Today’s News - Wednesday, July 28, 2010
• An ICMA report focuses on smart growth strategies for rural communities.
• Some cheer and others are wary of replacing conventional zoning codes with a New Urbanist alternative, the form-based code.
• Monica Ponce de Leon discusses how the Americans with Disabilities Act has influenced architecture over the last 20 years.
• Hatherley minces no words about what he thinks of the demolition of the "Get Carter" car park: "it's a tragedy, and not just for Britain's unluckiest architect."
• Kamin on the green blind spot in Vanity Fair survey - hopefully "the world's best green buildings, both sexy and environmentally responsible, will make its list" next time.
• Hosey conducts his own survey for the G-List of Top Green Buildings Since 1980: it "holds its own against the A-List by any criteria of comparison."
• Hawthorne says the G-List "poll has its own blind spot": perhaps "the most important achievement in green architecture is not a single building at all."
• The H-Box Project has high hopes to transform storage pods into temporary shelters for Haiti, but it will not be "design imperialism."
• São Paulo gives planning permit for humongous replica of Solomon's Temple: "We are not going to build a temple of gold, but we will spend tons of money, without a shadow of doubt" (and pix to prove it).
• It's a Pasadena church and its Palladino-designed expansion plans vs. preservationists in "a conflict between two images of sacred space."
• Birnbaum bemoans our landscapes becoming "sacrificial lambs for new building construction. Like the ice caps, when they're gone, they're gone."
• LaBarre on Tschumi's performing arts center for an exclusive prep school on the shores of Lake Geneva - a "futuristic Hogwarts for rich weirdos" (our first snark fix for the day).
• Snark attack #2: Gehry doesn't get teary over plans to demolish childhood home in Toronto - and is not impressed with what's taking its place: "Who wants a plaque with your name on it in some shitty-looking lobby?" (ouch!)
• Beijing's Olympic Water Cube almost ready for its close-up (this time with "Happy Magic" added to its name).
• Expansion plans for Elvis Presley's birthplace move forward.
• Rockwell's Imagination Playground may "sound like an expensive day care or a water park," but hopes are that it will "become a new paradigm in how kids play."
• Soleri sees his Scottsdale pedestrian bridge take shape.
• RIBA's next president is Dublin-born (a first).
• Szenasy brings us good news about Ray Anderson (one of our faves - an inspiration to many of us).
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"Putting Smart Growth to Work in Rural Communities": report focuses on smart growth strategies that can help guide growth in rural areas while protecting natural and working lands and preserving the rural character of existing communities.- International City/County Management Association (ICMA) |
Brave New Codes: Cities and towns across the country are abandoning conventional zoning codes in favor of a New Urbanist alternative, the form-based code. Some architects have embraced the change, but others are wary. -- Form-Based Codes Institute (FBCI); Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk/Andrés Duany/Duany Plater-Zyberk (DPZ); Richard Driehaus; Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU); Godden|Sudik Architects; Bernard Zyscovich; Carlos Jiménez- Architect Magazine |
How The Americans with Disabilities Act Has Influenced Architecture: Robert Siegel talks to professor Monica Ponce de Leon, dean of the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, about changes in architecture and design 20 years after the passage of the ADA. -- Office dA- National Public Radio (NPR) |
Gateshead car park: in praise of Brutalism: [it] is being demolished this week. It's a tragedy, and not just for its architect...With this demolition, we're exchanging architecture as a physical experience for buildings as a mute, grinning, lobotomised accompaniment to consumerism. We should lament it, not cheer it on. By Owen Hatherley -- Owen Luder- Guardian (UK) |
The blind spot in Vanity Fair's world architecture survey: green design: Surely the next time...perceptions of its respondents will have caught up with reality - and the world's best green buildings, both sexy and environmentally responsible, will make its list. By Blair Kamin- Chicago Tribune |
The G-List: Is the rift between design excellence and environmental performance getting wider? Troubled by the dearth of green architecture in Vanity Fair's recent survey...Lance Hosey conducted his own, similar, poll on sustainable design...Top Green Buildings Since 1980...holds its own against the A-List by any criteria of comparison. -- William McDonough + Partners; Renzo Piano; Behnisch Architekten; ZEDfactory; SmithGroup; Cook + Fox;KieranTimberlake; Pliny Fisk; Busby Perkins+Will; BNIM; FXFowle Architects; Kubala Washatko; Arup; Foster + Partners; Pugh + Scarpa; Hamzah & Yeang [slide show]- Architect Magazine |
A green answer to Vanity Fair's architecture poll has its own blind spot: Maybe...the most important achievement in green architecture...is not a single building at all. Maybe it's a collection of schools or linked parks or the group of advisors brought together by a young mayor somewhere...Maybe it's tough to hang a plaque on - or photograph for a magazine spread. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Lance Hosey; William McDonough + Partners; Renzo Piano- Los Angeles Times |
Letter from Baltimore: Storage Pods for Disaster Relief? ...the H-Box Project...now brainstorming ideas for turning the pods into temporary shelters for those displaced by the earthquake in Haiti...The team is not deaf to the increasingly heated debates over “outside” designers offering solutions in places they do not inhabit...this is not design imperialism. By Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson -- SmartBox USA; Gregory Pitts/David Edward; Kuo Pao Lian [images, links]- Metropolis Magazine |
Solomon’s Temple To Be Rebuilt&hellip in Sao Paulo: The Universal Church of the Kingdom of God...received planning permits to construct a 10,000-seat replica of the holiest site in Judaism...will stand at 180 feet tall, nearly twice the height of the iconic Christ the Redeemer statue that towers over Rio de Janeiro. -- Rogério Silva de Araújo [video images, links]- The Forward (NY) |
Pasadena's All Saints Episcopal Church and preservationists battle over architecture: Although a draft environmental impact report...took no issue with the design of the church's expansion, aesthetics-conscious community members remain opposed...there's a conflict between two images of sacred space. -- Michael Palladino/Richard Meier & Partners- Los Angeles Times |
When They're Gone... They're Gone: As long as our cultural landscapes remain invisible, and we don't apply methods for assigning their value, we can expect more landscapes to serve as sacrificial lambs for new building construction - from the open pastoral scenery of the Hamptons to the shared civic landscape of our nation's capital. Like the ice caps, when they're gone, they're gone. By Charles A. Birnbaum/The Cultural Landscape Foundation -- Oehme van Sweden & Associates; Dan Kiley; Frederick Law Olmsted [images, links]- Huffington Post |
A Futuristic Hogwarts for Rich Weirdos: A flying saucer is really the perfect place for packing in pasty rich kids...a performing arts center for an exclusive prep school...looks like a flying saucer. The new building at the Institut Le Rosey...is a low-slung, shiny steel dome destined for the shores of Lake Geneva. By Suzanne LaBarre -- Paul Noritaka Tange; Bernard Tschumi Architects [images, links]- Fast Company |
Frank Gehry unfazed by plans to demolish childhood home in Toronto: ...says Beverley Street row house was unremarkable – but he’s no fan of what’s poised to take its place..."It would have been great if it could have been a really great building they built there, but that would be too much to expect, wouldn’t it?” -- Core Architects- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Checking In: Beijing Water Cube Water Park Project: ...being re-designed as an entertainment destination...poised to open in August as "The Happy Magic Watercube Waterpark"...features top-notch and even some "first-ever" attractions... -- PTW Architects; Arup; Forrec [images]- Contract magazine |
Haizlip Studio to design new attractions at Elvis Presley Birthplace in Tupelo, Mississippi: ...new multipurpose theater and event space is the first of several planned expansions. -- Design 500; Ritchie Smith Associates [image]- Memphis Business Journal |
Rockwell's Imagination Playground Is a Cutting-Edge Learning Experiment: It sounds like an expensive day care or a water park - but it's latest New York City public park...Both the city and the designers, The Rockwell Group, hope it'll become a new paradigm in how kids play. -- KaBoom! [images, links]- Fast Company |
Pedestrian bridge connecting Scottsdale takes shape: Paolo Soleri on hand for project milestone...looked on as the bridge he designed descended over the Arizona Canal...links Scottsdale Fashion Square and the city's Waterfront shops to gallery districts south of the canal, providing better access for pedestrians. -- Arcosanti; Cosanti Foundation- Arizona Republic |
British architects body has new Irish president: Dublin-born Angela Brady has been elected as next president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. She will be the first Irish person to head [RIBA] when she takes over from outgoing president Ruth Reed in September 2011. -- Brady Mallalieu Architects,- Irish Times |
Good News About Ray Anderson: “In true Ray form, he’s already asking What’s next? in terms of outreach, speaking and writing."...This Wednesday is Ray’s 76th birthday. Let’s celebrate with him, in spirit if not in person! By Susan S. Szenasy -- Interface- Metropolis Magazine |
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Gehry Partners: Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas |
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