Today’s News - Thursday, August 18, 2011
EDITOR'S NOTE: A reminder that we're taking Monday's and Friday's off for the rest of August. We'll be back Tuesday, August 23. Happy Weekend!
• Weinstein finds Lerup's "outrageous encomium to Houston instructs and infuriates," and recommends it "for the intrepid."
• Hawthorne holds a few reservations about AEG's stadium plans for L.A.: "Is a dose of architectural vision asking too much?" (though he holds some hope with Gehl's office being involved).
• Buffalo, NY, forgoes pinning its hopes on "silver bullet saviors" and shifts focus to "comparatively tiny, piecemeal" projects and proves "working small-scale doesn't mean limiting the imagination."
• Dvir cheers an industrial development that shows "how a talented architect can create an intimate, significant ambience even in an alienated desert industrial environment" (and a woman architect, at that!).
• Dobrzynski hails Harpa, Reykjavik's "stunning new concert hall" and takes it as a sign that the island nation "is crawling back onto its feet."
• Apple didn't want the renderings of its new store planned for NYC's Grand Central released - but they were: it "looks bright, or at least younger than many of the people who commute through the terminal" (alas, no mention of who designed it!).
• Kamin tells a most interesting tale of the story behind the story of his 9/11 memorial review; the moral: "never take 'no' for an answer. And be nice to your sources."
• Chaban on what we hope will be a story with a happy ending: funding for the "temporary, luminous" Tribute in Light ends after 9/11/11 - but MAS has launched a fundraiser to make the project permanent.
• Weekend diversions: Davidson & Gardner offer high praise for the Skyscraper Museum's "Supertall!": it's "a reminder of why we keep reaching for the clouds" (sometimes "a rejuvenating shot of lunatic ambition" can be a good thing); and "the skyscraper, for all of its gimmicks and for all of its occasional trumpery, has never fared better than now."
• Antonelli picks her favorite high-tech highlights from her "Talk to Me" show at MoMA.
• Australia's "Now and When" from last year's Venice Biennale is sure to wow the crowds at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale.
• Tigerman takes Yale by storm with a retrospective and two new books; Yale also lands his complete drawing archive.
• Q&A with documentary filmmaker Cheney re: "The City Dark" and how lighting designers, architects and planners "can help reconnect us to the majestic skies above."
• Hodgetts and Brussat take a spin through "Voiture Minimum: Le Corbusier and the Automobile": Corbu "simply lacked the chops" to make it the world of car design + "Perhaps if he had succeeded at automotive design and moved to Detroit, he would have veered off into less harmful adventures."
• Benninger "traverses the tightrope between modernity and tradition" in "Letters to a Young Architect": "It is very important that we stop learning from the West."
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Book Review: "One Million Acres & No Zoning": Lars Lerup's Outrageous Encomium to Houston Instructs and Infuriates: This isn't some dryly academic reconfiguration of trendy urban planning theory. I recommend it for the intrepid. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
AEG's designs on downtown L.A. stadium: The Farmers Field stadium project has the potential to transform downtown into L.A.'s true center. Is a dose of architectural vision on AEG's part asking too much? ...The involvement of Gehl's Oliver Schulze in the stadium planning process is a very good sign...Let's hope he is able to have a real effect on the streetscape plans... By Christopher Hawthorne -- Gensler; Gehl Architects; Populous- Los Angeles Times |
Dream big, build small: Forget about silver bullet saviors: Community-based solutions are providing a new path to success across Buffalo...Since the Bass Pro deal collapsed...shifted its focus on some comparatively tiny, piecemeal projects...to transform the phrase "waterfront development" from an oxymoron into a reality...working small-scale doesn't mean limiting the imagination. By Colin Dabkowski -- Brad Wales; Small Built Works; Partnership for the Public Good- Buffalo News |
Back to the Future / Jurassic park: Ada Karmi-Melamede's buildings at the Teva Tech at Ramat Hovav plant bring a welcome splash of color to the Negev...[she] finds the planning of industrial structures fascinating...one can see how a talented architect can create an intimate, significant ambience even in an alienated desert industrial environment. By Noam Dvir- Ha`aretz (Israel) |
Iceland’s Culture Palace: A stunning new concert hall hopes to lure visitors back to the island nation: Harpa - the Reykjavik Concert Hall and Conference Center...a sign that this country, which essentially went bankrupt during the global financial crisis, is crawling back onto its feet. By Judith H. Dobrzynski -- Henning Larsen Architects; Olafur Eliasson- Newsweek |
A Peek at Apple’s Plans for Grand Central Store: ...looks bright, or at least younger than many of the people who commute through the terminal...a soaring space within the terminal — kind of reminiscent of a fancy university library’s card-catalog section... [images]- New York Times |
The story behind the story of the 9/11 memorial review; dry reflecting pools posed an ethical quandary: ...the absence of the waterfalls would reduce my assessment of the memorial to mere guesswork...Renderings and videos simply don’t cut it...The moral of the story: When reporting a story, never take “no” for an answer. And be nice to your sources. By Blair Kamin -- Michael Arad [images]- Chicago Tribune |
The End of "Tribute in Light": Memorial Goes Dark Forever on 9/12: ...temporary, luminous memorial will return this year for the 10th anniversary of [9/11]. It could be for the last time ever...funding does not extend beyond this year...The Municipal Art Society is launching a fundraiser to make the project permanent, including finding it a new home. By Matt Chaban [imge, links]- New York Observer |
Higher: "Supertall!" at the Skyscraper Museum, a reminder of why we keep reaching for the clouds.
shows that height can come in forms of idiosyncratic beauty...It’s tempting to sneer at the reckless arrivistes who pay for such follies or the tiny coterie of Western architects who keep beating each other’s height records...Our aging cities could use a rejuvenating shot of lunatic ambition. By Justin Davidson- New York Magazine |
Heights of Fancy: ...to judge from a new exhibition at the Skyscraper Museum exuberantly titled "Supertall!"...it is quite clear that the skyscraper, for all of its gimmicks and for all of its occasional trumpery, has never fared better than now. Indeed, the form is undergoing nothing less than a revolution. By James Gardner -- Daniel Libeskind; David Childs/Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Frank Williams; Gensler'; Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); C.Y. Lee; Dar Al-Handasah Architects- Wall Street Journal |
Go Gadgets, Go!: MoMA Curator Paola Antonelli on 5 High-Tech Highlights From Her "Talk to Me" Exhibition: From laser-graffiti eye goggles to an interactive prayer rug, this exhibition has it all. [slide show]- Artinfo |
"Now and When: Australian Urbanism" exhibition is set to go on display at the Ballarat International Foto Biennale...hailed as a spectacular visual experience by prominent commentators and international architects...at the 2010 Venice Architecture Biennale...August 20 September 18 in Ballarat, Victoria- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
Tigerman to be subject of Yale retrospective: "‘Ceci n’est pas une reverie’ [This isn’t a dream]: The Architecture of Stanley Tigerman"...will mark the transfer of Tigerman’s complete drawing archive to Yale [and] coincide with the book launch of [his] collected writings 1964-2011, “Schlepping Through Ambivalence: Essays on an American Architectural Condition” and autobiography, titled “Designing Bridges to Burn: Architectural Memoirs by Stanley Tigerman”...August 22 - November 4 -- Tigerman McCurry Architects; ARCHEWORKS- Chicago Tribune |
The City Dark: Documentary filmmaker Ian Cheney talks about light pollution, the disappearance of the night sky and what we can do to get it back...That’s where lighting designers, architects and planners can help...Careful, thoughtful lighting design is economically and environmentally beneficial, and can help reconnect us to the majestic skies above. -- Hervé Descottes; International Dark-Sky Association [images, links]- Urban Omnibus |
Review> Corb's Car: "Voiture Minimum: Le Corbusier and the Automobile" by Antonio Amado: ...Corb is in there, but only as a walk-on...The tale of Le Corbusier trying to duke it out with the auto industry is a bit like a varsity wrestler trying to make it in the Ultimate Fight Cage. He simply lacked the chops.
By Craig Hodgetts/Hodgetts + Fung -- Gropius; Frank Lloyd Wright; Fuller; Molino; Norman Bel Geddes; William Stout; Raymond Loewy [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
"Voiture Minimum: Le Corbusier and the Automobile,' by Antonio Amado: Corb was a nut for cars, collected them and wanted to design them himself...Perhaps if [he] had succeeded at automotive design and moved to Detroit, he would have veered off into less harmful adventures. By David Brussat [images]- Providence Journal (Rhode Island) |
Sensitive Architecture: Christopher Benninger traverses the tightrope between modernity and tradition in his latest book, "Letters to a Young Architect"...makes mention of his interactions with Jose Luis Sert, Walter Gropius, Buckminster Fuller and Arnold Toynbee..."It is very important that we stop learning from the West. They have been on a self-destructive trajectory for well over a century, while we had all the right ideas 50 years ago."- Indian Express (Chandigarh) |
One-on-One: Architecture of Emotion and Place: Interview with Bartholomew Voorsanger, FAIA, MAIBC: The architect's aspiration to create expressive, dynamic spaces is absolutely the key to his work. By Vladimir Belogolovsky [imges]- ArchNewsNow |
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Book feature: Architectural Diagrams: Construction and Design Manual by Pyo Mi Young |
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