Today’s News - Thursday, April 15, 2010
EDITOR'S NOTE: We're off to ye merry London Town for a spell, so there will be no newsletter tomorrow; if all goes as planned, we expect to post (fairly) regularly next week.
• King x 2: plan for San Francisco's Treasure Island offers "a convincing case that we can pair intensive new development with holistic and smart environmentalism"; and "49 Cities" at SPUR is "catnip to those of us intrigued by the correlation between urbanity and urban design, grand plans and real life."
• Former Dallas Cowboys stadium site is the next piece in an urban puzzle to create "the densest, most walkable neighborhood" outside of downtown Dallas (watch the stadium implode!).
• Brussat takes on Sarkozy's towering plans for Paris: "Never mind that people don't want it; the architects know better what is good for them."
• A very thoughtful take on how the end of the building boom "has generated some thoughtful soul-searching by academics and architecture critics about appropriate priorities for moving forward" (a lot of paper architecture included).
• Saitowitz's "splendid" Tampa Art Museum proves sometimes "less is best."
• ASLA issues the first in a series of Sustainability Toolkits to aid policymakers and design professionals roll out sustainable projects at the regional, urban, and local levels.
• Schupbach joins NEA as its new Director of Design with an agenda to include "Out Town" program to help communities develop and support arts districts.
• Vilarinho wins competition to design the exhibition for this year's Lisbon Architecture Triennale.
• Student Architecture + Design Initiative launches; now seeks student thesis submissions.
• Weekend diversions:
• Dyckhoff talks to Heatherwick about his "hairy" building in Shanghai, his current furniture exhibition at a swanky London gallery, and his "simple delight in imagining a shape and seeing if he can create it."
• Zandberg views a Tel Aviv exhibit of young Israeli architects: "After years of searching, an Israeli architectural style that suits the times has been found: yuppie."
• Moore finds Adjaye's "Urban Africa" a "monumental act of tourism could lead to so much more."
• A plant/robot hybrid that lives off industrial waste comes to life as part of a show in Asturias, Spain (we want one!).
• In "Citizen Architect" the "filmmakers' affection and respect for Mockbee is palpable."
• Even thought "The Art of the Steal: The Untold Story of The Barnes Foundation" shows its bias, it brings to the fore "the dubious behavior of the power elite."
• "The Grid Book" is "a breezy survey, accessibly written and sometimes provocative, but lacking the rigor and regularity of the grid itself."
• "Public Architecture Now!" celebrates the age of daring design (great slide show!).
• Hodgetts finds "AI: Artificial Intelligence" better than the movie (great pix).
• "The Jesus Discovery" argues that Jesus was the son of a well-respected architect, "so take heed, architects - the next time someone accuses you of having a God Complex, you've got the perfect defense."
• We couldn't resist: 30+ pix of the amazing structures going up for Shanghai Expo.
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Treasure Island plan a trove full of promise: Judging by the 319-page draft of the design guidelines...It is an intriguing 21st century take on what an urban neighborhood can be...a convincing case that we can pair intensive new development with holistic and smart environmentalism. By John King -- Perkins+Will; Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM); CMG [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
"49 Cities": Insight into city building...an intellectually immense and immersive exhibition at the SPUR Urban Center...catnip to those of us intrigued by the correlation between urbanity and urban design, grand plans and real life. By John King [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Texas Sprawl Goes Out With a Bang, Development Sprouts on Irving Transit Line: ...intends to dust off plans drafted 10 years ago to transform the Cowboys’ former home and the surrounding acreage into the densest, most walkable neighborhood in the Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex outside of downtown Dallas...The stadium site is the next piece in its urban puzzle. [link to images]- Fast Company |
Paris is under barbarian siege - again: Hitler failed to destroy Paris. Will Sarkozy? Playing tower catch-up can succeed only at the expense of what is most valuable about Paris to France and the world...Never mind that people don’t want it; the architects know better what is good for them. By David Brussat -- Jean Nouvel; Richard Rogers; Roland Castro; Christophe de Portzamparc; MVRDV- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Paper Architecture, Emerging Urbanism: ...with the building boom over...we have an opportunity to recalibrate the relationship between practice and education...One especially promising approach will be to re-embed architecture, as a discipline, within important emerging ideas about the future of urbanism and the existing realities of the contemporary city. By Tim Love/Utile -- Archigram; Superstudio; Bernard Tschumi; Lebbeus Woods; Toyo Ito; Asymptote; MOS; Architecture Research Office (ARO); cityLab; James Corner Field Operations [images, links]- Places Journal |
Stanley Saitowitz's Splendid Savings: For Tampa Art Museum, less is best: “It was driven first and foremost to display art, instead of conceived as an independent artwork. It makes a statement in its reticence rather than in its singularity.” [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Sustainability Toolkit: Environmental Models: ...series from ASLA will provide online toolkits, assessment tools, checklists, modeling software, and case studies designed to aid policymakers and design professionals roll out sustainable projects at the regional, urban, and local levels.- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Design on the Agenda: NEA's new Director of Design Jason Schupbach to emphasize creative industries and place-making...will also develop a new program called Our Town, which will help communities develop and support arts districts. -- National Endowment for the Arts- The Architect's Newspaper |
The team led by the architect Cláudio Vilarinho was the winner of the Public Competition for the creation of the contents for the exhibition of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale to be held in the Museu da Electricidade...opens 28 October [images]- Lisbon Architecture Triennale |
Student Architecture + Design Initiative launches: non-profit aims to collect, organize, and disseminate student architecture and design thesis projects...SADi will publicly debut the Global Student Showcase on September 1...now accepting student thesis submissions; deadline: July 1...- Student Architecture + Design Initiative |
Creation and the big Bang: After the fiasco of his collapsing sculpture in Manchester, Thomas Heatherwick has bounced back with a ‘hairy’ building...The furniture he makes as a side project is in a swanky London Gallery. Haunch of Venison is showing his latest, "Spun"...He still seems motivated by a simple delight in imagining a shape and seeing if he can create it. By Tom Dyckhoff- The Times (UK) |
The second temple and the good-taste police: After years of searching, an Israeli architectural style that suits the times has been found: yuppie..."First Home - Young Israeli Architecture" now on view at Hangar 20 in the Tel Aviv port presents the trend...undisputed inspiration is local Bauhaus... By Esther Zandberg -- Israel Architects Association- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
"Urban Africa": The show [at Design Museum, London] works best as a collection of vignettes and as a way of delivering a message: look at African cities. These things are worth doing, but David Adjaye's monumental act of tourism could lead to so much more. By Rowan Moore- Guardian (UK) |
"Nomadic Plants" by Gilberto Esparza: A plant/robot hybrid that lives off industrial waste is a new model for sustainable living...machine and plants become co-dependent...part of an exhibition at the LABoral gallery in Asturias, Spain. [images]- Icon magazine (UK) |
Building a Better World: “Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee & the Spirit of the Rural Studio"...filmmakers’ affection and respect for Mockbee is palpable...For the most part, [his] architecture doesn’t come across well, however impressive it may be...film really lives is in the affectionate, sometimes jousting interactions between architects and clients in Alabama...- Jackson Free Press (Mississippi) |
"The Art of the Steal: The Untold Story of The Barnes Foundation" frames a tale of intrigue: ...film has a bias...Whether the film is balanced is, however, irrelevant to the central question at hand. Its value is to bring the controversy to a widespread audience and to explore the dubious behavior of the power elite. -- Paul Philippe Cret- Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |
"The Grid Book": Hannah Higgins argues that the history of modern existence is really a history of the grid...a breezy survey, accessibly written and sometimes provocative, but lacking the rigor and regularity of the grid itself. [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
"Public Architecture Now!": ...architects across the world are contributing to a new wave of public buildings. With innovative and exciting structures popping up from Norway to Taiwan, a new book celebrates the age of daring design... -- Jean Nouvel; Herzog & de Meuron; Toyo Ito; Calatrava; Grimshaw; AWP architects/Atelier Oslo; ARM; Substance; Dominique Perrault [slide show essay]- Guardian (UK) |
Artificial Kubrick: Craig Hodgetts/Hodgetts + Fung finds a coffee table book better than the movie: "AI: Artificial Intelligence: From Stanley Kubrick to Steven Spielberg"...What is curious is that the only through-line...seems to be centered in Chris Baker’s graphic visualizations of the film’s settings. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
The Great Architect: “The Jesus Discovery” Dr. Adam Bradford argues that Jesus was not the son of a humble carpenter after all, but instead, of a well-respected architect...So take heed, architects — the next time someone accuses you of having a God Complex, you’ve got the perfect defense.- The Architect's Newspaper |
Shanghai prepares for Expo 2010 "Better City, Better Life" [31 images!]- Boston Globe |
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-- David Chipperfield Architects: Neues Museum, Museum Island, Berlin, Germany
-- David Chipperfield Architects: New Entrance Building, James Simon Gallery, Berlin, Germany |
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