Today’s News - Wednesday, February 23, 2011
• Pity the British architects who might want to design schools but keep getting blasted - now they're told they're about as useful as "oxen" in the age of tractors (so, hey, just get real is basically the message).
• Bombay High Court gets serious about going after "erring builders, architects" - Council of Architecture members better "be careful."
• A Brooklyn neighborhood offers a cautionary tale about affordable housing, gentrification, and well-oiled public relations machines.
• Meanwhile, a Queens recycling facility and a Manhattan salt shed are "throwbacks to the quality that used to more regularly accompany industrial architecture" in NYC.
• Hume wants to figure out some way of bringing BIG to Toronto, perhaps a waste-to-energy plant that's actually "fun."
• Some advice when visiting Safdie's ArtScience Museum in Singapore: "instead of zipping through to the exhibitions, stop, stand back and admire the architecture of the museum itself, for it is a sight to behold."
• De Monchaux cheers Leeser's Museum of the Moving Image that "integrates itself with a surprising combination of swagger and subtlety into an existing architecture."
• London's 2012 Olympics velodrome (a.k.a. the Pringle) is "magnificent" - it's "classical simplicity and beauty both inside and out. You could spend a lifetime trying to design it better and fail miserably."
• LaBarre finds a minimalist funeral home in Spain that is anything but depressing.
• Shipping containers as a new housing trend (a.k.a. "cargotecture") is "being fueled partly by sustainability but mostly by sassy artistic sensibility."
• Tischler is in awe (and so are we!) of Dror's folding concrete block that "could change how we build."
• White is impressed with really, really tall buildings that are "beautiful, world-class structures" as envisioned by University of Calgary students.
• Eyefuls of (some stunning) winners in the AIAS/Kawneer Schools of Tomorrow Student Design Competition; Ball State University student takes 1st Place + Ball State and AIAS get behind aiding Haiti with R&D work and the design investigations focused on concrete blocks (advice to students: check out Dror item above).
• Call for entries: The Air We Breathe; The Chicago Clean Air Design Challenge.
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
Schools architects likened to oxen: Simon Lucas...urged the profession to be realistic about the future of school design..."This is terribly provocative but if there’s not an increasing role for architects – well, OK. After the invention of the internal combustion engine there was no longer a role for oxen-pulled ploughs...We’ll see a bigger focus on design and less on architecture."- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Bombay High Court seeks info on action against erring builders, architects: The court also directed the Delhi-based Council of Architecture to instruct its members to be careful..."If constructions are in violation of local norms then the architects should be made to lose their licences."- Times of India |
Affordable Housing Policies May Spur Gentrification, Segregation: ...average market rents have doubled in Greenpoint-Williamsburg, and rent-stabilized tenants face increasing pressure from landlords looking to flip their apartments...This was not supposed to happen...The reality of affordable housing policy in New York is rather less rosy than the public relations efforts of the developers and the Bloomberg administration would have us think.- Gotham Gazette (NYC) |
Cans, Bottles, Opera House: Annabelle Selldorf...doesn't often get the chance to design industrial space...Sunset Park Materials Recycling Facility...and Dattner Architects' crystal-shaped salt shed destined for Hudson Square, are a throwback to the quality that used to more regularly accompany industrial architecture in New York City... -- Selldorf Architects [image]- Wall Street Journal |
BIG Danish firm puts fun into essential city buildings: It may sound frivolous to design a building, even an incinerator, to be fun, but that’s what changes the equation, that’s what lifts it out of the realm of the mundane and makes it important...The question for Toronto is to figure out some way of bringing BIG to this city...perhaps a waste-to-energy plant. By Christopher Hume -- BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group- Toronto Star |
'Upside-Down' ArtScience Museum Opens at Sands in Singapore: ...instead of zipping through to the exhibitions, here is some advice: Stop, stand back and admire the architecture of the museum itself, for it is a sight to behold. -- Moshe Safdie; Arup- The Jakarta Globe |
Crit: Museum of the Moving Image: Thomas Leeser's intricately-paneled architecture recalls the experience if film itself...integrates itself with a surprising combination of swagger and subtlety into an existing architecture... By Thomas De Monchaux [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
London 2012 Olympics: Sir Chris Hoy declares London velodrome 'magnificent'...under budget and ahead of schedule...'the Pringle'...is its classical simplicity and beauty both inside and out. You could spend a lifetime trying to design it better and fail miserably. -- Mike Taylor/Hopkins [slide show]- Telegraph (UK) |
Why Can't Death Be Beautiful, Instead of Just Depressing? A minimalist funeral home filled with light and surrounded by stunning views in Pinoso, Spain. By Suzanne LaBarre -- Consulting of Creative Resources/COR architects [slide show]- Fast Company |
Old Shipping Containers Are New Housing Trend: ...dubbed "cargotecture" by Seattle architect Joel Egan — is being fueled partly by sustainability but mostly by sassy artistic sensibility. -- Adam Kalkin; Keith Dewey- Time Magazine |
Dror's Folding Concrete Block Could Change How We Build: An exclusive first look at a concrete structure unlike any in the world today. It’s hard to get your head around what, exactly, to call Dror Benshetrit’s latest brainstorm, the QuaDror. By Linda Tischler [images, videos]- Fast Company |
Sky’s the limit for students: Have you ever wondered what Calgary’s downtown skyline might look like if someone were to construct a really tall building of, say, more than 100 floors? ...beautiful, world-class structures...as envisioned by students of Prof. Brian Sinclair of the University of Calgary. By Richard White [slide show]- Calgary Herald (Canada) |
AIAS/Kawneer Schools of Tomorrow Student Design Competition winners announced -- Susan Butts/Ball State University; Nate Boykin/Clemson University; Tang Heng Quanh/Mario Christian Lavorato/University of Toronto; etc. [links to images, info]- American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS) |
Ball State architecture students aid Haitians: ...recent academic work completed by 12 students and fundraising efforts by the school's chapter of the American Institute of Architecture Students (AIAS)...provide proof that local efforts have not been placed on hold...R&D work and the design investigations focused on concrete masonry unit (CMU) construction... -- Tony Costello/Costello + Associates- The Star Press (Muncie, Indiana) |
Call for entries: The Air We Breathe; The Chicago Clean Air Design Challenge; cash prizes; deadline: April 18- Design Makes Change / Unit 2 Collective |
|
Álvaro Siza Arquitecto: Mimesis Museum, Paju Book City, South Korea |
Announcements From Our Sponsors |
ArchiExpo Website Redesign Press Release - The redesigned website features expanded content, more product images and new search facilities for a richer visitor experience. |
|
|
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.
© 2011 ArchNewsNow.com