Today’s News - Monday, December 19, 2011
• ArcSpace brings us an eyeful of BIG's Finnish ski resort (ski the rooftops!).
• Singerman ponders the Australian government's new urban design protocol (written in plain English - what a concept!): architects "are being asked to think outside the square of buildings alone."
• Rochon finds a few rays of enlightenment in her frustrating quest to get details on new housing plans for "the deeply troubled Cree community."
• Meanwhile, a tribal college in South Dakota is teaming up with Colorado University students to provide energy-efficient homes to tribal members.
• Heathcote cheers Maggie's centres that "offer a chance to re-evaluate the role that architecture can play in the everyday and the extraordinary."
• Bullivant zeros in on OMA's Maggie's Center: it's a "gem," both "humble and responsive to its natural context...a seeming enactment of a moment of connection between architecture and landscape, a hidden symbol of its cause."
• A curious Q&A with Koolhaas re: "soulless cities," the failings of Hamburg's HafenCity, and why "architects are getting a lot more attention today. But we are also being taken less seriously...We are celebrated as heroes - but humiliation is part of our daily lives."
• Snøhetta submits Aberdeen Maggie's Centre for planning (not much info, but at least an image).
• Doig dissects the slow-city movement where "speed may be the next battleground for urban streets."
• McGuirk marvels at London's "great Victorian thoroughfare" now remade by a "gracious scheme" that "all but abolishes the distinction between road and pavement...It's all very liberal, and something of an experiment."
• Glancey's review of last week: Exhibition Road's re-do (reviewed above); Finland's "newfangled mountain motel" (see ArcSpace above); Libeskind's 9-foot-high chandelier (developed with his astrophysicist-son, who knew?!!?); London's new Routemaster is "a bus as imagined by set designers for the Batman movies"; and Tangerine Tango as the 2012 color of the year.
• Viñoly is "hired as creative brain" (in collaboration with KPF) behind plans to turn the Battersea power station into a football (a.k.a. soccer) stadium - not all are pleased.
• Bloomberg picks Cornell/SOM team to develop a science school on Roosevelt Island (a $350 million anonymous gift towards the project might have had something to do with it - official announcement later today).
• Moore on the rise of Aedas in 10 short years: the firm "would certainly like to be liked for the architectural quality of their designs...but it is clear that their systems of delivery are their main selling points."
• Take AJ's Women in Architecture survey (architects, students, and clients welcome).
• More end-of-the-year reviews: Hawthorne's Best-of leads with the Occupy movement: "In architecture, 2011 turned out to be the Year of the Tent...a spin on the notion of portable community."
• Kennicott found it "a year without theme or focus...best remembered as another annum of too much stuff and too little time."
• Kamin, having already named his Best list, now names the Worst - architects named are generally the victims - not the perpetrators (for the most part).
• A round-up of the Top 10 news stories of the year from Down Under.
• Call for entries: Helsinki, gearing up to be the 2012 World Design Capital, launches "Lights over Kruunuvuorenranta" international design competition for the artistic lighting of a new neighborhood (more competitions to follow early next year).
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Competition winner: BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group: Koutalaki Ski Village, Levi, Finland |
Creating places in Australia: Deborah Singerman ponders "Creating Places for People," the Government's new urban design protocol and considers how architects and designers are being asked to think outside the square of buildings alone. [links]- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
The cornerstones of a better Attawapiskat: I wanted to have answers to some simple questions about the 22 houses promised last week by the federal government to the deeply troubled Cree community...Clearly, the government has nothing to say. So, I called on various experts...who have worked successfully with aboriginal communities to address the crisis of housing. By Lisa Rochon -- Paul Mitchell/Mitchell Architects; Anne Giardini/Weyerhaeuser; Janna Levitt/Levitt Goodman Architects; Graham Murfitt/Smith Carter- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
Tribal College and Colorado University Partner to Provide Reservation Housing: ...University of Colorado Boulder and Oglala Lakota College in Kyle, South Dakota have teamed up for a two-tiered architectural enterprise...to provide energy-efficient homes to tribal members of the Pine Ridge Reservation community.- Indian Country Today |
Building hope: Replacing soulless institutions with astonishing architecture can improve the lives of cancer patients...The Maggie’s centres offer a chance to re-evaluate the role that architecture can play in the everyday and the extraordinary. It would be as radical a change as they are sparking in healthcare. By Edwin Heathcote -- Rem Koolhaas/OMA; Piers Gough/CZWG; Paul Smith; Kisho Kurokawa; Maggie Jencks; Charles Jencks; Frank Gehry; Zaha Hadid; Richard Rogers; Richard MacCormac; Chris Wilkinson- Financial Times (UK) |
The new Maggie’s Centre by OMA in Glasgow is a gem: ...is humble and responsive to its natural context...Without quite dematerialising into the landscape, the building has presence, and is open to the inside and the outside, a seeming enactment of a moment of connection between architecture and landscape, a hidden symbol of its cause. By Lucy Bullivant -- Charles Jencks; Maggie Keswick Jencks; Piers Gough of CZWG); Kisho Kurokawa; Snøhetta; Frank Gehry; Lily Jencks; Ellen van Loon/Rem Koolhaas/OMA- The Plan Magazine (Italy) |
Interview with Star Architect Rem Koolhaas: 'We're Building Assembly-Line Cities and Buildings': ...he discusses soulless cities, the failings of Europe's largest urban redevelopment project in Hamburg..."It's true that we architects are getting a lot more attention today. But we are also being taken less seriously...We are celebrated as heroes - but humiliation is part of our daily lives." [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Snohetta submits Aberdeen Maggie's Centre for planning: Conceived as pavilion in parkland [image]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
In the future, urban bikers go faster than cars: Cities around the world are considering radical new speed limits on cars - slowing down in the name of progress...speed may be the next battleground for urban streets...But the slow-city movement isn’t just about cars, nor is it always about safety. There’s a growing sense that getting around — even if it is slower — can become a joy in itself. By Will Doig [links]- Salon |
A farewell to pavements: Is it a mad idea to turn roads and pavements into one great big shared space? London's grandest cultural artery will shortly find out...Exhibition Road, the great Victorian thoroughfare...has been ripped up and remade to a new design that all but abolishes the distinction between road and pavement...It's all very liberal, and something of an experiment...gracious scheme... By Justin McGuirk -- Dixon Jones [image]- Guardian (UK) |
Constructive criticism: the week in architecture: Finland gets a newfangled mountain motel, northern lights come to a ceiling near you, and London's new Routemaster rides out...a bus as imagined, perhaps, by set designers for the Batman movies...City streets of the future, meanwhile, might resemble the new-look Exhibition Road...with no pavements, no pedestian crossings and very few traffic lights. By Jonathan Glancey -- BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group; Daniel Libeskind/Noam Libeskind; Thomas Heatherwick; Dixon Jones [images, links]- Guardian (UK) |
Rafael Viñoly brought in as Chelsea looks at move to Battersea power station: Architect behind latest failed redesign for London's Battersea...hired as creative brain behind developer Mike Hussey's plan for stadium for Chelsea football club at the site. -- Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF)- Guardian (UK) |
After Yearlong Competition, Mayor Bloomberg Is Said to Pick Cornell for Science School: ...Cornell announced a $350 million gift, the largest in its history, to help bankroll its proposal...city is providing the land on Roosevelt Island...as well as $100 million in infrastructure improvements to ease building. -- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)- New York Times |
The rise of Aedas is a triumph for efficiency: British giant is now the world's biggest practice, but is size and adaptability any substitute for vision and flair? ...has deposed the former leader, the American Aecom...Aedas would certainly like to be liked for the architectural quality of their designs, and to attract more attention from awards juries, but it is clear that their systems of delivery are their main selling points. By Rowan Moore- Observer (UK) |
Have your say: Take the Women in Architecture survey: Students, clients, architects: help us track the gender divide by filling out the AJ’s Women in Architecture survey on the status of women in practice- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Best of 2011 in architecture: The Occupy protests and their tent-dwelling participants create a spin on the notion of portable community...Forget the blobs, boxes, starchitects and destination buildings that dominated much of the last decade. In architecture, 2011 turned out to be the Year of the Tent. By Christopher Hawthorne -- Eyal Weizman; Sandi Hilal; Alessandro Petti; Neil Denari; "OMA/Progress"/Rem Koolhaas/Office for Metropolitan Architecture; Janette Sadik-Khan; Johnson Favaro; Frank Gehry [slide show]- Los Angeles Times |
Philip Kennicott’s top art and architecture of 2011: It was a year without theme or focus...Which is to say, a year like most others in this age of no discernible isms or movements, no dominant ideologies, no marching to a single manifesto...a year best remembered as another annum of too much stuff and too little time. -- Frank Gehry; Michael Arad; "Unbuilt Washington"/National Building Museum- Washington Post |
The worst in Chicago architecture and urban design for 2011. By Blair Kamin -- Bertrand Goldberg; Laurence Booth/Booth Hansen; Peter Schaudt; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM); Holababird, Root & Burgee (1948) [links]- Chicago Tribune |
Architecture & Design's Top 10 for 2011: ...a collection of some the year’s biggest news stories. -- Frank Gehry; Umow Lai; FJMT; Weir and Phillips; Populous; Kann Finch Group; Johnson Pilton Walker (JPW) [links]- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
Call for entries: “Lights over Kruunuvuorenranta” international design competition for the artistic lighting of the new Kruunuvuorenranta residential area; registration deadline: January 24- City of Helsinki (Finland) |
Best Architecture Books of 2011: 10 books sparking creative inspiration plus escapist fare for financially fickle times. By Norman Weinstein- ArchNewsNow |
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