Today’s News - Tuesday, September 28, 2010
• Jenkins minces no words about what he thinks London planners and architects are getting wrong" "We are not correcting but replicating the mistakes of the city's post-war renewal" because "the gods of modern architecture/planning don't want to lose their jobs" (ouch!).
• Goldberger takes on CityCenter and whether Las Vegas can handle real architecture: the "risk is that good buildings next to outlandish ones will look quiet and bland." (and it's very car-centric).
• King x 2: he cheers San Francisco's efforts to create experimental public spaces, but "bootstrap urbanism goes only so far" - it's time for the city to "to fish or cut bait."
• He gives two big thumbs-up's to the shortlist of emerging local architects named in "what may prove to be the Bay Area's most intriguing architectural competition in memory."
• An impressive shortlist vies for the new V&A at Dundee, with high hopes it will bring the Bilbao Effect to Scotland.
• Hawthorne is much amused by a discussion about beauty among a starchitect-studded panel (moderated by an "ego-wrangler") who "have always eyed beauty with wariness" (sometimes it seemed more like listening to "a bunch of Hatfields discuss the McCoys").
• Two architects explore Tropical Modernism in today's Ghana: "the social ideals of mid-century have given way to an ethos that promotes either signature forms or a mundane corporate aesthetic" (terrific slide show - a Weese included!).
• Moore and Bradbury have interesting conversations with de Botton re: his Living Architecture adventure - which includes "an instant classic of Looney Tunes modernism" (you can now add "Serpentinism" to your architectural lexicon: "a belief in the special magic of the singular architectural object").
• Architects call for a more a more "artsy illuminated Jakarta skyline."
• A Shanghai Art Deco masterpiece that had become "a sagging monument to a lost era" is reborn.
• Gandhi's Johannesburg house being transformed into B&B "haven of peace."
• Archial is bought by a Canadian company, creating a "behemoth" called Ingenium Archial.
• Four projects win AIA National Healthcare Design Awards.
• Q&A with the author of "Edible Estates": the front lawn was intended to be "a well-intentioned common green that would connect us all" (it hasn't worked out quite that way, has it?).
• Move over Kahn, Saarinen, et al...Yale's newest organization: the Architecture Appreciation Club for Underappreciated Architecture (the name says it all).
• A good reason to plan to be in D.C. in two weeks: Fall 2010 SMPS Foundation Think Tank: "Wake Up, Recover, and Grow in 2011!"
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
London planners must embrace civilised living: We are not correcting but replicating the mistakes of London's post-war renewal...The gods of modern architecture/planning don't want to lose their jobs. Their monuments take precedence over the London they have destroyed. By Simon Jenkins- Evening Standard (UK) |
What Happens in Vegas: Can you bring architectural virtue to Sin City? ...underlying risk...is that good buildings next to outlandish ones will look quiet and bland. Caesars Palace and its progeny are crass but iconic...CityCenter buildings are sophisticated, but you wonder, finally, if they are all that memorable. By Paul Goldberger -- Daniel Libeskind; Rafael Viñoly; Helmut Jahn; Pelli Clarke Pelli; Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Norman Foster; aPeter Marino; Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis; Bentel and Bentel; AvroKO; David Rockwell; Ehrenkrantz, Eckstut and Kuhn- The New Yorker |
S.F. needs to create permanent public spaces: ...it's impossible not to cheer on recent efforts to create experimental public spaces...But bootstrap urbanism goes only so far...Pavement to Parks has relied too much on the city getting something for (almost) nothing...The fact they're as good as they are should be celebrated. But if this is as far as we go, then we haven't gone far enough. By John King -- Rebar Group; RG Architecture; Studio Upwall; Boor Bridges Architecture; Shift Design Studio [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Architects' prize: Emeryville Center for Arts: ...the prize in what may prove to be the Bay Area's most intriguing architectural competition in memory...competition is confined to emerging local architects..."We like wild ideas, as long as those ideas are achievable." That's what makes this effort so refreshing. By John King -- Aidlin Darling Design; Edmonds + Lee Architects; Envelope A+D; Jensen Architects; Ogrydziak/Prillinger Architects; Schwartz and Architecture- San Francisco Chronicle |
‘Outstanding’ designs for new Dundee museum are unveiled: It has already been billed as Scotland’s answer to Bilbao’s Guggenheim, and the six designs unveiled today for the new V&A at Dundee prove the vast scale of the project’s ambition. -- Delugan Meissl; REX; Steven Holl; Sutherland Hussey; Snøhetta/Gareth Hoskins; Kengo Kuma [images]- The Herald (Scotland) |
To some architects, beauty is not a concern: A panel of Frank Gehry, Thom Mayne, Eric Owen Moss, Peter Cook claims a lack of interest in the subject. But they may protest too much...why the panel didn't include architects such as Richard Meier and John Pawson, whose work is refined and precise to the point of elegance..."I didn't include them because I find their work boring"... By Christopher Hawthorne -- Hernan Diaz Alonso; Greg Lynn; Yael Reisner- Los Angeles Times |
Listening There: Scenes from Ghana: ...the legacy of tropical modernism...a complex story. In contemporary Ghana the social ideals of mid-century have given way to an ethos that promotes either signature forms or a mundane corporate aesthetic. By Mabel O. Wilson/Studio 6Ten and Peter Tolkin/Peter Tolkin Architecture -- Fry, Drew, Drake and Lasdun (1957); Nickson and Borys (1962–66); Kenneth Scott Associates (1961); Harry Weese & Associates (1956); James Cubitt and Partners (1953); COMTEC/Renato Severino (1964–67); Lokko Associates (2005–06) [slide show]- Places Journal |
Giving a modernist spin to holiday homes: Alain de Botton's Living Architecture offers an uplifting alternative to the Landmark Trust's traditional holiday lets...touched by what I'll call Serpentinism, after the Serpentine gallery's annual pavilion...a belief in the special magic of the singular architectural object...A downside of Serpentinism is that it can act as an inadvertent alibi for junk elsewhere; it concentrates quality in an exotic enclave. By Rowan Moore -- MVRDV; Jarmund/Vigsnæs; Nord; Michael and Patty Hopkins; Peter Zumthor- Observer (UK) |
Have a holiday in modern architecture: Suspicious of 'architect-designed' houses? ... Alain de Botton invites you to take a break in one...There is no doubting that de Botton and Living Architecture have their work cut out...stepping into the middle of an often heated, bitter and particularly British debate between traditionalists and modernists... By Dominic Bradbury -- Hopkins; Peter Zumthor; MVRDV/Jurgen Bey; Nord Architects; Mole Architects- Telegraph (UK) |
Wanted: Artsy illuminated Jakarta skyline: ...many contractors and developers, as well as the city administration, had little awareness of the benefit of contributing to an aesthetically pleasing skyline...worsening the situation was the absence of a lucid regulation on building aesthetics and poor city planning. -- Abdi Ahsan; Ariani Mandala; Aulia Muhammad Ihrom; Andy Bexlim/Litac Consult- The Jakarta Post |
A Storied Symbol of Jazz Age Shanghai, Replayed: The Cathay Hotel, which spun open its revolving doors on Aug. 1, 1929, was the city’s deco masterpiece...Renamed the Peace Hotel in 1956, the property withered...becoming a sagging monument to a lost era. But no longer...In July the newly polished and pampered property threw open its doors as the renamed Fairmont Peace Hotel... -- Palmer & Turner (1929); Hirsch Bedner Associates; Peter Hibbard- The Jakarta Globe |
Building a house of peace: The house where Gandhi developed the concept of satyagraha a century ago is being restored, expanded and transformed into a unique B&B – a haven of peace in a busy Joburg suburb...Designed by the architect Hermann Kallenbach – Gandhi’s great friend and supporter... -- Hermann Kallenbach; Rocco Bosman [images]- City of Johannesburg (South Africa) |
Archial bought by Canadian company Ingenium: Collapsed architectural giant has been sold to Canadian-based multi-disciplinary outfit...The newly created behemoth will be called Ingenium Archial.- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
AIA Selects Four Projects for National Healthcare Design Awards: Examples showcase the best of healthcare building design and health design-oriented research -- Duda/Paine Architects; OWP/P | Cannon Design; ZGF Architects; Gresham Smith & Partners- American Institute of Architects (AIA) |
Interview with Fritz Haeg, Author of “Edible Estates: Attack on the Front Lawn”: "Certain 19th century planners and developers were promoting the front lawn as a well-intentioned common green that would connect us all – but ironically it also perpetuated the illusion of the single family home as a refuge for complete independence...which is not connective at all, but quite isolating."- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
New club appreciates neglected architecture: Kevin Adkisson’s ’12 architecture tour of Yale does not include Sterling Memorial Library, Harkness Tower or Louis I. Kahn’s Yale University Art Gallery...one of Yale’s newest organizations, the Architecture Appreciation Club for Underappreciated Architecture.- Yale Daily News |
Fall 2010 SMPS Foundation Think Tank: "Wake Up, Recover, and Grow in 2011!” - October 11–12, Washington, DC- Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) |
|
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window.
External news links are not endorsed by ArchNewsNow.com.
Free registration may be required on some sites.
Some pages may expire after a few days.
© 2010 ArchNewsNow.com