Today’s News - Friday, October 19, 2012
• Goldberger riffs (oh so eloquently) on some posthumously-built architecture that didn't quite hit the mark, but is left "elated" by Kahn's FDR memorial: "you feel the metaphorical power of architecture."
• Chan's visit to the memorial was "an experience so psychologically intimate, it is almost dreamlike."
• Li feels likewise: "The prospect of a 38-year-old design being built new in 2012 would be strange if it had been almost any architect but Kahn" (with a lot history thrown in for good measure).
• Saffron is more than a bit unsettled by the idea of a mural on Philly's PSFS: "we've become architectural illiterates...murals have become the default balm for all our urban blights."
• Piano and Pali present their "ambitious" design for the Museum of Motion Pictures in L.A.
• Van Valkenburg and Phifer are the winning team to reimagine 28 acres of downtown Austin.
• Dalrymple offers a most eloquent essay: "To mourn Syria's devastated archaeological and architectural heritage may seem trivial. Yet with it die precious traditions."
• A Legorreta gem is set to be demolished to make way for a resort in South Korea, despite an audit that "showed a problem in the Jeju provincial government's cultural mind" (architects and the Mexican embassy are hoping it can be saved).
• Meanwhile, today Santa Fe is kicking off a three-day festival celebrating Legorreta.
• Big plans for the massive Walter Reed Army Medical Center campus: uses "have been identified through a public engagement and selection process."
• Eye candy for the day: eyefuls of Foster, Hadid, Koolhaas, and Rogers' visions for a Park Avenue tower (Foster's won out, but the others are worth a look).
• Weekend diversions: NYC's Architecture and Design Film Festival kicks off today; Grabar highlights one that "attempts to answer the central question of high-quality embassy design: What does it accomplish?"
• Q&A with co-director of "Unfinished Spaces" as yet another chapter of controversy begins for the Cuban National Art Schools.
• Grabar (again) re: "How Cuba's National Arts Schools were disgraced and reclaimed."
• The Melbourne Architecture Annual kicks off Australia's National Architecture Week on Monday; Sydney's starts on Wednesday.
• NYC architects go underground with "Design by New York" - a "stunning visual experience" in the West 4th Street subway station.
• Calys spotlights stunning images of old New York in a "well-curated exhibit" in San Francisco offering a "photo commentary on urban life and issues" (fabulous slide show!).
• A new book "turns the lens on" architectural photographer Pullan, who "captured modernism's naked wood and glass" (another great slide show - sadly, of many masterpieces now demolished).
• Peter Aaron captures the "demanding architecture among the historic hovering hills and yawning fields" of Frederic Church's Olana.
• Pedersen has a lively Q&A with Speck re: "Walkable City," a "prescriptive book full of insight, humor, and common sense."
• Q&A with "radical geographer" Harvey re: his new book "Rebel Cities" that "looks at ways in which urban populations can reclaim the spaces that couldn't work without them, but which they rarely control."
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The Genius of Louis Kahn’s Connected, Contemplative Roosevelt Memorial - and How Builders Avoided the Usual Perils of Posthumous Architecture: It is the first time a work of posthumous architecture has made me feel elated, not offended, and left me absolutely certain that the right thing had been done...you feel the metaphorical power of architecture... By Paul Goldberger -- Weidlinger; Mitchell/Giurgola; Harriet Pattison; Villa/Sherr- Vanity Fair |
Meditating on the Abstract Majesty of Louis Kahn's Roosevelt Island FDR Park: Four Freedoms Park is a work of masterful design...an experience so psychologically intimate, it is almost dreamlike. With material, space, and imagery...celebrates a people unified not under one leader, but under the essential freedom for individuals to be as they are. By Kelly Chan [slide show]- Artinfo |
Roosevelt memorial is also a tribute to the late Louis Kahn, enigmatic architect: Four Freedoms Park is...a place of nature and contemplation...The prospect of a 38-year-old design being built new in 2012...would be strange if it had been almost any architect but Kahn...his work does not scream modernism so much as timelessness. By Roland Li -- Paul Goldberger; Michael Rubenstein/Mitchell/Giurgola Architects- Capital New York |
A mural for PSFS? No need to cover up a classic: ...proposal...has almost no chance of becoming reality, yet I still found the idea unsettling...suggests that we have lost our ability to look at architecture and see meaning in the arrangement of stone and glass...But we've become architectural illiterates...murals have become the default balm for all our urban blights. By Inga Saffron -- Conrad Benner/Streets Dept; George Howe; William Lescaze [images]- Philadelphia Inquirer |
Planet Hollywood: Renzo Piano and Zoltan Pali unveil ambitious design for the Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles: ...scheme will restore the Wilshire and Fairfax facades of the 1939 Streamline Moderne [May Company] building, with its iconic golden cylinder corner, designed by Albert C. Martin and Samuel A. Marx. -- SPF:architects [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Design team selected for Waller Creek makeover: Michael Van Valkenburg Associates and Thomas Phifer & Partners has been selected as the design team to reimagine 15 blocks..."Where else will a city embark on a stunning transformation of 28 downtown acres guided by its citizens’ wishes..." [image, link]- Austin American-Statesman (Texas) |
Syria's future lies in ruins: To mourn Syria's devastated archaeological and architectural heritage may seem trivial. Yet with it die precious traditions...Groups like the World Monuments Fund are monitoring the losses. By William Dalrymple- Guardian (UK) |
Jeju government won’t save architectural treasure: Casa del Agua gallery by deceased architect Ricardo Legorreta to be demolished for resort development...audit...“showed a problem in the Jeju provincial government‘s cultural mind"...The Mexican embassy and South Korean architects have asked the central and local governments to preserve it... [image]- The Hankyoreh (South Korea) |
Santa Fe Institutions To Honor The Late Ricardo Legorreta: On October 19th, the city will kick off a weekend of Legorreta-themed events. -- Victor Legorreta; Legorreta + Legorreta [images]- Architizer |
At Walter Reed Army Medical Center site, officials push for a town center: ...a number of affordable-housing builders and schools have already claimed portions of the site...State Department wants to build a row of embassies for more than 20 nations...Uses for the remaining 66.6 acres have been identified through a public engagement and selection process...The vision calls for tearing down the mammoth, 2.6 million-square-foot Brutalist concrete hospital...original [1909] brick hospital building...and a garish blue fountain out front may all fall under historical protection. -- Perkins+Will- Washington Post |
Foster Won, but Check Out Zaha Hadid, Rem Koolhaas, and Richard Rogers' NYC Visions: Park Avenue in Manhattan is ready to grow taller... -- Foster + Partners; OMA; Rogers Stirk Harbour Partners [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
How the Netherlands Builds Its Embassies: A new film, "Mission Statements: The Architecture of Dutch Diplomacy"...investigates the impact and efficacy of outspoken diplomatic structures...attempts to answer the central question of high-quality embassy design: What does it accomplish? By Henry Grabar [video]- The Atlantic Cities |
"Unfinished Spaces" Still Unfinished: The documentary about the Cuban National Art Schools debuts on television with apt timing, as yet another chapter of controversy over the buildings has begun...Q&A with co-director and co-producer Alysa Nahmias about the schools’ history and recent controversy. -- Ricardo Porro; Vittorio Garrati; Roberto Gottardi; Foster + Partners [slide show]- Architect Magazine |
Revolutionary Architecture: How Cuba's National Arts Schools Were Disgraced and Reclaimed: A golf course, a bold design, exile and return: In 2009, Cuba declared the buildings a national monument. The new documentary "Unfinished Spaces"...explores the construction and rehabilitation of the schools. By Henry Grabar -- Ricardo Porro; Vittorio Garatti; Robert Gattardi; John Loomis [images]- The Atlantic Cities |
Melbourne Architecture Annual (MA|A) October 22-28: Part of the National Architecture Week activities organised by the Australian Institute of Architects (Victorian Chapter)...festival's theme is "Community & Architecture"...- Australian Design Review |
Sydney Architecture Festival 2012: Architecture comes alive...under the theme "Beyond Boundaries" - 24 October - 4 November- Sydney Architecture Festival theme |
Local subway station features "Design by New York" for Archtoberfest: ...traveling through the West 4th Street subway station will be a stunning visual experience...AIANY and The Center for Architecture’s annual member showcase...includes photographs of 188 architectural projects designed by New York-based architects.- Washington Square News |
"The Radical Camera: New York’s Photo League 1936-1951": photo commentary on urban life and issues: The Contemporary Jewish Museum (San Francisco)...well-curated exhibit examines human lives and interactions in urban America over a 15 year period that still defines the national psyche today. By George Calys [slide show]- San Francisco Examiner |
"Olana's Dynamic Landscape: Photographs by Peter Aaron": Frederic Church...designed Olana...surreal, curious, and haunting...Aaron is a 21st-century Church, capturing demanding architecture among the historic hovering hills and yawning fields...on display at Olana in Hudson, NY, through October 31. [image, links]- Chronogram |
Selwyn Pullan, West Coast Tastemaker: The architectural photographer captured modernism's naked wood and glass, which helped make our place. A new book turns the lens on him..."Selwyn Pullan: Photographing Mid-Century West Coast Modernism" by Barry Downs, Donald Luxton, Kiriko Watanabe and Adele Weder. -- Ron Thom; Arthur Erickson; Fred Hollingsworth; George Hamilton; Thompson Berwick & Pratt- The Tyee (Vancouver) |
Step by Step: Can American cities walk their way to healthy economic development? "Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time" by Jeff Speck is a civic how-to for mayors, planners, architects...“Get walkability right, and much of the rest will follow,” he writes in this prescriptive book full of insight, humor, and common sense. By Martin C. Pedersen- Metropolis Magazine |
"Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution": In his latest book the radical geographer David Harvey examines the idea of the “right to the city” and looks at ways in which urban populations around the world can reclaim the spaces that couldn’t work without them, but which they rarely control. [Q&A]- Icon magazine (UK) |
Prime Time for Landscape Architects: Mathews Nielsen Landscape Architects Masters the New Collaborations: The expanding influence of landscape represents a fundamentally different way of thinking about urbanism. By John Gendall [images]- ArchNewsNow |
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-- Grieg Architects: Oseana - Art & Culture Center, Os (Bergen), Norway
-- 3XN: The Arch, Mandal, Norway
-- Wingårdh Arkitektkontor: Spira Performing Arts Center, Jönköping, Sweden |
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