Today’s News - Wednesday, January 2, 2013
EDITOR'S NOTE: Happy New Year! (Ohhhh...that alarm clock going off was painful this morning!) Now we have some serious (and not so serious) catching up to do...
• ArcSpace kicks off the New Year with Guarnaccia's retelling of "Three Little Pigs" - only this time they're Gehry, Johnson, and FLW ("the wolf and the readers are in for a surprise").
• Architects weigh in on school design following the Newtown, CT, shooting: "When someone has the intent to kill, I'm not sure if architecture can solve that problem."
• It's Hadid vs. design pirates in China: "the race is on to see who can finish first."
• Kimmelman and Betsky see things very differently when it comes to Amsterdam's Stedelijk Museum: "I can't recall seeing a more ridiculous looking building" vs. "its smooth white forms curving up and out, sails with aplomb."
• Russell gives (mostly) thumbs-up to Foster's Park Ave. tower: it "injects some desperately needed life into the Manhattan commercial high-rise...but it will plunge the mid-block deeper into shadow."
• Bey reports on plans that "put a jazzy 1950s ex-hospital on the terminal list" in Chicago; there's "some chatter in the preservation community, but not much."
• Pearman proffers an in-depth look at how the U.K.'s "grocer philanthropist" (a.k.a. the Sainsbury family) has been "an incredibly positive force for good, across the cultural spectrum" + Proof is in the pudding: Foster's Sainsbury Centre is granted grade II* listing.
• Florida is a big sports fan, but "the outrageous, over-the-top deal for the new Miami Marlins stadium should once and for all end the 'era of publicly funded stadiums'" and the "sweetheart stadium deals help bankrupt cities and counties."
• Singapore's Asian Civilisations Museum will soon don a new, titanium-clad wing.
• SCI-Arc is spreading its own wings with a new outdoor gathering space that "is seen as a way for the school to reach out to its arts district neighborhood" (they might want to re-think the moniker "League of Shadows").
• Webb and Kimmelman pen eloquent tributes: "Johansen was a rose, the last of his generation. And he was left to bloom alone" + "Woods hoped to liberate architecture from its material tethers and encourage everybody who engaged with it to think more boldly and humanely."
• Iovine, Chan, and Litt offer thoughtful (and sometimes amusing) reviews of 2012, and Hume has high hopes (some cautiously) for 2013.
• One we couldn't resist: "Urban Trends We Hope Die in 2013."
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Bookcase: "Three Little Pigs - An Architectural Tale" by Steven Guarnaccia: ...inspired by the architecture of Frank Gehry, Philip Johnson, and Frank Lloyd Wright. |
After Newtown, Architects Weigh School Design Changes: ...schools themselves shouldn’t be radically redesigned to fortify against future attacks, according to some architects...“When someone has the intent to kill, I’m not sure if architecture can solve that problem.” -- Edmund Einy/ GKKWorks; Mark Simon/Centerbrook Architects and Planners; Thomas Mellins; Jerry Waters, of Portland, Oregon’s Dull Olson Weekes Architects- Architectural Record |
Zaha Hadid vs. the Pirates: Copycat Architects in China Take Aim at the Stars: Pirates are the process of copying one of her provocative designs [Wangjing SOHO, Beijing], and the race is on to see who can finish first...Rem Koolhaas...calls these architects Photoshop designers... [slide show]- Der Spiegel (Germany) |
Why Is This Museum Shaped Like a Tub? Offhand I can’t recall seeing a more ridiculous looking building than the new Stedelijk Museum...it’s a throwback...seems another case of civic icon-envy...design suggests a kind of desperation in Amsterdam’s reaction to Bilbao...Sadly, museums, like cities, have squandered fortunes praying to this false idol. They still do. By Michael Kimmelman -- Adriaan Willem Weissman; Benthem Crouwel- New York Times |
Light Construction, Strange Beauty: Nicknamed "the bathtub," the Stedelijk...takes its place among a confusion of sculpture-like buildings that have colonized the Museum Square ...have created a jumble of disparate forms among which the bathtub, its smooth white forms curving up and out, sails with aplomb...real glory comes in the the renovation of the existing galleries. By Aaron Betsky -- Benthem Crouwel Architects [slide show]- Architect Magazine |
Sky Gardens Add Drama to $750 Million Tower: The office tower proposed for 425 Park Avenue by Foster & Partners injects some desperately needed life into the Manhattan commercial high-rise...Gardens in skyscrapers aren’t just a romantic idea, they are a reflection of the evolving nature of work...but it will plunge the mid-block deeper into shadow. By James S. Russell- Bloomberg News |
Redevelopment plans put jazzy 1950s ex-hospital on the terminal list: The former Cuneo Hospital building reminds me of jazz...might soon face music of a different sort, however. Developers seek to raze the building and its otherworldly 1970s addition to build a $220 million high rise and retail development...has prompted some chatter in the preservation community, but not much. By Lee Bey -- Edo J. Belli/Belli & Belli (1957); Hartshorne Plunkard Architecture [images]- WBEZ Chicago Public Radio |
The Grocer Philanthropists: Since the Sainsbury family turned from supermarkets to charity, architecture, art and science have benefited hugely...The Gatsby, Linbury and Monument Trusts together amount to an incredibly positive force for good, across the cultural spectrum. By Hugh Pearman -- Ian Ritchie; Arup; Bennetts Associates; Stanton Williams; Venturi, Rauch and Scott-Brown; Dixon Jones; Rick Mather; Rogers Stirk Harbour; Eric Parry; Tony Fretton- RIBA Journal (UK) |
Architecture Minister Ed Vaizey gives Foster + Partners’ Sainsbury Centre grade II* listing: ...described as a ‘high point’ of the British high-tech movement...English Heritage praised the 1977 building at the University of East Anglia for its ‘architectural innovation, design, historic association, flexibility and group value’. [images]- The Architects' Journal (UK) |
Public Funding for Stadiums Jumps the Shark in Miami: ...the outrageous, over-the-top deal for the new Miami Marlins stadium should once and for all end the "era of publicly funded stadiums"...finally becoming a more widely shared public sentiment, especially when these sweetheart stadium deals help bankrupt cities and counties and drain precious public funding away from essential public services. By Richard Florida- The Atlantic Cities |
Asian Civilisations Museum, Singapore, to Add New Wing in 2015: ...clad in titanium will be a distinctive architectural departure from the 19th-century Neo-classicism of the original structure. The extension looks like a solid box floating in an enclosed space, a metallic cuboid ‘weightlessly’ elevated one level above the ground. -- GreenhilLi Consultants [image]- Artinfo |
L.A. architecture school is poised to spread its wings: A new outdoor gathering space designed by a SCI-Arc faculty member will host graduations and is seen as a way for the school to reach out to its arts district neighborhood...architecture students are helping with...the so-called "League of Shadows." -- Marcelo Spina/Georgina Huljich/P-A-T-T-E-R-N-S [image]- Los Angeles Times |
Obituary: John Johansen, 1916-2012: Michael Webb remembers the outspokenly unique modern architect and opinionated member of the New Canaan Five...[he] was a rose, the last of his generation. And he was left to bloom alone. -- Archigram- The Architect's Newspaper |
Lebbeus Woods: Architecture’s “moral center,” his friend Thom Mayne called him; the greatest architect of our day, thought the critic and architect Michael Sorkin...[he] hoped to liberate architecture from its material tethers and encourage everybody who engaged with it to think more boldly and humanely. By Michael Kimmelman- New York Times Magazine |
Sculptural Yet Sensible: This year in architecture, sides were drawn pitting socially relevant design against high-profile architecture...Luckily a bumper crop of compact, versatile and strikingly sculptural museums shows how the best architecture unites intelligent design and strong image making. By Julie V. Iovine -- Zaha Hadid; Farshid Moussavi; Herzog & de Meuron; Louis Kahn; David Adjaye; SHoP Architects [images]- Wall Street Journal |
Year In Review: Essential Architecture Stories of 2012: From Kapoor's Tower to Kahn's Park... By Kelly Chan -- Wang Shu/Pritzker Prize; Paul Rudolph/Orange County Government Center; Anish Kapoor/Cecil Balmond; Venice Architecture Biennale; Wolf Prix; David Chipperfield; Philip Nobel; Frank Lloyd Wright; SHoP Architects/Barclays Center; Bertrand Goldberg/Prentice Women's Hospital; Louis Kahn/FDR Four Freedoms Park; Lebbeus Woods; Oscar Niemeyer- Artinfo |
Buying into the arts, reaping regional rewards: Art and architecture year in review 2012: The alignment between arts and culture and the rebirth of Cleveland -- or at least parts of it -- has never been clearer...betting big-time on the arts as a tool to revive neighborhoods, attract new residents, retain companies and fuel economic activity. By Steven Litt -- Farshid Moussavi; Stanley Saitowitz/Natoma Architects; Coop Himmelb(l)au; Curt Fentress/Fentress Architects; Richard Fleischman + Partners Architects; Sasaki Associates- Cleveland Plain Dealer |
Ten things Toronto can look forward to in 2013: Between the crumbling Gardiner, transit rows and Rob Ford, 2012 wasn’t Toronto’s finest year... By Christopher Hume -- Shim Sutcliffe Architects; Fumihiko Maki; Charles Correa; Michael Van Valkenburgh- Toronto Star |
Urban Trends We Hope Die in 2013: Enough with the yarn bombing already, and other wishes for the new year: ...our collective plea to stop the (urbanism) madness and start getting real...- The Atlantic Cities |
Ten Years and Counting...: Reflections on the year, ArchNewsNow's first decade, and our 10th ANNiversary Fête: If you’re reading this, it means the Mayans weren’t wrong (but the End-of-Timers were) – Happy Winter Solstice! By Kristen Richards- ArchNewsNow.com |
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