Today’s News - Thursday, May 6, 2010
• Schumacher says "let the style wars begin": a "new, profound style of architecture for the 21st century will be parametricism" (try saying that fast 3 times) that "aims for hegemony and combats all other styles" (definitely long-form reading).
• The "uninspiring saga" of the U.S. pavilion in Shanghai and an RFP process "shrouded in secrecy" resulting in "a dull, metal-clad" complex.
• Glancey says Heatherwick's British pavilion "may be beautiful, but it lacks the crowd-pleasing magic of the great exhibitions age...pavilions have become self-referential artworks" offering alluring nothing.
• Auckland architects call for saving historic Queens Wharf sheds: "It is inappropriate for an irreversible decision to be made on our behalf, about a public asset...and justifying it with glib and dismissive rhetoric."
• McDonald on a battle brewing over Dublin Parlour (shipping containers included).
• Benfield doesn't diss AIA's Top 10 Green award winners, but he wishes the judging criteria included more than just the buildings.
• A retreat center for a monastery in Madison, WI, is now the top-rated LEED building in the country.
• Rochon cheers new social housing in Toronto: it delivers "architectural heft and optimism...where people can breathe with their lungs and with their minds."
• Ouroussoff gives (mostly) thumbs-up to The New School's planned 5th Ave. University Center: "What enlivens the design...is not its bling, but its emphasis on the spectacle of social interaction" (though it "may get more than a few people shaking their fists").
• GSA picks "small Chicago firm over big-league, eclectic, high-profile shortlist" for a large office project.
• Stanford University breaks ground on the heart of its arts district.
• Kikoski's "gutsy" Guggenheim restaurant wins James Beard Award.
• An eyeful of Kundig's rammed-earth houses in Hawaii - the "ultimate surf shack" (we want one!).
• Brussat broods over readers' picks for the ugliest buildings in Providence (the "vitriol hurled curled my toenails").
• Time again for Toronto to pick the good, the bad & the pugly.
• San Francisco is mapping its urban forest and measures its benefits with a number of metrics.
• Building materials made from medical waste (how's that for up-cyling?).
• Call for entries: DETAIL Prize 2011 for innovative details in outstanding overall designs; and Sukkah City: New York City (12 will be built).
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Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects on parametricism - 'Let the style wars begin': ...argues that the unified style of architecture for the 21st century will be parametricism...a new, profound style has been maturing within the avant-garde segment of architecture...Parametricism offers a credible, sustainable answer to the crisis of modernism that resulted in 25 years of stylistic searching. [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
A Sorry Spectacle: The uninspiring saga of the United States' World Expo pavilion in Shanghai...what happened after the unsuccessful RFP process is shrouded in secrecy...The result is a dull, metal-clad, two-wing complex that's supposed to resemble an eagle. [links]- Foreign Policy magazine |
Shanghai architecture Expo: an empty experience? Thomas Heatherwick's...British pavilion may be beautiful, but it lacks the crowd-pleasing magic of the great exhibitions age...Perhaps the problem is...architectural pavilions have become self-referential artworks...Expos are not art shows...you need to offer visitors something a little more...than even the most alluring nothing. By Jonathan Glancey -- Joseph Paxton 91851); Charles Dutert/Victor Contamin (1889); Le Corbusier (1958) [links]- Guardian (UK) |
Harbour sheds old, but not 'cheap and nasty': ...has the potential reuse of these 100-year-old Queens Wharf buildings been fully considered? It is inappropriate for an irreversible decision to be made on our behalf, about a public asset, with little public consultation - and justifying it with glib and dismissive rhetoric. By Jane and Antony Matthews/Matthews & Matthews Architects- New Zealand Herald |
Concert promoters claim design would detract from architectural merit of venue's facade: ...would involve installing stacks of 200 recycled shipping containers to provide market stalls and seating for free concerts...appealing against the Dublin Parlour on the basis that it would compromise the building, which is a protected structure because it incorporates an old train shed. By Frank McDonald -- LiD Architecture- Irish Times |
I wish AIA didn’t define ‘green’ so narrowly: ...where we put a building can have a bigger impact on the environment than how we design it...sustainable architecture is only worthy of the name if it is in the right places, and includes design that respects and enhances the community around it... By Kaid Benfield/Smart Growth Program [images, links]- Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) |
Holy Wisdom Monastery, home to the Benedictine Women of Madison, Wisconsin, the nation’s top-rated LEED building: "For us, sustainability is not a trend, but...a 21st century expression of 1,500 years of Benedictine tradition." -- Hoffman, LLC; Vertegy- BuildingGreen.com |
Building soul into social housing: ...60 Richmond East kicks aside the conventions...to deliver architectural heft and optimism. It’s a gutsy, in-your-face building...Hello to a place where people can breathe with their lungs and with their minds...an inspired template for environmental responsibility and human self-sufficiency...its architecture is more than skin deep. By Lisa Rochon -- Teeple Architects [images]- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Bold Brass and Glass, and the World Inside on Display: The New School’s new $353 million University Center on Fifth Avenue...may get more than a few people shaking their fists...What enlivens the design...is not its bling, but its emphasis on the spectacle of social interaction. By Nicolai Ouroussoff -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [link to images]- New York Times |
Sunshine State, Windy City Style: GSA selects small Chicago firm over big-league competitors for large office project: Besting an eclectic, high-profile shortlist including Foster + Partners, Murphy/Jahn, Thomas Phifer and Partners, REX, and Asymptote...Krueck + Sexton Architects...to design a 475,000-square-foot federal office building in Miramar, Florida- The Architect's Newspaper |
Groundbreaking set for Stanford University's state-of-the-art Bing Concert Hall: ...the cornerstone of an ambitious 21st-century "arts district" at a school that is sometimes nicknamed "Stanford Tech" -- Polshek Partnership; Yasuhisa Toyota; Office of Cheryl Barton [images]- Mercury News (California) |
Andre Kikoski's Gutsy Guggenheim Restaurant Design Wins James Beard Award [image]- Fast Company |
La La Land: In building the ultimate surf shack on Maui's Slaughterhouse Point, Lala.com founder Bill Nguyen created a cell-phone-proof hideaway...one of the only rammed-earth houses built in Hawaii...
By Alastair Gordon -- Tom Kundig/Olson Kundig Architects [images]- Wall Street Journal |
The ugliest buildings in Providence: The new traditional buildings in downtown’s Capital Center are, to my dismay, the most strenuously disliked by readers...readers with better taste were unable to settle on just a few to denounce...heaped three times as much vituperation on modernist buildings as on my dear “new old” buildings. By David Brussat- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Time again for the good, the bad & the pugly: ...voting begins for the Pug Awards. Through May, anyone can...vote three times, designating which Toronto building completed in 2009 they “love,” “like,” or “hate"...The competition is fierce...- National Post (Canada) |
Mapping the urban forest one tree at a time: Anybody can add, edit or find a tree they know in San Francisco and the Urban Forest Map will use the information to quantify the environmental benefits the trees are providing...measured in pounds of carbon dioxide reduced, water benefits in gallons of water conserved, energy benefits in kilowatt-hours of energy conserved, tons of pollutants they are reducing and the total economic benefit of each... [image, links]- Gizmag (Australia) |
Medical waste no longer being wasted: Sharps Compliance takes items like needles, syringes and lancets, and presses them into a pelletized building material called PELLA-DRX...currently being used to make cement...foresees it also finding its way into the production of lime and steel.- Gizmag (Australia) |
Call for entries: DETAIL Prize 2011: award will focus on the innovative details which play a crucial part in an outstanding overall design; cash prizes; deadline: August 16- DETAIL / BAU 2011 |
Call for entries: Sukkah City: New York City: Competition seeks to reimagine, reinvigorate ancient Jewish structures...12 will be constructed in Union Square Park this fall; registration deadline: July 1- The Architect's Newspaper |
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C.F. Møller Architects: The Sil(o)houette, Aarhus, Denmark |
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