Today’s News - Wednesday, April 18, 2012
• With earthquakes, tsunamis, tornados, volcanoes on the rise, green-building advocates and disaster planners are finding common ground - a LEED rating for resilience could be on the horizon.
• Ban's cardboard Transitional Cathedral for Christchurch gets the go-ahead (great pix!).
• Bernstein reports (with a bit of bristling) on Apple HQ plans moving forward; "one of its objectives to 'achieve the security and privacy by eliminating any public access to the site'...the language is jarring in an era when urban planning tends to be about creating, not curtailing, interaction" (though apricot orchard is a nice touch).
• It's an NYC sort of day: Germany's Bauwelt Magazine takes an in-depth look at affordable housing in NYC: "Government-funded housing in the capital of capitalism?"
• Pogrebin digs into the details of the New York Public Library's "public-relations blitz" defending its $300 million plans; critics claim it will turn it into "a glorified Starbucks."
• Dunlap talks to the cheerleaders and nay-sayers of plans to revamp South Street Seaport's Pier 17: "the landmarks commissioners seemed receptive" to changes (the original designers - not so much).
• News from Down Under: Perth presents plans to transform the Swan River waterfront into an "aquatic playground" despite ongoing opposition (no mention of who designed the master plan).
• Sydney approves $1 billion plan to create Australia's biggest entertainment and convention center at Darling Harbor.
• King has high hopes for Walnut Creek's Broadway Plaza plan to become dense and tall: "We've got the chance now to explore new definitions of all that the suburbs can be."
• van Egeraat's Siberian mall "functions as an interiorized public space overlaid on a capitalist bubble" (pix to prove it).
• Does Abu Dhabi need the Guggenheim? Some think not: "The Guggenheim effect is sexy when you are not on the radar. When you are Bilbao..." (harrumph).
• The revamped Palais de Tokyo in Paris, "left under-developed to perfection" with lots of dust, exposed concrete, and dangling electrical wires, could put the "French art scene back into the spotlight" (fun included!).
• Good news/bad news for two Pritzker winners: "Wang Shu's use of materials both exploits and exposes China's reckless approach to building."
• Souto de Moura is having a hard time finding work - lots of invitations to competitions, but who wants to go up against "another 400 or 600 architects" (perhaps having a website might help?).
• Cardew receives the 2012 RAIC Gold Medal: "The quality of his work is consistently high, consistently thoughtful, and timeless...he is an architect to be admired and emulated."
• Ling launches a "Big Bang" atmosphere for SOFA 2012 at the Park Avenue Armory in NYC this weekend: "You will immediately undertake a time-machine-like procession."
• Peters reports on the recent SmartGeometry 2012: it sounds like the international crowd of architects and researchers had a helluva time!
• A fascinating round-up of 2012's most interesting buildings (so far) by small (i.e. not starchitect) firms creating some remarkably "bold work" (so refreshing!).
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Disaster Resilience Part of Sustainability, Too: As the world deals with quakes, storms, waves and eruptions, builders realize that surviving and thriving after these threats are key components of sustainability...green-building advocates and disaster planners are finding common ground...No formal LEED resilience points exist, but the USGBC is starting to pay attention...- Miller-McCune |
Shigeru Ban wins green light for Christchurch Cathedral re-build: ...has received Church backing for a ‘transitional’ project to build a cardboard cathedral in earthquake-struck New Zealand...Transitional Cathedral has a lifespan of between 20 and 30 years... -- Warren and Mahoney [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Apple and Apricots: Despite the death of Steve Jobs, the new Apple headquarters project is moving ahead. Recent plans show fruit trees dotting the 175-acre site...one of its objectives is to “achieve the security and privacy required for the invention of new products by eliminating any public access to the site"...the language is jarring in an era when urban planning tends to be about creating, not curtailing, interaction. By Fred A. Bernstein -- Foster + Partners; Olin Partnership- Architectural Record |
Affordable Housing in New York: Government-funded housing in the capital of capitalism? What happens when the growing city of eight million inhabitants subsidizes low- and middle-income households? By Susanne Schindler,David Grahame Shane, Karen Kubey, and Juliette Spertus -- Richard Plunz; Jonathan Kirschenfeld Architects; Dattner Architects; Grimshaw Architects; Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) [images, video]- Bauwelt Magazine (Germany) |
New York Public Library Defends Plan to Renovate: ...addressing criticism of its plan to reimagine its Fifth Avenue flagship building at an estimated cost of $300 million...Critics say that the money would be better spent refurbishing deteriorating branch libraries, and that the changes will diminish the library’s role as a leading reference center, essentially turning it into a glorified Starbucks. By Robin Pogrebin -- Norman Foster/Foster + Partners- New York Times |
Does Pier 17 Deserve Another Chance? The owner of South Street Seaport wants to overhaul the giant shopping pavilion...and turn it into something that will attract New Yorkers and not just tourists...The structure itself is so recent that some of its original architects and designers are still around, and they are vocal in defense of it. By David W. Dunlap -- Benjamin Thompson & Associates (1985); SHoP Architects; James Corner Field Operations [images]- New York Times |
Aquatic playground to transform the Swan River foreshore: ...a vibrant entertainment precinct and marina...new sculptures and low-scale developments around the waterfront, which will include restaurants, shops and about 1700 apartments...despite ongoing opposition from the City Gatekeepers. [image]- PerthNow (Australia) |
Plans expand: Sydney gets country's biggest entertainment and convention centre: NSW has approved a $1 billion upgrade to the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Convention Centre and Exhibition Centre at Darling Harbour...size of the precinct increased from 12 to 20 hectares. -- Cox Richardson [images, links]- Architecture & Design (Australia) |
Walnut Creek's Broadway Plaza primed to grow up: From the day it opened in 1951...has embodied the evolving landscape of Bay Area suburbs...Planners envision a denser, taller Plaza with more stores and hundreds of new apartments or condominiums...How will a more densely developed center feel? That's the subtext to the debate...We've got the chance now to explore new definitions of all that the suburbs can be. By John King- San Francisco Chronicle |
Vershina Trade and Entertainment Centre, Surgut, Russia: Erick van Egeraat designed this Siberian mall as a way to add amenities for the local oil and gas workers...functions as an interiorized public space overlaid on a capitalist bubble. By John Gendall [slide show]- Architect Magazine |
Guggenheim delay raises big question: is Abu Dhabi ready for modern art? Emirate may scale back grandiose plan for three museums...designed by "starchitects"...on Saadiyat island..."The Guggenheim effect is sexy when you are not on the radar. When you are Bilbao...but the Guggenheim should pay Abu Dhabi to be there, not vice versa. Does Abu Dhabi need the Guggenheim still? I don't believe so...Let us downsize it." -- Jean Nouvel; Norman Foster/Foster + Partners; Frank Gehry- Guardian (UK) |
Will Paris's Revamped Palais de Tokyo Lead the French Art Scene Back Into the Spotlight? ...labyrinthine rooms and corridors...architects Lacaton and Vassal have left under-developed to perfection...a Berlin-style industrial concrete site that can be both gracious and unyielding...Dust clings...exposed concrete is plentiful and electrical wires hang from the ceiling...The strategy of leaving [it] raw and unfinished...may prove to be very effective indeed. [slide show]- Artinfo |
Deconstruction, Reconstruction: Pritzker Prize winner Wang Shu's use of materials both exploits and exposes China's reckless approach to building. By Blaine Brownell -- Lu Wenyu; Amateur Architecture Studio- Architect Magazine |
2011 Pritzker Laureate Eduardo Souto de Moura facing Unemployment? ...he would prefer to work in his homeland, or even nearby in Spain, but the current economic crisis has him extending his search to other parts of Europe...award has caused a sizable increase to the number of invitations to competitions abroad; however, he describes that he must still compete with “another 400 or 600 architects.”- ArchDaily |
Peter Cardew, MRAIC, recipient of the 2012 RAIC Gold Medal: “The quality of his work is consistently high, consistently thoughtful, and timeless...[he] is an architect to be admired and emulated." [images]- Royal Architectural Institute of Canada (RAIC) |
David Ling creates 'Big Bang' atmosphere for SOFA 2012: In celebration of the 15th anniversary of the International Sculpture Objects & Functional Art Fair: SOFA: NEW YORK, [he] will transform the Park Avenue Armory into a veritable work of art..."You will immediately undertake a time-machine-like procession." (April 20-23) [images]- Auction Central News |
SmartGeometry 2012 in Troy, New York: Now in its ninth year, this year´s theme was Material Intensities...at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC)...workshops offered the chance for practitioners from top international offices to work side by side with researchers...in a non-competitive and collaborative environment. By Terri Peters -- UNStudio; Foster + Partners; SOM; Arup; Aedas; Grimshaw; 3XN; Harvard GSD; Architectural Association; University of Pennsylvania; California Collage of the Arts; University College London; RMIT Melbourne; University of Oregon; CASE [images, links]- Archinect |
2012's Most Interesting Buildings So Far: London's new Shard (and Renzo Piano) is set to get all the attention it deserves and then some. Not to be forgotten are smaller firms creating less luxurious but equally bold work. -- Todd Architects; Rojo/Fernández-Shaw; Casanova + Hernandez; Dehullu & Partners; Bisson; ACDF; A+D Studio; Aedifica architecture + design; Alterstudio Partners; Dietmar Feichtinger Architects; Nicolas Laisné & Christophe Rousselle; Project Orange; Architects of Invention; Feilden Clegg Bradley [slide show]- The Atlantic Cities |
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Moshe Safdie & Associates: Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex, Anadpur Sahib, Punjab, India |
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