Today’s News - Tuesday, November 22, 2011
• Two architect/curators discuss "Unbuilt Washington" and the what-might-have-been projects that would have made Washington, DC look very different today (and tomorrow).
• Kennicott finds the exhibition "far more than a catalogue of lost opportunities and terrifying near misses"; it raises questions that "lead back to fundamental and often arbitrary assumptions about what the architecture of democracy should look like."
• Designs for Manhattan's massive Hudson Yards project have been re-drawn - for the better (for the most part), with hopes "the two buildings will go ahead and dance their way around the fabric of the city's newest cluster of statement-making skyscrapers."
• Further downtown, there are high hopes for a "Low Line" with a proposed park "in a dank former trolley terminal under Delancey Street" (complete with greenscapes and sunshine - it looks very cool to us!).
• An impressive shortlist of teams show off their "anonymous" designs for London's Olympic South Park.
• Kansas City's Kauffman Center is "a moving celebration of a city's upward trajectory...that seems to relish its location so much, to be so proud of the city it shows off."
• DSIA has futuristic plans for Mariinsky II in St. Petersburg: "There will be no red plush or gilding, it's not the Bolshoi" - though it's not been an easy project: "too many authorities involved."
• LaBarre brings us an eyeful of BIG and OFF's big win for a project for the Sorbonne.
• Davidson hangs out with SHoP to find out what makes them "masters of post-boom buildability," and how they came up with the world's tallest prefab tower for Atlantic Yards to make "housing awesome yet affordable."
• Arieff cheers a Kansas City firm "that likes its urbanism 'messy'": working outside top tier cities "actually accords you the freedom to shape a city."
• A Dallas architecture firm sues developers for allegedly stealing its design (meanwhile, those protesting the project are "ecstatic").
• Glancey reviews last week in architecture: "From a seashell-collecting Le Corbusier" to architecture reaching for the moon (and the prospect of a "Design Robot of the Year 2020").
• Kamin minces no words about why he's bristling over Chicago's mayor selling ads on city property: "Tasteless. Clueless...a grotesque cheapening of the public realm...the uglification of the City Beautiful" (and much, more).
• Rawsthorn raves about the Occupy movement's clever use of "design cues to trigger public recognition" (brandmeisters should be pleased).
| |
|
|
|
To subscribe to the free daily newsletter
click here
|
"Unbuilt Washington": The National Building Museum explores some breathtakingly beautiful and some simply bizarre proposals to shape - or re-shape - America's capital: Two architect/curators discuss the what-might-have-been architecture and urban design projects that would have made Washington, DC look very different today (and tomorrow). -- G. Martin Moeller, Jr.; Susan Piedmont-Palladino- ArchNewsNow |
What-might-have-been Washington: “Unbuilt Washington” is far more than a catalogue of lost opportunities and terrifying near misses. It is also a compendium of Washington’s architectural phobias and obsessions...It is, in the best sense, profoundly disorienting...the chain of questions leads back to fundamental and often arbitrary assumptions about what the architecture of democracy should look like. By Philip Kennicott -- Pierre L’Enfant; Benjamin Latrobe; Peter Force; Russell Pope; Robert Mills; Andrew Jackson Downing; Thomas Jefferson; Leon Krier; Frank Gehry; Harvey Wiley Corbett; Morphosis Architects; Hugh Newell Jacobsen; Edward Durell Stone [slide show]- Washington Post |
Architect Returns to Drawing Board: ...developer Related Cos. became disenchanted with the design of the first phase of Hudson Yards...That made for a busy summer for...William Pedersen...The result...is an improvement...two office towers are disappointing as stand-alone buildings...But the new design helps make up for this in the way the office buildings interact. -- William Pedersen/Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) By Robbie Whelan [images, slide show]- Wall Street Journal |
Inspired by High Line, Park Is Envisioned With Sights Set Low: ...another attention-grabbing green space on a former transit site...comes with a twist — the proposed park would be...in a dank former trolley terminal under Delancey Street...“Delancey Underground,” another nickname...the Low Line...a piece of the world under Manhattan may soon have a moment in the sun. -- James Ramsey; Dan Barasch; PopTech; Raad Studio [images]- New York Times |
Shortlisted designs revealed in Olympic South Park contest: ...concepts proposals will be on ‘anonymous’ display at the NLA/New London Architecture until early January. -- Agence Ter/Heneghan Peng/Buro Happold/ARUP, Bartenbach LichtLabor/Gardiner & Theobald; Gustafson Porter/Niall McLaughlin/ARUP/Davis Langdon; James Corner Field Operations/Make Architects/ARUP/Tomato/Piet Oudolf/L’Observatoire International/Groundbreaking/Playlink/Deloitte; Ken Smith Landscape Architect/Michael Maltzan Architecture/Buro Happold/Piet Oudolf/ETM associates/Davis Langdon; West 8/Benthem Crouwel Architekten [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts Reflects a New Dawn on the Prairie: ...it is one of the most enjoyable, exhilarating arts centers I’ve been to, a moving celebration of a city’s upward trajectory...I’ve never seen a performing-arts space that seems to relish its location so much, to be so proud of the city it shows off. By Zachary Woolfe -- Moshe Safdie [images]- New York Times |
Soaring glass for Mariinsky's modern second home: History and modern design will come together in a new $629 million, glass-walled concert hall to be built as a futuristic second home for St. Petersburg's 19th century Mariinsky theatre..."There will be no red plush or gilding, it's not the Bolshoi"...project has not been an easy one so far..."too many authorities involved." -- Diamond + Schmitt Architects- Reuters |
Bjarke Ingels To Build Science Center That Gives Geeks Fresh Air: Another big win for rising starchitect...Working with Paris architects OFF, Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) beat out MVRDV, Mario Cucinella, and others in a competition for the 161,500-square-foot Paris PARC [for] the Sorbonne’s prestigious Pierre et Marie Curie Université. By Suzanne LaBarre [images]- Fast Company |
Less Really Is More: SHoP Architects, masters of post-boom buildability...staking its name on the world’s tallest prefab tower...32-story...B2, will rise at Atlantic Yards...consider prefabrication a designer’s godsend, the key to making housing awesome yet affordable...“It’s all about using technology...to further the art. Otherwise, these buildings would be dumbed down into really mediocre stuff." By Justin Davidson [slide show]- New York Magazine |
An Architecture Firm That Likes Its Urbanism 'Messy': Kansas City's eldo [El Dorado, Inc.] has managed to merge modern design and 'hyper functionality' in its latest set of projects...working outside top tier cities...actually accords you the freedom to shape a city. By Allison Arieff [images, links]- The Atlantic Cities |
Architects file copyright suit against Ashby high-rise developers, seek quick block to project: A Dallas architecture firm has sued the developers...for allegedly stealing its design and is seeking an injunction to block construction...The Stop Ashby High Rise task force was ecstatic... -- Humphreys & Partners Architects; EDI International [images]- River Oaks Examiner (Houston, Texas) |
Constructive criticism: the week in architecture: From a seashell-collecting Le Corbusier to a grand new college for creatives...a winning week – as architecture reaches for the moon...It's a real pleasure to read Niklas Maak's "Le Corbusier: The Architect on the Beach"...If the Moonbase is built, BD may well find itself championing Design Robot of the Year 2020. A human, I suppose, might just get to program the robots. If not, beachcombing is fun. Instructive, too. By Jonathan Glancey -- Stanton Williams; Jonathan Hendry; Terence Conran; Behrokh Khoshnevis; Anders Carlson; Neil Leach; Madhu Thangavelu [images, links]- Guardian (UK) |
New ads on the Wabash Avenue Bridge: Avert your eyes; at least they'll be gone in a month: Tasteless. Clueless. And — thank God — only temporary...represent a grotesque cheapening of the public realm...short-sighted plan to raise $25 million by selling ads on all types of city property, they offer a nightmarish hint of what the plan might deliver: the uglification of the City Beautiful. By Blair Kamin [images]- Chicago Tribune |
Elements of Style as Occupy Movement Evolves: Activist movements have traditionally used design cues to trigger public recognition...Occupy uses them, too, but it has deployed them differently...the word “Occupy”...a stellar example of both what is known in marketing as an umbrella brand name and what the anti-corporatists in the movement could call beating them at their own game...Equally versatile are the slogans...“We are the 99%”... “Sorry for the inconvenience. We are trying to change the world.” By Alice Rawsthorn- New York Times |
|
Gehry Partners LLP: New York by Gehry, New York, New York |
|
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window.
External news links are not endorsed by ArchNewsNow.com.
Free registration may be required on some sites.
Some pages may expire after a few days.
© 2011 ArchNewsNow.com