Today’s News - Friday, July 30, 2010
• Rinaldi raves about Calatrava's Denver airport design: "This is not architecture for amateurs" - and it's "a kind neighbor to Curt Fentress' 1995 terminal...sophisticated, hyper-urban" (and expensive) + plus details and great pix.
• Hart [hearts] Phifer's North Carolina museum, "borne of steadfast logic and disciplined execution, which translates complexity into sublime simplicity."
• A-List vs. G-List as Hosey takes issue with Hawthorne's taking issue with green building survey (blind spots included).
• If bamboo houses "combat climate change, encourage economic growth and protect the poor from natural disaster, why aren't there more of them?" (it all boils down to profits, of course)
• How could we resist an eyeful of a totally new (and amazing looking) type of offshore wind turbine - with the Grimshaw touch.
• New Haven's 32-story high-rise gamble: its success looks promising, but not all are convinced.
• Merkel on some of the most interesting designs to come out of the postmodern movement by once "ground-breaking young architects" (now starchitects): "it made architecture fun again, and it gave the next generation of architects something to react against."
• Kappe pays tribute to Kanner, the "big-hearted LA architect he considered a son...we can only imagine what he might have accomplished in the next 30 years."
• ASLA bestows FASLA on 41 members (our congrats to all!).
• Weekend diversions:
• Jacobs is more than a little disappointed in Cooper-Hewitt's Triennial "Why Design Now?": "As much as this show embodies au-courant goodness, there is something wrong about a design exhibition in which there is so little pleasure" (and a touch of eye candy wouldn't hurt).
• In L.A., railLA's "LA Beyond Cars" offers eyefuls of creative visions of a more sustainable, pedestrian-friendly, and transit-oriented future.
• Gruber on Krieger/Saunders's "Urban Design" (Part deux): he argues that "instead of providing justification for the field of urban design, the works...identified illustrate why the field is unnecessary or even counterproductive."
• "Spatial Intelligence" argues for "a field informed not only by formal and constructional vocabularies but also by...an acknowledgement that buildings have the ability to make people happy."
• Hill finds Games's Pevsner biography "carries its own controversy" by making "grave insinuations knowing that much of the evidence is missing."
• Games responds: his biography "is still reliable," and Hill "has fallen back lazily on the very canards my research has challenged."
• "The Tower Restored" is "an intriguing 1,000-page account" of every step taken to save the "marble cylinder" also known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
• The desire to fight the cold with a modernist design vocabulary ties together the buildings in "Modern North: Architecture on the Frozen Edge."
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Design of south project joins wings with DIA terminal, with some departures: There are few architects so famous that their buildings can actually change the way people feel about a city...Calatrava's design...a kind neighbor to Curt Fentress' 1995 terminal...sophisticated, hyper-urban and expensive...But we are an optimistic bunch here in Denver, and pitching in for an airport that expresses that, in the strongest architectural voice we can find, is appealing. By Ray Mark Rinaldi- Denver Post |
Calatrava unveils Denver International Airport/DIA plans: ...said he was conscious of preserving and protecting the airport's existing architecture...includes a commuter-rail station, a public plaza that links with the existing terminal, and a 500-room airport hotel...the way the plaza's canopy enters the area under the terminal tent "without touching it is a real declaration of respect" for Fentress' design. [images]- Denver Post |
North Carolina Museum of Art: ...borne of steadfast logic and disciplined execution, which translates complexity into sublime simplicity. By Sara Hart -- Edward Durell Stone (1983); Thomas Phifer and Partners; Pierce Brinkley Cease + Lee; Lappas + Havener; Smith-Miller + Hawkinson; Quennell Rothschild & Partners [slide show]- Architect Magazine |
Blind Spots: ...Christopher Hawthorne took issue with the premise of the “green” building survey...(“The G-List”), claiming the new poll, like the original Vanity Fair survey, suffers from “its own blind spot”...his criticism seems off the mark. By Lance Hosey -- Blair Kamin; Susan Szenasy [links]- Architect Magazine |
Bamboo Houses to the Rescue: [They] combat climate change, encourage economic growth and protect the poor from natural disaster. Why aren’t there more of them? ...forestry planners do not often use the plant because its acceptance in the construction market is far from certain, and its carbon-absorbing capabilities do not, as yet, generate additional profits.- Miller-McCune |
A Potential Breakthrough in Offshore Wind Power: The Aerogenerator X design differs from the type you see by the roadside. Classified as a "vertical axis wind turbine" (VAWT), the spinning mechanism sits at ground level, rather than atop a tower, with two arms reaching up and out in a V-shape that spans 900 feet across. -- Grimshaw Architects; Arup; Cranfield University [images]- Fast Company |
Near Yale, a 32-Story Gamble Rises in New Haven: 360 State Street...$190 million high-rise project downtown that includes mixed-income housing, street-level stores, indoor parking and what is billed as the country’s largest alternative energy source for a residential building... -- Becker & Becker- New York Times |
When Less Was No Longer More: Although the most visible signs of the new postmodern movement were in city centers, the first and most interesting ones actually came in houses designed by ground-breaking young architects...these buildings had an enormous impact on architecture... By Jayne Merkel -- Robert Venturi; Charles Moore; Joseph Esherick; Lawrence Halprin; Moore Lyndon Turnbull Whitaker; Michael Graves; Robert A.M. Stern [images]- New York Times |
Tribute: Stephen Kanner: Ray Kappe remembers the big-hearted LA architect he considered a son, one who died too young...With his great enthusiasm, intelligence, and love of architecture, we can only imagine what he might have accomplished in the next 30 years.- The Architect's Newspaper |
ASLA to Elevate 41 Members to Council of Fellows- American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Too Virtuous: The latest Cooper-Hewitt National Design Triennial is long on good intentions but short on sex appeal...purports to answer the question Why Design Now?...As much as this show embodies au-courant goodness, there is something wrong about a design exhibition in which there is so little pleasure. Transformational design, to truly transform, has to inspire. By Karrie Jacobs -- Thomas Rau; Tarazi Studio; Tsang Seymour- Metropolis Magazine |
"LA Beyond Cars: A Global Perspective on Rail and Public Space": railLA displays creative solutions revolving around the topic of high-speed rail, its integration into the design of cities and visions of a future more sustainable, pedestrian-friendly, transit-oriented and less reliant on automobiles. -- MVRDV; Eric Owen Moss; Topotek1; Thom Mayne; Norman Foster; Zaha Hadid; Piggy Backyard; Chee Salette Architecture; Mia Lehrer; Michael Maltzan; Perkins+Will [link to images]- Westside Today (Los Angeles) |
"Urban Design" the Book [edited by Alex Krieger and William S. Saunders]: Part 2 of a Review: Joan Busquets is optimistic about what he calls "urbanism"...I would argue, however, that instead of providing justification for the field of urban design, the works...identified illustrate why the field is unnecessary or even counterproductive. By Frank Gruber- Huffington Post |
"Spatial Intelligence: New Futures for Architecture" by Leon van Schaik: [argues] for a field informed not only by formal and constructional vocabularies but also by neurology, information systems theory and an acknowledgement that buildings have the ability to make people happy...relax and realize that the book itself is a trope for the kind of practice Schaik envisions... By William L. Fox- Places Journal |
"Pevsner - The Early Life: Germany and Art" by Stephen Games: A long-projected Pevsner biography carries its own controversy...makes grave insinuations knowing that much of the evidence is missing. By Rosemary Hill- Guardian (UK) |
Response: Though I didn't have his diaries, my biography of Nikolaus Pevsner is still reliable. My sources are legitimate...Hill has fallen back lazily on the very canards my research has challenged, and on the "imminent" appearance of another biography, based on the diaries, in which she has more trust. But that book hasn't appeared yet, and until it does its use as a yardstick for measuring an actual work is speculative and improper. Hill should know better. By Stephen Games- Guardian (UK) |
Solving the 800-year mystery of Pisa's Leaning Tower: John Burland has spent the last two decades striving to save - and understand - the Leaning Tower of Pisa. After defying gravity, Italian bureaucracy and accusations of corruption, it seems he’s finally cracked the case...."The Tower Restored" - an intriguing 1,000-page account...of every step they took to save the marble cylinder.- Telegraph (UK) |
The true North, strong and beautiful: ...desire to fight the cold, both physically and psychologically – together with a modernist design vocabulary – ties together the buildings in "Modern North: Architecture on the Frozen Edge" by Julie Decker...33 houses, schools and cultural buildings in the Yukon, Alaska, Iceland and across Scandinavia. By Alex Bozikovic -- Snohetta; David Chipperfield; Studio Granda; Lisa Rochon; Kobayashi + Zedda; Shim-Sutcliffe Architects- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
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Gehry Partners: Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas |
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