 of the 29 buildings... By Lynn Becker -- Gropius; Schmidt, Garden, & Martin (1907); Reginald Isaacs (1945); A. Epstein and Sons (1953); Grahm Balkany/Gropius in Chicago Coalition [images, links]- Repeat (Chicago) |
Sorry Sights: University of Iowa’s Flooded Museum and Steven Holl Art Building: ...recovery from last June's damaging flood may cost University of Iowa some $750 million... By Lee Rosenbaum [imsges]- ArtsJournal |
What should a big-city park look like? Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook offers a symbolic glimpse of the kind of persistent, deep-pocketed planning effort...to shoehorn new park space into an expensive and built-out urban region...The ensemble of architecture and reshaped topography comes together at the park in an compellingly frank whole. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Safdie Rabines; Pamela Burton; Wallace Roberts and Todd [images]- Los Angeles Times |
Do Not Overlook This! Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook...has probably the most complete view of Los Angeles that exists...The only down side: because the Parks Department is so poor they couldn’t afford solar panels or other sustainable building elements. Yes, this is still LA, isn’t it? By Sam Lubell -- Safdie Rabines Architects [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
AIA Makes Hard Decisions in Light of Economic Realities: Institute takes 'preemptive' measures to control costs, including furloughs for all national component staff...."finances are good condition despite the recession...we will...emerge a stronger Institute and profession."- Architect Magazine |
Glasgow students told ‘not to come back’ after summer break: Third-year students at Strathclyde University have been told to ‘do anything, but don’t come back here’...Among the suggestions offered by the school of architecture was for students to teach surfing in Australia.- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Bricks and mortars: famous architectural spats of the past: As Frank Gehry falls out with Miami planners, Jonathan Glancey looks at other serious architectural rows that threatened buildings such as the Sydney Opera House and St Paul's Cathedral -- Jørn Utzon; Christopher Wren; John Vanbrugh; Adolf Loos- Guardian (UK) |
Where is the democracy? The big hitters have rallied to Rogers’ side, but their unquestioning support for the planning system is naïve...to claim the prince is using his privileged position to influence the planning process...is to seriously misjudge the mood of the public, which thinks the prince is right and that architects are wrong. By Amanda Baillieu- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Is Rogers’ plan for Chelsea Barracks good urbanism? Yes, says MJ Long, Chair, Cabe Design Review Panel, it’s an integrated scheme that has rhythm and style; no, says architect Alan Baxter, its public realm content is insufficient and it destroys the existing street pattern -- Rogers Stirk Harbour & Partners- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Royal interventions: Prince Charles and Britain's architects have long had a tricky relationship. Here we look at some of his most well-known design spats and triumphs -- Venturi Scott Brown; John Simpson; Leon Krier; Patel Taylor; Quinlan Terry [slide show]- Guardian (UK) |
Ghost Buildings of 1929: When the stock market crashed in October 1929, many ambitious plans that would have changed the face of New York simply vanished. -- Emery Roth; Eliot Cross; Rosario Candela; Albert Mayer; Thompson & Churchill; Harvey Wiley Corbett/Dan Everett Waid [images]- New York Times |
Call for entries - deadline extended: 3rd Annual R+D Awards honor innovative materials and systems at every scale...open to building technologies of all types; deadline: May 7- Architect Magazine |
Rem Koolhaas on the Prada Transformer: ...explains the concepts behind his flexible exhibition space for Seoul -- Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) [video, images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
"Work AC: 49 Cities, Mapping and Measuring the Utopian Metropolis": ...stunning in the abstract...It’s hard not to be taken in by so many urban plans sitting side-by-side for the first time....a chewy exhibit. -- Storefront for Art and Architecture; Dan Wood/Amale Andraos [images, links]- Metropolis Magazine |
Gardening the Walls: In countries where cities are suffocated by high rises, cement and industrial materials, where can green space exist? As "Vertical Gardens," an excellent new exhibition from Exit Art Gallery in New York City demonstrates, one possible answer is “up.”- Azure magazine (Canada) |
Wishful Blinking: National Gallery of Art’s "Pride of Place: Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age," a captivating collection of paintings that is less like a window on cities of the past, and more like a lens, distorting and idealizing its subject in fascinating ways. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
The Grand Cornice-and-Pediment Tour: A major figure in the city’s architectural circles, along with a new and younger partner, has taken to the streets to remake the city’s most legendary guidebook...the AIA Guide to New York City... -- Norval White; Francis Leadon; Elliot Willensky- New York Times |
Book review: Inside Out, Outside In: "Finding the Place of Architecture in the Landscape" by Peter Gisolfi...constraints imposed by a project’s setting are what make it great...- The Architect's Newspaper |
Book review: "Limited Edition: Prototypes, One-Offs and Design Art Furniture" by Sophie Lovell...one of the biggest obstacles to serious critical engagement with "design art" is the lack of agreement over terms...There was clearly a book to be written, and Lovell has stepped up to the task with aplomb...at last design art has a first-rate primer devoted to it.- Icon (UK) |
Filmmakers Spotlight the Blue Collars at the Heart of Green Building: "The Greening of Southie"...the tale of the architecture and design of [Macallen Building ] South Boston’s first green residential building and its development in the tight-knit enclave that is renown for its hardscrabble past...a story of people and their culture. But the perspective is from the ground up instead of the drawing board. -- Burt Hill; Office dA- GreenerBuildings.com |
Book Review: A Perspective from One Elevation: "Conversations With Frank Gehry" by Barbara Isenberg: Gehry's conversations offer portraits of an astute listener as well as talker, an architect as aware of his flaws and limitations as of his virtues. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Herzog & de Meuron: TEA / Tenerife Espacio de las Artes, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain
-- Herzog & de Meuron: Plaza de España, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands |
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