Today’s News - Friday, May 27, 2011
EDITOR'S NOTE: We'll be taking a break for Memorial Day weekend (U.S.)...and be back Tuesday, May 31.
• Weinstein reports on two tomes that are "wake-up calls" (and inspiration) "for color-challenged architects."
• Scharmen on the conundrum Ai Weiwei's arrest presents to architects: "This isn't to raise again the question of whether or not to work with 'evil' clients...This is about recognizing the political and economic uses of architecture."
• New British museums take the spotlight today: Pearman's take on Chipperfield's two new museums: "both are architecture of a high order" (great pix, too).
• Merrick tackles Chipperfield and Parry's "magical museums" that "are beacons for daring, ambitious architecture."
• Heathcote cheers Parry's Holburne: it "eschews the local stone and classical detail in favor of lightness, transparency and playfulness."
• Moore calls it "a triumph" and "one of the most delightful pieces of wrapping any architect has done anywhere, for some time."
• An impressive shortlist of three selected for Museum of Fine Arts, Houston expansion (no, DS+R is not among 'em).
• Therrien reports on MoMA's kick-off program for "Foreclosed": it will be interesting to see what bringing together an architect, a curator, and a historian will produce.
• Weekend diversions:
• Big weekend ahead with the official opening of Governors Island in NYC (the ferry is free!) + Vivid Sydney will transform the city into a spectacular canvas of light, music and ideas + Doors Open Toronto focuses on photography.
• In Los Angeles, "TIMEless" explores the 4D possibilities of space.
• Kapoor in the spotlight in Paris and Manchester, UK.
• A fascinating excerpt from Maltzan's ode to Los Angeles.
• Wickens recalls his conversations with Jane Jacobs: "50 years after the 1961 appearance of her once-revolutionary treatise...are her fears being borne out?"
• A.K. Jain's "Urban Planning and Governance: A New Paradigm" is "like a planning school primer and wish list."
• Powell's "21st Century London: The New Architecture" is "an accessible, invaluable and sumptuously designed resource that summarizes all that has happened to London's architecture since 2000."
• Brussat has a number of bones to pick with Broderick's "Triumvirate: McKim, Mead & White," but still finds it "a monumentally fascinating catalogue of how money and social intercourse dressed the Gilded Age in beauty."
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Book Review: Wake-up Calls for Color-Challenged Architects: Two recent books point the way to advanced imaginings of color: "Light Color Sound: Sensory Effects in Contemporary Architecture" by Alejandro Bahamon and Ana Maria Alvarez, and "Color Moves: Art & Fashion by Sonia Delaunay" edited by Matilda McQuaid and Susan Brown. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
Op-Ed: Sticks and Stones; Ai Weiwei and the Uses of Architecture: This isn't to raise again the question of whether or not to work with "evil" clients...This is about recognizing the political and economic uses of architecture...architects working in China have backed away from any expression of hope for increased openness and respect for basic human rights, but they haven't stopped working. By Fred Scharmen -- Herzog & de Meuron; Ordos 100; Rem Koolhaas/OMA [images, links]- Archinect |
The straight and the skewed: David Chipperfield’s two new English art museums: Concrete. Raw, jagged concrete...instead of being determinedly anti-tradition, the Hepworth Wakefield is doing something different...something of a revelation inside...Turner Contemporary. Margate...may be a group of big angular sheds, but they are austerely handsome sheds. By Hugh Pearman [images]- HughPearman.com (UK) |
Magical museums: Two striking new galleries in Bath and Wakefield are beacons for daring, ambitious architecture: Some will find the...Hepworth dour and "difficult"...fractious geometry has been tamed and civilised to produce one of the finest contemporary art museums in Europe...Holburne Museum of Art...a uniquely atmospheric cabinet of curiosities...a finely-wrought balance between subtlety and surprise. By Jay Merrick -- David Chipperfield; Eric Parry- Independent (UK) |
Missing link: The Holburne Museum, Bath: Eric Parry...eschews the local stone and classical detail in favour of lightness, transparency and playfulness...[he] has done what he set out to do – to re-establish a long-lost link between the Georgian city and the magical gardens, and to make a cluttered house into a real museum. By Edwin Heathcote- Financial Times (UK) |
Holburne Museum: Despite the obstructive tactics of Bath's so-called aesthetic guardians, this museum extension is a triumph...it is one of the most delightful pieces of wrapping any architect has done anywhere, for some time. By Rowan Moore- Observer (UK) |
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Selects Three Architecture Firms to Submit Design Proposals for an Expanded MFAH: Project links existing gallery buildings by Mies van der Rohe and Rafael Moneo, and sculpture garden by Isamu Noguchi, creating a nearly 10-acre public campus in the heart of Houston’s Museum District. -- Morphosis; Snøhetta; Steven Holl Architects- Museum of Fine Arts, Houston |
Architect in the Middle: MoMA kicks off Foreclosed, a new program that brings the architect, curator, and historian together: ...the "Buell Hypothesis"...can also be summed up with the question: “Change the dream and you change the city?” ...we will all have the opportunity to see if architect, historian, and curator were successful in turning this question into an imperative. By Troy Conrad Therrien -- Barry Bergdoll; Reinhold Martin; Michael Meredith/MOS; Harry Cobb/Pei Cobb Freed; Michael Sorkin; Ellen Dunham-Jones- Metropolis Magazine |
The ARTINFO Guide to Summer Art Adventures on Governors Island: New York Harbor's own island paradise...officially opens for the summer today, will host a full slate of art events all summer long...the ferry is free. -- Mark di Suvero; FIGMENT City of Dreams Burble Bup Pavilion; etc.- Artinfo |
Vivid Sydney: will once again transform the city into a spectacular canvas of light, music and ideas...after dark from 27 May -13 June...will colour the city with creativity and inspiration, featuring breathtaking immersive light projections on the iconic Sydney Opera House sails and more...- Vivid Sydney |
Doors Open Toronto 2011 - May 28-29: Close to 150 buildings of architectural, historic, cultural and/or social significance open their doors to the public. Admission is free...theme is Photography.- City of Toronto |
"TIMEless": An exhibtion exploring the 4D possibilities of space...an experimental snapshot of what creatives’ across disciplines consider to be “interactive architecture” at Superfront Gallery, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles through August 31- RWInformatics |
Powerful perceptions: From installations at the Grand Palais to Bvlgari rings, Anish Kapoor has designed it all...with exciting solo exhibitions in Paris and Manchester. [images]- Gulf News (UAE) |
No More Play: What is the new identity for a city whose entire life has been marked by its ability and desire to endlessly expand? ...we possess an inherent creativity and ability to constantly surprise the world with our inventiveness. We are witnessing the beginning moments of Los Angeles’s latest transformation. By Michael Maltzan [excerpted from "No More Play: Conversations on Urban Speculation in Los Angeles and Beyond"]- Places Journal |
Jane Jacobs: Honoured in the breach: ...50 years after the 1961 appearance of her once-revolutionary treatise, "The Death and Life of American Cities," are her fears being borne out? “She might not be fully appreciated until 2061, but nobody threw a cocktail party for Galileo in his time.” By Stephen Wickens -- Ken Greenberg; James Howard Kunstler; Witold Rybczynski; Edward Glaeser; Roberta Brandes Gratz- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Like a planning school primer and wish list: "Urban Planning and Governance: A New Paradigm" by A.K. Jain...The title...tends to raise the reader's expectations...As a source of information, the book...will be of immense value to researchers...sketches...provide some relief to the reader as he proceeds from one content-heavy chapter to another.- The Hindu (India) |
Book Review: If you ever need a crash course in London’s architecture since the Millennium then Kenneth Powell’s "21st Century London: The New Architecture" is it...an accessible, invaluable and sumptuously designed resource that summarises all that has happened to London’s architecture since 2000. By Ike Ijeh- Building (UK) |
"Triumvirate: McKim, Mead & White" by Mosette Broderick: Notwithstanding my regrets, Triumvirate is a monumentally fascinating catalogue of how money and social intercourse dressed the Gilded Age in beauty. By David Brussat [images, links]- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
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Foster + Partners: Bodegas Portia, Ribera del Duero, Spain |
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