Today’s News - Thursday, July 2, 2009
EDITOR'S NOTE: We're taking a short (hopefully not-too-soggy) 4th of July break...we'll be back Monday, July 6.
• Huxtable hails Lincoln Center re-do: "What was exclusive, forbidding and opaque will become inclusive, inviting and open."
• Kozinn has a very different take, starting with Tully Hall (he "hates" it) to wondering whether making "open-to-all outdoor space into the exclusive preserve of its restaurant patrons will actually make the center more open and street friendly."
• Hadid's "light-as-egg-white, oddly comforting" Bach salon for Manchester International Festival "could point the way forward to more imaginative ways of experiencing classical music," yet it "has a lot to prove."
• An eyeful of 14 new designs for Pitt's "Make It Right" project in New Orleans.
• Architect Cruz and artist Reyes may "put ethics above architecture" - but "however valuable the ground work was, an architectural result was lacking."
• King on Fisher giving up on Presidio museum plan; the big question: will the collection stay in San Francisco or go elsewhere?
• Brussat calls it re: Chelsea Barracks brouhaha: "Game, set, match: Prince Charles," despite Rogers' "thundering petulance" that was "a joy to behold."
• Moore on possibility of a new "corona" for Westminster Abbey: "It ain't broke...so don't fix it."
• SOM wins big in Saudi Arabia.
• Javits Convention Center makeover "will not only repair the building but revolutionize it."
• Denver airport redesign could put the Great Hall off-limits to the non-traveling public, and not all are pleased (even though Calatrava will have a hand in it).
• An eyeful of some of the architecturally striking projects revamping tourist highways across Norway.
• Could the future of suburbia include organic farms?
• An architecture student's take in the effects of the economic crisis in the construction industry: it "leaves much of the working class and in particular young people with a bleak future."
• Weekend diversions: "Remembering Jan Kaplicky - Architect of the Future" at London's Design Museum.
• Two amusing takes (and lots of pix) of MOS's "afterparty" at P.S.1: "Snuffleupagus Lives!" and a "weird furry factory of sorts."
• The premise of Till's tome "Architecture Depends" is "so inchoate and oblique that it's easy to forget, for pages at a time, what the original question was."
• We couldn't resist: lost of pix and videos of Sears Tower's new Ledge ("it takes a certain trust in unseen architects, engineers and construction workers to take that first step overlooking perdition"); and Hoberman's "insane" U2 360 World Tour stage.
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Lincoln Center Rejoins the City: ...was built on obsolete ideas...what began as an upgrade and retrofitting has become an opportunity for both physical and philosophical renewal...The tentatively monumental is being joined by the convincingly contemporary. What was exclusive, forbidding and opaque will become inclusive, inviting and open. By Ada Louise Huxtable -- Diller Scofidio + Renfro; FXFowle- Wall Street Journal |
Tully Hall Makeover, Warts and All: I find it corporate, sterile, claustrophobic and as acoustically arid...touches on Lincoln Center’s further renovation plans, and the propaganda line the center is using (with considerable success it seems) to sell it. -- Diller Scofidio & Renfro- New York Times |
Zaha Hadid's Bach salon: For an architect who is a household name in Britain, this temporary structure in Manchester will represent a relatively rare opportunity to see her work...alluringly simple...If [her] installation works, it could point the way forward to more imaginative ways of experiencing classical music. This light-as-egg-white, oddly comforting space has a lot to prove. -- Sandy Brown Associates [image]- Guardian (UK) |
Brad Pitt's "Make It Right" Unveils 14 New Designs: ...will be among the 150 houses reconstructed in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. -- Atelier Hitoshi; Bild Design; Billes; buildingstudio; BNIM; Constructs; Elemental; Gehry Partners; GRAFT; Kappe Architects; MVRDV; Pugh + Scarpa; Waggonner & Ball Architects; William McDonough + Partners [slide show]- Architectural Record |
Reyes and Cruz put ethics above architecture: Design is incidental in the socially responsible work shown by architect Teddy Cruz and artist Pedro Reyes at their Architecture Foundation lecture- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Fishers give up on plan for Presidio art museum: In calling off an effort that began with acclaim but turned into the city's fiercest development battle in a decade, the family holds open the possibility it might still try to build a home in the Presidio for its collection...also say they are open to looking outside the city - and the Bay Area - before deciding what to try and do next. By John King -- WRNS Studio [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Charles wins the Battle of Styles: The thundering petulance of Richard Rogers toward Prince Charles was a joy to behold...It is a continuing shame that in America no public figure of stature talks about architecture...The modernists try to quash any style but their own, and tremble that the public might awake to a more lovable alternative. By David Brussat -- Rogers Stirk Harbour; Quinlan Terry- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Westminster Abbey is incomplete, but no less satisfying because of it: Whatever the proposed corona looks like, I predict many months of outrage...although there will be some entertaining aesthetic punch-ups, it's hard to see the point of this project...It ain't broke, dear Dean, so don't fix it. By Rowan Moore- Evening Standard (UK) |
SOM to masterplan vast £49 billion Saudi Arabian city: ...King Abdullah Economic City...one of the biggest projects in the Middle East...will be connected to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina via a new high-speed rail link, featuring stations designed by Foster + Partners. -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill; WATG [image]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Not Just a Fixer-Upper: Javits renovations strive to sway convention center's naysayers...ever since the scale-back was proposed, it has been plagued in the political sphere and press as too little too late. This has raised the stakes...to prove the value of the renovations, and the designers maintain...they will not only repair the building but revolutionize it. -- Pei Cobb Freed (1986); FXFowle; Epstein [images, slide show]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Denver International Airport redesign plan in the works: Plan includes making Great Hall a secure area and building FasTracks station and hotel...plans carry a construction price tag that could reach nearly $1 billion...One reason DIA selected Parsons Transportation was the inclusion of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava on the team...- Denver Post |
Art meets nature in Norway: An ambitious series of stunning architectural designs is turning the spotlight on Norway's natural beauty...a project to revamp 18 tourist highways across the country. -- Snøhetta; Saunders & Wilhelmsen Arkitektur; JSA Jensen & Skodvin Arkitektkontor; Steinar Skaar/Gisle Løkken/70° Nord [slide show]- Guardian (UK) |
Organic Farms as Subdivision Amenities: Developers are trying to make lots more attractive by putting crops in the ground.- New York Times |
Op-Ed: Construction industry in major crisis: The effects of the economic crisis mean the construction industry is facing its toughest period for over a generation...leaves much of the working class and in particular young people with a bleak future. By Suzanne Beishon, Architecture student- The Socialist (UK) |
London's Design Museum opens "Remembering Jan Kaplicky - Architect of the Future": ...curator Deyan Sudjic [said] that though the museum usually plans exhibitions three years beforehand, this time it decided to pay tribute to Kaplicky quickly in reaction to his sudden death. -- Eva Jiricna; Future Systems; Amanda Levete- Prague Daily Monitor |
Snuffleupagus Lives! MOS completes the latest courtyard installation at PS 1, MoMA's contemporary art museum in Queens...bears a striking resemblance to a certain lovable, long-lashed denizen of Sesame Street. [images]- Fast Company |
A Pleasant Surprise at P.S.1: ...what could be less suggestive of “cooling off” than the woolly brown fur heaped upon and flowing over the sides of the canopies...Seeing "afterparty" in person...completely changed my impression...a “weird furry factory of sorts.” -- MOS [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
Book review: "Architecture Depends": Jeremy Till seems to be trying to head off his critics at the pass, by pointing out the book’s shortcomings before they can...his premise—that architects don’t take into account the unpredictable forces that will change their buildings over time...How exactly would one plan for unforeseeable changes? ...Till’s idea of an answer is so inchoate and oblique that it’s easy to forget, for pages at a time, what the original question was.- Metropolis Magazine |
Sears Tower's new 'Ledge' offers visitors far-out views: ...Skydeck promises patrons the sense of standing in space, free to admire the unobstructed view of a city 1,353 feet straight below. The Ledge delivers. The effect is spectacular, even on a cloudy and drizzly day...But it takes a certain trust in unseen architects, engineers and construction workers to take that first step overlooking perdition. -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); MTH Industries [slide show, video]- Chicago Sun-Times |
U2's Insane 360 World Tour Stage: ...Bono and those guys are rock stars...the real star of the show is the massive stage... -- Hoberman Associates; Innovative Designs; Buro Happold [images, video, links]- Fast Company |
WORDS THAT BUILD: Faster! Deeper! Broader! Tip #16: How to balance high-speed communication with in-depth communication. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
A City's Artful Heart: In St. Louis, two formerly vacant downtown blocks on the Gateway Mall have been given new life as Citygarden, a serene urban oasis in the heart of the city. -- Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects; studio|durham architects [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Studio Pei-Zhu: Xixi Wetland Art Museum, Hangzhou, China
-- Renzo Piano Building Workshop: The Modern Wing, Art Institute of Chicago |
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