Today’s News - Thursday, March 18, 2010
• Sudjic minces no words about what he thinks of the role of design in consumerism and sustainability: "No profession is more schizophrenic...designers can hope to deal with sustainability only if they really act as designers and not as missionaries or as salesmen."
• King on a California court ruling that could reshape suburbs and small cities: "The law doesn't say everything has to be urban, but we're going beyond a point where communities can be enclaves" (bring on smart growth and density).
• Thanks to philanthropic dollars, Detroit can afford a "star urban planner" to "help lead what might be the most ambitious urban makeover in American history" (a.k.a. downsizing).
• Philadelphia firms donate their time to investigate ways to reinvent run-down factory buildings.
• H&deM's Miami Art Museum: at least two years behind schedule (and mucho dollars later), should it be downsized or scrapped altogether?
• A 1923 Manhattan neo-Moorish landmark to get a much-needed makeover.
• Menking on plans to "deface" a 1988 Hejduk housing project in Berlin in the name of "improvement" - and efforts to save it (with a Facebook page, what else?).
• Kamin on activists' efforts to buy a "grand but little-known" FLW home to create a museum and arts education center (angels with $$$ needed).
• New Trent Lott center at the University of Southern Mississippi has a "unique, congressional look" that would be right at home in D.C.
• Cambodian architecture students take on housing for evictees to encourage them to think about designing "not just for the rich but for the poor in their society."
• Bernstein on the Guggenheim's "Contemplating the Void" auction: "Not everyone in the art world is thrilled" (auction closes today, by the way).
• "With the acquisitive zeal of a born collector," Maya Lin hopes to "alter the patterns of a wasteful world" with her latest megaproject.
• Winners all: Australian Institute of Architects 2010 Gold Medal to "architecture's golden couple"; U.K.'s Civic Trust Awards 2010 (and lots of 'em); ICA&CA 2010 Arthur Ross Award winners honored for "enhancing and preserving classical traditions in architecture, urbanism and their allied arts"; and IIDA 37th Annual Interior Design and 18th Annual Will Ching award winners.
• ASLA puts out a call for issues that should be included in the Society's upcoming legislative agenda.
• A good reason to head to Washington, DC, next week: Design Corp's Structures for Inclusion 10: "Social Economic Environmental Design: SEED" conference.
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Good design means making less and doing it better: The director of the Design Museum airs his views on the role of design in consumerism and sustainability: No profession is more schizophrenic than design...designers need to decide if they are simply in the business of helping to sell more stuff, or if they really are able to offer a more constructive contribution to the way that the world works. By Deyan Sudjic- The Times (UK) |
Alameda land-use ruling could reshape state: ...judge ruled that Pleasanton must loosen its development rules to allow large amounts of new housing...could reshape...California suburbs and small cities - conceivably forcing them to reconsider height limits or increasing the density in their downtowns..."The trouble has been getting (local governments) to understand that this might be a good idea for them, not just for somebody else." By John King- San Francisco Chronicle |
Downsizing Detroit: ...star urban planner Toni Griffin will...help lead what might be the most ambitious urban makeover in American history...will work inside the city's planning department...Her salary, plus the cost of assembling a team of consultants, is covered by Kresge Foundation...Philanthropic dollars are seeding the reinvention of Detroit.- Time Magazine |
Factory Town: Philadelphia retools for the future: Infill Philadelphia: Industrial Sites...introduced the centerpiece of the project: the designation of three sites...to serve as test cases for reinventing run-down factory buildings...will investigate ways that old manufacturing sites can be reimagined to sustain industries. -- Philadelphia Community Design Collaborative; SMP Architects; DIGSAU; Charles Loomis Chariss McAfee Architects- The Architect's Newspaper |
Miami Art Museum in Bicentennial Park: "It'll never happen": More than eight years later, the new museum is still little more than a promise. Despite nearly $20 million in taxpayer dollars spent on planning and design fees, the project is at least two years behind schedule...pondering whether the project should be downsized. -- Terence Riley; Herzog & de Meuron- Miami New Times |
City Center to Begin $75 Million Renovation: Manhattan’s first major performing arts center, is embarking on a renovation and restoration of its landmark [1923] neo-Moorish building on West 55th Street. By Robin Pogrebin -- Polshek Partnership Architects [images]- New York Times |
Defacing Hejduk: John Hejduk, dean of Cooper Union...and an influential member of the New York Five, built very few buildings...But he did build several housing projects in Berlin as part of the influential IBA program, and now one of his finest projects, the Kreuzberg Tower from 1988, is being defaced by its new owners in the name of “improvement.” By William Menking [images, links]- The Architect's Newspaper |
A top-drawer Frank Lloyd Wright home awaits its next twist of fate; activists trying to purchase riverfront home in Kankakee want to transform grand but little-known home into a museum and arts education center...facing a June deadline for a $170,000 down payment...they’re looking for an angel...What’s the next turn in the glorious, but struggle-laced, saga of this extraordinary home... By Blair Kamin [images]- Chicago Tribune |
New Trent Lott National Center for Excellence in Economic Development and Entrepreneurship has 'national' appeal: ...isn't your run-of-the-mill office space...on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg...a few water fountains outside to round off its unique, congressional look. -- Albert & Associates Architects- Hattiesburg American (Mississippi) |
Contest challenges students to design new houses for evictees: ...before the contest, the architecture students “had never been to a relocation site”...one of the goals of the competition was to encourage them to think about designing “not just for the rich but for the poor in their society”- Phnom Penh Post (Cambodia) |
On the Guggenheim’s Walls, and Now on Yours: If the Guggenheim auction succeeds, other museums are likely to follow suit...Museum auctions are nothing new...But the Guggenheim has taken things a step further, mounting a major exhibition with the intention of selling its contents...Not everyone in the art world is thrilled... By Fred A. Bernstein- New York Times |
The Collector: Maya Lin: ...approached her latest megaproject -- "What Is Missing?" -- with the acquisitive zeal of a born collector...hopes to alter the patterns of a wasteful world.- Wall Street Journal |
Architecture's golden couple a prized breath of fresh air: Kerry and Lindsay Clare, the first husband-and-wife team to win the Australian Institute of Architects 2010 Gold Medal for Architecture...recognised for designing low-impact, sustainable homes decades before it became compulsory.- Sydney Morning Herald |
Civic Trust Awards 2010 Winners Announced: Over 50 projects from the UK, Ireland and Europe have been recognised... -- Foreign Office Architects (FOA); Pollard Thomas Edwards; dRMM; Burd Haward; Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM); Sam Selencky, Patel Taylor; Walters and Cohen; West Waddy ADP; Eric Parry; Bennetts Associates; Consarc Design Group; de Blacam and Meagher; O'Donnell Tuomey; Terry Pawson; Keith Williams; Heatherwick Studio; Rogers Stirk Harbour; etc. [links to images, info]- civicCivic Trust Awards (UK) |
2010 Arthur Ross Awards honor architects, craftsman, patrons and others dedicated to enhancing
and preserving classical traditions in architecture, urbanism and their allied arts. -- Historical Concepts; Sanchez & Maddux Landscape Architects- Classical Architecture & Classical America (ICA&CA) |
Winning Design Projects for IIDA 37th Annual Interior Design Competition and 18th Annual Will Ching Design Competition -- Clive Wilkinson Architects; mgb ARCHITECTURE + DESIGN; NBBJ; STUDIOS Architecture; UNStudio; One Plus Partnership Limited [images]- Dexigner |
Help Shape the Political Landscape: ASLA President Gary D. Scott puts out a call for issues...that should be included in the Society’s upcoming legislative agenda; deadline: April 9- LAND Online (ASLA) |
Conference: Structures for Inclusion 10: “Social Economic Environmental Design: SEED”...how to build on the success of the Green design movement in addressing critical social and economic issues through design; March 27-28, Washington, DC- Design Corps |
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Kengo Kuma & Associates: The Opposite House, Beijing, China |
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