Today’s News - Tuesday, August 18, 2009
• Los Angeles is ground zero when it comes to competing ideologies for addressing homelessness.
• Heathcote offers an in-depth take on the history - and future - of Islamic architecture in the west and how it "might begin to affect the physical fabric" of cities.
• Glancey takes on airport architecture and the architects trying to make the best out of an increasingly tricky task of "how to civilize airport design and, even, how to bring back something of the romance of flight."
• A Portland high-rise sprouts graceful wind turbines to become "a much-needed learning lab for the possibilities of small, urban wind-power systems" (not all are convinced).
• Saffron gives (mostly) thumbs-up to revised South Street Bridge design: calling it "'architecture' may be stretching things a bit," but it's better than the earlier "no-design alternative."
• For Britain's faded seaside towns, "art and architecture are now seen as the path to renewed prosperity" (and "sometimes, love is all you need").
• NYC's mayor "seems more a Medici than a mayor...trying to transform the city on a scale not seen since the days of Robert Moses...based to a large extent on undoing the Moses legacy."
• Kamin on the continuing saga of the Burnham Plan pavilions (one "now resembles a beaten-up jungle gym"): "Can the public love public art to death? Yes, it can."
• Baillieu on the new Chelsea Barracks shortlist: it's "interesting...But what's not clear is what they're being asked to plan."
• Goettsch Partners wins big (again) in China.
• Another example of princely intervention uncovered (how could we resist).
• Groves on the newest addition to the Getty archive: some cool stuff from a now defunct furniture store that helped furnish some Case Study houses.
• Call for entries: urbanSHED International Design Competition to re-think the lowly (ugly) sidewalk shed.
• Winners all (or not): 2009 BusinessWeek/Architectural Record "Good Design is Good Business" Awards; 7 finalists in the "Intersections: Grand Concourse Beyond 100" competition (some concepts could take hold!); Orchids & Onions: time to toast or roast good and bad architecture and design in San Diego.
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To Cite or To Site: Competing Ideologies for Addressing Homelessness: ...some cities provide services, some build housing, and some arrest people. Often it's a combination of the three, but now many critics are calling on officials to de-emphasize the law enforcement element. Los Angeles is Ground Zero.- PLANetizen |
Mosques and modernity: ...the intriguing question arises of how the surge in the Islamic community...might begin to affect the physical fabric of the city...The history of Islamic architecture in the west is long and fraught. Racism, fear and conservatism conspire to make it a prickly subject. By Edwin Heathcote -- Frederick Gibberd (1978); Hugh Casson/Casson Conder (1981); Mangera Yvars; Allies and Morrison; Paul Böhm; Mubashra Ilyas; Jean Nouvel; Moussavi/Foreign Office Architects (FOA); Abdel-Wahed El-Wakil; WL Chambers (1889)- Financial Times (UK) |
Norman Foster sweeps Heathrow to the height of airport architecture: Architects like Foster and Rogers continue to try to make the best out of an increasingly tricky task: how to civilise airport design and, even, how to bring back something of the romance of flight... By Jonathan Glancey -- Foster + Partners; Rogers Stirk Harbour; Eero Saarinen; Rafael Moneo; SOM [slide show]- Guardian (UK) |
Innovative wind turbines to top new downtown Portland high-rise: ...four 45-foot-tall wind turbines are expected to begin spinning above the glossy new Twelve West Building...already has piqued international interest. No one claims the turbines will shrink Portland's carbon footprint...But they will be a much-needed learning lab for the possibilities of small, urban wind-power systems...Not all agree, however, that it's money well spent. -- Zimmer Gunsul Frasca (ZGF) [images]- The Oregonian |
Finally, a decent design for the South Street Bridge: Calling the design..."architecture" may be stretching things a bit...Still, it's a much better outcome than the no-design alternative that was threatened in the spring...perhaps the next time the city undertakes such a high-profile infrastructure project it will start off right, by thinking of design as more than something that can be pasted on at the eleventh hour. By Inga Saffron -- H2L2 [image]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Can art put new heart into our seaside towns? For many of Britain's faded resorts, art and architecture are now seen as the path to renewed prosperity, while others are trying a humbler, homegrown solution...Sometimes, love is all you need - assuming the nice man at the bank will also lend you some money. -- David Chipperfield; HAT Projects; Rick Mather; Alison Brooks; Niall McLaughlin; Thomas Heatherwick; Asif Khan; Muma- Guardian (UK) |
The Untouchable: Can a good mayor amass too much power? Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New York...has amassed so much power and respect that he seems more a Medici than a mayor...set about trying to transform the city, on a scale not seen since the days of Robert Moses...based to a large extent on undoing the Moses legacy...- New Yorker |
The saga of the Burnham Plan pavilions; fragile public art takes a hit in an interactive world: Can the public love public art to death? Yes, it can...It's easy to point fingers at Van Berkel and Hadid for creating dazzling pieces of sculpture that failed to anticipate how people would behave...star architects need tough clients to say no, when they come up with designs that are beautiful but impractical. By Blair Kamin [images]- Chicago Tribune |
A second bite at the cherry: Chelsea Barracks’ developer seems determined not to repeat the mistakes of the ill-fated Rogers Stirk Harbour masterplan...The shortlist is interesting...But what’s not clear is what they’re being asked to plan...The winner...will be the one that doesn’t aim to deliver a great piece of architecture, but a great urban solution... By Amanda Baillieu -- Robert A.M. Stern; Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ); Dixon Jones; Lifschutz Davidson SandilandsAllies & Morrison/Demetri Porphyrios- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Goettsch Partners Wins Design Competition for Soochow Securities headquarters in Suzhou, China [image]- National Real Estate Investor (NREI) |
Prince Charles latest: 'Scrap National Trust HQ, or I resign': ...unless changes were made to its Feilden Clegg Bradley-designed HQ [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
A store that changed L.A.'s ways: The pioneering Frank Bros. furniture store lives on...in the Getty archive...one might have wondered what a distinguished scholarly organization would want with marketing paraphernalia from a defunct furniture store. Once the box tops came off, the answer was clear. By Martha Groves -- Shulman; Rand; Eames; Neutra; Koenig; Kappe; Lautner; etc.- Los Angeles Times |
Frank Bros., the store that changed how California decorated [slide show]- Los Angeles Times |
Call for entries: urbanSHED International Design Competition: re-think the current sidewalk shed standard and create a prototype worthy of today's New York City; cash prizes; registration deadline: September 18- AIANY / NYC Buildings Department / Alliance for Downtown New York, etc. |
Winners of the 2009 BusinessWeek/Architectural Record Awards Announced: 12 projects chosen in 12th annual "Good Design is Good Business" Awards. -- PageSoutherlandPage/Hargreaves Associates; KlingStubbins; Slade Architecture; Woods Bagot; Salmela Architect; Stantec Architecture; AC Martin; Meyer Scherer & Rockastle; Peter L. Gluck; Weinstein Architects; designLAB; Diamond + Schmitt [slide show]- Architectural Record |
Grander Than Ever: Competition winners redesign famed Bronx Boulevard, Grand Concourse...some of these concepts could take hold. -- EDAW/AECOM; Nadau Lavergne Architects; Jason Austin/Aleksandr Mergold; Angus McCullough; Dongsei Kim/Jamieson Fajardo; Christopher Ryan; MISI Company [images, links]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Time to pick the Orchids and peel the Onions: ...Orchids & Onions co-chairs plan to shake things up in this year's toasting and roasting of good and bad architecture and design...San Diegans to vote online for what they admire and despise in architecture, landscapes and six other categories. The deadline to nominate is Aug. 31... -- San Diego Architectural Foundation- San Diego Union-Tribune |
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Steven Holl Architects: Knut Hamsun Center, Hamaröy, Norway |
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