Today’s News - Tuesday, September 27, 2011
• Gisolfi offers small-scale solutions to alternative energy resistance.
• Lubell digs deep into California's TOD efforts: "with the high cost of TOD development and the lower incomes in many transit-oriented districts, it's impressive when thoughtful designs emerge" (with lots of examples).
• Gruber takes issue with some of Corner's elements for Santa Monica's "Town Square" - mostly that it's more park than square.
• An eyeful of 9 cities across the globe taking advantage of the dead spaces under freeway overpasses as usable parts of the public realm.
• Plans afoot to bridge the wide divide between Philadelphia's preservationists and contemporary architects to "give both fields new life."
• Preservationists continue efforts to save Pei's JFK terminal from the wrecking ball (to make way for - drum roll, please - a parking lot - what else?).
• King finds at least one bright spot among Stanford University's new projects where "too much of what has risen is Stanford Lite."
• Bozikovic looks at the mixed emotions being stirred by Libeskind's soon-to-open Museum of Military History in Dresden "amid fierce debate over its content and design."
• Grimshaw/Dattner's Via Verde affordable housing project in the South Bronx "would fit with any of the sexy newcomers" in NYC, but it also "stands apart: green striving for gold, and accessible on many levels."
• Pedersen has high hopes for MIT's 1K House Project, even though the first prototype came in six times over budget: it's "a devilishly difficult task that can only be achieved the hard way, through trial and error, the scientific slog."
• Glancey on Gaudí's Sagrada Família: "in a world of lightning-fast, gimmee, gimmee junkitecture" its "lesson of patience" is that "we should learn to slow down."
• Cary on Gang's "Genius Award" that "will ultimately support her community work and commitment to good design."
• A Malaysian architect bemoans the government not using design talents to improve public housing and transportation: "there are many of us who are willing to rise to this challenge, but it's not happening."
• Q&A with Yoo's Davison re: where and how art and architecture meet.
• Kimmelman explains his mission as NYT's architecture critic: "I'm interested in urbanism, city planning, housing and social affairs, the environment and health, politics and culture" (yay!).
• Goldberger cheers the revival of Vignelli's classic NYC subway map as a digital adventure: it's "as handsome as ever," but why is it only "a weekend amenity?"
• Call for entries: The Harlem Edge | Cultivating Connections - 5th ENYA international biennial ideas competition to redevelop a marine transfer station in the Hudson River (launch party tonight at NYC's Center for Architecture - we'll be there!).
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INSIGHT: Small-Scale Solution to Alternative Energy Resistance: Why the assumption that an industrial-scale response is required to produce green energy in the vast quantities required to power this country is wrong. By Peter Gisolfi, AIA, ASLA, LEED AP- ArchNewsNow.com |
Home on the Rails: From Metro to BART...the growth in transit is bringing with it a lengthy list of Transit Oriented Developments (TODs)...Many complain...the focus is on the wrong D-word: Development, not Design...with the high cost of TOD development and the lower incomes in many transit-oriented districts, it’s impressive when thoughtful designs emerge. By Sam Lubell -- Altoon + Porter; Moule & Polyzoides; Michael Maltzan; Gonzalez Goodale; A.C. Martin; Archeon Group; Arquitectonica; HKS; David Baker; MVE & Partners; Van Meter Williams Pollack; Leddy Maytum Stacy; HOK; Pelli Clarke Pelli [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Plaza or Park? ...Landmarks Commission approved James Corner Field Operations’s new design for the “Town Square”...There are elements to like about the new plan, but the design is inappropriate for the location in front of Santa Monica’s most important civic building...But instead of a plaza or “square” suitable for gatherings, this design is for a park. By Frank Gruber [images, links]- The Lookout News (Santa Monica, CA) |
9 Cool Projects Under Freeway Overpasses: Cities are beginning to take advantage of these dead spaces as usable parts of the public realm. -- Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg/The Planning Partnership; Isthmus; Urban Think-Tank [slide show]- The Atlantic Cities |
Gray Area project aims to bring Philadelphia designers and preservationists together: While we are still devoting too few resources to preserving our inherited fabric, we're also not reliably producing strong contemporary architecture...The idea is to...give both fields new life. By Nathaniel Popkin -- William Strickland; Winka Dubbeldam; Walter Moleski; Randall Mason; Carol Franklin; Mark Alan Hughes; Tod Williams; Susan Szenasy; Lloyd Alter; Brian Phillips; Erdy-McHenry Architecture; etc.- Philadelphia Inquirer |
I.M. Pei-designed terminal at JFK Airport inspires preservation push: ...even as the Port Authority vows to raze it by next month...to make way for a new facility or parking lot...distinctive Sundrome pavilion..."a significant work of I.M. Pei in its design, engineering and function"... -- Nina Rappaport/Docomomo- NY Daily News |
Stanford University must hold architecture to higher standard: ...the challenge now is to keep the next generation of buildings from treating their historic context as little more than a marketing gimmick...too much of what has risen...is Stanford Lite...The problem of late is carefully placed buildings that radiate a dutiful, even cynical, emphasis on atmosphere over architecture. By John King -- Frederick Law Olmsted; Charles Coolidge (1880s); Ike Kligerman Barkley; Hoover Associates; Boora Architects; PWP Landscape Architecture; William Rawn Associates; Diller Scofidio + Renfro [images]- San Francisco Chronicle |
Germany’s first war museum since fall of Berlin Wall stirs mixed emotions: Museum of Military History set to open in Dresden amid fierce debate over its content and design...It is a bold addition to the neoclassical arsenal building, a 30-metre-tall wedge of glass and steel...This, to many locals, seems like a gesture of disrespect... By Alex Bozikovic -- Daniel Libeskind [image]- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Road to Green: Dattner Architects/Grimshaw Bronx partnership yields model sustainable housing...Via Verde would fit with any of the sexy newcomers on Manhattan’s West Side Highway...shooting for LEED Gold and is a pilot for the city’s Active Design Guidelines...stands apart: green striving for gold, and accessible on many levels. [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
The (Somewhat) Higher Cost of Good Intentions: The first prototype of MIT's 1K House Project has been built in Sichuan, China...Pinwheel House construction costs totaled $5925...Low cost here has to be so embedded into the design as to be undistinguishable from it. And then still be functional and beautiful. This is a devilishly difficult task that can only be achieved the hard way, through trial and error, the scientific slog. By Martin C. Pedersen -- Ying chee Chui; Tony Cioochetti; Make It Right [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
Gaudí's unfinished Sagrada Família does not need a completion date: Worthwhile architecture...has its seasons. There is no ultimate need to hurry its making...basilica teaches us the lesson of patience...Today, we treat architecture as if it was a throwaway consumer "good". We should learn to slow down...because people...raised in a world of lightning-fast, gimmee, gimmee junkitecture find it so compelling, it is even able to pay its own slow way. By Jonathan Glancey -- Mark Burry- Guardian (UK) |
Genius Pro Bono: The 2011 MacArthur Fellow Jeanne Gang also has an extraordinary portfolio of community work...No matter how she invests ["Genius Award"] personally, philanthropically, or into her practice...it will ultimately support her community work and commitment to good design — everything does. and that’s the real genius of Jeanne Gang. By John Cary -- Studio Gang [images]- Metropolis Magazine |
An architect who wants to keep designs simple: Ng Sek San plans for simple designs, better public transport and preserving heritage buildings..."The government should use our skills to serve the other 80% and there are many of us who are willing to rise to this challenge, but it’s not happening. Smart housing design doesn’t equate to spending a lot of money. There are some of us who are already doing this. Thinking about it is wonderful, but mobilising it is another thing altogether." -- Sek San Design Landscape Architecture and Planning- Free Malaysia Today |
The building as sculpture: Two different artistic mediums — art and architecture — have always functioned in their separate spaces, but there are signs of increasing dialogue between the two...we asked Mark Davison, head of design at Yoo, which works with partners such as Philippe Starck, Marcel Wanders, Jade Jagger, etc, to elaborate on where the two mediums meet. -- YooPune- Livemint.com (India) |
Our New Architecture Critic Talks About His Mission. It Starts in the Bronx: I’m interested in urbanism, city planning, housing and social affairs, the environment and health, politics and culture...and not just in how buildings look or who designs them, although those things are inseparable from the rest. By Michael Kimmelman- New York Times |
The Vignelli Subway Map Goes Digital: The map is as handsome as ever...why has the M.T.A. decided to use the new Vignelli map solely as a weekend amenity? ...Now [they] have figured out that this map is good for things other than dresses, why don’t they go the rest of the way, and bring it back as the basis for a more complete interactive map that will be kept live seven days a week? By Paul Goldberger [images, links]- New Yorker |
Call for entries: The Harlem Edge | Cultivating Connections - 5th ENYA international biennial ideas competition: the redevelopment of a decommissioned Department of Sanitation marine transfer station in the Hudson River; cash prizes; deadline: December 20- Emerging New York Architects (AIANY ENYA) |
Book Review: Pencils that Refuse to Die: Meditations about New Books on Architectural Drawing: Three recent books dealing with architectural drawing by pencil you need to read. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
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Moshe Safdie: Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, Kansas City, Missouri |
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