Today’s News - Friday, April 1, 2011
• Japan's post-earthquake rebuilding begins with extensive plans for prefab housing for evacuees.
• Thackara suggests an alternative to trying to create a repeat "Bilbao effect" - in Bilbao: "The use of fancy architecture to boost economic development has diminishing returns and is increasingly quaint. Now there are better ways."
• Hadid x 2: she wasn't happy with her podium ("adding dryly" she hopes her firm didn't design it) during her talk at the Guangzhou Opera House (she didn't like the floral arrangements, either) + Her once-lauded competition-winning design for a civic center in Elk Grove, CA, faces new politicians whose comments are not "intended as compliments" (a new competition in the wind, perhaps?).
• Rybczynski revisits his '08 commentary: Architecture Is a Team Sport: So why do they award the Pritzker Prize to just one person? (worth a re-read).
• Several firms make multiple appearances among the 55 projects on RIBA London Awards shortlist.
• 2011 Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers winners hail form NYC to San Francisco, Boston to Detroit.
• Weekend diversions:
• The curator of "Imaging/Imagining" at PennDesign explains: "How have we imaged and imagined the terrain of water? How might we do so in the future?"
• Benfield cheers "Neighborhoods Go Green!" - a "fantastic exhibit" at AIA HQ in Washington, DC: "When it comes to sustainable communities, the architecture profession has been both hero and villain."
• Kamin x 2: he cheers the chance to see Virginia Tech's Solar Decathlon-winning Lumenhaus (and the Farnsworth House, too) + Chicago's PBS highlights Robert A.M. Stern, this year's Driehaus Prize winner - and much more.
• Long cheers Stirling show at Tate Britain as "something of an event": it is "more than mere recognition for one of the great architects of the 20th century."
• Architects from Singapore under the age of 45 take center stage in Berlin.
• In Helsinki, there's still time to catch the end of a 240-hour movie of Aalto's Stora Enso HQ building (being projected in front of the real thing).
• "27" is a journey to 27 countries and 27 practices by a filmmaker, two architects and a graphic designer.
• "G" is a "restoration and critical analysis" of a "forgotten but influential avant-garde journal" and an "uncommonly rich means to actively engage with an historic document" (great images).
• Louis Sullivan (and Richard Nickel) finally getting long-overdue recognition: a "publishing feat...that make this book a chronicle of mean and bedraggled defeat, and of honor belatedly conferred" (terrific slide show!).
• "Clients From Hell" is a "slim, snarky volume that may have actual utility as a perverse kind of etiquette manual" that will make you laugh - and cry.
• Our annual fave: Project for Public Spaces Faking Places (ex: traffic congestion solution for NYC: widen roads to 20 lanes and deport all bike riders to the Netherlands).
• Happy April Fool's Day!
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
Japan’s Post-Earthquake Rebuilding Begins With Prefab Housing for Evacuees: Construction will begin in 13 cities and towns..."There are too many challenges to list, but the priority is to provide housing that has all the necessities to live a normal life"...Residents will be allowed to live in the homes rent-free for at least two years...- Bloomberg News |
Does Bilbao Need Another Guggenheim? The use of fancy architecture to boost economic development has diminishing returns and is increasingly quaint. Now there are better ways...There is talk of re-branding Bilbao as Euskal Hiria (Basque City)...a bioregional approach re-imagines the man-made world as being one element among a complex of interacting, co-dependent ecologies: energy, water, food, production and information. By John Thackara/Doors of Perception -- Frank Gehry; Santiago Calatrava; Daniel Buren; Arata Isozaki; Funky Projects- Change Observer |
Zaha Hadid takes China: ...she is not happy with her podium...adding drily she hopes her own firm did not design the object...It’s hard to disassociate her flamboyant personality from her equally no-holds-barred architecture, especially when she’s speaking from within her latest creation...Guangzhou Opera House...[her] futuristic, sometimes alienating architecture has its detractors, but it’s hard not to be impressed when you’re in the very womb of this building... [images]- The Spectator (UK) |
Star Architect’s Civic Center Design Divides California City: In Elk Grove a bold plan for a civic center...is back on, but the city’s new leaders are resisting...has been described as...“squid,” “octopus” and “starfish”...Other descriptions were more alien than aquatic...None of these comments were intended as compliments...it wasn’t always this way...expects to start a new competition for the design stage this summer... -- Zaha Hadid [image]- New York Times |
Architecture Is a Team Sport: So why do they award the Pritzker Prize to just one person? ...architecture is no longer a field of geniuses working to realize their solo visions. By Witold Rybczynski -- Eduardo Souto de Moura; Jean Nouvel; b720 Arquitectos; Frank Gehry- Slate |
RIBA London Awards shortlist [of 55] revealed -- Caruso St John’s Chiswick House Café and Zaha Hadid; Allford Hall Monaghan Morris (AHMM); Hopkins; John Lyall; David Mikhail Architects; David Kohn Architects; Duggan Morris Architects; Eric Parry Architects; Feilden Clegg Bradley; C F Möller; Archial; 6a Architects; Sidell Gibson/Jean Nouvel; Grimshaw; Wilkinson Eyre; Jestico & Whiles; Penoyre & Prasad; Schmidt Hammer Lassen; etc.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
"It's Different": 2011 Architectural League Prize for Young Architects and Designers winners (formerly Young Architects Forum) -- Ajmal Aqtash/Richard Sarrach/Tamaki Uchikawa/form-ula; Jason Kelly Johnson/Nataly Gattegno/Future Cities Lab; Kiel Moe; Unchung Na/Sorae Yoo/NAMELESS; Catie Newell/Alibi Studio; William O’Brien Jr. [links]- Architectural League of New York |
Visualizing Landscapes: In the Terrain of Water: "Imaging/Imagining" at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design [PennDesign] explores how architects and designers have been expanding the frontiers of representation. How have we imaged and imagined the terrain of water? How might we do so in the future? (through April 4) By Anuradha Mathur/Mathur/da Cunha -- Paul Philippe Cret; Louis Kahn; Wallace McHarg Roberts & Todd; Lawrence Halprin; Laurie Olin; James Corner; etc. [slide show]- Places Journal |
"Neighborhoods Go Green!" Farr Associates, the Chicago Architecture Foundation, and the US Green Building Council (USGBC) have produced a fantastic exhibit at AIA headquarters in Washington, DC...This carries some symbolism. When it comes to sustainable communities, the architecture profession has been both hero and villain...LEED for Neighborhood Development [LEED ND] has changed the game. By Kaid Benfield -- William McDonough; Peter Calthorpe; Andres Duany; David Dixon; Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) [images, links]- Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) |
A second chance to see Virgina Tech's Lumenhaus (and the Farnsworth House, too): ...will be on display next to the Farnsworth House visitor center from April 1 to July 31. By Blair Kamin- Chicago Tribune |
The WTTW documentary on Robert A.M. Stern, this year's Driehaus Prize winner - and much more: ...also interviews with Peter Eisenman, Richard Meier and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk as well as New Yorker critic Paul Goldberger and your crazed blogger. By Blair Kamin- Chicago Tribune |
Tate Britain is thinking in 3D: More than mere recognition for one of the great architects of the 20th century..."James Frazer Stirling: Notes From The Archive"...will be something of an event...more than any living architect, James Frazer Stirling has something to tell us about how an architecture of distinct character, richness and with an urban intent can be attained. (April 5 to August 21) By Kieran Long -- Anthony Vidler'; James Gowan; Léon Krier [images]- Evening Standard (UK) |
"20 Under 45: The Next Generation, Singapore": A Selection of Works by Under-45 Singapore Registered Architects on display until May 12. -- Angelene Chan/Tan Chee Kiang/DP Architects; Chan Ee Mun/WOHA Architects; Nary Chea/Philip Yong/Chan Sau Yan Associates; Martin Goh/WM Architects; Richard Hassell/WOHA Architects; Patrick Lee/Frven Lim/Surbana International Consultants; Vincent Lim/Visual Text Architects, VeTarchitecture; Steven Lim; Linghao Architects; Warren Liu Yaw Lin/Dlab; Ong Tze Boon/Ong & Ong; Seetoh Kum Loon/Gwen Tan Tze Suan/Alan Tay/Formwerkz Architects; Rene Tan/RT+Q Architects; Tan Shao Yen/CPG Consultants; Ben Teng/K2LD Architects- Aedes Gallery (Berlin) |
Ten-Day Movie Starts in Helsinki: Advertised as the world’s longest film, "Modern Times Forever"...created by the Danish artist group Superflex, lasts 240 hours...depicts the Stora Enso headquarters building - located just behind the screen - in a manner that will also allow viewers to see the real building at the same time. In the movie, the building changes every moment. -- Alvar Aalto- Yle/Finnish Broadcasting Company (Finland) |
"27": a journey into the heart of contemporary European architecture...a joint venture between a filmmaker, two architects and a graphic designer travelling together...to 27 countries and 27 practices... -- Local Architecture Network; FatCat Films; Undo-Redo- Core77 |
"G: An Avant-Garde Journal of Art, Architecture, Design, and Film, 1923–1926" edited by the late Detlef Mertins and Michael W. Jennings: This restoration and critical analysis revives the forgotten but influential avant-garde journal...the newly translated text is presented to the English-language reader much as it originally appeared in German...uncommonly rich means to actively engage with an historic document. By Gideon Fink Shapiro -- Barry Bergsoll; Chris Rowat Design [images]- Domus |
The Architect of the City: Louis Sullivan...is finally getting the recognition he deserves...This publishing feat...was scheduled for the fall of 1957. But things became complicated, for reasons that make this book a chronicle of mean and bedraggled defeat, and of honor belatedly conferred..."The Complete Architecture of Adler & Sullivan" by Richard Nickel and Aaron Siskind with John Vinci and Ward Miller [slide show]- The Atlantic |
"Clients From Hell" Puts Designer Rage on the Page: ...a book version that will make you laugh and cry in equal measure...slim, snarky volume may have actual utility as a perverse kind of etiquette manual. -- Metalab- Fast Company |
PPS Faking Places: Plan 2011: Creating the City of Tomorrow - Today + Plan for Prospect Park West...will be excavated and transformed into a 25 foot deep waterway with specialized lanes for kayaks, swimmers, and sailboats + Texas Bus Agency Taps Riders' Psychic Powers to Improve Service + A Visionary Plan to Eliminate Traffic Congestion in NYC: widening all roads to a minimum of 20 lanes and deporting all bike riders to the Netherlands; etc.- Project for Public Spaces (PPS) |
Book Review: "Immaterial World: Transparency in Architecture": Marc Kristal crystallizes increasingly complex notions of transparency with a light touch...invites additional research, reflection, and archi-tourism. By Norman Weinstein -- Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Alejandro Aravena; Toyo Ito; Christian de Portzamparc- ArchNewsNow.com |
|
Lundgaard & Tranberg Arkitekter: Charlottehaven, Copenhagen, Denmark |
|
|
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