Today’s News - Monday, October 3, 2011
• ArcSpace brings us three "poetic" (and very cool) residential projects in Japan.
• All hail Hadid (well, for the most part, anyway) re: snagging her second Stirling: Heathcote: "award seems more surprising but somehow more wholesome"; Moore: "a worthy winner"; Woodman x 2: also "a worthy winner" - though the prize has "long since lost its credibility" (with a few snarks and sour grapes thrown in for good measure: "there was a collective groan").
• The Lubetkin Prize and Stephen Lawrence Prize also handed out.
• University of Maryland's WaterShed wins 2011 Solar Decathlon (with link to all the winners).
• Four years on, is PlaNYC working? Depends on who's talking.
• Kennicott is none too kind about Safdie's Crystal Bridges museum - though "there are compensating elements" (the name alone bothers him).
• Gehry's "Baby Bilbao," a.k.a. Weisman Art Museum, grows up with "a seamless extension."
• Rochon as diarists re: "citizen warriors, quixotic architects, stubborn preservationists" who "offer object lessons in the fine art of creating urban spaces that work."
• A look at why skyscrapers "are enjoying an unlikely renaissance."
• Arieff offers a most thoughtful take on why "new ways of thinking about 'home' are overdue": it's time to "begin considering it as part of a larger whole" instead of a "decorative object."
• Now you see it, now you don't: Fickett's widow is "angered" and "devastated" by the practically sneaky demolition of his West Hollywood Library without letting her know + ModCom's Ward went to see for himself and found a sad sight.
• Myers flies to Boston with Henry Cobb who ruminates on his Hancock Tower: "It's the closest I've ever come to poetry."
• Bjarke Ingels birthday present: $500,000 Crown Prince Frederik and Mary Culture Award (we have a birthday coming up, too...).
• NYC's Archtober gears up with a cornucopia of events for architecture and design junkies.
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EASTERN design office: Three Houses: Keyhole House; A House Awaiting Death; Mountain Opening House. Three poetic residential projects in Japan by architects Anna Nakamura and Taiyo Jinno. |
Hadid wins Stirling Prize: For the second year in a row, British architecture’s biggest and most prestigious prize has gone to the world’s best known woman architect, Zaha Hadid...for the Evelyn Grace Academy, an extraordinary new high school in a deprived part of Brixton in south London...This year’s award seems more surprising but somehow more wholesome. By Edwin Heathcote -- Bennetts Associates; David Chipperfield; Allford Hall Monaghan Morris; O'Donnell + Tuomey- Financial Times (UK) |
Hadid's dynamic but disciplined school provides a lesson for Gove: The Evelyn Grace Academy in south London is a worthy winner of the Stirling prize...At a time when...denouncing architects for robbing the public, and denying that good design has anything to do with good education, here is a prize for a school of extreme architectural ambition. By Rowan Moore- Guardian (UK) |
Stirling Prize awarded for Eveyln Grace Academy in Brixton: ...for the first time in its history, the Stirling Prize for Architecture was awarded to a school...a timely reminder of the role that architecture can play in shaping the culture of a school and the aspirations of the children who study there. It is a worthy winner. By Ellis Woodman -- Zaha Hadid- Telegraph (UK) |
A considerably better school than Maxxi is an art gallery: I can’t say that I shared the widespread incredulity at the choice of Evelyn Grace Academy as winner of this year’s Stirling. The prize has surely long since lost its credibility as a reward for architectural merit. By Ellis Woodman -- Zaha Hadid; Hopkins Architects; AHMM; David Chipperfield- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Reaction to Hadid's Stirling Prize win: 'there was a collective groan': The decision to give this year’s Stirling Prize to Zaha Hadid’s Evelyn Grace Academy is met by shock, surprise and even anger. -- George Ferguson; Russell Brown/Hawkins Brown; Rab Bennetts/Bennetts Associates; Stephen Hodder; Flora Samuels; Robert Kennett/Eric Parry Architects; Paul Finch/Design Council; Holly Porter/Surface to Air Architects; Simon Allford/AHMM- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Zaha Hadid’s Evelyn Grace Academy wins 2011 Stirling Prize: Lubetkin Prize was awarded to WOHA, the Singaporean practice founded by Wong Mun Summ & Richard Hassell, for the Met residential skyscraper in Bangkok...The Stephen Lawrence prize was awarded to the St. Patrick’s School Library and Music Room in north-west London by Coffey Architects.- BD/Building Design (UK) |
University of Maryland wins 2011 Solar Decathlon: ...beating students from Purdue and Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand... [slide show, link to complete list of final standings]- Los Angeles Times |
A Critical Look at PlaNYC, Four Years After Its Launch: In 2007, Mayor Bloomberg introduced his sweeping initiative to green the city...Is the plan working? Opinions vary. Numerous aspects of the scheme...are already visible across the city...But there also are critics who say changes have been slow to roll out and don’t improve the fortunes of all New Yorkers equally.- Architectural Record |
Crystal Bridges art museum wows — and also confuses: There is a substantial “wow” factor...but no one would ever call it refined, or meticulous or perfectly wrought...design is often sloppy, with elements that feel provisional, afterthoughts or improvisations...But there are compensating elements...feels like...a haphazard compromise between intriguing architecture and the bare necessities of displaying art...With luck, Crystal Bridges will be better than its name. By Philip Kennicott -- Moshe Safdie [slide show]- Washington Post |
The new Weisman: "Baby Bilbao" grows up: Two decades ago the Weisman Art Museum helped put Frank Gehry on the map. Now his "Baby Bilbao" has expanded, with major improvements that should bring fresh attention to this University of Minnesota landmark...Rebranded as WAM...a seamless extension of the 1993 building...it's a much more complex structure. + What was it like to work with Frank Gehry? By Mary Abbe -- Edwin Chan; John Cook/HGA Architects [images, video, links]- Minneapolis Star Tribune |
Dear Diary: This is how a city like Toronto is built: Citizen warriors, quixotic architects, stubborn preservationists and even a visionary mayor or two offer object lessons in the fine art of creating urban spaces that work. By Lisa Rochon -- Philipp Rode/Cities Project/London School of Economics; Stephen Teeple; CodeBlueTO; Jane Jacobs; du Toit Allsopp Hillier; Patkau Architects; Kearns Mancini; Diamond + Schmitt Architects- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Why skyscrapers are enjoying an unlikely renaissance: Skyscrapers are enjoying a second golden age...making the Skyscraper Museum “Supertall!” exhibit a must-see event for urban planners and architects...skyscrapers have undergone a rehabilitation from alienating urban presence to a means of getting a bigger bang for the buck from public transit, power, water, police, fire and other public services.- Toronto Star |
Shifting the Suburban Paradigm: New ways of thinking about “home” are overdue...To address current market realities, [homebuilders] don’t look to innovation but rather to an easier fallback strategy: a new marketing plan...simply hired more sales guys...we can’t make any progress...until we stop thinking about the home as decorative object and begin considering it as part of a larger whole. By Allison Arieff -- Blu Homes; KB Homes; Lake Flato [images, links]- New York Times |
Architect's Wife Angered by Demolition of Old Weho Library: ...devastated that the city demolished the West Hollywood Library without notifying her...she had been reassured...it did not intend to demolish the library as part of the park redesign...“It certainly would have been much more eco-friendly to use it for other purposes than to tear it down and replace it with grass." -- Edward H. Fickett- West Hollywood Patch |
Op-Ed: Got a Problem? Just Demolish It: ...I had to go see for myself. My findings were very sad....Adaptive re-use options were becoming too heated of a topic as of late for the city to allow the Fickett library to stand one more day. At least they should have allowed for discussion of salvage and possible relocation. By Steve Ward/Los Angeles Conservancy Modern Committee (ModCom)- West Hollywood Patch |
Mirror Over Copley Square: ...before his plane landed...Henry Cobb peered out his window at the John Hancock Tower...tapped his index finger hard on the glass twice, as though playfully poking an old adversary. "I still like it, but it's a long story"...since opening [in 1976] it has steadily won the hearts of residents, tourists and architectural critics alike...considered a modernist marvel, an architectural mood ring..."It's the closest I've ever come to poetry" By Marc Myers -- Pei Cobb Freed & Partners- Wall Street Journal |
CP Frederik and Mary Culture Award 2011: Bjarke Ingels had a nice birthday gift of the Crown Prince Couple's Culture Prize of $500,000...This gave the architect a birthday gift a little in advance when he turns 37 years... -- BIG- Unofficial Royalty (UK) |
New York City Readies for First-Ever "Archtober": ...a cornucopia of events for New York architecture and design lovers. Initiated by the AIA New York chapter, openhousenewyork, and the Architecture & Design Film Festival...33 partner organizations are hosting dozens more events... [links]- Architectural Record |
When a Train Rumbles Past this Recording Studio, Nobody Hears It: SubCat Studios, Syracuse, NY, has rapidly established itself as a catalyst to rebrand and revitalize the city's core. -- Fiedler Marciano Architecture [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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