Today’s News - Thursday, March 3, 2011
• Zandberg tries to be optimistic about architects and artists mobilizing ("The Jaffa Road Botox Party" anybody?) before urban renewal projects "meant to inject new life into the most downtrodden parts of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv" end up "widening the gap between rich and poor" (a.k.a. gentrification).
• Berlin faces the same conundrum with current residents in now-considered-hip neighborhoods "being pushed out to high-rise developments on the edge of the city" (a.k.a. new slums).
• A Cairo-born architect eloquently explains the history of Tahrir Square, and ponders "how will Cairenes reinvent the square in the emerging post-postcolonial era? What new spaces of civic representation and civil society will emerge from the transition now underway?"
• IBM's new City Forward website is "something like a full-body scan of 55 major cities" that could be very useful in applying for a grant in its $50 million Smarter Cities Challenge.
• Moore takes on the "outcry" over Holl's Glasgow School of Art extension: "It looks like the old building's robotic cousin" (but he's much nicer about the planned interior spaces).
• The new Soumaya Museum in Mexico City is a bit Guggenheim Bilbao outside, a bit Guggenheim New York inside (with pix to prove it).
• Kamin cheers indications that Chicago's long-stalled Museum of Broadcast Communications is beginning to move forward (again - maybe).
• While a new Manhattan apartment tower by Pei père et fils might be "devoid of any grand, theatrical gestures," it "embodies an unfussy, functional, and elegant ethos that elevates it well above" the typical "schlocky" towers we're used to.
• A Nigerian architect "has issues with The Megacity Project of Lagos...In fact, he has a bone to pick with the modern city, period."
• It's all about power (as in energy): Pearman sits down with a firm that has practically "cornered the market" in nuclear power station design: "This is a Brunel moment, when architecture and engineering can re-establish dialogue" + Kucharek takes an in-depth look at Britain's commitment to wind farms and steps that will (hopefully) avoid community NIMBYism.
• First peek at the nine 2011 Good Design is Good Business Awards winners.
• Call for entries: "Weaving Love, Creating Hope" textile and product design competitions that will benefit the women of Bangladesh.
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Renewal for some, ruin for others: Projects meant to inject new life into the most downtrodden parts of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv may have the opposite effect. Local artists and architects are mobilizing before it's too late...Urban renewal has become just another word for gentrification...widening the gap between rich and poor... By Esther Zandberg -- Neti Shamiya-Ofer; Roy Fabian- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
Gentrification's Victims: Berlin Fears Rise of New Slums: Cheap rents and urban glamour have attracted trend-seekers from around the world to central neighborhoods...current residents who are paying the price...being pushed out to high-rise developments on the edge of the city, where poverty and violence are part of daily life.- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Tahrir Square through Two Transitions: Future urban historians will perhaps mark these two Februaries as signposts of transitions among three significant periods in the history of modern Egypt...how will Cairenes reinvent Tahrir Square in the emerging post-postcolonial era? What new spaces of civic representation and civil society will emerge from the transition now underway? By Khaled Adham- Society of Architectural Historians |
Data to the People: IBM's City Forward Suggests a New Technocracy: The website features something like a full-body scan of 55 major cities...Want to know about traffic patterns in New York? Living costs in Tokyo? Consumer spending trends in Chicago? It's all there...use the site in applying for a grant in its $50 million Smarter Cities Challenge... [links]- Fast Company |
Outcry over Glasgow School of Art extension: Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Renfrew Street masterpiece is to be extended – but not everyone's happy...it's hard to see the evidence of all Holl's thoughtfulness and attention...It looks like the old building's robotic cousin. By Rowan Moore -- Steven Holl Architects/JM Architects [images]- Observer (UK) |
Mexican billionaire's new museum gives The Thinker much to ponder: Huge modern museum opens to showcase vast art collection of Carlos Slim...Soumaya Museum in Mexico City...from the outside it is somewhat reminiscent of the Guggenheim in Bilbao, Spain. Inside...conjure up elements of the Guggenheim in New York. -- Fernando Romero/LAR/Laboratory Of Architecture [slide show]- Guardian (UK) |
Construction underway again on long-stalled Museum of Broadcast Communications: The state grant and the resumption of construction convey a new aura of assurance...Chicagoans can be forgiven for viewing the museum’s plans with a heavy dose of skepticism...Tune in by year-end to see if this vision proves to be reality or fantasy. By Blair Kamin -- Eckenhoff Saunders Architects [images]- Chicago Tribune |
Pei's Partner in Manhattan: I.M. Pei, and his son, Li Chung Pei, have designed an apartment house in Manhattan that, while devoid of any grand, theatrical gestures, embodies an unfussy, functional, and elegant ethos that elevates it well above the schlocky residential construction now omnipresent in New York City...called, somewhat bewilderingly, "The Centurion"... -- Pei Partnership Architects; SLCE Architects [image]- Wall Street Journal |
An architectural philosophy: Years ago, as a student of the University of Lagos, Kuti Ezebiro was told by a lecturer that he was an artist and would never be an architect...he is an architect all right...He has issues with The Megacity Project of Lagos...In fact, he has a bone to pick with the modern city, period. -- Design Matrix- Next (Nigeria) |
We have the power: If you’re wondering what an architect can bring to a nuclear power station, take a look at the work of YRM, which in its third incarnation has...cornered the market in nuclear expertise..."It’s not all about concrete"...This is a Brunel moment, when architecture and engineering can re-establish dialogue. By Hugh Pearman -- Yorke, Rosenberg and Mardall [images]- RIBA Journal (UK) |
On the march: Even the world’s leading generators of offshore wind power are blown out of the water by the UK’s capacity. But it’s not finished yet: with planning laws geared to aid development, the government’s intentions for green energy are clear...the London Array could have bundled its contentious Cleve Hill substation in with the actual windfarm under the Electricity Act, it chose to take it through the planning process with the local authority. By Jan Carlos Kucharek -- RMJM; Arup; Grimshaw [images]- RIBA Journal (UK) |
2011 Good Design is Good Business Awards (formerly the Business Week/Architectural Record Awards) -- Barkow Leibinger; Bohlin Cywinski Jackson; Cannon Design; Earl Everett Ferguson Architect; Office of Architecture (OAB); Pickard Chilton; Roth + Sheppard; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); THA Architecture [slide show]- Architectural Record |
Call for entries: "Weaving Love, Creating Hope" textile and product design competitions: winning submissions will be produced and will have a direct positive effect on the women of Bangladesh; cash prizes; deadline: March 31- DESIGN 21: Social Design Network / Grameen Felissimo / Yunus Centre |
Architecture as a Social Instrument: Interview with Bjarke Ingels of BIG: cBy Vladimir Belogolovsky [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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Zaha Hadid Architects: Guangzhou Opera House, Guangzhou, China |
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