Today’s News - Thursday, October 21, 2010
• A call for an end to "happy clappy architecture": since "architects now justify design almost entirely in terms of delivering social policy, it was probably only a matter of time before attentions turned to shaping our feelings" (it's time to get over it, it seems).
• Horton on Park51 Islamic cultural center: "to call it Superman's Fortress of Solitude...is both misleading and condescending" and "unfairly dismisses its significance as a potentially progressive and sustainable urban development" that would make it "right at home in Manhattan" (does that make it happy-clappy, too?).
• Jacobs had high hopes for a proposed Senate bill with "some of the most progressive ideas in urban planning today" - but there's a catch: it "contains remarkably enlightened rhetoric, but it doesn't quite walk the walk."
• 11 Chicago architects reflect on Mayor Daley's legacy and the challenges that lie ahead ("Are you listening, Rahm?").
• Glancey on London's One New Change: it's "a very different beast" from some of Nouvel's other "truly captivating structures" - here, he "winks at Wren cheekily as if saying: 'Come on, grandpa; get down with the bling, and get shopping.'" (well, at least it's not "Kentucky Fried Georgian"!).
• van Ryzin is smitten with LTL's Arthouse: it's "the antithesis of icon architecture...one that prizes subtlety and intelligence over spectacle," giving Austin "a sophisticated new kind of cultural architecture."
• An eyeful of the finalists picked for harbor complex in Whitehaven, U.K., that will connect the city back to its waterfront.
• Hay on New Canaan, CT's trove of Modernist treasures - "but their striking form might just spell their doom" (that, and their acres of sub-dividable land).
• Lange spends a night in Johnson's Glass House and another in an 18th-century manse - and is surprised by which one she prefers.
• A spotlight on 7 African-American architects who've built successful careers in a challenging industry.
• The Dirt digs deep into two very different examples in Germany and the U.S. that "are creating and implementing positive visions for ecosystem development or restoration" (abandoned coal mines and mountain tops included).
• Bridges, bridges everywhere: Calatrava's Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge rises in Dallas + Rosales goes 3 for 3 in winning competitions for pedestrian bridges in the Cleveland area.
• Two we couldn't resist: Super-yachts designed by superstars get the Vanity Fair treatment (including a Todd Eberle slide show) + An eyeful of the Domespace rotating home (we want one!).
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Happy clappy architecture: ...given architects now justify design almost entirely in terms of delivering social policy, it was probably only a matter of time before attentions turned to shaping our feelings. The popularity of designing happiness indicates the extent designers have returned to previously discredited ideas of environmental determinism. By Alastair Donald- Independent (UK) |
At Home in Manhattan: Park51 as Global Architecture: Through this language of contemporary architecture, the current design fosters the very sense of community that is at the core of the Center's mission. This is not merely a superficial gesture. Good architecture articulates and spatializes social and cultural aims while challenging and re-energizing the surrounding environment. By Guy Horton- Huffington Post |
All Carrot, No Stick: A proposed Senate bill contains some of the most progressive ideas in urban planning today. The catch? The legislation doesn’t quite mandate anything...contains remarkably enlightened rhetoric, but it doesn’t quite walk the walk...if we waste our time jousting over bills that merely “encourage” and “study” change, we’ll be stuck in that stinking parking lot forever. By Karrie Jacobs- Metropolis Magazine |
Mayor Daley's Chicago Legacy: 11 Chicago architects reflect on 21 years of Mayor Daley and look ahead to the next administration's challenges -- Brad Lynch/Brininstool, Kerwin + Lynch; Carol Ross Barney; John Lahey/Solomon Cordwell Buenz; John Ronan; Martin Felson/UrbanLab; Dirk Denison; Jackie Koo/Koo and Associates; Adrian Smith/Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill; Philip Enquist/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Jeanne Gang/Studio Gang; Clare Lyster/CLUAA- The Architect's Newspaper |
One New Change: never brown in town: It has been designed by Jean Nouvel – but the brown glass walls of this new London shopping centre jar with its City surroundings...The heavily marketed idea that you can reach out and touch St Paul's from a funky new "stealth" shopping mall is not reward enough for robbing the City of what passes for its soul. By Jonathan Glancey [images, links]- Guardian (UK) |
Arthouse design shows style - and sense: Smart, innovative, thoughtful, the reimagined Arthouse contemporary arts center by Lewis.Tsurumaki.Lewis Architects is the antithesis of icon architecture...one that prizes subtlety and intelligence over spectacle...and design driven by conspicuous consumption...has given Austin a sophisticated new kind of cultural architecture. By Jeanne Claire van Ryzin -- LTL Architects [slide show]- Austin American-Statesman (Texas) |
Finalists picked for harbourside complex for Whitehaven: "All the final schemes are contemporary but quite responsive to the character of the town." -- Austin-Smith Lord; Renato Sarno Group/Proginvest; Richard Murphy Architects; RMJM Scotland; ShedKM Architects [slide show]- The Whitehaven News (UK) |
Too New for New Canaan? This Connecticut town is home to scores of Modernist treasures - but their striking form might just spell their doom...Between 1946 and 1979, a series of Modernist houses - a stunning 91 in total...were built in this resolutely traditional town...a surprising number survive intact. The question for fans of Modernist architecture is, For how long? By David Hay -- Marcel Breuer; Landis Gores; John Johansen; Philip Johnson; Eliot Noyes; John Black Lee- Preservation Magazine/National Trust for Historic Preservation |
People in glass houses: An architectural historian spends two nights alone in very different American homes – the first in Philip Johnson’s 1949 Glass House in Connecticut, the second in the 18th-century Belle Grove in Virginia. What she discovers transforms her previous ideas on how best to live, in 1790, 1950 or 2010. By Alexandra Lange [images]- Financial Times (UK) |
7 African-American Architects Who’ve Built Successful Careers in a Challenging Industry -- Curtis J. Moody/Moody-Nolan; Philip Freelon/The Freelon Group; Allison Williams/Perkins+Will; David Carpenter/Metzler/Mandl; Darrell Fitzgerald/Fitzgerald Collaborative; Deryl McKissack/McKissack & McKissack; Melvin Mitchell/Bryant Mitchell Architects- The Atlanta Post |
Using Abandoned Coal Mines as a Platform for Restoring Nature: In two very different examples in Germany and the U.S. Appalachian region, governments, foundations, and local communities are creating and implementing positive visions for ecosystem development or restoration. [images, links]- The Dirt/American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) |
Calatrava's Arch Towers Over Dallas: ...Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge...is one of three planned as part of the Trinity River Corridor Project... [images, videos]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Miguel Rosales' New Bridges Cross Cleveland: ...builds three pedestrian bridges in Cuyahoga County...The concurrence of projects was “just by chance,” Rosales said. “I had to compete for each of them.” -- Rosales + Partners [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Too Big to Sail? In spite of the global economic meltdown, the world of the super-yachts sails on. + Super-Yachts, from Stem to Stern: Mark Seal and Todd Eberle delve into the lifestyles and personalities aboard the ocean’s most enviable vessels. -- John Pawson; Jeff Koons; Norman Foster; Marc Newson; Philippe Starck; Candy & Candy; Ivana Porfiri/Porfiristudio; Ettore Sottsass; Bannenberg and Rowell Design [slide show]- Vanity Fair |
The UFO-like Domespace rotating wooden house: ...you might be forgiven for thinking that you've wandered onto the set of a 1950s B-movie about aliens invading the earth. However, this particular saucer doesn't fly, even in high winds...offered in rotating or static versions of various sizes... -- Patrick Marsilli [slide show, video]- Gizmag (Australia) |
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Exhibition & Symposium: "Image. Architecture.Now," Julius Shulman Institute, Woodbury University
Burbank, California: Photographer Iwan Baan was presented with the 1st annual Julius Shulman Photography Award. [images] |
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