Today’s News - Tuesday, October 2, 2012
• How growing cities will wreck the environment without better advance planning (great links).
• Florida parses a new study "identifying a series of metrics and rankings to measure America's progress" in creating "complete communities."
• Boyte cheers efforts by colleges to become "part of" communities, like the "Rust to Green" initiative led by a "consortium of colleges and universities in upstate New York, working with towns to spark a renaissance of the region."
• Lewis lays out the challenges of preserving historic neighborhoods, but warns "embracing historic preservation too fervently and dogmatically can be problematic" in its own right.
• Q&A with Gehry re: what he thinks about Toronto's architecture, and his new vision for the city's entertainment district (including "three sculptures for people to live in").
• His reaction to the onslaught of criticism and "scathing reviews": "Listening to critics lambaste his trademark out-there designs is just part of the job."
• Rochon cheers Gehry's and others' crusade to make "luminous buildings. Billowing clouds of glass are the next holy grail in architecture."
• Geelong, Australia, has high hopes for its own Bilbao moment with a new domed library and cultural center: "it's tomorrow architecture here today" (with pix to prove it!).
• Lots of flack re: U.K.'s new design templates for schools that ban, more than curved, glass, and folding walls; concrete ceilings and render cladding seem to be the order of the day: "The rules seem targeted to prevent new schools being designed by award-winning architects."
• Of course, the British government "says baseline designs are not restrictive": "I don't think we're expecting something that is going to leap us forward 50 years in school design but there is innovation there to be had."
• Baillieu wonders if the new school design guidelines are such a bad thing: "They're not very elegant, but they're serviceable. Can architects improve on them...or will it be their fees that will be used to fund the extras?"
• Oder explains why reviewing the Barclays Center before it opened was not a good thing: "its impact on the surrounding neighborhood must be taken into account - the broader plans for Atlantic Yards, with its troubled history and unresolved future."
• Broome seems quite taken by Kahn's FDR memorial on Roosevelt Island: "It has been a long time coming, but what a beginning this is" (lots of pix, too).
• CNN's Great Buildings series is worth tooling around: six leading architects (and then some) name which of their own buildings is a favorite, and "choose a piece of architecture they wished they had created."
• Peter Walker named 2012 Laureate of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development.
• One we couldn't resist: an eyeful of the winners in Arch Record's 3rd annual Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest.
• Call for entries: RFP for rehabilitation and operation of a commercial and retail development bordering Brooklyn Bridge Park + Deadline reminder - it really looms for Contract's 34th Annual Interiors Awards.
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How Growing Cities Will Wreck the Environment Unless We Build Them Right: ...much of the urbanization wave is happening with little to no advance planning, amplifying the environmental cost of stuffing hundreds of millions of poor people into half-built metropolitan areas that often lack basic sanitation, waste management or water services. [links]- Time Magazine |
The Ingredients of 'Complete Communities': Ideas for gauging our progress toward more equitable, affordable, sustainable, and walkable metros: A new study, "Are We There Yet? Creating Complete Communities for 21st Century America," released by the nonprofit Reconnecting America...identifying a series of metrics and rankings to measure America's progress... By Richard Florida [links]- The Atlantic Cities |
Hope and Higher Education -- The Powers of Public Narratives: What happens when colleges become "part of" communities...overcoming the culture of detachment...examples like a consortium of colleges and universities in upstate New York, working with towns to spark a renaissance of the region, using the rubric "Rust to Green"...with plans to expand to other cities. By Harry C. Boyte- Huffington Post |
The challenges of preserving a historic neighborhood: Powerful forces can work against preserving...collective character and scale...Yet embracing historic preservation too fervently and dogmatically can be problematic...mindlessly creating architectural clones denies the natural historic evolution of neighborhoods, towns and cities, where community fabric is collectively enriched over time... By Roger K. Lewis- Washington Post |
Frank Gehry thinks Toronto’s architecture is ‘mostly banal,’ but don’t worry, every city is like that: "I think it takes commitment from the people that are building to have some respect for the people they’re building for, and they don’t"...his new vision for the entertainment district..."is trying to create a sense of place and the creation of an arts anchor...David Mirvish's gallery goes a long way to that." [images]- National Post (Canada) |
Frank Gehry tells critics of design for Toronto landmark: ...has heard the scathing reviews of the proposed condo and mixed-use development...insisted that the plans simply represent a first draft...Listening to critics lambaste his trademark out-there designs is just part of the job...- The Telegram (Canada) |
Gehry, Gartner and glass make for luminous buildings: Billowing clouds of glass are the next holy grail in architecture...could mean stemming the onslaught of frigid blue or sterile green glass that dominates the current trend in condo and office towers... By Lisa Rochon -- Jeff Goodman Studio; Hariri Pontarini Architects; Rafael Vinoly Architects; Murphy/Jahn Architects; Diamond Schmitt Architects; Antoine Predock [images]- Globe and Mail (Canada) |
$45m dome set to dominate cultural zone: ...a radical dome design for the new Geelong Library and Heritage Centre overlooking Johnstone Park...set to put that part of Geelong on the map..."it's tomorrow architecture here today"... -- ARM Architecture [images]- Geelong Advertiser (Australia) |
New school building designs hit by curve ban: Government bans curved, glass and folding walls and orders concrete ceilings and render cladding to cut costs. The rules seem targeted to prevent new schools being designed by award-winning architects...Design templates...also prohibit...roof terraces that can be used as play areas, glazed walls and translucent plastic roofs. By Robert Booth- Guardian (UK) |
Architects invited to improve on government school designs: Government says baseline designs are not restrictive - but suggests buildings should be ‘simple rectilinear forms’..."I don’t think we’re expecting something that is going to leap us forward 50 years in school design but there is innovation there to be had"...getting value for money is its primary concern...drew immediate criticism from some quarters. -- HLM; Bond Bryan Architects; Ellis Miller Architects [images]- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Honey, I shrunk the schools: Non-teaching space is under threat, but is that such a bad thing? They’re not very elegant, but they’re serviceable...Can architects improve on them...or will it be their fees that will be used to fund the extras, like a theatre, that the public sector can no longer afford? By Amanda Baillieu- BD/Building Design (UK) |
Why Reviewing Brooklyn's New Arena Before It Opened Was Premature: Barclays Center can't be assessed as a standalone building; its impact on the surrounding neighborhood must be taken into account...the broader plans for Atlantic Yards, with its troubled history and unresolved future. By Norman Oder -- Ellerbe Becket (now AECOM); SHoP Architects [images, links]- The Atlantic Cities |
Set in Stone: Commemorating the legacy of FDR, Louis I. Kahn's last monument rises, 38 years after he designed it, on a watery urban site: Resurrection is risky: Will the work still be relevant? Can it remain faithful to the designer's original intent? Such questions have swirled around the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park...It has been a long time coming, but what a beginning this is. By Beth Broome -- Paul Broches/Mitchell/Giurgola [slide shows]- Architectural Record |
Great Buildings: ...six of the world's leading architects...name the favorite building they have designed and to choose a piece of architecture they wished they had created. -- Rem Koolhaas/OMA; Ma Yansong/MAD; Daniel Libeskind; FREE Fernando Romero EnterprisE; Zaha Hadid [images, videos]- CNN |
Peter Walker, FASLA - 2012 Laureate of the ULI J.C. Nichols Prize for Visionaries in Urban Development: ...widely recognized as one of the most accomplished landscape architectural designers of his time, forging the renaissance of landscape architecture as a discipline. -- PWP Landscape Architecture [images]- Urban Land Institute (ULI) |
Cocktail Napkin Sketch Contest - 2012: ...third annual contest...evaluated nearly 1,000 napkins from over 300 entrants. -- Geoff Parker/308 Design Collaborative; Brian Droste/Wight & Company; Cooper Carry; Eugene Kohn/Kohn Pedersen Fox (KPF); Antoine Predock; Alvin Oei/Randall/Baylon Architects [slide shows]- Architectural Record |
Call for entries: Request for Proposals/RFP: rehabilitation and operation of a commercial and retail development in the Empire Stores warehouses that border Brooklyn Bridge Park in the heart of DUMBO; deadline: December 10- Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation |
Deadline reminder: Call for entries: 34th Annual Interiors Awards; deadline: October 4- Contract magazine |
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-- Rudy Ricciotti & Mario Bellini: Department of Islamic Arts, Louvre Museum, Paris, France
-- Book: "Mobile Architecture: Construction and Design Manual" by Kim Seonwook & Pyo Miyoung |
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