Today’s News - Wednesday, August 18, 2010
• Hawthorne, Anderton, and others pay tribute to the "Grand Poobah of West Hollywood" and urban designer John Chase.
• Russell takes umbrage with "bashing architects with lawsuits" and bemoans the fact the "risk aversion has become the rule" that kills innovation.
• Filler deconstructs Prince Charles and his over-the-top reactions to "various and sundry affronts to his very particular and sometimes very peculiar notions of how life should be lived" (could it have anything to do with inbreeding?).
• Even with Balmond and Ushida Findlay on board, Kapoor's ArcelorMittal Orbit tower "teeters under scrutiny": one wonders "if London really needs another landmark."
• Bullivant x 2 (lucky us!): an in-depth look at how Hamburg, Copenhagen, and Milan are re-thinking their disused industrial districts to create distinctive new urban quarters + how a Flemish practice "is applying a sense of pragmatism and delight to its major renovation of Ghent's public squares."
• An architect explains why Seattle should get behind replacing the Alaskan Way Viaduct with a tunnel.
• A very interesting Q&A with author of "Welcome to the Urban Revolution" Jeb Brugmann: "...cities are primarily an economic space in our time of globalization, and we have not yet learned how to optimize those spaces."
• Some big names are lining up to vie for developing Russia's big plans for an "innovation city."
• Dobrzynski on the 9/11 museum at Ground Zero: "I don't know Steven M. Davis, but he's in the running for my favorite museum architect."
• The new Crocker Art Museum expansion "is a study in restraint" (some wish it was less so).
• More on London's Jellyfish Theatre made from junk: "In a throwaway society that needs to drive the reuse and recycling message, it is a symbol of what can be achieved" (great pix, too).
• Expansion plans for Kahn's 1972 synagogue in Chappaqua, NY, has preservationists (and his son) more than a bit upset.
• Drawings by a Tampa architect, who left his mark on many of the city's now historic treasures, turn up in tubes in an attic.
• We couldn't resist (and you shouldn't either): London's architecture reimagined in photographs by Andy Spain (truly amazing).
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Obituary: John Chase, 57; writer, urban designer for West Hollywood: He was perhaps best known for his writing on architecture, urbanism, planning and preservation...coaxed architects, developers, public agencies and other groups to carve out room in their projects for civic amenities... By Christopher Hawthorne- Los Angeles Times |
DnA/Frances Anderton: John Leighton Chase: Grand Poobah of West Hollywood: Anderton remembers him with Ann McIntosh of the City of West Hollywood; Richard Loring, developer; Alan Hess, architecture historian; Margaret Crawford, professor of architecture.- KCRW (Los Angeles) |
Bashing Architects With Lawsuits, as MIT Did, Only Kills Innovation: Many observers assumed [Stata Center] couldn’t work as a research center...Then came a lawsuit...We’ll never know who was at fault, so no one can learn from it...Risk aversion has become the rule...We should applaud buildings that take reasonable risks and encourage architects and clients to embrace innovation. By James S. Russell -- Frank Gehry- Bloomberg News |
Deconstructing Prince Charles: Like Mount Vesuvius but at briefer intervals, [he] erupts in high dudgeon over various and sundry affronts to his very particular and sometimes very peculiar notions of how life should be lived. By Martin Filler -- Rogers Stirk Harbour; Quinlan Terry; Ahrends, Burton and Koralek; Venturi, Scott Brown- New York Review of Books |
Anish Kapoor's Olympic Tower Teeters Under Scrutiny: ...ArcelorMittal Orbit, a gigantic sculptural tower soon to grace London’s Olympic Park, has caused much controversy...one can’t help wondering if London really needs another landmark. -- Cecil Balmond/Arup; Ushida Findlay Architects- Artinfo UK |
Planning the post-industrial city: HafenCity, Hamburg/Valby, Copenhagen/Raggi Verdi, Milan: Disused industrial districts are providing the opportunity to masterplan distinctive new urban quarters...driven by strong ideas about public space; they also make extensive claims to sustainability. By Lucy Bullivant -- Herzog & de Meuron; Kees Christiansee (KCAP); Jan Gehl; Entasis; Arstiderne; Vilhem Lauritzen; Vandkunsten; Henning Larsen; Andreas Kipar/LAND; Charles Waldheim [images]- Architecture Today |
Medieval roots meeting modern interventions add piquancy to Ghent's urban condition: Flemish practice Robbrecht en Daem is applying a sense of pragmatism and delight to its major renovation of Ghent’s public squares. By Lucy Bullivant -- ABSCIS [images]- Architectural Review (UK) |
How the waterfront tunnel will save billions and help downtown biking: An advocate for the Tunnel + Transit solution makes his case, along with a plea to the legislature to fund the missing element of promised new Metro Bus service. By Brian Steinburg/Weber Thompson -- Gehl Architects- Crosscut (Seattle) |
Q&A with Jeb Brugmann, Author of “Welcome to the Urban Revolution: How Cities are Changing the World”: "What Jane Jacobs said was happening within a neighborhood is also actually happening at the global level. My argument is cities are primarily an economic space in our time of globalization, and we have not yet learned how to optimize those spaces." [images, links]- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Bidders Line Up for Skolkovo City Plan: Well-known firms are competing for the right to design the upcoming innovation city... -- Arup; Ricardo Bofill; Royal Haskoning; Ramboll; Spektrum Group; ADM Partnership; ARPM; AREP; AS&P; Jurong; Sweco- The Moscow Times (Russia) |
The 9-11 Museum Architect Makes A Refreshing Statement About Museums: I don't know Steven M. Davis, but he's in the running for my favorite museum architect...."The exhibits are the icon. It's the inverse of a traditional museum in those respects"...I wonder if Davis could speak with the likes of Richard Meier and Daniel Libeskind. By Judith H. Dobrzynski -- Davis Brody Bond Aedas- ArtsJournal |
Crocker expansion subtly links old and new: While some museum buildings look like heaps of silver cubes or undulating sculptures, the new Crocker Art Museum expansion is a study in restraint. -- Gwathmey Siegel- Sacramento Bee (California) |
London theatre built entirely from recycled material: It's made out of old pallets and disused water cooler bottles, but Britain's first theatre made from junk is much, much more than the sum of its parts...In a throwaway society that needs to drive the reuse and recycling message, the Jellyfish Theatre is a symbol of what can be achieved. -- Folke Köbberling/Martin Kaltwasse [images]- Packaging News (UK) |
Louis Kahn Synagogue Expansion Stirs Controversy: A plan to enlarge the only surviving synagogue by Kahn has sparked opposition among some preservationists, who call the alterations insensitive. -- Alexander Gorlin [images]- Architectural Record |
Drawings from early Tampa architect turn up in attic: For more than 20 years, the cardboard tubes gathered dust. Hiding inside them were thousands of designs by M. Leo Elliott..."There was hardly a section of the city as it existed then that he didn't have some influence on"... -- Carastro & Associates [slide show]- St. Petersburg Times (Florida) |
Ecocities and Concrete: London's architecture reimagined in photographs by Andy Spain: One looks at the potential for a better environment for London as a future ecocity and the other looks at brutalist architecture, evidence of what was once considered architecture for a better future. [slide show essay]- Telegraph (UK) |
Why "Greatest Hits" Lists by Architecture's Stars Should Be Mocked: Transferring the musical or cinematic "greatest hits" list mind-set to architecture is deleterious, and here's why. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
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Arata Isozaki & Associates: CAFA Art Museum (China Central Academy of Fine Arts), Beijing, China |
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