Today’s News - Tuesday, June 23, 2009
• Q&A with Joe Valerio re: his company of generalists and his approach to business that challenges conventional wisdom.
• Brookings' MetroMonitor tracks America's 100 largest metropolitan areas and public- and private-sector responses to the downturn - the good, the bad, and the ugly.
• New Jersey's momentum as poster child of TODs and smart growth is slowing down.
• "Paradigm shifts" in architecture and planning seems to be the buzzword (again) in Germany (re: climate change) and Michigan (re: economy and sustainability).
• Hawthorne visits Dubai and finds it "an experiment in a new kind of urbanism... ....an unusually pure, unfiltered example of what new cities look like in the age of globalization."
• The EU taps de Portzamparc to come up with a plan "purge some of the urban sins it has committed" in Brussels.
• In rural Alabama, PieLab encourages young designers to design for good (while eating good pie).
• Canadian shoe matriarch Bata enlists university students to turn her dying village into a "showcase for design, life, culture and sustainability."
• Cargotecture arrives in Seattle.
• A German village develops a street lights-on-demand system: saves money, energy (and good for dark skies).
• English Heritage releases its annual register of historic sites at risk: "The news is dismal... sinking under a tide of plastic windows" and cluttered streetscapes.
• Kamin on the little things the Modern Wing still needs to get right: it "still has a way to go on that score."
• Dyckhoff has an amusing chat with the SANAA partners re: their Serpentine Pavilion and who's the boss.
• An instant icon for Vancouver: the six-acre green roof on its convention center.
• Iovine does the High Line: NYC "should seriously consider what went so right with this project and do it more often."
• Heathcote offers a poetic ode to Fallingwater.
• Burnham's 1909 Plan of Chicago "will again prove to be a sure but supple guide" for the future.
• Fay Jones extensive archive finally catalogued and available at University of Arkansas.
• Request for Proposals/RFP: Community applicants for AIA's 2010 Sustainable Design Assessment Team Program (SDAT).
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A Company of Generalists: An Interview with Joe Valerio of Valerio Dewalt Train [images]- ArchNewsNow |
MetroMonitor: Tracking Economic Recession and Recovery in America’s 100 Largest Metropolitan Areas: ...looks "beneath the hood"...to enhance understanding of the underpinnings of national economic trends, and to promote public- and private-sector responses to the downturn that take into account metro areas’ unique starting points, weaknesses, and strengths—the potential "grassroots green shoots"—for eventual recovery. [links]- Brookings Institution |
‘Transit Cities’ Face Roadblocks: The economy has slowed “transit-oriented development” in New Jersey...established a national reputation among planners for its “smart growth” approach. And for a long time, the program’s momentum seemed unstoppable.- New York Times |
A Paradigm Shift in Architecture and Urban Planning: The effects of climate change represent one of the major challenges of our times for architects and urban planners...Gone are the days when architecture was allowed to indulge in aesthetics...modernising and redeveloping old buildings in a way that is kind to our climate has been taking place up to now more or less without any architects getting involved. -- Werner Sobek; Thomas Herzog; Rolf Disch; Behnisch Architekten- Goethe-Institut |
Op-Ed: Reworking and Rebuilding Our Economy Through Sustainable Design: Real progress is being made today in Michigan as architecture makes a paradigm shift from consumptive to sustainable design...key is having the courage -- and political will -- to honestly re-invent our urban environment... -- By Alan H. Cobb/Albert Kahn Associates- Kalamazoo Gazette (Michigan) |
Dubai development may be down, but it's not out: Scrape away the signs of financial distress...and what you find is an experiment in a new kind of urbanism here -- one that has both winning and alarming elements..."cut and paste" urbanism....an unusually pure, unfiltered example of what new cities look like in the age of globalization. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); F+A Architects; Zaha Hadid [slide show]- Los Angeles Times |
A Bubble of Diplomats and Officials Is Set to Pop: The European Union has proposed a new development scheme, which it says will purge some of the urban sins it has committed with its fortresslike headquarters...a comprehensive, 15-year plan that would...provide an architectural framework symbolizing the EU — all while making Brussels a more livable city. -- Christian de Portzamparc- New York Times |
PieLab in Rural Alabama Serves Up Community, Understanding, and, Yes, Pie: ...part of the design-for-good movement Project M...an intensive program for young designers who want to do good...inspired in part by architect Samuel Mockbee's Rural Studio... [images, links]- Fast Company |
Sonja Bata's dream: Breathe life into a dying village: Shoe matriarch enlists Carleton University students to turn Batawa into model of sustainable development...She wants to make Batawa a showcase for design, life, culture and sustainability.- Ottawa Citizen (Canada) |
Seattle's Hybrid Architecture unveils its 'cargotecture' buildings: ...currently moving into place in the city's Georgetown neighborhood. [images]- The Oregonian |
Village Develops Street Lights-on-Demand System: In an effort to save money, Dörentrup in central Germany has opted to turn off its street lights. But residents have no need to be in the dark: Using a mobile phone and code, they can order lighting for up to 15 minutes.- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Street clutter threat to conservation areas: The nicest streets in England are gradually being wrecked...the verdict of English Heritage, which has for the first time included England's 9,300 conservation areas in its annual register of historic sites at risk...The news is dismal... [inks]- Guardian (UK) |
Tweaking a triumph: ...museum-goers and staff settling into Art Institute's Modern Wing...While buildings are typically judged on the basis of their individual beauty and what they contribute to their surroundings, it matters just as much that they get the little things right. And the Modern Wing still has a way to go on that score... By Blair Kamin -- Renzo Piano; Interactive Design- Chicago Tribune |
Ryue Nishizawa and Kazuyo Sejima's Serpentine Pavilion: now you see it, now you don’t: ...we can hardly expect one small pavilion to completely change a nation. But what they have done each year is to give the nation a shot of pure architectural adrenalin. By Tom Dyckhoff -- SANAA [video link]- The Times (UK) |
Greener Up Top: Expanded Vancouver Convention Center sports six-acre green roof: ...the building has become an instant icon for the city. -- LMN Architects; Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership; DA Architects & Planners [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
All Aboard the High Line: ...it does not disappoint...the city should seriously consider what went so right with this project and do it more often...inspires a contemplative mood of awe and gratefulness that such a delightful oddity could be dedicated to public use. By Julie V. Iovine -- James Corner Field Operations; Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Piet Oudolf [video link]- Wall Street Journal |
Just add to water: Fallingwater was, at least in part, conceived as a critique of the prevailing movement, a riposte to the familiar, Bauhaus-influenced white functionalism...Nothing since has come close. By Edwin Heathcote -- Frank Lloyd Wright- Financial Times (UK) |
Chicago, City Without Limits: Celebrating 100 years of urban elegance and the plan that started it all: In the historyof American urban planning, Daniel Burnham’s 1909 Plan of Chicago stands alone not only in its innate elegance but also in its astonishing ambition...will again prove to be a sure but supple guide.- Wall Street Journal |
Fay Jones Archive Unveiled at University of Arkansas: ...collection spans Jones’ professional and academic career, between the founding of his studio in 1954 and his retirement in 1998....encompassing a range of professional, personal, and academic materials. [slide show, link]- Architectural Record |
Request for Proposals/RFP: Community applicants for the 2010 Sustainable Design Assessment Team Program (SDAT); final deadline: November 13- AIA Center for Communities by Design |
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-- Exhibition: Green Architecture for the Future, Louisiana Museum, Humlebæk, Denmark
-- Nearing completion: Eric Owen Moss Architects: Art Tower, Los Angeles |
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