Today’s News - Monday, February 1, 2010
• ArcSpace brings us Allied Works Architecture in Calgary, and OMA in Hong Kong.
• How architecture has played a vital role in the redevelopment of (once very violent) Medellín, Colombia, "driven by the concept of 'the most beautiful for the most humble'" (what a concept!).
• Kamin cheers (with caveats) Obama's high-speed rail plan: "It could be transformative, but stations (and architecture) matter as much as speed."
• A possible 2020 Budapest Olympics on the horizon (it would do wonders for the city).
• Architects come up with prefab and modular flat-pack housing for Haiti (now all they need are sponsors).
• New LEED long-term reporting requirements: will building owners want to play ball.
• Rawsthorn mediates a debate at Davos re: sustainable design with three designers committed to sustainability, but with very different perspectives.
• Renovation plans - including a much-discussed vertical green wall - for Portland's 1975 federal building of "concrete, glass and minimal inspiration" are still being refined (and raising some eyebrows).
• An impressive team works on overcoming the "ugly factor" of building-integrated solar panels because for architects and developers, "looks matter."
• An interesting discussion re: urban agriculture - "There are no downsides, except, possibly, rats. But if you plan well...you won't get rodents."
• Essen's Folkwang Art Museum expansion by Chipperfield is Germany's latest architectural landmark (wonder-of-wonders for a starchitect's project, it also finished on time and on budget - wow).
• Q&A with Chipperfield re: Folkwang: "I don't want people to come here and say 'oh, wow' about the architecture...I want them to walk straight to the works, and then afterwards, say, 'oh, the architecture was nice, too.'"
• Saffron on a lost opportunity at a much-needed shopping center in North Philly: it "is hardly the worst-designed...It just happens to be the worst-designed one in the best location."
• London-based muf to curate British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale.
• Lord Foster pens an essay re: his Yale School of Management and how his time at Yale inspired the design.
• One way Edmonton, Canada, could stem "a brain drain of creative types" could be "inspiring urban design, spurred by an architecture school ("Our tolerance for crap is now zero," sayeth the mayor).
• U.K. puts nuclear bunkers on list of protected national monuments (a housing development soon to follow).
• Webb weaves a lively tale of Contract's Designers of the Year 2010, Graft: "a productive bundle of contradictions" + eyefuls of the Interiors Awards 2010 winners.
• Is outer space the next architectural frontier? Foster + Partners' Jennings says yes; Edward Cullinan' Nicholson says "we should master building on earth rather than screwing up space."
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-- Allied Works Architecture: National Music Centre of Canada, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
-- Competition winner: OMA: Chu Hai College Campus, Hong Kong, China |
How Architecture Transformed a Violent City: ...Medellín, Colombia, has undergone a high-profile transformation...the vital role of architecture and design in the city’s renewal...driven by the concept of “the most beautiful for the most humble” - a departure...from the notion “that anything you give to the poor is a plus.” -- Giancarlo Mazzanti [images, links]- Utne Reader |
Obama's high-speed rail plan: It could be transformative, but stations (and architecture) matter as much as speed...should be shaped by the best and the brightest architects, not politically-connected hacks. By Blair Kamin [images]- Chicago Tribune |
2020 Budapest Olympics? ...if the plans are realized, the century-long isolation of the Csepel area and its island-quality ceases to exist, making the region an integral part of the city....creating a fusion of the ideas of garden city, dense city and water-city. -- NAOS Design Consultants; BFVT; Mu-Hely; Finta József; Norman Foster; Egeraat [images]- hg.hu (Hungary) |
Miami architect devises prefabs for homeless: Andrés Duany has designed a basic, inexpensive and easy-to-assemble house that could shelter thousands of displaced Haitians...has devised a light, expandable ``core house''...can stand up to earthquakes and hurricanes. -- Duany Plater-Zybkerk [slide show]- Miami Herald |
Homes for Haiti: House Arc, a modular house designed to withstand hurricane-force winds...150-square-foot module weighs only 3,000 pounds, and all the components can be flat-packed into a box that is 4-by-10-by-3 feet... -- Joseph Bellomo [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Want the Medal? Keep the Metrics: ...USGBC...asks for a long-term commitment: ...new buildings seeking certification must now agree to share annual data...for a period of five years or risk losing the LEED stamp of approval...how is it playing out? So far, architects still don't know how the reporting requirements will pan out ultimately. -- Jerry Yudelson; Zimmer Gunsul Frasca(ZGF); HOK; Fentress Architects- Architect Magazine |
Debating Sustainability: ...in a debate, which I moderated, on “Design for Sustainability” at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland...three designers, each of whom is committed to sustainability, but approaches it from a very different perspective. By Alice Rawsthorn -- William McDonough; Tim Brown/IDEO; Cameron Sinclair/Architecture for Humanity- New York Times |
In Portland, Going Green and Growing Vertical in a Bid for Energy Savings: ...plans to plant a bold vertical garden...on the main federal building...concede that they are still figuring out some of the finer points of renovating the [1975] Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building...currently 18 stories of concrete, glass and minimal inspiration...cost has also raised eyebrows... -- Cutler Anderson Architects; SERA Architects- New York Times |
Overcoming the Ugly Factor in Building-Integrated Solar Design: While visual elegance may not seem like a serious concern to those determined to generate electricity from the sun, for architects and developers...looks matter. -- Center for Architecture Science and Ecology/CASE; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI); Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [image, links]- New York Times |
How to Expand Urban Agriculture: Do we need farms in urban areas? Yes..."There are no downsides, except, possibly, rats." -- Josh Viertel/Slow Food USA; Liz Falk/Common Good City Farm; Steve Cohen/Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability; Allison Arieff- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Germany's Latest Architectural Landmark: Essen's Folkwang Art Museum Gets a New Home: ...underlining the city's status as European Capital of Culture in 2010...a somewhat unusual development these days for a project tied to a star architect...finished on time - and remained within budget. -- David Chipperfield [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Essen celebrates museum opening with Chipperfield designs: ...Museum Folkwang has something to boast about..."I don't want people to come here and say 'oh, wow' about the architecture...I want them to walk straight to the works, and then afterwards, say, 'oh, the architecture was nice, too'...architecture is important and not important. I think you should also be able to ignore it." -- David Chipperfield [images]- Deutsche Welle (Germany) |
Fresh food amid a stale design: North Philadelphia's Progress Plaza is hardly the worst-designed shopping center to emerge from the decade's fresh-food frenzy. It just happens to be the worst-designed one in the best location. By Inga Saffron [images]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
muf to curate British Pavilion at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale: ...saw off FAT, the Office for Subversive Architecture and Andrew Feear/Rural Studio..."Two Way Traffic"...aims to "make connections" and "enable knowledge exchange between Venice and Britain"- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
A design inspired by my time at Yale: ...powerful architectural legacy has been the starting point for our own building for the Yale School of Management...It is my hope that this new building will not only contribute to the architectural substance of the Yale campus, but will also establish a home for the School of Management that will allow it to reinvent business education for the future. By Norman Foster/Foster + Partners- Yale Daily News |
If we build it, will they come? Budding architects who have left Edmonton for school and work say a local degree program could promote and inspire new ideas...the edge of a brain drain of creative types...inspiring urban design, spurred by an architecture school, may be what’s needed to reverse the flow... -- Shelterbelt Architecture- Edmonton Journal (Canada) |
Saved for the nation: monuments to Britain's cold war: Government joins with English Heritage to put nuclear bunkers at RAF Upper Heyford on list of protected national monuments...one of the best preserved Cold War landscapes in Britain. [image]- Guardian (UK) |
Designers of the Year 2010: Graft: ...a productive bundle of contradictions...progressed from temporary installations...to master plans and major urban developments, while insisting that they tackle only the projects that inspire them...Playful and serious, inventive and socially responsible, there seems no limit to the potential... By Michael Webb -- Make it Right; William McDonough [slide show]- Contract magazine |
Interiors Awards 2010 -- Jestico + Whiles; Hartman Design Group; will bruder+PARTNERS; Janson Goldstein; ikon.5 architects/Galina Design Group; Stantec; Cannon Design; Cerquiglini & Rossi; Dake Wells; Munge Leung; Giorgio Borruso; Slade Architecture [link to project info, images]- Contract magazine |
Is outer space the next architectural frontier? As space becomes the domain of the private sector, architects will be increasingly important, says Foster & Partners’ John Jennings, while Robin Nicholson of Edward Cullinan Architects argues we should master building on earth rather than screwing up space.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
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