Today’s News - Monday, May 18, 2009
• Arcspace brings us Architects Collective & at.103 in Mexico City, and GRAFT in Berlin.
• Forgey on the balancing act architects have to play when designing federal buildings post-9/11, and the "critical difference between overreaction and rational response."
• Lewis on the "perfect recipe for boring buildings": it's "our utilitarian culture" that allows "architecturally banal and sometimes downright ugly" buildings.
• Glancey faces down the "secretive bully-boy quango" that is CABE in his own town (will he frame the letters, or use them as beds for his giant, flop-eared rabbits?).
• Saffron cheers Philadelphia's own Piazza Navona: instead of "a cheap, cringe-worthy theme park" - "Actually, it's pretty wonderful."
• Experts urge NYC to Disney-fy Coney Island (theme park experts, of course).
• Russian officials claim 2014 Winter Olympics site in Sochi is a "huge construction site" (guerilla farmers and rusting cars tell a different story).
• Hume says there's "plenty of time for Canadians to think of reasons not to participate" in Milan's Expo 2015: "It's so much easier just to stay home."
• Pitt picks second batch of architects for "Make It Right" - this time, for duplexes.
• Kennicott gives (mostly) thumbs-up to National Trust's Most Endangered list: "When they hold their yearly adopt-a-puppy day, they don't slight the mutts, the mangy and the ill-tempered."
• Gardner Museum's plans for a Piano expansion have preservationists up in arms.
• In Germany, another bridge threatens UNESCO status in Germany; and upscale villa owners protest a public shoreline path that would trace the route of the Berlin Wall.
• Want to get all NIMBY about a jail? Blame the architects.
• Goldberger and Davidson give very positive spins to Guggenheim's FLW show: it's great to see the museum "at least a bit closer to its 1959 condition"; and "a bracing tonic to today's narrow horizons and diminished ambitions."
• Dyckhoff dishes the dirt with Zaha: "People say it's the end of the icon project...Psssht...it's too simplistic to say there'll be no more exuberance in architecture."
• How did an Italian architect (and a woman, to boot) end up designing space shoes?
• "Design for the Children" competition winners from Bangladesh, Sydney, and U.S.; and AIA names recipients of 2009 Small Project Awards.
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
|
-- Architects Collective & at.103: Ozuluama Residence, Mexico City
-- GRAFT: Gleimstrasse Loft, Berlin, Germany |
The federal balancing act: New requirements for perimeter security post-9/11 have given architects a unique challenge when designing federal buildings...This is both a good thing and a bad thing...there is a critical difference between overreaction and rational response...it’s a balancing act we’re having to get used to. By Benjamin Forgey -- Thom Mayne/Morphosis; Gary Haney/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Michael Graves; Moshe Safdie; Kevin Roche- Washington Business Journal |
A Perfect Recipe for Boring Buildings: ...design standards and evaluation criteria...do not address architectural style, contextual fit, visual composition or aesthetic creativity...Our utilitarian culture has enabled government and the private sector to develop millions of utilitarian structures...that are architecturally banal and sometimes downright ugly. By Roger K. Lewis- Washington Post |
A secretive bully-boy quango: My experience with the proposed Tesco for my Suffolk home town gives me little faith in the workings of CABE...added a layer of obfuscation, and arrogance, to the whole planning process...I haven’t yet decided whether to frame these letters or save them for the beds of the giant, flop-eared rabbits due soon. By Jonathan Glancey- BD/Building Design (UK) |
A nonconformist's development coup: Blatstein's newest development, The Piazza at Schmidt's...really is modeled on the Piazza Navona...evidence might lead to the assumption that The Piazza is a cheap, cringe-worthy theme park. In reality, The Piazza...is anything but. Actually, it's pretty wonderful. By Inga Saffron -- Erdy McHenry; Beyer Blinder Bell [image]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Theme park experts urge city to ‘Disney-fy’ Coney Island: ...a controversial suggestion that would radically change the nature of the People’s Playground...city officials did not fully embrace the idea.- The Brooklyn Paper |
Radishes, Trash Await Olympic Panel: ...International Olympic Committee might be in for a surprise when they visit Sochi...Piles of gravel, temporary roads and a brand-new fence around the perimeter of the 2014 Olympic site in Sochi's Imeretinskaya lowland are among the few visible signs that this vast area is a "huge construction site."- The Moscow Times (Russia) |
Toronto's loss of Expo 2015 a big gain for sister city Milan: ...doesn't start for six years, plenty of time for Canadians to think of reasons not to participate...there's the question of whether the country really needs to be out there in the wide world, part of the global community and engaged. It's so much easier just to stay home. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
Brad Pitt Selects More Architects for "Make It Right" Project: Their visions will be released June 20...second batch features only duplex buildings. -- Gehry Partners; William McDonough; Atelier Hitoshi Abe; Kappe Architects/Planners; Elemental; Bild Design; buildingstudio; Waggoner & Ball Architects; Graft- Architectural Record |
The Unusual Suspects? They're on the List, Too: National Trust's Most Endangered annual list...has never been exclusively devoted to the easy issues in preservation. When they hold their yearly adopt-a-puppy day, they don't slight the mutts, the mangy and the ill-tempered. By Philip Kennicott -- Minoru Yamasaki; Frank Lloyd Wright; Araldo Cossutta- Washington Post |
What fate for the carriage house that Mrs. Jack built? Dispute erupts over Gardner Museum plan...controversy over whether to preserve or demolish the Carriage House for the sake of a proposed new building designed by Renzo Piano has been smoldering for several years. [image]- Boston Globe |
Bridge Plan Threatens Mythic Rhine Valley Site: First it was a Dresden bridge that threatened the UNESCO status of a German site. Now, a planned structure over the Rhine River near the mythic Lorelei rock may result in the location being delisted. -- Heneghan Peng Architects [image]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
A Trail Blocked by History: In the leafy Berlin suburb of Potsdam, residents are caught in the middle of a long-simmering feud between city officials and owners of upscale villas. In the most recent salvo, the homeowners have blocked a shoreline path that traces the former route of the Berlin Wall. [images]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Jail Bait: In bid to stop Brooklyn project, politician blames architects -- RicciGreene Associates; 1100 Architects- The Architect's Newspaper |
Spiralling Upward: Celebrating fifty years of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Guggenheim...It’s wonderful now to see the Guggenheim at least a bit closer to its 1959 condition...You’re not sure whether the curators are jousting with Wright or protecting him, but there isn’t a moment when you are not aware of, and reacting to, his space. This is exactly how he wanted it. By Paul Goldberger- New Yorker |
Endless Spiral: The Guggenheim celebrates Frank Lloyd Wright...sweeping exhibit...a bracing tonic to today’s narrow horizons and diminished ambitions. By Justin Davidson- New York Magazine |
Zaha Hadid defies recession with ground-breaking architecture: The world has finally fallen for the fiery, Iraqi-born architect, and nothing can stop her, she says...“People say it’s the end of the icon project...Psssht.” Nothing withers like a withering look from Hadid. Her eyes are ablaze. “I think it’s too simplistic to say there’ll be no more exuberance in architecture." By Tom Dyckhoff- The Times (UK) |
An architect in space: How did this student of architecture, whose path in Italy should have been remodelling historic houses, end up designing space shoes...? -- Annalisa Dominoni/SPIN-DESIGN LAB- WAtoday (Australia) |
Buet team wins international architectural design competition: Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology has brought great honour to the country by winning the first prize[in] 'Design for the Children'...to develop an adaptable, sustainable and culturally responsive pediatric clinic which can be modified to fit different sites in East Africa. -- Lara Calder; Perkins + Will- The Daily Star (Bangladesh) |
AIA selects the 2009 recipients of the Small Project Awards: furniture/objects, structures and accessible residential design. -- ZAI inc.; ASTIGMATIC Studio; Min | Day; CORE architecture + design; Johnsen Schmaling; Intrinsik Architecture; Lightroom Studio; Moorhead & Moorhead; Legge Lewis Legge; John Milner ; Clayton Levy & Little Architects; Laboratory for Environments, Architecture & Design; Stephen Dalton; Robert Maschke; mcfarlane green biggar; EASA Architecture; david thompson; Moskow Linn; Miró Rivera- American Institute of Architects (AIA) |
|
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window.
External news links are not endorsed by ArchNewsNow.com.
Free registration may be required on some sites.
Some pages may expire after a few days.
© 2009 ArchNewsNow.com