Today’s News - Monday, November 16, 2009
• ArcSpace brings us Ando in Venice and a "visual celebration" of leopards (indeed!).
• USGBC report: green construction will add billions to U.S. GDP and create 8 million new jobs (here's hoping!).
• Hawthorne cheers the opening of L.A.'s 8 new metro stations: "More transit means more pedestrians...and new interest in our long-neglected streetscapes and public sphere."
• Forgey returns from Toronto with lessons for D.C.'s "contextual community...Loosen up."
• "Context\Contrast" at NYC's Center for Architecture puts the importance of context under a microscope: "the chief battleground for a happy city is the architectural word "context."
• A new gallery in Johannesburg is "a small building with a big attitude" that "makes it hard not to wonder from where it appeared" (looks very cool to us).
• Grimshaw called on the carpet by environmentalists for taking on Heathrow's third runway project: they're going "to try to persuade the firm to stand down from the job."
• Lewis on architects' love of glass - for better and worse.
• Traditional building arts continue to thrive in the capital of Yemen's Old City: "They experimented for hundreds of years to find these techniques...nowadays we are building houses with a very stupid concept."
• Dyckhoff hails the new Puritanism in architecture, celebrating the "austerity" of Caruso St John's Nottingham Contemporary: "This, ladies and gentlemen, is an anti-icon."
• Saffron cheers a new visitors center for FLW's often-overlooked (and only) synagogue.
• Princeton celebrates the re-opening of Whig Hall after an overhaul of a 1972 overhaul of the 1893 building.
• Lubetkin's 1930s buildings at Dudley Zoo, listed as endangered the WMF, may have a bright future.
• Glancey takes a TV series to task for seeing "Britain's art-deco history through neon-tinted glasses" (it "should get its history straight").
• Mack cheers Moe: "If you favored preservation before, you'll really like it when you realize it's the ultimate green movement."
• An eyeful of two architects quietly spreading their brand of sustainable design in northern Baja, Mexico, turning trash into interesting architecture.
• We couldn't resist: a prize-winning public potty in Austin just keeps racking up international accolades for its "exquisite simplicity" (and pix to prove it).
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-- Tadao Ando: Punta della Dogana, Francois Pinault Foundation, Venice, Italy
-- Book: "Eye of the Leopard" by Dereck Joubert & Beverly Joubert |
Green Construction Will Add $554 Billion to U.S. GDP by 2013, Create 8 Million New Jobs: new study released by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Booz Allen Hamilton... [link to report]- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
An extension of more than the Gold Line: Sunday's opening of eight new Metro stations...lays down tracks toward an exciting future...More transit means more pedestrians, more people who pay attention to the shape and design of the city up close...and new interest in our long-neglected streetscapes and public sphere. By Christopher Hawthorne -- AECOM; Aziz Kohan [slide show]- Los Angeles Times |
Toronto offers design lessons for D.C.: ...it is the context question that caught my attention in Toronto...Washington's design community...is by and large stuck in the past...To change is not easy, but there is a lesson here for Washington’s contextual community...Loosen up. By Benjamin Forgey -- Frank Gehry; Will Alsop; Daniel Libeskind; Hugh Newell Jacobsen; Shalom Baranes; Mark McInturff; Robert Gorney; Bill Bonstra; Suman Sorg; Travis Price; David Jameson; Philip Esocoff- Washington Business Journal |
Context Message: An architectural word (and free exhibition) make NY a better place to live..."A city that does not have happy streets and buildings does not have happy people”...According to planners, preservationists and architects, the chief battleground for a happy city is the architectural word “context”...“Context\Contrast” at the Center for Architecture...the importance of context in our local historic districts is placed under a microscope.- NY Daily News |
There's something about Circa: ..."a small building with a big attitude". The arresting new art gallery in Rosebank is described as an iconic building with good manners...its tall, elliptical shape...makes it hard not to wonder from where it appeared. -- Pierre Swanepoel /StudioMAS [images]- City of Johannesburg (South Africa) |
Eden Project architect risks green reputation over Heathrow contract: Campaigners denounce Grimshaw's green credentials as 'laughable' as practice set to be named third runway designer...environmentalists pledged to take direct action...to try to persuade the firm to stand down from the job. By Robert Booth- Guardian (UK) |
Glass rules our cities, for better and worse: Architects love glass, sometimes with a passion...But pulling a scaleless glass skin from a building's parapet down to a city sidewalk is aesthetically and functionally questionable. By Roger K. Lewis- Washington Post |
Yemen Finds Dreamland of Architecture: Traditions have stayed largely alive because of deep poverty and long isolation, making the capital’s Old City one of the world’s architectural gems..."They experimented for hundreds of years to find these techniques. By comparison, nowadays we are building houses with a very stupid concept."- New York Times |
Architecture: hail the new puritanism: As the recession forces an end to the age of architecture built on excess, we should celebrate the austerity of Nottingham Contemporary...This, ladies and gentlemen, is an anti-icon...The building feels as if it’s going to age well...looks geological, as if it’s here for eternity. By Tom Dyckhoff -- Caruso St John- The Times (UK) |
Frank Lloyd Wright-designed synagogue adds visitor center: ...Elkins Park's Beth Sholom Synagogue is only beginning to receive the attention it deserves. By Inga Saffron -- VSBA; Picture Projects- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Ceremony notes reopening of architectural landmark: Whig Hall recently underwent a major overhaul to modernize the building, which had not been renovated in nearly 40 years. -- A. Page Brown (1893); Gwathmey Siegel (1972); Farewell Mills Gatsch [images]- Princeton News |
Dudley Zoo: Save the Tectons: The Thirties buildings are suddenly attracting attention – because they have been listed as endangered in the World Monuments Fund...world-class buildings threatened by "neglect, demolition or disaster" ...designed by Berthold Lubetkin and his Tecton Group..."a blueprint for a Modernist city, albeit one for animals, rather than humans." -- Twentieth Century Society- Telegraph (UK) |
Britain's art deco icons? The BBC should get its history straight...recent "Glamour's Golden Age" series on 1930s architecture looks at Britain's art-deco history through neon-tinted glasses...Britain doesn't actually have much in the way of art deco architecture...makes it all the odder that the BBC has decided to label buildings art deco that aren't. By Jonathan Glancey -- Raymond Hood; Robert Atkinson; Harry W. Weedon; Charles Holden; Wallis, Gilbert and Partners [links to images]- Guardian (UK) |
If you favored preservation before ... you'll really like it when you realize it's the ultimate green movement: "The greenest building is the one already built." With that catchy slogan, historic preservation has staked out its place in today's most dynamic design movement -- the search for sustainability. By Linda Mack -- Richard Moe/National Trust for Historic Preservation- Minneapolis Star Tribune |
Alejandro D'Acosta and Claudia Turrent: ...quietly spreading their brand of sustainable design in northern Baja, Mexico, turning trash into interesting architecture. -- TAC-Arquitectos [slide shows]- Los Angeles Times |
More accolades for Austin architects' prize-winning potty: Miro Rivera Architects' public restroom along the hike and bike trail is proving it's the place to go in Austin. [images]- Austin American-Statesman (Texas) |
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