Today’s News - Tuesday, April 19, 2011
• With the State of Maine looking like it might be the poster child for energy code de-regulation, Terrien challenges fellow architects everywhere to join the front lines or risk "losing the ability to develop process and wisdom equal to discharging our responsibility to the public and society we serve."
• Murphy takes on starchitects (one in particular) who "follow the money no matter whom it comes from. If architects must rely on dictators and free interns to stay afloat, they are practicing a failed business model."
• More hopeful lessons learned at university design centers as indicated in Levinson's thoughtful Q&A with University of Arkansas Community Design Center's Luoni.
• Heathcote hails Chipperfield's Turner Contemporary, Margate as "one of the best gallery spaces in Britain...nothing about the form of this little building is arbitrary." + Wullschlager cautions that if Margate and other new museums "are to avoid ending up white elephants, they must be more ambitious [and] navigate a meaningful local role."
• King reports on the progress of Treasure Island's ambitious plans: "No spot in the Bay Area has the obvious development potential...None has such obvious pitfalls."
• Berlin selects an intriguing concept to celebrate the fall of the wall: "Critics call it a gimmick, more like a playground for grown-ups than a sincere monument to history"; the architect and choreographer who designed it "seem unfazed."
• After a generation of dreaming, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra will finally have a place it can call home: "As usual in Quebec, more than mere civic pride is at stake."
• Russell is taken by the new Peace Arch Port of Entry border station in Blaine, Washington, that "seems a throwback to a less anxious, even optimistic time" where "essential paraphernalia of customs, immigration and border security almost disappear."
• Bernstein on the new "boldly contemporary" eco-friendly residence hall for Jesuits at Fairfield University that "aims to lift the spirits."
• A young British architecture co-operative hopes to prove that the views of the people using a building matter just as much, if not more than, those of the architects..."Too many architects have forgotten that they are part of a service industry."
• It appears that "irreconcilable differences" has caused the Glasgow-based NORD partnership to head south (i.e. splitsville).
• We're so glad to see that Johansen's 1974 Plastic Tent House has landed in the hands of an architect and designer who "feel a responsibility to be good guardians" (terrific slide show, too!).
• It was a global convergence for "Global PechaKucha Day - Inspire Japan" event.
• McGuirk takes the long view of the 50th Milan furniture fair: "Today's designers need to be tougher business people" and stop giving their work away or they "will keep passing their lack of earnings down the food chain to their unpaid interns."
• Please take heed of Bruce Mau Design's one rule for architectural websites: no Flash (we couldn't agree more!!!).
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Maine’s building and energy code: So goes the nation. But which way? ...so many of the regulations that our society has developed are currently being questioned as counterproductive...We architects, and I would argue...are losing the ability to develop process and wisdom equal to discharging our responsibility to the public and society we serve. By George B. Terrien- Boston Society of Architects/BSA/AIA |
Op-Ed: The Poverty of Starchitecture: Is the demand for architectural service so limited that we follow the money no matter whom it comes from? If architects must rely on dictators and free interns to stay afloat, they are practicing a failed business model. By Michael Murphy/MASS Design Group- Change Observer |
Venture Design: ...university design centers have been dedicated to linking the intellectual and creative energies of architecture schools to their cities and regions. These days...the potential for productive collaboration...would seem greater than ever...Q&A with UACDC director Stephen Luoni. By Nancy Levinson -- University of Arkansas Community Design Center/Fay Jones School of Architecture [slide show]- Places Journal |
Turner Contemporary, Margate, Kent: ...started as an icon – now it is not...From afar [it] looks like a bunch of whitewashed sheds but what David Chipperfield has created here is one of the best gallery spaces in Britain..."this is not a cathedral, it is not Bilbao. It is a good, local arts space.”...Nothing about the form of this little building is arbitrary. By Edwin Heathcote -- Snøhetta- Financial Times (UK) |
Something out of nothing: Turner Contemporary is the latest in a string of young British regional museums, each the focus of efforts to transform a 20th-century urban wasteland into a 21st-century metropolis...If Britain’s new museums are to avoid ending up white elephants, they must be more ambitious [and] navigate a meaningful local role within an increasingly global cultural economy. By Jackie Wullschlager -- David Chipperfield; Caruso St John- Financial Times (UK) |
Treasure Island: ambitious plan for development: No spot in the Bay Area has the obvious development potential...None has such obvious pitfalls...After five years of studies and negotiations, proponents still confront questions about two basic issues: transportation and seismic safety. By John King [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Berlin selects giant rocking dish as monument to unification: ...chooses people power concept to celebrate the fall of the wall..."Citizens in Motion"...If you want to make it move, you have to get a group together and all go in a particular direction...Critics call it a gimmick, more like a playground for grown-ups than a sincere monument to history. The designers seem unfazed. -- Milla & Partner; Sasha Waltz [image]- Guardian (UK) |
For Montreal Symphony, Shoebox Is a Grand Home: A generation after it was first proposed, the MSO looks forward to moving into a new performance space in time for the fall season...As usual in Quebec, more than mere civic pride is at stake. -- SNC-Lavalin; Diamond & Schmitt; Aedifica; Artek Consultants [image]- New York Times |
Border Station Avoids Hysteria, Concrete: ...in Blaine, Washington, seems a throwback to a less anxious, even optimistic time...lets water, the forested landscape edge and the Peace Arch guide your movement across the border -- not parking, driveways and buildings. It’s fly-beneath-the-radar architecture... By James S. Russell -- Bohlin Cywinski Jackson [images]- Bloomberg News |
Teach, Pray, Live: As Jesuits’ numbers dwindle, new eco-friendly residence at Fairfield University aims to lift the spirits...boldly contemporary and centrally located...part of an effort to reach out to students and non-Jesuit faculty. By Fred A. Bernstein -- Gray Organschi Architecture [images]- New York Times |
Architects design with co-op inspiration: An architecture co-operative is hoping to prove that when it comes to good design, the views of the people using a building matter just as much, if not more than, those of the architects..."Too many architects have forgotton that they are part of a service industry" -- Liz Crisp/Vera Hale/Cave Co-operative- co-Co-operative News (UK) |
Nord splits due to irreconcilable differences: ...founded in Glasgow in 2002 by Robin Lee and Alan Pert, and went on to work on a string of prestigious projects...following months of negotiation and weeks of rumours, it emerged this week that Lee and Pert will shortly go their separate ways. -- Northern Office for Research & Design- BD/Building Design (UK) |
A Country Home, by a Modernist at Play: A unique 20th-century gem designed by John M. Johansen fits neatly into the weekend lives of a Manhattan architect and designer...they feel a responsibility to be good guardians...particularly since 10 of Johansen’s 27 houses in the Northeast have been demolished in recent years. -- Alan Orenbuch; Bryan O’Rourke [images]- New York Times |
Architects, artists converge to brainstorm disaster relief: More than 200 people gathered for "Global PechaKucha Day - Inspire Japan"...same event was held at 92 locations around the world the same day...unds will be channeled to Architecture for Humanity...- Japan Times |
Designs for life won't make you a living: The 50th Milan furniture fair [Salone Internazionale del Mobile] was crawling with millionaires – but are designers being exploited by having to make work for free? Milan may be the annual blowout of a multibillion pound industry, but it's a mirage, and not just for the designers. By Justin McGuirk [slide show, links]- Guardian (UK) |
Bruce Mau Design: 3 Conditions That Set The Stage For Blinding Insight: Paddy Harrington...recently applied these 3 keys to redesigning an architectural website -- a design genre notorious for terribleness...we set out one rule: no Flash. -- Sudio Gang- Fast Company |
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UNStudio: Galleria Centercity, Cheonan, South Korea |
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