Today’s News - Tuesday, October 23, 2012
• Davies offers some serious suggestions to improve architectural criticism because not only are reviews not really critical, they're "usually not even analytical."
• Hall Kaplan, as usual, minces no words when it comes to designing public spaces: the "shift of focus from overblown publicly and privately sponsored projects vying to be iconic to unpretentious spaces and places has generated ink and air time, which is not lost on pandering planners and wannabe celebrity architects" (but there are happy endings in sight).
• On an even brighter note, Copenhagen's new "super park" is "dotted with various pop artifacts and cultural mementos...a 'fusion of architecture, landscape, and art'" (great pix - we wanna go play!).
• Lewis cheers ASLA's new guide to Washington, DC's landscapes that reveals "the amount of investment, care and maintenance required to create, nurture, preserve and sometimes enhance the city's wealth of beautifully landscaped environments."
• Hume x 2: urban density is not a dirty word: "The only thing Canadians fear more than sprawl, the joke goes, is density. Problem is it's not a joke."
• He's enthralled by Foster's Bow Building in Calgary that "presides over downtown elegantly and effortlessly...it's not just another tower; it's a piece of architecture" amidst a lot of other "architectural banalities."
• Dunlop expounds on why it might be a good idea for young architects in Britain and the U.S. to look to the east (i.e., China).
• Tunkey plans to take "Unmade in China" on the road so the U.S. and Europe can "look at it honestly, and learn from examining the negative side...If you only focus on the works that get built, you are not seeing many of the problems with the works not getting built."
• A new campus building in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, reflects "post post-modern architecture" that "is very much concerned with the social aspects of a building as well as its utilitarian function."
• A "little arena from Tasmania is gaining global attention."
• Plans for a Liverpool skyscraper in the form of a giant cross "could be contentious."
• BDP wins the Dusseldorf Ulmer Hoh design competition to transform a prison campus into a new neighborhood; the "design put quality and atmosphere above commercial efficiency."
• Ulam gives thumbs-up to the Canadian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale: "Migrating Landscapes speaks to a growing interest in forms and styles that can express cross-cultural perspectives without descending into postmodernist token gestures."
• Lubell reports on the winning design in the L.A. Sixth Street Viaduct competition: "Downtown Los Angeles is about to get a lot curvier" (with lots of pix to prove it).
• A new survey concludes that architecture and engineering firms are a bit behind the curve in embracing social media.
• Call for entries: ADA 2012 - Architecture Dissertation Awards International Architecture Competition.
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How can architectural criticism improve? Architecture and building would benefit from more demanding assessments, but architectural reviews aren’t critical...It’s usually not even analytical...Negative comments...are likely to be seen primarily as putting architects livelihoods at stake...There are a number of changes I’d like to see architectural journal editors and writers put in place. By Alan Davies- Crikey (Australia) |
Designing Public Spaces That Serve Users, Rather Than Egos: So grows the movement...also the challenge to the planning profession to come out of its self-serving shell to take action to improve and encourage the use of public space. By Sam Hall Kaplan -- Green LA Living Streets Initiative; “Beyond Zuccotti Park"; Lance Jay Brown; Ron Shiffman- PLANetizen |
Copenhagen’s New “Super Park” Celebrates Diversity And Fun! Superkilen...is dotted with various pop artifacts and cultural mementos “sourced” from the home countries of the area’s inhabitants...a “fusion of architecture, landscape, and art”... -- Superflex; Topotek 1 architects; BIG/Bjarke Ingels Group [images]- Architizer |
Appreciating the D.C. area’s landscapes: Washington’s landscapes are no less memorable than its architecture...using the ASLA “Landscape Architect’s Guide to Washington, D.C.”...will reveal one other critical landscape attribute: the amount of investment, care and maintenance required to create, nurture, preserve and sometimes enhance the city’s wealth of beautifully landscaped environments. By Roger K. Lewis- Washington Post |
Urban density is key to smart growth: It may be a dirty word now, but density will help us clean up our cities as well as the environment: The only thing Canadians fear more than sprawl, the joke goes, is density. Problem is it’s not a joke. By Christopher Hume- Toronto Star |
Norman Foster’s Bow Building is Calgary’s best new tower: ...presides over downtown elegantly and effortlessly...Form here doesn’t just follow function, it defines it...wandering past the architectural banalities that proliferate here...gives more than it receives...sophisticated and urban in equal measure...it’s not just another tower; it’s a piece of architecture. By Christopher Hume -- Foster + Partners; Jaume Plensa [image]- Toronto Star |
The Status of Architecture in America, UK and China: In 1852, Illinois newspaper editor John B Soule advised Americans to “Go West young man&hellip&hellip. and grow up with the country.” Today, sage advice to young architects in Britain and the USA might be to do the opposite and go east. By Alan Dunlop- Foundation for Architecture & Education / AE Foundation (UK) |
Architecture undone: "Unmade in China: Architecture Undone in the PRC"...now destined to tour major cities in the US and Europe..."to look at it honestly, specifically what we can improve and learn from examining the negative side...If you only focus on the works that get built, you are not seeing many of the problems with the works not getting built." -- Michael Tunkey/Cannon Design- Global Times (China) |
New construction on the campus of John Abbott College is making a statement about contemporary architecture: ...has deftly inserted itself among the red-brick halls of learning on this historic 1,600-acre campus...“post post-modern architecture” is very much concerned with the social aspects of a building as well as its utilitarian function. -- Saucier + Perrote Architectes; Dinu Bumbaru; Anne Cormier/Atelier TAG; Marosi + Troy [slide show]- Montreal Gazette |
Tasmanian Arena Transformation Edges Closer: ...Blundstone Arena is gaining international acclaim as it races towards developmental milestones...While it may surprising that the little arena from Tasmania is gaining global attention, its design and creative response to the local aesthetic offers it a strong possibility of living up to the high expectations... -- Suters Architects; ARTAS Architects [images]- DesignBuild Source (Australia) |
Maurice Shapero reveals new plans for 'cruciform' Liverpool skyscraper: Plans for the tallest building in the north of England have been redrawn - as a giant cross...could be contentious...King Edward Tower is the latest in a long line of attempts to build a super high-rise on the plot... [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
BDP wins contest to turn Düsseldorf prison into homes: ...victory in the Dusseldorf Ulmer Hoh design competition...jury said design put quality and atmosphere above commercial efficiency. [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Canada digs deep at the 2012 Venice Architecture Biennale: Architects and designers mine memories of migration at the Canadian pavilion...Migrating Landscapes speaks to a growing interest in forms and styles that can express cross-cultural perspectives without descending into postmodernist token gestures. By Alex Ulam -- Johanna Hurme/Sasa Radulovic/5468796 Architecture; Jae-Sung Chon; Felix Tue; Amirali Javidan; Travis Cooke/Jason Kun [images]- Maclean's (Canada) |
The New Wave: HNTB's soaring design wins LA's Sixth Street Viaduct competition: Downtown Los Angeles is about to get a lot curvier...Below the bridge the scheme is full of life and will hopefully bring pedestrian activity and commercial viability to an area that...is currently car dominated and unremarkable. By Sam Lubell -- HNTB/Michael Maltzan Architecture/AC Martin/Hargreaves Associates; AECOM; Parsons Brinckerhoff [images]- The Architect's Newspaper |
Architecture-engineering plans in Oklahoma don't often include social media: Marketing survey finds architecture-engineering firms slower to embrace social media than business in general, and an anecdotal check of Oklahoma City companies seems to back that up.- The Oklahoman |
Call for entries: ADA 2012 – Architecture Dissertation Awards International Architecture Competition: "Housing"; registration deadline: January 15, 2013- AWR - Architecture Workshop in Rome |
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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-- Zaha Hadid Architects: Pierresvives, Montpellier, France
-- Gonçalo Byrne Arquitectos: Joao Góis and David Sinclair Pousada de Cascais, Cascais, Portugal |
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