Today’s News - Wednesday, April 7, 2010
• St. Louis's The City + The Arch + The River competition down to five finalists - impressive teams (and great presentations).
• Heathcote continues his thoughtful contemplation on the future of cities and metacities: can Copenhagen teach anything to Kolkata?
• A fascinating profile of the Brookings Institution's Bruce Katz, the "oracle of urban policy" who has "taken urban issues out of the special interest zone and into the mainstream."
• Q&A with Speck re: "The Smart Growth Manual": good designers "will find the prescriptions of the Manual liberating, not constricting. The goal is to create more places where good design can actually matter."
• Q&A with Regional Plan Association's Wright and Lane: "the role of the planner and the designer is still significant - it has just changed somewhat."
• Anderson asks: "Can we dare to hope for the renaissance of urban influence in American politics? Think of it as the chance of a lifetime to live under the stars, not under a dome."
• Q&A with landscape architect Cochran re: why "urban planning needs to be more adaptable and less prescriptive physically, encouraging adaptation over time."
• Hatherley explores the impact of architecture on Manchester's cultural scene and wonders how property development became the new punk rock.
• Developers see a bright future in recycling/repurposing older, inexpensive buildings with classy makeovers (by classy architects, of course).
• A developer makes an "artsy bet" on a scruffy Miami neighborhood with all the right elements to make it the next hip nabe.
• Glancey x 2: Ban's Pompidou-Metz "is a very strange fish" and an "ambivalent building," but maybe that's the point (ahhh - that roof!).
• He is "thrilled" by WAM's "madcap fairytale of a new hotel" in the Netherlands: it's "a stupefying, funny, delightful building" (we agree!).
• The true inconveniences of designing Al Gore's NYC office: so much effort went into "making the place seem unimpeachably green that, weirdly, it's actually less green than it could be" (maybe, but it looks great!).
• Wilkinson talks about why mobile offices work, why they fail, and how his project in Sydney has turned bank design "on its head."
• Pogrebin ponders the "perfect storm" facing Save Ellis Island which may not be able to save itself: it needs $500,000 in the next few weeks if it is to survive (our fingers are crossed).
• A good reason to head to San Francisco next week: 2010 International Low Impact Development Conference: "Redefining Water in the City."
• Call for entries: 4th Annual AARP/NAHB Livable Communities Awards; and (how could we resist) the Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest.
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Five Teams Advance to Design Phase of The City + The Arch + The River International Competition: ...to invigorate the park and city areas surrounding the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. -- Eero Saarinen (1965); Behnisch Architekten/Gehl Architects/Stephen Stimson Associates; Michael Van Valkenburgh/Greenberg Consultants/Steven Holl; PWP Landscape Architecture/Foster + partners/Civitas; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)/Hargreaves/Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)/Jaume Plensa; Weiss/Manfredi/Site Design/Beyer Blinder Belle/Arcturis [links to images]- CityArchRiver 2015 Foundation |
Cities of hope: growing populations need new solutions: ...current idea of what creates a healthy, sustainable city is a blend of density, intensity and walkability...the new generation of megacities – the metacities – presents its own problems, the scale of its growth barely comprehensible...Yet, with minimal intelligent intervention, they can be made desirable places...must be prepared to learn from each other. By Edwin Heathcote -- Lewis Mumford; Mike Davis- Financial Times (UK) |
The Oracle of Urban Policy: Bruce Katz’s Vision for Cities: ...has become America’s oracle for cities, the policy prophet on everything from public housing to bike lanes to Great Recession urban economies..."He’s taken urban issues out of the special interest zone and into the mainstream"...represents the evolution of urban advocacy...- Next American City |
Q&A with Jeff Speck, Co-author of “The Smart Growth Manual”: "...it is precisely the absence of planning that causes diversity to disappear...This is a discussion that pertains to new urbanism as well as the smart growth movement...good designers...will find the prescriptions of the Manual liberating, not constricting. The goal is to create more places where good design can actually matter." -- Andres Duany; Mike Lydon- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Innovation and the American Metropolis: Regional Plan Association's Tom Wright and Rob Lane talk about the meanings and uses of innovation in the context of the history and future of RPA and the metropolitan region itself..."there’s a huge divide between collecting information and actually planning and designing...the role of the planner and the designer is still significant – it has just changed somewhat."- Urban Omnibus |
Home In The Dome: How to put US climate legislation on today's to-do list by rising above regional differences or state lines and uniting around urban centers...Can we dare to hope for the renaissance of urban influence in American politics? Think of it as the chance of a lifetime to live under the stars, not under a dome. By Nancy Anderson- The Sallan Foundation |
Q&A with Andrea Cochran, FASLA re: her unique approach to space in landscapes, what her main influences are, and why "urban planning needs to be more adaptable and less prescriptive physically, encouraging adaptation over time."- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
From rock to rubble: how Manchester lost its music: Owen Hatherley explores the impact of architecture on Manchester's cultural scene – and wonders how, in the city that helped break The Sex Pistols and Joy Division, property development became the new punk rock. [video]- Guardian (UK) |
Developers See Possibility (and Value) in Old Steel: Buying an inexpensive building and renovating it has several advantages over undertaking new construction...repurposing has received a push from the “green” building sector, where renovation is obviously looked upon more favorably than building new. -- César Pelli; Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Moed de Armas & Shannon [image]- New York Times |
A SoHo Visionary Makes an Artsy Bet in Miami: Tony Goldman said he sensed Wynwood’s potential the first time he saw it. The area had a critical mass of similar-looking small-scale buildings, a street grid, sidewalks...essential ingredients for a signature Goldman neighborhood.- New York Times |
What's the big idea behind the Pompidou-Metz? Will it live up to the name? This is a very strange fish...meant to be as radical a building as the original Pompidou...a strange and ambivalent building. It has the feeling of being a book of bits rather than a considered, tightly edited volume. This may be the point... By Jonathan Glancey -- Shigeru Ban; Jean de Gastines; Philip Gumuchdjian [images]- Guardian (UK) |
Much of a Dutchness: the Hotel Inntel Zaandam: The Netherlands was once a byword for architecture that was cool, calm and collected. Not any more. Jonathan Glancey is thrilled by a madcap fairytale of a new hotel...a stupefying, funny, delightful building..."When you wake up here, I don't think you'll say, 'Where am I?'" -- Wilfried van Winden/WAM [image]- Guardian (UK) |
The True Inconveniences of Designing Al Gore's Office: For a high-profile environmentalist, politics sometimes interfere with making the right decision...the New York headquarters of his boutique green investing firm. A lot of effort went into making the place seem unimpeachably green - so much that, weirdly, it’s actually less green than it could be...Talk about inconvenient. -- Envision Design [images]- Fast Company |
How We'll Work in 2025: Clive Wilkinson talks about why mobile offices work - and why they fail...recently completed a 3,000-person Mobile Office project in Sydney, Australia, for the financial giant Macquarie Group...“Transparency is contrary to the archetype of a bank. They’re supposed to be fortified and immovable. That’s finally being turned on its head." -- Veldhoen & Co [slide show]- Fast Company |
Funds Sought to Continue Restoration at Ellis Island: Save Ellis Island, a nonprofit...may not be able to save itself. The group has run out of money...needs to raise about $500,000 in the next few weeks if it is to survive... “This perfect storm of elements have come together and brought us to a stop.” By Robin Pogrebin- New York Times |
2010 International Low Impact Development Conference: "Redefining Water in the City"; April 11-14 in San Francisco- American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) |
Call for entries: 4th Annual AARP/NAHB Livable Communities Awards for the use of universal design elements, energy efficiency and ease of use, and exterior design and landscaping (U.S. only); deadline: July 16- National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) |
Call for Entries: Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest: demonstrate that the art of the sketch is still alive. The winning submission will be published...(the winner will receive a box of cocktail napkins with the winning sketch printed on them!); deadline: June 21 [pdf]- Architectural Record |
Power to the Past: Cannon Design Regional Offices at The Power House: A design firm transforms a 1928 city landmark to support its highly collaborative, team-oriented work approach that includes space that can be used by the community as well.- ArchNewsNow |
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Ron Arad Architects: Design Museum Holon, Holon, Israel |
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