Today’s News - Wednesday, July 13, 2011
• We are saddened by the news that we've lost Larry Bogdanow, a master designer of "relaxed luxury" (and architect of some of our favorite places).
• An excellent report on what's going on re: rebuilding Haiti (inspiring and depressing at the same time).
• Today's must-read: architects as performance artists: "Might architects really be at risk of irrelevance?" (with enough archi-babble, just maybe yes).
• From the other side of the Big Pond: a British architect "lashes out at 'suicide fees'."
• A call to "rediscover our planning heritage" and re-imagine Garden Cities for the 21st century.
• A call to save 1980s "architectural stars" - "buildings of the excess era" have too few friends.
• Glancey cheers the prospect of Rogers/Piano's Lloyd's of London making Grade 1 status, "an honor this modern marvel deserves...this hi-tech interloper is a monument of our times."
• An eyeful of Piano's planned $803 million waterfront cultural center in Greece (aiming for LEED Platinum - and totally privately funded).
• Perhaps "many Dresdeners are appalled by the new architecture," but Libeskind's Military History Museum "will be an antiwar museum" (strong stomachs required).
• Rosenbaum was "morbidly impelled" to visit the American Folk Art Museum on its last day, with the building's fate still unknown (it could be gutted or bulldozed - we hope not!): "Is the irascible Dr. Albert Barnes rising retributively from his grave?"
• BMW snagged the Guggenheim "to foster sustainability" and be "a sort of ongoing focus group looking at the future of urban transportation," so it should be no surprise VW would get in on an artful act: "Das MoMA and das Auto will work together in a strong partnership."
• Studio Gang tapped to design a new theater in suburban Chicago.
• King x 2 re: San Francisco's parklet craze, offering "slivers of open space" that are "the most intriguing urban design innovation" in the city" - and "a far cry" from Rebar's "two-hour whim in 2005."
• NEA announces inaugural Our Town Grants to 51 communities "that are supporting the arts as part of a community revitalization strategy."
• Chaban cheers NYC's 2011 Public Design Award winners: "who says civic architecture has to be ugly?"
• Call for entries: [HONG KONG] Alternative Car Park Tower open international ideas competition.
• We couldn't resist: Yesterday, Google doodle celebrated Moscow's St. Basil's Cathedral; today, the "big G" doodle "celebrates the greatest architect you've never heard of": Sir George Gilbert Scott (though it seems only used in U.K. - that's one way to maintain such a reputation).
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Obituary: Larry Bogdanow, 64: ...brought a contemporary Arts and Crafts sensibility to restaurant design...to create an atmosphere of relaxed luxury...he was a part-time farmer and an enthusiast of the ecologically oriented, traditionalist slow food movement... -- Bogdanow Partners Architects [slide show]- New York Times |
Shelter from the storms: ...a visit to Haiti’s Building Back Better Communities exposition...north of Port-au-Prince, meant to attract the world’s best low-cost, earthquake-proof housing designs, reveals the competition is intense. -- Maurice Monette; Malcolm Reading Consultants; Channa Perera/Veerhuis-Voda; Leslie Boulos/Gaudi Architecture [slide show, videos]- Montreal Gazette |
Are Architects Performance Artists? A Conference Addresses "Performativity" and "Performative Practices": Is the “performer” in question the architect, the inhabitant, or the building itself? Yes...A drumbeat of opportunity — or countdown of crisis — animated much of the ACSA seminar...Might architects really be at risk of irrelevance? ...architects’ ghettoization as merely “the people who make the pictures of buildings” seems more prescient. -- Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture; Gregg Pasquarelli/SHoP; Witold Rybczynski; Ellerbe Becket; Jean Nouvel; SLCE; Robert A.M. Stern; Herzog & de Meuron; Rem Koolhaas; Kevin Pratt- New York Observer |
Architect lashes out at 'suicide fees' used in bids: Rab Bennetts...lost the chance to create Manchester's proposed £19m First Street cultural centre...Mecanoo won the competition...its fee bid was "incredibly low"...Bennetts said Mecanoo's design was judged to be "quite a lot worse" than his, but its strong score of 22/30 on low fees overwhelmed his superior design rating. By Jay Merrick- Independent (UK) |
Bring back Garden Cities for the 21st century: Now is the time...to rediscover our planning heritage...the TCPA are calling for a re-discovery and re-imagination of the garden city principles to overcome the stigma of new communities from too many poor developments...offer a powerful opportunity to re-connect people and planning and realise the Government’s ambitions for greater community empowerment. By Hugh Ellis/Town and Country Planning Association- Building (UK) |
We should love these Eighties architectural stars: The refusal to list London's Broadgate spells its demise. The buildings of the excess era must be saved: ...just as the 1980s is scornfully seen as the decade of conspicuous consumption, its architecture similarly has few friends. By Jack Watkins -- English Heritage; Twentieth Century Society; Peter Foggo/Arup; James Stirling; John Outram; Nicholas Farrell; Richard Rogers; Powell Moya; Terry Farrell; Ralph Erskine; Nicholas Grimshaw- Independent (UK) |
Lloyd's listed: will it make the Grade? The Lloyd's of London building may be awarded Grade I status by English Heritage – an honour this modern marvel deserves...25 years after it was built, the inside-out structure...still comes as a shock...It does seem odd to witness so young and radical a building...joining the ranks of castles and cathedrals, yet this hi-tech interloper is a monument of our times. By Jonathan Glancey -- Richard Rogers; Renzo Piano; Basil Spence; Norman Foster- Guardian (UK) |
In Greece, Renzo Piano Unveils Design of Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center: ...a privately funded project slated to rise on the Saronikos Kolpos waterfront in southern Athens. Construction of the $803 million, 85,000-square-meter building will start later this year and conclude in 2015...is forecasted to be the first public building in Greece to achieve LEED-Platinum. By David Sokol [slide show]- Architectural Record |
Dresden Military History Museum Seeks to Tell Truth about War: A revolutionary German military museum...Although set up by the German armed forces, the Bundeswehr, its curators hope [it] will cast new light on war and the suffering it causes. As such, it is a very German project...the Bundeswehr's war museum will be an antiwar museum. -- Daniel Libeskind [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
American Folk Art Museum’s Last Day on W. 53rd: My Narrated Slideshow (plus the Barnes Foundation’s closure)...Morbidly impelled to visit AFAM, I saw that building's possible destruction as Dr. Barnes' retribution against architects of Philly Barnes... By Lee Rosenbaum -- Tod Williams Billie Tsien [slide show, links]- ArtsJournal |
The Art of Pitching Volkswagen: VW draws on its roots as a favorite among the art set and intellegencia to mount a new sales push...To rekindle its identity with art and design, the company has cut a far reaching deal to associate its brand with the Museum of Modern Art in New York City...Glenn D. Lowry, director of MoMA, quipped, "Das MoMA and das Auto will work together in a strong partnership."- AOL Autos |
Writers' Theatre Hires Studio Gang Architects For New Theatre Building in Glencoe: "Jeanne Gnag has a vision of architecture that is derived from her own equivalent of the word and artist: the material and the environment."- Broadway World |
S.F. parklets emerge as neighborhood fixtures: ...slivers of open space are the most intriguing urban design innovation in today's San Francisco...What began last year as a form of ad hoc urbanism is emerging as a distinctive feature of neighborhood commercial districts...These spaces aren't a panacea...But they're becoming a regular element of our urban landscape - for better far more than for worse. By John King -- Shift Design Studio; Ogrydziak/Prillinger Architects [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Parklets offer a place to pause on busy Powell St.: San Francisco's parklets have hit the big time...the 15th and most elaborate - a 2-block installation...between the cable car turnaround and Union Square...a far cry from the city's proto-parklet - a two-hour whim in 2005 where the design collective Rebar fed quarters into a Mission Street parking space, rolled out sod and plopped down a potted tree. By John King -- Walter Hood/Hood Design [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman Announces Inaugural Our Town Grants: More than $6.5 million to be invested in 51 communities that are supporting the arts as part of a community revitalization strategy...Grants were awarded for planning, design, and arts engagement projects that strengthen arts organizations while increasing the livability of communities across America.- National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) |
City Beautiful: The 2011 Public Design Award Winners: Because who says civic architecture has to be ugly? By Matt Chaban -- Michielli + Wyetnzer Architects; Steven Holl/Michael Van Valkenburgh; Deborah Berke/Monika Goetz; Toshiko Mori; Doyle Partners/Cozzolino Studio; Beyer Blinder Belle; Garrison Architects [slide show]- New York Observer |
Call for entries: [HONG KONG] Alternative Car Park Tower open international ideas competition; cash prizes; registration deadline: August 12; submission deadline: October 15- [AC-CA] Architectural Competition/Concours d'Architecture |
Sir George Gilbert Scott in Google doodle honouring forgotten hero: ...celebrates the greatest architect you've never heard of...It's a good week for architecture fans at the big G: yesterday's doodle celebrated the 450-year-old onion-topped St Basil's Cathedral in Red Square, Moscow.- CNET UK |
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-- Celebration: John Lautner Turns 100
-- Belzberg Architects: Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, Los Angeles, California |
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