Today’s News - Tuesday, May 26, 2009
• ArcSpace brings us eyefuls of Asymptote in Abu Dhabi, and FLW at the Guggenheim.
• The Climate Positive Development Program for 14 cities to set a "compelling environmental and economic example" for other cities to follow.
• King doesn't seem to hold much hope that San Francisco's Downtown Plan will mark its 25th anniversary "by crafting fresh guidelines for the commercial core...count on the process to grow more strident and cynical."
• Hume's ironically humorous take on why "some Torontonians will have to endure the pain of a new narrower Jarvis St." to make more room for cyclists and pedestrians - "who are they, after all, but people without cars?" (Both cities are among the 14 cited above.)
• And he looks at why not everyone will be pleased to see the shift from cars to transit at a new-style urban community by Calthorpe.
• Ouroussoff gives (mostly) thumbs-up to turning Times Square's Broadway into a pedestrian mall.
• A "source close to the developers" says Chelsea Barracks plan is "dead in the water" (does this mean Prince Charles wins?).
• In Oregon, is the "beautiful Willamette bridge design" by Rosales dead in the water
• or a "coming battle"?
• In L.A., supportive housing attracts creative architects despite tight funding.
• In the U.K., a notable roundtable discusses if supportive housing is a neglected sector.
• An impressive shortlist for Glasgow School of Art (and nary a starchitect among them).
• Scary stuff: urvey says: "one in six architects in Europe is now unemployed."
• Marvelous Modernists: Boston's Bauhaus gems and preserving modernism in Muncie.
• NZIA medals to a school for special-needs children and its chapel.
• Hume and Hawthorne offer tributes to Erickson; Pedersen discovers a 1972 speech that "could be given today, almost word for word."
• Call for entries: Building Re-Skinning International Competition.
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-- Nearing completion: Asymptote Architecture: The Yas Hotel, Abu Dhabi, UAE
-- Exhibition: "Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward," Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York City |
Clinton Climate Initiative, USGBC set Climate Positive Development Program for 14 cities on six continents: ...will support the development of large-scale urban projects...will strive to reduce the amount of on-site CO2 emissions to below zero...setting a compelling environmental and economic example for cities to follow.- Building Design & Construction (BD&C) |
Signs of tarnish as Downtown Plan nears 25: ...one era's innovation is the next generation's dated rulebook...as long as downtown, in effect, is up for grabs, count on the process to grow more strident and cynical...The rest of us will lose out. Because in this atmosphere, there won't be the far-sighted attention to architecture and urban design that San Francisco deserves. By John King- San Francisco Chronicle |
One small lane for mankind: ...some Torontonians will have to endure the pain of a new narrower Jarvis St....just because one less lane would mean more room for cyclists, pedestrians and trees...Cyclists, pedestrians – who are they, after all, but people without cars?...More of a pain than some airy-fairy notion of an efficient and civilized city. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
Transit hubs to shape urban pocket in Markham: ...Peter Calthorpe...calls this job "the highest manifestation of transit-oriented development I have been involved in"...referring to Langstaff, a new-style urban community proposed for a 57-hectare site...Not everyone will be pleased to see the shift from cars to transit; but better get used to it: This is what the future looks like. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
Times Square Plan’s Challenge: Lose the Cars, Keep the Grit: A day after a stretch of Broadway was closed to cars, the soul of Times Square remained intact...But I worry about the character of the mall, with its string of disconnected plazas...Until the city commissions a plan for a more detailed design, we won’t know what they will become. By Nicolai Ouroussoff -- Janette Sadik-Khan; Jan Gehl [slide show]- New York Times |
Coup for Charles in the fight over Chelsea Barracks: The Prince of Wales appears to have emerged victorious in his battle to scrap a sprawling modernist development...A source close to the developers [said] that the current application...“is now dead in the water” and will be withdrawn next month...the firm “continues to engage with the stakeholders and is listening to their concerns” -- Rogers Stirk Harbour; Quinlan Terry- The Times (UK) |
Architects Warn Altered Bridge Design Will Trigger "Coming Battle": Remember this beautiful Willamette bridge design... unveiled at city hall in April? ...architect Miguel Rosales...will no longer be involved with the project..."we're now moving into a more advanced and detailed design phase with a different architect." -- Donald MacDonald [images, links]- Portland Mervury (Oregon) |
Better Living: As funding gets tight, supportive housing attracts creative architects...Is there a silver lining to the budget crisis for affordable and supportive housing? -- Michael Maltzan; Killefer Flammang Architects; Koning Eizenberg; Pugh + Scarpa; Lorcan O’Herlihy [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Supported housing: a neglected sector: Rory Olcayto brings a group of architects together to discuss the complexities of designing supported housing...an edited transcript of the two-hour discussion. -- Duggan Morris Architects; BPTW Partnership; Quattro Design Architects; Walter Menteth Architects; Herman Hertzberger- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Mackintosh shortlist unveiled: None of the big name ‘starchitects’ vying to win the high-profile contest to design a new £50 million building for the Glasgow School of Art has made it on to the seven-strong shortlist. -- Elder & Cannon; Francisco Mangado Architects; Grafton Architects; Hopkins; Benson + Forsyth; John McAslan and Partners/Nord Architects; Steven Holl Architects/JM Architects- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
European survey reveals worrying unemployment trend: Latest results show ‘one in six architects in Europe are now unemployed’...not optimistic that the number of new project enquiries will improve until much later this year. -- Architects’ Council of Europe- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
A look at the hub of early moderns: Bauhaus design found a following in Greater Boston...turns out to have been, along with greater Los Angeles, the center of early modernism in this country. Who knew? -- Gropius; The Architects Collaborative; Samuel Glazer; Carl Koch- Boston Globe |
Op-Ed: Celebrating and preserving modernism in Muncie: ...many significant American residences that were designed in the modernist tradition...continue to be demolished or threatened with demolition. By Tony Costello/Costello + Associates -- Fred Graham/Hamilton & Graham (1947); George W. “Bill” Cox (1964); Lustron; Edward Durell Stone (1960s) [images]- The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana) |
A Takapuna school for special-needs children and its chapel scoop the country's top national architectural awards. -- Haughey & Fox and Partners (1965); Opus Architecture [image]- New Zealand Herald |
Obituary: Arthur Erickson a modern master of architecture: His death this week at the age of 84 marks the end of an era...saw himself not as an entertainer but poet. As well as being one Canada's first modernists, he was one of the country's last romantics. By Christopher Hume [slide show]- Toronto Star |
Arthur Erickson’s Plea for Economic and Environmental Responsibility: ...an amazing speech to a group of bankers in 1972...warned about the dangers of Western arrogance, the threat posed by global tourism, the importance of native cultures, and the stress all this was placing on the limited resources of planet Earth. Reading the speech today is thrilling...and depressing (the same speech could be given today, almost word for word). By Martin C. Pedersen [link to speech]- Metropolis Magazine |
Obituary: Arthur Erickson, 84; architect of California Plaza towers in L.A.: ...a Vancouver architect whose buildings tend to look terrible in the rain. Nonetheless...deserved to be better known than he was...His highly inventive, often fearless work...which young designers have begun to rediscover...offers clues about how to solve some of contemporary architecture's most pressing challenges. By Christopher Hawthorne [slide show]- Los Angeles Times |
Arthur Erickson and the limits of architectural labels: Was he a modernist? A post-modernist? A Brutalist? The answer...is all of the above -- and none of the above. By Christopher Hawthorne [links]- Los Angeles Times |
Call for entries: Building Re-Skinning International Competition: Addressing an Urgent Global Need...re-skinning existing infrastructure to increase energy efficiency and reduce environmental impact...designs submitted must be pre-funded and will actually be executed; deadline: September 1- Zerofootprint |
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